Features

SERANG, Indonesia — Astride his white mare, a wide-brimmed hat shielding his eyes, Ridwan Sururi looks more cowboy than librarian as he winds towards the hilltop village, his horse Luna saddled with books.

Their arrival sends ripples of excitement through Serang, a quiet hamlet fringed by rice fields and a volcano on Indonesia's main island of Java.

"The horse library!" children shriek, sprinting towards the mosque where Luna is tethered. Slung over her saddle are two hand-made wooden boxes filled with books.

For many there, this unique mobile library is their only link to books. There is no traditional library nearby, and stores are kilometres away in big cities. It's a problem for villages across the sprawling Indonesian archipelago.

Sururi, a 43-year-old professional horse groomer, devised a unique way to encourage reading in his district.

Armed with Luna, one of several horses under his care, and about 100 books donated from a friend, Sururi began road-testing his novel mobile library in early 2015, unsure if it would succeed. 

It was a huge hit. In no time, the father of four was fielding requests from schools and villages further afield, eager crowds greeting him on arrival. 

"The kids are always waiting for my horse and I," Sururi told AFP.

"Sometimes they even form a queue, waiting a very long time just to borrow a book."

Broadening horizons

In Serang, enthusiastic youngsters flick through picture books, young adult titles and even some classics in English. 

Some shyly pet Luna while waiting their turn to browse. Sururi believes the gentle nature of his six-year-old mare helps attract children, and pique an early interest in the books. 

"The horse makes me happy," said 10-year-old Arif, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, before settling in to read a book titled "Wild Animals".

But it's not just children discovering a love for reading via this charitable community library.

Adults are almost just as enthusiastic, many pausing work and emerging from their homes as Sururi and Luna pass through the narrow lanes of one village.

17-year-old Warianti, perusing titles alongside her elderly mothers, said villagers of all ages benefited from Sururi's visits, as most did not have time to source books elsewhere.

"The horse library helps increase the knowledge of local women through reading," she told AFP.

Adult literacy rates in Indonesia have climbed steadily in recent years, reaching nearly 96 per cent in 2013, according to data from the ministry of education.

But some provinces remain far behind others. Central Java, where Sururi makes his rounds, is lagging in the bottom third nationwide.

Nearly 5 per cent — or close to 1 million — adults in this mainly rural province remain illiterate. Sururi is aware of this, growing up in Central Java without access to a great deal of books. 

But the altruistic stable hand never underestimated the importance of reading, leading to his free-of-charge mobile book loaning service.

"That's the aim of the horse library, so that everyone can broaden their horizons, gain knowledge, become more intelligent," he said.

Sense of pride

Outside his simple home, Sururi has cleared an area where he dreams of building a permanent library, one stocked with many books and — perhaps one day — a computer.

But for now, everything is done by hand. The spines of all books are clearly labelled with a code for identification, and he keeps meticulous records so books are returned on time.

Like a conventional library, books can be borrowed free of charge but cannot be loaned forever. 

In Serang, Sururi checks his notebook and tells one boy he needs to first return an outstanding title before loaning another. The young student sprints off home, returning a short while later clutching the forgotten item, relieved to see his pick of choice remains untouched on the shelf.

Once the flurry of borrowing is over, the children settle down in small circles, bearing their new books with pride as Sururi packs up for another week.

Soon the air is filled with the sound of dozens of children reading aloud, older pupils helping their younger friends with difficult words or phrases.

"When I see kids chasing my horse I feel so proud," Sururi said.

"I feel like I'm needed, and that's hugely satisfying."

MODENA, Italy — His father wanted him to become a lawyer, and he nearly did.

But Massimo Bottura’s obsession with cooking instead has paid off: his restaurant, the Osteria Francescana, may have put the noses of conservative Italian chefs out of joint, but it now boasts the title “best in the world”.

Set in the heart of Modena in northern Italy, the Osteria already boasted three Michelin stars before it snapped up first prize at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards in June thanks to a creative cuisine that reinvents Italian traditional dishes.

Winning was a “very emotional” experience, Bottura told AFP, though he said one of the main differences between first and second place on the prestigious list was “the number of interviews” he is now asked to give.

With its blue-grey walls, taupe carpet, artworks on the walls and photographs of the singer Edith Piaf, there are just 12 tables and most diners come for the tasting menu, with its 220-euro ($245) price tag.

The fare may be world class but this osteria does not take itself too seriously. A wax sculpture of a security guard by American artist Duane Hanson startles diners at the front entrance. The levity continues once seated.

Dish names include “An eel swimming up the Po River” and “Yellow is bello”.

Bespectacled Bottura, 53, worked on one of his signature creations, “Memory of a mortadella sandwich”, for four years.

“I rely on my past, but I look at it critically and without nostalgia, because I want to bring the best of the past into the future,” he says.

He says he has always “sought to look at the world from under the table, with the eyes of a child stealing the pasta his grandmother” is making from scratch.

The kitchen — and the table he hid under while his grandmother fought off his quick-fingered brothers with a rolling pin — became “my safety place.”

When he was 23-years old Bottura, who was famous for rustling up culinary delights for his friends, dropped his law studies to open a Trattoria in Campazzo, in the countryside around Modena in the Po River Valley.

On his days off, he would study with French chef Georges Cogny, who had a restaurant two hours away.

“He said to me: ‘always follow your palate, because you have a great palate which will make Modena known around the world’”.

Two years and an interlude in New York later, it was another Frenchman that changed his destiny, Alain Ducasse.

After the Provencal food guru came to Bottura’s Trattoria, the Italian ended up going to work for him in Monte Carlo for a time.

Ducasse had a huge influence on him: “He taught me to be obsessed: obsessed with quality ingredients, obsessed with detail.”

Back in Modena in 1995, he opened the Osteria. Never satisfied, he jumped at the chance five years later to learn from another great master, Spanish giant Ferran Adria.

Adria taught Bottura the “freedom to be creative”, to think that “a sardine can be worth as much as a lobster, but it all depends on whose hands it is in.”

Bottura begins with local products and messes around with traditional recipes, drawing for inspiration on everything from his childhood kitchen to poetry, art and music, “compressing my passions into mouthfuls”.

His philosophy and creations at first perplexed and even angered Italy’s culinary old guard.

“It’s ironic isn’t it? Ten years ago they wanted to string me up in the main square because I ‘destroyed’ our grandmothers’ recipes”.

With the world prize in the bag, Bottura turns his mind back to his social projects, particularly his war on food waste.

His next big gig will see him set up a caffetteria in Rio which will transform leftover food from the Olympic Games Village into free meals for the poor living in the Brazilian city’s favelas.

Everything the excitable chef does comes with the support of his American wife Lara Gilmore, who left New York for him and gave the ok for his Spanish adventure even though she was pregnant at the time.

“I fell in love with Massimo’s kitchen before actually falling in love with him,” she says.

“He really got me with his creamy velvet artichoke soup.”

LOS ANGELES — On Snapchat, it’s always been about the last 24 hours.

With its requirement that photos and videos shared with friends be taken in the moment, the app has focused on the here and now rather than what you were up to last year or last week.

But the Los Angeles start-up, backed by billions of dollars in venture capital and valued at $16 billion, expanded its offerings Wednesday with a glance to the past.

The company introduced a digital storage bucket, Memories, for users to save their otherwise self-destructing images and resurrect them for future posts. So in the same way Instagram users feel comfortable sharing older memories by describing them as a “late gram” or a “throwback Thursday”, Snapchat users now have their own way to bring back old shots. A cloudy border on these pictures makes it clear to friends these are snaps from the past.

Previously captured photos and videos that weren’t uploaded to Snapchat before can be uploaded too, with the label “from camera roll”.

Memories, accessible by swiping up from Snapchat’s photo-taking feature, is one of the most complex additions in the company’s five-year history. Snapchat’s 150 million daily users, and its many more occasional ones, are expected to receive the new feature in batches over the next month. How they’ll perceive the incoming flood of nostalgia isn’t certain.

Memories heightens the competition between Snapchat and Facebook, two providers of online communications tools that together control the bulk of time young adults spend on their smartphones. Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, is far ahead in that category, but each new feature from Snapchat adds to the pressure on Facebook.

For example, Memories brings Snapchat users many of the capabilities that Facebook’s Moments app offers, including easy searches of old photos by location, date or other context clues.

But Snapchat seems to have pushed the bar ahead slightly. Memories, unlike Moments, includes a special, cordoned-off area for photos and videos. Users must enter a PIN to get into the My Eyes Only section. That means a friend helping someone decide which old images should be shared on Snapchat shouldn’t come across any nude shots belonging to the smartphone’s owner.

Posts saved in Memories are backed up online, giving users more reason to save shots from important life events on Snapchat as opposed to turning to Facebook, Google or Dropbox.

There are some limitations to Memories. Searches pull up only saved Snaps, whereas searches on Moments can include all photos stored on a phone. Using Memories also exposes those saved Snapchat posts, excluding those in My Eyes Only, to release when Snapchat receives a government order to turn over a user’s data.

PARIS — When a female praying mantis bites the head off her sexual partner, it is probably not out of anger. 

According to a recently published study, the mantis’ proclivity for devouring her mate may have evolved to better provide for her offspring.

In eating the male, a female ensures he continues to provide for their progeny even after death — as food.

“Sexual cannibalism... increases male investment in offspring,” said William Brown of the State University of New York at Fredonia, who co-authored a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

For the study, Brown and Katherine Barry from Australia’s Macquarie University fed crickets dosed with traceable radioactive amino acids to male mantises.

They then allowed the spindly insects to mate. 

For half the males it turned out to be their final act, while the lucky rest were rescued by their human handlers immediately after pairing.

The scientists tracked the flow of radioactive proteins through the bodies of the cannibalistic females, and through their eggs.

In females those who ate their mates, “there is an increase in the number of eggs produced subsequent to cannibalism”, Brown told AFP by e-mail.

A large proportion of the amino acids were absorbed not by the female, but passed on to the mini mantises.

In nature, male mantises are eaten by females in about 13-28 per cent of sexual encounters, according to the study. 

During the mantis mating season, males can make up as much as 63 per cent of the female diet.

Such behaviour, said the team, can “be considered an extreme case of male parental investment”.

Sexual cannibalism is when the female of a species consumes the male before, during or after mating. 

It is known to happen in some spiders such as the black widow, and scorpions.

Unlike male mantises, which can mate more than once and with different females before falling for the wrong one, some spiders mate only once in a lifetime, their sex organs damaged during copulation to the extent that they cannot be reused.

Once again robots are making the headlines. Whether it is Amazon’s robotic arms sorting out the stock of goods, packing the clients orders and dispatching them, or Google’s self-driving car, robots are on us, and for good.

Beyond the extraordinary prototypes that always manage to impress the crowd like Honda’s celebrated Asimo, robots working hard in manufacturing facilities have been around for several decades now. Still, Asimo that was first introduced by the Japanese carmaker in 2000 and that keeps being improved, becoming more intelligent, perhaps is the most human looking machine. Besides, Honda calls him humanoid. 

A few years ago I visited a fully robotised computer factory in northern Italy. It was run by Olivetti and had an output of one computer every 10 seconds. Robots were practically doing all the work there. There were a total of just five human beings in the huge super-high-tech factory. Their job was only to monitor the robots and to report any eventual malfunction so that a maintenance team would come and fix the robots.

There was a time when robots were purely a matter of science fiction. It is not the case anymore, even if their external physical shape today does not always exactly correspond to what people had in mind in the 20th century or what is usually shown in sci-fi movies like I, Robot (2004, Will Smith) and the like. In most cases they are robotic arms or robotic machine tools.

Apart from those found today in manufacturing, there is little doubt that we’re closer than ever to the real intelligent, “friendly” robot, the companion that would be affordable, that would help us with all the menial tasks at home (house cleaning, ironing, taking out the garbage, etc…). There is also little doubt that this is becoming possible thanks to the progress in computer technology. After all faster, more powerful, more dependable and cheaper computers constitute the backbone of robots, of their future.

The other elements are purely on the mathematical side of artificial intelligence and advanced programming techniques and languages, two critical aspects that still require some work before we can all get a robot like Asimo at home or in our office. Incidentally, the latter has its own website — http://asimo.honda.com.

Beside Honda’s flagship robot there are a few humanoid models on the market and can actually be bought. Whereas Asimo is the undisputed reference and leader, its $2,500,000 price tag makes it beyond reach. The other models are much less expensive but also are significantly more limited in functionality and much smaller in size (Asimo is 130cm tall and weighs 48kg), and therefore should be looked at as high-tech advanced toys.

To name only a few: Hovis, by Korean DingBu Robot is $2,000. Robotis OP, by American Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, is $10,000. Darwin Mini, by Robotis Mini, is a mere $500. Nao Evolution, by French company Aldebaran Robotics, is $8,000. Pepper, by Aldebaran and Japanese SoftBank, is $2,000.

Curiously what was very much intriguing to me when I was a teenager and started reading about robots was not the ability of the machines to perform this or that task, nor their shape, but the etymology of their very name. Still, learning that it comes from the Czech “robota” and means forced labour did not bring me any valuable scientific information, except that the meaning made perfect sense to me.

The very first programmable, digital machine referred to as robot was used by General Motors back in the early 1960s at one of its automotive manufacturing plants in the USA. Then countless sci-fi movies took it from there and robots, regardless of appearance or ability, became part of our collective unconscious. Soon, very soon, they will be in our homes, as surely as drones are seen and used almost everywhere today and smartphones have invaded us already.

SAN FRANCISCO — A media revolution is taking place, and most people over 35 years of age are not tuned in.

Millennials and their successors are shunning old-school television in favour of watching what they want whenever they wish on Google-owned YouTube or other video platforms like Dailymotion or Facebook.

“Young people don’t really watch TV any more; they watch online videos that are shorter and more talent-driven,” says Fabienne Fourquet, a former executive at A&E Television and France’s Canal+ who now heads the multichannel network 2btube.

“They don’t want to be Hollywood stars when they grow up, they want to be YouTubers. There is this whole other world.”

The new multichannel networks, or MCNs, are talent agents of sorts for creators of videos shared at online venues.

They help creators, often referred to as YouTubers, with video production and promotion along with finding partners or sponsors in return for a percentage of revenue.

Fourquet said popular subjects include music, comedy, sports, video games, fashion and beauty.

She noted that three-quarters of her viewers were younger than 34 years of age, and half were under 25.

“There are very few of us old people,” Fourquet quipped.

World tunes in

Self-described YouTuber Caroline Artiss has been a chef for 20 years, but opted out of restaurants and went to work for herself in catering in 2008.

Then, a friend showed her how simple it was to make videos for YouTube.

“It was just me and a tripod in my kitchen,” Artiss told AFP.

“Then people starting tuning in from all over the world.”

She recounted cooking her way across the United States for a multi-episode show after catching eyes at BBC America and a television network in Malaysia.

Artiss said she approaches her cooking videos from the perspective of a single mom — short on money and time but needing to feed a family.

She was signed on by a video network that describes itself as being tailored for a mobile generation and focused on “tastemakers” sharing passion for food and travel.

“It still blows my mind,” Artiss said.

“I am coming from a single mom, living in London, struggling to pay my bills to having an opportunity to start my own TV channel in a way.”

Artiss teamed with other chefs to open Gorgeous Kitchen restaurant at London Heathrow airport. 

She has a cookbook due out later this year and works with Youth Policy Institute to raise money to get fresh produce to low-income families.

Naturally, she did a video. It can be seen online at app.mobilecause.com/vf/YPIFRESH.

Television tomfoolery

An annual Vidcon gathering in Southern California has become a hot venue for YouTubers to connect with business opportunities and ecstatic fans.

Some 25,000 people were reported to have attended this year’s Vidcon, which took place in June.

“With the onset of digital video platforms and the fact that everyone has a smartphone in their pockets, we have democratised being a creator,” said Paladin co-founder James Creech, whose California company specialises in technology for finding budding stars in a vast universe where anyone can post content online.

“A 17-year-old in his or her own bedroom can compete with the likes of CBS and build an audience that would rival a major media company.”

Keys to hit online videos include being creative and regularly posting content, according to Creech.

Amateurs can outshine polished professional content with authentic connections that make viewers think of them as friends, he said.

“Regular TV is about cartoons and YouTube is about real people and the games I like,” 11-year-old California boy and online video fan Henry Crawford told AFP.

“Television is tomfoolery.”

Paladin indexes millions of channels, providing analytics that can narrow down videos by popularity, topic, language and more.

The YouTube channel with the most subscribers is that of Swedish video maker and comedian PewDiePie, who provides captivating commentary while playing video games.

Hot online video trends include “unboxing”, in which people film themselves or others opening packages with unknown contents.

A popular YouTube channel called Hydraulic Press features videos of things being crushed by just that piece of equipment.

Amazon-owned Twitch announced that it is experimenting with a new “Social Eating” category in which people streaming broadcasts on the service socialise with viewers over meals.

Traditional media companies would be wise to be worried by the trend, according to Creech.

“It’s a huge disruption,” Creech said. “We are in the midst of a revolution in media and it is very exciting.”

The first time I drove to Goa, that beautiful beach-lined and sun-kissed province in India, two young and energetic men accompanied me. Along with us came a small child. Of the two youths, one was my husband, who was also the designated driver, and the other was my brother-in-law, who had just completed his final year at college, and sort of invited himself by offering to be the unofficial babysitter for our three-year-old daughter. 

We examined our shoestring budget carefully and set off in our tiny car from Bombay and after an arduous eight-hour journey arrived in Goa in the wee hours of the morning. The minute the Arabian Sea was sighted, my brother-in-law deserted us and rushed into the blue waters, his head bobbing over the waves. All the earlier promises were immediately broken as that became his norm for the entire stay. He only surfaced at mealtimes, gobbled up the food quickly and went back, with renewed urgency, to swim in the sea.

There was no point in fighting with him because he was having the time of his life so it was left to my spouse and me to split the childcare duties. My brother-in-law found a small tear in the boundary fence of a private hotel beach, and made friends with the lifeguard there. Because it was low season and the pristine place was empty, he allowed us to use the premises during the daytime. Every morning our small group trooped in there, spread our towels in the sand and basically became beach urchins. 

Our daughter made sand castles and I kept a lazy eye on her while my husband joined his brother in the water. There was a Parsi family too, who came occasionally and settled themselves in the nearby cabana. Parsi, also spelled Parsee, descended from the Persian Zoroastrians, who emigrated to India to avoid religious persecution. It was a community, which was perceived as affluent, influential, and industrious and consisted of some of the wealthiest people in my home country. One more distinguished feature that marked them from a mile was their prominent noses. 

Now, despite their clannish nature, the group that appeared on the beach was very friendly towards me. Maybe they thought I was one of them because in India, we assume the ethnicity of a person by the colour of their skin or the length of their nose. So, the minute they found me alone with the baby, they offered me food, talking loudly in their alien language.

One day I decided to go for a swim but the minute I stepped into the sea I was shrieking in pain. A jellyfish had stung me! My spouse and his brother, in extreme anxiety, became hysterical, saying they could not take me anywhere and even in a vast sea it was only me who chose to get bitten by a jellyfish! The Parsi family, listening to all this, were furious on my behalf. 

“Pour cold water on the wound,” the father suggested. 

“Rub wet sand on it,” the mother said. 

“Maybe cucumber slices will help,” the grandfather pushed my husband aside. 

“Let me put some ice,” the son insisted as they all surrounded me. 

“You poor little Parsi girl,” the grandma crooned to me. 

“I am not Parsi,” I corrected her. 

‘What?” they chorused, staring at my nose. 

“I am not Parsi,” I repeated faintly. 

“Here, look after your wife,” the father commanded my husband while dumping me immediately. 

LOS ANGELES — It’s a good time for animated animals at the box office. “The Secret Life of Pets” follows “Zootopia” and “Finding Dory” as the latest success this year, opening to a massive $104.4 million according to final studio tallies on Monday.

The Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures film cost only $75 million to produce, and it features the voices of comedians like Louis C. K. and Kevin Hart. “Pets” has been warmly received by critics and audiences, who gave the film a promising A- CinemaScore.

Going into the weekend, analysts predicted it would earn only around $70 million, which would still have been a big success.

Not adjusting for inflation, “Pets” earned the title of best opening ever for an original animated property. The previous record-holder was Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out”, which opened to $90.4 million last year.

It’s a big moment for Illumination Entertainment — the shop behind the hugely successful “Despicable Me” series and “Minions”. The company is not quite Pixar yet, but it’s working towards that sort of recognition.

“Illumination has been building a consistency of vision, and now they have become what every studio covets — a draw,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore. “They’re building that brand reputation with every movie.”

The main draw, though, was likely in the simple and appealing premise: What do your pets do when you’re not around?

“I think this movie resonates among all people,” said Nick Carpou, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “It’s a very charming way in for everyone to have fun with the concept of imagining their pets that way.”

“Pets” effectively unseated “Finding Dory” from its three-week run in first place. The little blue fish actually fell to third place with $20.8 million, behind “The Legend of Tarzan” which took in $21 million in its second weekend in theatres.

Even with the drop, “Dory” this weekend surpassed “Captain America: Civil War” to become the top film of 2016 domestically, with its $423 million in grosses. It helped push The Walt Disney Studios to reach $5 billion globally in record time. Much of that was propelled by the success of its family fare including “The Jungle Book”.

“Family films have generated so much money this year,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s an audience who is always looking for content in a world filled with options for entertainment.”

While Disney is celebrating its overall box office, there is one dud on the books. The studio’s “The BFG” fell a giant 60 per cent in its second weekend ($7.8 million). The movie, which cost around $140 million to make, has earned a dismal $38.7 million to date.

There were also a fair number of adults looking for something new to see this weekend without the kids, helping the raunchy R-rated comedy “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” surpass expectations with an estimated $16.6 million for a fourth-place debut. The film, distributed by 20th Century Fox, cost $33 million to make, and stars Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick.

“The Purge: Election Year” rounded out the top five with $12.3 million.

The year is still up 3 per cent from last summer, despite a string of underperformers lately. But there are still some would-be blockbusters on the horizon, including the new “Ghostbusters”, which opens next weekend.

“The hope is that the momentum created by ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ will carry over to ‘Ghostbusters,’ ‘Jason Bourne’ and ‘Suicide Squad’,” Dergarbedian said. “We’re running out of track. It’s almost the end of summer, and there’s a lot of ground to make up, but one movie can make all the difference.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Pokemon Go mania has quickly swept the US as players armed with smartphones hunt streets, parks, rivers and elsewhere to capture monsters and gather supplies in the hit game.

The free application based on a Nintendo title that debuted 20 years ago has been adapted to the mobile Internet age by Niantic Labs, a company spun out of Google last year after breaking ground with Ingress, a game that merged mapping capabilities with play.

By Monday, Pokemon Go had been downloaded millions of times, topping rankings at official online shops for applications tailored for smartphones powered by Apple or Google-backed Android software.

According to the research firm SimilarWeb, the game was downloaded in more than 5 per cent of Android phones in the first two days of release and had outpaced the dating app Tinder.

The game uses GPS and mapping capabilities in mobile phones to let players roam the real world to find “PokeStops” stocked with supplies and hunt cartoon character monsters to capture and train for battles.

PokeStops can also dispense monster eggs, which players incubate by racking up walking distances.

Players can also visit “gyms”, where captured cartoon creatures can be conditioned as combatants to seize such training facilities. 

“It’s cool to actually play as a Pokemon trainer in real life,” said Lucas Garcia, a 17-year-old California boy who has been a fan for more than a decade.

“It is nice to have a video game that makes you actually walk around instead of sitting in front of a TV screen holding a controller.”

‘Ingress’ footsteps

People who played Ingress will recognise PokeStops and gyms, many being monuments, signs, businesses or other real-world spots that served as “portals” that could be captured in the earlier Niantic game.

“We have helped users all around the world have fun, socialise, and get more fit as they play and explore,” Niantic Chief Executive John Hanke said in a blog post when Pokemon Go was released last week in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

A tidal wave of interest in the game has bogged down servers hosting the software, frustrating some players and delaying plans to launch Pokemon Go in more countries.

“I downloaded it because everyone that I know has liked Pokemon since before fifth grade,” said California teenager Owen Fairchild, who is now in college.

“Now that I have it, I get it. I never really walked around, but a couple of days ago, I walked across the island... and I hatched two five-kilometre eggs.”

A young woman playing Pokemon Go came upon a dead body in a Wyoming river while hunting a water monster in the game, according to US news reports.

Pokemon Go comes with warnings to players to remain aware of their surroundings.

Fairchild told of being so engrossed in the game that he has walked into things on sidewalks.

Some US authorities are advising players to avoid breaking the law by trespassing in places that aren’t open to the public in the search for cartoon creatures, and saying that some players have been targeted by criminals.

“If you use this app [or other similar apps] or have children that do, we ask you to please use caution,” the O’Fallon, Missouri Police Department said on
its Facebook page.

The department also warned that robbers were preying on players drawn to rich troves of Pokemon monsters in parking lots or other places where victims might be vulnerable.

Catching monsters

Pokemon monsters can be seen through smartphone cameras, with characters appearing in whatever real settings are in view. They are caught by hitting them with virtual balls tossed by swiping across touch screens.

“I’ll walk up to a PokeStop and see all of these people standing around flicking their fingers across their phones,” Garcia said.

“It’s comforting to know there are a lot of us nerdy types out there.”

Pokemon Go is not just heavily downloaded, it is being kept by players and, in the majority of cases, played daily on a scale that already rivals the use of Twitter, according to industry trackers. People are also spending money to buy virtual items.

“I have always liked the idea of going around the real world to collect and catch Pokemon; it has been a dream of mine,” Garcia said.

Nintendo, Google and Pokemon Company all invested in Niantic after it spun off from the California-based Internet company.

Nintendo has a stake in the Pokemon Company joint venture that holds the Pokemon copyright.

Launched in 2014 as Mercedes’ fifth compact executive saloon since the 190 first appeared in the 1980s, the C-Class has become a more luxurious and technologically advanced car. Closer to a junior luxury car and first stepping stone towards Mercedes’ flagship S-Class luxury saloon, the current C-Class vacates the “Baby Benz” mantle to the front-drive A-Class hatchback and CLA-Class saloon. 

Confident in its Mercedes-Benz character and seemingly un-concerned with competing with others on their own terms, the current C-Class’ luxury credentials include the segment-first use of optional air suspension — usually reserved for full-size luxury cars. With a broad range of models available from C160 to fire-breathing AMG C63, the driven C180 Avantgarde is luxuriously appointed, versatile and efficient with accessible yet confident performance parameters.

Fluent lines

Taking its design cues from Mercedes’ S-Class luxury flagship, the C-Class features elegant curves, sporty proportions and toned body, utilising discrete concave and convex surfacing. Distinctly luxurious, with long wheel-arch to A-pillar distance to highlight its rear drive platform, the C-Class’ smoothly arcing roofline and strong shoulders fluently taper towards a descending boot line. 

Driven in Avantgarde trim level, the C-Class features a two-slat grille with body-colour grille outline with large tri-star emblem embedded within, rather than the traditional three-slat grille with bonnet-mounted emblem. Emphasising different facets of the C-Class’ character, Avantgarde isn’t as aggressive as optional AMG trim, but sportier than other trims, and includes thin twin-slat and mesh side intakes.

Elegant yet subtly athletic, with broad grille, flowing lines and charismatic surfacing, the C-Class features low CD0.27 aerodynamic drag for enhanced efficiency and highway refinement. Lighter than its predecessor by 100kg lighter owing to increased aluminium body content of 50 per cent and energy-saving features like electric-assisted steering, the current C-Class is up to 20 per cent more efficient.

Small but punchy

The second to entry level C-Class model, the C180 is powered by a 1.6-litre direct injection engine, turbocharged rather than supercharged as in previous generation, for enhanced efficiency. Developing 154BHP at 5300rpm and 184lb/ft throughout 1200-4000rpm and driving its rear wheels through an automatic 7-speed gearbox, the 1,425kg C180 accelerates through the 0-100km/h benchmark in 8.5 seconds and can attain 223km/h.

Responsive at low-end with little by way of turbo-lag, the C180 is responsive and muscular in mid-range for such a small engine, driving up steep inclines on rural Jordanian roads with confidence. Punchy in mid-range, the C180 is, however also seamless as power accumulates and eager to spin towards peak power, despite its low-revving character.

Smooth and responsive in sportier selectable settings and manual mode shifting, the C180’s 7-speed gearbox uses a broad range of ratio’s to eke the best of its compact engine. Aggressive lower gearing provides responsive acceleration while taller gears provide cruising refinement and efficiency. With stop/start system, the C180 returns 5.4l/100km combined cycle efficiency — only just less frugal than 2-litre C200 and C250 sister models.

Smooth and settled

Riding on four-link front and five-link rear suspension with optimised road surface vibration paths, lowered centre of gravity and near ideal weight balance, the C180 is smooth, poised, stable and refined at speed. Additionally, it is agile and tidy through switchbacks — with responsive, precise and well-damped steering — and manoeuvrable on narrow lanes and congested city streets.

With small light engine at the front and improved weighting, the C180 turns tidily and eagerly into corners, with balanced handling and good body control, before one re-applies throttle and unlocks the steering as the rear 225/50R17 tyres dig into the road before pouncing onto a straight. Nimble and settled, the C180’s mechanical suspension also provided buttoned down vertical rebound control. 

Incorporating more high strength steels and adhesives, and larger frame components, the current C-Class is stiffer, with handling, performance, refinement, fuel efficiency and crash safety benefits. With much improved noise vibration and harshness refinement, the C180 rides smooth and poised. During an extensive test drive only one especially jagged bump at a specific frequency and low speed was felt slightly more than expected.

Refined and well-equipped

Larger yet lighter than the previous C-Class, the current model gains 40mm width, while its wheelbase is increased by 80mm for improved rear legroom, while boot volume rises to 38 litres. Quiet, comfortable and refined inside, the C-Class’ well-appointed cabin features comfortable, supportive and highly adjustable and versatile front seats, ergonomically accommodation a broad and diverse range of driver sizes.

Classy and elegant utilising quality upholstery, trim and materials the C-Class Avant-garde feels and looks like a compact luxury car. Driven with light leather seats and black dashboard, steering and glossy console the C-Class features stylish design including three metal-ringed round centre vents, cone-like instrumentation, tablet-style infotainment screen and touchpad and rotary menus access. Meanwhile, good visibility allows one to accurately place the car on road.

Extensively well equipped with convenience, comfort, safety and Internet-enabled infotainment system, the C-Class is available with optional cross-traffic sensing brake assistance, stop/start cruise control, lane keeping assistance and a collision prevention system able to prevent or mitigate collision severity up to 40km/h collision and 200km/h respectively. The driven C180 Avantgarde also featured dual-zone climate control, rain sensing wipers and standard run-flat tyres.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.6-litre, turbocharged, in-line 4 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83 x 73.7mm

Compression ratio: 10.3:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 7-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive

Ratios: 1st 4.38:1 2nd 2.86:1 3rd 1.92:1 4th 1.37:1 5th 1:1 6th 0.82:1 7th 0.73:1

Reverse: 1st 3.42:1 / 2nd 2.23:1

Final drive ratio: 3.07:1

0-100km/h: 8.5 seconds

Maximum speed: 223km/h

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 154 (156) [115] @5300rpm

Specific power: 96.5BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 108BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 184 (250) @ 1200-4000rpm

Specific torque: 156.7Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 175.4Nm/tonne

Fuel consumption, urban / extra-urban / combined: 6.8-/4.6-/5.4 litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 126g/km

Fuel tank: 66 litres

Length: 4,686mm

Width: 1,810mm

Height: 1,442mm

Wheelbase: 2,840mm

Track, F/R: 1,588 / 1,570mm

Overhang, F/R: 790/1,056mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.27

Headroom, F/R: 1,039/942mm

Boot capacity: 480 litres

Payload: 565kg

Kerb weight: 1,425kg

Steering: Power-assisted, rack and pinion

Turning circle: 11.22 metres

Suspension: Multi-link, anti-roll bars

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs/discs

Tyres, F/R: 225/50R17