Aplikasi Penganalisa Usia Berdasarkan Foto

Microsoft baru-baru ini meluncurkan sebuah situs dengan aplikasi yang kemudian menjadi tren di social media. Aplikasi dalam situs ini mampu memberitahukan berapa usia seseorang hanya dengan menganalisa wajah pada foto yang diunggah dalam hitungan detik.

Meskipun hasil analisa kadang kurang tepat, namun seringkali juga hasil analisanya cukup tepat atau mendekati jika foto yang diunggah merupakan foto asli yang belum disentuh editan aplikasi yang memperindah foto sebelumnya.

Karena faktor usia kadang  cukup sensitif bagi sebagian orang, maka di halaman situs ini terdapat pernyataan yang mengungkapkan permintaan maaf jika hasil akhir dari analisa foto yang diunggah ternyata kurang sesuai. Namun dari pengamatan lewat social media, hasil analisa foto lewat situs dengan alamat how-old.net ini lebih banyak digunakan untuk lucu-lucuan.

Menurut laporan CNN, situs ini diluncurkan Microsoft pada sebuah konferensi untuk memamerkan perangkat lunak terbaru mereka dimana ini merupakan bagian dari inisiatif baru perusahaan ini yang dinamakan Proyek Oxford. Teknologi pendeteksi wajah ini menurut Microsoft dapat digunakan untuk pekerjaan-pekerjaan yang mengharuskan memilih dari koleksi foto yang sangat banyak.

Pohon Evolusi Mollusca Berhasil Dibuat

Casey Dunn, pakar evolusi dari Brown University, AS, berhasil mengembangkan pohon evolusi mollusca atau hewan bertubuh lunak. Pohon evolusi adalah suatu bagan yang menunjukkan relasi antara satu spesies dengan spesies lainnya secara evolusioner.

Pohon evolusi mollusca yang berhasil dikembangkan itu menjadi gambaran kekerabatan mollusca pertama yang paling lengkap dan dipublikasikan di Jurnal Nature. Untuk mengembangkan pohon evolusi itu, Cunn mengambil sampel beragam jenis mollusca. Selanjutnya, tim menganalisa susunan gen pada tiap spesies dan membandingkannya satu sama lain.

Hasil studi ini telah menempatkan golongan mollusca laut dalam yang disebut Monoplacophora. Jenis ini sebelumnya diduga punah hingga ditemukan pada tahun 1952 di pantai Meksiko. Studi jenis Monoplacophora dilakukan dengan spesimen yang ditangkap selama ekspedisi tahun 2007 oleh tim yang dipimpin oleh Nerida Wilson, juga tergabung dalam penelitian ini.

Setelah ekstraksi DNA, tim mendapatkan hasil bahwa Monoplacophora memiliki kekerabatan dengan grup mollusca yang disebut Cephalopoda, meliputi gurita dan cumi-cumi. "Cephalopoda sangat berbeda dengan mollusca lain, sangat sulit dimengerti bagaimana mereka bisa memiliki kekerabatan. Mereka berbeda dengan yang lainnya," ungkap Dunn.

Cephalopoda secara umum adalah jenis mollusca yang memiliki kaki di kepala danhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif tidak memiliki cangkang. Beberapa cephalopoda memiliki kantung tinta dan tentakel.

"Sekarang kita mengetahui bahwa ada dua grup paling berbeda dalam mollusca ternyata bersaudara," ungkap Dunn seperti dikutip situs ScienceDaily, Rabu (26/10/2011).

Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, ilmuwan juga mengungkapkan bahwa spesies yang tergabung dalam grup Cephalopoda atau Monoplacophora mungkin adalah nenek moyang mollusca, meski belum diketahui jenisnya.

Penelitian ini merupakan hasil kolaborasi dari banyak pihak. Selain Brown University, pihak lain yang terlibat adalah Harvard University dan Australia Museum. [Jasa pembuatan website]

Jasa Web Design

Website sangat bermanfaat untuk memperluas pasar anda serta mempromosikan produk barang maupun jasa secara online. Bisnis anda akan lebih banyak dikenal masyarakat bahkan sampai ke manca negera. Sebuah Website tidak akan pernah berhenti untuk mempromosikan bisnis anda siang & malam 24 jam nonstop.

Melalui Jasa web design anda dapat memperoleh website sesuai kegunaannya antara lain: Web Corporate / Company profile, Toko online,Web Institusi pemerintahan, Web Organisasi dan lain-lain.

Jika anda memilih jasa web design yang tepat, website yang dihasilkan akan memenuhi standar SEO (Search Engine Optimization)dan akan terindeks dengan baik di halaman pencarian Search Engine. Hal ini akan meningkatkan peluang datangnya pengunjung yang sedang mencari informasi yang berhubungan dengan bisnis anda.

Mencari jasa web design yang tepat sebaiknya pelajari portfolio, CMS yang diberikan apakah bersifat custom atau open source serta dukungan teknis yang diberikan.

Android Phone Hacking Scare Alert

A flaw on a number of HTC smartphones available in Australia means a hacker can find out where you are, who you have called and sent text messages to and disable your phone remotely, security experts say.

To be exploited the flaw requires a rogue app to be granted access to the internet, which most apps require. Once granted access the app can then gain access to data that has been shown to be exposed.

Fairfax Media reported in May on a 400 per cent increase in malware since the middle of last year on Google Android, the mobile operating system installed on the HTC smartphones affected. Google regularly sweeps clean its Marketplace of malicious apps but doesn't always find the bad ones.

An Australian security expert has labelled the reported security flaw in HTC Android smartphones as "far more serious" than Apple's iPhone location tracking scandal and Facebook's tracking of users across the web.

Data exposed includes not only the phone's last known network and GPS locations and a limited previous history of locations (as was seen in the Apple iPhone location tracking scandal) but SMS and phone number data too, as well as a phone's list of user accounts, including email addresses and sync status for each.

Around The World in 60 Seconds

It took Phileas Fogg 80 days to circumnavigate the world but, thanks to the wonders of technology, it is now possible to do it in just a minute. This whirlwind video tour of the planet is a compilation of time-lapse images shot from the International Space Station (ISS).

James Drake spliced together the images from the ISS, which travels at about 220 miles above the surface, to create the one-minute footage which he posted online - and it has become an internet sensation.

Science teacher Mr Drake used some 600 free-to-access images on the website The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, and knitted them together so everyone can enjoy the amazing view of North and South America.

The film, which was uploaded on September 15 and has attracted almost 50,000 hits on YouTube, starts over the Pacific Ocean and then moves over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica.

Some cities and landmarks can be spied, and they include, in chronological order, Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, various large conurbations in Texas, New Mexico, Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Yucatan Peninsula.

Further around lightning can be seen in the Pacific Ocean, before other countries included in the video are Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. In addition, the Earth's ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy can be made out in the fascinating footage.

Facebook to Offer Free Online Music to Rival Apple's iTunes

Facebook's 750 million users will soon be able to listen to music through the site - sharing songs in the same way that users currently share videos, television programs, Hollywood films and news links.

It's a move that could put Facebook in direct competition with Apple's iTunes service - and looks certain to cement the site's position ahead of Google as the UK's most popular web destination.

News of the new feature is expected to be unveiled at this month's 'f8' conference on September 22 in San Francisco, an annual event held by Facebook to show off new 'apps' and technologies.

Music services partnered with the site are expected to allow Facebook users to listen to libraries of millions of songs directly via the site, without having to install special software on their PCs. Facebook users will be able to listen to huge libraries music directly from PCs in their workplace for the first time.

It also seems highly likely that at least some of the music available via the site will be entirely free - and that users will be able to buy music via the site, a move that pitches Facebook head-on against Apple's iTunes.

'Many of the most popular music services around the world are integrated with Facebook, and we're constantly talking to our partners about ways to improve this,' said a Facebook spokesman, although the company declined to provide further details of any upcoming services.

It's thought that one of the likeliest candidates to partner with Facebook is Spotify, a Swedish music service used by 10 million people worldwide, and highly popular in the UK. Spotify offers a library of 15 million songs free - and is seen as a serious challenger to Apple's iTunes.

Sony Shows Wearable 3-D Personal Theater

Sony is launching a head mounted display that provides a three dimensional theater of music videos, movies and games.

Sony Corp. showed the 60,000 yen ($800) "HMZ personal 3-D viewer" Wednesday. The machine is set to go on sale Nov. 11 in Japan, and is planned for the U.S. and Europe, perhaps in time for Christmas, although dates have not yet been set.

Resembling a futuristic visor, HMZ, which stands for "head mounted display," is worn like chunky goggles-and-earphones in one. The footage before the viewer — a music video of a Japanese singer in the demonstration for reporters in Tokyo — is crystal-clear and feels like peering into a dolls house in which a real-life tiny singer is moving.

Baby monitors Could be Hacked

Having a constant ear and eye on your baby's crib is something that most parents take for granted. Baby monitors have been around for a long time, and in recent years, video-equipped versions have become very popular with new parents. What most users probably don't realize, is that the dozen or so wireless channels that these helpful devices use can often be picked up outside the home — giving anyone with a similar device or wireless receiver an undetectable window into your home.

The vulnerability of such monitor systems was highlighted in 2009 when an Illinois family sued the manufacturer of a baby monitor system they purchased at Toys R Us. After using the system for months, a neighbor — who had recently purchased a similar system — alerted them that their monitor's camera was broadcasting its signal strong enough to be picked up in the neighboring house. The camera's microphone was so sensitive that the unsuspecting neighbors were able to hear entire conversations happening outside of the nursery where it was placed.

Newer baby monitor models feature "frequency hopping" technology that changes channels randomly to ensure privacy, but older, less-secure versions can still be found on store shelves. Check the features list on the side of the box when considering a monitor system to verify this very the device you're purchasing includes this new technology.

How Hi-Tech 'Tattoo' Will Monitor Patients' Vital Signs

Monitoring a patient’s vital signs - such as temperature and heart rate - could soon be a simple as sticking on a tiny, wireless patch similar to a temporary tattoo.

Eliminating the bulky wiring and electrodes used in current monitors would make the devices more comfortable for patients, according to an international team of researchers who report their findings in today’s edition of the journal Science.

The researchers embedded electronic sensors in a film thinner than the diameter of a human hair, which was placed on a polyester backing like those used for the temporary tattoos popular with children.

The result was a sensor that was flexible enough to move with the skin and would adhere without adhesives. The researchers said the test devices had remained in place for up to 24 hours.

Although normal shedding of skin cells would eventually cause the monitors to come off, the team believe the new device could remain in place for as long as two weeks.

'What we are trying to do here is to really reshape and redefine electronics to look a lot more like the human body, in this case the surface layers of the skin,' said John A. Rogers of the University of Illinois.

'The goal is really to blur the distinction between electronics and biological tissue.'

Jobs at Apple: Master inventor, master marketer

Steve Jobs started Apple Computer with a high school friend in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was forced out a decade later, then returned to rescue the company. During his second stint, Apple grew into the most valuable technology company in the world.

Jobs invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone. Cultivating Apple's countercultural sensibility and a minimalist design ethic, he rolled out one sensational product after another, even in the face of the late-2000s recession and his own failing health.

Jobs helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist's obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home, and in the process he upended not just personal technology but the cellphone and music industries.

Perhaps most influentially, he launched the iPod in 2001, which offered "1,000 songs in your pocket." Over the next 10 years, its white earphones and thumb-dial control seemed to become as ubiquitous as the wristwatch.

Lytro: The camera that could change photography forever

Have you ever taken a picture that would have been great if only it were in focus? Of course you have. So have we, countless times. But those days may soon be past all of us with the introduction of Lytro, an entirely new kind of camera that allows users to completely change the focus of a picture after the shutter clicks. And, according to AllThingsD, this next-generation camera will be available before the end of the year.

The secret behind the Lytro camera is a new type of sensor that gathers much more information about the light coming into the camera than the sensors found on all other types of digital cameras. Rather than record a finite amount of information about the light in a photograph, as is the case with other camera sensors, the Lytro sensor records the entire “light field,” which is made up of “all the light rays in a scene,” according to the Lytro website. This includes the color, intensity and direction of the rays of light. Other cameras simply record all the light as a single amount of light.

With this vast amount of data, the focus of a photo can be fully adjusted to match a photographer’s desires, using a computer, in the same way one might use Photoshop to adjusts hue, brightness or contrast on a regular photograph. This means never having to worry about whether auto-focus centered on the right part of a picture, and it makes capturing fast-motion much easier.

The Lytro sensor’s sensitivity to light also makes it possible to take photos in very low-light conditions without the need of a flash. It also makes it possible to take 3D-like photographs with only a single lens, and without the need for glasses to see the immersive effects.

Of course getting into the camera-making business isn’t a cheap endeavor. Not surprisingly (considering the truly astounding capabilities of the Lytro technology), the company has so far managed to raise $50 million from a variety of investors.

New Wii Uses iPad-style Tablet

Nintendo's successor to its hugely popular Wii console uses an iPad-style tablet that can be played standalone or in conjunction with a television. The Wii U (pronounced We You) will be released next year and features a 6.2-inch (15.7cm) screen and support for high-definition televisions.

The system enables users to keep playing even if someone else wants to use the television screen. The Wii U can utilise existing controllers like the Wii Remote and Wii Fit Balance Board and is backward compatible with Wii software.

Nintendo unveiled the Wii U today at its Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. System pricing or a specific release date were not revealed.

In addition to its touch-screen, the controller has elements found on more traditional gaming controllers such as twin analog sticks, two sets of rear shoulder buttons, rumble functionality, and a gyroscope for motion control.

The device also features a microphone, speakers and front-facing camera for video chat, which Nintendo says can be performed while watching television. Software showed the screen being used to complement action on the television.

Demonstrations showed players trying to catch a baseball by moving the tablet around in front of the television, and putting it between their feet to show a golf ball while swinging the Wii Remote as a club.

Electric Cars Run out of Charge

The electric cars revolution has hit its first bump in the road. According to reports from the United States several owners of Nissan's electric hatchback, the Leaf, have reported the car unexpectedly running out of charge and stopping.

Range-anxiety - the fear of an electric car running out of charge - is one of the biggest challenges facing the car industry as it attempts to convert motorists from fossil fuel to electricity.

The owners are reporting the remaining range indicated on the car's dashboard is rapidly dropping before putting the car into a "limp home mode" that slows the car to a crawl to conserve the remaining charge in the battery. One owner reported the car went from showing 27km of range to coming to a halt in only eight kilometres of driving.

"Part of me is amused that I may go down in history as the first dumbass to drive the car into submission," the owner wrote. "But I am slightly shaky and upset as I thought there should have been no problem getting home."

Another reported the a similar situation with the car again dropping into the "limp home mode" before grinding to a halt. A spokeswoman for Nissan USA said the company was investigating the reports but claimed they were "isolated" incidents.

The Nissan Leaf is due to go on sale in Australia next year and a spokesman for the local operation said he had not heard of the US reports, but said the company would look into them to find out what went wrong.

Samsung introduced the Galaxy Tab 10.1

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which has a 10.1-inch 1200 x 800 screen - up from 7-inch on the original Galaxy Tab - and runs the latest version of Android, Honeycomb, which was designed from the ground up for tablets.

The new tablet has a dual-core processor, dual surround-sound speakers and front- and rear-facing cameras. There will be 16GB and 32GB versions.

Samsung's new smartphone, the Galaxy S II, is the successor to the Galaxy S, one of the most popular high-end Android smartphones, which sold over 10 million units globally.

One of the most distinctive upgrades seen in the new Android 2.3 handset is the 4.27-inch 800 x 480 Super AMOLED Plus display, while there is also a 1GHz dual-core processor, front- and rear-facing cameras and free turn-by-turn navigation powered by Navigon. The device is just 8.5mm thin.

The user interface of both new devices will be broken into "hubs" - games, music, social hub and readers' hub.

Josh Delgado, director of mobile at Samsung Australia, said the Galaxy Tab 10.1 would be launched in Australia early in the second quarter of this year, while the Galaxy S II would be sold in May or June.

Smaller iPhone, Anyone?

The last rumors says that Apple is working on new versions of the iPhone that are aimed at slowing the advance of competing handsets based on Google's Android software, according to people who have been briefed on the plans.

One version would be cheaper and smaller than the most recent iPhone, said a person who has seen a prototype and asked not to be identified because the plans haven't been made public. Apple also is developing technology that makes it easier to use the iPhone on multiple wireless networks, two people said.

Chief executive officer Steve Jobs, who remains involved in strategic decisions while on medical leave, aims to narrow the price gap that has made phones running Android more popular than iPhones. Google's share of the global smartphone market more than tripled to 32.9 per cent in the fourth quarter, eclipsing Apple's 16 per cent, according to Canalys.

Apple has considered selling the new iPhone for about $US200 in the US, without obligating users to sign a two-year service contract, said the person who has seen it. Android phones sell for a range of prices at AT&T, Verizon Wireless and other US carriers, and typically come with agreements that include a fee for broken contracts. The iPhone 4, sold in the U.S. by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, costs $US200 to $US300 with a contract.

Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment.

Tablets coming your Way in this 2011

The iPad has dominated the market - over 12 million sold so far - and Apple has clearly set the tone in terms of design but several of the newer Android and Windows 7 tablets announced at CES contain features not found on the iPad, such as dual cameras, higher screen resolution and slide-out keyboards.

Apple's iPad faces some serious competition this year, with scores of Android and Windows tablets about to hit the market that offer several features the iPad lacks.

The much-rumoured iPad 2 is expected to rectify some of these shortfalls. Other tablets to expect in 2011 are as follow:

Motorola Xoom

A 10.1-inch tablet based on the latest "Honeycomb" iteration (version 3.0) of Google's Android platform. Available in the first half of this year, the Xoom is around the same size as Apple's iPad but contains a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video recording, a 2-megapixel webcam, HDMI output for connecting to a big-screen TV, a 1GHz processor and a 1280x800 screen resolution. The Honeycomb version of Android offers new features such as multi-tasking and tabbed browsing. Support for Adobe Flash is also included.

Samsung TX100

The biggest gripe of iPad users is the difficulty in typing on the on-screen keyboard and Samsung has taken note - its TX100 offers a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. Like the Xoom it has a 10.1-inch screen but offers a higher 1366 x 768 resolution. It runs the regular version of Windows 7, is 0.78 inches thick and contains either 32GB or 64GB of storage. Separately, a Wi-Fi-only version of the already launched Galaxy Tab was unveiled at CES.

Asus Eee Pad Slider and Transformer

Two very similar tablets except the Slider has a slide-out keyboard while the Transformer has a clip-on keyboard similar to the iPad accessory. They run Android 3.0, have 10.1-inch screens and feature the Nvidia Tegra 2 chip. There are front- and rear- facing cameras offering 1.2-megapixel and 5-megapixel resolutions respectively. Priced between $US499 to $US799

Asus Slate

Another Windows 7 tablet, the slate has a large 12.1-inch screen, 64GB of built-in storage, 1280x800 screen resolution and a powerful Intel i5 processor. It will sell for $US999 to $US1099.

Panasonic Viera Tablet

This one is a little different from most tablets in that it is not designed to be a portable computer but rather a companion to Panasonic's new Viera Connect TVs. It lets users access Panasonic's TV apps and stream content wirelessly from their TV set. Panasonic says it will serve as a second screen in the living room that lets people browse content related to what they're watching on TV (e.g. sports scores or tweets). The Viera Tablet can also be used as a remote control and content can be transferred seamlessly between the tablet and the TV.

Dell Streak 7

Dell's 5-inch Streak wasn't met with rave reviews due to it launching with the older Android version 1.6 and fears a 5-inch screen was too small for a tablet when many newer smartphones were only a fraction smaller. The Streak 5-inch has since been updated to Android 2.2 and at CES Dell launched a new version, the Dell Streak 7, with a bigger 7-inch screen and new bells and whistles such as an Nvidia Tegra dual-core processor and the sturdy Corning Gorilla Glass. The tablet, also running Android 2.2, runs on 4G networks and there are no plans yet to launch it in Australia.

Asus MeMo

Another smaller 7-inch tablet but this one runs Android 3.0. Priced at $US499 to $US699 with a June launch date, it has dual cameras and can play HD video.

Lenovo IdeaPad U1

Shown at last year's CES, the U1 is now closer to being ready for market. It contains a unique design in that it is essentially laptop with a detachable 11.6-inch screen that then becomes a tablet with a more touch-friendly interface. Lenovo says the Android tablet will cost around $US1000 and launch in June/July.

Toshiba Tablet

Launching in the first-half of this year, Toshiba's attempt to take on the iPad features a 10-1-inch screen, runs Android 3.0 and offers built-in Wi-Fi but no 3G support. Starting at $US499, it has front- and rear-facing cameras, access to an application store and weighs 0.8kg.

LG tablet and glasses-free portable 3D TV

LG announced an 8.9-inch tablet running Android 3.0 and using an Nvidia dual-core processor. It has yet to show off images of the device. It also unveiled a mobile DTV unit that supports 3D without the need for glasses. The unique device has a touchscreen and a 480x800 screen resolution.

Sharp Galapagos

Already launched in Japan, the Galapagos will hit the US in the second half of this year but it is not clear if it will reach Australia. There will be two models - 5.5-inch and 10.8-inch - and both will connect to the Galapagos e-book store.

Microsoft must think beyond the PC

Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie tells that Microsoft must think beyond the PC when it's time to change due to hit in the next five years. He wrote this in a memo called "Dawn of a New Day" after he announced he was leaving the company.

In the memo, Mr Ozzie said that the last five years had been "breathtaking" and expected the next five to be the same. But, he said, the strengths that had helped Microsoft grow in the past now risked holding it back.

That first memo imagined a world of seamless computing and kicked off Microsoft's attempts to get its many different programs working together across lots of different devices.

In Dawn of a New Day, Mr Ozzie praised the work Microsoft had done towards that end, but said rivals had done even better.

"...their execution has surpassed our own in mobile experiences, in the seamless fusion of hardware and software and services, and in social networking and myriad new forms of internet-centric social interaction."

The reason for this, he suggested, was Microsoft's legacy of being intimately tied to the PC.

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Google Improves Real-Time Search Engine

Searching for status updates is not Twitter's forte, so leave it to Google to make its own Realtime Search engine more powerful instead.

Realtime Search combs Twitter and Facebook for public status updates. Google introduced the tool in December, sticking it in a sidebar under the category "Updates," but Realtime Search is now rolling out to google.com/realtime as well.

The most important new feature of Realtime Search is geographic filtering of status updates. By whittling down Twitter posts to your city or Zip code, you can find out, for example, whether there are any upcoming concerts worth seeing.

If you want these kinds of updates delivered to you, without pro-actively searching for them, Google now allows you receive status updates through Google Alerts, by selecting "Updates" from the "Type" drop-down menu.

The last addition to Realtime Search is conversation view, which lets you see all the replies to a single status update.

Barrymore: Twitter is not for me

Actress Drew Barrymore has no interest in Twitter and says she has no plans to join the micro blogging site.

She feels people should only use Twitter if they are funny and that she is an "old fashioned girl" when it comes to technology, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"I know I am an anomaly, I know everyone else is in love with it, but it's not for me. I like people who use it for comedy to make people laugh," said Barrymore.

"If people are making other people laugh and making jokes then that's awesome. I believe I am quite an old-fashioned girl."

New BMW X3

More powerful, more efficient and more practical mid-sized soft-roader unveiled. BMW has released the first official pictures and details for its second-generation X3 that is set to become the fuel efficiency benchmark for the luxury mid-size SUV segment when it goes on sale locally in March 2011.

The all-new X3, which grows in dimensions to further distance itself from the smaller X1, adopts an eight-speed automatic, engine stop-start function and two new engines for launch to improve its green credentials.

The new model is 79mm longer (to 4648mm) than the outgoing X3 that was roundly criticised since its 2004 launch for both its sharp ride and austere interior. A wheelbase increase of 15mm contributes to BMW’s claims that X3 mark II offers increased rear-seat legroom.

A range-topping model for now is the xDrive35i, which gains the 225kW/400Nm turbocharged six-cylinder that was first introduced on the company’s 5-Series range. Consumption of 8.8L/100km is superior to the 9.7L/100km of the 30i model it replaces.

A six-speed manual is standard on the 20d and the eight-speed auto standard on the 35i. Most car makers are offering stop-start technology with manual gearboxes, but on the X3 it’s also included on auto models.

Boot space also increases, by 70 litres to 550L. This expands to 1600L when the rear seats – which have switched from a 60/40 split to a 40-20-40 arrangement – are folded down. BMW claims the luggage capacity is best in class.