Features

NEW YORK — Samsung’s new line of tablets will go on sale in the US on February 13.

Samsung Electronics Co. began taking orders for the devices on Tuesday. Announced at the International CES gadget show in Las Vegas last month, the new “Pro” tablets feature touch screens that are among the sharpest available.

Samsung is also making models with screens measuring 12.2 inches (31 centimetres) diagonally — larger than the main iPad and other full-size tablets. The larger display comes with the ability to show four apps on the same screen at once, compared with two for other Samsung devices. IPads and most Android tablets allow for only one at a time.

A 12.2-inch Note version of the tablet comes with a pen and starts at $750. A pen-less Tab version costs $100 less, but won’t be available until March. Samsung is also selling an 8.4-inch (21-centimetre) Tab version for $400 and a 10-inch (25-centimetre) Tab for $500. Both will be available this month.

All of the new tablets have displays with 2,560 pixels by 1,600 pixels. That matches the resolution on the full-size version of Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle Fire HDX, but it is more than what iPads and Android rivals typically offer.

Samsung is expected to unveil a successor to its flagship Galaxy S4 phone soon, possibly later this month at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain.

WASHINGTON –– In the United States, pre-packaged foods loaded with artificial ingredients and chemicals can make it onto grocery store shelves boasting the label “natural”.

Why? Because in America, there is no definition of “natural”. 

This gray area has led consumer advocates to threaten lawsuit after lawsuit against big food giants, alleging that their claims are misleading and illegal. 

“There are just too damn many ‘natural’ lawsuits,” said lawyer Stephen Gardner of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), estimating there have been around 50 in the past decade.

“It only scratches the surfaces of the number of companies that are making these claims. We keep coming across them,” he said.

Some lawsuits have been merely threatened by CSPI, and eventually settled out of court after the company agreed to change labelling.

Others have been filed by private parties seeking class action payouts.

The latest involves Kraft Foods, maker of Crystal Light powdered drink mixes which contain artificial sweeteners and colours, a texturiser called maltodextrin and a synthetic preservative called butylated hydroxyanisole.

In January, CSPI notified Kraft of its intent to sue if the word “natural” continues to appear on products like Natural Lemonade and Natural Lemon Iced Tea.

Gardner said talks with the company are ongoing, but given his experience — he first sued Kraft over similar claims on its Capri Sun drinks in 2007 — he expects Kraft to counter that the word “natural” relates to the flavour.

“I am not aware of a lemonade flavour. I am aware of lemon,” Gardner said.

Asked for comment, a Kraft spokeswoman told AFP that a federal judge in California recently dismissed a similar claim against Crystal Light.

“Our products are clearly and accurately labelled with information that is both truthful and helpful for consumers,” spokeswoman Caroline Krajewski said in an e-mail.

Foods that claim to be “natural” but clearly are not can slip past authorities because the main US regulatory agency, the Food and Drug Administration, has not formally defined “natural”.

However, the regulator has sent several warning letters to companies in the past, FDA spokeswoman Theresa Eisenman told AFP in an e-mail.

“Although the FDA has not established a formal definition for the term ‘natural’, we do have a longstanding policy concerning the use of ‘natural’ in food labelling,” she said.

“The FDA considers the term ‘natural’ to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic (including all colour additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.”

The FDA has left Crystal Light alone, and consumer groups complain that regulators are not aggressive enough, leaving plenty of room for corporations to exploit well-meaning shoppers who appear to be susceptible to packaging claims.

According to the market research firm Nielsen, “natural” products produce over $22 billion in annual sales.

A full 77 per cent of US consumers polled said they believe “natural” claims at least some of the time, and nine per cent said they always do.

A happy compromise between full SUV and a car-like crossover, the Dodge Durango is a longer and more road- and family-oriented cousin to the more off-road focused Jeep Grand Cherokee. Built on a unibody frame with all-independent suspension that it inherited from the now defunct Daimler-Chrysler era, the Durango shares much of its platform with and the Mercedes ML-Class and larger three-row GL-Class. An affordable cousin to the Mercs, the Durango undergoes a mid-life re-fresh for 2014, which brings a subtle restyle, an updated infotainment system, improved suspension rates for better dynamics and an all new gearbox for noticeably improved performance and efficiency.

First introduced in 2011, the third generation Durango’s aesthetically pleasing wide, long and somewhat low shape, restrained but muscular flanks, sculpted bonnet and uncomplicated three pane window profile go little altered. Moody and menacingly aggressive, the Durango’s charismatic fascia undergoes subtle changes, with its gaping wide grille shrinking vertically and receiving a revised split crosshair corporate face and new honeycomb background, while the slim headlights feature redesigned and more assertive elements with a “hockey stick” shape and LED running lights. The rear now features stylised wraparound lights with a red “race track” LED outline, and a hidden tow hitch within the bumper.

Generous quarters 

Comfortable and spacious inside, the Dodge Durango features well-adjustable and re-designed three-spoke steering wheel and seats with leather upholstery on the driven mid-range Limited spec version driven. Front visibility is good while fit, finish and interior aesthetics are among the best in its segment, and include soft textured dashboard and uncluttered, user-friendly controls. Wide door swing angles allow easy access to the Durango’s interior, which with unibody construction is more space efficient than body-on-chassis SUV rivals. Head, leg and shoulder room is excellent in the front two rows and decent in the third row, while the three-seat middle row bench can recline by 18°.

With a classy rotary-style gear selector similar to the up-market Range Rover’s, the 2014 Durango features steering mounted gearbox shifters and sports a new customisable seven-inch TFT instrument display. The new Durango also receives a high tech and user-friendly 8.4-inch Uconnect infotainment touch screen menu system, which accesses various settings, preferences, sat nav, climate control and entertainment systems. A clever system that accesses smartphones rather than trying to replace them, Uconnect features voice command for interacting with devices, Bluetooth and climate controls. USB, SD and auxiliary jacks are standard, while nine-inch rear DVD screens with HDMI connectivity and wireless earphones are optional for some trim levels.

Transformative transmission 

Powered by the Chrysler group’s familiar and brawny 16-valve OHV 5.7-litre V8 HEMI engine, the Durngo produces 360HP at 5,150rpm and 390lb/ft at 4,250rpm. Low-revving and muscular with progressively abundant output, the Durango’s 5.7 HEMI is however mated to an all-new ZF eight-speed gearbox, similar versions of which are used by BMW, Rolls Royce and Range Rover. Smoother, more responsive and altogether superior to the outgoing six-speed gearbox it replaces, the closely spaced eight-speed’s mix of lower and taller ratios better utilises the engine’s abilities and is transformative in the improved refinement, on-the-move-responsiveness, flexibility, fuel economy and performance gains it provides the Durango.

With brawny engine, four-wheel-traction and aggressive first and second gear ratios, the Durango 5.7 digs its heels into tarmac and launches briskly. Composed and refined, the Durango doesn’t feel dramatic as it launches, but is surprisingly quick, with 0-97km/h achieved in approximately 6.7-seconds. In auto mode the Durango’s gearbox drops gears responsively to effortlessly haul its 2.4-tonne mass effectively past slower moving traffic, while manual mode can hold gears from kicking down for better driver autonomy. Fuel efficiency is improved by 9 per cent to 14.7/100km on the combined cycle, while the engine can automatically deactivate four cylinders on level cruising speeds to help achieve this.

Striking a balance 

Built with stiff unibody construction and using sophisticated independent suspension-all round, the Dodge Durango has a refined a refined ride quality with terrific noise, vibration and harshness isolation, while its longer wheelbase aids its superb stability on highways, rough roads and through fast corners. With more traditional gas-charged dampers and firmer spring, damper and anti-roll bar rates than its air suspension Jeep Grand Cherokee cousin, the Dodge Durango has a distinctly more buttoned-down and connected feel on the road, which is most evident through winding routes and during sudden highway braking, where it feels more composed and less susceptible to body roll and brake dive.

Sportier than most competitors, the Durango isn’t an outright sports SUV like an Infiniti QX70, Porsche Cayenne or BMW X5, but feels like a well-sorted premium European SUV and, especially with the Limited version’s 265/60R18 tyres, strikes the right note between supple ride comfort and handling finesse and control. Taking bumps, lumps and cracks in its stride, the Durango’s rear-drive based drive-train layout and equal weight distribution make it surprisingly agile and poised through winding roads for a seven-seat SUV. Rear-biased power, restrained tyres and hydraulic power steering even more surprisingly provide a measure of intuitive steering feel alien to many SUVs. 

Rugged workhorse 

Balanced, fluid and controlled, the Durango happily hustles through successive corners, and with permanent four-wheel-drive traction and grip, the standard electronic traction and stability controls weren’t called upon to intervene during the test drive. Standard safety kit included trailer sway control and seven airbags, while optional kit includes adaptive cruise control blind spot monitoring and rear cross-path detection systems. Practical and rugged, the Durango can haul 650kg and tow 3,265kg. Luggage space is generous with its 487-litre minimum volume expands to 1,350 litres with rear sets folded and 2,392 litres with both rear rows folded. Flat folding rear and front passenger seats also provide a uniform loading bay.

The Durango may lack the Jeep Grand Cherokee’s extensive off-road hardware including raising air suspension, locking differentials, Selec-trac off-road electronic driver aid or the same clearance height and angles. However it uses the same four-wheel drive system and low ratio gearbox transfer case, 207mm ground clearance, and 16.3° approach, 18.1° breakover and 21.5° departure angles, is considerably more capable off-road than its front-drive derived crossover SUV competitors. Driven seamlessly through loose gravel, dirt, rocks, creeks and inclines on a test drive in Fujairah, the UAE, the Dodge Durango off-road capability more than meets the demands of most family-SUV clients, but isn’t as extreme as the Grand Cherokee.

WASHINGTON –– Obesity among US children is largely established by kindergarten, according to a study released recently, which added that nearly half of those obese at 14 already had the problem at age five.

The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine also showed that over 14 per cent of children enter kindergarten overweight and are four times more likely than normal weight children to become obese by the eighth grade.

“Although trends in the prevalence of obesity are well documented, there is surprisingly little known about new cases of childhood obesity,” wrote lead researcher Solveig Cunningham, assistant professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Georgia.

The researchers used data from children who took part in a study of kindergartens in 1998 and 1999.

With appropriate adjustments the data sample was representative of all of the estimate 3.8 million S children in kindergarten during that time.

“Examining incidence may provide insight into the nature of the epidemic, the critically vulnerable ages, and the groups who are at greater risk for obesity,” Cunningham wrote.

The study showed that 14.9 per cent of kids entering kindergarten are overweight. The researchers used body mass index charts from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rate of obesity rises to 20.8 per cent when kids reach age 14.

Incidence of obesity at age 14 was highest among black children (17 per cent), followed by Hispanics (14 per cent). The rate was 10 per cent among whites and children of other races.

Children from the richest 20 per cent of families had the lowest rates of obesity in kindergarten than those of all other socio- economic groups, the study said.

At all ages between five and 14, the rate of obesity was highest (25.8 per cent) among the poorest children.

“We have evidence that certain factors established before birth and during the first five years are important. Obesity-prevention efforts focused on children who are overweight by five-years-old may be a way to target children susceptible to becoming obese later in life,” Cunningham wrote.

FORT MYERS, United States — Alligator and frog have long been on the menu in Florida, but a new delicacy has slithered its way onto dinner plates in the US state.

A pizzeria now offers Burmese python meat on what it calls the “Everglades Pizza” — named for Florida’s vast national park, where the snakes are being hunted to protect the nature preserve.

“It was just to create talk about the shop and being creative and this thing literally just went viral,” says Evan Daniell, the owner of Evan’s Neighbourhood Pizza in the Gulf Coast city of Fort Myers.

“People talk about it all the time and whether it’s negative or positive, it really doesn’t matter because the fact is: We can make it and it’s delicious.”

So, the big question: what does it taste like?

“It’s good but a little chewy,” says Mike, a tourist taking the python plunge from Minnesota.

“It tastes like chicken but chewier,” his wife Becky adds.

Daniell admits that python meat “can be gamier”. The chef tenderises the slabs of snake meat by marinating them for several hours. They are then sliced thinly into what he calls “snake slivers”.

Before laying it onto the pizza, making sure “each slice has a piece of python”, Daniell pre-cooks the snake in the oven for a few minutes.

“There is some pink into the snake, and as it turns white, it will be done,” he explains.

Despite its steep price tag of $45, the “Everglades” pizza certainly has its fans.

Daniell’s pal Mike Gookin says he came up with the idea of using the snake meat to spice up pizzas after seeing a news report on the python problem in the Everglades.

The pizza also features alligator sausage and frog legs. Both are native to southern Florida. The pythons are definitely not, but they are everywhere.

“There could be thousands or tens of thousands of Burmese pythons in the wild here,” explains Roberto Torres, a field officer with The Nature Conservancy.

The snakes can measure up to six metres long and they are believed to have made the Everglades their home after being released by their owners.

“They get them as pets and when they get too big, they release them here,” Torres says, his feet deep in the mud of the wetlands near the suburbs of Miami where pythons have been spotted regularly.

Burmese pythons have no known predator in Florida, so they sit atop the food chain in their new home. As a result, environmental experts like Torres fear their presence could end up threatening biodiversity in the Everglades.

“It’s a perfect habitat for the snake — it’s wet, there is plenty of food… They’ll eat anything they can catch — birds, fish, mammals, cats, dogs,” Torres says.

To raise awareness about the python invasion, chefs in Miami have held several events with python on the menu along with other non-native species.

But current food safety regulations do not allow the invasive snakes captured in Florida to be slaughtered and processed regularly to be sold in restaurants.

As a result, Daniell’s python meat is not local.

“I buy it frozen from a wholesaler who imports farmed python from Vietnam,” the restaurateur explains.

SAN FRANCISCO — Sixteen-year-old Owen Fairchild doesn’t hang out at Facebook as much as he did when he was just a kid.

It is not that he and his friends are abandoning the social network. They are spreading their love to rival networks like Twitter, Pinterest, SnapChat, Instagram and blogging platform Tumblr.

“I’ve moved on,” the teenager said. 

“I go to Tumblr a lot more; there is a lot of funny stuff. SnapChat is super-fun because you can send really unattractive pictures of yourself and they will delete after a few seconds.”

Contrary to what grownups might think, teens sometimes prefer to catch up on life face-to-face in the real world, he added.

“I think Facebook is still very popular even though some people might be losing interest,” said the 11th-grade student at Alameda Community Learning Centre, a charter school in Alameda across the bay from San Francisco.

“There is no talk among my friends saying Facebook is for old people.”

Facebook, born on a college campus a decade ago, has grown to 1.23 billion active users worldwide.

But as it prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Facebook is now facing challenges in keeping its original base of young users as new social networks vie to be the coolest on the Internet.

A social networking trend set in motion by Facebook has been accelerated by soaring popularity of smartphones that let people share images, videos, thoughts or observations at any moment.

Hot young services such as Pinterest, Twitter and SnapChat have sparked concerns that Facebook is losing teens and may follow predecessor MySpace into social networking obscurity.

Facebook’s demographics appear to be shifting as adults, even seniors, use the network to catch up with long-lost friends and stay connected to family and colleagues.

Princeton University student Susannah Sharpless said she and friends have stopped letting Facebook consume their lives.

“Everyone in my friend group went through this stage where we hated Facebook and deleted it,” Sharpless told AFP.

“I was one of the first people to get it back. Slowly, everyone did.”

Breaking from Facebook served as a detox period during which she and friends got a better handle on what was a daily habit, the college junior said.

“I realised how to live without the mindless Facebook stalking that I used to do,” Sharpless said.

“I check my Twitter feed all the time; there is nothing that I definitely need to know on Facebook.”

She also finds more interesting fare on Instagram, which Facebook bought about two years ago in a billion-dollar deal.

“Facebook isn’t done,” Sharpless said. “I think it is just changing in the way people use it.”

Social media network analytics company Socialbakers on Thursday posted findings indicating that “the sky is not falling” when it comes to Facebook’s appeal to the younger set.

Interactions at Facebook by people ages 13 to 24 grew about 29 per cent last year, according to Socialbakers.

“Teens are definitely not leaving en masse as some reports would have you believe,” Socialbakers data specialist Ben Harper said in a blog post.

During an earnings call this week, top Facebook executives sidestepped a question about whether the social network was losing teens.

“We are working on great products that all our users, including teens, will take seriously,” said Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman.

Forrester Research analyst Nate Elliott dismissed Facebook gloom-and-doom talk as “silly”. He argued that, unlike the defunct MySpace, Facebook innovates relentlessly and copies winning features from competitors.

For example, Facebook has woven Twitter-style real-time status updates into the service and introduced a new mobile app aimed at becoming a social newspaper of sorts.

Young people might change how they use Facebook, but they aren’t leaving, according to the Forrester analyst.

“It is not a zero-sum game,” Elliott said. “You don’t stop using one network because you start using another.”

Forrester is preparing to release results of a youth survey that the analyst said contradict the “breathless proclamations of doom” about Facebook.

“When you strip away the hyperbole and just look at the numbers, Facebook is absolutely crushing all the other social networks in terms of young users who go there,” Elliott said.

Independent Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle countered that some studies in recent months indicate young people are departing Facebook in a shift that should worry the social network.

“The youth is your seed corn to make sure your service grows; they drive something like this,” Enderle said. 

“The trendy kids at school need to be at Facebook.”