Marc Andreessen has apologised for his tweets, which many believed were highly offensive.
(Photo courtesy: Wikipedia)
Marc Andreessen, a prominent venture capitalist and Facebook Inc
board director, apologised on Wednesday for a series of tweets that
condemned the Indian government for banning the social media company’s
controversial Free Basics programme, including one which stated that
“anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the India
people”.
Trai introduced rules on Monday preventing Internet service providers
from having different pricing policies for accessing different parts of
the Web, effectively dismantling Facebook’s Free Basics program, which
offered a pared-back version of Internet services.
Andreessen, who often takes to Twitter to offer his opinions, said
the new rules meant that India’s poor had been denied access to the
Internet. Only 252 million out of India’s 1.3 billion people have
Internet access.
“Denying world’s poorest free partial Internet connectivity when
today they have none, for ideological reasons, strikes me as morally
wrong,” Andreessen wrote.
“Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?
On Wednesday, Facebook condemned Andreessen’s Twitter outburst.
“We strongly reject the sentiments expressed by Marc Andreessen last night regarding India.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also condemned his colleague’s comments, saying that he found them “deeply upsetting”.
(Photo courtesy: Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook profile)
Dozens of Twitter users blasted Andreessen for his comments, which he
deleted and apologised for on Wednesday in a series of tweets.
“I apologize for any offense my comment caused, and withdraw it in
full and without reservation,” he wrote. “I will leave all future
commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and
experience than me.”
The Apple iOS and Android versions of Final Fantasy IX have
launched. People can immediately purchase and play the JRPG on their
phones and tablets, provided they have enough space. The initial
download for the game starts at about 2GB, depending on your device.
For Apple iOS device owners, the initial size is 2.01GB, while
Android device owners will encounter a 1.8GB download. Once launched,
additional data will be downloaded to the device. Since it will end up
being around 4GB, a person will need around 8GB free before starting the
process.
Final Fantasy IX is the tale of Zidane, a young thief, who
inadvertently stole the princess of Alexandria. (Fortunately, she wanted
to be stolen.) They team up with a young black mage named Vivi, who
finds himself questioning his very existence. As their party grows, the
group finds themselves needing to save the world. The mobile versions of
the game add achievements, HD movies and character models, an autosave
function, and seven game boosters to make the adventure easier.
Final Fantasy IX is immediately available on iTunes and Google Play. It will be 20% off from February 10-21, 2016. A release date for the Windows PC port has yet to be announced.
Just a couple weeks ago, Square Enix made a surprising
move. We know that they've been working on remakes and remasters of
various Final Fantasy titles, but one we hadn't heard about was IX. So
when they showed off the game running on a mobile device, people went nuts.
While Squeenix showed off some gameplay and gave us a look at what
kind of controls we could expect from the game, what they didn't tell us
was when we could actually expect the game to be released. Thankfully,
we didn't have to wait too long, as the game is already available on
both Android and iOS.
While Final Fantasy VII will always be my favorite, as it was my
first introduction to the JRPG, IX is a close second. Somewhere I still
have my original Playstation memory card with the save files for both
games. Not that it would do me much good for this digital version.
To celebrate its mobile launch, you'll find the game priced at $16.99 until February 21st.
You'll need to clear off a fair bit of space on your phone though, as
the download clocks in at just over 2GB. The PC version of the game is
expected sometime in “early 2016,” though no other specific information
was given.
VIA: Polygon
The nuclear fusion research center at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. (Stefan Sauer/dpa via AP)
Scientists in Germany have started an experiment they hope will advance
the quest for nuclear fusion, considered a clean and safe form of
nuclear power.
Following nine years of construction and testing, researchers at the
Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald injected a tiny
amount of hydrogen into a doughnut-shaped device - then zapped it with
the equivalent of 6,000 microwave ovens.
The resulting super-hot gas, known as plasma, lasted just a fraction
of a second before cooling down again, long enough for scientists to
confidently declare the start of their experiment a success.
"Everything went well today," said Robert Wolf, a senior scientist
involved with the project. "With a system as complex as this you have to
make sure everything works perfectly and there's always a risk."
Among the difficulties is how to cool the complex arrangement of
magnets required to keep the plasma floating inside the device, said Mr
Wolf. Scientists looked closely at the hiccups experienced during the
start-up of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland more than five
years ago to avoid similar mistakes, he said.
The experiment in Greifswald is part of a worldwide effort to harness
nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high
temperatures and release large amounts of energy.
Advocates acknowledge that the technology is probably many decades
away, but argue that - once achieved - it could replace fossil fuels and
conventional nuclear fission reactors.
Construction has already begun in southern France on ITER, a huge
international research reactor that uses a strong electric current to
trap plasma inside a doughnut-shaped device long enough for fusion to
take place. The device, known as a tokamak, was conceived by Soviet
physicists in the 1950s and is considered fairly easy to build, but
extremely difficult to operate.
The team in Greifswald, a port city on Germany's Baltic coast, is
focused on a rival technology invented by the American physicist Lyman
Spitzer in 1950. Called a stellarator, the device has the same doughnut
shape as a tokamak but uses a complicated system of magnetic coils
instead of a current to achieve the same result.
The Greifswald device should be able to keep plasma in place for much
longer than a tokamak, said Thomas Klinger, who heads the project.
"The stellarator is much calmer," he said. "It's far harder to build, but easier to operate."
Known as the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, or W7-X, the 400 million
euro (£302 million) device was first fired up in December using helium,
which is easier to heat. Helium also has the advantage of "cleaning" any
minute dirt particles left behind during the construction of the
device.
While critics have said the pursuit of nuclear fusion is an
expensive waste of money that could be better spent on other projects,
Germany has forged ahead in funding the Greifswald project.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds a doctorate in physics, personally pressed the button at Wednesday's launch.
"As an industrial nation we want to show that an affordable, safe,
reliable and sustainable power supply is possible, without any loss of
economic competitiveness," she said. "The advantages of fusion energy
are obvious."
Although it is not designed to produce any energy itself, scientists
hope that over the coming years W7-X will test many of the extreme
conditions such devices will be subjected to if they are ever to
generate power.
Scientists in Germany flipped the
switch on an experiment they hope will advance the quest for nuclear
fusion, considered a clean and safe form of nuclear power.
Following
nine years of construction and testing, researchers at the Max Planck
Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald injected a tiny amount of
hydrogen into a doughnut-shaped device — then zapped it with the
equivalent of 6,000 microwave ovens.
The resulting super-hot gas, known as plasma, lasted just a fraction
of a second before cooling down again, long enough for scientists to
declare the start of their experiment a success.
“Everything went well today,” said Robert Wolf, a senior scientist on the project.
“With a system as complex as this you have to make sure everything works perfectly and there’s always a risk.”
The experiment in Greifswald is part of a worldwide effort to harness
nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high
temperatures and release large amounts of energy.
Advocates acknowledge that the technology is probably many decades
away, but argue that, once achieved, it could replace fossil fuels and
conventional nuclear fission reactors.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds a doctorate in physics, personally pressed the button at yesterday’s launch.
Scientists
in northeast Germany have successfully completed their latest experiment
on the road to harnessing nuclear fusion power.
Researchers
at the Max Planck Institute injected a tiny amount of hydrogen and
heated it until it became plasma, effectively mimicking conditions
inside the sun.
It's
part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in
which atoms join at extremely high temperatures and release large
amounts of energy.
+8
Researchers at the Max Planck
Institute have injected a tiny amount of hydrogen and heated it until it
became plasma (pictured), effectively mimicking conditions inside the
sun. It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a
process in which atoms join at high temperatures and release large
amounts of energy
Advocates
acknowledge that the technology is likely many decades away, but argue
that - once achieved - it could replace fossil fuels and conventional
nuclear fission reactors.
Construction
has already begun in southern France on ITER, a huge international
research reactor that uses a strong electric current to trap plasma
inside a doughnut-shaped device long enough for fusion to take place.
The
device, known as a tokamak, was conceived by Soviet physicists in the
1950s and is considered fairly easy to build, but extremely difficult to
operate.
HOW DOES FUSION POWER WORK?
Fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms.
When
deuterium and tritium nuclei - which can be found in hydrogen - fuse,
they form a helium nucleus, a neutron and a lot of energy.
This is down by heating the fuel to temperatures in excess of 150 million°C, forming a hot plasma.
Strong
magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls so that
it doesn't cool down and lost it energy potential.
These are produced by superconducting coils surrounding the vessel, and by an electrical current driven through the plasma.
For energy production. plasma has to be confined for a sufficiently long period for fusion to occur.
The
team in Greifswald, a port city on Germany's Baltic coast, is focused
on a rival technology invented by the American physicist Lyman Spitzer
in 1950.
Called
a stellarator, the device has the same doughnut shape as a tokamak but
uses a complicated system of magnetic coils instead of a current to
achieve the same result.
The
Greifswald device should be able to keep plasma in place for much
longer than a tokamak, said Thomas Klinger, who heads the project.
'The stellarator is much calmer,' he said in a telephone interview.
'It's far harder to build, but easier to operate.'
Known
as the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, or W7-X, the device was first fired
up in December using helium, which is easier to heat.
Helium also has the advantage of 'cleaning' any minute dirt particles left behind during the construction of the device.
David
Anderson, a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin who
isn't involved in the project, said the project in Greifswald looks
promising so far.
'The
impressive results obtained in the startup of the machine were
remarkable,' he said in an email. This is usually a difficult and
arduous process.
+8
The hydrogen was heated in the
doughnut-shaped Wendelstein 7-X machine (illustrated). Called a
stellarator, the device uses a complicated system of magnetic coils to
trap plasma long enough for fusion to take place
+8
The Wendelstein 7-X machine in
Germany, which cost €1billion to build, creates conditions similar to
those inside stars (illustrated). It's part of a worldwide effort to
harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high
temperatures and release large amounts of energy
+8
The nuclear fusion research centre at the
Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics is pictured. The device was
first fired up in December using helium, which is easier to heat
+8
Fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms
under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms. In
stellarators, plasma is contained by external magnetic coils which
create twisted field lines around the inside of the vacuum chamber
(illustrated)
'The
speed with which W7-X became operational is a testament to the care and
quality of the fabrication of the device and makes a very positive
statement about the stellarator concept itself.
'W7-X is a truly remarkable achievement and the worldwide fusion community looks forward to many exciting results.'
While
critics have said the pursuit of nuclear fusion is an expensive waste
of money that could be better spent on other projects, Germany has
forged ahead in funding the Greifswald project.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds a doctorate in physics, attended today's event, which took place in her constituency.
+8
The massive microwave ovens that will
turn hydrogen into plasma, eventually reaching 100 million°C. This has
been designed to mimic the conditions seen inside the sun (stock image)
+8
The first plasma created in
Wendelstein 7-X is pictured. It consisted of helium and reached a
temperature of about 1 million°C. Over the coming years W7-X, which
isn't designed to produce any energy itself, will test the extreme
conditions such devices will be subjected to if they are ever to
generate power
+8
Technical director Hans-Stephan Bosch
holds up computer images showing the first plasma generated at the
'Wendelstein 7-X' nuclear fusion research centre at the Max Planck
Institute for Plasma Physics in December
Over
the coming years W7-X, which isn't designed to produce any energy
itself, will test many of the extreme conditions such devices will be
subjected to if they are ever to generate power, said John Jelonnek, a
physicist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.
Jelonnek's
team is responsible for a key component of the device, the massive
microwave ovens that will turn hydrogen into plasma, eventually reaching
100 million °C.
Compared
to nuclear fission, which produces huge amounts of radioactive material
that will be around for thousands of years, the waste from nuclear
fusion would be negligible, he said.
'It's
a very clean source of power, the cleanest you could possibly wish for.
We're not doing this for us, but for our children and grandchildren.'
Remember that time Spanish device maker BQ started promoting a new, Ubuntu-powered tablet
before Canonical was ready to start talking about it? Well, the Ubuntu
developer finally decided to get chatty. As expected, the device is a
Ubuntu-fied version of BQ's existing Aquaris M10 tablet, with just about
everything from the 10.1-inch display to the quad-core MediaTek MT8163A
chipset left unchanged. The biggest difference centers on what
Canonical calls "Convergence" — the updated M10 is the first bit of consumer Ubuntu hardware that acts like a full-blown PC when you connect a keyboard, mouse and display to it.
Ubuntu's tablet ambitions stretch back for years -- Canonical released an Ubuntu installer for the original Nexus 7, and a preview version of Ubuntu Touch was made available for the Nexus 10.
It's a little surprising that it took this long for a full-blown Ubuntu
tablet to hit the market, but better late than never, we guess. Anyway,
once those peripherals are connected, Ubuntu's touch-friendly interface
shifts into a more familiar desktop view, allowing you to multitask,
run desktop apps and manage mobile apps you already have installed. New
software can be had after a quick trip to the platform's single app
store, too, and Canonical has to draw lots of attention there if it
wants people to seriously consider Ubuntu gadgetry as a functional
alternative to other mobile platforms.
If that all sounds familiar, it's because Microsoft's direction with its new Windows Phones
is nearly identical. Both approaches focus on the ability to let a
device's computing power — and the software that harnesses that power —
to thrive no matter what display is attached to it. Unfortunately for
Ubuntu, Microsoft's seemingly endless cash and talent hasn't kept
Windows 10's Continuum feature from feeling like a fancy, hamstrung
add-on. The situation has slowly gotten better as developers continue to
explore what's capable with universal apps -- hopefully, Ubuntu doesn't
run into similar growing pains.
At the
same time, Canonical is finally delivering on its promise to deliver one
codebase for all devices. The upshot is you'll be able to use the first
Ubuntu tablet, the Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet, as a PC as well
as a tablet.
Back in 2010, I was one of the first people to get my hands on Ubuntu Linux's new Unity PC interface. Back then I wrote, "Unity is not just a desktop interface though. It's also Ubuntu's one master interface for desktops, netbooks, and someday, tablets." That day has come. It took a while, but the first Ubuntu Linux-powered tablet--the Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet--is here.
Canonical
On February 4th, Canonical announced its launch of the first Ubuntu tablet: the Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet. This tablet will be available in March through BQ's online store,
It will have the following specs:
10.1 inch touchscreen with 1080p video
MediaTek quad-core MT8163A 1.5GHz processor
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage, approximately 11GBs is available for use
MicroSD slot (up to 64GB)
802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, FM Radio
8-megapixel camera with autofocus and dual flash
Front mounted speakers
Micro HDMI port
7,280mAh Li-Po battery
Built by the Spanish OEM BQ, the 10-inch M10 is the first Ubuntu tablet. There are already Ubuntu smartphones such as the Aquaris E4.5 and E5 HD smartphones and China's Meizu MX4 smartphone.
Pricing has not been announced yet. Sources tell me though to expect it to cost 230 Euros or $260.
While
the tablet sounds nice in its own right, it also features a dynamically
adaptive user experience. In short it can give you both a true tablet
experience and the full Ubuntu desktop experience. In other words, you
can use it as a tablet, or with an HDMI monitor and a Bluetooth mouse
and keyboard as a PC. That sounds great to me.
Canonical has been working towards this goal of one operating system and one interface for all devices for years. It's finally here. In a statement, Jane Silber, Canonical CEO said:
We're
bringing you everything you've come to expect from your Ubuntu PC, now
on the tablet with BQ, soon on smartphones. This isn't a phone interface
stretched to desktop size - it's the right user experience and
interaction model for the given situation. Also, in terms of
applications, we have something no other OS can provide: A single,
visual framework and set of tools for applications to run on any type of
Ubuntu smart device.
In an interview, Silber explained,
that the Aquaris M10 runs the same code at the Ubuntu smartphones and
desktop operating system. The interface automatically changes for your
device. So, when you use it as a tablet, it has the Unity tablet look
and feel. Connect it with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and you get
the PC interface. Just add monitor, jeyboard and mouse and the new Ubuntu tablet can work as a PC. Silber
continued, "We're not out to win the tablet market. We want to win the
reinvention of the PC experience. Today, the PC, tablet and smartphone
markets are not really different things. It's what we're doing on our
devices that's important. By providing one code base for all devices,
our view of convergence will make it easier to deal with blurring of
form factors." She added that OEMs and programmers will be able to
create customized interfaces and applications with the fragmentation
that has bedeviled the Android market.
Canonical is on to
something. Today, I work on my smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy 5; my
tablet, a 2013 Nexus 7; and multiple PCs. It would be great if I could
work with the same programs in fundamentally the same way on each of
them. Android devices have multiple annoying differences between OEM
versions and little desktop presence. Windows is desktop bound; its
smartphone and tablet efforts have failed. And, Apple's Mac OS X and iOS
are really different operating system that happen to be running on
parallel tracks. While users don't care, Silber pointed out that for
companies supporting a single operating system across platforms would
make end-point management much easier.
I've said for a while now that we won't have a year of the Linux desktop.
But, what we will have -- already have really thanks to Android's
domination of smartphones and tablets -- is a year where more users use
Linux than any other operating system. The Canonical Ubuntu universal
system for all devices may well prove to be another large step in that
direction.
Several things about the 2016 Mercedes-Benz G65 AMG qualify as astounding.
Let’s
rattle a few of them off: You’ve got a giant 12-cylinder engine on a
5,000-plus pound rig that worked initially as military transport for the
Shah of Iran—and, later, as the preferred vehicle for the Pope. It’s
heavy, but with a sprint time of 5.3 seconds it hits 60mph much faster
than an Audi A4.
Source: Mercedes-Benz USA/Wieck
You’ve
got a body style on the G-Class that has hardly changed in nearly 40
years. There have been some slight changes—mostly in paint and chrome
options—to that aquiline face and gilded tank body but hardly anything
anyone would consider an actual face-lift.
And
most astounding of all, you’ve got the price tag: $223,575 for the one I
drove last week through New York. Staggering, isn’t it? (At 282,208.50
euros in the European market, the AMG G65 EDITION 463 costs even more.)
You could buy a very respectable Aston Martin or Ferrari for that much
dough.
Some have decried the famous G-Wagon, as it is called, for
its stiff ride, small back seat, and deplorable gas mileage (11mpg in
the city might have been fine in ’79, but it doesn’t quite cut it in
2016). Those are legitimate complaints.
Photographer: Hannah Elliot/Bloomberg
But the G-Wagon makes no pretense to anything otherwise. And that, in its way, is refreshing.
Expensive, But Unforgettable
The
G-Wagon family is one of the longest-running cars ever produced by
Mercedes/Daimler, produced by the hundreds of thousands and lauded by
cults of loyalists. Many people happily spend thousands of extra dollars
on this, basically for the bragging rights of owning one, because while
the G-Wagon AMG has many nice qualities, they don’t all really add up
to that $224K pricetag. The extra little bump in the numbers is the
premium required to drive something with that “luxury heritage”
(buzzwords that have lost much potency in recent years) branding behind
it.
Here’s the irony—when it
comes at least to price, the closest competitor this old,
already-collectable rig is so young it’s not even on the streets yet.
The $231,000 Bentley Bentayga, while arguably less adept off-road, is
more luxurious inside and, while less powerful, a full second faster to
60mph. Even though it looks quite different, it’s the closest thing in
the market that to my mind captures the price-range, prestige and
performance of the G-Wagon.
Mercedes G Wagon, driven through snow.
Photographer: Hannah Elliot/Bloomberg
As
for other competitors, you could compare the G-Wagon to a Land
Rover—the closest SUV to it when it comes to old school iconography,
legit European heritage, and inarguable cool, but which costs $100,000
dollars less. Or choose the SUVs from Porsche or BMW, which are also
much less expensive, more ubiquitous, and, for many buyers, not nearly
as alluring. G-Wagon does indeed carry over from its military days an
undeniable swag that relative newcomer competitors can’t quite capture.
All
of this is to say, there’s nothing quite like the G65 AMG. I’m not
going to deny that I had strong feelings in favor of its looks before I
drove it. I have a friend who has driven the same stainless steel
version back and forth to Montauk for years (sometimes he even lets me
drive!). I have fond memories of that car sitting on the grass and in
the sand out there, or parked in front of his latest downtown party on
the nights I venture out to join him. To me, the car signifies good
times.
Old-School Looks
I like how tall and square it
is—it reminds me of safaris and exploration and adventurers from past
decades, when travel was glorious, unexpected, and a little dangerous.
Don’t be fooled - the double-crossbar chrome front bumper combo is
mostly cosmetic—don’t expect to tow anything attached to it—but it
fences in the beast like a dark polished bit on a bridle. The square
windows lined around the car allow maximum visibility (there could be a
smidge more out the rear window, but the blind spot warning system and
rear-view camera do help); their privacy glass adds to the general
mystique that you’ll achieve when you drive this. The high wheel covers,
21-inch five-twin light alloy wheels that are polished in ceramic with
red brake calipers, and the wide stance all, communicate assurance, too.
Bulletproof windows don’t come standard on this thing, but you’ll probably feel like you already have them, anyway.
Interior Trim
The
interior mixes primitive points with modern trim. In the G-Wagon,
cigarette lighters and ash trays are still a thing, as is the manual
turn-key ignition, which is getting rarer by the minute on luxury cars,
and cup holders indented into the back side of the glove compartment, so
they don’t take up extra space. You’ll half expect to have to roll down
the widows by hand.
The interior.
Photographer: Hannah Elliot/Bloomberg
On
the other hand, the carbon fiber panels across the dashboard and doors,
the swank Napa quilted seats, and the easy, intuitive computer screen
and entertainment technology seem fresh and relevant, designed well for
the current age. The front screen is pleasantly small, so as not to
distract; the AMG shifter remains discrete. They’re unobtrusive rather
than over-thought.
Also inside, the heated 10-way power front
seats inflate or deflate on command—the only problem, of course, is that
adjustability can’t magically add room to the back seat, which was
cramped even for the two sub-6’foot surfers I drove to Lido Beach last
week.
The rear seat does fold down, however, into an easy split
large enough to accommodate surf boards, wet suits and gear bags all
within the back. And the headroom in the G-Wagon is possibly unequalled
by anything that still has a top.
A Tight Ride
What does
it feel like to drive? About what you’d expect: Tall, tight, and fast if
hulky, at least after that initial turbo-charge lull. The 2016 AMG G65
has a 6.0-liter AMG V12 biturbo engine with 621 horsepower and
738-foot-pounds of torque. That’s a lot of guts—for perspective, the
much-less-expensive G63 gets 536 horsepower and 560 lb-ft from a
twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8; the G550 offers 382 horsepower and 391 lb-ft
from its naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V8. (Remember, all of these
models look the same from the outside, except for some differential
badging and option packages available with each.)
The G-Wagon has
permanent all wheel drive, a 4-wheel electronic traction system, and
three independent differential locks. (Yes, I did use those differential
locks on the sand at Lido, though I suspect I would never use them if I
owned this car.) You’ll bump around a bit on the road when you drive
it—the chassis is stiffer than you might expect—this is a hard hunk of
diamond on wheels, after all. The brakes on this glam stagecoach are
massive and rock-solid; its turning radius is about as wide as a
football field.
We tested the G Wagon with some real surfers, who liked the ruggedness of the car, but wished for more leg room in the back.
Photographer: Hannah Elliot/Bloomberg
The “G-Wagon” moniker stands for Geländewagen, which is German for "cross country vehicle.” If you want, you can indeed take it across hill and dale—but if all you
care about is doing that, you’re better served saving a hundred grand
and buying something solid from Land Rover, or Jeep, or Toyota.
If,
however, you have the means to join the ranks of the G-Wagon elite, who
brandish a collectible vintage design that is modern, functional and
austere in its richness, this is your ride.
Cape Town - If there is one word
that sums up the updated Mercedes-Benz A-Class, released in South
Africa this week, it is 'smooth'.
Engineered to do what
it does without fuss while cosseting you in enhanced comfort, even the
relatively minor styling 'nip and tuck' is all about a more aerodynamic
front bumper, faired-in tailpipes and an understated diamond grille.
But
under that, of course, there's an upgraded adaptive suspension that
goes from Mom's Taxi to Dad's Dragster, through 'Comfort', 'Eco',
'Sport' and 'Individual' at the twist of a Dynamic Select selector,
remapping the responses of the engine, transmission, suspension,
steering and even the air conditioning at each setting.
Acceleration
sensors measure body movement, steering angle, steering speed and yaw
rate, and vary the damping rate at each wheel individually.
Dynamic
Select is standard on the A220d and A250, as well as all variants with
dual-clutch transmission, AMG-line package or lowered suspension, but
it's an extra-cost option on baseline A200 and A200d models New A-Class: now with added comfort
The
A-Class is available here in a choice of two 2.2-litre diesel, one
1595cc and two 1991cc petrol variants, all turbocharged, starting with
the A200d (that's right, the CDI badging gives way to a simpler 'd' for
diesel), rated at 100kW and 300Nm, while the A220d is slightly upgraded
from the outgoing A-Class to 130kW and 350Nm.
It's also more
efficient than the A200, recording nominal fuel-consumption of 4.2
litres per 100km versus 4.5 for its detuned brother.
The
entry-level 1.6-litre A200 turbopetrol is good for 115kW and 250Nm while
warming the globe at a nominal 5.7 litres per 100km, followed by the
two-litre A250 Sport, which ups the ante to 155kW and 350Nm, at a cost
of 6.3 litres per 100km.
And then there's the Big Dawg of the
A-Class kennel, the A45 AMG 4Matic, barking out 280kW at 6000 revs and
475Nm from 2250-5000rpm - good enough, thanks to improved aerodynamic
and revised gear ratios, for a 0-100km/h getaway in a whiplash-inducing
4.2 seconds (nearly half a second quicker than its predecessor) while
slurping a nominal 7.3 litres per 100km under laboratory conditions. INTERIOR
The
cabin trim has also been upgraded with a new beige/black leather combo
for the Exclusive package and a new seat design with red or green
highlights in the Style line. A new seat cushion with up to 60mm of
adjustment is standard across the range.
There a new instrument
cluster with tubular dial housings and new graphics, anodised electrical
switchgear and a big, free-standing infotainment display - also
optionally available with an even bigger eight inch screen.
LED
headlights are standard on the A45 AMG and A250 Sport, and an option on
the A220d, A200d and A200. Another option is ambient lighting with a
choice of 12 colours and five dimming levels.
More importantly,
the driver assistance systems have been upgraded, adding autonomous
braking to reduce the risk of rear-ending the car in front of you, while
the drowsiness detection system now operates from 60-200km/h, using a
five-bar display to tell you exactly how tired you are. MOTORSPORT EDITION
Available
for any A-Class except the A45 AMG, the Motorsport Edition celebrates
the achievements of L Hamilton, Esq, with petrol green insets in the
front and rear bumper trim and on the AMG rear spoiler, as well as the
flanges of the AMG rims and (on the A250 Sport only) the side mirror
housings.
Inside, the bezels of the air-vents are finished in
petrol green, to match the contrast stitching on the black
leather/Dinamica microfibre upholstery and the decorative strips in the
seatbelts. PRICES
A200 - R389 200
A200 AT - R407 200
A200d - R419 200
A200d AT - R437 200
A220d AT - R460 100
A250 Sport AT - R491 500
A45 AMG AT - R683 600
An updated version of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class has arrived in
South Africa, with the German automaker touting its ability to mix
performance and comfort.
The Stuttgart-based manufacturer says its Dynamic Select system
allows the driver to change the vehicle's characteristics at the touch
of a button.
The updated A-Class is offered in two diesel and three petrol
variants: the A 200 d and A220 d and the A 200, A 250 Sport and
Mercedes-AMG 45 4MATIC.
The range-topping A 45 gains a boost in power, with its 280kW and
475Nm making it the world's most powerful compact sports model. This
sees its sprint to 100km/h fall by four-tenths to just 4.2 seconds.
The A 220 d, meanwhile, now has a slightly higher output of 130kW while the A 250 Sport now develops 155kW.
"With the Dynamic Select driving programme selector, the new chassis
with adaptive damping, and LED high-performance headlamps, the new
generation of the A-Class demonstrates just how high the level of
innovation can be in this segment," said Florian Seidler, Co-CEO
Mercedes-Benz South Africa & Executive Director Mercedes-Benz Cars.
"With this model update we are now meeting the wishes of many
customers for even more comfort with no loss of dynamic performance,"
said Seidler.
The A 220 d and the A 250 Sport models are equipped with Dynamic
Select as standard, while the system is also included in all models with
7G-DCT, AMG Line, or lowered suspension. Dynamic Select is available as
an option for the A 200 and the A 200 d.
Exterior styling updates include a new front bumper and newly designed tail-lights.
Inside, there's a new instrument cluster and anodised switches. The
frameless display of the infotainment system is now optionally available
with a larger eight-inch screen. New colours and materials, as well as
new finishes for the trim in the dashboard, are also on offer. Pricing: Mercedes-Benz A 200: R389 200 Mercedes-Benz A 200 d: R419 200 Mercedes-Benz A 220 d: R460 100 Mercedes-Benz A 250 Sport: R491 500 Mercedes-AMG A 45 4MATIC: R683 600
Google's market capitalisation will soon surpass Apple's,
despite the fact it makes less profit in a year than Apple does in a
quarter.
Marcio Jose Sanchez
by
Financial Times
Unless the market sobers up, Google's market capitalisation will soon surpass Apple's for the first time since 2010.
The
real re-rating occurred in 2015, with Google's addition of a new chief
financial officer. Hopes for cost control and transparency, under the
new brand of Alphabet, followed Ruth Porat's arrival.
Reality on
those fronts is less than the hype. Operating expenses dipped to 36 per
cent of revenue in fourth-quarter results. But apart from in 2014, the
ratio was lower than 35 per cent in every quarter for the past 10 years.
Nor is there any guarantee that spending is on an altered trajectory.
In fact, there were repeated warnings that capital expenditure could
rise.
The vaunted segment reporting provides only two parts:
Google; and a division known winsomely as "other bets", which lumps
together self-driving cars, smart-home device maker Nest, fast-internet
provider Fiber and anti-ageing division Calico. Apple, known as a
fortress of secrecy, provides five reporting lines.
The real benefit is
that the core business can now be appreciated in all its glory. Set
aside the "moonshots", which, it turns out, reduce net income by $US3
billion a year, and the search division is doing very nicely indeed.
The
big fear for Google was that it would struggle with the transition to
the mobile internet: would users neglect to type search queries into a
small screen and would they spend their time in apps, which are hard for
Google to monetise? The evidence is reassuring. Paid clicks increased
at an accelerating rate of 31 per cent year on year. Revenue from
product listing advertisements was greater on mobile than desktop in the
main US shopping period.
Alphabet still makes less profit in a
year than Apple does in a quarter. The market cap milestone can be
justified only if Apple deteriorates more than forecast. Alphabet is not
going to cut costs enough to close the profit gulf quickly, but at
least it is searching for and finding top-line growth.
Nasa workers handled a special delivery as the massive Super Guppy aircraft opened to reveal the smaller - but equally precious - Orion capsule.
The Super Guppy, which landed on Monday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, enables Nasa to fly spacecraft components around the world.
This time, the jumbo plane, with a 156 feet wingspan, was carrying the Orion space crew module, destined to fly at the top of the Space Launch System (SLS).
By the time it is completed in 2018, the SLS will be the biggest and most powerful rocket in the world and will be capable of sending humans to Mars.
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The Supper Guppy landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday. It delivered the pressure vessel, or underlying structure, of the Orion space crew module
The Orion capsule (pictured) will fly on top of the Space Launch System (SLS). By the time it is completed in 2018, the SLS will be the largest, most powerful rocket in the world and will be capable of sending humans to Mars
Nasa plans to send astronauts on a first crewed flight aboard Orion in 2021. Then, the space crew module will be used for other missions in the 2020s.
Ultimately, Nasa hopes that a journey to Mars will be within reach in the 2030s.
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The Super Guppy's cargo compartment is 25 feet tall, 25 feet wide and 111 feet long. It can carry more than 26 tons.
The aircraft's hinged nose can open at an angle larger than 200 degrees, allowing workers to load and unload large pieces of equipment from its front.
Monday's delivery brought Orion's underlying structure, also known as the pressure vessel, to the Kennedy Space Center.
The pressure vessel was first assembled in Nasa's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. It took about four months for technicians to build it from seven large aluminum pieces.
The Super Guppy (pictured), which delivered Orion's pressure vessel, enables Nasa to fly spacecraft components around the world. Its cargo compartment is 25 feet tall, 25 feet wide and 111 feet long, and can carry more than 26 tons
The aircraft has a hinged nose that can open at an angle larger than 200 degrees, allowing workers to load and unload large pieces of equipment from its front
Orion (pictured inside the Super Guppy) is set to go on an uncrewed test flight beyond the moon in 2018. The capsule will travel for about three weeks, taking off from the Kennedy Space Center and touching down off the San Diego coast in the Pacific Ocean
The structure will fly on top of the SLS for a first uncrewed test flight in 2018. The flight, dubbed Exploration Mission-1, is meant to enable Nasa to test the spacecraft's ability to accomplish future missions into deep space.
It will be a three-week journey beyond the moon.
SLS and Orion will take off from Nasa's Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center. Orion will leave Earth's orbit and travel in the direction of the moon for several days.
The capsule will then orbit around the moon for about six days before traveling back to Earth. It will return to the atmosphere at 25,000 mph, reaching temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees Farenheit.
Nasa expects Orion to touch down off the San Diego coast in the Pacific Ocean.
The Space Launch System (pictured) will give Orion the big push it needs to leave Earth's orbit and head towards the moon during the first test flight in 2018. The flight will pave the way for future missions with astronauts on board
A manned mission to Mars is a little closer after a big move from NASA on Monday. A Super Guppy cargo jet was used to transfer the Orion spacecraft pressure vessel from Louisiana to Florida, where it will conduct a test flight in 2018.
“The pressure vessel will fly on the first integrated launch of Orion and NASA's powerful new rocket, the Space Launch System,” NASA posted on its website Monday. “The test flight, which will fly without crew, will demonstrate the agency’s new capability to launch future deep space missions, which include missions to an asteroid and Mars.”
The pressure vessel will provide life support for the astronauts eventually boarding Orion, NASA’s replacement to its Space Shuttle program. Just short of 11 feet tall, Orion will fit four astronauts.
After being upgraded for deep space exploration at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, the pressure vessel will be tested at the Kennedy Space Center before finally being aligned with the rest of the Orion spacecraft. But it was the humongous Super Guppy that captured much of the day’s attention.
Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer is set to reveal cost-cutting plans that include slashing 15pc of the company's workforce, or roughly 1,600 jobs, and closing several business units, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The plans are expected to be announced after Yahoo's fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It did not specify which business units might be closed.
A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company could not comment during its quiet period before releasing earnings.
Activist investors have pressed Yahoo to sell its core business rather than spin it off, even though a sale would likely incur more taxes.
It is unclear whether the plan Mayer is expected to announce would satisfy their demands, but cutting costs could make Yahoo more attractive to buyers.
Verizon has said it is interested in acquiring Yahoo if it were up for sale. Other potential buyers would include media and private equity firms, analysts said.
Yahoo had about 11,000 employees as of June 30, according to its website, down from a December 31, 2014 total of about 12,500 full-time employees and what it called fixed term contractors.
Separately, a former Yahoo employee filed a lawsuit against the company Monday challenging its "quarterly performance review" process, on grounds it assigned numerical ratings to workers that in some cases were used to fire those at the bottom of the scale.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Jose, California, said the plaintiff was terminated in 2014, despite being previously praised, as a result of the QPR process.
The filing said Yahoo's use of the QPR process to terminate large numbers of employees violates federal and California laws that require employers to disclose mass layoffs above a certain threshold.
The New York Times previously reported on the lawsuit.
Yahoo has struggled to expand its Internet business, which includes selling search and display ads on its news and sports sites and email service, in the face of competition from Alphabet's Google unit and Facebook.
Yahoo's shares fell 1.2pc to $29.14 in afternoon trading on Monday. As of Friday's close, the stock had lost about a third of its value over the year.
The Orion capsule, Nasa's spacecraft designed to land humans on Mars, was carried from the US space agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to Kennedy Space Centre Florida for structural integrity tests."The pressure vessel of @NASA_Orion for Exploration Mission-1 is heading to KSC today," Nasa's Kennedy Space Center tweeted on Monday.
The Orion, which was carried in a Super Guppy aircraft, will carry four astronauts and will be launched from Nasa's rocket-in-the-making -- the Space Launch System (SLS) for the mission currently scheduled for 2018.
The Super Guppy has a cargo area that is 25 feet tall, 25 feet wide and 111 feet long and the jumbo plane, which can carry over 26 tonnes of cargo, is often used by Nasa to ferry large components around the country that would take too long (or be impossible) to ship by land or by sea, techcrunch.com reported.
The aircraft was designed during the Apollo programme and was used in the 1960s to carry parts of the Saturn V rocket from California to Florida.
The vehicle has also been used to ship Nasa's supersonic jets as well as modules from the International Space Station.
In 2013, the Super Guppy was used to carry Orion's heat shield, which was the largest of its kind ever built.
Assuming there are no delays or changes in Nasa's mandate, Orion's first crewed-mission will take place in 2023. Nasa hopes to use Orion to send humans to Mars by the mid-2030s.
San Francisco - Yahoo’s plans to turn around its struggling core business are set to dominate its earnings report on Tuesday, with investors keen to see if CEO Marissa Mayer will push ahead with a proposed spin-off or entertain calls for a complete sale.
The spin-off of its main business which includes its search engine and digital advertising units was flagged by Mayer in December after Yahoo abandoned efforts to sell its stake in Alibaba Group, but the company has provided few details.
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported Yahoo planned layoffs of about 15 percent of its 11 000-strong workforce and would close unspecified units. A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment on the report, citing the quiet period ahead of earnings.
Investors are also expected to zero in on any comments from Mayer on her plans to increase the company's advertising sales and improve its efforts on mobile platforms, where more users are spending their online time.
Some activist investors are pushing Yahoo to ditch the spin-off and instead sell the core business. Verizon Communications Inc has expressed interest in the core, and analysts say other potential buyers include media and private equity firms.
A note published by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey last week valued the core business at between $6 billion and $8 billion.
A Reuters story earlier this year reported that investors are prepared to take a tax hit on a quick sale of the core business instead of waiting for a spin-off that could take more than a year.
For the fourth quarter, analysts expect Yahoo to report revenue of $1.18 billion and earnings per share of 12.5 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Last quarter's revenues and EPS both missed analysts' estimates.
Yahoo has struggled to expand its Internet business, which includes selling search and display ads on its news and sports sites and email service, in the face of competition from Alphabet’s Google unit and Facebook Inc.
Yahoo's revenue has fallen slightly since Mayer took the helm in mid-2012, and its share of US web searches is essentially flat with three years ago, gaining no ground on market leader Google.
Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer is set to reveal cost-cutting plans that include slashing 15pc of the company's workforce, or roughly 1,600 jobs, and closing several business units, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The plans are expected to be announced after Yahoo's fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It did not specify which business units might be closed.
A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company could not comment during its quiet period before releasing earnings.
Activist investors have pressed Yahoo to sell its core business rather than spin it off, even though a sale would likely incur more taxes.
It is unclear whether the plan Mayer is expected to announce would satisfy their demands, but cutting costs could make Yahoo more attractive to buyers.
Verizon has said it is interested in acquiring Yahoo if it were up for sale. Other potential buyers would include media and private equity firms, analysts said.
Yahoo had about 11,000 employees as of June 30, according to its website, down from a December 31, 2014 total of about 12,500 full-time employees and what it called fixed term contractors.
Separately, a former Yahoo employee filed a lawsuit against the company Monday challenging its "quarterly performance review" process, on grounds it assigned numerical ratings to workers that in some cases were used to fire those at the bottom of the scale.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Jose, California, said the plaintiff was terminated in 2014, despite being previously praised, as a result of the QPR process.
The filing said Yahoo's use of the QPR process to terminate large numbers of employees violates federal and California laws that require employers to disclose mass layoffs above a certain threshold.
The New York Times previously reported on the lawsuit.
Yahoo has struggled to expand its Internet business, which includes selling search and display ads on its news and sports sites and email service, in the face of competition from Alphabet's Google unit and Facebook.
Yahoo's shares fell 1.2pc to $29.14 in afternoon trading on Monday. As of Friday's close, the stock had lost about a third of its value over the year.
The plans are expected to be announced after Yahoo’s fourth-quarter results, the report said
Yahoo had about 11,000 employees as of 30 June, according to its website, down from a 31 December 2014 total of about 12,500 full-time employees and what it called fixed term contractors. Photo: Getty Images/AFP
Bengaluru/San Francisco/New York: Yahoo Inc chief executive Marissa Mayer is set to reveal cost-cutting plans that include slashing 15% of the company’s workforce, or roughly 1,600 jobs, and closing several business units, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The plans are expected to be announced after Yahoo’s fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It did not specify which business units might be closed.
A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company could not comment during its quiet period before releasing earnings.
Activist investors have pressed Yahoo to sell its core business rather than spin it off, even though a sale would likely incur more taxes.
It is unclear whether the plan Mayer is expected to announce would satisfy their demands, but cutting costs could make Yahoo more attractive to buyers.
Verizon has said it is interested in acquiring Yahoo if it were up for sale. Other potential buyers would include media and private equity firms, analysts said.
Yahoo had about 11,000 employees as of 30 June, according to its website, down from a 31 December 2014 total of about 12,500 full-time employees and what it called fixed term contractors.
Separately, a former Yahoo employee filed a lawsuit against the company Monday challenging its “quarterly performance review” process, on grounds it assigned numerical ratings to workers that in some cases were used to fire those at the bottom of the scale.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Jose, California, said the plaintiff was terminated in 2014, despite being previously praised, as a result of the QPR process.
The filing said Yahoo’s use of the QPR process to terminate large numbers of employees violates federal and California laws that require employers to disclose mass layoffs above a certain threshold. The New York Times previously reported on the lawsuit.
Yahoo has struggled to expand its Internet business, which includes selling search and display ads on its news and sports sites and email service, in the face of competition from Alphabet Inc’s Google unit and Facebook Inc.
Yahoo’s shares fell 1.2% to $29.14 in afternoon trading on Monday. As of Friday’s close, the stock had lost about a third of its value over the year. Reuters
5:31:00 AM
An updated version of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class has arrived in
South Africa, with the German automaker touting its ability to mix
performance and comfort.
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