E-Book

Kindle refund more than doubles in e-book settlement

Amazon says customers who previously purchased books from the publishers involved in the Apple e-book settlement are estimated to receive between $0.73 to $3.82 per Kindle book.

Amazon Kindle customers could get more than double what was previously estimated from the recent Apple e-book lawsuit settlement, the company posted in its forum on Friday.

Pending court approval, some customers who previously purchased books from the publishers involved in the case are estimated to receive between $0.73 to $3.82 per Kindle book thanks to more publishing companies agreeing to the settlement, according to the Amazon. The US Attorneys General had previously said the refund would range from $0.30 to $1.32.

The refund is the result of a $165 million settlement from a lawsuit in which the US Department of Justice accused Apple and several of the nation's largest publishers of conspiring to fix e-book prices. Eventually, all the publishers settled, while Apple proceeded to trial.

The refund for Amazon's customers applies to Kindle books published by Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, and Macmillan between April 1, 2010, and May 21, 2012. (Simon & Schuster is owned by CBS, the company that publishes CNET.)

If there's no appeal and the court approves the settlement in December, the refund will automatically appear in the accounts of eligible Amazon customers.

Apple launches iphone trade

Apple retail stores are accepting customers' old iPhones for credit toward new ones. The company is expected to unveil the latest iterations of the iPhone at an event next month.

Apple has begun a long-awaited iPhone trade-in program at its retail stores, ahead of an event that is widely expected to include the unveiling of the new iPhone on September 10.

Apple spokeswoman Amy Bessette told CNET that the program launched Friday in Apple's US stores only. "iPhones hold great value," she said. "Customers will be able to receive a credit for their returned phone that they can use toward the purchase of a new iPhone."

She couldn't comment on a range of values Apple would ascribe to phones its customers swap for credit. CNBC said the service would give customers a trade-in value for the handset estimated at $125 for an iPhone 4, $200 for an iPhone 4S, and $250 for an iPhone 5 -- with a fresh contract. An unnamed source told The Wall Street Journal that the most Apple would be willing to credit customers would be about $280. ABC reported a figure closer to $300, also according to an unnamed source.

With Apple on the sidelines of the iPhone aftermarket for years, other trade-in options have cropped up to meet the need -- sometimes at values much higher than those being reported for an Apple program. People who want to ditch their phone when a new one comes along, without eating the full cost, found other companies willing to welcome them with open arms.

Devices traded in on sites like Gazelle and NextWorth are sold internationally in places where iPhones are very expensive. Right now, a 64GB iPhone 5 can snag a customer $370 on NextWorth.

Retailers like Best Buy and Target also offer trade-in options when new phones emerge, in addition to discounts -- like a deal this weekend at Best Buy giving iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S owners who trade in a working handset at least 50 percent off the purchase of an iPhone 5.

And, of course, there's always eBay.

With more lucrative options available, the biggest draw for an Apple program is convenience for people who buy directly through the computer maker, especially those who line up for days to be among the first to get hold of the latest iPhone.

Word of such a service cropped up in June, when Bloomberg reported that Apple was working with Miami-based trade-in company Brightstar on a program that would let consumers bring in their used iPhones for a discount on newer models and potentially for credit on other items in Apple's stores.

Next month's Apple event has the rumor mill churning out speculation at top speed, but the computer maker is generally expected to be introducing a high-end flagship iPhone, called the iPhone 5S, along with a lower-cost option, called the iPhone 5C.

Reports Monday indicated the company was close to firing up a trade-in service for its flagship smartphone. Apple was said to be preparing retail workers, giving first trainers their instructions Monday for them to start teaching other employees, and may have even started piloting the program in some stores.

FISA

Microsoft, Google to sue over FISA gag order

Google and Microsoft plan to sue the government, demanding the right to publicly discuss any surveillance requests served up by the FISA court.

Stonewalling by the Department of Justice has led Google and Microsoft to decide to file a lawsuit so that they can publicly discuss Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court-approved surveillance orders.

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith announced Friday that the company, in collaboration with Google, would sue the government despite its statement on Thursday that it would publish some surveillance request information annually.

Google and Microsoft are requesting the ability to publish "aggregate information" about FISA court orders directed at the companies in the hopes of being more transparent to their customers, the companies have said.

Google originally filed the motion to claim a First Amendment right to publish information such as how many requests it has received from under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Section 702 of the act was amended in 2008 to allow the government to declare even the number of requests issued under the act subject to gag orders.

Before the National Security Agency document leaks from Edward Snowden, the FISA orders had been declared so secret that Google, Microsoft, and other companies served with them were barred from acknowledging in public that they had received the requests.

As part of the procedure for the lawsuit to proceed, Google and Microsoft will be amending their petitions filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a source close to the matter told CNET. The companies received a 10-day extension, so the government isn't expected to respond by Friday's deadline.

The government's response to the original filing's deadline was delayed six times by the Department of Justice, leading to frustration on the part of the tech companies, which has culminated in the announcement of the lawsuit.

The source, who requested anonymity because the person lacked authorization to speak on the record, said that Google and Microsoft will be amending their petitions to more closely reflect the details of an open letter signed by most major tech companies (PDF) and sent after the initial FISA court filing from the Center for Democracy and Transparency to the heads of the US government and intelligence agencies.

It is likely that the government will consolidate the various petitions into the Microsoft lawsuit to avoid potentially having disparate decisions for different companies.

google smart watch

Google plunges deeper into smartwatch wars with WIMM

Google, oft rumored to be working on a smartwatch, quietly bought WIMM Labs last year to light a fire under the effort.

A Google spokeswoman confirmed to CNET that Google has acquired smartwatch maker WIMM. 

Smartwatch maker WIMM went dark last year, posting a cryptic thank-you message on its Web site citing "an exclusive, confidential relationship" for its technology.

Similar to previous reports of a coming Google smartwatch, the latest says the company has the work on the product -- including WIMM's employees -- centered in the Android unit, rather than its X Lab. That could mean a Google watch comes to market faster than the wearable Google has been trumpeting all year, Google Glass, which was a product of X Lab.

Though upstart tech companies have already introduced a slew of watches, giants are lumbering into the field too. Samsung is expected to unveil a smartwatch on September 4 called Galaxy Gear, and Apple has been rumored to be coming out with one

Facebook

Facebook says countries sought data on 38,000 users first half of 2013

(Reuters) - Governments sought information on over 38,000 Facebook (FB.O) users in the first half of 2013 and the No.1 social network complied with most requests, the firm said in its first report on the scale of data inquiries it gets from countries around the world.

The report follows allegations by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden that practically every major Internet company - including Facebook, Google Inc (GOOG.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) - routinely hands over troves of data on potentially millions of users to national intelligence agencies.

Facebook has more than 1 billion users worldwide.

U.S. law enforcement authorities were by far the most active in mining Facebook, seeking information on about 20,000 to 21,000 users between January and June. That represents a slight rise from the six months between June and December 2012, when U.S. agencies requested information on roughly 18,000 to 19,000 Facebook accounts, according to figures previously released by the company.

Facebook has at least partially complied to about 80 percent of those requests, the company acknowledged on Tuesday. <link to report: here >

Authorities in other countries with large Facebook user bases, including India, the United Kingdom and Germany, also requested information on thousands of users.

Facebook, which disclosed the figures in its first "Global Government Requests Report," said it individually scrutinized every information request and required governments to meet a "very high legal bar" to receive user data.

Although the full scope of the National Security Agency's electronic data collection programs remains unclear, Facebook has vigorously contested claims that it allows the U.S. government unfettered access to secretly gather information on a significant fraction of its users.

Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch said in the Tuesday report that Facebook hoped to contribute to the "ongoing debate about the proper standards for government requests for user information in official investigations."

"We fight many of these requests, pushing back when we find legal deficiencies and narrowing the scope of overly broad or vague requests," Stretch said. "When we are required to comply with a particular request, we frequently share only basic user information, such as name."

Facebook said it would begin to publish information on data requests on a regular basis. Google and Twitter, among other companies, have periodically released similar information for several years.

Facebook's report included secret information requests within the U.S. authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Patriot Act. U.S. companies are ordinarily prohibited from acknowledging the existence of data requests made under those statutes. Facebook negotiated with the U.S. government in June to begin publishing the total number of data requests it receives without specifying how many are related to law enforcement investigations as opposed to intelligence-gathering efforts.

Microsoft

From Nokia chief to Bill Gates, guessing game begins on new Microsoft CEO

(Reuters) - As Steve Ballmer bows out of Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), the guessing game over who will replace him has started with a British bookmaker putting Nokia's Stephen Elop as the favourite.

Ballmer, 57, unexpectedly announced his retirement last Friday after more than three decades at the world's largest software company, including 13 years as chief executive.

With no heir apparent, Ladbrokes (LAD.L) opened up betting on successors for Ballmer who will depart within the next year, with Elop, 49, topping a list of 26 candidates with odds of 5/1.

British and Irish bookmakers offer a wide range of bets as a niche sideline to more lucrative wagers on sports. Online gambling is far more restrictive in the United States.

Elop, a Canadian, led Microsoft's business division before becoming chief executive of the Finnish firm Nokia in 2010 with a brief to revive the once-undisputed leader in mobile phones.

Senior Nokia employees say he has forced them to make faster decisions. But Nokia's ability to compete in the global smartphone market is increasingly questioned; its market share stands at around three percent, far behind Samsung (005930.KS) and Apple (AAPL.O) which control around 50 percent between them.

Internal Microsoft candidate Kevin Turner, chief operating officer, is second favourite with odds of 6/1 to replace Ballmer, according to Ladbrokes. In third is former Microsoft executive Steve Sinofsky, who left the company last November.

The top female candidate in the stakes is internal head of devices and studios, Julie Larson-Green, in fourth place.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is ranked as a 50/1 shot to return to fill the void but he is considered more likely than rank 100/1 outsider Tim Cook, CEO at Apple.

Nissan Cars

Nissan plans to begin selling self-driving cars by 2020

(Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) said it will be ready to bring fully self-driving vehicles to market by 2020.

The Japanese automaker said it plans to offer "multiple, commercially viable" vehicles that are capable of autonomous operation without driver input.

The self-driving vehicles will be sold "at realistic prices for consumers," the company said at a media event in Irvine, California.

Nissan said its goal is to offer autonomous cars "across the model range within two vehicle generations" - about 10-12 years after the projected 2020 launch.

The company said it has been researching and developing autonomous vehicles "for years" with such top universities as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Oxford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Tokyo. It is building a dedicated test track in Japan for autonomous vehicles that will be completed by next spring.

Google Inc (GOOG.O), the Internet search leader, launched an autonomous car program in 2010 and has built and is testing several different versions, including one based on Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T) Prius.

Android mobile main target for Malware

U.S. security agencies say Android mobile main target for malware

(Reuters) - Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android, the dominant mobile operating system, is by far the primary target for malware attacks, mostly because many users are still using older versions of the software, according to a study by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Android was a target for 79 percent of all malware threats to mobile operating systems in 2012 with text messages representing about half of the malicious applications, according to the study from the government agencies, which was published by Public Intelligence website.

Google did not respond to a request for comment. DHS declined to comment.

By comparison, about 19 percent of malware attacks were targeted at Nokia's (NOK1V.HE) Symbian system and less than 1 percent each at Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iOS software, Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Windows and BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO).

Android continues to be a "primary target for malware attacks due to its market share and open source architecture," said the study, which was addressed to police, fire, emergency medical and security personnel.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta. Editing by Andre Grenon)

Scientist's Brain

U.S. scientist operates colleague's brain from across campus.

(Reuters) - Scientists said Tuesday they have achieved the first human-to-human mind meld, with one researcher sending a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motion of a colleague sitting across the Seattle campus of the University of Washington.

The feat is less a conceptual advance than another step in the years-long progress that researchers have made toward brain-computer interfaces, in which electrical signals generated from one brain are translated by a computer into commands that can move a mechanical arm or a computer cursor - or, in more and more studies, can affect another brain.

Much of the research has been aimed at helping paralyzed patients regain some power of movement, but bioethicists have raised concerns about more controversial uses.

In February, for instance, scientists led by Duke University Medical Center's Miguel Nicolelis used electronic sensors to capture the thoughts of a rat in a lab in Brazil and sent via Internet to the brain of a rat in the United States. The second rat received the thoughts of the first, mimicking its behavior. And electrical activity in the brain of a monkey at Duke, in North Carolina, was recently sent via the Internet, controlling a robot arm in Japan.

That raised dystopian visions of battalions of animal soldiers - or even human ones - whose brains are remotely controlled by others.

FINGERING A KEYBOARD

For the new study, funded by the U.S. Army Research Office and other non-military federal agencies, UW professor of computer science and engineering Rajesh Rao, who has studied brain-computer interfaces for more than a decade, sat in his lab on August 12 wearing a cap with electrodes hooked up to an electroencephalography machine, which reads electrical activity in the brain.

He looked at a computer screen and played a simple video game but only mentally. At one point, he imagined moving his right hand to fire a cannon, making sure not to actually move his hand.

The EEG electrodes picked up the brain signals of the "fire cannon!" thought and transmitted them to the other side of the UW campus.

There, Andrea Stocco of UW's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences was wearing a purple swim cap with a device, called a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coil, placed directly over his left motor cortex, which controls the right hand's movement.

When the move-right-hand signal arrived from Rao, Stocco involuntarily moved his right index finger to push the space bar on the keyboard in front of him, as if firing the cannon. He said the feeling of his hand moving involuntarily was like that of a nervous tic.

"It was both exciting and eerie to watch an imagined action from my brain get translated into actual action by another brain," Rao said.

Other experts suggested the feat was not particularly impressive. It's possible to capture one of the few easy-to-recognize EEG signals and send "a simple shock ... into the other investigator's head," said Andrew Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh, who was not part of the research.

Rao agreed that what his colleague jokingly called a "Vulcan mind meld" reads only simple brain signals, not thoughts, and cannot be used on anyone unknowingly. But it might one day be harnessed to allow an airline pilot on the ground help someone land a plane whose own pilot is incapacitated.

The research has not been published in a scientific journal, something university spokeswoman Doree Armstrong admits is "a bit unusual." But she said the team knew other researchers are working on this same thing and they felt "time was of the essence."

Besides, she said, they have a video of the experiment which "they felt it could stand on its own." The video is here

The absence of a scientific publication that other researchers could scrutinize did not sit well with some of the nation's leading brain-computer-interface experts. All four of those reached by Reuters praised UW's Rao, but some were uneasy with the announcement and one called it "mostly a publicity stunt." The experiment was not independently verified.

Apple in e-Books Case

U.S. judge wants external monitor for Apple in e-books case

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge weighing remedies to assure that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) does not fix prices again in the e-books market said on Tuesday that she plans to require it to hire an external monitor, something the company considers unnecessary.

But U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan suggested a final injunction would be narrower than what the U.S. Department of Justice has been seeking, and would not restrict Apple's agreements with suppliers of other types of content such as movies, music and TV shows.

She also said a provision related to Apple's app store that would allow other e-book retailers to provide a link to their websites or e-bookstores via an e-books app without having to pay Apple for book sales was "unnecessary."

"I want this injunction to rest as lightly as possible on how Apple runs its business," Cote said at a court hearing.

She said she expected to issue an injunction next week.

The proceedings followed a July 10 ruling by Cote that Apple conspired with five major U.S. publishers to undermine e-book pricing established by the dominant retailer in the market, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).

The Justice Department, joined by 33 U.S. states and territories, is now jostling with Apple over the scope of what Cote should do to prevent further antitrust violations.

Last week, the government eased its proposed injunction to cover just five years instead of 10, with the ability to obtain up to five one-year extensions if needed.

At Cote's suggestion, it also recommended that Apple hold staggered negotiations with publishers beginning in two years in an effort to avoid future collusion.

The five publishers, all of which have settled with regulators, include Lagardere SCA's (LAGA.PA) Hachette Book Group Inc, News Corp's (NWSA.O) HarperCollins Publishers LLC, Penguin Random House LLC, CBS Corp's (CBS.N) Simon & Schuster Inc, and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH's Macmillan.

Cote on Tuesday said she would wait for the parties to hash out suggestions for final language for her injunction.

She said a monitor would be necessary, after Apple had failed to show it learned its lesson from its "blatant" violations of antitrust law.

The monitor, she said, would likely be installed to review Apple's internal antitrust compliance program and procedures and recommend changes, and also required annual antitrust training for employees in Apple's e-books and content businesses.

Apple had vigorously contested hiring of a monitor, saying in court papers it would be "extremely costly and burdensome."

The Justice Department had earlier also sought to force Apple to hire an internal antitrust compliance officer, but has since backed off that demand.

Cote has scheduled a May 2014 trial to weigh damages, which could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

She told both sides to contact a judge who previously oversaw court-ordered settlement talks, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, for another session in September or October.

A spokesman for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the hearing.

The case is U.S. v. Apple Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-02826.

BlackBeryy eyes spinoff messaging service;WSJ

(Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO)(BBRY.O) is considering spinning off its messaging service into a separate unit, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday, quoting people familiar with the matter.

The subsidiary would be called BBM Inc, the newspaper said.
(link.reuters.com/meq62v)

A BlackBerry spokeswoman told Reuters the company cannot comment on rumor and speculation.

Two sources familiar with the company's thinking, who declined to be named because they are not authorized to discuss the matter with the media, told Reuters the company has reallocated internal resources and personnel to work exclusively on fine-tuning the BlackBerry Messenger service ahead of its launch on competitors' devices.

However, there is no immediate plan to spin off the unit, one of the sources said, adding that BBM for Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone and devices using Google's (GOOG.O) Android should be available to consumers in the next few weeks.

The instant messaging service has about 60 million users who send billions of messages a day. BlackBerry has sought to add value to the service, even as the popularity of the company's own handsets shrinks, by adding video calling over WiFi and working to make the service available to users of other devices.

The company has already announced plans for BBM Channels, which would allow advertisers to promote special deals or to target markets narrowly.

BlackBerry is also considering making BBM available for desktop computers, the Journal said, quoting a person it said was familiar with the matter.

BlackBerry said earlier this month it was looking into options for the company, which could include an outright sale.


BlackBerry's shares were 3 percent lower at C$10.63 on the Toronto Stock Exchange early on Tuesday afternoon. They have lost well over three-quarters of their value since a peak in early 2011, and are down more than 7 percent so far this year. 

Aston Martin Vnquish

Aston Martin Vanquish Research>

England can feel like the land that time forgot. The quaint villages dotting the countryside are short Sunday strolls apart, the roads connecting them no wider or smoother than necessary for horse-drawn carts. Ask a woman her weight, and she’ll give it to you in stone before slapping you. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that Aston Martin can sometimes seem like the car company that time forgot. Replacing the DBS for 2013 as Aston’s sportiest, most expensive offering, the Vanquish wears styling that is directly, obviously traceable to the 1994 DB7. Behind the familiar face rests a 5.9-liter V-12 that debuted in 2000 and a central architecture dating to the 2004 DB9.

This is not to suggest, however, that Aston is sitting completely still. Although the aluminum structure remains largely the same as the DBS’s (and DB9’s and Vantage’s and Rapide’s), the front-end structure is significantly lighter and is redesigned to allow the engine to mount 0.7 inch lower than in the DBS. Every body panel is new and now made of carbon fiber, contributing to a 25-percent increase in torsional rigidity and a weight reduction of about 150 pounds, according to the manufacturer. Still, figure on a curb weight of about 3850 pounds. Updating the big V-12 with variable timing on both the intake and exhaust cams (now hollow), larger throttle bodies, a revised intake manifold, and a few other tweaks bumps output from the DBS’s 510 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque to 565 and 457, respectively.

percent increase in torsional rigidity and a weight reduction of about 150 pounds, according to the manufacturer. Still, figure on a curb weight of about 3850 pounds. Updating the big V-12 with variable timing on both the intake and exhaust cams (now hollow), larger throttle bodies, a revised intake manifold, and a few other tweaks bumps output from the DBS’s 510 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque to 565 and 457, respectively.

 

Aston Martin still describes the Vanquish as a grand tourer, but a sporty grand tourer—the more laid-back being the DB9. The ride is quite firm, tending more toward sports-car stiff than GT supple. On smooth roads, the unyielding suspension contributes to surprising nimbleness and neutrality. Over rough tarmac, the Vanquish maintains its composure even in fast, lumpy corners, only—but readily—getting squirrelly with a midcorner throttle kick. The dampers offer three settings—normal, sport, and track—but even in normal, there’s hardly more body roll than there would be if the axles bolted directly to the subframes. And “track” is a rare bit of truth in advertising; nobody will ever want to use it anywhere else.

Hydraulic steering assist survives in the Vanquish. It’s a nice reminder of the way things still are in fewer and fewer cars. Quick, with a sporting but restrained weight that builds nicely in proportion to cornering forces, the rack allows appropriate feedback for something that its maker is unwilling to call a sports car, but the line goes a bit fuzzy at the limit. We do dig the available squared-off steering wheel, borrowed from the limited-edition One-77.

When compared with other V-12 sports cars in its pricing stratosphere, the DBS always seemed underpowered. Now, with 565 horses, the Vanquish…still seems underpowered. The Lamborghini Aventador has 691 hp. The Ferrari F12’s 730 beats Aston’s output by 165 horses. At least Aston’s flagship is no longer outmuscled by BMW’s SUVs. Nonetheless, we estimate the Vanquish should hit 60 mph in 4.0 seconds, which, if well off the pace of today’s hottest smart-phone wallpapers, does minimize the risk of being embarrassed by Mustangs and Camaros. And Aston’s V-12 is a thing of aural beauty; a sharp bark on startup and a guttural swell to redline can almost make you forget that Ferrari’s V-12 GT has 29 percent more power. Almost. Twenty-nine percent is a lot

technology

Fill 'er up, flyboy: Sky-high refueling, from biplane to B-2

Ninety years ago, a handful of aviators tried out a novel idea: running a gasoline hose from one biplane to another. Higher-tech adaptations of that maneuver keep 21st century aircraft going and going and...

If you were to have gazed up into the skies above San Diego's Rockwell Field on a late August day in 1923, you'd have seen some aviation history in the making.
On August 27 and 28 of that year, Army Air Service pilots Lowell Smith and John Richter, flying in a DeHavilland DH-4 biplane, were engaged in an endurance flight that ended up lasting 37 hours, 15 minutes, a world record at that time. And here's where the achievement gets really interesting -- they were able to stay aloft for so long because another DH-4 regularly came by to run out a hose and transfer fuel in midair.
Altogether in that day and a half, the two biplanes had 16 refueling contacts, and Smith and Richter set a total of 16 world records for distance, speed and duration.

Two months earlier, in late June of 1923, those same two flyboys had been on the receiving end of the very first midair refueling, also between two DH-4 aircraft. Smith was in the pilot's cockpit, while Richter grappled with the hose. (In the "tanker" aircraft, the pilot in the front cockpit was Virgil Hine, and Frank Seifert doled out the hose from the rear cockpit.)
You can see that achievement in the amazing photo above.
(Some readers might quibble that the June 1923 flight marked the first practical midair refueling. Certainly, this was the method that set the stage for all later technological developments in the field, even as the essence of the system -- one aircraft passes a hose (or a tube) to another aircraft -- remains the same. But a year and a half earlier, in November 1921, there was a jaw-dropping precursor, when wingwalker Wesley May strapped a 5-gallon gas can to his back and transferred himself ever so carefully from a Lincoln Standard biplane to a Curtiss Jenny, wingtip to wingtip, 1,000 feet above the ground.)
Ninety years later, aerial refueling has long since become SOP for military aircraft, enabling some striking feats of endurance. In March, for instance, the US Air Force sent B-2 Spirit bombers on a 13,000-mile round trip from Missouri to South Korea and back, ostensibly for a training exercise over the ideologically divided peninsula, but also quite clearly for a little geopolitical muscle-flexing in response to go-nuclear noise from a North Korean regime.

As new aircraft technologies take to the air, they too will have to learn the skills of midair refueling. In its KQ-X project that wrapped up in September 2012, DARPA investigated the potential for autonomous midair refueling with a pair of RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs. No actual refueling took place, but the two aircraft did operate safely in close proximity and provided Pentagon researchers with stacks of performance data.
The Navy, meanwhile, had been hoping that in 2014 it would carry out aerial refueling tests with its X-47B drones -- the same ones that just showed they can land on and take off from an aircraft carrier -- but it looks now like that experiment will not come to pass anytime soon.

What you can pencil in for the not-so-distant future is the arrival of a next-generation of full-size tanker aircraft to replace the aging KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-10 Extenders that have been refueling bombers and jet fighters for decades now.
On Friday, Boeing said that it has officially begun assembling a second KC-46A Tanker, loading the aircraft's 82-foot wing spar into an Automated Spar Assembly Tool, two months after beginning assembly of the first KC-46A. "One year from now, all four test aircraft will be out of the factory, and the first two will be flying," Boeing VP Maureen Dougherty said in a statement.
The KC-46A is based on Boeing's commercial 767 jetliner, though the aerospace titan has said that the tanker will feature a "modern, digital flight deck" that's based on the electronic displays in its new 787 Dreamliner.

Boeing on Friday laid out this timetable for the KC-46A: "The first test aircraft is expected to roll out of the factory in January 2014, while the second is scheduled to leave the factory in March. Boeing plans to fly the fully provisioned tanker for the first time in early 2015 and make the first delivery in 2016. The company expects to build and deliver the first 18 KC-46As by 2017 and a total of 179 by 2027 if all options under the contract are exercised."
If Boeing does hit all those milestones, it'll be in line for a total $30 billion payout. Big business indeed, born of the scrappy can-do efforts of four men and two biplanesSteve

11 ways to trick trick Android into using less data

With expensive tiered data plans, it's easy to hit your limit. Follow this guide to cut back on data usage (and avoid overage charges).

Apps are moving to the cloud. Streaming services like Netflix and Spotify are big. And just about every one of us is addicted to social networking.
There's just one thing standing in the way: your data plan.

With unlimited plans dwindling, most smartphone users are stuck with tiered options that sometimes make data usage more stressful than fun. (Anyone who's been hit with an exorbitant overage charge knows this feeling.)
But if you're on Android, you've got a little more wiggle room, thanks to plenty of data-restricting settings. With the proper configurations, you'll find yourself using data at a much slower rate -- so much so, perhaps, that you could even step down a tier.

11 ways to reduce Android data usage

Tame hungry apps

Whether you're actively using them or not, apps love to eat up data. They're checking for updates, running ads, and refreshing your user content in the background. The good intentions are there, but most times, the conveniences these practices bring don't outweigh the depleted data reserves. It's time to tame those apps.
Update apps on Wi-Fi only
Head to the Google Play store and tap Menu > Settings > Auto-update apps. Here, be sure that "Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only" is selected. You also have the option to choose "Do not auto-update apps," but it's less preferable, since you'll have to remember to update apps manually.

Configure in-app data settings

To give you a fluid experience, many apps ping servers in the background to keep their content updated. For instance, Google+ backs up your photos and videos as they're captured, while Mint can be configured to refresh banking data.
These conveniences are great, but they come at a cost, so dive into the app settings and disable the data-sucking options you don't absolutely need.

Restrict background data

Even apps that don't allow you to fine-tune data settings could still be loading background data. In Ice Cream Sandwich and later versions of Android, one way to find out which ones are guilty is to go to Settings > Data Usage, and scroll down to reveal a list of apps with accompanying data usage stats.
Then, tap an app to view its usage data, and take a look at the two numbers next to the pie chart. "Foreground" refers to the data used when you're actively using the app, while "Background" reflects the data used when the app is running in the background.
If you notice an app is using too much background data, scroll down to the bottom and check "Restrict background data." Just note that this setting overrides any conflicting app behavior (like an app that would otherwise update your bank account info every few hours).

Take advantage of preloading and caching

As data constraints become a reality for most smartphone owners, developers are including options that make their apps less demanding. Don't let these options go unnoticed -- they'll save you heaps

The majority of apps that offer preloading are the ones that need it most. So use it. Head into the settings menu of any app (especially streaming-media apps), to see if the option is available. Alternatively, you might find that an app allows you to lower streaming quality while on a cellular data connection.

Download files on Wi-Fi only

Unless you absolutely have to, refrain from downloading songs, movies, or large files while using a cellular data connection. It's common sense, but be sure to do any downloading while you're on Wi-Fi.

Cache maps before traveling

With its new offline feature, Google Maps now allows you to cache maps. It takes some time to download them, and does require a chunk of storage space, but once a map is downloaded, you'll be able to view and navigate it without using your data connection. Here's how.

Check sync settings

With automated syncing, Google makes sure your accounts are updated any time a change is made. Unfortunately for your data plan (and battery life) that means your phone is constantly pinging the server to find out if new content needs to be downloaded (or uploaded.) There are a couple ways to temper this.

Fine-tune sync settings

During the initial phone configuration, you probably opted into account syncing. By default, everything is set to sync, including things like photos, the Play Store, and other Google apps. You don't necessarily need all these items syncing -- especially data-heavy ones like photos.
To adjust sync options, head to Settings > Accounts > Google, and select an account. Here, uncheck the boxes next to the items that don't absolutely need to be synced. Repeat the same process for other accounts.
After that, you can manually sync accounts by visiting their respective apps.

Temporarily switch off sync

Going out for the night? Sitting at your desk? Prevent your phone from unnecessarily syncing data by disabling syncing, either from the notification bar, or by going to Settings > Data Usage > Menu > uncheck "Auto-sync data.

Minimize browser data usage

If Web browsing is the data-hogging culprit, it's no surprise. Some Web sites have yet to be optimized for mobile, while others eat into data with bulky advertisements.

The simple answer to these woes is data compression. With it, a Web page is first compressed in the cloud before being sent to your phone, significantly reducing the download size.
There are some drawbacks, however. First, even though your data is encrypted and anonymized, the browser must still process your activity while it compresses it. Not everyone is comfortable with that.
Secondly, sometimes compression means sacrificing quality, leaving you with slightly altered Web pages.
Even so, the option can be worthwhile for anyone on a tiered plan (or times when you're on a slow connection). Opera, a much-loved browser, is one such app that offers compression. Just head to the Settings menu to enable it. After some use, Opera will tell you just how much data you saved.
Alternatively, Chrome Beta includes a handy new data compression feature, but you'll have to enable it. To do so, head to Settings > Bandwidth Management > Reduce data usage. Going forward, you can revisit that settings window to see how much data you're saving

Call in for help

If you've given it all you got and you're still breaching your data limits, it's time to call in for help.

Monitor data usage

One of the most useful Android features is the Data Usage tool. With it, you can view your monthly activity, see which apps demand the most megabytes, and configure usage warnings. Find out how to use it with our step-by-step guide.
Alternatively, Onavo Count offers a similar solution, but steps it up by including a widget, letting you keep an eye on real-time data usage at any moment. Read our guide to using Onavo Count.

Compress all data activity

As an absolute last resort, Onavo Extend takes its Count app a step further by actively compressing almost all incoming data. For instance, e-mails are simplified, Web pages are compressed server-side, and photos are optimized.
Keep this option in your app drawer, should you find yourself running low on data.


Microsoft: Google's corrupting your kids at school

Oh, those terrible people at Google. In the latest "Scroogled" ad, Redmond says Google is peddling vitamin supplements to kids. And that's not all

This is a message to parents.
Please don't let your children resume school. At least, not until those venal principals have stopped allowing your children's minds to be warped like plastic in the Sahara.
Did you know that your children are being pushed to get a mortgage? Did you know they're being encouraged to get a free credit report?
Those sweet innocent minds are even being teased into buying vitamin supplements.
Who is behind this heinous hucksterism? Why, it's the Do-No-Evilers down at Google.
Please, I am not declaiming my latest musings, addled by cider from New Jersey. No, this is a new ad in Microsoft's famed "Scroogled" campaign.

These here adults cannot believe what this lovely child might become, just because she's being forced to use Google search in school, and therefore having to see ridiculous ads.
The corruption is palpable. She's studying the history of Mesopotamia, where civilization reigned, before it was corrupted by ignorants from the West.
Now here is Google corrupting young minds with issues far beyond their scope.
How can any corporation justify peddling these ads to the impressionables who will soon be the guinea pigs of the robot era?
Help is at hand. There is Bing for Schools. It's ad free. And it knows lots about Mesopotamia too.
Microsoft claims on the Scroogled site that 79 percent "of parents of K-12 students who search the Web believe schools should have the choice of making search in the classroom ad-free."
Worse, 84 percent "are unaware of the fact that when children search on classroom computers, they are exposed to the same ads that they'd see on a public computer."
Parents, please address this issue before your child becomes obsessed about mortgage rates, credit reports and ingesting vitamin supplements.
You do not, under any circumstances, want your kids to grow up to be like you.

Ballmer and Affleck: Why the Twitting spittle?

Two men who have seen ups and downs become the target of abuse in the same week. One is unworthy of being a superhero. The other is Ben Affleck.

Steve Ballmer made "Gigli."
So what?
He thought it was a good idea at the time and the public decided it wasn't. And anyway, he was in love with the, um, concept.
Ben Affleck was the man responsible for Vista. He hurried it through, the people recoiled. His reputation suffered.
Oh, and then he won another Oscar.
Yes, I know I've inverted the names. But for the last few days Ballmer and Affleck, two men who have enjoyed perfectly successful careers, have been treated like related Enemies of the Twitter State.
One was vilified because he quit a job without making his company the best at everything. The other was the object of Twitting spittle because he'd accepted a job that had been offered to him.
Affleck was adorned with the hashtag #BetterBatmanThan BenAffleck. Ballmer merely had the bald #Ballmer.
There, criticisms rained down. Some were for a man who hasn't even taken on a role, others were for someone who had, perhaps, been in his role too long.
It got so bad that corporations joined in.
Some extremely bright spark plug at Lexus managed to tweet, above a fine picture of some unusually exciting car: "You can question the superhero. You can't question the supercar. #Batfleck #BetterBatmanThanBenAffleck."

The tweet was subsequently removed. Perhaps this was because someone pointed out that Affleck drives, no, never, a Lexus.
Along the way, both men realized that they were good at some things and not so good at others.
Ballmer understood the business of business, but wasn't so clear on how to make normal human beings feel something about his company's products.
Affleck realized that he might make a decent director. Perhaps he learned something about acting along the way.
By the measure of most humans, these two men have had very successful careers. For every "Gigli" there was an Xbox. For every Kin, there was an "Argo."
Ballmer's Microsoft remains one of the 50 most valuable public companies in the world. Ben Affleck has won Oscars for directing and writing.
Yet critics want Ballmer to have been Steve Jobs and Affleck to be a better actor -- or just not Ben Affleck.
The new CEO of Microsoft should be younger, more imaginative. Batman, on the other hand, should be older, with a touch of self-righteousness.
Affleck for Microsoft, Ballmer for Batman, anyone?

I phone 2014

iWatch in 2013? Maybe. Big-screen iPhone 6? Not till 2014 -- Citi

In a note to investors, Citi comments on the time frame for an iPad Mini Retina release. The investment bank also says an iWatch could land before the year is out and comments on pricing for a low-cost iPhone 5C.

You'll have to wait until the first quarter of 2014 for an iPad Mini Retina, Citi reiterated.

(Credit: Apple)

The iPad Mini Retina is landing in the first quarter of 2014, while an iPhone 6 should arrive in the first half of next year, Citi Research reiterated in a note to investors. And, needless to say, Citi had something to say about more imminent iPhones (as well as the rumored iWatch).

In a note published late Monday night from Citi's Glen Yeung -- "Mini Retina a 2014 Event" -- the investment bank essentially confirmed what it said in June about the Mini Retina.

In our 6/7/13 note, we first indicated that the iPad Mini with Retina display was likely pushed out until late 2013 or early 2014. Despite some recent investor discussion that it may be pulled forward, our Asia team continues to agree with our opinion that iPad Mini Retina is unlikely to be pulled forward.

We therefore continue to believe that Apple's 2H13 [second half 2013] iPad lineup will be iPad5 (reduced weight, slimmer bezel, thinner design), iPad Mini (the existing model), and a reduced price iPad Mini (likely priced at $249).

The 2014 Mini Retina schedule jibes with what NPD DisplaySearch has been saying to date. Recent comments to CNET from IHS iSuppli, however, left open the possibility that a Mini Retina could arrive late this year.

Citi also addressed the rumored iPhone 6 and iWatch.

Looking Ahead to iPhone 6/iWatch - As we have written in the past, we expect Apple to launch a larger-screen version of iPhone (dubbed iPhone 6) in 1H14 [first half 2014]. We also anticipate the launch of iWatch, possibly in 2H13.

And that "low-cost" iPhone 5C may not be so low after all.

As we wrote in our 8/18/13 Semi Beat...we agree with our Asia team that the cost to build iPhone 5C is ~$50 lower than the iPhone 5S (implying $240 vs. $290). Based on this assumption, we estimate that the wholesale selling price of iPhone 5C will be ~$390 and the retail selling price will be ~$450. It is because of this relatively high-price (average smartphone price is ~$225) that our Asia team revised down their build forecast; we concur that at this price point, existing carriers may be loath to make room for a 3rd Apple product (instead opting to adjust mix to accommodate iPhone 5C) and new carriers may balk at the still high subsidy cost.

Range Rover sport (2014) CAR review

 few years ago, Greenpeace lambasted Land Rover for building gas-guzzling SUVs. Since then we’ve had more efficient powertrains, engine-cutting stop-start systems and weight-slashing aluminium bodyshells.

But nothing promises to cull emissions quite like this: the new Range Rover Hybrid, a 2394kg off-roader with a potent V6 diesel engine that emits just 169g/km – 27g/km less than today’s substantially less powerful Range Rover TDV6 and a whopping 130g/km less than the last-generation Td6 that so riled those greens.

We’re driving late prototypes today ahead of Land Rover taking them on a trek from Solihull to India, hence the expedition graphics and roof rack.

What’s the Range Rover Hybrid’s spec?

The Hybrid uses a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine which, when combined with its electric boost, yields 335bhp/516lb ft and promises 44.1mpg and 169g/km. This promises comparable performance to a TDV8 Range Rover (334bhp/516lb ft) with parsimony to shame the entry-level TDV6 (37.7mpg/196g/km). The Hybrid can also drive on electric power alone for up to a mile at speeds of 30mph or less.

There is no petrol version, Land Rover saying the Hybrid is a European-focussed vehicle rather than one aimed at the burgeoning American and Chinese markets that’ll lap up the Porsche Cayenne Hybrid. Only time will tell if that’s a mistake.

The system works like this: a 35kW electric motor is packaged within the ZF eight-speed gearbox, sitting between the ratios and the engine itself and taking the place of the torque converter. Meanwhile, the fuel tank is smaller to make way for the lithium-ion battery pack, which powers the electric motor. Back off the throttle and the coasting engine charges the battery. Brake lightly and all the retardation comes from the regenerative braking system, which also feeds charge back to the battery. Brake harder and a blend of brake-pad friction and regenerative braking combines to stop you.

What are the hybrid’s compromises?

Just two, as far as we can see: the hybrid tech adds 120kg to the kerbweight and the price rockets past the TDV6’s £71k and TDV8’s £78k to land right in range-topping Supercharged V8 territory at approximately £100k.

But because the Range Rover was designed from the off to be a hybrid, there are no packaging compromises related to the battery pack: passenger room, boot space and spare-wheel provision are all unaltered, and even the gearbox is no larger. Possible side-effects of the smaller fuel tank are also negated thanks to the improved fuel economy: the range is said to remain the same as a TDV6 at around 400 miles depending on driving style.

Likewise, off-road capability is unaltered – and, as we’ll discover, even enhanced. The battery pack is shielded by boron steel to protect from bumps and scrapes; approach, departure and break-over angles are unchanged; and Land Rover claims you can even jack the Range Rover up right under the battery without consequence

What’s the Range Rover Hybrid like to drive?

We drove the Hybrid on an eight-mile urban route, which gave us very few chances to assess its boosted performance – which nonetheless did feel bountiful on the brief occasions we got to taste it – but a decent opportunity to experience its tree-hugging eco credentials.

When we turned the Hybrid on in a car park the engine remained dormant for several minutes – we had no headlights, wipers, or stereo on, but the A/C blasting, all of which can cause a hybrid to start burning fossil fuels even when stationary – and rolled out of the car park silently. However, you do have to be very, very gentle with the throttle to stay in electric mode and, sure enough, the engine kicked in within a few seconds of us being on the move at very low speed.

Leave the Hybrid in Drive and the overwhelming sense is of a very, very efficient stop/start system, but instead of only working – as those systems do – when the Range Rover is at a standstill, it also cuts the engine when you’re coasting to a stop or manoeuvring at very low speeds, for instance negotiating a mini-roundabout. Accelerate again and you’ll hear the engine lightly cough and resume its duties. Mostly, though, the transition is extremely subtle, and is often given away only by a very light tickle of vibration through your feet rather than an audible change. It’s a very refined car.

Did you drive in electric-only mode?

We did. Press the EV button on the centre console and you’ll see an ‘EV’ symbol appear on the dash and feel the throttle pedal become noticeably soggier. If there’s insufficient charge or you’re travelling above 30mph, ‘EV’ will be ghosted in grey, but it up in green when electric mode is active. More so than the regular hybrid mode, the Range Rover makes every effort to keep the engine off, and the soggy throttle actively encourages you to accelerate moderately. The truth is, though, it’s still difficult to stick in EV mode, and it’s telling that Land Rover talks of switching to EV mode to pull up at a posh hotel or arrive at a movie premiere – both for the clientele it’s targeting and the likely duration of your all-electric adventures.

Nevertheless, it isn’t all about the engine being shut off, because the energy harvested via regenerative braking and engine coasting also gives the Range Hybrid a fossil-fuel-free performance boost

And the Hybrid works off-road too?

Absolutely. Land Rover claims the Range Hybrid will prove just as durable as a TDV6 off-road, even with heavy use and frequent exploitation of the unchanged 900mm wading depth. And the abilities of this car remain extraordinary, clawing up inclines that you’d struggle to stand up on, teetering at angles that feel impossible and navigating the kind of terrain that normally requires oars. The electric motor even boosts capability, providing an instant slug of torque to creep you the steepest of inclines at idle speed.

Verdict

The Range Rover Hybrid is a very impressive piece of engineering, a package that’s been seamlessly integrated into the car with only a small increase in overall kerbweight and no other drawbacks. It promises strong performance – though, unfortunately, we can’t claim to have tested that thoroughly – and strong improvements in economy and CO2 versus the TDV6, let alone the TDV8, with which its performance figures are more comparable. However, we’ll watch with interest to see how those figures translate to the real world, where hybrids typically fair far worse than their conventional counterparts.

Don’t expect to spend large amounts of time wafting about silently in a Range Rover Hybrid – after eight miles the display showed our engine had been shut off for 30% of the time, but much of that was down to us being stationary in a car park or stopped at traffic lights – where, you’d hope, a stop/start system would be equally effective.

There’s another drawback too: the price. You’ll pay a whopping £22k more for a hybrid than a TDV8 that offers similar performance, so you’ll have to be pretty focused on reducing your tax bill, saving fuel and CO2, and making a green statement to sink your cash in a Hybrid. We’d get the TDV8, but expect a Range Rover Hybrid to deliver David Cameron to Downing Street sometime soon.

Mercedes Benz S Class 2014

2014 Mercedes S-Class review: The best, most technologically advanced car you will ever drive

The 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class combines radar, cameras, and hundreds of LED lamps to provide a car that is a dream to drive, über-safe for occupants, and able to avoid jaywalking pedestrians and crossing traffic that darts in your path. Add streaming entertainment delivered through the car’s integrated 3G telematics system delivered to four LCD displays, and you have the world’s finest premium luxury sedan. The privilege of owning will cost you just under $100,000, more if you want options such as the hot stone massage seats, aromatherapy climate control, and the 24-speaker Burmester audio upgrade. Who says those stolid Germans don’t know a thing or two about the luxe life?

The bottom line is that the Mercedes-Benz S-Class is not just the best premium luxury sedan on the market today, it is the best car you are ever likely to drive.

Among Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, the mantle of best luxury car typically goes to whoever shipped most recently. That would be Mercedes with the sixth-generation S-Class arriving in September. Mercedes piled on so many new technical features that it’s not a close decision. In a car with so much tech, the biggest challenge, no surprise, is making the richness of features readily accessible to the driver and passengers. On the ease-of-use front, I believe the wizards of Stuttgart are delivering a work in progress and they’ll have to take their lumps from consumer magazines who expect a car with 100 microprocessors to be fully usable the first time you set foot in the cockpit.

Maximum driver assistance: Self-driving for 15 seconds

The optional driver assistance package is a must-have if you love tech and advanced cars. It’s the heart of what Mercedes calls Intelligent Drive. For the same price ($2,800) as adaptive cruise control was a decade ago, you now get a networked sensor array of radars and cameras for front, side, and rear assistance that avoids collisions and even drives the car for brief periods. Naturally there’s the core functionality of stop-and-go adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, and lane departure warning. That’s the starting point. (Read: What is adaptive cruise control, and how does it work?)

The pair of optical cameras mounted a half-foot apart in the windshield mirror housing provide 3D vision to augment Mercedes’ narrow-beam long range radar (out to 200 meters or 1,640 feet, equal to 18 seconds at 60 mph) and medium range wide-angle radar (200 meters or 650 feet). (Subaru also uses optical cameras for adaptive cruise control and pedestrian safety.) The 3D shaping of the optical cameras works to about 50 meters or 160 feet and can see in monovision to 500 meters or 1,640 feet. The 3D camera lets the car decide whether to key on lane markings or the car in front, and does a better job of detecting and traffic that darts across the front of the car. Here’s how Intelligent Drive saves you as well as pedestrians and wayward traffic:

Adaptive cruise with steering assist and stop & go pilot

In heavy traffic in stop & go mode up to 60 kph (37 mph), the sensor combo decides whether to track the lane markings or the car in front. On a crowded highway the camera might not always see the pavement markings.

Active lane keeping assist

Not only does the car warn if you’re about to cross over a lane by steering wheel vibration (no noisy beeps), it senses if the adjacent lane is occupied. If so, the front wheel opposite the hazard is lightly braked to pivot the car back into lane. On my test drive, the car does better than that: It keeps the big Benz centered in the lane, although with the lightest touch on the electric power steering, you’re in control. At highway speeds, adaptive cruise plus lane keeping assist equals a self-driving car. Mercedes knows this and limits you to about 10 seconds of hands-off driving, issues a warning (a chime and an instrument panel icon of blood red hands gripping the wheel) and five seconds later ACC deactivates. So long as you keep the lightest touch on the wheel, the car seems happy. It will handle curves of up to 15 degrees.

Brake Assist Plus with cross traffic assist, Pre-Safe Brake with pedestrian detection, Pre-Safe Plus

Brake Assist Plus watches for crossing traffic (a car that ran a stop sign) or an oncoming car veers into your lane; it warns you with audiovisual signals, and once you apply the brakes, the car adds braking pressure because too many drivers don’t brake hard enough. Pre-Safe Brake detects pedestrians and stopped cars and applies the brakes, hard. Up to 50 kph or 31 mph, there will be no collision, Mercedes says, and up to 72 kph or 45 mph the collision will at least be mitigated.

I sat in on a series of tests with a Mercedes driver at the wheel; a pedestrian dummy crossed in front and the car slammed to a safe stop. In another test, a car swerved a few feet into our lane and our car moved to the right, but still in the travel lane (photo right). With Pre-Safe Plus, if the car’s rear-facing radar detects a likely rear-end collision, it snugs the seat belts tight and if the car is standing still locks the brakes; on Benzes sold outside the US, the hazard lamps flash at high frequency.

Active parking assist

The car detects an open parking space suitable for parallel or back-in (mall) parking. Once you put the car in reverse, it automatically backs you in to the space. It can’t park head in, yet, but Mercedes notes back-in parking reduces backing out collisions when you’re done shopping.

All-LED lighting, better night vision

Never again will you pulled over for a defective tail lamp. Every bulb in the car is an LED that should last several lifetimes of the car. In total, the S-Class has almost 500 LEDs: up to 56 LEDs for each of the headlamps, up to 35 LEDs for each taillamp, four for the rear fog lamp, and about 300 for interior ambient lighting with seven color choices including blue (photo). In world markets, individual elements swivel and turn and can be masked to not shine at an oncoming car or the car in front of you. In the US, the headlamp as a unit can still swivel to follow the steering wheel. Going to LEDs cuts power consumption as well.

The lighting system teams up with Night View Assist Plus, the most current MB night vision system, which combines active (illuminated) and passive (heat detecting) infrared sensors. A black and white image appears in the cockpit as you drive. If sensors detect a human or animal on or near the road, the center of the instrument cluster pops up the night view display even if it wasn’t already on, and puts a red rectangle around any animal or human it sees. Then one of the headlamp units swivels, aims at the human, and strobes or flashes the headlamp three times so you see the pedestrian — and so the pedestrian recognizes the potential danger. It won’t flash an animal because their reaction is hard to predict, Mercedes says. With this combination, night vision rises from “nice to have if you’re checking every options box” to “seriously useful safety tool.” The downside remains: You’re paying $2,260 to protect somebody you probably don’t know.

Streaming music from the car, not your phone

When a car has an on-board telematics module with a cellular modem, why not use that to stream audio, rather than tether your phone? That’s how the S-Class will deliver online services including streaming audio. Everybody in the car gets a separate music or entertainment stream from a DVD player in the dash, a DVD changer above the center rear armrest, AM/FM/HD/satellite radio head unit, two USB jacks in the console with power to charge an iPad, leftover space on the 250GB navigation hard disk drive for ripped music files and Gracenote lookup, SD card slot, or streaming audio. The modem also provides WiFi that allows internet access for up to about 10 devices, other Mercedes in-dash apps, and 3D Google terrain maps to the navigation system.

Americans will be pleased to know we won’t be hobbled by the entry-level audio system and its meager 10 speakers that are offered outside North America. Standard audio in the home of the Stand Your Ground and the Big Mac is a 13-speaker, 590-watt Burmester  system. The upgrade, Burmester again, is 24 speakers, 1540 watts, and $6,400. The two tweeters in the front door extend out 10mm (0.4 inches) when the system comes on. Burmester is a bespoke Berlin audio company that outfits only Porsche and now Mercedes.

For watching, four LCD screens are available. In front are two 12.3-inch, 1440×540 TFT displays. The left screen is the instrument panel. In addition to the usual gauges, it can also display current-music information, a simplified navigation screen, or a target-seeking night vision image (more below). It flows into the center stack screen with only a narrow strip with a couple buttons separating them. The center display can be had with SplitView, its term for the Sharp LCD technology that angles separate full-screen images at the driver and passenger, the only cost being halved resolution: 720×540 for each viewing side, where pixels 1, 3, 5, etcetera face the driver and 2, 4, 6, etcetera face the passenger. That lets the front seat passenger watch a movie that the driver cannot see. The only obstacle is a couple of dumb state legislatures whose laws say a front seat display can’t play video, as opposed to restricting a display to not being seen by the driver when the car moves. Dual rear seat displays measure 10.2 inches, 960×540.

Good not great 3G WiFi out in the hinterlands

In an early production car I drove with integrated cellular WiFi, we could maintain multiple internet connections but throughput was slow. Most likely it was where we tried: in Muskoka, Ontario, a lakes and resort district 125 miles north of Toronto with cell service although not a lot of it. But multiple WiFi connections in a car is not bleeding edge tech, so likely it will work most places. MB execs also hinted that the 3G telematics phone in the S-Class will yield to faster 4G in the future.

At the introduction, Mercedes-Benz did not announce pricing for Mbrace2 with streaming media. Pricing for Mbrace2 is currently tiered: $280 a year for the core safety tools plus, $240 for Mbrace Plus concierge service and traffic/weather, and $168 for Mercedes-Benz Apps that currently includes internet browsing, Google Local Search, Yelp, Facebook and News, but not streaming media, which could be a bandwidth hog if you stream a lot of music. Mbrace2 cars have an industry advantage: Updates are sent directly to the car. That would save Ford a lot of trouble every time they need to refresh Sync and MyFord Touch.

With apps embedded in the dash, Mercedes is stepping back from phone-based apps the car controls. The means you’d better like TuneIn because you can’t control Aha, Pandora, MOG or Spotify from the car except by manipulating your phone directly. Over time, Mercedes probably needs to offer the services its buyers already use. The choice of TuneIn was partly because Mercedes wanted to offer a single app that was available in the most countries.

The feature called Magic Body Control — maybe “Spanx” was taken?

The features and options lists include some intriguing offerings. Most notable is Magic Body Control and, no, that is not what you wear under a slim-fitting outfit when you haven’t been to the gym lately. Rather, MBC uses the stereo cameras to scan the road ahead for undulations and adjust each wheel’s suspension to smooth the ride. A couple times we drove over a bump that was noticeable in the passenger compartment. Mercedes explained that it’s for a series of similar bumps and not, say, a single frost heave or speed bump.



Hot stone massage, climate control with active perfuming

This car has more seating variants than other cars have paint choices. Every seat can be heated and cooled; there is heating and then there’s rapid heating; the cooling function sucks then blows. (Sorry.) For the first four minutes the seat-bottom fans draw air in to wick away moisture, then they reverse direction and blow air on your back side.

The Executive Seat package allows the right rear seat to recline 43.5 degrees instead of a mere 37 degrees for the package with reclining rear seats. With the executive package, the right front seat slides forward an extra three inches, a footrest pops up, and you’re in business class. The front console continues all the way back, cupholders employ the Peltier effect to cool or warm beverages, and airline-style tray tables pop up from the extended console. Mercedes says it’s a one-hand job; I saw an MB exec (not in the trays and seats department) who struggled mightily for almost a minute to get it back into place.

The massage functions include a quote hot stone massage. Air bladders inflate to emulate a touch point and that area heats up rapidly. It’s quite convincing except once the bladder deflates, the heat doesn’t immediately dissipate. Still, a 45-minute segment in the executive seat with my feet up, someone else driving, me tinkering with the entertainment sources, and the massager at work, was as comfortable as I’ve ever spent lounging in a car.

Perfumed air for $350 sounds like overkill unless you live in a polluted city or on a dairy farm. The air balance package filters and ionizes the air and injects a scented undertone – sports, nightlife, fireside or downtown mood – into the car that is quite subtle and doesn’t appear to linger on your clothes. On a $100K car, this is petty cash.

Hands-on with the S-Class

When I drove the S-Class, the first thing I noticed was the quiet — quiet beyond any car I’ve ever driven before. The last time I heard less noise, or so it seemed, was in the Bose anechoic chamber. The second thing was the size of those side-by-side front displays: wondrously large and readable, and a huge improvement over the 7-inch center stack display in the flagship SUV, the Mercedes-Benz GL. The third thing was my delight at being able to lightly ungrip the steering wheel and watch the car track straight and true for 10-15 seconds at a time, longer if I gripped and ungripped the wheel every few seconds.

It’s a big car at 201 inches long, 75 inches wide – same as the Cadillac Escalade give or take a couple of inches — but the circle of sensors makes the car feel smaller because it helps you stay in lane. There was plenty of power. The Comand cockpit control wheel was fairly easy to use: Press one of the Navi-Radio-Media-Tel buttons in front of the controller, then fine tune your selections with the Comand wheel. The Comand leather wrist rest slides away to expose a telephone keypad for dialing. You can also use voice commands as well. It takes a bit longer to master a cockpit control wheel than a touchscreen but after that the control wheel will be faster for most drivers.

The biggest challenge while driving was the complexity of the infotainment and car control options. My co-driver and I found the air balance (fragrance) menu early on, and later spent several frustrating minutes trying to find where it was hiding the second time around. The adaptive cruise control stalk is hidden behind the steering below the turn signal and I managed to push a button that would not let the car go faster even when I stepped on the gas; call it unintended non-acceleration. (Tapping the brakes or pushing the ACC stalk to Off returned control until I stopped and read up on how to use ACC.) Similarly, the remote control that switches between left and right rear seat adjustments, or left and right infotainment menus, took some getting used to, as did the smartphone app for seats and infotainment. I’d call it a 50-50 problem: part is the fault of the all those features, part is the fault of early iterations of interface design. I suspect there’ll be more revisions as MB gets feedback. I would wager that Mercedes will get dinged when Consumer Reports does its review, based on how Ford Sync and Cadillac CUE cars have fared with their newer, complex interfaces.

Should you buy?

There is no bad car among the full-size premium luxury sedans. The segment focuses on the S-Class, Audi A8, and BMW 7 Series, extends to cars in the general price bracket with less space (Maserati Quattroporte, Porsche Panamera) and down in price and possibly prestige (Acura RLX, Hyundai Equus, Jaguar XJ, Lexus LS). The buying choice might hinge on styling or exclusivity. If you can afford a $1,000 monthly lease payment, maybe $2,000 is possible and an entry Bentley or Rolls-Royce is do-able, especially pre-owned. Cadillac said it will not build a $100,000 halo car but Volkswagen just announced it’s taking another stab at the US market with its premium VW Phaeton. (Phaeton 1.0 departed the US seven years ago when buyers realized you could get its sibling, the Audi A8, for the same money.)

The 2014 S-Class arrives first in September as the rear-drive, V8 Mercedes-Benz S550, followed in November with the 4Matic, all-wheel-drive, S550. Best guess is $95,000-$99,000 for the S550, another $3,000 for the all-wheel-drive model. That’s $5,000-$15,000 more than BMW and Audi competitors, although a higher price in this category isn’t always a terrible thing. Expect Mercedes to bring to the US within 1-2 years a six-cylinder diesel that gets real world highway economy beyond 35 mpg and a six-cylinder hybrid, both for about $1,000 less. With the diesel, the attraction in a high-end car is not so much saving a few bucks on fuel, but the ability to drive 700-800 miles between fill-ups. There will also be AMG models for more performance and exclusivity in the $140,000 range.

To get the real technical wizardry behind the S-Class, add $17,000. Start with the Premium 1 package at $4,500 that will be on most cars (and a required building block for other options): parking sensors, heated and ventilated front seats with massage, and keyless go. Add the surround view camera, $800. The driver assistance package, $4,500, takes the car from safe to ultra-safe with Distronic Plus (stop and go adaptive cruise control), blind spot detection, active lane keeping assist (self-steering), front and rear collision mitigation system. Night view assist plus is $2,260. The split view center front display runs $710. Magic body control is $4,450. Other Mercedes-Benzes have some of these features, including the midsize E-Class, but not all of them.

For ultimate comfort, there’s the air balance package, $350, with perfume, filtration, and ionization. Warmth comfort, $2,350, warms and cools the rear seats, heats the front and rear armrests, heats the steering wheel. The premium Burmester 3D sound system is $6,400. Rear seat entertainment runs $2,650.

For the executive seating in back, you need the rear seat package, $3,000, with active seat belt buckles and airbags in the belt webbing and an electric footrest on the right rear side. The executive seat package that reclines 43.5 degrees adds $3,500. Folding tables in back and two- not three-person seating adds $1,950.

With Designo (de-zeen-yo) premium leather seating, a sport package, and a refrigerator box in back, and all the other options, the sticker price will be in the neighborhood of $150,000. One reason for the fully optioned S-Class is to fill the niche left by the $400,000 Maybach, a sibling brand that sold about 3,000 vehicles in the past 15 years.

Finally, as to whether you should consider the new S-Class: If you want the most technology, safety, entertainment and passenger comfort in one car, the S-Class is the clear way to go, and is our Editor’s Choice in the Luxury Car segment. At the same time I’ll note that the sixth generation W222 of 2014 looks not unlike the fifth generation W221 S-Class of 2005-2013. If you do buy, commit yourself to mastering the features and technologies of the navigation, infotainment, and seating systems. If you don’t, you’ll whine about the car being too hard to use. As with MyFord Touch and Cadillac CUE, the richness and complexity of technology means the driver must prove himself worthy of the car’s many features. That’s not the way it should be, but that’s the way it is with the very best car ever made — so far.