iPhone 6S release date, specs and price

IT’S HERE. After almost 12 months of speculation, Apple has unveiled the iPhone 6S, along with the larger-screened iPhone 6S Plus.
We've rounded up everything you need to know about picking up one of Apple’s new iPhones, including release date details, price information and where you can buy it. Be sure to keep this page bookmarked as we’ll update it as soon as we hear more.
Release dateApple started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus at 8am on 12 September, with the smartphones available to buy in-store from 25 September.
The launch was met with massive queues at Apple's flagship Regent's Street store in London and Apple has since announced it sold a record 13 million iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus handsets in their first weekend on sale.
Although it's now available in-store, online shipping times have been slipping since pre-orders began, with Apple boasting that it has already seen unprecedented demand for the two new models.
If you order an iPhone 6S model online now, you won't be getting it any time soon. All models, including all storage versions and all colours options, are now shipping in "one to two weeks" from Apple's online shop. This suggests Apple has ramped up production however, with the 128GB version previously having shown as shipping in 'two to three weeks.'

It's worse for those after the 5.5in iPhone 6S Plus, which has sold out across the board. All models are now shipping in 'three to four weeks'.
PriceThe iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus have be been priced identically to their respective predecessors.
The iPhone 6S, available with 16GB, 64GB or 64GB of storage, is available to order at £539, £619 and £699 respectively. Just like the iPhone 6 Plus before it, the iPhone 6S Plus is more expensive at £619, £699 and £789.
EE
UK operator EE, which is promising to dispatch iPhone 6S orders within 14 days, is recommending that buyers of the 16GB model opt for the £49.99 tariff, which comes with a £49.99 upfront cost and 4GB monthly data. However, for an extra £5 a month and a lesser £29.99 charge, you can bag yourself 10GB monthly data.
The 64GB model can be picked up with 10GB data for £69.99 on a £54.99 tariff, while the 128GB model will cost £149.99 on the same monthly tariff.
The iPhone 6S Plus, which will despatch from EE within 28 days, is more expensive. The 16GB and 64GB models can be picked up with 10GB data for £69.99 and £149.99 on a £54.99 tariff respectively, while the 128GB model can be picked up for 10GB data for £69.99 on a £54.99 contract and the 64GB model costs £149.99 on a £59.99 tariff.
O2
The 16GB iPhone 6S is available from £9.99 on a £54 per month O2 tariff, complete with 20GB monthly data. It can be picked up for £19.99 on a cheaper 5GB £49 tariff, or for £29.99 on a 3GB £46 tariff.
The 64GB model can be had for £9.99 on a £59 per month tariff with 20GB data, while the 128GB model will set you back an extra £20 upfront.
The iPhone 6S Plus is more expensive, and full pricing details are available on the O2 website.
ThreeUK network Three has been quick to start taking orders for the iPhone 6S. The handset is available for £99 upfront on a choice of £38, £41, £43, £45, £48 and £51 tariffs, which come with 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 12GB and unlimited data.
These tariffs increase by £5 per month for the 64GB and 128GB models.
The iPhone 6S Plus is available to order at Three. Prices for the 16GB model start at £99 on a £43 tariff, while the 64GB and 128GB start on £48 and £53 tariffs.
Virgin MediaOver at the Virgin Media website, the iPhone 6S can be ordered for free on a £34 per month contract that comes with 250 texts, unlimited minutes and 250MB data. This goes up to £39 for 10GB monthly data, and to £44 for 4GB. The 64GB model is more expensive with prices starting from £39 per month.
Virgin Media isn't selling the highest-capacity 128GB model, nor has it yet to start taking orders for the iPhone 6S Plus.
VodafoneCrimson-coloured operator Vodafone has started taking iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S orders on its website.
The 4.7in iPhone 6S with 16GB storage can be picked up for free on a £49 tariff, complete with 6GB monthly data. This increases to a £54 tariff with £19 upfront for the 64GB model, and £99 upfront for the 128GB version.
For those after the iPhone 6S Plus, Vodafone is recommending its 2GB Red bundle, with prices starting at £49 per month with a £69 upfront cost.
Others
Carphone Warehouse has started taking iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S orders, where prices start at £44 per month with no upfront fee.
Specs
The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus offer an incremental upgrade over last year’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. A bigger update is expected to arrive next year, likely in the form of the iPhone 7.
The new iPhone sports a near-identical design to last year's model with the same unibody aluminium chassis, curved edges and visible antenna lines. There are more colour options available this time round, however, and the iPhone 6S will come in gold, space grey, silver and rose gold, and Apple boasts that the quality of the both the aluminium and glass has also been improved.
The iPhone 6S might not offer much new in terms of design, but it’s the first iPhone with a 3D Touch, or Force Touch, display.

Described as "the next generation of multitouch", this technology means the smartphones' displays, which measure 4.7in and 5.5in respectively, can register degrees of pressure as well as movement. For example, you can bring up more information from within an app by pressing it lightly, or 'peeking' it, or you can move from one app to another with a longer press, or 'pop'.
A new fingerprint sensor is included, which Apple claims is two times faster than its previous offering. It uses an A9 chip that promises a 70 percent jump in performance compared to the A8 chip before it, and a 90 percent improvement for GPU tasks.
The iPhone 6S offer has seen a boost in the camera department, ditching the 8MP camera on last year's model for a spanking-new 12MP sensor. Apple claims the camera offers 50 percent more pixels than the 8MP camera on last year's iPhone 6S, and has been keen to big up its faster autofocus and ability to capture 4K video.
Apple has also introduced a new feature called 'Live Photos', which allows you to long-press on a photo to turn it into a moving image.
There's an improved 5MP front-facing camera on the front of the camera, complete with a new 'flash' that sees the iPhone's Retina display lighting up to illuminate selfies.

Of course, the new iPhones run Apple's iOS 9 software. The operating system brings a number of performance enhancements, including a new 'Low Power' battery saving mode and ad-blocking support in Safari, along with a number of new features, including revamped Apple Maps and Apple's News application and a new version of Siri that is now always-on and offers context-based suggestion.
Beyond that, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus offer support for 2x faster WiFi speeds, support for more LTE bands and a bunch of new accessories, including docking stations and cases.
Live updates from Apple's iPhone launch event
7.50pm: Phew. So what can you expect besides 3DTouch? Apple has been busy bigging up the improved 12MP camera on the iPhone 6S, complete with faster autofocus and the ability to capture 4K video. There's also a new A9 chip under the hood, promising a 70 percent boost in performance.
7.40pm: As expected, Force Touch - or 3DTouch as it's now known, is one of the standout features of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, meaning the displays can now register degrees of pressure as well as movement.
7.30pm: It's iPhone time, guys. Apple has given us a glimpse of the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, so keep your eyes peeled for all of the latest specs and details.
7.20pm: Yep, they are still banging on about the Apple TV. It's the first iteration to offer Siri voice control, App Store access and Nintendo Wii-style motion control.
7:00pm: There's a new Apple TV! Keep an eye on the site for all of the latest details.
6.55pm: The iPad Pro will be available in November, and will be available to buy in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB configurations priced at $799, $949 and $1,079 respectively. The Apple Pencil will be sold separately for $99 and the Smart Keyboard for $169.
6:45pm: The iPad Pro is aiming squarely at Microsoft's Surface Pro 3. Apple has also announced a Surface-style Smart Keyboard add-on, along with its new 'Apple Pencil' stylus.
6:30pm: Yep, you guessed it, the iPad Air is here. It features a 12.9in screen, Apple's A9X chip that the firm claims is faster than "80 percent of portable PCs" and a ten hour battery life.
6.20pm: New Apple Watch straps are coming, along with some new watchface options. We'll have a story with all the details soon. Next up: iPad.
6:10pm: Jeff Williams is up, wearing an identical outfit to Tim Cook. Brace yourselves, he's just announced that Facebook Messenger is coming to the smartwatch, along with an app called Airstrip that is now being demoed on stage.
6:05pm: Tim Cook is out on stage, looking pretty swish. He's promising "monster announcements" across multiple product lines. First up: Apple Watch.
5.45pm: We're just 15 minutes away from Apple's long-awaited iPhone event kicking off. We'll be bringing you live updates from the event, just give this page a refresh for all the latest updates.

Cr  : Carly Page - The Inquirer

Adam Sandler’s ‘Hotel Transylvania 2′ has best September opening ever

Mavis (Selena Gomez) and Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) in Columbia/Sony’s “Hotel Transylvania 2.” (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation)
 
WELCOME TO the “Hotel Transylvania.” To spin the grizzled Eagles tune: You can check it out any time you like — and it’s a franchise we can’t seem to leave.

The sequel broke the record of the original film as “Hotel Transylvania 2″ had the biggest September opening ever over the weekend, grossing $47.5 million at the domestic box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. That tops the $42.5 million haul for “Hotel Transylvania” in 2012, when the animated franchise’s leading voice, Adam Sandler, hadn’t yet weathered a dismal box-office run of washouts and audience rejections.

The weekend win is also welcome news for Sony, which — speaking of washouts — had endured such 2015 disappointments as Cameron Crowe’s “Aloha” and Sandler’s summer “Pixels.”

While “Hotel Transylvania 2″ has scored only a 43 on Metacritic, director Genndy Tartakovsky’s Halloween-season hit knows its audience, rating a crowd-sourced A-minus on CinemaScore — the same grade as its predecessor.

That bodes especially well for a third Transylvanian outing to be greenlit before the second film even finishes raking in the millions. The 2012 original grossed nearly $360 million worldwide.

“Hotel Transylvania 2″ features a wealth of Sandler’s fellow “Saturday Night Live” alumni, including co-writer/executive producer Robert Smigel and the voices of Andy Samberg, David Spade, Molly Shannon and Jon Lovitz, as well as Sandler regular Kevin James.

In a strong box-office weekend, Nancy Meyers’s “The Intern” ($18.2 million) was second, followed by last week’s champ, “Maze Runner: The Scorch Chronicles” ($14 million), the IMAX-friendly “Everest” ($13.1 million) and “Black Mass” ($11.5 million.)

FUN WITH NUMBERS

* Pixar’s “Inside Out” has now grossed $353.5 million domestically, passing “Furious 7″ ($351 million) to become the third-biggest film of the year in the North American market.

* Meanwhile, Universal’s “Furious 7″ ($1.511 billion) is gaining fast on “The Avengers” ($1.519 billion), gunning to unseat the 2012 Disney film and become the fourth-biggest film ever in global box office. In the No. 6 slot is the sequel, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($1.4 billion).

* Another smash sequel from Universal, “Minions” ($1.119 billion), is now the 12th-biggest film ever in global box office (not adjusted for inflation), and is poised to pass both “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” to move into the top 10.

* The top six films this year — and 10 of the top 12 — are from just two companies: Disney and Universal.

Cr  :  Michael Cavna - The Washington Post

Martin Winterkorn resigns as Volkswagen CEO

Martin Winterkorn, the embattled chief executive of Volkswagen, has announced that he is to resign following the scandal surrounding the emissions of its diesel cars.
In a statement issued by the company Winterkorn said he was "shocked by the events of the past few days."


"Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group."

A successor will determined at Friday's supervisory board meeting. However, rumors earlier suggested he might be replaced by Porsche President and CEO Matthias Muller, Audi chief Rupert Stadler and VW brand head Herbert Diess, although Volkswagen has denied this.


More people can be expected to follow Winterkorn out of the carmaker due to the scandal, a senior VW source who wished to remain anonymous due the sensitivity of the situation, told CNBC.


The world's second-largest carmaker is being engulfed by an emissions scandal which has wiped nearly 26 billion euros ($29 billion) off its market value this week. In this kind of situation, with 11 million cars potentially affected, jobs are put in jeopardy and even once-mighty companies can be permanently damaged.


The speed at which VW moved to clean the slate—five days—stands in marked contrast to the sometimes protracted recalls of other automakers.Toyota, for example, took several years over its recalls.


Volkswagen is said to have been caught cheating on U.S. air pollution tests. VW installed sophisticated software known as "defeat devices" in the electronic control module of diesel vehicles issued between 2008 and 2015.

Getty Images

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn.

 

 

Winterkorn has become the public face of the scandal, with allegations that he ignored warning signs about the emissions in 2014. In a video on the carmaker's website Tuesday, he admitted, "I do not have all the answers to the questions but we are working hard to find out exactly what happened."
 

  In stepping down Wednesday, Winterkorn said he was "not aware of any wrongdoing on my part" but had accepted the "responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group."

What's unclear is whether Winterkorn knew about the installation of the defeat devices that allowed the cars to pass official environmental tests. Investors may find it unforgivable if he condoned or ordered their use—but it could be just as problematic if he did not know the devices were installed, as this would suggest a lack of oversight.


The embattled CEO seemed to have clinched a two-year contract extension earlier this year after a leadership battle with longstanding Chairman Ferdinand Piech, who all but publicly criticized the Winterkorn's performance. But Winterkorn won over shareholder support and the showdown saw Piech resign in April.

Winterkorn spent eight years at the helm of Volkswagen, but started his auto career in 1981 at Audi, serving on the board for quality assurance after an engineering stint with Bosch. He joined Volkswagen in the early 1990s in a similar quality-monitoring role, before working in product management, technical development and research roles.

"I have always been driven by my desire to serve this company, especially our customers and employees. Volkswagen has been, is and will always be my life," Winterkorn said Wednesday.

"The process of clarification and transparency must continue. This is the only way to win back trust. I am convinced that the Volkswagen Group and its team will overcome this grave crisis."
After the scandal erupted, shares tanked 18 percent Monday and nearly 20 percent Tuesday. However on Wednesday they pared some losses to trade around 6 percent higher.

Volkswagen has faced other challenges under the CEO's watch, with the most recent sales numbers showing a 1.5 percent drop in vehicle deliveries in the first eight months of 2015 compared to a year earlier and a 5.4 percent year-on-year fall in August alone.

 

  It seems Winterkorn's departure could help provide a clean slate not only for Volkswagen, but for Winterkorn himself, an executive headhunter told CNBC.

Jason Hanold, manager partner of Hanold Associates, which has hired senior leaders for Rolls-Royce, Bridgestone and Harley Davidson, said Winterkorn has a chance to wield his expertise outside the auto sector.


"Private equity and advisory firms would be an exceptional avenue, as his operational and industry knowledge is distinctive, even though his followership will clearly suffer," Hanold said.

As for the future of diesel vehicles, the German auto industry association chief told Reuters that the Volkswagen scandal shouldn't be used as an excuse to question their future.

Cr  :  CNBC

BERLIN: Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned on Wednesday, taking responsibility for the German carmaker’s rigging of U.S. emissions tests in the biggest scandal in its 78-year history. “Volkswagen needs a fresh start - also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation,” Winterkorn said in a statement. He said he was shocked by events of the past few days, above all that misconduct on such a massive scale was possible at the company. A five-member executive committee had grilled Winterkorn, 68, since morning at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. The company was under huge pressure to take decisive action, with its shares down more than 30 percent in value since the crisis broke, and the bad news still coming. German prosecutors said on Wednesday they were conducting a preliminary investigation into the manipulation of vehicle emission test results at Volkswagen, while French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said her country would be “extremely severe” if its investigation into the firm found any wrongdoing. U.S. authorities are planning criminal investigations after discovering that Volkswagen programmed computers in its cars to detect when they were being tested and alter the running of their diesel engines to conceal their true emissions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had urged Volkswagen to move “as quickly as possible” to restore confidence in a company held up for generations as a paragon of German engineering prowess. SHOCKWAVES The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday Volkswagen could face penalties of up to $18 billion for cheating emissions tests on some of its diesel cars. The story has sent shockwaves through the car market, with dealers in the United States reporting people holding back from buying diesel cars and “#dieselgate” trending on Twitter. Diesel engines account for less than 3 percent of new cars sold in the United States but around half of cars in Europe, where governments have encouraged their use to meet fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas targets. Their biggest selling point is their fuel economy and low carbon emissions compared to standard gasoline engines. But they also emit far more nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas blamed for health problems. The suggestion that their emissions in real world conditions are worse than reported in tests could harm the whole sector and alter the future of the car industry worldwide. “The Volkswagen issue is another blackeye for the diesel engine overall,” Mike Jackson, the chief executive of the AutoNation, the largest U.S. car retailer, told CNBC, adding the “brand position” of Volkswagen was at risk in the U.S. market. Volkswagen said on Tuesday it was setting aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to help cover the costs of the crisis. Analysts doubt that will be enough, with the company disclosing that 11 million of its cars were fitted with Type EA 189 engines that had shown a “noticeable deviation” in emission levels between testing and road use. The U.S. Justice Department has launched a criminal probe, a source familiar with the matter said. New York and other state attorneys general are also forming a group to investigate. “INVESTOR’S NIGHTMARE“ Environmentalists have long complained that carmakers game the testing regime to exaggerate the fuel-efficiency and emissions readings of their vehicles. European politicians on Wednesday voted to speed up rules to tighten compliance with pollution limits on cars. European car association ACEA said that so far there was “no evidence that this is an industry-wide issue.” But Societe Generale analysts said that while the uncertainty prevailed, the whole autos sector was likely to be “dead money” for a while. -Reuters

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/volkswagen-boss-quits-over-diesel-scandal

BERLIN: Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned on Wednesday, taking responsibility for the German carmaker’s rigging of U.S. emissions tests in the biggest scandal in its 78-year history. “Volkswagen needs a fresh start - also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation,” Winterkorn said in a statement. He said he was shocked by events of the past few days, above all that misconduct on such a massive scale was possible at the company. A five-member executive committee had grilled Winterkorn, 68, since morning at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. The company was under huge pressure to take decisive action, with its shares down more than 30 percent in value since the crisis broke, and the bad news still coming. German prosecutors said on Wednesday they were conducting a preliminary investigation into the manipulation of vehicle emission test results at Volkswagen, while French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said her country would be “extremely severe” if its investigation into the firm found any wrongdoing. U.S. authorities are planning criminal investigations after discovering that Volkswagen programmed computers in its cars to detect when they were being tested and alter the running of their diesel engines to conceal their true emissions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had urged Volkswagen to move “as quickly as possible” to restore confidence in a company held up for generations as a paragon of German engineering prowess. SHOCKWAVES The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday Volkswagen could face penalties of up to $18 billion for cheating emissions tests on some of its diesel cars. The story has sent shockwaves through the car market, with dealers in the United States reporting people holding back from buying diesel cars and “#dieselgate” trending on Twitter. Diesel engines account for less than 3 percent of new cars sold in the United States but around half of cars in Europe, where governments have encouraged their use to meet fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas targets. Their biggest selling point is their fuel economy and low carbon emissions compared to standard gasoline engines. But they also emit far more nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas blamed for health problems. The suggestion that their emissions in real world conditions are worse than reported in tests could harm the whole sector and alter the future of the car industry worldwide. “The Volkswagen issue is another blackeye for the diesel engine overall,” Mike Jackson, the chief executive of the AutoNation, the largest U.S. car retailer, told CNBC, adding the “brand position” of Volkswagen was at risk in the U.S. market. Volkswagen said on Tuesday it was setting aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to help cover the costs of the crisis. Analysts doubt that will be enough, with the company disclosing that 11 million of its cars were fitted with Type EA 189 engines that had shown a “noticeable deviation” in emission levels between testing and road use. The U.S. Justice Department has launched a criminal probe, a source familiar with the matter said. New York and other state attorneys general are also forming a group to investigate. “INVESTOR’S NIGHTMARE“ Environmentalists have long complained that carmakers game the testing regime to exaggerate the fuel-efficiency and emissions readings of their vehicles. European politicians on Wednesday voted to speed up rules to tighten compliance with pollution limits on cars. European car association ACEA said that so far there was “no evidence that this is an industry-wide issue.” But Societe Generale analysts said that while the uncertainty prevailed, the whole autos sector was likely to be “dead money” for a while. -Reuters

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/volkswagen-boss-quits-over-diesel-scandal

BERLIN: Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned on Wednesday, taking responsibility for the German carmaker’s rigging of U.S. emissions tests in the biggest scandal in its 78-year history. “Volkswagen needs a fresh start - also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation,” Winterkorn said in a statement. He said he was shocked by events of the past few days, above all that misconduct on such a massive scale was possible at the company. A five-member executive committee had grilled Winterkorn, 68, since morning at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. The company was under huge pressure to take decisive action, with its shares down more than 30 percent in value since the crisis broke, and the bad news still coming. German prosecutors said on Wednesday they were conducting a preliminary investigation into the manipulation of vehicle emission test results at Volkswagen, while French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said her country would be “extremely severe” if its investigation into the firm found any wrongdoing. U.S. authorities are planning criminal investigations after discovering that Volkswagen programmed computers in its cars to detect when they were being tested and alter the running of their diesel engines to conceal their true emissions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had urged Volkswagen to move “as quickly as possible” to restore confidence in a company held up for generations as a paragon of German engineering prowess. SHOCKWAVES The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday Volkswagen could face penalties of up to $18 billion for cheating emissions tests on some of its diesel cars. The story has sent shockwaves through the car market, with dealers in the United States reporting people holding back from buying diesel cars and “#dieselgate” trending on Twitter. Diesel engines account for less than 3 percent of new cars sold in the United States but around half of cars in Europe, where governments have encouraged their use to meet fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas targets. Their biggest selling point is their fuel economy and low carbon emissions compared to standard gasoline engines. But they also emit far more nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas blamed for health problems. The suggestion that their emissions in real world conditions are worse than reported in tests could harm the whole sector and alter the future of the car industry worldwide. “The Volkswagen issue is another blackeye for the diesel engine overall,” Mike Jackson, the chief executive of the AutoNation, the largest U.S. car retailer, told CNBC, adding the “brand position” of Volkswagen was at risk in the U.S. market. Volkswagen said on Tuesday it was setting aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to help cover the costs of the crisis. Analysts doubt that will be enough, with the company disclosing that 11 million of its cars were fitted with Type EA 189 engines that had shown a “noticeable deviation” in emission levels between testing and road use. The U.S. Justice Department has launched a criminal probe, a source familiar with the matter said. New York and other state attorneys general are also forming a group to investigate. “INVESTOR’S NIGHTMARE“ Environmentalists have long complained that carmakers game the testing regime to exaggerate the fuel-efficiency and emissions readings of their vehicles. European politicians on Wednesday voted to speed up rules to tighten compliance with pollution limits on cars. European car association ACEA said that so far there was “no evidence that this is an industry-wide issue.” But Societe Generale analysts said that while the uncertainty prevailed, the whole autos sector was likely to be “dead money” for a while. -Reuters

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/volkswagen-boss-quits-over-diesel-scandal

Volkswagen’s Chief in the Vortex of the Storm

Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen’s chief executive, facing shareholders in Hanover, Germany, in May. He now faces scrutiny over VW’s admission that it faked emissions testing. Credit Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

Striding past a car show model, Martin Winterkorn, trailed by aides, examined a Hyundai i30.

He poked the hatchback with a measuring device he had in his pocket, then squeezed his stocky frame into the driver’s seat. He ran a finger along the interior plastic, then fiddled with the adjustable steering wheel.

“It doesn’t clank,” Mr. Winterkorn said to a member of his entourage, with a note of annoyance in his voice. “BMW can’t do it. We can’t do it. They can.”

The scene from the Frankfurt auto show in 2011, captured on a YouTube video that has gone viral, has become famous as an illustration of the Volkswagen chief executive’s attention to detail and his insistence on technical excellence.

It was a display of the determination that helped Mr. Winterkorn, 68, lead Volkswagen past Toyota in the number of cars sold this year, making it the world’s largest carmaker — at least for now.

But now Mr. Winterkorn’s detail mania could become a liability, as he faces mounting scrutiny over the revelation that millions of diesel models contained software designed to evade emissions regulations.

Photo

Mr. Winterkorn, 68, led Volkswagen past Toyota in the number of cars sold this year, making it the world’s largest automaker. Credit Christian Charisius/Reuters

The widening scandal has become a threat to the empire that Mr. Winterkorn helped build with his onetime mentor, Ferdinand Piëch. Though it still manufactures the kind of practical cars for the masses that made Volkswagen famous, the company today also makes Porsche and Lamborghini sports cars, Bentley luxury cars and over-the-top Bugatti sports cars that sell for more than $1 million.

Until the deception became public on Friday, Mr. Winterkorn’s future with Volkswagen had seemed more or less secure after he emerged the victor of a bitter power struggle this year that ended with the ouster of Mr. Piëch, the company’s longtime chairman, who was sometimes described as Mr. Winterkorn’s stepfather.

Mr. Piëch, a member of the powerful Porsche family that owns a significant stake in Volkswagen, began pressing for Mr. Winterkorn’s ouster in March — ostensibly because he was unhappy with the company’s failure to expand its market share in the United States.

But Mr. Piëch’s campaign to remove Mr. Winterkorn failed to win the support of other key Volkswagen shareholders, including a cousin, Wolfgang Porsche, as well as the German state of Lower Saxony, which owns a 20 percent stake. In April, Mr. Piëch — a grandson of the creator of the VW Beetle — stepped down.

With Mr. Piëch’s influence diminished, Mr. Winterkorn pushed ahead with a strategy of improving profit margins at Volkswagen, which continues to struggle to make inroads in the United States and whose growth has stalled in emerging markets like Brazil, China and Russia. The plan includes the discontinuation of unprofitable VW models and the slashing of 5 billion euros, or about $5.5 billion, in operating costs by the end of 2017.

Just two weeks ago, a steering committee of the board had voted unanimously to extend Mr. Winterkorn’s mandate, which was due to finish in 2016, until the end of 2018.

Volkswagen’s traditional culture of highly centralized decision-making could make it difficult for Mr. Winterkorn to deflect suspicions that he and other senior managers at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, were unaware of the software manipulations at the heart of the scandal, experts say.

“This wasn’t a small engineering decision that slipped by management,” said Jo-Ellen Pozner, an assistant professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. “It seems to me like something had to be approved by at least a division head.”

With an annual salary of more than €16 million, Mr. Winterkorn is Germany’s highest-paid chief executive. Since taking the helm in 2007 — before the software began appearing in the 2009 model year diesel cars — he has enjoyed the support of Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as the automaker’s powerful workers’ council. But on Tuesday, it was not clear whether Mr. Winterkorn, whom colleagues refer to by the nickname Wiko, would be able to count on their continued support.

“If it emerges that Winterkorn was involved in the issue, then he would step down on his own,” Bernd Osterloh, a Volkswagen board member and labor leader who has until now been an ally of Mr. Winterkorn, told reporters in Frankfurt on Tuesday. “We can’t afford such reputational damage.”

Mr. Winterkorn has nurtured a passion for cars since his childhood in Leonberg, in southwestern Germany, home to a Porsche test site where he used to watch the German sports car maker’s autos whiz by on a track near his home.

Mr. Winterkorn, who was born in 1947, studied metallurgy and physics at the University of Stuttgart, later earning a doctorate in metal physics.

Mr. Winterkorn began his working life at Bosch, the German engineering and electronics group, and in 1981 entered the automobile industry as a quality controller at Audi, one of the Volkswagen group’s stable of 12 brands.

For 30 years, he worked successfully alongside Mr. Piëch, once describing their relationship as a partnership where Mr. Piëch was responsible for conceiving new ideas while Mr. Winterkorn was in charge of transforming them into roadworthy vehicle designs.

Yet despite decades of working together, the two men never became close friends, always maintaining a professional distance and addressing one another using the formal German word for you, “Sie.”

All the while, Mr. Winterkorn has determinedly raised his public profile, appearing at industry events like the annual Detroit auto show and giving bold proclamations at lavish corporate presentations.

At the show in 2013, he captivated a large contingent of journalists at an invitation-only event scheduled the night before press previews at the show.

“VW won’t cut back,” he said. “We will stay in the fast lane,” he added, referring to the company’s growth plans in America. “VW grows with the challenges. And we continue to do so, even when times are tough.”

One executive within VW, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described Mr. Winterkorn as extremely meticulous about technology and how the company’s cars were marketed to the public.

The executive said that employees waited nervously for Mr. Winterkorn’s ceremonial tour of the company’s auto show exhibits.

Always accompanied by teams of support personnel, he was known for closely examining every car on display, from the type of wheels to the interior color combinations.

“It was like the general had arrived to inspect the troops,” the executive said.

Mr. Winterkorn, a Porsche family outsider, has managed to maintain his position by carefully navigating the often-complex machinations of various factions that have jousted for control of the group.

In 2005, Porsche set out on a cunning plan to conquer the much larger Volkswagen. But that plan required borrowing billions of euros — a move that enlarged its debt load two years later, just as global capital markets froze up when the global financial crisis hit.

Financially weakened, Porsche was forced to accept integration into Volkswagen in 2008, further consolidating Mr. Winterkorn’s power. Volkswagen ultimately assumed full ownership of the Porsche brand in 2012.

Now made vulnerable by the scandal, it remains unclear whether Mr. Winterkorn can count on the continued support of past allies, who include Stephan Weil, the prime minister of Lower Saxony who told reporters on Tuesday that he did not wish to “prejudge future discussions” about Mr. Winterkorn’s future at Volkswagen or discuss any “possible consequences.”

Cr  :   NICOLA CLARK and MELISSA EDDY / New York Times

Google accidentally invents new way to close Chrome browsers

THERE'S NOTHING MORE alluring than a big red button that says "Do Not Touch", and this one is a doozy.

If you type, "http://a/%%30%30" into Google Chrome, it will bork your browser rather spectacularly. We can see you reaching to launch Chrome now. Stop it. Really, you don't want to try it.

We did. It crashes your browser and anything connected to Chrome such as Hangouts.
Essentially, the bug is caused by adding a NULL character to a web address. It shouldn't work, but it does.

A bug report in Chromium with the audacious title "GURL re-canonicalization unescapes a second time, can invalidate previously-valid URL", submitted by Andris Atteka, appears to show the fault as being present in Chrome 45 and still crashing in current Canary builds.

Google has said that it is "working on a fix" but there seems to be some debate in the community as to what a fix looks like.

You'll notice we've not hyperlinked to the offending string either because even hovering a mouse over the characters will trigger the effect.

It's a mild inconvenience, essentially. There's no security risk, there's no permanent damage. But with web browsers being such a central part of the computing experience, a weakness like this is bound to raise questions as to what else can go wrong.

Chrome, as one of the biggest browsers on the planet, has to be seen to be stable, and so Google will want to ensure that this "feature" is fixed as soon as possible.

With it being non-security related, Atteka won't get the bug bounty that Google offers, just the satisfaction of knowing that there's millions of Chrome user who are slightly less inconvenienced as a result of his efforts.

Chrome news has been thin on the ground lately as Google's focus remains on the release of Marshmallow, set to be unveiled along with some new handsets on September 29th. µ

Cr  :   Chris Merriman / The Inquirer