Features

PARIS — The bitcoin boom spawned new billionaires and videos of beach parties and Lamborghinis. The crypto crash brought devastation for small investors and bankruptcy for many companies.

Blockchain technology underpins crypto and has been hailed as a world-changing innovation, but does it have any use beyond creating speculative financial instruments?

AFP asked crypto critic Stephen Diehl, author of recently published “Popping the Crypto Bubble”, to run the rule over some of the most popular claims made for blockchain technology.

More secure voting?

As tension and confusion engulfed the United States after the 2020 election, Changpeng Zhao, billionaire founder of crypto firm Binance, had a suggestion. 

A “blockchain-based mobile voting app”, he tweeted, would mean “we won’t have to wait for results, or have any questions on its validity”. 

Fellow crypto billionaire Vitalik Buterin replied that there were “significant challenges” but he thought it was “directionally 100 per cent correct”.

So far, experiments have been very small scale. 

For Diehl, blockchain was more likely to introduce problems than solve them.

“From the American perspective, every single district runs its own voting programme,” said.

“This is seen as a feature because to corrupt any one election you would have to corrupt many, many civil servants.”

“Centralising the voting system in one digital place would be pretty risky — then all you have to do is corrupt the blockchain and you could corrupt democracy.”

Automated 

house buying?

Blockchain at heart is a ledger, a way of storing transactions that is — according to fans — secure, transparent and permanent.

Those qualities have led countless enthusiasts to propose that the technology could in effect replace paper contracts for things like house buying.

Diehl said it was “absurd” that the blockchain was “going back to things that were solved a millennium ago to justify its own existence”.

“This is the system we’ve had since the Middle Ages — you have a government registry of land, a title and deed that get transferred when the ownership changes,” he said. 

“The blockchain isn’t solving anything here.”

Payments 

without banks?

The blockchain emerged from a 2008 white paper on bitcoin, which was conceived as an alternative to fiat currency. 

The opening line reads: “A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. There are now more than 10,000 others sitting on many different blockchains. 

Big firms have been desperate to find ways to accept payments in crypto. 

Diehl pointed out that cryptoassets are speculative instruments not suitable for payments. 

“When was the last time you paid for your coffee with Apple stocks,” he asked. 

“It just doesn’t happen. You want something that’s going to be stable so the price of your coffee is the price of your coffee next week.”

Supply chain tracking?

Want to know where your mango came from? Some supermarkets believe the best way for you to find out is to access a blockchain-based system capable of tracking the fruit from the tropics of Central America to your cornerstore. 

Walmart and Carrefour are among the firms trumpeting blockchain systems.

Carrefour told AFP earlier this year that shoppers would be able to scan a QR code and discover the provenance of an array of products. 

The shops hope the blockchain will provide security, certainty and transparency. 

Diehl pointed out that digital supply chain management has been around for years and is perfectly adequate without blockchain. 

“Blockchain is not adding any incorruptability to the system,” he said, pointing out that people in the supply chain could tell lies on the blockchain as easily as on any other platform.

“If I have a carton of apples and report that I put 100 per cent of them on the truck, but then I skim off 50 per cent for myself, the blockchain is not going to prevent that.”

BEIJING — Strapped in tight, the prone poodle nervously eyes the vet as he gently sticks fine needles into its back and paws, summoning the ancient art of acupuncture to treat the pet’s aches and pains.

Duniu is just one of a growing number of animals being signed up for traditional medicine in China — care their masters say is less invasive and comes with fewer side effects than conventional treatments.

In one Beijing practice, pets of all shapes and sizes come for treatments.

“The advantage of traditional Chinese medicine is that there is no surgery,” 38-year-old Zhai Chunyu tells AFP, accompanied by Duniu, his poodle.

“So the animal’s suffering is reduced.”

At just three years old, Duniu suffers from Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, which affects the thigh bone and can lead to painful osteoarthritis.

“He was in so much pain that he could no longer put his paw on the ground” and “had no appetite”, says Zhai, who works in finance.

“A doctor advised me to have the head of the femur removed. But I didn’t want to because I have another poodle who has been there and he suffered a lot from the operation and the after-effects.”

But then a friend advised him to try acupuncture.

“After five to six sessions, we saw the results. Duniu manages to walk and even run a little now,” Zhai says.

‘Treat them gently’

Animal acupuncture is centuries old in China, says veterinarian Li Wen, who founded his practice in 2016.

“Traditional Chinese medicine is not intended to replace conventional medicine” because “both have their strengths” and are complementary, he says.

Before starting the treatment, the vet first checks the animal’s body, examines its eyesight and the colour of its tongue, takes its pulse and asks its owner questions.

He then plants his needles at acupuncture points specific to dogs and cats.

“Out of the 10 animals that I receive on average every day, there are always one or two who rebel,” Li says.

“You have to communicate with them, treat them gently, reassure them that you’re not here to hurt them.”

Recordings of soft bamboo flute music and the chirping of birds are played at the clinic to help the animals relax.

Li mainly deals with cases of paralysis, limb weakness, epilepsy, pain and urinary retention.

But acupuncture can also be used for ailments when no other treatment is available.

That was the case with Xiaomei, a 12-year-old male Labrador suffering from nerve compression in his lower back. 

“Last September, after swimming, he was unable to get back on his feet. A veterinarian then told us that it was impossible to treat and that he would become paralysed,” his owner Ma Li, 41, tells AFP.

“Thanks to acupuncture, he still has difficulties but can walk normally and even run.”

‘He loves it!’

“The first time, he was scared,” says Yang Lihua, a 65-year-old retiree accompanied by her Pekingese Niannian, who is suffering from a herniated disc.

“Now he loves it! After the session, he is so relaxed that he sleeps in the car on the way home.”

The acupuncture market for animals remains limited for the moment, Li says.

“But since 2016, it has been gaining popularity,” he adds.

“As education levels, living conditions improve and incomes rise, more and more people are realising the benefits of this medicine.”

Ma’s Labrador jumps into the back seat of her mistress’s car after her session, looking content.

“Doesn’t he look happy?” she exclaims.

Filling the role of luxury SUV in a Volkswagen line-up that includes a larger, more affordable, but less sophisticated Teramont SUV, the current Touareg is hardly the first Volkswagen flagship SUV to share architecture with more upmarket cousins in the wider Volkswagen group stable. 

The third generation Touareg is, however, the German manufacturer’s most convincing luxury SUV yet, and takes the model line from competent and capable, if uninspiring near-premium SUV, to a bona-fide premium player with the right performance, comfort, dynamic, luxury and technology credentials.

Sharper style

Sharing its MLBevo group platform with the Audi Q8 and Q7, and Lamborghini Urus, Bentley Bentayga and Porsche Cayenne exotics, the current Touareg was launched in 2018. Classier and more athletic than its more rounded and comparatively blander predecessors, it incorporates tauter, more chiselled surfacing, more deliberate lines, and sharper edges. With slimmer heavy browed headlights, vast multi-slat chrome grille, and more defined wheel-arches and sills, the Touareg now also includes dual exhaust ports, tailgate-top spoiler and slimmer, more stylish rear lights for a more statuesque stance. Underneath, it also incorporates more lightweight aluminium construction elements.

Available in Middle East markets with a choice of two turbocharged direct injection engines including an entry-level 2-litre four-cylinder developing 248BHP and 273lb/ft torque, it is, however, the larger 3-litre V6 that is the more impressive option better suited to the Touareg’s newfound premium status. Developing 335BHP and 332lb/ft, the Touareg’s V6 engine is quick spooling and responsive from standstill. Building in a smooth, refined and urgently welling manner towards its rev limit, the Touareg’s engine meanwhile rides on an easily accessible and muscularly broad mid-range torque sweet spot.

Responsive and refined

With near absent turbo lag from standstill and an abundantly rich mid-range underwriting power accumulation, the Touareg is effortlessly confident when overtaking on highway or on inclines. It is meanwhile responsive coming back on power when exiting corners. Driving all four wheels through a quick and smooth shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox with a wide range or ratios to ensure efficiency, versatility, refinement and responsiveness, the Touareg is meanwhile impressively quick through the 0-100km/h acceleration benchmark, which it dispatches in an estimated 5.9-seconds, before reaching for a 250km/h top speed.

A sure-footed drive with engine located slightly forwards of the front axle and pressing down to gain excellent traction, the Touareg’s four-wheel-drive system is, meanwhile, able to vary power distribution between a maximum of 70 per cent to the front and 80 per cent to the rear, as necessary. With reassuring road holding and various driving modes to choose from that adapt various parameters for different driving situations and styles, the Touareg also features an optional off-road package that includes individualised driving settings and sand and gravel driving modes. 

Party tricks

With optional air suspension that provides for an increased ride height and 550mm water fording capability, the Touareg rides in a comfortably refined manner with supple absorption of road imperfections, even when equipped with firm low profile 285/45R20 tyres. Forgiving in its ride, the Touareg avoids a feeling of disconnection or vagueness, but rather turns in tidily with light but reasonably direct steering feel, and progressively settles into body lean through hard driven corners, as its electronically controlled anti-roll bars tauten up.

With weight pressing on the outside and rear, the Touareg’s four-wheel-drive meanwhile allocates power as necessary and finds the traction to pounce out onto the straight. A more wieldy and manoeuvrable SUV than its size and approximate 2-tonne weight suggest, the Touareg’s best party trick is perhaps its optional four-wheel-steering. Turning rear wheels opposite to front at low speeds to effectively shorten its wheelbase and make it more agile, the Touareg’s rear wheels, however, turn in the same direction at speed, for responsive and stable direction changes.

Extensive equipment

Surprisingly nimble through winding roads and easy to manoeuvre in tight parking garages with its 11.9-metre turning circle, the Touareg is, meanwhile, well-equipped with a variety of standard and optional driver assistance systems that includes parking cameras, night vision thermal cameras, heads-up display, interactive LED headlights, partly automated steering and lane departure, and Traffic Jam Assist system. More so, with a 48v battery system already powering adjustable electro-mechanical anti-roll bars, the Touareg could also potentially be equipped with other 48v-powered systems, such Audi and Bentley cousins’ high tech motor-driven adaptive suspension. 

A premium SUV with a classy and uncluttered cabin, quality materials and textures, and plenty of comfort and convenience features — including massaging front seats — the Touareg notably features a huge high definition 15-inch infotainment screen and 12-inch configurable digital instrument panel. Sophisticated and user-friendly, the Touareg’s digital displays are complemented by an airy ambiance and interior mood lighting. Meanwhile, the Touareg’s driving position is comfortable and well-adjustable, rear space generous and cargo volume accommodating, expanding from 810- to 1,800-litres with rear seats folded.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3-litre, in-line, turbochargedV6-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 84.5 x 89mm

Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 335 (340) [250]

Specific power: 111.8BHP/litre

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 332 (450)

Specific torque: 150.2Nm/litre

0-100km/h: 5.9-seconds (est.)

Top speed: 250km/h (est.)

Fuel capacity: 75-litres

Length: 4,878mm

Width: 1,984mm

Height: 1,702mm

Wheelbase: 2,894mm

Track, F/R: 1,653/1,669mm

Ground clearance: 188mm (+70mm adjustability)*

Approach/departure angles/break-over: 23.3°/17.2°/13.5° 

Water fording: 550mm*

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.32

Headroom, F/R: 1,049/990mm

Cabin width, F/R: 1,584/1,547mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 810-/1,800-litres

Kerb weight: approximately 2,000kg 

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning Circle: 11.19-metres**

Suspension: Five-link, optional air suspension

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres: 285/45R20

*With optional air suspension

**With optional four-wheel-steering

By Rania Sa’adi
Licensed Rapid Transformational Therapist and Clinical Hypnotherapist

Do you sometimes feel stuck in your job, life or even a relationship, unable to move forward? It is because you have probably created a “comfort zone”. 

A comfort zone is a “made up” area in our mind, an illusion, in which a person lives in a psychological state of happiness, peace of mind where everything is static, and therefore no change is ever possible. But the good news is that it is NOT real and if you had the power to create it, you have the power to uncreate it.

When speaking about “comfort zones”, a couple of questions come to mind. Firstly, why do our minds create such an area where, although comfortable, we feel stuck in? Secondly, if we are so comfortable in that comfort zone, what good is there to get out of it? 

To answer the first question, it is always good to remember that our mind’s first and foremost job is to protect us from threats or danger and keep us alive.

That’s why it rejects what’s unfamiliar or uncomfortable because it feels “unsafe”. It will always take us back to what’s familiar for our protection; this is how the “comfort zone” is created.

Why is it a good idea 

to get out?

What this zone is doing is keeping us static, away from innovation, challenge and motivation. Development is the natural approach to life. Staying in the comfort zone for a long time goes against that natural cycle and, therefore, has many adverse effects on our physical and mental health. One of the best ways to self development is to go out there and try new things, fail and succeed, all to learn and grow into better human beings. A growth mindset is the only way to achieve your goal in life.

To reach that area where learning and growth happen, we need to step into the fear zone and cross it to the other side, where most people lose their drive to get out. But remember, not taking risks is the biggest risk of them all.

Expanding your 

comfort zone

I encourage you to practise positive self-talk. The subconscious mind often tends to be negative for the purpose of protection. Despite the good intention of the mind, negative thinking causes anxiety and stress. It limits development, success and reaching our goals. So, changing our thoughts and self-talk from negative to positive motivates us to step outside our comfort zone.

How to change negative thoughts

Foremost, we need to pay attention to what we say to ourselves to change negative thoughts. Let’s catch those negative thoughts and ask ourselves:

How does it feel?

Is there real proof of what I’m saying?

Do I talk to my child or my friend like that?

Is this type of thinking leading me to the desired result?

What alternative thinking will change my feeling better about myself and thus lead me to a constructive result?

New words

One of the easiest techniques to change negative self-talk is to change the words you use. For example, change “I’m worried” to “I’m excited”. Notice that they both have the same physical impact on the body: Accelerated heartbeat, lack of concentration, muscle tightening and stomach butterflies, but one gives us energy, motivation, enthusiasm and the other keeps us where we are and holds us back.

New habits

An additional way to help us get out of our comfort zone is by starting to implement new, more beneficial habits that will help us move forward and override old bad habits. By doing this, you make the unfamiliar familiar. Start by introducing those new habits gradually into your life.

Finally, reward yourself every time you take a new positive step towards your development. The mind works by associations and linking pleasure to a difficult task enhances the building of a new positive habit. The mind also learns by repetition. Therefore, the more the habit is repeated, the easier it becomes part of your lifestyle.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

PARIS — A controversy in the scientific community over recent claims anti-depressants can be ineffective at treating depression has highlighted the difficulties in understanding mental health conditions.

One of the prevailing theories currently focuses on serotonin. Depression has been linked to a lack of the molecule, which is involved in transmitting emotions to the brain. 

Claims that depression has no link to a chemical imbalance in the brain related to serotonin, casting doubt on the need for anti-depressants, have sparked fierce reaction.

A study by psychiatrists Joanna Moncrieff and Mark Horowitz in the journal Molecular Psychiatry in July concluded that there was no proven link between a lack of serotonin and depression.

The authors said it queried the underlying assumption behind the use of anti-depressants, which are mostly developed to alter serotonin levels, undoing a theory that for decades acted as a framework for research.

The study is based on several previous publications, but it quickly attracted criticism — particularly its presentation by Moncrieff, known for her scepticism towards biological explanations of depression and her radical stance against the pharmaceutical industry.

“I’m broadly in agreement with the authors’ conclusions about our current efforts, though I lack their adamantine certainty,” psychiatrist Phil Cowen said on the Science Media Centre website.

“No mental health professional” would endorse the view that a complex condition like depression “stems from a deficiency in a single neurotransmitter”, Cowen added.

‘Mainstream’ psychiatry

Some peers have questioned the methodology, which measured an indirect trace of serotonin rather than taking direct measurements of the molecule.

Moncrieff, who wants to break with what she calls “mainstream” psychiatry, believes the serotonin theory still occupies an important, albeit less prominent, place in the profession.

“Even if leading psychiatrists were beginning to doubt the evidence for depression being related to low serotonin, no one told the public,” the British psychiatrist wrote on her blog.

The connection between depression and serotonin is firmly rooted in the popular imagination. French author Michel Houellebecq gave the title “Serotonin” to his 2019 novel in which the main character is depressed.

Moncrieff’s undermining of the serotonin theory to argue against current anti-depressants, going beyond the conclusions of her own study, has sparked the most vehement criticism.

Swiss psychiatrist Michel Hofmann told AFP her study was “serious” and contributed to expert debates about depression.

“But I don’t think it is an article that should have any impact in the short term on the prescription of anti-depressants,” he said.

Moncrieff has warned that anti-depressant treatment should not be suddenly interrupted. But for her, the benefits of a course of anti-depressants are doubtful if it is based on a discredited theory.

But many stress that the effectiveness of the treatments has been scientifically assessed, irrespective of the primary cause of depression.

The medicines used to treat depression “are usually many and ultimately, in most cases, we don’t know what exactly makes a treatment effective”, Hofmann added.

Debates on the role of serotonin only illustrate how difficult it is to understand the biological and social workings of an illness as complex as depression.

The challenges are forcing researchers to move away from models that are incomplete by their very nature.

“We are still at theories and we continue to search and test models against each other,” Hofmann said.

PARIS — When video game designer Mark Venturelli was asked to speak at Brazil’s biggest gaming festival, he submitted a generic-sounding title for his presentation — “The Future of Game Design” — but that was not the talk he gave.

Instead, he launched into a 30-minute diatribe against the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies and the games it has spawned, mostly very basic smartphone apps that lure players with the promise of earning money.

“Everything that is done in this space right now is just bad — actually it’s terrible,” he told AFP.

He is genuinely worried for the industry he loves, particularly because big gaming studios are also sniffing around the technology.

To crypto enthusiasts, blockchain will allow players to grab back some of the money they spend on games and make for higher-stakes enjoyment.

Critics say the opposite is true — game makers will capture more profits while sidestepping laws on gambling and trading, and the profit motive will kill all enjoyment.

The battle lines are drawn for what could be a long confrontation over an industry worth some $300 billion a year, according to Accenture.

Gamers like Venturelli might feel that they have triumphed in the early sorties.

Cryptocurrencies have crashed recently and dragged down the in-game tokens that had initially attracted players.

“Nobody is playing blockchain games right now,” Mihai Vicol of Newzoo told AFP, saying between 90 and 95 per cent of games had been affected by the crash. 

Ubisoft, one of the world’s biggest gaming firms, last year tried to introduce a marketplace to one of its hit games for trading NFTs, the digital tokens that act as receipts for anything from art to video game avatars. 

But gamers’ forums, many already scattered with anti-crypto sentiment, lit up in opposition.

Even French trade union IT Solidarity got involved, labelling blockchain “useless, costly, ecologically mortifying tech” — a reference to the long-held criticism that blockchain networks are hugely power hungry.

Ubisoft quickly ditched the NFT marketplace in Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

Last month, Minecraft, a world-building game hugely popular with children and teenagers, announced it would not allow blockchain technology. 

The firm criticised the “speculative pricing and investment mentality” around NFTs and said introducing them would be “inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players”.

The wider sector also has a serious image problem after a spectacular theft earlier this year of almost $600 million from Axie Infinity, a blockchain game popular in the Philippines. 

Analyst firm NonFungible last week revealed that the NFT gaming sector crashed in the second quarter of this year with the number of sales plunging 22 per cent.

All of this points to a bleak time for crypto enthusiasts, but blockchain entrepreneurs are not giving up. 

Sekip Can Gokalp, whose firms Infinite Arcade and Coda help developers introduce blockchain to their games, argues it is still “very early days”.

He told AFP some of the attention-grabbing play-to-earn games had been “misguided” and he was convinced the technology still had the potential to “revolutionise” gaming.

Reports of a culture clash between gamers and crypto fans, he said, were overplayed and his research suggested there was substantial overlap between the two communities.

Gokalp can take heart from recent announcements by gaming giants such as Sega and Roblox, a popular platform mostly used by children, indicating they are still exploring blockchain. 

And Ubisoft, despite abandoning its most high-profile blockchain effort, still has several crypto-related projects on the go. 

Among the many benefits trumpeted by crypto enthusiasts are that the blockchain allows players to take items from one game to another, gives them ownership of those items and stores their progress across platforms. 

Vicol, though, reckons blockchain gaming needs to find other selling points to succeed.

“It could be the future,” he said, “but it’s going to be different to how people envisage it today”. 

Brazilian Venturelli, whose games include the award-winning Relic Hunters, used his talk at the BIG Festival in Sao Paulo to dismiss all the benefits trumpeted by crypto fans as either unworkable, undesirable or already available. 

And he told AFP that play-to-earn games risked real-world damage in Latin America — a particular target for the industry — by enticing young people away from occupations that bring benefits to society.

He said many people he knows, including venture capitalists and the heads of billion-dollar corporations, shared his point of view.

“They came to congratulate me on my talk,” he said. 

But with new blockchain games emerging every day, he accepts that the battle is far from over.

PARIS — The ancestors of mammals started to become warm-blooded around 20 million years later than previously thought, researchers recently suggested, after analysing inner-ear fossils hoping to solve “one of the great unsolved mysteries of palaeontology”.

Warm-bloodedness is one of the quintessential characteristics of mammals, along with fur, but exactly when they first evolved the feature has long been a subject of debate.

Previous research has indicated that the ancestors of mammals began evolving warm-bloodedness, or endothermy, around 252 million years ago — around the time of the Permian extinction, known as the “Great Dying”.

However figuring out the timeline has proved difficult.

“The problem is that you cannot stick thermometers in your fossils, so you cannot measure their body temperature,” said Ricardo Araujo of the University of Lisbon, one of the authors of a new study in the journal Nature.

He was part of an international team of researchers that found a new way to determine how body heat changed throughout time, by examining the semicircular canals in the inner ears of 56 extinct species of mammal ancestors.

Fluid runs through the tiny ear canals, which help animals keep their balance.

The researchers realised that as body temperatures warmed up, so did the ear fluid. 

Araujo gave the example of oil used to fry hot chips.

Before you warm the oil up, it is “very viscous, very dense”, he told AFP.

“But then when you heat it up, you’ll see that the oil is much runnier, it flows much more easily.”

The runnier ear fluid led to animals evolving narrower canals — which can be measured in fossils, allowing the researchers to track body temperature over time.

Unlike previous research on this subject, the team developed a model that not only works on extinct mammal ancestors, but also living mammals, including humans.

“It can look at your inner ear and tell you how warm-blooded you are — that’s how accurate the model is,” lead study author Romain David of London’s Natural History Museum told AFP.

Using the model, they traced the beginnings of warm-bloodedness to around 233 million ago, in the Late Triassic period. 

Michael Benton, a palaeontologist at Britain’s University of Bristol who was not involved in the study, said the new metric “seems to work well for a wide array of modern vertebrates”.

“It doesn’t just provide a yes-no answer, but actually scales the ‘degree’ of endothermy in terms of actual typical body setpoint temperature,” he told AFP.

Benton, whose previous research had given the 252 million years date, said the transition to warm-bloodedness likely took place in stages, and “there were several significant prior steps before this semicircular canal switch”.

Araujo said the new research suggested that warm-bloodedness came about simply and “very quickly in geological terms, in less than a million years”.

“It was not a gradual, slow process over tens of millions of years as previously thought”.

David said it seemed unlikely that warm-bloodedness would begin around the extinction event 252 million years ago, because global temperatures were extremely hot then. 

That would have been a disadvantage for warm-blooded animals — but they could have thrived as temperatures cooled in the following millions of years.

“Being an endotherm allows you to be more independent of the whims of the climate, to run faster, run longer, explore different habitats, explore the night, explore polar regions, make long migrations,” Araujo said.

“There were a lot of innovations at the time that started to define what a mammal is — but also ultimately what a human being would be.”

WASHINGTON — How to upset Russian freight companies, Elon Musk, Chinese authorities and Kylie Jenner in one go? Track their jets. 

Flight following websites and Twitter accounts offer real-time views of air traffic — and sometimes major news like Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip — but that exposure draws pushback ranging from complaints to gear seizures.

Whether Russian air freight firms, Saudi Arabian plane owners or others, Dan Streufert said his group gets dozens of “requests” each year to stop posting aircrafts’ whereabouts.

“We have not removed anything so far. This is all public information. And I don’t want to be the arbiter of who’s right and who’s wrong,” added Streufert, founder of the US-based flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange.

Limits do apply in some cases, but groups that piece together the flight paths note that the core information source is legally available and open to anyone with the right gear.

US rules require planes in designated areas be equipped with ADS-B technology that broadcasts aircraft positions using signals that relatively simple equipment can pick up.

A service like Sweden-based Flightradar24 has 34,000, mostly volunteer-operated receivers around the world to pick up the signals, a key source of information that’s routed back to a central network and combined with data on flight schedules and aircraft information.

Figuring out or confirming to whom a plane actually belongs can require some sleuthing, said jet tracker Jack Sweeney, who filed a public records request with the US government that yielded a form bearing the signature of a particular plane’s owner: Tesla boss Elon Musk.

Sweeney has gotten quite a bit of attention with his Twitter account that tracks the movements of the billionaire’s plane and even rejected Musk’s offer of $5,000 to shut down @ElonJet, which has over 480,000 followers.

“There’s so much traction, I’m doing something right. The celebrity thing — people like seeing what celebrities are doing, that and the whole emissions thing,” he told AFP, referring to concerns over the planes’ greenhouse gas impact. 

“Putting it on Twitter makes it easier for people to access and understand,” Sweeney added.

‘We will track anything’

Another of Sweeney’s Twitter accounts, powered by data from ADS-B Exchange, showed in July that US model and celebrity Kylie Jenner’s plane took a flight in California that lasted just 17 minutes.

The Internet was not pleased and she faced a torrent of criticism on social media over concerns about the message it sent regarding climate change.

“They tell us working class people to feel bad about our once a year flight to a much needed vacation while these celebs take private jets every other day as if it’s an Uber,” tweeted @juliphoria, in an example of the outrage.

Neither Sweeney nor Streufert evoked a distinct redline they were concerned could be crossed by publishing the flight data.

“We will track anything because honestly, if somebody really was a bad actor, and they wanted to know where this stuff is, you can build the electronics for $100 and just deploy receivers to pick up the same signals yourself,” said Streufert from ADS-B Exchange.

Sweeney said “the data is already out there. I’m just redistributing it.”

There is also money to be made, but it’s not clear how much — Streufert acknowledged he makes a living but declined to provide specifics and Sweeney said his flight tracking work brought in about $100 a month. Flightradar24 didn’t provide its revenue.

The services’ information — as recently shown by the hundreds of thousands watching whether Pelosi would defy China’s warnings — has significant potential for impact far beyond embarrassment of celebrities or the rankling of billionaires.

For example, ADS-B Exchange’s data was cited in a non-profit group’s report alleging Europe’s border agency Frontex worked to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean, while US media used it to show surveillance planes flew over racial justice protests in Washington in 2020.

In fact, dozens of US Congress members responded to the revelations by signing on to a letter urging the FBI and other government entities like the national guard to “cease surveilling peaceful protests immediately and permanently”.

In some parts of the world, governments have made clear the technology and resulting information is not welcome.

Chinese state media reported in 2021 that the government had recently confiscated hundreds of receivers used in crowd-sourced flight tracking, citing the risk of “espionage”.

“In many cases, it’s authoritarian regimes that don’t like this exposure,” Streufert said.

Putting to one side the seemingly 1990s nostalgia-inspired marketing campaigns of rappers and lip-synching contests pushing hard to position it as a youth-oriented crossover, the 2022 Nissan Kicks is still a reasonably fun, practical and comparatively affordable car — just like the outgoing model, introduced in 2017.

Face-lifted but otherwise mildly updated, the new Kicks features a design refresh, improved infotainment system and new trim textures and colours, but is powered by the same single engine and gearbox choice, and is offered in three specification levels.

Sporty styling

First introduced a an attainable and Brazilian-built replacement for both Nissan Juke and Qashqai models in certain — mainly developing — markets, the Kicks might not have been as wildly leftfield in its styling as the Juke. It was nevertheless an attractive and mildly adventurous design in its own right, with muscular surfacing, short but wide stance, fashionably descending roofline, bulging clamshell bonnet, and boomerang-style rear lights. Additionally, it was and still is offered with two-tone paint and blacked out pillars for a sporty floating roofline effect.

The 2022 Kicks features a more aggressive front treatment, with slimmer, sharper and higher-set headlights, deeper and bigger faux lower side intakes and a taller, wider and blacked-out grille with re-designed mesh. Its front lip and rear bumper are also mildly update, while rear lights are linked with a slim horizontal element. In weight, dimension and engaging ease of driving, it remains similar to a family hatchback, albeit with generous 200mm ground clearance to make short work of dusty dirt roads and urban bumps, potholes and kerbs.

Maintaining momentum

Carried over, the Kicks’ naturally-aspirated 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine develops 118BHP at 6,300rpm and 110lb/ft at 4,400rpm, and is progressive in delivery and with decent refinement and noise insulation. Responsive from idle and versatile in mid-range, the front-wheel-drive Kicks keeps a good pace when driven with light weight load and on relatively level and urban conditions, and is so moderately brisk when wrung hard to high revs. Accelerating through 0-100km/h in around 11.5-seconds, the Kicks returns frugal 5.2l/100km headline combined fuel consumption rating. 

Driven in a sportier manner or with additional passengers, the Kicks’ rate of acceleration obviously decreased, and consumption rose, when tackling steep, high elevation hill climbs. To be expected, this was, however, remedied somewhat by adopting a sportier, hatchback-like driving style, for which the agile and eager Kicks is happy to oblige. Turning in early and maintaining momentum through corners in such conditions, one needs to finesse the Kicks cornering angle to maintain grip at a brisk pace but without setting-off power-cutting stability controls.

Alert and agile

Smooth and efficient, the Kicks’ continuously variable transmission (CVT) prefers to keep revs at a more efficient low and mid speed range in normal driving conditions, but becomes more permissive in allowing revs to rise high with aggressive throttle inputs. With no simulated pre-set ratios to manually choose from, its CVT doesn’t always hold revs as high as desired during spirited driving, but has a “low” ratio setting for slow, steep inclines. However, it would potentially be more rewarding with a manual gearbox, as available in Latin America.

Riding on front strut and rear torsion beam suspension and weighing just 1,141kg — as driven in mid-range SV specification — the Kicks is nippy, tidy and keen to adjust cornering lines on throttle or to pivot weight with well-placed but small brake inputs. Sitting high but nevertheless nimble and alert, the Kicks’ damping is meanwhile taut and provides good rebound control. Well-balanced between adequate body lean control and ride comfort, it is forgiving if slightly busy and firm over some imperfections, but is smooth at speed.

Engaging 

and ergonomic

True to its hatchback-like underpinnings in its eager handling agility and manoeuvrability, the Kicks v engaging through narrow winding roads. Its electric-assisted steering is, meanwhile, direct, quick and accurate, but refined and stable at speed. Flickable and tidy turning-in, the Kicks’ steering and comparatively slim 205/55R17 tyres provides decent feel. With confident front grip, understeer is only apparent if one pushes too fast and tight into a corner. Meanwhile, front disc and rear drum brakes are reassuringly effective but can fade slightly on prolonged use on steep descents. 

Well-packaged, the Kicks’ stylish and ergonomic cabin features sporty flat-bottom steering, and a good mix of updated trim and fabric upholstery textures. Also receiving a larger, more capable infotainment system, it meanwhile features good front and decent rear passenger space, and accommodating luggage volume.

Slightly pricier than its 2017 predecessor, the Kicks features an alert, upright, and supportive driving position, configurable digital instrument pod and reversing camera to help with parking. It rear headrests are slightly forward jutting, lacks a rear armrest and features a single USB port.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.6-litre, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 78 x 83.6mm

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC

Gearbox: Continuously variable transmission (CVT) auto, front-wheel-drive

Transmission ratios: 4.006:1-0.55:1

Reverse/final drive: 3.77:1/4.01:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 118 (120) [88] @6,300rpm

Specific power: 73.8BHP/litre

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 110 (149) @4,400rpm

Specific torque: 93.2Nm/litre

0-100km/h: 11.5-seconds (estimate)

Fuel consumption, combined: 5.2-litres/100km

Fuel capacity: 41-litres

Length: 4,302mm

Width: 1,760mm

Height: 1,613mm

Wheelbase: 2620mm

Track, F/R: 1,520/1,535mm

Minimum ground clearance: 200mm

Cargo volume, min/max: 432-/912-litres

Kerb weight: 1,141kg

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/torsion beam

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 10.4-metres

Brakes, F/R: Discs/drums

Tires: 205/55R17

Price, on-the-road, with comprehensive insurance: JD22,900 (as tested)

Warranty: 5-years or 300,000km