Features

NEW YORK — Kiddie tablets have grown up.

Tablets designed just for kids are getting more sophisticated as they face increased competition from regular tablets. The new products also have better screens, speedier chips and fashionably slim bodies. They let older children do more, yet hold their hands until they’re ready for unsupervised access.

Although many of the tablets were originally conceived as educational toys for kids as old as middle schoolers, they’ve been more popular with younger children. Older kids have been apt to reject them in favour of their parents’ tablet or smartphone.

That shift has prompted companies to focus more on preschoolers and kindergarteners, as they create super-durable products that can withstand repeated abuse and develop games and apps that teach reading and math.

But now, some of those companies are looking to take back some of the sales to older kids that they’ve lost over the years, offering premium products — most with price tags of over $100 — that look and perform less like toys and more like the ones adults use.

LeapFrog, maker of the toy-like LeapPad, released its first Android tablet this year. And Kurio is branching out to Windows 10 and includes a full version of Microsoft Office in a new tablet-laptop combination.

The use of Android and Windows software, in place of the more basic, custom-made systems used in toy tablets, allows for more sophisticated apps and games and a range of content from standard app stores.

Monica Brown, LeapFrog’s vice president for product marketing, said the company aimed to “create something that was kind of sleek and more tech forward for kids who were looking for something that felt like their parents’ tablet”.

But parents still want educational content and safety features that come with a tablet designed purely for kids. LeapFrog’s Epic, along with the other new tablets for kids, are attempts to bridge that gap.

The Epic looks like a regular Android tablet, but comes with a removable bright-green bumper. It is much faster than a LeapPad and can run versions of popular Android games such as “Fruit Ninja” and “Doodle Jump”. There’s access to the Internet, but it’s limited to about 10,000 kid-safe websites (though parents can add others). Parents can also limit and track how much time a child spends watching videos, playing games or reading.

Lynn Schofield Clark, a professor of media studies at the University of Denver, said kids tablets are a tough sell these days.

“Kids are always aspirational in their ages, and they’re always interested in what older kids are doing,” Clark said, pointing to the fascination that many preteens have with smartphones as a prime example.

Meanwhile, most parents won’t spend money on kids-only gadgets unless they believe they offer significant educational benefits.

“If they’re just looking for something to entertain their kid, then why wouldn’t they just hand over their smartphone?” she asked.

Kurio aims to answer that question with the Smart, a device that let kids do things they previously might have needed their parents’ laptop for, such as typing up and saving their homework online or playing video on their TV through an HDMI cable. The Smart is a Windows 10 laptop with a detachable screen and comes with a free year of Microsoft Office.

Eric Levin, Kurio’s strategic director, said kids using children’s tablets are getting younger, as older kids gravitate towards adult products. Four years ago, he said, most Kurio users ranged from ages 6 to 12. Now, half of them are 3 to 5.

Although older kids may be ready for adult tablets, the shift has left those 8 to 12 without age-appropriate devices, Levin says. The Smart tries to fix that.

Other makers of kids tablets have also gone high-end this year. Fuhu bills the Nabi Elev-8 as a premium, 8-inch tablet. But the company ran into financial problems early in the holiday season, and its products have been tough to find.

Nonetheless, adult tablets remain popular with kids.

Amazon touts its Fire tablet as something the entire family can use, eliminating the need to buy something just for the kids.

“While I appreciate that might have led other companies to adjust their products, we’re upping our game based on what customers want in the best kid experience,” said Aaron Bromberg, senior manager of product management for Amazon Devices.

The tablet’s FreeTime app lets parents set up profiles for each kid, with access to only the content they approve. It also lets parents limit the amount of time spent on different kinds of content such as videos or apps. For an additional fee, Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited service offers more than 10,000 books, apps, games and videos geared towards kids ages 3 to 10.

Nonetheless, Amazon is selling a kids’ edition tablet for $100. It’s essentially Amazon’s bare-bones $50 Fire tablet packaged with a colourful protective bumper and a year’s subscription to FreeTime Unlimited.

It also comes with a two-year guarantee: If your kid breaks it, Amazon will replace it.

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — X-ray vision, a comic book fantasy for decades, is becoming a reality in a lab at MIT.

A group of researchers led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Dina Katabi has developed software that uses variations in radio signals to recognise human silhouettes through walls and track their movements.

Researchers say the technology will be able to help healthcare providers and families keep closer tabs on toddlers and the elderly, and it could be a new strategic tool for law enforcement and the military.

“Think of it just like cameras, except that it’s not a camera,” said Fadel Adib, a researcher on the MIT team developing the device.

“It’s a sensor that can monitor people and allow you to control devices just by pointing at them,” he said.

Work began in 2012 to determine how wireless signals could be used to “see” what’s happening in another room, said Katabi, who directs the MIT Wireless Centre.

“At first we were just interested ... can you at all use wireless signals to detect what’s happening in occluded spaces, behind a wall, couch, something like that,” Katabi said.

“It turned out that we were able to detect that. And when we figured out we could detect that, we started asking more advanced questions: Could we use it to detect exactly how people are moving in a space if they are behind a wall?”

The device displays the signal on a screen, where the person’s movements can be tracked in real time. It depicts the target as a red dot moving around the room, occupying a chair and speeding up or slowing down.

The wireless signals used to track a person’s motions also can measure the individual’s breathing and heart rate — and potentially identify the person based on the shape of his or her skeleton, said researcher Zach Kabelac.

“The person won’t be wearing anything on them, and the person it’s tracking doesn’t even need to know the device is there,” Kabelac said.

“If something unfortunate happens to them, like a fall, the device will contact the caregiver that they chose to alert” by generating a text message or an e-mail, he added.

That makes healthcare applications especially interesting, Katabi said. But she also sees military and law enforcement possibilities — particularly in hostage situations.

“You don’t want to send the police inside without knowing where the people are standing or where the hostages are,” she said. “If there is someone with a gun, where they are standing?”

A company set up to market the technology, now dubbed Emerald, will spin out of the MIT lab next year, with a goal of marketing the device early in 2017, and it’s expected to sell for $250 to $300, Adib said. The team is working to make the device smaller and to develop an interface that will let users configure it through a smartphone app, Katabi added.

The technology raises questions about privacy rights and intrusion, and Adib said the team gave serious thought to those implications.

“The user interface will be friendly for setting it up and using it at home, but it will be very hard to use it to track someone just by pointing it at their wall,” he said.

As Christmas approaches on my doorstep, I wish Secret Santa would come calling this year. Being located in the land where Jesus Christ got baptised, should give me some added advantage, I feel. And after living a boring sort of existence for half a decade, I fervently hope that my humble request is fulfilled this time around. 

Contrary to what everyone thinks, I have never got a secret Santa gift in my life. Not only that, in a school or college/university Carnival, I did not ever have any songs dedicated to me by a known or unknown admirer. I have not won a lucky-dip prize in any social gathering and in whichever game of cards that I’ve played; I’ve generally lost the most amount of money in the shortest period. It’s not fair, I know, and I’ve cribbed about it to all and sundry but not too many people have had the inclination to listen to me. 

“Have you ever been a secret Santa for anyone?” asks the voice in my head suddenly. Now, here is the inherent problem with entertaining these formless inner voices: They force you to take a good look at your own selves. While it is very well for me to complain about nobody being my secret Santa, the fact remains that I have never been one for anybody else too, other than the times when our daughter was growing up and hung a Christmas stocking by her bedside, happy with the knowledge that Santa Claus would fill it up with choicest treats at midnight. That was when I wore multihats and doubled up as a tooth fairy, Santa’s elf, magician, and clown, all rolled into one.

But besides that, I have honestly not strived to be a secret Santa. One of the main reasons for this is that I am unable to keep anything secretive for long. I don’t know how others do it, but I start getting a pain in my stomach and before long the secret, sort of, spills out of my mouth.

However, that does not stop me from wishing for a secret Santa who would perhaps get me a beautifully wrapped box of sweet lychees, all the way from wherever they are growing at the moment. Why lychees? Ahem, well, if you knew my obsession for the fruit, you would not ask this question. 

Soon I get busy decorating the Christmas tree in my garden, which I had planted two years ago. I also collect some woolens, blankets and socks and think of taking them for the Iraqi refugees in the nearby church. With a decent collection, I drive over to the place one evening. 

The prayers have just started and I stand on one side and listen to the melodious hymns. Afterwards I go to meet the head priest. Dressed in dark robes, he is a tall man with bright blue eyes and a white beard. 

When I hand him my package, he invites me to have a drink. 

“Wow! This wine has a lychee flavour,” I exclaim as soon as I take a sip. 

“Do you like it?” the priest twinkles. 

“I love it! Where did you get it from?” I ask. 

“We make it here,” he confesses. 

“Oh”, I mumble in disappointment. 

“Goodbye,” I say, getting into my car. 

“This is for you,” he hands me a box. 

“It smells of lychees. What is it?” I am curious. 

“Your secret Santa gift,” he smiles.

LOS ANGELES — The new “Star Wars” movie has set a global opening weekend record, smashing past the previous record holder “Jurassic World” to rake in $529 million, Disney said on Monday.

“With final numbers now in, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ rose above estimates to post an all-time industry-high $248 million domestically plus $281 million internationally for an all-time record global debut of $529 million since opening December 16,” the company said in a statement.

It said the figure does not include box office receipts from India and Greece, where the movie opens this week or from China, the world’s second biggest film market where it opens on January 9.

“Jurassic World” previously held the record for global launch with $524.9 million.

“Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director J. J. Abrams, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves,” Disney Chairman Alan Horn said at the weekend.

The highly anticipated seventh installment of the space saga has blazed a record-setting trail since its domestic debut last Thursday, taking the prize for highest-grossing domestic opening night with $57 million and biggest domestic single-day sales Friday with $120.5 million.

‘Power of the force’

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” previously held both records at $43.5 million for an opening night and $91 million for a first day.

As far as all-time box office sales, two films by James Cameron hold the record — “Avatar” ($2.78 billion) and “Titanic” ($2.18 billion), and it is expected that “The Force Awakens” might unseat both.

“’Star Wars’ is officially the biggest thing to happen in the known box office universe now that it has taken the best debuts records — domestic and worldwide — from ‘Jurassic World’,” said Jeff Bock, box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations.

“The industry is expecting amazing holds this upcoming weekend and through the holidays, and if that happens, ‘Avatar’ and its records may be the next thing to fall in the face of the power of the force.” 

Disney said the galactic success of the movie has already enabled the company to cross the $5 billion mark in global box office receipts in a calendar year for the first time ever, surpassing the previous record of $4.73 billion set in 2013. 

“The Force Awakens” picks up the intergalactic story of good versus evil 30 years on from “The Return of the Jedi”, the last episode of the original trilogy.

The trio of heroes who appeared in the first of the blockbusters in 1977 — smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), leader of the rebel alliance, and her twin brother Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) — are all back and played by the actors that “Star Wars” first made famous.

Also debuting at the box office in the top 10 this weekend were four other films, whose numbers seemed miniscule compared to the “Star Wars” hauling.

The animated “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”, came in second place in its first weekend, with $14.3 million, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

In third and also in its debut weekend was “Sisters”, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as two siblings throwing one last party in their childhood home before it is sold. It earned only $14 million.

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2,” the fourth and last movie in the blockbuster franchise that turned Jennifer Lawrence into a Hollywood megastar, earned $5.7 million, falling to fourth place in its fifth week in theatres.

Meanwhile “Creed”, a next-generation version of the “Rocky” series earned $5 million in its fourth week on the big screen.

Box office receipts for the rest of the top 10 were as follows: in 6th “The Good Dinosaur” ($4.3 million), followed by “Krampus” ($4.1 million), “In the Heart of the Sea” ($3.5 million, “Dilwale” ($1.9 million — debut weekend) and “Bajirao Mastani” ($1.7 million — debut weekend).

An agile and accessibly amusing drive, the Mercedes-Benz CLA plays is a compact youth-oriented “mini-me” sister to the glamourously slinky and trendsetting CLS-Class. A self-style “four-door coupe” like the CLS, the CLA is however based on Mercedes’ A-Class hatchback and conceptually sits between the premium compact Audi A3 saloon and BMW 2-Series two-door Berlinetta Coupe.

Driven in CLA200 guise, it is fun, flexible and efficient, delivering a bigger punch than its 1.6-litre turbocharged engine’s 154BHP headline output figure suggests. Manoeuvrable and pointy, with direct steering characteristics and compact dimensions, the CLA sits somewhere between a coupe with four-door practicality for well-to-do youths or a sporty compact saloon for young families.

Svelte and stylish

Slimmer and narrower than the luxuriantly long and wide CLS, the CLA looks like a slightly distorted and condensed interpretation of the former’s rakish and low-slung roofline. However, the CLA’s snoutier and more urgently lunging demeanour and design are best appreciated after experiencing its agile, eager and nippy manoeuvrability on a brisk B-road jaunt.

With jutting and wide large tri-star emblem-adorned grille, raised bonnet centre and twin ridged bonnet scallops, the CLA cuts an assertive and eager figure. Meanwhile, a descending arcing character line trails off from its headlight edges to converge with a rising arc and create a concave side surface and sense of dynamic tension and forward movement. 

Rakishly slanted and descending, the CLA’s stylish roofline may expectedly compromise rear headroom for taller passengers, but successfully convey the intended drama and glamour. Meanwhile, optional AMG body styling and optional 225/40R18 footwear emphasise the CLA’s sporting character, with the latter generating enhanced grip, but a slightly firm ride owing to low profile and convenient by stiff run-flat sidewalls. 

Punching above expectation

Muscular at low-end and mid-range, the CLA200’s compact 1.6-litre turbocharged direct injection engine develops 154BHP at 5300rpm and 184lb/ft throughout 1250-4000rpm. So punchy in mid-range is the CLA200’s engine, that it could almost be mistaken for Mercedes’ other and larger 2-litre turbocharged 181BHP and 221lb/ft “200” designated engine, as fitted to the C- and E-Class saloons.

With scant little turbo lag, the CLA200 spools ups swiftly to serve up its broad and muscularly generous mid-range torque. Easily able to spin and torque-steering its driven front-wheels before electronic controls subtly step in, the CLA200 can dash through the 0-100km/h benchmark in 8.5 seconds and top 230km/h, but also return frugal 5.1l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

With rich and eager mid-range, the CLA200 is versatile, responsive and punchy on the move and at speed. Through swift switchbacks, one downshifts its 7-speed automatic gearbox through paddle-shifters to enter a corner at around 4000rpm. Reapplying throttle by apex, power accumulation is consistently plump. Running out of steam by around 5500rpm, another up-shift puts one back in the CLA200’s fulsome sweet spot.

Crisp characteristics

A seemingly quicker and more powerful car than its headline figures suggest, the CLA200’s charm is that of an agile compact car being driven fast. Narrow and manoeuvrable, with instinctive front-drive handling, the CLA200’s handling characteristics are easily acquainted. Moderately powerful, one also has the satisfaction of being more readily able to exploit the parameters of its performance envelope.

Initially torque steering on aggressive launch and if throttle is reapplied too early and hard on exiting a corner, the CLA200’s electronics and driver can, however, modulate input for tidier handling. With the right level of power and timing, the CLA200 powers smoothly, confidently and eagerly out of corners. Meanwhile, ventilated perforated front brakes provide effective stopping ability.

Keen and crisp into corners, the CLA200’s steering finds a fine balance between quick reactions, direct feel and refinement and high-speed directional stability. Tucking early into a corner, the CLA is predictable and eager through switchbacks, while optional AMG sports suspension keeps body roll well suppressed and ensures a buttoned down ride on rebound over sudden dips and crests.

Sporty and supportive

Sporty and smooth but slightly on the stiff side owing to its optional AMG suspension and wheels, the CLA200 is refined and feels well built inside. Luxurious and well appointed in terms of materials, design and textures, the CLA-Class is ultimately a sportier premium proposition that isn’t quite indulgently refined as Mercedes’ more traditional rear-drive executive and luxury saloons models. 

With good steering and seating adjustability, the CLA provides and alert, comfortable and supportive driving position with good front headroom and visibility. Given its stylishly rakish roofline, over-shoulder visibility and rear headroom aren’t quite as generous, and while tall adults might find rear headroom limited, rear accommodations are perfectly fine for shorter adults and children.

Well-equipped, the driven CLA200 featured numerous driving, safety, convenience and infotainment systems, including panoramic roof, 6-CD infotainments system with USB and Bluetooth connectivity, multi-function steering wheel, heated seats and parking and collision prevention assists. In addition to run-flat tyres, Jordanian models are fitted with a spare wheel, but at the cost of reducing the CLA’s generous and otherwise flat 470-litre boot.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.6-litre, turbocharged transverse 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, front-wheel drive

Top gear/final drive ratios: 0.94:1/4.13:1

0-100km/h: 8.5 seconds

Top speed: 230km/h

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

Specific power: 96.6BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 107.7BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 184 (250) @1250-4000rpm

Specific torque: 156.74Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 174.82Nm/tonne

Fuel consumption, combined: 5.1-5.4 litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 119-125g/km

Fuel capacity: 56 litres

Length: 4630mm

Width: 1777mm

Height: 1432mm

Wheelbase: 2699mm

Track, F/R: 1549/1547mm

Overhang, F/R: 915/1016mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.25

Kerb weight: 1430kg

Headroom, F/R: 1006/905mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1391/1350mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 470 litres

Steering: Variable electric-assisted rack and pinion

Turning circle: 11 metres

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson strut/multi-link

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres: 225/40R18

The love affair between humans and dogs has been going on for thousands of years. But when and where dogs first branched off from wolves is the source of scientific debate.

Over the past decade, various groups have posited different locations as the birthplace of the dog, including Europe and the Middle East.

Now, an international group of researchers presents another possibility.

After analysing the whole genome sequences of 58 wolves and dogs from around the world, they say dogs first split from their wolf ancestors about 33,000 years ago in the southern part of East Asia.

The team also reports that dogs began to migrate out of that part of the world across Eurasia 15,000 years ago, eventually making their way to Europe about 10,000 years ago. 

The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Cell Research.

Peter Savolainen, an evolutionary geneticist at the Royal Institute of Technology in Solna, Sweden, and co-author of the paper, has spent the past 15 years studying dog DNA, trying to discern the canine’s journey from aggressive and fearful wolf to man’s best friend.

The archaeological record is too sparse in many parts of the world to paint a complete picture of this evolution, he said, so DNA analysis may be the best way to sort it out.

In 2002, Savolainen and his colleagues looked at mitochondrial DNA from 654 dogs from around the world. They found that dogs from East Asia had more genetic diversity than those from other global regions.

Another study from the same group in 2009 further limited this glut of genetic diversity to dogs from the area around southern China, northern Thailand, Vietnam and Laos — what researchers call “southern East Asia”.

It turns out, genetic diversity is exactly what you would expect to find in a species’ place of origin, Savolainen explained. That’s because as animals migrate, they take a limited amount of genetic information with them. 

For example, if the original dog population started with 10 DNA types, it is unlikely that the few individuals who left home would bring all 10 types with them. After all, most of the population likely stays put. More probable is that some fraction of the DNA types would travel to Europe, and perhaps another fraction would land in Africa.

In the more recent study, Savolainen and his team examined where canine genetic diversity was highest, but this time, they analysed the whole genome sequence of 46 dogs and 12 gray wolves from across the planet.

Whole genome sequences are much larger and more complex than what is found in mitochondrial DNA. Therefore, the researchers say, it can provide a more holistic approach to understanding the evolution of dogs.

Once again, the data analysis suggested the same place of origin of dogs. Dogs from southern East Asia had more genetic information in common with wolves than with dogs from any other region in the world. They also had the largest genetic diversity.

“We find that dogs from southern East Asia have the same DNA types that are found in dogs all over the world, but also unique types that we don’t see anywhere else,” Savolainen said. “We saw that in the mitochondrial DNA, and now we see it in the genomic DNA as well.”

To determine when dogs first diverged from wolves, the researchers compared the genes of grey wolves and southern East Asian dogs. After calculating how long it takes a certain number of mutations to appear in the genome, they concluded that the time of the split was 33,000 years ago.

That does not mean that dogs became domesticated 33,000 years ago, however. And it’s possible that all dogs descended from a single group of wolves that split from other members of the species at that time.

For the paper, researchers studied dogs that represented historic populations of where they lived. That included breeds long associated with specific geographical locations, such as the Afghan hound (Central Asia), the Sloughi (North Africa), the Alaskan malamute and the Siberian husky (Arctic and Siberia) and the Chihuahua (the Americas).

In southern East Asia, researchers looked for dogs in remote regions whose ancestors would have had little opportunity to breed with animals from other parts of the world.

“We think this works pretty well because if we go to the Chinese countryside and sample dogs from there, we find basically the same results in the Chinese Chow Chow,” Savolainen said. 

The DNA from these geographically diverse dogs also suggest how our canine companions moved around. For example, dogs that are more genetically similar to the southern East Asian dogs are likely older breeds and have been established in their homeland longer.

Although Savolainen feels confident in the results of his study, he said his team still has more work to do to understand the natural history of dogs. 

The group already is working on extensively studying dogs from the southern East Asia region to find the exact birthplace of domesticated canines.

The Way to Paradise

Mario Vargas Llosa

Translated by Natasha Wimmer

London: Faber and Faber, 2003

Pp. 424

In this riveting historical novel, Peruvian writer Maria Vargas Llosa, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature, reimagines the physical and ideological journeys of Paul Gauguin and his grandmother, Flora Tristan. Separated by half a century and a fragmented family history, the two never met, but they shared a common dream of creating heaven on Earth.

Neither succeeded in founding their utopia, but the daring and energy with which they pursued their respective quests made Gauguin a ground-breaking artist, while Tristan gained recognition for her radical feminist writings and exposure of the horrendous conditions of Europe’s working class. Judging from the book title, Llosa finds the magic in the quest, not the destination.

Both Gauguin and Tristan revolted against the bourgeois society into which they were born, but for different reasons. Gauguin declared war on (Western) civilisation, convinced that it precluded the development of art. As he told the young artists who gathered around him in Brittany where he first sought an unspoiled society, “To truly paint we must shake off our civilised selves and call forth the savage inside.” (p. 23)

Brittany was not far enough away from Paris, and soon he began to plan his journey to Tahiti in the South Pacific. 

For her part, Tristan began by rebelling against women’s oppression and broadened her scope to fight against the exploitation of the entire working class. Her travels were for the purpose of founding a Workers Union that would spread from France across Europe and then the world, to spark a peaceful revolution that would end in a harmonious, just society where all workers were guaranteed good housing, healthcare and education. 

Both were plagued by lack of funds, as well as health problems — his caused by “the unspeakable illness”, presumably syphilis, caused, some would say, by his own indiscretions. Flora’s bad health, on the other hand, stemmed from injuries inflicted by her husband from whom she was unable to get divorced under the prevailing, male-biased, legal system. This abusive marriage was the original cause of her radicalisation.

Both Paul and Flora were essentially loners, following their inner voice and logic, unafraid to be different, and sometimes hounded by the police — she as a subversive and he for his often scandalous behaviour. Both met many obstacles and disappointments. Gauguin found that the Maori of Tahiti had already forsaken many of their traditional customs under the pressure of missionaries and colonialism, while Flora saw that many workers had been cowed by their exploiters and the church into accepting their miserable lives. Finally, both, like the author, were true cosmopolitans, capable of playing many roles and moving between different social circles and countries.

In telling the parallel tales of Gauguin and Tristan, Llosa ushers the reader into a variety of fascinating milieu from Tahiti’s lush tropical forests and Peru’s oligarchy, to the slums of London, Paris and a string of French cities at the height of the Industrial Revolution. Much of the book’s charm lies in the singular personalities of Gauguin and his grandmother, but the reader meets many other real and imagined figures, from the European socialists who facilitate Tristan’s campaigning to Gauguin’s troubled relationship with “the mad Dutchman” (an obvious reference to Vincent Van Gogh). Most fascinating is how the author traces the personal development of the two — how Gauguin became an artist in the first place, what inspired his greatest masterpieces, and how Tristan’s radical thinking evolved. Their respective trajectories pose many questions: What is art? What is revolution? Are they possible? How are they made?

Besides rich descriptions of land- and cityscapes, and the often idiosyncratic people who inhabit them, Llosa employs several literary devices to entangle the reader in his tale. Much of the novel unfolds as flashbacks. Llosa thrusts us into a scene, dropping references which are only half understood and then returns to the past to explain how Paul and Flora got where they are. To explore their inner lives, he pops up from time to time to question them directly about their fears and shortcomings. Or is it their own inner voices expressing self-doubt? One is not really sure. Much is deliberately left ambiguous.

With a keen eye for the paradoxes of life and tongue-in-cheek humour, Llosa exposes human frailty and the difficulties of making change for the better. He has an uncanny ability to mock his characters and elicit sympathy for them at the same time. Most of all, he tells an incredibly good story, much of which is true, at least in essence.

From roller coasters to cruises to destinations, virtual reality is exploding as a way to market travel.

You can parasail and paddle-board using virtual reality content produced by Florida’s Visit St. Pete/Clearwater Tourism Board. You can land a jet on Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia, then go swimming with tropical fish in the Great Barrier Reef. You can watch the opening song “Circle of Life”, recorded at a live Broadway performance of “The Lion King”, and peer around the theatre at everything from the aisles and audience, to the performers and props, to the conductor and backstage. And even if you can’t afford Dubai’s luxury Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Hotel, you can take a 3-D online tour of a royal suite, lobby, helipad, bar, spa, restaurants, marble staircase with cheetah-print carpet and rotating canopy bed.

“VR is taking the world by storm, similar to what mobile did seven years ago,” said Abi Mandelbaum, CEO of YouVisit, which has created over 300 VR experiences for destinations, from Vatican City to Mexico’s Grand Velas Riviera Maya. “Virtual reality is the most realistic experience you can have of a place without being there. It’s powerful. It gets people excited and engaged and interested in having that experience in real life.”

Virtual reality offers immersive, 3-D experiences via videos and images with 360-degree perspectives, using a $100 headset from Samsung or a virtually free cardboard contraption designed by Google. You need your own smartphone, and the $100 headset works only with certain Samsung models. You can also watch VR videos online with a 360-degree view, though they’re not as immersive as using a headset because you’re not shutting out your surroundings.

Whichever your method, by moving the device or cursor in different directions, you can see the sky, the floor, down a hallway or around a corner. Mandelbaum said the average user spends 10 minutes on a VR experience, “an eternity” in the digital world.

Dolly Parton’s theme park, Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, created a VR experience to introduce a new ride, Lightning Rod, billed as the “world’s fastest wooden coaster.”

“You can take your phone and spin it up and down, look behind you, to the left or right, to get an idea of what this ride is like,” said Dollywood spokesman Wes Ramey, comparing the VR experience to looking at photos or reviews before booking a trip. “The ride will not open until March, but this builds buzz around it. It gives people an opportunity to ride it virtually before it’s completed.”

Mall of America in Minnesota is launching its first VR videos this month, showing its onsite aquarium, Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park, Santa exhibit, a shopping wing and a choral performance. Carnival Corp.’s new Fathom brand, which plans voluntourism cruises to the Dominican Republic and Cuba, is working on VR content that shows participants in onshore activities like planting seedlings in a reforestation programme, reciting English with schoolchildren, dancing to Latin music and sharing a meal with locals.

Because so few consumers own viewing devices, some VR producers set up at trade shows, shopping malls, pop-up stores and even on the street where they can provide the headsets. The Miami-based Newlink public relations firm created a VR experience for the Dominican Republic that can be seen on YouTube in a simple 360-degree version, but the company also showed it at trade shows, supplying VR headsets so viewers could get the full effect. As a marketing technique, said Newlink spokeswoman Lourdes Perez, “it is the next big thing”.

Is there a risk that viewers will be so satisfied by the VR experience that they won’t need to see the real thing? Visitors to Seattle’s Space Needle observatory sometimes focus less on real views of the city out the windows because they’re so mesmerised by virtual views on the observatory’s walls, screens and videos.

Because you are happily browsing the Web, jumping from page to page, from video to video, you may have the impression that it’s a free ride. It is not.

After all, the Web and its digital contents are not much different from commercial hard copy printed magazines and newspapers. They all rely on advertising or sales of some kind to make a profit and be viable. We may be excused if sometimes we miss this point. It’s because ads on the Web are insidious — well, more or less. In many cases it’s not about direct advertising as much as it is about paying for subscriptions.

First of all there’s your Internet subscription of course. Whether it’s prepaid or billed; whether it’s 3G or 4G, ADSL or dedicated and leased lines, you are paying for it one way or another.

Then there are these countless “little” subscriptions here and there: news channels, music streaming, pro e-mail and domain name, software apps, etc. Whereas most basic formulas are free, you often have to pay to get the higher, supposedly better version. What may be deceiving is the fact that each subscription is usually a few dinars, often less than ten or even five.

Deezer streaming music service costs less than JD4 per month. LeFigaro French online newspaper is JD9 per month and Dropbox Cloud storage is JD7 per month (for a massive 1TB). Owning a domain name, such as myname.com for instance, on the Internet is about JD15 only for a whole year.

It’s when it all adds up that it starts hurting; understandably.

To entice the consumer many services start for free or offer a free-trial period, only to shift to a paid service afterwards. The same goes with the little software applications you download. You are first happy to have downloaded and installed a perfectly working free product. It then starts nagging you by displaying pop up messages that offer an “improved and professional” version for very little money.

And then of course you have these ubiquitous ads everywhere. You may not be paying for them directly, but this is business somehow, one way or another. We have to get used to and accept the fact that the space on the Web, however virtual it may be, is like the physical space on paper, on the screen at the movies or on TV, on a billboard on the street, or on the walls of a building: it will be used for commercials; there’s no escape.

You can find ad blocking software on the Web and that you can install, so that your Internet browser does not allow ads to bother you and spoil your viewing pleasure. It is fine, except for the fact that many sites just won’t open at all if they detect that their ads are being blocked. Back to square one!

The Web is not free and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Overall, it is money well spent. It’s a service and services usually don’t come free. After all no one said it was a government sponsored or subsidised service.

PARIS — The city of Paris has decided to collect and archive the notes, poems and drawings left by passers-by on informal memorials at the sites of the November 13 attacks, to keep the memory intact of the moving and spontaneous show of solidarity and compassion towards the victims.

The decision was made the week following the attacks that left 130 people dead, the director of the Archives of Paris, Guillaume Nahon, said Tuesday.

City teams this month have been carefully gathering the pieces of paper damaged by rain. They have also removed faded flowers and consumed candles and have taken photos of the changing memorials.

“We’re trying to combine two objectives: to maintain these memorials during the time of grief and at the same time, to save the tribute notes,” Nahon said.

Every day, new messages are left by passers-by, including lots of children drawings.

Hundreds of them are now drying out in the rooms of the Archives of Paris. They will be treated against mould and scanned in order to be available to scientists as well as the public on a future website.

“To Justine, a young girl full of life... I will keep in memory these moments of joy and adventure I’ve spent with you in Santiago de Chile,” one letter says, written on a schoolbook page.

Other messages celebrated Paris’ lifestyle and used the Eiffel Tower or French flag as symbols of peace.

Someone wrote: “We’ll keep living, laughing, singing together, refusing the Barbary that kills innocent peoples.”

Archivist Mathilde Pintault said: “It is important to keep track of the amount of tributes that have been left and the diversity of these tributes, some from children, from older people, from relatives of the victims, from anonymous people.”

Archivist Audrey Ceselli told the AP she works with a “sense of urgency” but tries not to read the highly emotional notes in order to be able to do her job.

“To go there is difficult for us, as Parisians... we are paying attention to the notes because they are fragile, but we don’t focus on the substance for now,” she said.

The operation is a first for the Archives of Paris. Most of the tributes left following the January attack against satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo have been lost. The city is now trying to gather some photos taken at the time.

Raphaelle Fontaine, 22-year-old student from southwest of France visiting Paris for a few days, felt the need to come to the Bataclan concert hall, the site of the deadliest attack on Nov. 13, to light a candle.

“It would have been even sadder to throw all these messages away. They are part of Paris’ history. To me it’s a way to keep the victims’ memory alive,” she said.