Qantas Opens Maintenance Facility at Los Angeles Airport

Qantas debuted its new engineering facility at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, which is designed to accommodate the Airbus A380 aircraft.

The $30-million hangar—one of the largest in North America—has two aircraft parking pads, a spare parts facility, “mega doors” made of translucent material to let light in, sky lights in the roof, electric vehicle charging stations, and aircraft access docking.

Qantas, an airline based in Australia, is going to use the facility to do maintenance checks on its A380 and Boeing 747 aircraft during ground time in Los Angeles.

“We can have up to four aircraft on the ground at LAX at once and some are here for around 14 hours, so it makes sense to have a facility where we can make good use of that time by doing scheduled maintenance,” Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement. “Australia will always be where we do the majority of our maintenance, and we’ve invested heavily in our onshore facilities in recent years, but LAX is our next biggest transit point so we’re pleased to now have a facility that reflects that.”

Qantas plans to use the facility to maintain its new B787-9 Dreamliner as well, when it enters service in late 2017, according to the airline.
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Apple shatters records with blockbuster Q1 2017 earnings

Apple sold more iPhone units than ever before last quarter, a spasm of sales that finally returned the company to growth, as revealed today in Cupertino’s first earnings report of 2017.

With total revenues of $78.4 billion bringing in a profit of $17.9 billion, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he is “thrilled” with the results. Wall Street is happy, too: AAPL shares are trading up significantly in after-hours trading.

“We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch,” said Cook in a press release. “Revenue from Services grew strongly over last year, led by record customer activity on the App Store, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”

Apple growth is back
Looking at the numbers, it’s not hard to see why Cook is so stoked after four straight quarters of declines. Apple only expected to sell between 76 million and 78 million iPhones in the quarter, but it managed to move 78.3 million.

That’s a significant jump over the 74.8 million iPhones sold in Q1 2016 and the 74.5 million sold in Q1 2015. Revenue was expected to be below $78 billion, too, so Apple just scored a yuuuuge beat for the Street.

Other products also did fairly well. The Mac line sold 5.4 million units, thanks to the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that was the most pre-ordered MacBook ever.

The iPad lineup sold 13.1 million units, down 19 percent from the year-ago quarter. Apple’s earnings per share came in at $3.36, which was also above Wall Street’s expectations. During the quarter, Apple set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch.

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2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, 2017 Autoblog Tech of the Year Finalist

The 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class has a duality to it, which is one of the reasons we were drawn to it for the Tech of the Year competition. On one hand, it's a great conventional automobile – it has great lines, with better proportions than the bigger S-Class, and an exceptionally upscale interior with (optional) large dual 12.3-inch TFT screens that pack a visual punch. It's also smooth and capable, with powerful engine options and a buttery-smooth nine-speed automatic. On the other hand, it is one of the most technologically advanced autos on the road today, with an impressively long list of safety and convenience technology features – especially the semi-autonomous functionality called Drive Pilot.

Drive Pilot allows for the E-Class to safely follow a car in front of it at up to 130 miles per hour, and to safely stay within its lane. Even when traffic markings are obscured, it can follow the vehicle in front of it at up to 80 mph. It'll also change lanes with a two-second hold of the turn signal stalk. We'd driven the E-Class several times before the TOTY competition, and we know this system works almost seamlessly in practice. Our experience with this system on our first drive of the car, and the even more autonomous future it provides a glimpse of, is a major reason why we evaluated it in this competition.

In a more granular sense, Drive Pilot consists of several subsystems that work together to allow the E-Class to drive for long distances largely on its own. A system called Distance Pilot Distronic utilizes the radar sensors in the font bumper, which will read both the distance of the car ahead and also detect if a driver is cutting you off. If the E-Class is cut off, Distance Pilot Distronic can automatically apply the brakes at up to 50 percent of maximum power, bringing the car to a complete stop if necessary. If the system decides more intervention is needed, it'll give visual and acoustic warnings to ask the driver for sufficient braking input. If the car comes to a stop, a touch of the accelerator will resume the following feature. The various Dynamic Select drive modes affect the behavior of the system; Sport will provide more aggressive acceleration up to the set speed after an automated lane change than the Comfort setting, for example.

Steering Pilot utilizes a pair of cameras that provide a stereo view of the road ahead to determine lane markings. The system can apply torque to the wheels through the electrically assisted steering rack, for both partially autonomous driving and to assist the functions of the Active Lane Change Assist system, which also uses the radar system to check the adjacent lanes for other vehicles. Cross a line you shouldn't, and the system will provide both haptic feedback and steering intervention. Of course, you can't leave the steering wheel (or the steering wheel controls) unattended for too long before it warns you to return your hands to the wheel. Neglect the warnings and the E Class will slowly, almost gracefully come to a complete stop, as you can see demonstrated in the video above.

In practice, we've found a few limitations of the Drive Pilot system. There are some roads that are too curved for the system to handle properly, so it'll prompt for driver intervention in those cases. You can't sit back and play Sudoku; these systems are supplemental to the driver, rather than replacing him or her. Even so, it's one of the best systems we've used in practice, and that made it a must-have for our TOTY evaluations.

At this point, the Drive Pilot suite of systems is bundled exclusively with the Premium 3 package, an $11,250 option – roughly 17 percent of the total cost of a car so equipped. Whether the cost of Drive Pilot is worth the admittedly impressive functionality will be up to the buyer, but it's worth noting that it's currently not available as a stand-alone feature. With no other options selected, an E300 with the Premium 3 package retails for $65,250.
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2017 BMW 5-Series Gets Major Updates

The BMW 5-Series is considered one of the best sports sedans for quite some time and it does not appear like this is going to change any time soon. The 2017 BMW 5-Series has just received major updates that make it better than any of its previous models. Here are the updates in the 2017 BMW 5-Series.

2017 BMW 5-Series: Losing The Extra Weight
According to report, the previous BMW 5-Series felt somewhat heavy for many consumers. Now, the 2017 BMW 5-Series has been made lighter as it shed 137 pounds of weight. Given the fact that lighter cars are usually faster cars, the 2017 BMW 5-Series is expected to be even faster than the previous version.


2017 BMW 5-Series: The Powertrain
Reports state that the 2017 BMW 5-Series starts with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produces 248 horsepower for the 530i. The 540i will be powered by a 3.0-liter straight-six engine that delivers 355 horsepower and the M550i xDrive will draw 456 horsepower from a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine that allows it to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds as reported.

2017 BMW 5-Series: Technology Updates
Apparently, the biggest changes in the 2017 BMW 5-Series are found in the technology aspect. It was reported that the 2017 BMW 5-Series now features the latest generation head-up display along with optional gesture control and remote 3D viewing. The latter allows the driver to have a bird's eye view of the surroundings of the 2017 BMW 5-Series as reported. In addition, the 2017 BMW 5-Series' touchpad controller paired with a 10.25-inch screen has also been updated along with added advanced driver assistance systems as reported.

2017 BMW 5-Series: Price And Availability
Reports state that the 2017 BMW 5-Series will have a starting price of $51,200. It was also mentioned that the 2017 BMW 5-Series are expected to be delivered to dealerships next month. With that being said, interested buyers will simply have to wait for its arrival.

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United Airlines Can't Get Rid of the Boeing 747 Fast Enough

United Airlines has been flying one version or another of Boeing's iconic jumbo jet since 1970. However, United's management recently decided to accelerate the retirement of the carrier's remaining 747s for the second time in less than a year. As a result, the last 747 will depart United's fleet by the end of 2017.

Less than two years ago, United Continental planned to keep most of its roughly two dozen Boeing 747s until at least 2020. That made sense insofar as many of United's 747s were delivered in the late 1990s and the typical lifespan of a commercial jet is 25 years.

However, the Boeing 747-400 uses far more fuel than modern aircraft. To make matters worse, United's 747s haven't been very reliable in the past few years.

Furthermore, United's 747s don't have the same kind of amenities as the airline's newer aircraft types. As a result, United Airlines would need to invest heavily to refurbish these planes if it wanted to keep them in its fleet for several more years.

Instead, the company has concluded that it makes more sense to retire its Boeing 747 fleet as soon as possible. Last year, United decided to retire all of its 747s by the end of 2018. It accelerated that timeline this week. In a blog post, company president Scott Kirby announced that United will retire all of its 20 remaining 747s by year-end.

Cost efficiency, reliability, and customer experience all played a part in United's recent decision to accelerate the retirement of the 747s. However, this decision also indicates that United is backing away from growth for the time being.

For the past few years, United Airlines has been steadily expanding its international route network. In 2016 alone, it started new routes from its San Francisco hub to Auckland, New Zealand; Hangzhou, China; Singapore; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Xi'an, China. United has used most of its Dreamliner deliveries to start these and other new long-haul routes.

United Airlines has used its Dreamliners to launch numerous new routes. Image source: The Motley Fool.

However, overcapacity is rampant today on routes from the U.S. to Europe and Asia. Indeed, in 2016's third quarter, unit revenue fell 4.1% year over year on United's transpacific routes and plunged a ghastly 10.7% on transatlantic routes. With oil prices starting to rebound, United needs to get unit revenue rising again in these regions before trying to grow further.

United's expansion will likely pause in 2017 with the early retirement of the 747s. The company will add 14 Boeing 777-300ERs to its fleet this year (including two delivered in late 2016) as a direct replacement for its 747s. During 2017, United will also receive the last five 787-9s it has on order. These planes could be substituted for 747s on routes where United wants to cut capacity.

The early retirement of United's Boeing 747s could also have implications for domestic capacity. When United first ordered the 777-300ERs, its plan was to use them to replace smaller 777-200s on certain popular international routes while redeploying the 777-200s for domestic service.

Right now, there aren't many international routes for which it makes sense to add capacity. That's freeing up the 777-300ERs to replace United's departing 747s. This in turn means that some of the 777-200s will remain in the international network for the next year or two, which will hold down domestic capacity growth.

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GM's Chevrolet Bolt electric car wins North American Car of the Year

General Motors picked up the crown jewel in the trifecta of trophies Monday for its new long-range electric car, the Chevrolet Bolt.

The Bolt was named North American Car of the Year, beating two conventionally powered luxury sedans, the Genesis G90 and the Volvo S90, in an announcement delivered at the North American International Auto Show.

Several dozen auto journalists who regularly test-drive vehicles vote on the annual awards.

The Chrysler Pacifica minivan was named North American Utility of the Year, the first time the award has been distributed. The Pacifica has been hailed for shedding the traditionally stodgy image of minivans by embracing technology, sleek design and an alternative powertrain.

The Honda Ridgeline pickup was named North American Truck of the Year.

Bolt is the first U.S.-made, mass-market, fully-electric car, beating Tesla Motors' Model 3 to production. The vehicle has a range-per-charge of 238 miles, double most electric cars on the market except those from luxury automaker Tesla. Yet the Bolt, in many cases, is about half the price of Tesla's Model S or X. It just went on sale with a starting price of $37,495 before federal tax credits kick in.

The Bolt was previously named Motor Trend Car of the Year and at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Green Car of the Year. It is not to be confused with the Chevrolet Volt, a pioneering plug-in car with a backup gas engine. Bolt is a pure electric and has no gas engine.

Chevy has been unabashed about trying to get out the message that it's first with a mainstream-priced fully-electric long range car.

“There’s been a lot of talk about building an affordable electric car with a 200-mile range that brings electric vehicles to the mainstream, but only one manufacturer has done that, and it’s us,” Chevrolet marketing manager Steve Majoros said when Bolt won the Green Car award, given for environmentally friendly cars, in November.

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Disappointing iPhone Performance Forces Apple Into Drastic Action

Apple is cutting production of the iPhone by around ten percent in the first quarter of 2017, believes Nikkei Asian Review. Using data from analysts and examining supply chain orders, the daily Japanese publication believes slower than expected sales of Apple's latest smartphone will lead to a reduction of output during the next three months.

This isn't the first time that Apple has scaled back production on its flagship handsets. Last year saw the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus production scaled back in the first quarter of the year due to an abundance of units in the supply chain from over-estimated Q4 sales.

At that point the popularity of the iPhone SE was also in question so it made sense to keep the supply chain as lean as possible so any impressive SE sales would not result in stock lying around unsold - Apple continues to bias towards 'just in time' manufacturing to reduce the slack between manufacturing and selling a handset.

Apple also cut back on the production numbers of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus for the initial availability of the new handsets. In part this would be down to supply limitations for the dual-lens camera components for the iPhone 7 Plus, but demand for the iPhone 7 was sluggish at best.

While the sales of the new handsets remain strong, they are not as strong as in previous years. As smartphones iterate themselves closer to a standard feature set, as the hardware gains that can be made each year become less of a technological jump over previous handsets and as some changes look to be more in favour of a manufacturers bottom line compared to user accessibility (see the courageous dropping of the 3.5mm headphone jack not he iPhone 7), consumer momentum to keep upgrading to the new handset lessens.

Apple can still command the sort of sales that other smartphone manufacturers would adore. But Nikkei's analysis of the production lines suggest that the slowdown in iPhone sales that became evident last year is continuing. With iPhone sales continuing to be the financial engine that allows Apple to explore and innovate in other areas, any drop in iPhone sales will be keenly felt throughout all of Cupertino.

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Low-cost foreign airlines expand in U.S., but DFW left out so far

For residents in Los Angeles, New York, South Florida and other major metropolitan areas, catching a flight to Europe has likely never been cheaper, thanks in part to the rise of a new breed of low-cost international airlines headlined by Norwegian Air Shuttle.

This group, which also includes Icelandair and WOW air, has brought the unbundled model used domestically by airlines like Spirit and Frontier to the trans-Atlantic market, offering one-way fares as low as $180 targeted toward leisure travelers.

The trio of airlines has grown rapidly over the last five years and now combine to connect more than a dozen U.S. cities to London, Scandinavia and beyond. Although they represent a sliver of the total trans-Atlantic traffic, they exert a disproportionate downward pull on fares and have eyes on continued expansion in the coming years.
But so far, North Texas travelers have been left out of the low-fare frenzy, due to a combination of geography, competition and market dynamics. And there’s no sign any of these airlines will be touching down at local airports any time soon.

“We won’t see the benefit of this as much because really Dallas is perfect for business long-haul travel but not great for leisure long-haul. The coasts are better for [that],” said Rick Seaney, CEO and co-founder of Dallas-based booking site FareCompare.

The idea of low-cost trans-Atlantic air service traces back decades to the likes of Laker Airways and People Express Airlines. But those carriers never amounted to more than a few planes serving limited routes before being driven out of the market in the 1980s by larger airlines, said aviation analyst Robert Mann.

There was also Icelandic Airlines, a precursor to today's Icelandair, which became known in the 1960s as the "Hippie Express" for shuttling American college students to Europe on the cheap.

Norwegian Air, which launched U.S. service in 2013, has made use of the new generation of highly-efficient planes and engines, like the Boeing 787, to make long-haul flights more economical.

Icelandair and WOW air, which is also based out of Iceland, have used geography to connect U.S. travelers to Europe with one-stop service through the island’s Keflavik International Airport. Like the rest of the airline industry, all three have benefited from low fuel prices over the last several years.

Initially, the airlines largely focused on coastal U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami. But they’re slowly adding more inland destinations such as Minneapolis, Denver and Pittsburgh.

Their route maps tend to favor cities with large volumes of originating passengers, including leisure markets like Orlando and Las Vegas, as well as regions with secondary airports like Oakland, Calif., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that don’t have a dominant trans-Atlantic carrier.

Norwegian in particular is poised for even more growth after the Department of Transportation this month approved the company’s Irish subsidiary Norwegian Air International to begin operating flights to the U.S.

The decision, which took three years of deliberation, was fiercely contested by major U.S. airlines and their unions, who warned that the arrangement would undermine wages and safety standards -- claims Norwegian Air denied.

The approval opens the door for Norwegian to connect U.S. passengers to even more destinations in Europe. The carrier plans to add 20 more 787s to its long-haul fleet over the next two years and is establishing crew bases in Fort Lauderdale and New York.

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2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Like all iterations of the new Chevrolet Camaro, the ZL1 suffers from mediocre forward visibility. The mail-slot view is akin to that of a WWII pillbox, save that you grasp a suede steering wheel rather than the leather grips to a .50cal Browning. It's fitting, because the fire mission is roughly the same in both cases: kill anything that moves.

Equipped with a wet-sump version of the Corvette Z06's 650 hp supercharged 6.2L V8, Chevrolet's heavy caliber Camaro is anything but subtle. Its arrival is heralded by the shredding of air by a trio of enormous air intakes, its departure by V8 thunder reminiscent of late-sixties Can-Am racing. It is styled like a visual uppercut. It does ridiculous burnouts. It comes with stripes. The seatbelts are red.

But do not mistake this loudly bellowing beast for the overpowered dim-bulb of its predecessor. The Alpha-platform ZL1 isn't just lighter than its fifth-generation ancestor, it's far smarter, more approachable, and considerably quicker around a road course. If there's still a whiff of mullet going on here, it's now more Corvette-infused: think Jordan Taylor on the podium at Le Mans.

"The fifth generation Camaro came with a lot of baggage, for want of a better word," said Lead Development Engineer Aaron Link.

Sharing its Zeta platform with the Australian Holden Commodore, the previous Camaro had dynamic foibles baked right in. Call it down-understeer, an unwillingness to dance that required 305 series tires at all four corners of the track-focused Z/28, best of breed for the fifth-gen car.

Where the Z/28 only had a single job, the ZL1 is required to be jack of all trades. Excellence is expected at the dragstrip, the track, and on the street. Surely, some compromises will need to be made.

Lining up first at the burnout box, the ZL1 delights with an easily accessed line-lock feature that holds the front wheels locked for fifteen seconds. Once smoke starts creeping out from under the hood, simply press the select and cruise control buttons on the left and right of the steering wheel, and lock will release, letting the ZL1 glide forward from the cloud of tire smoke like the Phantom of the Grand Ol' Opry.

Launch control is similarly as easy to use: select either custom or automatic mode, apply braking with the left foot, then mat the throttle. When the Christmas tree lights up, the ZL1 chitters and squeaks down the unprepped surface, hammering suddenly into full power as the rear wheels hook up partway down the track. Launch control's custom mode allows the driver to vary revs in increments of 100rpm, and wheelspin in half-percentages.

The LT4's 650 hp at 6400rpm and 650 lb-ft at 3000rpm don't peg headlines in a world of 707hp supercharged Mopar muscle, but the ZL1 should hold its own. On street tires, Chevrolet claims this car will run a 11.4 second quarter-mile, with a trap speed of 127 mph. Engineers confirmed that Chevrolet had strapped on a set of 18 inch drag radials, and seen elapsed times drop by a further four-tenths of a second. On paper, Dodge's Hellcats are faster. Door-to-door, tenths-to-tenths it's anyone's game.

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American Airlines wins $15 million in antitrust case against Sabre

American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) on Tuesday won about $15.3 million in an antitrust lawsuit that accused airline booking service Sabre Corp (SABR.O) of harming competition and charging grossly inflated booking fees.

The Manhattan federal jury awarded nearly $5.1 million, a fraction of the up to $73 million American Airlines was seeking at trial. But the sum automatically will be tripled under federal antitrust law.

American Airlines was suing under the name of US Airways, the carrier it merged with in 2013. US Airways had filed the lawsuit in 2011.

American Airlines welcomed the verdict, saying it hoped the jury's finding that Sabre had violated federal antritrust law in a 2011 contract with US Airways could result in changes in how the airline's services are sold.

The jury rejected a separate claim that Sabre conspired with its competitors to not compete with each other.

Sabre said in a statement that it continued to believe it had operated "fairly and lawfully." The company said it would seek to have the verdict set aside and, if unsuccessful, pursue an appeal.

Following the verdict, Sabre shares closed at $25.15, down 35 cents, or 1.4 percent, on Nasdaq.

The case concerned fees that Sabre and other travel reservation systems collect from airlines to display flights for booking.

At trial, Chuck Diamond, a lawyer for American Airlines, contended that Sabre used its power in the industry to "bully" airlines into paying unfair fees and signing unfair contracts that suppress competition and maintain its position.

The lawsuit claimed that provisions of a 2011 contract between US Airways and Sabre, including those governing what fares the airline makes available to a computerized network by Sabre used by travel agents, harmed competition.

The airline also contended that Sabre conspired with its competitors to not compete with each other for airline content like flight and fare information at the expense of consumers and innovation.

Sabre denied conspiring with competitors, and said its contract with US Airways benefited competition. Chris Lind, a lawyer for Sabre, told jurors US Airways was far from powerless as it could leave the network, causing agents to stop using it.

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Samsung Will Be Apple's Top Supplier For iPhones Again In 2017

Samsung was Apple’s main supplier for the iPhones from the very beginning, making the A-series processors and supplying both NAND flash and DRAM memory chips. But Samsung started to supply less components to Apple since 2011, coincidentally when Apple sued Samsung for patent infringement. The South Korean company now only supplied DRAM chips for the iPhone 7, according to a teardown by iFixit.

But that trial is finally wrapping up, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor with the South Korean company last week, just when Samsung is set to be iPhone’s main supplier once again next year.

Some of the most expensive components of an iPhone are the display panel and memory chips (both NAND flash and DRAM combined). In the iPhone 7 (32GB), these components together are worth over a quarter of the total bill of materials ($219.80), according to data from IHS Markit. Reports say Samsung will provide OLED display panels for at least one of the next iPhones, as well as NAND flash memory chips again. Adding DRAM chips into the mix will make Samsung the main supplier out of hundreds of companies.

Apple will finally adopt OLED panels next year to have an iPhone with a curved screen (most likely for the 10th anniversary version), and Samsung will be the sole supplier, Bloomberg reported last month. Not that Apple had much of a choice. The Korean tech giant dominates the market.

“Currently in flexible OLED market, Samsung is the only company to mass produce and to stand in No. 1 position in both OLED smartphone and OLED panel markets,” according to Jeff Kim and Kevin Kim, analysts at Hyundai Securities.

Now Samsung needs a big buyer—like Apple—to make full use of its new semiconductor facility. In 2014, Samsung poured 15.6 trillion won ($14.7 billion) into a new chip plant in South Korea, the largest investment for a single plant by the tech giant.

The new plant will start operations next year, and ETNews has reported Samsung will once again supply NAND flash memory chips to Apple.

But again, the California-based company couldn’t really avoid Samsung. The iPhone maker sources from multiple suppliers and it’s difficult not to use the largest supplier of NAND flash memory chips.

Apple also won’t be able to circumvent using Samsung’s DRAM memory chips, as it commands about 60% of the mobile DRAM market.

Samsung is a vertically integrated electronics company and its advantage comes from the synergy of handsets and components. It has huge facilities that make more components than its own smartphones for economies of scale, and needs big component buyers like Apple.

Apple depends on multiple sources, but it also needs a reliable supplier who can make high quality components at large quantities like Samsung.

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2017 Bentley Bentayga: A First Class Road Trip To New York City

It’s a shame that the New Jersey Turnpike won’t allow 180 mile-per-hour cruising speeds. If it did, I’d have the aluminum accelerator pedal of the Bentley buried into its deep pile carpet. The sport-ute’s twin-turbocharged W12 would be whirling near redline as the Woodrow Wilson, Joyce Kilmer, and Grover Cleveland service areas pass by in a blur. And my wife and two teenage children, accompanying me on the trip, would be blissfully napping in their massaging seats as we rocketed north towards New York City.

The nation’s sixth-busiest toll road technically has a speed limit of 65 miles-per-hour. It drastically slows our pace, but whether our road trip from Washington D.C. to the Big Apple takes two hours or five hours is trivial to my family as the four of us are blissfully cocooned inside the world’s fastest, most luxurious, and most exclusive sport utility vehicle on the planet — the all-new 2017 Bentley Bentayga.

Bentley has been handcrafting luxury motorcars for nearly a century, yet despite its extensive experience (and wins) with both road and race cars, it has never dabbled outside the coupe and sedan arena. Yet all that changed when the celebrated British automaker introduced the world to the Bentayga, its first full-size luxury crossover.

Confident that the all-new premium sport utility vehicle performs exceptionally well with two well-heeled passengers enjoying an evening at the opera, or with a pair of Middle East royals bounding over sand dunes, I chose to see how the crossover would do in the real world — a holiday road trip for a family of four, with full luggage, between two prominent East Coast cities.

Face-to-face, the Bentley has stage presence. It’s about the same size as the Land Rover Range Rover (its primary competitor) and Audi Q7, of which it shares common architecture (Bentley says that 80 percent of its parts are unique). Its look is distinctive, chic and unmistakable — sharply creased hydro-formed aluminum body panels, a traditional bright grille, and oversize jewel-like LED headlamps allow it to seamlessly fit in with the rest of the Bentley family.

My family travels efficiently, but not necessarily light. Cumulatively, the four of us were accompanied by five 22-inch roller suitcases and four carry-on bags (plus, the expected purses and backpacks). Bentley offers the Bentayga in four- or five-passengers variants (a seven-passenger version is in the works), with an interior capacity that about equals the standard-wheelbase competition.

The interior is best described as sumptuous ? assuming the passenger compartment of a mechanized vehicle may be defined as such. Every square inch of the cabin, except for the acoustic laminated glass and a few this-is-going-to-get-abused panels in the trunk, is swathed with the softest hides, polished wood, or brightly finished metal. The aromatic leather is everywhere — including the full headliner, pillars, and door sills (on each side of the Bentley kick plates).

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Justice Department approves Alaska Airlines' acquisition of Virgin America

The Justice Department on Tuesday cleared the parent company of Alaska Airlines to buy Virgin America, but imposed some route-sharing conditions.

The $2.6-billion purchase of Burlingame, Calif.-based Virgin America by Alaska Air Group, which will create the nation’s fifth largest domestic carrier, is the latest of a series of airline combinations that have put more than 80% of all domestic flights under control of four major carriers, American, United, Delta and Southwest.

With the acquisition, Alaska Air Group will account for 6% of the nation’s domestic flights, moving it ahead of JetBlue Airways Corp., which lost the bidding war for Virgin. Alaska officials have yet to say whether they will operate the two airlines separately or combine them under the Alaska Airlines name.

Before clearing the purchase of Virgin America, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division required Alaska to slim down its code-sharing agreement with American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier. Code-sharing agreements allow airlines to sell tickets to its customers on flights operated by rival airlines.

Alaska Airlines and American Airlines have code-sharing agreements to sell tickets on about 250 routes. But Virgin America has competed strongly with American Airlines, particularly on transcontinental flights.

To ensure that American Airlines continues to face competition, Alaska Airlines agreed to end its code-sharing agreement with American on those flights that complete with Virgin America, including routes out of Los Angeles International Airport.

“Today’s settlement ensures that Alaska has the incentive to take the fight to American and use Virgin’s assets to grow its network in ways that benefit competition and consumers,” Acting Assistant Atty. Gen. Renata Hesse said..

The settlement must still be approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“With this combination now cleared for takeoff, we’re thrilled to bring these two companies together and start delivering our low fares and great service to an even larger group of customers,” said Brad Tilden, chairman and chief executive of Alaska Air Group.

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2017 Lamborghini Huracan Preview

On paper, it might be Lamborghini's entry-level model, but don't think of the Huraca?n as anything short of a genuine sports car. In many ways, we prefer it to its far more outlandish Aventador, and not just because it delivers way more than half the thrills at 50 percent of the price.

The Huraca?n replace the Gallardo in the Sant'Agata, Italy, automaker's lineup, and it's the best genuine performance car to wear the prancing bull today. Its balance belies its Teutonic roots, and its unmistakable V-10 snarls with with a level of passion seen in few other cars—ever.

We've scored it a 6.6 out of 10, accounting for the fact that it's an expensive supercar with all the compromises that prevent it from scoring a 10.

Don't look for big change for 2017 after the Hurac?n LP 610-4 added a Spyder roofless companion and cylinder deactivation for its V-10 engine last year. Soon, Lamborghini will release a Huraca?n Superleggera, a stripped-out model that promises to go especially fast. It's already been spied on the road, and we expect a debut sometime in calendar year 2017.

Though the Hurac?n lists for half of the price of an Aventador, it gives up little in terms of eye-catching style and ferocious performance to its big brother. Sleek, smooth, and aerospace-inspired exterior lines pair with angular, aggressive vents and scoops to yield a look that’s futuristic and yet channels the legendary Countach’s wedge shape. No shortage of scoops, ducts,and  intakes—all the usual Lambo styling cues—are here, but they're all living in harmony. The huge cuts and corners tuck perfectly into its dart-like body. It's a fresh take on Italian supercardom, and it's going to look fresh for years to come.

More than that, Lamborghini allows buyers to custom tailor their vehicles; if you want one with a yellow exterior and a green interior, they'll oblige.

A jet-inspired cockpit greets driver and passenger, but it favors the driver. Guarded switches and toggles are laid out in a way that's at first intimidating but is ultimately logical; it's the perfect fusion of Italian style and German precision. The instrument panel is a single LCD screen, which displays everything from navigation maps to engine data like revs and temperature, which only bolsters the jet-like look. The dash is otherwise a simple affair, adorned with the Lamborghini logo.

It's a little daunting, as it should be, although much of the controls are easy to sort through if you've recently driven an Audi. After all, both brands fall under the Volkswagen Group's umbrella, even though Lamborghini essentially operates on its own.

Mounted just behind the two occupants is the heart of the Hurac?n, a 5.2-liter V-10 engine, rated at 601 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque. Though it shares its core design with the engine that was shoehorned into the Gallardo, the vast majority of components have been redesigned to improve both power and to coax it to rev more freely, making the Hurac?n’s engine very responsive. It'll rocket from zero to 60 mph in about 3.2 seconds and on to a top speed beyond 202 mph, should you find a suitable place to test that.

Power is rushed to all four wheels via an electronically-controlled center differential, a notable upgrade over the viscous center coupling of the Gallardo. The new differential allows power to be preemptively distributed around the car, with up to 50 percent of power flowing through the front wheels, though the static distribution is a 30/70 front-rear split, giving the Hurac?n traditional rear-drive dynamics

Underneath, magnetically controlled dampers, which stiffen and soften very quickly—much quicker than air dampers could—transcend the Hurac?n from track day star to highway cruiser. A trio of on-board accelerometers and gyroscopes transmit information about the vehicle's state and conditions of roll, yaw, and traction, to better predict behavior. The net result is sharper responses over any terrain, from the "corkscrew" at Laguna Seca to the country road behind your house.

Steering is electric, and while feel isn’t as clearly communicated as you’ll find on some other high-end supercars, it’s accurate, and the available dynamic steering ratio provides quick, sporty input. On track, the Hurac?n is mostly balanced, exhibiting some power-on understeer, but largely doing precisely what the driver requests.

Toggle between conservative Strada mode, playfully reserved Sport, and downright track-ready Corsa and you'll still stay within a safety net that even seasoned race car drivers have deemed acceptable.

Mild-mannered it's never, but Strada mode is where there's a relative calm in the Hurac?n's power delivery. In Strada, the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission mutes shift shock and the magnetic dampers take the edge off mismatched road surfaces. But flip the toggle on the steering wheel to Sport mode—or Corsa, the track setting—and that calm dissolves into a frenzied search for the outer extremes of grip and acceleration. Corsa mode dials back the stability and traction control and still, it's poised and composed and controllable. It's shockingly easy to drive the Hurac?n quickly, something we cannot say about the more abrupt Aventador.

What surprises Hurac?n drivers and passengers alike is how well it actually works as a daily driver. Sure, most buyers will have a few other cars in their fleet, but it's nice to know that the Hurac?n offers ample room for two occupants over 6 feet tall. Well-bolstered and supportive front seats covered in fine hides envelope drivers of all sizes, and even visibility is excellent, so long as you're looking forward or out to the sides. Since there's a louvered engine compartment cover sitting just behind your head, don't expect to see much behind you. At least there's a backup camera.

The Hurac?n is low and wide—excluding the mirrors, the car is 75.8 inches wide—so it's not exactly maneuverable in tight confines. Cargo space is minimal in the Hurac?n, with a front trunk area holding little more than a single roll-on bag.

Despite some small inconveniences, the Lamborghini Hurac?n LP 610-4 is easily the best Lamborghini we’ve driven to date, suitable for both days at the track and weekends on the open road. If you’re in the market for a design-driven supercar, the Hurac?n should be the first stop on your list. Consider us jealous.

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High-water marque: Aston Martin's DB11

The DB is the backbone of Aston Martin – our reference through history. But we can't let 103 years of history hold us back. A key word for us is "progressive". We have to move forward and make a new history, so there was a lot of ambition when we began this project.

The DB11 is the first in what we call our "Second Century Plan". This lays out a model line that takes us to a new level. If you go back to 2000 and the launch of the DB9, we took Aston Martin from a cottage industry to an international one. This car takes us forward again.

When designing, we start first and foremost with proportion. Our cars are always based on a very simple line, a very dynamic feel; this gives them the look of moving while standing still. The real trick is the placement of the cabin - on the DB11, if you follow the line down from the roof through the windscreen to the ground, it goes right through the centre of the front wheel, meaning the main mass sits very neatly over the back wheel. But there's also sturdiness, the look a cat has when it lands on the ground on all fours. All this is quite easy to explain. The difficult part is putting all the engineering behind it to make it perform.

The front of the car is one of the most gentlemanly we've made. The nose is slightly higher and it has a "moustache". This is what we call the "X" line. The "face" of an Aston Martin is the face of an English gentleman. If you go back to wonderful cars such as the DB2 and the DB5, you'll see this moustache, but it had become a bit diluted and we wanted to bring back its beautiful curve, which defines the shape of the front and the lines that flow off it.

The front may give a nod to the past, but we have a little rule that says we're allowed to be romantic but not retro. The design is not a pastiche or a copy of the past, but it does have a feeling of something you've seen before. That said, the DB11 is unashamedly modern. It has the most powerful engine a DB has ever carried: a 5.2-litre twin-turbocharged V12 with a top speed of 200mph and a 0-62mph time of just 3.9 seconds. We've paired with Daimler – who are now a minor shareholder in Aston Martin – which means we have access to all its technology. This has made a huge difference to what we can offer inside the car in terms of vehicle information and infotainment.

The industrial process dictates that you have to have split-lines, you have to mould things in a certain way. However, if you compare the DB11 with the Aston Martin Rapide, for example, you see those lines are now gone and we can use that space to make sculpture. We've made use of something we call "the infinity gap", so you never actually notice one part joining another and parts start to "float". The inspiration was the idea of a perfect pebble, with no marks on it whatsoever.

Another part of graphically imagining the DB11 was the roof. With this, we are adding a new story to Aston Martin: the roof can be either in a contrast colour or in the body colour. The latter "joins the car up" as one whole, but if it's, say, a contrasting black, you can separate the cabin from the rest of the car, which gives it a dramatically different look, or make it bright and so highlight it.

There are now all these different ways you can change the character of your DB11 that didn't exist before. We've introduced new ideas to emphasise the craftsmanship: brogue seating, new metallic and semi-aniline leathers and a really interesting array of woods and carbons. We even have an interior finish that looks like marble but is made up of thousands and thousands of layers of chopped carbon that are then machined back to create a type of veneer.

Finally, although this is a sports car, there's plenty of space inside. We're now accommodating a wider range of drivers – we offer a range of seats – and this is the first Aston Martin in which I don't have my seat to the floor. I'm 6ft 2in and while I physically can't get in the back of a DB9, this one I can fit into as a back-seat passenger. So, we've gone from unusable to full usability while maintaining a sleek profile. You can even fit an Isofix seat in the back for children. All in all, I consider the DB11 to be a true 21st-century Aston Martin.

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Apple Is Testing Several Prototypes for Next Year's iPhone

Apple’s next iPhone could come with a major new feature, according to a report.

Apple is testing an iPhone with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology that could allow for a curved screen, The Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing sources. The report says the OLED model would be in addition to traditional liquid crystal display (LCD) versions that Apple would also release.

Overall, Apple is working on “more than 10” distinct iPhone prototypes, according to the Journal.

Next year’s iPhone could be a major update over the current model, the iPhone 7. Next year marks the 10th anniversary for the iPhone, and both analysts and market researchers believe Apple wants to offer at least one model that delivers many of the innovations competitors like Samsung have offered for the last few years.

Samsung, for instance, has made a curved OLED-based screen with its Galaxy S “edge” line. The ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 Samsung released this year and subsequently discontinued because some caught fire or exploded also had a curved screen.

Apple has been criticized in the last several months for not offering many of the innovations its competitors have. Those complaints reached a crescendo in September when Apple unveiled an iPhone 7 that looked strikingly similar to last year’s iPhone 6s. It also lacked a headphone port, which elicited intense criticism. Still, the iPhone 7 is among the biggest selling smartphones available.

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The Xbox One Interface Could Be Going Through Major Changes

The Xbox One's user interface could be going through major changes. There are some strong rumors pointing to new updates and upgrades to the way the Xbox Guide works, and some of the new tabs that could make an appearance might make access to games even easier yet.

According to Windows Central, the instant Guide access when you double tap the center Xbox button on the controller will have a new tab added to the quick menu. The tab will be a recently accessed menu, similar to when you open up Big Picture mode in Steam, and when you head into your library the first tab that pops up shows the games you most recently accessed along with games that were most recently updated.

This feature will supposedly be an extension on what was first introduced with the Guide feature, where gamers could quickly double-tap the center button on the Xbox One Controller and get a quick-menu of their friends list, party invite options and chat communication access.

Windows Central further states that the menu will display your pins so you can customize what's pinned in the menu. If you want your favorite movies in there, you can do that. If you want quick access to the Xbox Store, you can do that, too. If you want to be able to hop over to certain apps or game menus or even the system utilities feature for the Xbox One, you can also reportedly pin that to the new menu.

The article also mentions that instead of double-tapping your way into the Guide menu, Microsoft is supposedly investigating ways to get into the menu with a single button press.

One of the most shocking changes that's supposedly coming to the Xbox One's new UI is the complete removal of the Snap mode. Previously, this was the only way to listen to custom music in games until the Xbox One had native DLNA support implemented. Now, I'm not really sure what the benefit is of Snap mode, but it could previously show other features, modes or apps on the side while you played games or watched movies. The article notes that Microsoft could be replacing Snap entirely with a new PIP (picture-in-picture) mode that allows users to video chat with friends, listen to music through the Xbox Music app, or navigate with other apps using the picture-in-picture mode. The small window can supposedly be anchored to different positions, similar to how the broadcasting works in Steam or how you can use the in-app menu to pin other accessibility features to the window while you game.

Unlike Steam, however, the picture-in-picture mode for the Xbox One will supposedly work with any Xbox supported app. So you can technically have any other app multi-tasking while you do other stuff -- such as playing Gears of War 4 while watching a Let's Play of Halo 5, or listening to the last Chad Kroeger song while checking out the latest live-stream of We Happy Few.

Supposedly, this new overhaul of the Xbox Guide and the OS is being designed with the Xbox Scorpio in mind. This is all a precursor for the upcoming mid-generation refresh from Microsoft, which is due to drop in fall of 2017. In a way, it would make sense to prep the OS and other software features beforehand so that there's systematic symmetry and usability present when the system launches instead of having to upgrade, modify and iterate post-launch, which is basically what happened with the original Xbox One release, which was missing a ton of features when it dropped on store shelves back in 2013.

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$400 Round-Trip to Europe on OneWorld, SkyTeam Airlines

Black Friday has come early for travelers, with OneWorld and SkyTeam Airlines launching incredibly low round-trip fares from across the U.S. to more cities in Europe than we can count. Portland to Paris? Just $424 on Delta and Air France. Los Angeles to Amsterdam? $396 on American Airlines. Chicago to Madrid? We're talking $391 on Iberia.

All of these flights cost at least $900 on an average day, so these wide-ranging deals are giving us major wanderlust. According to Airfare Spot, the deal is valid for flights between January and mid-May 2017, so you could even book two (come on, book two) for the price of one round-trip to Europe.

Our top picks? Fly to Paris this spring but don't stay in town too long. Be sure to tack on a trip to Ruinart's Champagne caves in nearby Reims, just a 45-minute train ride away, if you fly in April or May.

Or head to Naples, not for its rich Italian history, but for its surprising contemporary art scene. If you're feeling festive, why not plan a trip to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, as flights to the Irish capital are as low as $422 from the East Coast. If you can't tell, we're having a hard time choosing ourselves.

If you have a destination in mind, plug it in to Google Flights and use the calendar to find the best possible price. If you're looking for the lowest fare, take those dates to Momondo for an extra $30 or $40 off. If you're not sure where to go, let Google Flight's map inspire you. Type in your origin airport and preferred dates and then scroll down just a bit until you see a map.
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There's no going back now: Two months with iPhone 7 Plus

Even before Apple announced the iPhone 7 Plus, I made the decision to go big with this year's model, despite my reservations.

Once Apple confirmed nearly every rumor we'd covered and read leading up to the iPhone 7 announcement, including two cameras on the back of the 7 Plus model and increased battery life, there was no turning back.

On launch day, my iPhone 7 Plus arrived, and I spent a weekend adjusting and tweaking how I held the phone and where I placed it while driving my car.

By far, my favorite aspect of the iPhone 7 Plus is the size of the screen. From watching videos to reading news, I appreciate the added screen real estate.

Due to the increased screen size, I've found myself using my iPhone in landscape mode more often. When Apple first announced the larger "Plus" model iPhone 6 in 2014, the company also revealed developers could create custom interfaces to take advantage of the bigger screen, even in landscape orientation.

For example, when using an app like Safari in landscape orientation, you can view and manage tabs in the same manner as on an iPad or Mac.

I'm continuously surprised each time I rotate my phone and find myself interacting with more than one column of information in Mail or an iPad-inspired look in a third-party app such as Deliveries. Even the home screen is usable in landscape.

Other than when watching a video, I don't recall ever using the standard iPhone 6S in landscape mode. Now, it's a common occurrence.

After using countless Android phones with screens larger than 4.7-inches, I knew the added screen size would be useful. I just didn't imagine it being this useful on an iOS device.

If you recall, one of the headlining features of the iPhone 7 Plus over the standard iPhone 7 is an additional camera lens on the back of the phone that can be used to optically zoom, and thanks to some fancy software tricks, create a depth-of-field effect on some photos.

Despite announcing it at the iPhone event in September, the iPhone 7 didn't launch with Portrait mode. It wasn't until a few weeks later that Apple released a beta version of iOS 10.1 with a Portrait mode included for the iPhone 7 Plus. A few weeks after that, the update went live for all (although the Portrait mode feature is still labeled as a beta).

The short review of Portrait mode is this: when the software gets it right, it looks amazing. You'd be hard pressed to find another smartphone camera with a similar effect that can pull it off with the same level of clarity.

However, when Portrait mode gets it wrong, it's laughable. I've taken countless photos where the top half of a glass is cut off or an entire side of someone's face is blurred out all together.

That said, after you use Portrait mode for an extended amount of time, you begin to learn situations, subjects, and lighting environments that work well with the camera's latest trick.

Having the option to optically zoom in on a photo or video has proven invaluable, as I take photos of my kids or products for work. I want every phone to have optical zoom after using the 7 Plus.

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Mercedes-Benz Considers Dropping Diesels In THe U.S

Volkswagen’s cheating scandal has taken a toll on the entire car industry, as stricter testing procedures now required by the EPA have delayed diesel certifications for a number of automakers. That includes Mercedes, which has a short-term plan for diesels, but may not offer them in the U.S. going forward.

Mercedes is working to get certification for a select few diesels in the U.S., but that may not be the case in the future if demand proves insufficient.

“We have to look at that and see whether it makes sense to offer diesels in the future,” Matthias Luehrs, VP of sales and product management for Mercedes-Benz Cars, told Automotive News. “We have not come to a conclusion but we obviously always tend to develop cars and offer vehicles according to customers’ demands.”

Demand for diesel cars and crossovers has been low “and is still lowering” in North America, Luehrs noted. Mercedes is conducting market research to help it make a decision on the matter. Getting rid of them entirely in our market “is a theoretical option,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mercedes is mostly optimistic about being able to offer diesels in the near future, saying its priority is to receive approval for the GLS350d. It had also applied for certification for the GLC and GLE SUVs. Mercedes announced last month that it was no longer seeking to offer a C-Class diesel next year in the U.S.

Other automakers aren’t shying away from diesels, including Mazda, which announced it will offer a CX-5 diesel for the first time in the U.S. next year. Despite all its troubles, Volkswagen is still committed to diesel engines in the U.S., but only when it makes sense. “We are not stopping diesel. Wherever diesel makes sense as a package to the car, we’ll continue,” VW Group of America CEO Hinrich Woebcken told AN earlier this year. However, he noted diesels will no longer be a core focus of the automaker’s U.S. brand identity.

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