Features

NEW YORK — The Facebook scandal involving the harvesting of data from tens of millions of users has raised a lot of questions about social media and search engines.

As Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the US Congress this week on protecting user data, here is a primer on what they know about you:

Social media

Facebook, which has more than 2 billion users, has access to everything you do on the site: the photos and videos you post, your comments, your “likes”, anything you share or consult, the identity of your friends and any other users you interact with, your location and other information.

Ditto for Instagram and WhatsApp, which are owned by Facebook, and for Snapchat and Twitter. A user can control some sharing of their Facebook data with priv`acy settings and the ad preferences page.

— What it sells: Facebook insists it does not sell advertisers personally identifiable information or even aggregate data. What it provides an advertiser with is the ability to reach a specific demographic, which enhances the effectiveness of an ad campaign. Twitter, for its part, provides access to an internal search engine that sweeps up all messages on the site.

— What it shares: Most social media platforms are open to outside developers who create apps fed in varying degrees by using data from users of these networks. In the case of Facebook, the public profile — the whole page for some people, or just the first and last name and photo for others — does not require authorisation from the user, but accessing the rest may require a separate OK from the user.

Once data is mined by outside apps, it is no longer in the grasp of Facebook and trying to get hold of it again is difficult.

“Once people had access to that data, Facebook has no way of knowing for sure what they did with that data,” said Ryan Matzner, co-founder of mobile app designer Fueled. “It’s like sending an e-mail to somebody and then saying: ‘What did they do with that e-mail?’ You don’t know.”

Only bank and payment details held by Facebook are off-limits.

Search engines

— What they collect: Google, Yahoo and Bing gather all information involving searches including the websites that are accessed and the location of the user. This can be integrated with information from other services owned by the Internet giants.

“You don’t have to tell Google your age and your gender and all those things. They can determine all of that based on so many other factors,” said Chirag Shah, a computer science professor at Rutgers University.

— What they sell: like social networks, their revenue comes largely from advertising. They do not sell data, but rather access to a consumer with very specific characteristics.

This comes from compiling search engine data but also, in the case of Google, from searches and content viewed on its YouTube platform. Google used to also mine the content of Gmail before ending this practice in June.

— What they share: Like social media networks, search engines share data with developers and third-party app makers.

Are there limits?

In the United States there are practically no laws against the use of data from social media or search engines.

But the Federal Trade Commission did sanction Facebook in 2011 for its handling of personal data.

In Canada and Europe, there are some limits on the use of data, mainly involving health.

Facebook was fined 110 million euros ($135.7 million) by the European Commission last year for sharing personal data with WhatsApp.

In an attempt to harmonize data privacy laws, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation is to go into force on May 25.

Workers who are exposed to a lot of noise on the job are more likely to develop high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, a US study suggests.

While noisy jobs have long been associated with hearing difficulties, the current study offers fresh evidence that louder work conditions might contribute to risk factors for heart disease as well.

“A significant percentage of the workers we studied have hearing difficulty, high blood pressure and high cholesterol that could be attributed to noise at work,” said study coauthor Elizabeth Masterson of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati, Ohio.

About 22 million US workers are exposed to loud noise on the job, Masterson said by e-mail.

“If noise could be reduced to safer levels in the workplace, more than 5 million cases of hearing difficulty among noise-exposed workers could be prevented,” Masterson added. “This study also provides further evidence of an association between occupational noise exposure and high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and the potential to prevent these conditions if noise is reduced.”

Noise is thought to increase heart risks by causing stress, which in turn triggers release of stress hormones like cortisol, and changes in blood vessels and heart rate, the study team notes in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

For the study, researchers examined nationally-representative survey data from 22,906 adults who were employed in 2014.

One in four workers reported exposure to occupational noise at some point in the past, and 14 per cent had experienced loud work conditions in the previous year.

Industries with the most noise exposure included mining, construction and manufacturing.

Overall, 12 per cent of participants had hearing difficulties, 24 per cent had high blood pressure, 28 per cent had high cholesterol and 4 per cent had experienced a major cardiovascular problem like a heart attack or stroke.

After accounting for participants’ other risk factors, the researchers attributed 58 per cent of the cases of hearing difficulty, 14 per cent of the instances of high blood pressure and 9 per cent of the elevated cholesterol cases to exposure to occupational noise.

The study did not, however, find a clear link between noisy work conditions and heart disease, heart attacks or strokes. It is possible there were too few people with these medical issues to determine whether the conditions might be associated with occupational noise, Masterson said.

Hearing difficulty was linked to all three heart conditions, and it is possible that both occupational noise exposure and hearing loss might independently influence the risk of heart problems, she added.

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how occupational noise exposure might directly cause risk factors for heart disease like high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol or lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Another drawback is that researchers lacked data on the intensity or duration of noise exposure, the study team notes.

“The study itself does not establish a cause and effect relationship between noise exposure and the coronary heart disease outcomes,” said John Dement, an occupational health researcher and professor emeritus at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

It is unclear, for example, whether noise exposure might cause high blood pressure or if high blood pressure might be a risk factor for hearing loss with or without occupational noise exposure, Dement, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail.

“I think it’s premature to draw too many conclusions about implications for patients beyond what we already know about preventing noise exposures and managing cardiovascular disease risk factors,” Dement added.

Still, workers can take steps to reduce noise exposure by using quieter equipment when possible, keeping machinery well maintained and lubricated, and erecting barriers between noise sources and work areas, Masterson advised. Workers can also wear hearing protection in noisy areas, and keep any music at a safe volume.

Routine hearing tests are also key.

“Hearing loss is a permanent condition,” Masterson said. “However, workers with even mild hearing impairment can benefit from clinical rehabilitation, which includes learning lip-reading, fitting hearing aids and adopting other compensation strategies to optimise hearing.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Aspiring software engineers Kevin Yook and Becky Chen are hunched over a computer screen, fervently discussing lines of code indecipherable to the average person.

The pair of twenty-somethings are students at the Holberton School in San Francisco, founded two years ago by French software engineers and poised to graduate its first class.

The goal: to level the playing field when it comes to access to the high-paying computer engineering jobs in Silicon Valley’s tech industry.

The method: anonymous admissions tests and no tuition fees. When students find a job, the school is paid 17 per cent of their income for three years.

The two-year programme is open to beginners, and its founders say it offers a path to the likes of Apple, LinkedIn and NASA — sometimes even before the course is over as employers rush to snap up the best talent.

“Most people in the tech industry look like me: white and male,” said Sylvain Kalache, 29, one of the school’s co-founders.

But at Holberton, students are aged from 18 to 56, and 35 per cent of the more than 200 pupils are women.

More than half come from ethnic minority backgrounds — profiles much different from those populating programmes at the likes of Stanford or Caltech.

In fact, many of the students — no doubt attracted by the prospect of a $70,000 internship salary or even $100,000 for a first job — are in retraining.

With former bartenders, artists and cashiers among his classmates, yoga teacher Lee Gaines, 30, is one of them.

‘Dream job’

“I was seeking something more financially secure because I had a dream of having a home and starting a family, and what I was making as a yoga teacher wasn’t enough to support that,” Gaines said.

“I am confident that I’ll find a job because I think there will always be a demand for us.”

Kalache said there are two traditional routes into programming: university and so-called “bootcamps”, which offer intensive training lasting a few weeks.

With university costing tens of thousands of dollars and a bootcamp’s fees averaging several thousand, both were out of the question for Jesse Hedden, 32.

A teacher by training, Hedden was studying in a corner of the school with Gaines, laptops on their knees as they worked to “debug” an internet server.

Self-help and problem-solving skills are the name of the game here — with no teachers and no lessons reducing costs.

Around 150 mentors from Facebook, Google and Microsoft instead visit regularly to help students and update the curriculum at the school, which has received $13 million from investors.

“I wanted a career change,” said Hedden, who struggled to make ends meet in the San Francisco area on his $22,000 teacher’s salary — a fraction of the compensation offered to software engineers.

For Amy Galles — spotted struggling in front of her Apple computer — the course is “hard”.

“It’s fast and intense,” Galles said.

But the arts graduate, who says she was always interested in fixing things, is motivated by the school investing in her.

College, she says, is “a dying model” with degrees no longer necessarily leading to jobs.

Galles spent $40,000 on her art studies a few years ago — but she is hopeful that it is Holberton that will help her land that “dream job”.

PARIS — The ability to raise an eyebrow in distrust or to furrow it in sympathy may have given our species an evolutionary edge, researchers in Britain said on Monday.

Highly mobile eyebrows gave humans non-verbal communication skills required to establish large, social networks which allowed for greater cooperation and better survival odds, they said.

“Eyebrows are the missing part of the puzzle of how modern humans managed to get on so much better with each other than other now-extinct hominins,” said Penny Spikins from the University of York, co-author of a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Spikins and a team examined the function of pronounced, bony brow ridges in our early ancestors, and to understand why we shed them over time.

Some research had suggested that a large brow ridge helped protect our forebears’ skulls from damage resulting from forceful chewing, or that it filled a void between the brain case and eye sockets.

The team used 3D engineering software to examine the brow ridge on a fossilised skull of Homo heidelbergensis, an archaic member of the hominin family comprising modern humans and our direct, extinct ancestors.

H. heidelbergensis, which lived between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, is thought to be the common ancestor of humans and our Neanderthal cousins.

The researchers digitally recreated the skull, held in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London, and experimented with changing the brow ridge size while applying different biting pressures.

Baffled by botox

They found that a large brow ridge does little to relieve pressure on the skull when eating.

Also, it was much larger than needed to fill the gap between H. heidelbergensis’ flat brain case and eye sockets.

In our extinct ancestors, prominent brows may have signalled social status or aggression, later giving way to the more expressive eyebrows of modern humans, said the team.

The development of a smooth forehead with more visible, hairy eyebrows capable of greater movement, began in hominins around 200,000 years ago and has accelerated over the past 20,000 years.

“Social signalling is a convincing explanation for the jutting brows of our ancestors,” said Paul O’Higgins, senior author of the paper and anatomy professor at the University of York.

“Since the shape of the brow ridge is not driven by spatial and mechanical requirements alone, and other explanations for brow ridges such as keeping sweat or hair out of eyes have already been discounted, we suggest a plausible contributing explanation can be found in social communication.”

Eyebrow movements allow humans to express complex emotions and perceive those of others, said Spikins.

A rapid eyebrow flash is a cross-cultural sign of recognition, while lifting our eyebrows in middle signals sympathy. Small movements could signal either trustworthiness or deception.

“On the flip side, it has been shown that people who have had botox which limits eyebrow movement are less able to emphasise and identify with emotions of others.”

Jordanian food is much more than the iconic national dish — mansaf. It varies across governorates and geographic regions. In fact, each area has a different cooking style and distinct signature dishes. 

The Jordanian artisanal food industry has significant potential for growth and development, representing opportunities for local communities to find new sources of revenue, providing increased revenues for small businesses and establishing Jordan as a nation of gastronomic excellence. 

The USAID Jordan Local Enterprise Support Project (LENS) supports artisanal food producers in local communities to grow and develop their small businesses. In addition, USAID LENS is the leading organiser of Jordan Food Week.

Scheduled for July 2018, Jordan Food Week represents the largest convention of artisanal food producers, restaurants, hotels and other businesses in the food industry of its kind in Jordan.

The event will explore the diversity of Jordanian cuisine, the quality, character and traditions that have shaped the culture of Jordan’s gastronomy, in addition to showcasing artisanal foods from all over Jordan. This event is not only an opportunity to celebrate the heritage of Jordanian food, but to put it firmly on the map among the best cuisines of the Arab world.

Four local food producers from four different governorates gave an insight into the country’s diverse food heritage, and their efforts to preserve it. 

Makmura: A buried taste filled with Irbid’s history

Irbid, known as Jordan’s “Northern bride” in popular folklore, is famous for a number of unique dishes that are saturated with the authentic flavours of the northern region and require a certain level of precision and patience to prepare. 

“Although older generations have mastered these dishes, there is a need to introduce [it to] new generations to preserve the history of our kitchen,” says Manar, the owner of Um Moannis restaurant in Irbid, 80km north of Amman. 

Makmura is a traditional Jordanian dish deeply rooted in Irbid’s culture that even Jordanians in other governorates might not recognise. Makmura, meaning buried, is exactly what it sounds like; chicken and onions are finely chopped and buried under a blanket of dough, then cooked in the oven until well-done. It is later cut into triangle pieces and served just like pie.

Al Kishneh: Red Sea flavours that will lure you in

The coastal nature of the city of Aqaba, the jewel of the Red Sea — 330km south of Amman, strongly imprints on the character of the traditional dishes of which the city is famous. 

“The vast majority of our dishes contain fish; its dominant and fragrant aroma is present in everything,” says Afaf Younis, the owner of a home-based catering business, which serves pastries and traditional local dishes that are prepared to perfection in her kitchen. 

Afaf’s favourite dish is kishneh — a distinctive symbol of Aqaba’s cuisine that is less known across the kingdom. Kishneh is a seasonal fish delicacy that can be prepared in three ways; with coriander, tomato and flour. The flavour of the thick fish fillets is intensified by lemon juice and special spices. It is usually decorated with cashews to add a sweet, nutty flavour and is enjoyed with Arabic bread. 

Lift mahshi (stuffed turnip): A dish that will satisfy the health conscious 

The city of Salt, the centre of the Balqa Governorate, 35km northwest of Amman, is an ancient agricultural city known for its fertile soil and the quality of its fruit and vegetable harvests. Salt cuisine is characterised by its use of seasonal vegetables, giving it a distinct advantage over Jordanian cuisine in the rest of the Kingdom. 

“The local dishes of Salt deserve a strong revival on our dining table. Not only do they have a unique and unforgettable taste, but they also have a high nutritional value,” says Firas Khlaifat, founder of the Jordan Heritage foundation and the soon-to-open Jordan Heritage Kitchen. 

One particularly popular, seasonal Salti dish is lift mahshi or stuffed turnips. Lift mahshi can be prepared in two ways, either with tahini or tamarind sauce. Both recipes involve stuffing the turnips with a mix of rice, minced meat, cumin and other spices. The stuffed turnips are then fried lightly and added to a tahini or tamarind broth, which is left to boil until the vegetables are nicely cooked.

Lazzagiyat: Sweet delights that will stick to your fingers and in your memory

Karak’s local dishes are ingrained in the collective memory of the Karakis, especially the women who are keen to prepare them for locals and visitors alike.

“These dishes are our history and pride. We honour our guests by preparing these traditional dishes for them,” says Noufa, an artisanal pickles and milk products producer from Karak, 140km south of Amman.

Although Karak’s cuisine is famous for savoury dishes that use wheat, milk, and of course, its renowned jameed (salty dried yogurt), for Karakis who have a sweet tooth like Noufa, lazzagiyat tops the list of favourites. According to Noufa, lazzagiyat, which mean sticky things in Arabic, are prepared using a soft dough, that is rolled into thin sheets and baked in a traditional Saj oven. The baked dough is then cut into small pieces and covered with ghee, sugar, and nuts before serving to guests. 

First launched in 2015 and revised as part of a model-wide mid-life facelift, Land Rover’s fastest, most powerful and sportiest SUV just got more so for 2018. With 25BHP more power, subtle styling updates, tech enhancements and improved handling tweaks, the Range Rover Sport SVR is faster and more composed than one could expect of a 2.3-tonne SUV. A product of Jaguar Land Rover’s skunkworks SVO division, the SVR may be brutally quick and taut and tide around the track, but also boasts a spacious cabin and genuine off-road ability.

Unambiguous aggression

Unashamedly thuggish, wild and lairy in appearance, the Range Rover Sport SVR could, as it has been, described as being “tasteful”, insofar as that wild SVR body styling is well incorporated and complements the basic design. However, if “tasteful” were to mean conservative, discrete, unassuming or subtle, the SVR surely is not. 

Riding on vast optional black 22-inch alloy wheels shod with sticky low profile 295/40R22 tyres, the SVR site on the road with an upright and muscularly arrogant demeanour, emphasised by its high bumpers and waistline, slim headlights and rakishly descending roofline

Like the rest of the Range Rover Sport model range, the SVR receives a revised fascia treatment with new “pixel” LED lights and light signature, and updated grille and bumper design. Bigger front air intakes for improved brake cooling are immediately noticeable, as is the SVR’s new two-tone and light clam shell vented carbon-fibre bonnet, which is part painted and part lacquered naked carbon-fibre. Designed with clear unambiguous lines and surfacing, the SVR’s muscular stance is enhanced by its high-set rear lights and jutting tailgate spoiler, and restyled quad tailpipes.

Devestatingly effective

Thundering to life on ignition and with a deep staccato mid-range tone layered with heavy bass, the SVR’s now more powerful supercharged direct injection 5-litre V8 engine’s growl coalesces to a bellowing wail when driven at full throttle and high revs. Developing 567BHP at 6500rpm and capable of near-supercar 4.5-second 0-100km/h acceleration, the SVR also receives an additional 59lb/ft for a total torque output of 700Nm throughout a broad 3500-5000rpm rev band, to allow for effortlessly muscular on the move acceleration, including 80-120km/h in just 2.8-seconds, while top speed rises by 20km/h to 280km/h.

With mechanically driven supercharger providing near instant boost and without the lag associated with turbocharging, the SVR launches from standstill with vigorous response as all four wheels dig into the tarmac. Pulling brutally hard from low-end through a tidal wave of mid-range torque and building to a volcanic top-end as power gushes to its maximum, the SVR is consistently and devastatingly effective throughout. Driven at Jaguar Land Rover’s Fen End proving ground in the UK the SVR achieved speeds in excess of 200km/h with disdainful ease. Thirsty when driven hard, the SVR can, however, return 12.8l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

Unlikely agility

A former RAF facility now featuring a proving track with high speed straights, banked curve and winding corners, Fen End proved an ideal place to put the SVR through its paces and sample the sort of chassis witchcraft that allows such a large and heavy SUV to handle with such taut control and poise. Riding of double wishbone front and integral link rear suspension to better compromise lateral rigidity for handling and vertical absorption for comfort, the SVR also features adaptive dampers. It is however its active anti-roll bars which prove most effective in containing.

With meaty, yet quick and accurate steering and suspension in its tautest mode, the SVR turns in nimbly and tidily. Belying its weight and high centre of gravity, the SVR seemingly shrinks around the driver as it powers through snaking corners with unlikely agility as its electric motor driven trick anti-roll bars tighten to ruthlessly contain body roll. Balanced and taut, the SVR is happy to be flung through corners. With its weight pivoting to the rear and outside, the SVR’s four-wheel-drive system meanwhile allocates power where needed to ensure tenacious traction and reassuring road-holding.  

Support and space

Able to automatically adjust its active anti-roll bars and adaptive dampers for improved comfort and wheel travel on straights — and off-road — the SVR is however somewhat on the firm side over rough UK country lanes, although, and even driving on the right side of the UK’s narrow roads, the SVR high seating position and straight flanks provided one with good forward and side visibility to place it accurately on the road. Meanwhile, its responsive steering and poised chassis allowed one to drive through such switchbacks with a certain rhythm and fluency.

Luxurious inside, the SVR has a distinct sporty ambiance that combines two tone leathers with metal and carbon-fibre trim in a logical way. Driving position is highly adjustable and spacious, with thin framed yet stiff sports seats providing support and comfort for front passengers, and freeing up more legroom in the SVR’s already spacious rear. Loaded with high tech infotainment, driver assistance and safety systems, the SVR also comes with low gear ratios, height adjustable air suspension and an electronic terrain response system that adjusts and calibrates various parameters for off-road driving.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 5-litre, supercharged, in-line V8-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 92.5 x 93mm
• Compression ratio: 9.5:1
• Valve-train: 32-valve, DOHC, variable timing, direct injection
• Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive
• Ratios: 1st 4.714; 2nd 3.143; 3rd 2.106; 4th 1.667; 5th 1.285; 6th 1.0; 7th 0.839; 8th 0.667
• Reverse / final drive ratios: 3.317 / 3.31
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 567 (575) [423] @6500rpm
• Specific power: 113.4BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 245.5BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 516 (700) @3500-5000rpm
• Specific torque: 140Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 303Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: 4.5-seconds
• 80-120km/h: 2.8-seconds
• Top speed: 280km/h
• Fuel economy, combined: 12.8-litres/100km
• CO2 emissions, combined: 294g/km
• Fuel capacity: 104-litres
• Length: 4879mm
• Width: 2073mm
• Height: 1803mm
• Wheelbase: 2923mm
• Track, F/R: 1692/1686mm
• Overhang, F/R: 879/1077mm
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.35
• Headroom, F/R: 984/991mm (w/sunroof)
• Legroom, F/R: 1073/939mm
• Boot capacity: 780-litres
• Weight: 2310kg
• Approach / departure / break-over angles: 33.3° / 31° /27.2°
• Ground clearance: 278mm
• Wading depth: 850mm
• Towing, braked / unbraked: 3000/750kg
• Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones / integral link, adaptive air suspension, active anti-roll bars
• Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion
• Turning circle: 12.39-meters
• Lock-to-lock: 2.7-turns
• Brakes, F/R: 380/365mm ventilated discs
• Tyres: 295/40R22

*Driven in RHD format in the UK, as photographed. Otherwise identical to LHD versions for the Middle East.

SAN FRANCISCO — At a conference where thinkers and luminaries gather to discuss world-changing ideas and innovations, the talk is shifting to the dark side.

This year’s theme of the annual Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference starting on Tuesday in Vancouver is “Age of Amazement”, but with a keen eye on unintended consequences.

The gathering comes amid growing fears about a loss of privacy in the digital world, and a race to artificial intelligence and robotics which could spin out of control.

“The future is amazing, but there is good amazing and there is amazing terrifying,” TED curator Chris Anderson told AFP.

“There is going to be an intense debate on what we think of the future. We are embracing those fears that the world may have gone mad in one way, but we are also embracing innovations, science and technology.”

The TED community includes scientists, artists, activists, politicians and superstar entrepreneurs such as founders of Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Netflix.

This year’s speakers include Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and star Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr, whose winning investments include early bets on Amazon and Google.

Former US vice president Al Gore, a longtime member of the TED community, will host a discussion on climate change at the conference

Anderson expected heated debate on the potential dangers as well as the benefits of new technologies.

“Is the world making progress or, despite our best efforts, are we making things worse?” he asked rhetorically.

“I think people are astonished and disturbed by a lot of the technology we have built.”

Podcasts popping

While internet-age news cycles have attention shifting from one headline to another, TED is intended as an oasis where ideas and developments are thoughtfully explored.

“So many people don’t want to hear about progress at the moment; they are not seeing it,” Anderson said.

“They are feeling stress and anger. You could argue a collective talking ourselves into gloom and doom.”

Since starting as an intimate gathering on the California coast 34 years ago, TED has grown into a global media platform with a stated devotion to “ideas worth spreading”.

TED has a massive following for its trademark presentations in which speakers strive to give “the talk of their lives” in 18 minutes.

The standard cost of attending the main TED conference, now in Vancouver, has climbed to $10,000.

Money brought in by the nonprofit Sapling Foundation behind TED is used to make talks available free in apps, podcasts and videos at online venues including YouTube and ted.com.

TED has had a hit with a new live-audience television series in India hosted by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

Podcasts and a TED Radio hour have proven natural fits for the conference’s spoken-word style presentations.

TED is poised to launch a native Spanish language podcast in a partnership with Univision as it expands its lineup with offerings such as podcast devoted to the genius of everyday objects and do-it-yourself neuroscience.

“The platform has seen spectacular growth despite all the competition from politics,” Anderson said.

It has also started creating short-form video presentations, as smartphone lifestyles have people accustomed to snippets much shorter than 18 minutes.

“In the early days of TED, when we you told lecturers, professors and academics they had to deliver a talk in under 20 minutes they looked at you like you were crazy,” said TED head of media Colin Helms.

“In internet time, when people are used to content as short as 15 seconds, it seems a much meatier format.”

Turning talk to action

Anderson has gracefully but firmly encouraged TED’s influential community to act on big ideas that win their hearts or minds.

An annual TED prize launched in 2005 that came with cash and support from the conference community to fulfill potentially world-changing wishes will be transformed this year into an “Audacious Project” funding ideas with “the potential to create massive, global change”.

More than $250 million has already been committed to the “collaborative philanthropy” model, according to TED.

Each year, the project will identify up to five ideas that stand out as thrillingly bold and have a credible path to execution.

“The notion of turning ideas into action will be a real sub-theme,” he said of this year’s gathering.

Securing victory for a second time since the annual Middle East Car of the Year (MECOTY) awards were established five years ago, Sweden’s Volvo XC60 SUV took both the top jury Car of the Year award and the best Midsize Premium SUV category prizes. The second Volvo SUV to claim top honours after the XC90’s 2016 win, the 2018 MECOTY awards ceremony was Volvo’s night, with the brand’s other nominee, the recently launched XC40, also taking home the best Small Premium SUV.

After gruelling nomination and voting stages based on a ten-criteria scoring process vindicating the Volvo XC60’s victory, runners-up for top honours were the Audi RS3 Sedan and Range Rover Velar. Alsos winning the best Small Performance Sedan over the much touted Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, the RS3 Sedan was joined by the Audi TT RS and S5, which respectively won the best Sports Coupe and Premium Sports Coupe categories. Last year’s winning brand, Audi missing out only against the Volvos this year, scoring three wins of five entries.

With a poor showing compared to fellow German rival Audi’s overwhelming trophy count last year, Mercedes-Benz also secured three category wins this year for the S-Class, AMG GT and E200 Cabrio models, against the Lincoln Continental, Lexus LC500 and Jaguar F-Type 2.0 in their respective categories. With a strong line-up of nominees, Ford landed victories with Mustang GT350 Shelby and F150 Raptor SVT, while its luxury Lincoln sub-brand claimed one of the first big upset of the night, with the MKZ snagging the best Midsize Executive Sedan trophy at the ubiquitous BMW 5-Series’ expense.

Unexpectedly missing out on best Compact SUV prize to the Chevrolet Trax, the Nissan Kicks was the first of several misses for a competitive line-up of nominations from Nissan and its Infiniti premium sub-brand. Among these was the Q30, which despite being quite the accomplished car, loss to the near unassailably well-rounded Volkswagen GTI, which took the best Performance Hatchback category for the second year in a row after the Golf GTI Clubsport edition last year.

Other upsets included the more attainable and better looking Volkswagen Arteon winning the best Large Executive Sedan over the Porsche Panamera and the Maserati Levante missing out on the Best Midsize Luxury SUV award against the Range Rover Velar. Having lost to McLaren and Ferrari at previous MECOTY events, the Lamborghini Huracan Performante scored a much deserved and long overdue win for the raging bull brand in the best Supercar category this year against the McLaren 720S. 

Missing out on a victory in its jury-awarded best Small SUV segment, Peugeot’s innovative 3008, however, well-earned the MECOTY 2018’s vox pop non-jury Public Car of the Year Award.

Held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre Motor Show and organised by Custom Events L.L.C., MECOTY is the Middle East’s only independent automotive awards event. Pitting the best of the region’s recently launched, available and eligible cars in competition for 23-categories and a top Car of the Year (COTY) award, MECOTY’s 15-member jury panel includes specialised print, online and TV motoring media and journalists representing the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. With a wide range of opinion and expertise, the jury panel’s scoring and voting process is based on ten criteria assessed from jury evaluation test drives.

Highlights

Middle East Car of the Year and Best Midsize Premium SUV: Volvo XC60

Undergoing a design, engineering and technological revival in recent years, Swedish manufacturer Volvo hits the nail on the head again with a fresh and distinctly Scandinavian take on the popular midsize premium SUV segment. Along with a stylish and jutting design and exquisitely well-appointed and welcoming cabin ambiance, the XC60 boasts a raft of highly advanced driver assistance and semi-autonomous systems to enhance driving comfort and safety. Built on a modular platform, the XC60 is exclusively powered by four-cylinder engine, including supercharged and turbocharger T6 and hybrid T8 variants.

Best Small Performance Sedan and Middle East Car of the Year runner-up: Audi RS3 Sedan

Comparatively understated yet brimming with urgency, the Audi RS3 Sedan is a modern revival of an old and sorely missed small fast saloon car formula that has discretely left quite the impression on those in the know. Powered by a brawny 5-cylinder engine harking back to Audi’s glorious Group B rally years, the RS3 Sedan is a brutally quick yet practical four-door, three-box saloon that is easy to drive and maneuverable, with committed four-wheel-drive road-holding, high speed stability and agile handling.

Best Supercar: Lamborghini Huracan Performante

Among the iconic Italian supercar maker’s finest cars, the Performante is a honed, toned and more focused Huracan able to mix it with the world’s top hypercars, In addition to recalibrated suspension, steering and four-wheel-drive, it receives lighter carbon-fibre components, 30BHP more power and an advanced active aerodynamic system channeling air for improved performance, road-holding and agility. Flattering and phenomenally quick, it dispatches fast winding routes with a perfect combination of commitment, composure and pointy adjustability.

Best Performance Hatchback: Volkswagen Golf GTI

The latest iteration of the car that invented the hot hatch, the Volkswagen Golf GTI remains a byword for practical performance driving. Among the best rounded cars there is, the GTI is fun and fast yet sensible and spacious, with a reserved yet athletic design, clear sightlines, ergonomic driving position, agile handling and settled, forgiving ride. Receiving a mild power hike to 227BHP and bigger, more advanced infotainment and safety systems, the recently face-lifted version is both visceral and technologically modern.

COMPLETE LIST OF MECOTY AWARDS

• Middle East Car of the Year (jury award): Volvo XC60
• Runner-ups: Audi RS3 Sedan, Land Rover Range Rover Velar
• Best Sub-compact Sedan: Kia Rio
• Other nominees: Honda City, Renault Symbol
• Best Small Sedan: Toyota Corolla
• Other nominees: Dodge Neon, Renault Megane
• Best Small Performance Sedan: Audi RS3
• Other nominee: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
• Best Midsize Sedan: Honda Accord
• Other nominees: Chevrolet Malibu, Hyundai Sonata
• Best Large Sedan: Hyundai Azera
• Other nominee: Opel Insignia
• Best Midsize Executive Sedan: Lincoln MKZ
• Other nominee: BMW 5-Series
• Best Large Premium Sedan: Mercedes-Benz S-Class
• Other nominee: Lincoln Continental
• Best Large Executive Sedan: Volkswagen Arteon
• Other nominee: Porsche Panamera
• Best Compact SUV: Chevrolet Trax
• Other nominee: Nissan Kicks
• Best Small SUV: Honda CR-V
• Other nominees: Peugeot 3008, Ford Escape, Chevrolet Equinox
• Best Small Premium SUV: Volvo XC40
• Other nominee: Audi Q2
• Best Midsize SUV: GMC Acadia
• Other nominee: Nissan Pathfinder
• Best Midsize Premium SUV: Volvo XC60
• Other nominee: Audi Q5
• Best Midsize Luxury SUV: Land Rover Range Rover Velar
• Other nominee: Maserati Levante
• Best Large SUV: Land Rover Discovery
• Other nominees: Nissan Patrol V6
• Best Truck: Ford F150 Raptor SVT
• Other nominees: Ram Rebel, GMC Sierra All Terrain
• Best Performance Hatchback: Volkswagen Golf GTI
• Other nominees: Infiniti Q30
• Best Premium Cabrio: Mercedes-Benz E200 Cabrio
• Other nominees: Jaguar F-Type 2.0
• Best Sports Coupe: Audi TT RS
• Other nominee: Lotus Evora 410
• Best Premium Sports Coupe: Audi S5
• Other nominee: Infiniti Q60
• Best Performance Coupe: Ford Mustang GT350 Shelby
• Other nominee: Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
• Best Premium Performance Coupe: Mercedes-Benz AMG GT
• Other nominee: Lexus LC500
• Best Supercar: Lamborghini Huracan Performante
• Other nominee: McLaren 720S
• Public Car of the Year (non-jury): Peugeot 3008