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Amazon announces Man City documentary to encourage Prime sign ups | Amazon will film and produce a fly-on-the-wall documentary about English Premier League side Manchester City, despite concerns from broadcaster Sky Sports. Although Amazon will have to work around strict UK broadcast rights, analysts have suggested it could provide a stepping-stone for streaming firms to broadcast more sporting content and woo subscribers to their platforms. Amazon already streams NFL Thursday, has signed a five-year, £10m ($13.1bn) deal with the ATP to broadcast tennis from 2019, and has, alongside rival Netflix, contacted Liverpool and Chelsea for access to players and staff.
| https://digiday.com/marketing/amazon-goes-long-form-manchester-city-documentary/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171110 | 2017-11-10 12:29:54.050000 | Amazon’s push into sports involves more than just livestreaming games. On Nov. 9, Premier League club Manchester City announced that Amazon has agreed to produce a documentary series about the club, putting an end to weeks of speculation about such an agreement.
Pitched as a soccer version of Amazon and the NFL’s documentary series “All or Nothing,” the show will follow the team throughout the 2017-18 season and air sometime after the season ends, which is in May.
It’s the first deal of its kind for Amazon, which hopes the series turns fans of Manchester City and the sport into Prime subscribers. Amazon doesn’t reveal subscriber numbers, but data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners suggests Amazon has around 90 million in the U.S. alone. “Manchester City believes there’s a much broader audience out there for them alongside the club’s supporters and soccer fans, which is why the type of demographics that watch content on Amazon was a good fit,” said a source close to deal.
The same source said that once the production team has sorted through all the filmed footage, a decision will be made on how many episodes will be created. It could get tricky for the production crew on match days due to the Premier League’s strict rules on match-day coverage that protect the broadcast rights it has sold to Sky and BT in the U.K. as well as its overseas partners. This means the show’s producers could be forced to leave out dramatic moments like locker room team talks.
Those regulations have already pushed Amazon rival Netflix to develop a similar fly-on-the-wall series with Italian club Juventus rather than an English one. Manchester City, however, is one of the top teams in the most-watched soccer league in the world and, as such, was able to strike the deal despite reportedly causing friction with broadcasters.
“Amazon is a fundamentally different platform that has global appeal across more than 200 countries,” said the source. “With the Amazon team, we feel like they have a fantastic record of producing these types of programs [sports documentaries], and the club is confident in the partnership.”
Sky Sports, which paid more than £4 billion ($5.3 billion) to broadcast Premier League games between 2016 and 2019, reportedly voiced its unease about how Amazon bought its way into the league through the deal with Manchester City. Sports broadcasters are understandably concerned that the unfettered growth of services like Amazon Prime and Netflix could at some point take subscribers away from their own packages, as could livestreaming. Amazon already streams NFL Thursday night games as well as a Christmas Day game, and it will also pay the ATP £10 million ($13.1 billion) per year for five years starting in 2019 to stream tennis matches.
It seems that Amazon Prime and Netflix have earmarked fly-on-wall documentaries as a way into soccer content without spending large sums to secure costly rights to games. Both streaming services have reached out to some of the biggest Premier League clubs, including Liverpool and Chelsea, with the hope that they will get access to the clubs, managers, players and facilities.
Image courtesy of Manchester City |
Google supports US efforts to tighten rulings on political ads | US search giant Google has thrown its weight behind the Federal Election Commission's proposal to extend current political advertising disclosure rules, marking a U-turn from its position in 2010. "Google strongly supports the commission’s proposal to proceed with a rulemaking so that the commission can provide the clarity that campaigns and other political advertisers need to determine what disclaimers they are required to include", the company said in a statement. The move follows revelations over the Russian purchase of thousands of dollars' worth of ads on the platform during the 2016 US presidential election.
| http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/11/10/google-strongly-supports-full-disclosure-us-political-ads | 2017-11-10 12:27:24.757000 | Alphabet-owned Google has come off the fence to express its ‘strong support’ for a US government initiative to tighten the rules for online political advertising to prevent a repeat of 2016 in which Google was co-opted by Russian propagandists in an attempt to swing voters.
Google ‘strongly supports’ full disclosure of US political ads
Google, Facebook and Twitter have come in for heavy criticism from politicians after being caught flatfooted by the scandal, failing to prevent agents acting on behalf of the Russian state from buying up advertising slots. |
YouTube pledges to protect children from disturbing content | Google-owned video platform YouTube is taking steps to stop children from being exposed to disturbing videos featuring their favourite characters, following reports of such incidents in the New York Times and Medium. YouTube's forthcoming policy, set to go live in a few weeks, will see suspect content flagged up by a tweaked algorithm. If it is then deemed inappropriate by YouTube’s policy review team, the video will be automatically blocked and age restricted. The company also has a team of volunteer moderators scouring the site for content violating the restrictions.
| http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/youtube-policy-changes-kids-age-restrictions | 2017-11-10 12:24:09.330000 | YouTube has said it will be doing more to prevent children from seeing strange and disturbing videos aimed at them, following a New York Times report and a blog post on Medium highlighting the problem.
The Google-owned video sharing platform is going to implement changes that mean videos involving children’s characters that have been reported as being inappropriate will be age-restricted, as first reported by The Verge. This content will be automatically not allowed on YouTube Kids, and will require users to be logged in and 18 years or older to access on the main site.
The safety of children on YouTube Kids, which was introduced in 2015, is supposedly already assured by its filters, though many of these disturbing videos have slipped through the cracks.
Changes to these algorithmic filters will work to prevent any flagged content from seeping down into YouTube Kids. If content with a recognisable children’s character has been flagged on YouTube’s main app, it will be sent to YouTube’s policy review team, where thousands of staff in different time zones work to review flagged content. If this team finds it to be in violation of the new policy, it will be age-restricted and automatically blocked from the Kids app. The review team is set to begin training on the policy with it going live within the next few weeks.
As videos typically take a few days to make it to YouTube Kids from the normal YouTube site, the company is hoping that people flag content that is potentially disturbing for children within that time.
In addition to the policy review team, YouTube also has a team of volunteer moderators – which it calls Contributors – to look for inappropriate content.
YouTube is clearly making some sort of effort to prevent children from seeing disturbing content featuring their favourite characters. However, surely, it would better to create an algorithm that detects whenever a video with a popular children’s character is uploaded so each individual video can be reviewed. To limit the workload here, YouTube could whitelist certain channels that it knows only post legitimate children’s content. It’s always better to be proactive than reactive.
Join us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here. |
News UK's video team grows to 45 as branded content gains traction | Increased demand for branded video content has led to News UK’s video team growing to 45 people in 18 months. It is behind video content for The Sun, The Times of London and The Sunday Times, as well as supplements, and one of its most recent videos, created as part of a campaign for the Movember Foundation, was viewed 3.4 million times on The Sun's website. Derek Brown, head of video at News UK, said the team was focusing on attracting repeated audiences with specific verticals, including sport and showbiz.
| https://digiday.com/media/news-uk-sponsor-content-video/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171110 | 2017-11-10 12:17:53.173000 | News UK, parent company of The Sun and The Times of London, is making video pay through branded content, and it’s finding these videos are some of its best performing.
Take News UK’s most recent branded-content video campaign for the Movember Foundation, a men’s health charity, which the publisher said was its most popular branded-content campaign to date. The goals for the campaign, which asks men to grow mustaches during November, were to increase awareness, funding to the charity and the number of people signing up to grow their facial hair. A video team from News UK of six people worked for a month to create 12 videos that varied in tone, ranging from emotional real-life stories to more lighthearted comedy sketches and footage from celebrities, like pop star Peter Andre and reality TV personality Mario Falcone.
One documentary-style video for the campaign, featuring a mother explaining when she heard her son killed himself, has been viewed 3.4 million times on The Sun’s Facebook page, shared nearly 36,000 times and has 819 comments. For comparison, The Sun’s videos get 311,000 views per video on average, according to Tubular Labs. Emotional videos, particularly those related to social causes, tend to get lots of shares on social media.
The publisher wouldn’t provide figures, but the campaign has delivered on all three goals, according to the Movember Foundation. “The videos let us reach a wider audience,” said Helena Jennison, director of U.K. marketing at the Movember Foundation, “but more importantly, they have provided a vehicle to share the stories of the many men and women affected by the issues we fund.”
The success of the campaign, which was a joint partnership with Sky and also featured print and audio, is partially due to the creative control that News UK had over the content of the videos, said Derek Brown, head of video at News UK. “The more the client trusts you, the more successful it will be,” he said. For instance, the publisher knows videos featuring Falcone tend to do well with The Sun’s audience.
The News UK video team was created 18 months ago and has since grown to 45 people, including creative writers, editors, motion graphics designers and producers, reflecting the growing demand for video content from brands, said Brown, adding that every branded-content brief has a video element.
The News UK video team creates video content for The Sun, The Times of London and The Sunday Times, plus the news brands’ supplements, like Style, The Sunday Times’ fashion and lifestyle brand.
Brands pay for roughly 30 percent of the video Brown’s team creates; the remaining video is created to grow audiences and encourage brands to run content campaigns with News UK. “Our belief is that at some point, the platforms will pay us for content,” said Brown.
The majority of the video views occur on The Sun’s Facebook pages. News UK previously said The Sun has about 20 different Facebook pages, like Football and Showbiz. The Sun had 26 million monthly views on Facebook in September, twice as many as it had in July, according to Tubular Labs. Some of these videos are aggregated and licensed video clips from The Sun’s news desks.
Now, News UK’s focus for branded content video is on growing verticals aimed at distinctive audiences, like News UK’s fantasy football brand, Dream Team; and The Sun’s Sunday magazine geared toward women, Fabulous. The goal is to amass more repeat clients so the team isn’t pitching for every bit of business.
“The most challenging part is getting brands and agencies to loosen up,” said Brown, “understanding that the most effective results come from editorially minded people creating content without ramming the brand down someone’s throat.”
Image courtesy of News UK via Facebook |
Ad buyers optimistic about Snapchat's upcoming redesign | Although Snapchat may be viewed as a niche outlet for campaigns, ad buyers are hoping for big things from its upcoming redesign, the latest in a series of moves to make the social media site more attractive to marketers. In a survey of 21 advertisers by Digiday, 16 said the roll-out of Snapchat's self-service Ad Manager significantly improved the campaign experience, and although costs per impression have dropped, some believed it would help the firm scale in the long run. The survey also revealed all 21 firms praised Snapchat's sales team, with one anonymous insider saying working with Facebook and Instagram was "challenging".
| https://digiday.com/marketing/ad-buyers-snapchat-hope-not-yet-lost/ | 2017-11-10 12:15:45.680000 | Since going public in March, Snap has reported disappointing losses in revenue and slowing user growth quarter over quarter. The company’s third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 8 did little to improve the company’s outlook. Snap lost $443 million in the quarter, and its stock continues to fall.
Digiday spoke with 21 ad buyers about their experience with Snapchat and the challenges and opportunities they see ahead. Ad buyers see hopeful signs in the upcoming redesign, lowered CPMs and Snapchat’s helpful sales team as reasons to continue spending on the platform. But many still see Snapchat as a niche ad opportunity, citing its relatively small audience compared to giant rivals. In the end, many buyers still put Snaphat in the “experimental” bucket that only takes up a small sliver of budgets, rather than the must-buy status reserved for Google and Facebook.
“We’ll be keeping an eye on the upcoming app redesign and how it affects user retention in app and how they interact with advertising,” said Torrey Taralli, U.S. head of paid social at mobile agency Fetch. “If done properly, it will open them up to a new demographic of user growth who will hopefully find the app easier to use.”
Therein lies the challenge for Snapchat. It has mostly resisted trying to be all things to all people. That enabled it to be a hit with teens, but it hasn’t done a lot to grow beyond that. Snapchat reported 178 million daily users, a number that pales in comparison to Instagram Stories and WhatsApp, which each have 300 million daily users.
Nearly all of the ad buyers Digiday spoke with say a big reason they continue to spend the majority of their social ad budgets on Facebook, Instagram and even Twitter is because of scale. Meanwhile, ad buyers reserve Snapchat for the “experimental” portions of their budgets — the leftover 10-20 percent.
“What they’ve failed to do is to convince brands that they are a must-have platform for campaigns,” said one ad buyer, who wished to remain anonymous. “They are in most cases an add-on or used to reach a niche, usually young audience. The earnings reflect this struggle and give comfort to marketers who haven’t put dollars into the platform.”
Slow user growth also hurts the platform’s new advertising processes, such as its programmatic offerings, said Noah Mallin, head of experience, content and sponsorships at Wavemaker U.S. “Opening up more targeted API buying was a smart move for Snapchat,” he said, “but without user growth, it becomes hard to slice audiences down even smaller, and that’s reflected in the revenue results as well.”
Snapchat’s ultimate goal is to expand its user base. On the earnings call, Spiegel said Snapchat wants to scale Snapchat to more Android users, people older than 34 and to people in other countries.
Not all ad buyers believe Snapchat should try to reach an older demographic. Rather, some mentioned that it should concentrate on targeting those 13- to 34-year-olds it has become known for. In Snap’s earnings call, Spiegel said the platform reaches over 70 percent of the 13- to 34-year-old population in the U.S., France, the U.K. and Australia. All 21 buyers Digiday spoke to said that for their clients, Snapchat remains the best platform to reach that demographic.
“It would be hard to change that perception at this point,” said one buyer. There’s also concern that a redesign might alienate its existing audience, according to another ad buyer.
The majority of ad buyers Digiday spoke with believe the rollout of Snapchat’s self-service Ad Manager in June was the company’s best move since going public. Sixteen of the 21 ad buyers Digiday spoke with for this piece said the new self-serve tool has significantly made pushing ad campaigns easier on the platform.
Before Snapchat’s self-serve tool launched, an agency would have to make several phone calls to work directly with Snap’s sales team, and each ad product was highly customized to the point where the entire process was cumbersome, said one ad buyer, who wished to remain anonymous. “The more Snapchat puts power in the hands of advertisers, the more they can get themselves out of the zone of just being a platform you test with,” he added.
The self-serve platform has significantly driven down costs of ads on the platform as well.
“Every campaign is different, but since the onboarding of Snapchat’s self-serve platform, results are strengthening,” said Evan Walker, associate media director at GSD&M. “We are seeing tremendous improvements in cost efficiencies, near or on par with Facebook, and in some cases, better performance driving secondary interactions than other networks.”
Walker said CPMs through the self-serve platform are nearly four times as efficient as previous Snapchat-managed campaigns. In fact, Walker said Snapchat ads CPMs are nearly identical to average CPMs across Facebook. Buyers told Digiday that CPMs run between $3 and $8.
The cheaper ads have hurt Snap’s overall revenue in its third quarter, and Spiegel addressed this in Snap’s earnings call, saying that CPMs have decreased more than 60 percent year over year.
Ad buyers, however, believe the self-service platform will eventually pay off. “I firmly believe their self-serve platform is going to lead to a positive shift,” added Walker. “It minimizes the barrier of entry and allows for platform versus platform testing. I think it will ultimately help Snapchat scale their offerings.”
Even with self-service growing pains, Snapchat is known among ad buyers for having a supportive sales team that is making the transition to self-serve smoother. All ad buyers Digiday spoke with mentioned its helpful team, especially when it comes to educating agencies and clients about new advertising options. Four ad buyers stressed that Snapchat’s sales teams are far more helpful than other social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
“Their sales team has been helpful and willing to meet with us, which is in contrast to other platforms,” said one buyer, who requested anonymity. “Sometimes it’s challenging with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, particularly if you have a client with a smaller ad spend.”
But another ad buyer, who works at an agency with global clients and larger ad spends, said the service teams for Snap, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter are all “exemplary,” all giving one-to-one service, responding immediately and even flying out to their company’s offices as needed.
In Snap’s earnings call, Imran Khan, chief strategy officer at Snapchat, said that self-service opens up the Snapchat’s sales team to spend more time acting as consultants. “As we make our buying platform more and more automotive,” he said, “our sales force transition from taking orders to become more of a consultant for our clients.” |
Uber loses appeal over ruling that its drivers are workers | Uber, the ride-hailing app, has lost its appeal against a UK ruling that its drivers be classified as workers, entitled to benefits, rather than as self-employed. The decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal could have broad implications for the rights of those working in the country’s expanding gig economy. Last year, drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, supported by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, won a case arguing that they were indeed workers and as such should be entitled to holiday pay and the minimum wage. | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/10/uber-loses-appeal-employment-rights-workers | 2017-11-10 12:11:42.950000 | The ride-hailing firm Uber has lost its appeal against a ruling that its drivers should be classed as workers with minimum-wage rights, in a case that could have major ramifications for labour rights in the growing gig economy.
The US company, which claims that drivers are self-employed, said it would launch a further appeal against the Employment Appeal Tribunal decision, meaning the case could end up in thesupreme court next year.
Drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam won an employment tribunal case last year after arguing they should be classified as workers, citing Uber’s control over their working conditions.
Uber challenged the ruling at the tribunal in central London, warning that it could deprive riders of the “personal flexibility they value”. It claims that the majority of its drivers prefer their existing employment status.
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which backed the appeal, said drivers will still be able to enjoy the freedoms of self-employment – such as flexibility in choosing shifts – even if they have worker status.
The union said the decision showed companies in the gig economy – which involves people on flexible working patterns with irregular shifts and minimal employment rights – have been choosing to “deprive workers of their rights”.
Farrar said: “It is time for the mayor of London, Transport for London and the transport secretary to step up and use their leverage to defend worker rights rather than turn a blind eye to sweatshop conditions.”
Former Uber drivers James Farrar (left) and Yaseen Aslam leave the Employment Appeals Tribunal in central London. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images
“If Uber are successful in having this business model, obliterating industrial relations as we know them in the UK, then I can guarantee you on every high street, in retail, fast food, any industry you like, the same thing will go on.”
Farrar said he was willing to fight the case all the way to the supreme court if necessary but called on Uber’s new chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, to intervene instead.
“We’ve asked to meet him when he came to London and Uber declined to do that, which tells you everything.”
Aslam said: “Today is a good day for workers, we made history. The judge confirmed that Uber is unlawfully denying our rights.”
“It’s about making sure workers across the UK are protected. Companies are hiding behind technology, bogusly classifying people as self-employed so they can get away from paying minimum wage. That can’t be allowed to happen.”
Uber said it would continue to challenge the decision through the courts but had yet to decide whether to apply to leapfrog the court of appeal and go straight to the supreme court.
It could theoretically hitch its case to the supreme court labour rights battles involving courier firm CitySprint and Pimlico Plumbers, due to be heard next year.
The legal tussle could also be superceded by political events, as the government considers tweaking employment law following a review by former Tony Blair adviser Matthew Taylor.
Tom Elvidge, Uber UK’s acting general manager, said: ‘Almost all taxi and private hire drivers have been self-employed for decades, long before our app existed.’ Photograph: Lauren Hurley/PA
Tom Elvidge, Uber UK’s acting general manager, said: “Almost all taxi and private hire drivers have been self-employed for decades, long before our app existed.
“The tribunal relies on the assertion that drivers are required to take 80% of trips sent to them when logged into the app. As drivers who use Uber know, this has never been the case in the UK.
“Over the last year we have made a number of changes to our app to give drivers even more control. We’ve also invested in things like access to illness and injury cover and we’ll keep introducing changes to make driving with Uber even better.”
The tribunal ruling is the latest in a series of legal challenges affecting the “gig economy”, with implications for the future of labour rights in the UK.
The Labour MP Jack Dromey said: “No British worker should be denied basic employment rights which we have worked so hard to secure.
“Uber is a 21st-century company behaving like a 19th-century mill owner, when workers had no rights. It is now up to Uber to change its employment practices and grant its drivers the rights they deserve and are entitled to in law.”
Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: “This ruling should put gig economy employers on notice. Unions will expose nasty schemes that try and cheat workers out of the minimum wage and holiday pay. Sham self-employment exploits people and scams the taxman.” |
Regus Cape Town's Regus team to welcome Hong Kong entry in Volvo Ocean Race | Global flexible office space specialist Regus is one of the key sponsors for Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, the inaugural Hong Kong entry into the Volvo Ocean Race. The Regus team base in Cape Town will host the crew, plus media, guests and VIPs at the opening of the Race Village on 24 November. Those visiting the base will enjoy a view of the in-port race, an opportunity to meet the Sun Hung Kai/Scallwywag team and enjoy a private lounge stocked with wine from Chateau de Berne in Provence.
| http://buype.co.za/volvo-ocean-race-regus-has-all-hands-on-deck-as-team-scallywag-makes-their-way-to-cape-town/ | 2017-11-10 12:00:37.700000 | Volvo Ocean Race: Regus has all hands-on deck as Team Scallywag makes their way to Cape Town:
Global flexible office space specialists, Regus – with over 55 centres in South Africa and another 3 opening in December – is one of the key sponsors for Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, the inaugural Hong Kong entry into the Volvo Ocean Race. The race – considered one of the world’s toughest – left Lisbon for Cape Town on its second leg of almost 7000 extremely rough nautical miles on 5 November 2017
The opening of the action-packed Race Village on 24 November adds to the excitement and this is where the proud Regus team base will host the crew, media, guests and VIP’s.
11th time host, Cape Town, is recognised for the iconic Table Mountain, its love of football, wine and sailing and will welcome the entrants near the 27 November. With it, comes a welcome economic boost to the city and country’s economy with the 2014 event having contributed over R540 million.
Established in 1973 the Volvo Ocean Race is considered one of the sports’ toughest and most dangerous races – taking the teams over 45 000 miles to 12 host cities across the world. Regus, who shares the Volvo Ocean Race values of commitment, quality, camaraderie, professionalism and a little adventure, were there to support the team when they left Lisbon and will do so again when they arrive in Cape Town.
Seasoned skipper of the Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, David Witt, returns after 20 years with a strong team and the grit and determination to win. He is keeping his cards close to his chest. “You’re not going to win the race in the first leg. No one is. It is not the first 100 yards that counts. It’s the last 100 yards.”
He says of his team, ‘The Volvo Ocean Race is the absolute pinnacle of the sport. It’s such a big achievement to even get to the start line, never mind winning the trophy. I want to finish with the same guys we start with – I want them to sail every leg together. Out of that, comes friendships and relationships that you’ll keep for life – you can’t get that just having a beer in the pub.”
The travelling Race Village offers a new upgraded pit lane, featuring new and exciting team bases. You can experience the history of the race, rubbing shoulders with key players, while enjoying activities on offer with family and friends. The Race Village is an experience that will bring you as close as possible to the action.
For those fortunate enough to visit the Regus team base there will be the additional allure of the In-port Race, meeting the Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag crew and retreating in the lounge with a glass of boutique French wine, courtesy of Chateau de Berne wines straight from Provence. What could be more perfect?…………….
………..Winning.
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Redrow Homes in Shropshire town prove popular with buyers | Time is running out for buyers in Shifnal as the popular new development, The Uplands, goes down to the last few properties and the final home is sold at Aston Fields. Pauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), believes the developments' popularity comes down to lifestyle balance. On The Uplands specifically, Turnbull said: "People long to escape to the country in later life, but still want easy access to amenities that can be found in towns." The Uplands is perfectly placed [therefore] to offer the best of both worlds and this is echoed in the design of our homes."
| https://www.easier.com/137552-redrow-begins-the-final-countdown-in-shifnal.html | 2017-11-10 11:53:59.827000 | Redrow begins the final countdown in Shifnal
With the final home now sold at Aston Fields and the last few properties available at The Uplands, time is running out for Shifnal buyers.
Redrow has been building and selling homes in the Shropshire town since 2014. Over the course of the last three years around 150 of Redrow’s sought-after Heritage Collection homes have been sold.
With the vast majority of the properties now occupied, both locations have become thriving new neighbourhoods each with its own growing sense of community.
The Uplands has proved particularly popular with buyers looking to downsize or rightsize to a house that best suits their lifestyle after their children have flown the parental nest to homes of their own.
Pauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), explains: “Many people long to escape to the country in later life, but still want easy access to shops, restaurants and other amenities that can be found in towns. The Uplands is perfectly placed, on the edge of Shifnal, to offer the best of both worlds and this is echoed in the design of our homes. They look traditional from the outside but are very much designed with modern living in mind.”
There are now just two styles of properties available at The Uplands – the four-bedroom Oxford and the three-bedroom Leamington, with prices from £339,995.
“The Leamington is as stylish as it is practical and demonstrates that there’s no room for compromise when downsizing – or rightsizing, as we prefer to call it,” Pauline adds.
“These buyers require fewer bedrooms so instead we’ve designed larger and better appointed rooms, with more storage. They also want ample living space for entertaining family and friends. The Leamington is the ideal solution with the amount of living space that people may expect to find in a four-bedroom home. The kitchen is very much the hub of modern living and so we’ve made this the focal point of the ground floor of the Leamington with a combined kitchen, dining and family room overlooking the garden.”
There’s also a separate lounge, utility and convenient cloakroom.
Upstairs, all three bedrooms are doubles, with the master benefitting from a wet room and walk-in wardrobe, leaving the main bathroom to serve the remaining two bedrooms.
To be in with a chance of owning one of the final homes at The Uplands, visit the development, on Wolverhampton Road, open daily from 10am to 5.30pm. For the latest availability and pricing, see redrow.co.uk/theuplands. |
Redrow Redrow picks up nine honours at the UK Property Awards | Redrow Homes picked up nine honours at the UK Property Awards in London. One of the awards, for Show Home Interior Design, went to the Sandringham show home at Maple Gardens in Evesham. The awards were judged by an independent panel of 70 industry experts who used a number of different criteria. Redrow has sold more than 90% of the properties at Maple Gardens, with the final three homes being priced from £239,995.
| https://www.easier.com/137550-evesham-show-home-is-a-winner.html | 2017-11-10 11:52:02.797000 | Evesham show home is a winner
It's wowed buyers and now the Redrow show home at Maple Gardens in Evesham has been given the seal of approval by judges in the UK Property Awards.
Redrow picked up nine honours at the prestigious awards ceremony held at the London Lancaster Hotel. Among the accolades was recognition for the Sandringham show home at Maple Gardens in Evesham in the Show Home Interior Design category; winning an award for the West Midlands region.
Pauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), says: “The Sandringham show home at Maple Gardens has been a real inspiration to buyers and played a key part in the success of the development. We’ve already sold more than 90% of the properties and the vast majority of them are now occupied – it’s become a thriving new neighbourhood where people really want to live.
“We’ve since closed the Sandringham show home, but the fact that it’s been recognised by the UK Property Awards judges is fantastic news and should give customers reassurance of the quality of their own new homes. But with only three properties still available those who want to move here will need to act fast.”
The UK Property Awards are judged by an independent panel of 70 industry experts based on design, quality, service, innovation, originality, and commitment to sustainability.
The judging panel was chaired by Lord Caithness, Lord Best, The Earl of Liverpool, and Lord Thurso, members of the House of Lords.
Homes at Maple Gardens appeal to a variety of buyers including affluent families and downsizers.
As one of the largest properties with the development, the Sandringham was chosen to be styled for the family market.
Redrow’s Group interior designer manager Emma Brindley briefed homebuilder’s interior design team to style the property as the home of the fictional Gardiner family – a couple in their 40s with two teenage children.
“By imagining a real family and giving them a detailed persona, we find that we can really bring a show home to life,” Emma explains.
“It becomes something much more personal, akin to a real family home and something that our customers can really relate to; yet, at the same time, the property has to have enough ‘wow’ factors to occasionally stop people in their tracks and make it memorable for them as they continue their home buying journey.
“Delivering both the practical and the prestige, the aspirational and the achievable, that’s the skill.”
The final three homes at Maple Gardens include three and five-bedroom designs from Redrow’s Heritage Collection, priced from £239,995.
To be in with a chance of calling Maple Gardens “home”, visit the sales centre, on Offenham Road, is open Thursday to Monday from 10am to 5.30pm. For the latest availability and pricing, see redrow.co.uk/maplegardens.
For more information about the awards see propertyawards.net. |
Coutts claims Facebook is financial adviser of the future | The rise of robo-advice and the popularity of social networking could mean platforms like Facebook become the financial advisers of the future, according to executives at Coutts, reported David Thorpe in the Financial Times. | https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2017/11/09/coutts-claims-facebook-is-financial-adviser-of-the-future/ | 2017-11-10 09:47:01.770000 | A combination of the rise of robo-advice and the habits of millenials could mean social media platforms such as Facebook could become major players in the financial advice market in the future, according to Coutts. |
Insurtech Betterview introduces drone package for insurers | Canadian insurtech firm Betterview has introduced a package allowing insurers to access drone assessment of potentially insurable properties. The inspection package, launched due to increasing demand, allows insurers to process data gathered by drones when deciding on rates for insurable properties. The package includes such services as drone flight training, artificial intelligence analysis and 3D mapping services. Betterview also notes its drone services can be used in the claims process. | https://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/insurance/insurtech-startup-betterview-releases-commercial-drone-package-property-insurance-inspections-claims-1004123531/ | 2017-11-10 09:20:45.213000 | Insurtech startup Betterview, a service provider for capturing and analyzing data from drones, has announced a commercial drone inspection package for insurers.
The pre-assembled package, which is available in Canada, includes a DJI drone, software and training to “provide and out-of-the-box solution to capture, organizes and analyze imagery of buildings and properties,” Betterview said in a press release earlier this week. “Betterview’s goal with its inspection package is to make it easier for insurers, inspection and claims adjusting companies to adopt drone technology.”
“The launch of Betterview’s drone inspection package for insurance was driven by market demand,” reported Dave Tobias, chief operating officer and co-founder of Betterview. “Over the last year as the use cases of our software expanded within insurance, our clients started asking us more and more about providing a hardware and software solution. With our new insurance inspection kit, we’ll be with you every step of the way, whether you need help onboarding staff, assistance with drone hardware or have questions about report output,” explained Tobias.
Among other items, the insurance inspection kit provides a choice of drones from drone manufacturer DJI as well as: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 certification training (for small unmanned aircraft); a tablet and drone service kit; software for workflow and data management; artificial intelligence image analysis and professional reporting tools; and 3D maps, measurements and digital surface models.
In addition, Betterview will also quickly ship replacement equipment if there is ever a problem, the startup reported. “This service removes the complication of figuring out what to do if something breaks and needs service and also ensures that inspectors, risk engineers and claims adjustors can get back to work with little to no delay,” the release said, adding that the model “makes upgrading to the latest hardware a seamless experience” so that Betterview’s customers no longer have to worry about being left behind when a “new, better” drone hits the market.
“We are extremely pleased to have announced the release of Betterview’s insurance inspection kit,” said David Lyman, CEO and co-founder of Betterview, in the release. “The combination of our services, full stack software solution, and hardware from DJI will eliminate the need to deal with multiple vendors, and more importantly, make it easier to implement drone technology.”
As the recent hurricanes that affected Texas and Florida have shown, “one of the biggest benefits of drones is their ability to expedite the claims process and help claimants get their lives back to normal,” Lyman continued. “With our insurance inspection package, we’ll immediately take care of getting FAA clearance or obtaining waivers to fly in controlled airspace when a catastrophe occurs. For example, the hurricanes in Texas and Florida caused a significant amount of damage to properties in controlled airspace by airports. Our staff was able to get FAA clearances, usually within 24 hours, allowing our clients to capture real-time, high-resolution imagery for analysis and claims resolution,” Lyman concluded.
Founded in late 2014, Betterview is a software platform and service provider for capturing and analyzing data from drones. Betterview, with its network of more than 4,500 drone operators worldwide, has inspected more than 9,000 properties for over 90 insurance customers. Betterview streamlines the inspection process by using drones and software to capture a comprehensive set of aerial building imagery, data and expert analysis. |
Synechron launches insurtech accelerators across five cities | Consultancy Synechron has launched an insurtech accelerator. The accelerator will have locations in five cities around the world - New York, Paris, Dubaï, London and Pune. The locations will focus on helping companies develop technologies centred around areas such as internet of things and blockchain. In particular, Synechron notes the goal of the locations is to help insurance companies with a "digital transformation". | https://hollandfintech.com/synechron-launches-insurtech-accelerator-programs/ | 2017-11-10 09:19:04.903000 | <![CDATA[
Global financial services consulting firm and technology services provider Synechron announced today the launch of a set of InsurTech Accelerator programs in New York, Paris, Dubaï, London and Pune. The expertise of the organisation in business consulting, financial services as well as in technology will provide an innovative support to insurance firms, with an emphasis on digital transformation.
Each strand of the InsurTech Accelerator solution is based on a business case and will enable support companies to optimize their cost models and customer experience by leveraging innovative technology.
The Accelerators will use the following technologies:
Internet of Things (IoT)
Blockchain
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Mobile Solutions
Digital Strategy/Customer Experience Design
This set of Accelerators will guide insurance companies during their digital transformation, and will be supported by a team of consultant experts in insurance business processes, products, regulation, operating models, and data architectures.
About Synechron Synechron is a global consulting and technology organization providing innovative solutions to the financial services industry through its three main business focus areas: digital, business consulting, and technology. Based in New York, the company has 18 offices around the globe, with over 8,000 employees producing over $500+M in annual revenue. For more information on the Company please visit their website.
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Claims manager Snapsheet launches payment solution | Insurtech Snapsheet, a provider of claims management technology, has partnered with Keybank to launch a new payment platform for insurers. The platform aims to streamline the claims process, allowing insurers to pay out to claimants in a more timely fashion. The firm already uses mobile and cloud technology to process claims. The new payments platform, dubbed Snapsheet Transactions, will speed up the process through which claimants are actually paid, eliminating the need for physical cheques to be issued.
| http://www.digitaljournal.com/business/interview-insurance-carriers-can-pay-claims-virtually/article/507258 | 2017-11-10 09:07:49.833000 | The partnership sets out to transform the way insurance carriers send payments to claimants. An important objective is to simplify claims, while maintaining an optimal customer experience and a seamless payments solution.
To discover more about the new Snapsheet Transactions payment method, Digital Journal spoke with Snapsheet’s Alex Meisner.
Digital Journal: What are some of the major challenges facing the insurance sector today?
Alex Meisner: The insurance industry is facing mass disruption. However, unlike a lot of InsurTechs that are out there today, Snapsheet’s goal isn’t to disrupt the industry, but to help the industry innovate and make their current processes more nimble, efficient, and customer-friendly.
DJ: Why is so much paper documentation still used by the insurance sector?
Meisner: Paper documentation is a byproduct of the insurance industry relying heavily on legacy technology and manual processes. Until recently, the majority of back-end technology couldn’t support innovation in the form of automation, let alone digital payments. However, we’re rapidly seeing carriers undergo digital transformation, opening up the industry to new technology, which in turn paves the way for InsurTech companies to support these organizational goals.
DJ: Please explain what Snapsheet is and how it works.
Meisner: Snapsheet is the leading provider of virtual claims technology used by auto insurance carriers to optimize workflows, speed up claims processes and provide superior service to their customers. Our cloud-based software enables carriers to virtually process a claim with photos taken by the user via their smartphone.
Through a multitude of technologies housed on our platform, we’re able to help insurance providers process claims quicker, allowing customers to be paid faster and back in safe, repaired vehicles sooner.
DJ: What’s different about Snapsheet Transactions?
Meisner: Most carriers are cutting physical checks for claims payments, but checks are slow. If a user is submitting an auto claim, chances are high that they’re depending on that payment in order to get back on the road.
Recent events, like Hurricane Harvey and Irma, have made this more apparent. In these cases, people may not have a current address to send the check and need the payment in order to recover and get back to normal as quickly as possible, this technology changes that.
DJ: What are the key benefits of Snapsheet?
Meisner: Using Snapsheet, carriers can process 90 percent of all claims by photograph, and automate 70 percent of all customer communications.
The self-service nature of Snapsheet’s model, in combination with the scalability of its platform, makes it easy to service a range of carriers, from small insurance companies that process a low volume of claims, all the way to the industry’s biggest players. Snapsheet processes more than 400,000 claims a year, and is built to manage millions. Our versatility and ability to help insurance carriers of all sizes are a major differentiator against other solutions.
DJ: What types of insurance areas is Snapsheet applicable to?
Meisner: Snapsheet is the industry leading provider of virtual claims technology to personal and commercial auto insurers. In addition to insurance, we also have technology solutions for rental car companies, ride-sharing companies, and third party administrators. Snapsheet Transactions is a solution suitable for all lines of insurance, not just auto.
DJC
DJ: What has been the response to Snapsheet from the industry?
Meisner: The response from the industry has been fantastic. Thanks to our partnerships with carriers, we’re on track to process almost 450,000 claims this year.
To date, Snapsheet has raised over 40 million dollars, including strategic investments from four insurance carriers.
DJ: How have consumers responded to Snapsheet?
Meisner: We’ve seen more customers using their carrier’s apps more than ever. Nearly 75 percent of adults own a smartphone with apps accounting for 89 percent of mobile usage. Consumers are using apps for everything from ordering food to hiring a contractor, so it’s become logical for customers who need to process a claim to reach for the phone first, and we want to make it easy for them to do that.
DJ: What was the main challenge with the development of Snapsheet?
Meisner: Snapsheet originally started as BodyShopBids, an app that provided estimates and auto shop contacts to users who sent in photos of a damaged vehicle. However, we quickly realized that customers were using our service to determine if they should file a claim with their insurance carrier, thus we decided to pivot our business and address the needs of insurance carriers and their customers.
DJ: What other types of technology interest you?
Meisner: IoT and blockchain technologies are very exciting as they have the potential to change the way carriers assess risk and process claims. These technologies and their use cases are still in their infancy and the industry is excited to see where they take us.
Chicago based Snapsheet is a provider of virtual claims technology to personal and commercial auto insurance carriers. The company services major auto insurance carriers through Snapsheet’s Virtual Insurance Claims Exchange platform, with the aim of improving the estimation process for auto repairs from virtual photo submission to final repairs and payment. |
China plans to sequence one million citizens' genes | Chinese authorities have announced plans to carry out gene sequencing for one million citizens of the city of Nanjing, in order to create a comprehensive genetic database. This project will be run out of the National Health and Medicine Big Data Nanjing Center, a new data storage facility under construction in the region with an expected capacity of 52 petabytes. The database will allow authorities to identify links between genetic traits and diseases like cancer, as well as measure the impact of environmental factors on genetics.
| https://futurism.com/chinese-province-sequencing-1-million-residents-genomes/ | 2017-11-09 18:03:36.857000 | Genetic Database
Authorities in the city of Nanjing, the capital of China's Jiangsu province, announced at the end of October that they would sequence the genes of 1 million individuals to build a genetic database of Chinese residents. This project is part of the National Health and Medicine Big Data Nanjing Center, a new data storage facility under construction in the region.
China News reports that the project will focus on population genetics, including identifying genes linked to cancer and rare and chronic diseases, as well as genes linked to brain development in children and the effects of environment on genetics. Four experts, both from China and abroad, will advise the project, including Harvard geneticist George Church — a pioneer of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and leader of the project to resurrect the woolly mammoth.
The Sanger Center, a contributor to the Human Genome Project, where large-scale human genome sequencing began in 1999. Image Credit: the Sanger Institute Wellcome Trust
"When the facilities are ready, the designed capacity for DNA sequencing will be up to 400,000 to 500,000 samples per year," Lan Qing, deputy director of the provincial health and family planning commission, told China News.
The Big Data Nanjing center will have a capacity of 52 petabytes, enough to contain the health records of 80 million individuals and videos from 174 of the province's hospitals, Yicai Global reports. The center has already connected with several institutions, including Fudan University, Nanjing Medical University, and Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
The Spread of Sequencing
It took over a decade and $2.7 billion to sequence the very first human genome, completed by the Human Genome Project in 2003. Since then, genetic sequencing has rapidly become both cheaper and faster. An increasing number of companies and institutions are developing new methods of reading our most fundamental code, including small devices that can rapidly sequence partial genomes in the field.
According to Motherboard, two aspects of genome sequencing contribute to its cost: the "cost per megabase of DNA sequence," or the cost to produce one 'megabase,' or a million base pairs of DNA, and the cost of actually sequencing a human-sized genome, which contains about 3,000 megabases, which includes the cost of running the computer programs that perform the sequencing.
Around January of 2008, the price of both of these aspects sharply declined with the introduction of next-generation sequencing technology, also known as high-throughput sequencing. While there are several platforms available, all of them sequence millions of small fragments in parallel and then use a complete genome as a reference to map where these fragments should go. Such technology can sequence an entire human genome in just a day.
However, all of this rapid and cheap genetic data is fairly useless if geneticists can't pinpoint the genes — and common errors within them — that cause health issues. Enormous genetic databases can be extremely valuable to doctors and drug companies seeking cures, as the commercial sequencing company 23andMe has already found by monetizing their database.
As such, projects like this one in Nanjing could be essential to finding the genetic basis needed to diagnose and treat some of the worst diseases that continue to plague our species. |
FDA to ease regulations on consumer genetic tests | The FDA will change its regulation framework for direct-to-consumer genetic health risk (GHR) testing, according to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. Businesses will be able to bypass pre-market certification for individual tests after submitting to a one-time review of their processes, an approach reminiscent of the FDA's new program for medical devices. The move indicates that the FDA is encouraging more consumer-oriented genetic screening tests, similar to the popular product offered by genetic testing firm 23andMe. | http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/fda-announces-new-market-pathway-genetic-health-risk-tests | 2017-11-09 17:46:44.637000 | FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced today that the agency intends to make a major change to its regulatory process around direct-to-consumer genetic health risk (GHR) tests. Specifically, the agency is creating a framework that will allow companies to bypass premarket certification for individual tests once they submit to a one-time review of their processes, an approach reminiscent of the FDA's new pre-certification program for medical devices.
"Today, the FDA is taking steps to implement a novel regulatory approach for the regulation of GHR tests that applies proper oversight in a flexible, new way," Gottlieb wrote in a statement. "It builds on the important lessons we learned from the FDA’s authorization of the first GHR and carrier screening tests sold directly to consumers."
Gottlieb's allusion is likely to the FDA's tumultuous relationship with consumer genetic testing pioneer 23andMe. That company halted its US health-related offerings for two years after a very public rebuke from the agency (it continued to offer ancestry tests and to sell health tests in other countries during that time).
"Specifically, today the agency issued a notice of its intent to allow GHR tests to be exempted from premarket review under certain conditions." Gottlieb wrote. "If and when finalized, manufacturers of these types of tests would have to come to FDA for a one-time review to ensure that they meet the FDA’s requirements, after which they may enter the market with new GHR tests without further review. The agency also established special controls for these tests in a separate de novo classification order, which outline requirements for assuring the tests’ accuracy, reliability and clinical relevance and describe the type of studies and data required to demonstrate performance of certain types of genetic tests."
One problem 23andMe ran into was that much of the value of its product lay in offering users a comprehensive test for many different health risks, but the FDA required a separate regulatory clearance for each screening, which proved a financial and logistical hardship for the company.
In fact, Dr. Jeffery Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, alluded to this policy change back in April when the FDA cleared 23andMe's genetic health risk test.
“By establishing special controls and eventually, a premarket review exemption, the FDA can provide a streamlined, flexible approach for tests using similar technologies to enter the market while the agency continues to help ensure that they provide accurate and reproducible results," he said at the time.
In his statement, Gottlieb acknowledged that direct to consumer genetic tests "don’t fit squarely into our traditional risk-based approach to device regulation" and that inaccurate tests do pose real risks to patients: for instance, a patient might stop eating well or exercising if a test tells them they're not at risk for heart disease. Or it could cause a someone to ignore early warning signs of Parkinson's disease or cancer.
Bradley Merrill Thompson, an attorney with Epstein Becker Green who specializes in the FDA's regulation of digital health, said the approach is intriguing, especially considering that the agency is still in the early stages of the pre-cert program.
"Such tests do present special challenges, but also significant opportunities," he wrote in an email to MobiHealthNews. "If used appropriately, such tests, if widely accessible, may cause people to live healthier lives, choosing better diets and getting more exercise if they realize they are at risk. The FDA notes some of the risks that are present if the tests provide inaccurate information. They particularly focus on false negatives, but false positives also carry problems by increasing anxiety."
Certainly the timing is right; as MobiHealthNews noted in a feature piece last year, the market for direct-to-consumer genomics has exploded of late, even if questions remain about the technology's usefulness and accuracy.
"We will really have to wait and see what the real world experience is with this new program, but frankly I'm tickled that FDA is trying to think so creatively," Thompson added. "We really do need fresh thinking, and the agency is clearly willing to consider ideas well outside the traditional box." |
California wildfires may cost insurance sector a record $8bn | Wildfires that devastated California recently may prove to be the costliest ever for the insurance industry, warns reinsurance brokerage Aon Benfield. Carriers could lose $8bn from the blazes, the most ever for insured wildfires on an aggregate basis. Analysts are closely watching how the fires affect an industry that has reported declining Q3 2017 profits and as insurers and reinsurers struggle to cope with mounting pressure from multiple catastrophes.
| https://www.reinsurancene.ws/california-wildfire-insured-losses-reach-8-billion-aon-benfield/ | 2017-11-09 17:29:40.950000 | Aon Benfield, the reinsurance arm of global insurance and reinsurance brokerage Aon, has said that the California wildfires could drive an insurance industry loss of up to $8 billion, which, on an aggregate basis, makes it the costliest insured wildfire event ever recorded.
Aon Benfield and its catastrophe risk modelling unit, Impact Forecasting, has released its October 2017 global catastrophe report, which includes the devastating California wildfires that claimed 43 lives and injured another 185 people.
Aon Benfield cites data from the California Department of Insurance that at least 19,000 residential, commercial, and auto claims had already been filed, resulting in payouts of more than $3.32 billion.
Now, Aon Benfield says that this figure is expected to rise to as much as $8 billion as claims continue to come in, with the economic cost expected to be even higher.
“On aggregated basis, this is the costliest insured wildfire event ever recorded,” says Aon Benfield.
The $8 billion overall insurance industry loss from the event is at the top end of the RMS range, which said that economic and insured losses, which it expects to be similar owing to high penetration of wildfire protection in the state, are expected to be between $6 billion and $8 billion.
With insurers and reinsurers having reported declines in profits in the third-quarter, with many falling to underwriting losses as a result of high cat losses, it will be interesting to see what impact the wildfire losses have on both individual companies and the broader marketplace as the January renewals approach.
Some players have already announced their expected hit from the California wildfires, with AXIS Capital expecting a hit of up to $45 million, Beazley saying that it expects the event to increase its Q3 cat loss estimate by up to $25 million, while Travelers has said that after reinsurance recoveries, it expects to experience losses of $675 million from the wildfires. |
ShelterZoom offers property transaction platform on Ethereum | A new company based in New York, ShelterZoom, is looking to disrupt the property-buying market with a transaction platform that is built on blockchain technology. ShelterZoom uses the Ethereum blockchain to create secure property agreements, and the service can be accessed from any website via a widget function that is placed on estate agents' sites. The service can be seen in action on 27 November, when Cyrus Charter Property and Land Co., a business owned by Amir Allen Alishahi, who is also a co-founder and director of ShelterZoom, adds the ShelterZoom widget to Land Co.'s site. | https://www.inman.com/2017/11/09/startup-aims-to-speed-up-property-buying-with-digital-currency-blockchain/ | 2017-11-09 17:04:28.107000 | Calling all buyers who are tired of dealing with the hassles of paper: a new startup, ShelterZoom, wants to streamline how you can make an offer on a home-for-sale, with its new website, app, and a widget that can be directly placed on real estate websites. The twist? ShelterZoom is built on the same technology that underpins the digital currency Ethereum.
The company launches today and is based out of New York City.
With ShelterZoom’s free “Offer Now” widget, which can be installed on listing websites and appears as a button, buyers and buying agents can directly submit an offer on a property. After tapping the “Offer Now” button, the parties involved will need to add in details such as their name, address, offer price, down payment, upload a qualifying loan or bank statement, and fill in their attorney information.
Once this is complete, they’ll receive a SMS message asking them to finish the process via the ShelterZoom app and to pay an $8 fee. On the other end, the listing agent can see the offer and decide to accept or reject it, confer directly with the seller, or make a counter offer.
The upside to this process it that it’s transparent; both sides can see what’s being said and what information is being shared on the ShelterZoom dashboard.
For early adopters who install the widgets before January 31, 2018, there will be no fee. As for those making offers using the Offer Now widget, the $8 fee will also be waived during the company’s initial beta period, which will run through the end of February 2018.
ShelterZoom says the fee is in the best interest of the consumer; by charging fees, the company is able to “filter out people who are submitting offers just to drive the price up,” said Chao Cheng-Shorland, the cofounder and director of ShelterZoom, in an interview with Inman.
As for how Ethereum fits in: ShelterZoom uses the Ethereum blockchain to come up with secure property agreements. Blockchain refers to a distributed system of ledgers that exist on multiple people’s computers, and is the same basic tech that underpins Bitcoin and most other popular digital currencies.
In the case of ShelterZoom, its offer system relies on smart contracts–a process in which a computer can look and determine qualifying factors about an offer based on a set of rules–to come up with the agreement.
And while keeping your data safe and out of the hands of several people is a nice benefit, Cheng-Shorland also sees the blockchain as a means to keeping ShelterZoom “futureproof.” Cheng-Shorland told Inman that the company could’ve used something like an e-signature, but “the team felt like it was [this] last decade technology.”
So instead it built on top of the blockchain to come up with what is “probably the most advanced use of blockchain in the world at the moment,” according to Cheng-Shorland.
Feeling wary? You can check out what the” Offer Now” widget looks like on November 27 on Cyrus Charter Property and Land Co., a business owned by Amir Allen Alishahi, who is also a cofounder and director of ShelterZoom.
Another customer you’ll see using ShelterZoom sometime this Winter, includes Sandy Krueger, CEO of SIBOR. There, the widget will live on both the public website, as well as the members-only site.
Mixing blockchain with real estate might seem like a risky business but to Cheng-Shorland, “it’s an empty space at the moment and a great opportunity to get in.” A prime opportunity or more blockchain hype? ShelterZoom and the rest of us will find out soon.
Email Inman |
Mercy Hospital offers full virtual treatment | The Mercy Virtual Care Center, a Missouri-based healthcare facility, cares for its patients remotely through the use of cameras and monitoring equipment. The centre is intended to allow patients to remain in familiar, comfortable environments during treatment and to lower the costs of hospitalisation, which can often lead to deterioration. The facility is designed to operate under a new financial model, wherein federal funding and insurers pay for care, rather than for treatments administered.
| https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/11/08/virtual-hospital-mercy-st-louis-000573 | 2017-11-09 16:34:29.053000 | CHESTERFIELD, Mo.― Located off a superhighway exit in suburban St. Louis, nestled among locust, elm and sweetgum trees, the Mercy Virtual Care Center has a lot in common with other hospitals. It has nurses and doctors and a cafeteria, and the staff spend their days looking after the very sick―checking their vital signs, recording notes, responding to orders and alarms, doing examinations and chatting with them.
There’s one thing Mercy Virtual doesn’t have: beds.
Instead, doctors and nurses sit at carrels in front of monitors that include camera-eye views of the patients and their rooms, graphs of their blood chemicals and images of their lungs and limbs, and lists of problems that computer programs tell them to look out for. The nurses wear scrubs, but the scrubs are very, very clean. The patients are elsewhere.
Mercy Virtual is arguably the world’s most advanced example of something gaining momentum in the health care world: A virtual hospital, where specialists remotely care for patients at a distance. It's the product of converging trends in health care, including hospital consolidation, advances in remote-monitoring technology and changes in the way medicine is paid for. The result is a strange mix of hospital and office: Instead of bright fluorescent lighting, beeping alarms and the smell of chlorine, Mercy Virtual Care has striped soft rugs, muted conversation and a fountain that spills out one drop a minute. The mess and the noise are on screens, visible in the hospital rooms the staffers peer into by video—in intensive care units far away, where patients are struggling for their lives, or in the bedrooms of homebound patients, whose often-tenuous existence they track with wireless devices.
The virtual care center started as an office in Mercy’s flagship St. Louis hospital in 2006, but got its own building and separate existence two years ago. It is built on many of the new ideas gaining traction in U.S. health care, such as using virtual communication to keep chronically ill patients at home as much as possible, and avoiding expensive hospitalizations that expose patients to more stress, infections and other dangers.
But perhaps the most important factor driving Mercy Virtual isn’t technology or new thinking but new payment systems. In the near future, the hospital’s administrators believe, instead of earning fees for each treatment administered, insurers and the government will pay Mercy Virtual to keep patients well. A visit to the hushed carrels and blinking monitors is a glimpse into a future in which hospital systems are paid more when their patients are healthy, not sick.
Even now, Mercy Virtual is in the black, because of existing Medicare payment reforms that have already converted some of the agency’s payments into lump sums for treating specific illnesses. Mercy can get its patients out of the hospital much faster than average, so it pockets the money it doesn’t need for longer stays, says Mercy Virtual President Randy Moore.
The hospital is well placed, he adds, for the full transition to a payment system based on efficiency and preserving wellness. “Our idea is to deliver better patient care and outcomes at lower cost, so we can say to an insurer, ‘You expect to spend $100 million on this population this year. We can do it for $98 million with fewer hospitalizations, fewer deaths and everyone’s happy,’” says Moore. “It’s a very strong future business model.”
Nurse Veronica Jones speaks with patient Richard Alfermann, who suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, during a video call on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, at the Mercy Virtual Care Center in Chesterfield, Mo. Jones says that she and other nurses who work with homebound patients like Alfermann feel like they have “50 grandparents.” | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO
One weird thing about thinking this way is that it radically reimagines traditional notions of medical care—not just how it's delivered, but when. Most hospitals wait for a sick person to walk through the doors or come into the ER. Mercy Virtual reaches out to patients before they’re even aware of symptoms. It uses technology to sense changes in hospitalized patients so subtle that bedside nurses often haven’t picked up on them. When the computer notes irregularities, nurses can turn a series of knobs that allow them to “camera in” on the patient; they can get close enough to check the label on an IV bag, or to observe a patient struggling for breath or whose skin is turning gray.
There are those who say that even an intensive care unit could, in principle, be brought to a patient’s home. But for now, the future looks like this: Hospitals will keep doing things like deliveries, appendectomies and sewing up the victims of shootings and car wrecks. They’ll also have to care for people with diseases like diabetes, heart failure and cancer when they take bad turns. But in the future, the mission of the hospital will be to keep patients from coming through their doors in the first place.
As the country moves to brake escalating health care costs, hospital systems that want to stay in business will have to follow this heavily software-dependent model, say Moore and others. “One night in the hospital in the U.S. costs $4,600 on average, just for the bed,” said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and author of several books on the future of medicine. “You can get a lot of data plans and devices for that amount of money.”
Racing the Symptoms
On a recent Monday morning, nurse Veronica Jones touched a button on a screen in front of her to make a video call with Richard Alfermann, a retired 75-year-old banker living on a wooded acre outside Washington, Missouri, 50 miles west of the center. A lifelong smoker until 10 years ago, Alfermann suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He has trouble breathing and even slight exertion can floor him. The most minor illness, in the past, was enough to force him into the hospital.
Seated on a couch in his home, Alfermann happily greets Jones, with whom he has spoken through video at least twice a week since entering the virtual care program in August 2016. The previous year, he was hospitalized three times. Since then, Alfermann has managed to stay in his home.
One paradox of care at home is this: Monitoring patients from afar with regularity can create more intimacy between patient and his caregivers than a sporadic, once-every-three-months visit in person. Jones and the other nurses on the virtual ward say they feel like “we have 50 grandparents now,” she says. In addition to the touchless warmth, regular interactions enable more individualized care. For example, many COPD patients have such high pulse rates on a good day that an unsuspecting doctor might immediately send them to an ICU. A tele-doctor in regular contact, however, can distinguish a true crisis from a baseline reading that might seem alarming but is normal for that patient.
TOP: Nurses and doctors at the virtual hospital run by Mercy Health System use web cameras and track vital signs remotely to assist healthcare professionals in hospital rooms far away and also homebound patients with chronic illnesses. BOTTOM LEFT: Nurse Anne Bowie monitors ICU patients via camera and vital sign monitors. BOTTOM RIGHT: An example of a telemedicine station, which includes a camera view of a hospital bed, data tracked from vital sign monitors, and computerized supports to help nurses and doctors at the virtual hospital help staff at brick-and-mortar hospitals around the country. | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO
In Alfermann’s case, if he shows signs of failing health, his physician―Carter Fenton, an emergency medicine doctor with 450 patients under his care—can call in home health care nurses, who can examine Alfermann more closely, take X-rays and EKGs and blood samples if necessary. In a sense, Mercy has given Alfermann his own hospital, a home hospital.
And that’s the main purpose of the “engagement at home” program—to keep very sick patients out of the hospital, where their care runs up enormous bills and is laced with dangers to the patient, ranging from nasty bacterial infections to misplaced drug orders to the disorientation of constant alarms, tests and injections. “A telemedicine visit is never going to be as good as having a doctor and his or her team at your bedside,” says Moore. “But 99 percent of the time we can’t make that happen. With virtual we can at least see any patient just like that―rather than tomorrow or next week. And that can be a life or death thing.”
One major aspect of the hospital of the future, it seems, is “less hospital, more future,” says Robin Cook, a former ophthalmologist and the best-selling author of medical thrillers that feature things like roboticized hospitals and killer apps that actually kill their patients. People will continue to go to hospitals—or, increasingly, outpatient surgical centers―to get operations, but their stays will be shorter. “It’s going to be progressively more procedure-oriented, with a lot less parking people to monitor them,” says Cook.
As Alfermann, his nose fitted with a cannula bringing him 100 percent oxygen, pops up on the monitor in front of her, Jones is examining his vital signs, which include blood pressure, pulse, temperature and blood oxygen readings that feed wirelessly into the system from devices that Alfermann attaches to himself at home.
LEFT: Dr. Carter Fenton Jr., left, consults with nurse practitioner Maryellen Bowman. Fenton oversees 450 patients, most suffering from severe lung and heart diseases, by monitoring them at home through wireless medical devices and video consults. RIGHT: Nurse Veronica Jones during the video conference with patient Richard Alfermann. | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO
Most medical interventions take place when a patient presents himself at a doctor’s office or an emergency room. Because “frequent flyers” hate going to the hospital—often a traumatic place for the old and infirm--they’re often in denial about any symptoms they may have, which, ironically, raises the risk that things will get to a critical point if no medical staff are watching.
“A lot of times they’ll say, ‘I feel fine,’ but I can see on the monitor that they are struggling to breathe,” says Fenton. “I remind them that this is how things got started the last time they were hospitalized. There’s a trust factor at first. Sometimes it takes a trip to the ER to vindicate us.”
Today, the concern is Alfermann’s pulse. It’s been above 100 beats per minute twice the last three mornings, from its usual level around 85. Pulse is “a big clue that he may not know what’s happening but something may be about to happen,” Fenton says. He and Jones worry that with cooler weather and drier air, Alfermann might be developing a cold that could exacerbate his COPD.
“Any shortness of breath or changes in your cough?” Jones asks. “Any fever or chills?”
“I don’t think so,” responds Alfermann, a fan of bowling, fishing, and the St. Louis Cardinals. “Yeah. Nothing better, nothing worse. Same old shit.”
“If anything changes with that you know you got to call me right way.”
Jones and Fenton monitor Alfermann carefully over the next several days to make sure there’s no incipient problem. But by Wednesday his pulse is back to normal. Until the next time. “I don’t feel super, but I’m OK,” he tells Fenton. “I haven’t felt good in so long I don’t know what good is.”
Reassured for the moment, Fenton knows there’s always an escape valve. “We always tell the patients, if you feel like you’re getting worse, you need to just go to the hospital,” he said.
Virtual ICU
On the other end of the second floor at Mercy Virtual Care, which is a maze of desks and computer screens, nurses and doctors have their fingers deep in the business of colleagues at hospitals across the country, from North Carolina to Oklahoma. They run a series of programs —TeleICU, TeleStroke, TeleSepsis and TeleHospitalist — all aimed at keeping hospitalized patients from growing sicker and at getting them home faster.
In part, the virtual ICU is dealing with a problem that technology created. All the beeping monitors in the patient’s hospital room crank out massive amounts of information, presented in too cumbersome a way for nurses and doctors on site—at least in typically understaffed hospitals―to deal with quickly. So Mercy Virtual provides nurses and doctors who can focus on monitoring and digesting these data streams, looking for signs of trouble. That way the nurses and doctors on site can pay more attention to the patients and less to the machines.
Electronic health records, which most hospitals started using over the past decade, “inundated us with data,” says Chris Veremakis, who runs Mercy’s TeleICU program. “The EHR has become a thing of its own, and you find people spending so much time in front of the EHR instead of spending time with the patient.”
A layer of backstopping colleagues, watching the data roll in in real time, can improve the quality of treatment by making sure good care standards are being met and catching signs that a patient is going downhill, Veremakis says: “We let the nurses on the floor do their regular work and not be pulled in a million different directions."
One of the intense professionals doing this is Tris Wegener, who was an ICU nurse for 22 years before a snowmobiling accident wrecked her arm and led her to virtual nursing. Now she spends most of her days at Mercy seated in front of a bank of computer screens. She’s waiting for the appearance of a little red flower icon, which means that a computer program, after taking in data from the monitors in the patient’s room, is warning of a danger of sepsis, an immune response to a bacterial bloodstream infection that is the No. 1 hospital killer.
Sepsis can be hard to spot, manifesting itself in irregular symptoms. It’s on the increase among chronically ill patients who are living longer than before―about 1.5 million people get sepsis in the U.S. every year, and 1 in 6 die. When one of the red sepsis flowers pops up, Wegener makes a series of inquiries to rule out false positives. If the patient meets all the criteria—typically very low blood pressure, high fever, infection and high levels of lactic acid—she calls the nurse or doctor on duty. The hospital might be in High Point, North Carolina, Joplin, Missouri, or a dozen other places.
“I get the data as soon as it enters the system,” she says. “The nurse on duty might have three other patients. Is she aware of the problem? Sometimes, sometimes not. She might have another patient who’s coding in the emergency room. They don’t have time to check out this patient whose X-ray looks clear, but we know that tomorrow, if this isn’t taken care of, he’s going to code with pneumonia.”
It’s not unusual for the entire staff of a small ICU to rush into a patient’s room when a patient crashes. When that happens and Mercy is watching, its remote nurses can keep an eye on the other patients while those at the scene take care of the most critical case.
TOP: Nurses and doctors at the virtual hospital run by Mercy Health System use web cameras and track vital signs remotely to assist healthcare professionals in hospital rooms far away and also homebound patients with chronic illnesses. From left to right: Dr. Gavin Helton, Dr. Justin Huyhn, Dr. Christopher Schlanger, Kellie Matusofsky, director of [email protected], and Dr. Carter Fenton Jr. BOTTOM: Nurse Nichole Jones monitors ICU patients. | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO
Working on a single shift not long ago, Wegener and two other virtual nurses had to sort through 136 sepsis alerts from hospitals around the country. Each one takes as long as 40 minutes to resolve. “It keeps your mind going,” she said.
“The job isn’t physically demanding but mentally, oh gosh,” says Lindsey Langley, whose expertise is in diagnosing and ordering treatment for stroke—a condition in which speedy diagnosis and treatment can be the difference between a minor tic and death, or a grave, lifelong disability. “You go home every day exhausted. You are tapped out.”
Most of Mercy’s telehealth and remote monitoring covers patients and hospitals inside the small Catholic hospital system, which has facilities in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. But it also partnered with hospital systems at the University of North Carolina and Penn State. Part of the attraction is the backup Mercy provides to hospitals that serve uninsured or low income patients and can’t afford to staff up to levels that might be desirable.
“Mercy runs 24/7 in the background collecting analytics on our patient population,” said Dale Williams, chief medical officer at 351-bed High Point Regional hospital in North Carolina, which is part of the UNC system. As they gather vital signs, EKG data and so on, the Mercy staff can alert brick-and-mortar staff to any significant changes. If there isn’t a nurse or doctor in the room, they intervene.
Of course, a nurse in St. Louis can’t fill an IV fluid bag in North Carolina, but she can use a camera in the room to see that an IV bag is almost empty—then call and instruct a nurse on the floor to refill it. The telemedicine cameras are powerful enough to detect a patient’s skin color; microphones can pick up coughs and gasps and groans.
Making that order from far-off St. Louis can be a delicate matter until the virtual nurses and doctors establish good working relationships with their partners in the flesh-and-blood world. Unsurprisingly, when Mercy starts its virtual relationships with these hospitals, the professionals on site often aren’t exactly enthused to be getting instructions from afar.
“People just think that they can put the technology in place and get amazing results,” said Moore, who estimated that Mercy had spent $300 million to create the virtual care center. But acculturation is key to the process. At most ICUs and other hospital services, physicians and nurses already think they are operating at top capability. It takes work to convince them that their services would be better with help from outside.
“We’ll spend time with them and say, ‘This isn’t Big Brother looking over your shoulders: We’re partners,’” he said. “But doctors don’t necessarily want other doctors writing their orders, and if they won’t accept it, it doesn’t work. If a nurse ignores our team because she’s too busy and not used to TeleICU, nothing happens.”
Sometimes the cultural shifts required may be a bit too much to work. Tampa General Hospital piloted a TeleICU relationship with Mercy Virtual for six months, but ended the agreement Nov. 15. The hospital gave no explanation for the decision.
Mercy Virtual President Randy Moore says the virtual center is already in the black but was really designed for the health care system of the future, in which health systems are paid for keeping patients healthy and out of the hospital—rather than getting compensated for procedures and visits. | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO
Longer term partners, however, seem to have converted to the concept. “A decade ago I would have said, ‘I don’t know that that can work,’” said Williams, who has been working with Mercy Virtual for about two years. “I’ve been convinced. It would be ideal to have a doctor in each unit 24/7, but even then they can’t be looking at the analytics the way these people do. They have critical care-trained nurses and doctors looking at this stuff all the time. They can camera in and count the pores on someone’s nose.”
Williams’ hospital has two critical care doctors who take care of the 28-bed intensive care unit from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, with “Mercy running in the background,” he said. After 6 p.m., nurses on the ward continue to do their thing, but Mercy is in charge.
“This allows our guys to go home on backup call,” he said. If needed, the doctor can always drive back to the hospital, but most nights Mercy’s intensivists take care of problems. “This allows us the best of both worlds. We have constant analytics and if something is changing that’s not seen by nursing staff, they’re right there monitoring it in St. Louis.”
The relationship has improved outcomes at High Point, Williams said. Doctors who used to get burned out and quit after a year or two tend to leave less often. And the hospital’s care has improved year after year—fewer hospital infections, fewer patient days on ventilators, fewer readmissions and better patient survival, he said.
For now, Mercy and its partners have one foot in the old payment system and the other in the new world, where best outcomes and money align. But there are still administrators at Mercy hospitals who see fewer admissions and days in the hospital and “aren’t particularly happy about it,” Veremakis said. “There is an awkwardness in this time. But enough people with vision recognize this is the right way to go.”
Mercy Virtual’s ICU nurses, most of whom had years of experience before coming here, are sometimes a bit nostalgic for the bedside, with its immediacy and adrenaline. “You’re used to being in charge. Here you’re part of a team,” said Wegener. “If you think something is not being done you have to be polite.
"And there’s no way I can put a price on being able to put my hand on a patient and say, ‘My name is Tris.’”
Arthur Allen is eHealth editor for POLITICIO Pro.
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Budapest rents double in five years | Rents doubled in central Budapest between 2011 and 2016, according to a study by Habitat for Hungary. By 2016, the average rental price for a 40 sq metre flat in Budapest had reached 100% of an individual's average wage. Habitat for Hungary based its insights on data from a property rental website to try to gain an accurate picture of the market.
| https://meanwhileinbudapest.com/2017/11/02/rental-prices-hit-100-of-average-wages-in-budapest/ | 2017-11-09 16:28:47.060000 | Young people all over the world dream of a place of their own but are increasingly outpriced from the markets because of the housing booms.
Budapest also has one. In fact, according to a recent study by Habitat for Hungary (pdf) shows how rental prices have doubled in downtown Budapest in the last five years only. Wages, on the other hand are only catching up in the statistics – and even that only happens since the government told that they should.
By 2016 the average rental price of a 40 square meter apartment in Budapest had hit 100% of one person’s average wage.
Official data on rental prices is always useless. Most of the rentals are still on the black market, and according to official statistics 90% of Hungarians still live in owner-occupied apartments. Which is obviously not true, but landlords are heavily incentivized not to report their incomes to the taxman. Hence the entire sector is hiding from statistics.
This is why Habitat used the data from a real estate website – where all those non-existent rental properties are put to the market.
But worry not, there is no inflation! Housing may take up a 100% of your income, but still not considered relevant enough to be included in the measurement of the purchasing power of your money. Thank you, central banks.
Oh and please remind me what I should do to get on the property ladder… Oh yes, that one: I should be saving. Right.
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Restaurants upgrade apps allowing them to control consumer data | In the last month, major fast-food brands have upgraded their mobile apps in an effort to remain relevant, offering new payment options and loyalty perks. These brands are also looking for new ways to collate data on their customers' behaviours, as their delivery providers do not ordinarily pass on consumer data to food retailers. “There’s definitely a frenemy relationship that goes on where brands are working with these delivery services, but they’re also hedging their bet by making sure they have their own fulfilment network in place,” said Ben Zeidler, director of consumer goods research at L2. | https://digiday.com/marketing/restaurant-apps-battle-stay-relevant-new-loyalty-payment-options/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171109 | 2017-11-09 16:02:27.480000 | Tearsheet’s one-day “Hot Topic: Mobile Payments” event is coming up in NYC on Nov. 30, and we’re opening up a few complimentary spots to executives from banks and other financial institutions to attend. Interested? Apply here.
In the past month, fast-food brands like McDonald’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panera, Chick-fil-A and Domino’s have updated their existing apps or introduced new ones with reward programs, faster payment options and delivery services.
Others, like Shake Shack and Domino’s, are integrating their apps into their physical chains or popular social networks. Even traditional restaurants like Red Lobster and Texas Roadhouse are implementing their own in-app reward programs. Chipotle was one of the latest to update its app, adding a way to quickly reorder past orders, a rewards program and the ability to purchase meals through Apple or Android Pay on Nov. 6.
These brands say these endeavors are an effort to give consumers what they want — a faster, convenient way to place an order and reach consumers on their mobile devices, where they spend the most time interacting and engaging with others. But more important, the apps allow brands to collect their own data on consumers, as their delivery partners — services like Seamless, Grubhub, Postmates and DoorDash — possess the majority of market share for digital delivery.
The relationship between restaurants and delivery services is complicated, to say the least. Chipotle, for example, does not deliver itself, but it can be ordered through Postmates, Tapingo or Favor. Chipotle plans on adding four or five other services by the end of the year. By building out their apps, restaurants can retain some of the customer data they lose to the delivery services they work with in order to stay competitive.
“There’s definitely a frenemy relationship that goes on where brands are working with these delivery services, but they’re also hedging their bet by making sure they have their own fulfillment network in place,” said Ben Zeidler, director of consumer goods research at L2.
Most delivery services do not provide brands with the data they need to understand customer intention or preferences, unless there’s a specific arrangement between a brand and a service to do so. Curt Garner, chief digital and information officer at Chipotle, said Chipotle receives data around sales, transactions, timing and orders from its delivery partners, but not customer data.
Most of these brands are planning on using their app data to track purchase patterns and build customer profiles they can use to target individuals with personalized offers. Chipotle plans on using its updated app to understand what it can offer that would “surprise and delight” consumers, said Garner. “As a data play, it makes a lot of sense because you’re controlling that consumer experience, and you’re doing it in a way where consumers want to interact with you,” he said.
Apps may seem like the wrong move to build consumer profiles. Today, most people don’t keep many apps on their smartphones. App Annie’s 2017 report on app usage found that a person will use 30 apps a month and open nine daily, but the majority are social media apps or apps that come installed on the device like Safari.
However, brands like Red Lobster and Chipotle have already seen success from their app updates. With Red Lobster’s in-app reward program, for example, the brand found that 75 percent of the people who downloaded the app used it to scan a receipt, and 25 percent redeemed points two or more times. Although he wouldn’t reveal specific numbers, Garner said Chipotle orders are increasingly coming from mobile devices.
Food brands likely won’t stop working with delivery services. Essentially, they are opting to have a piece of the pie rather than leftover crumbs. The truth is that delivery services possess the majority of market share in the delivery space. Grubhub alone takes up 23 percent of market share, second only to Domino’s by 1 percentage point, according to 2016 Morgan Stanley data.
What’s more, new delivery services are popping up all the time. Small-scale services such as Waitr and The House concentrate on smaller cities that the Grubhubs of the world don’t reach. Tech companies have ventured into delivery as well, with offerings like Amazon Restaurants, Facebook’s new Order Food feature and UberEats allowing brands to reach consumers in other places where they spend most of their time. Chipotle, Five Guys, Jack in the Box, Papa John’s, Wingstop, Panera Bread, TGI Fridays, Denny’s, El Pollo Loco and Jimmy John’s are among the first to offer ordering straight through their Facebook profile pages.
Zeidler said delivery services owe their success to indecisive customers and the power of online search. In L2’s October Digital IQ Index study of the restaurants sector, the firm found that unbranded search terms, such as “restaurants near me,” saw around 50,000 more online searches than brand search terms such as “Papa John’s.”
“There is an undecided consumer out there. That’s why they’re going to Seamless in the first place,” he said. “They don’t know what they want to order. Brands can look at that as an opportunity, and they can look at it as a sign of potential slowdown.” The brands that are updating their apps are trying to make the most of this situation. |
Farmobile raises $18m for its farming data analytics platform | Agriculture technology start-up company Farmobile has raised $18.1m in a series B round to expand the customer base for its data platform. Commenting on the new funding, Farmobile CEO Jason Tatge said: "The funding will allow Farmobile to accelerate development of distribution channels in agriculture retail, insurance and equipment dealerships." The new funding pushes the Kansas-based firm’s total capital raised to over $28m. Investors included Anterra Capital, AmTrust Agricultural Insurance Services and others. Farmobile's platform allows farmers to collect, organise, share and sell agricultural data, and includes software that connects to a tractor's diagnostic port.
| http://www.startlandnews.com/2017/10/ag-tech-startup-farmobile-raises-18m-round-global-expansion/ | 2017-11-09 16:00:53.267000 | Ag tech startup Farmobile raises $18M round for global expansion
Ag tech company Farmobile has reaped a substantial Series B funding round that positions the firm to rapidly accelerate across the world.
The Overland Park-based company announced Friday that it raised $18.1 million to expand its data platform to help farmers mitigate risks and generate a revenue from the data they own.
The round includes Anterra Capital, AmTrust Agricultural Insurance Services and other undisclosed investors. The new funding pushes the firm’s total capital raised to more than $28 million.
The platform aims to empower farmers to make better choices and to grow their operations, CEO Jason Tatge said.
“Our customers continue to tell us Farmobile’s data as a service platform is the best way to collect, organize, share and sell their agronomic and machine data,” Tatge said in a release. “Our mission is to make sure farmers, worldwide, have access to a cost effective strategy to collect, protect and own their digital assets with a clear path to ROI opportunities.”
Founded in 2013, Farmobile created a device — a Passive Upload Connection (PUC) — that plugs into a tractor’s diagnostic port to collect a variety of data useful to farmers and ag operations. Not only does the data provide information for farmers’ decisions on planting, spraying, fertilizing harvesting and more, it can be sold to third parties via Farmobile’s data marketplace.
“Farmobile’s technology allows farmers to access, control and monetize data like never before,” Dudley Hawes of Anterra Capital said in a release. “This is a team that understands farm data and the power of various data layers as they pull together.”
The funding will allow Farmobile to accelerate development of distribution channels in ag retail, insurance and equipment dealerships, Tatge said.
Farmobile was recognized as one of Startland News’ Top Startups to Watch in 2017 for its disruptive model in the trillion-dollar agriculture industry. |
Online TV network Cheddar to locate studios in US WeWork offices | Digital TV news network Cheddar has signed a deal to locate remote studios in WeWork offices throughout the US so it can feature more guests on its programmes. Cheddar CEO John Steinberg said the company hopes to add between five and 10 locations in 2018 through the partnership, giving "us more edge against competitors by allowing us to have the remote broadcast scale of a major cable network". New sites will initially be located across the US but London and Asia are being looked at as later possibilities.
| https://www.axios.com/exclusive-cheddar-and-wework-form-remote-studio-partnership-2507288375.html | 2017-11-09 15:53:27.453000 | Cheddar is joining forces with WeWork to scale its on-air guest booking operation. It's building remote studios in WeWork offices around the country, and eventually around the globe, to bring more TV-quality live shots to the network's weekday live programming slate. The Cheddar team will go live with its first-ever daily broadcast from a WeWork location today in Hollywood.
Why it matters: It's a cost effective way for Cheddar to scale its digital TV business at the local, national and global levels. And it's a good example of how technology is upending the traditional TV business.
"The partnership gives us more edge against competitors by allowing us to have the remote broadcast scale of a major cable network," says Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg. Most networks rely on affiliate relationships around the country to deliver high-quality guest live shots, while Cheddar uses Skype for some of its 50+ daily guest interviews. Steinberg is hoping the WeWork partnership will also increase the frequency of guests booked per day, which will cut down on segment length.
against competitors by allowing us to have the remote broadcast scale of a major cable network," says Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg. Most networks rely on affiliate relationships around the country to deliver high-quality guest live shots, while Cheddar uses Skype for some of its 50+ daily guest interviews. Steinberg is hoping the WeWork partnership will also increase the frequency of guests booked per day, which will cut down on segment length. Steinberg says they are looking to add a minimum of 5-10 locations in 2018 and build from there. They will set their sites on U.S. cities to start, like DC, Chicago and San Fransisco, and then plan on expanding to perhaps London or Asia.
and build from there. They will set their sites on U.S. cities to start, like DC, Chicago and San Fransisco, and then plan on expanding to perhaps London or Asia. The investment also provides a foray into more local news coverage. "Conceivably, this could be used in breaking news situations across the globe," says Steinberg. The company launched "Cheddar Local," this summer to provide top business headlines to local news broadcasts, tailored to their region.
Cheddar's strategy has thus far been to scale as quickly as possible at low cost. It's relied on strategic partnerships with established media entities to do so.
Nationally, Cheddar has scored distribution partnerships with Sling, Amazon, Pluto, Facebook, Twitter and two more bundles by year end.
Internationally, Cheddar launched a partnership with Propagate, a global indie studio, to produce a daily segment from New York Stock Exchange that would be customized and distributed for international markets.
Cheddar launched a partnership with Propagate, a global indie studio, to produce a daily segment from New York Stock Exchange that would be customized and distributed for international markets. "Everything we do now, has to work when we're 10x the size," says Jon Steinberg. "The goal is always to create a model where the cost drop is efficient. Steinberg says the total cost to build out all of their studios, controls rooms, equipment etc. has thus far been $2.2 million. Steinberg says the 90-person company is looking to net over $10 million in revenue this year.
The partnership is a first for WeWork as well. " "This deal is a good example of the way that we can start to program our own physical space while simultaneously offering a great opportunity for our members to share their stories with the world," says WeWork Vice Chair Michael Gross. |
WeWork is mining customer data to develop apps and service that improve work | WeWork’s bet is that because it is amassing so much office space and studying how thousands of different businesses use it, it can position itself as the company with the most valuable firsthand knowledge about how jobs best get done. Since its inception, WeWork has been collecting data about how people work, where they are most productive, what they need to feel good, and how much space they really require in the first place. (It’s less…much, much less…space than you think.) So far, WeWork has applied this knowledge to its own locations. But for the past year, the company has quietly been experimenting with ways to turn that data into new products for enterprise customers. | https://www.wired.com/story/this-is-why-wework-thinks-its-worth-20-billion/ | 2017-11-09 15:40:53.233000 | In the future, you’re going to love going to the office. Everything you need to do your job effectively will present itself without effort. You won’t have your own desk, because your employer will know you only use it for 63 percent of the day. But you won’t mind sharing it, because said employer will make sure you have a private room with green leafy plants, soundproof walls, and warm light between 2 and 2:20 p.m. so you can call your daughter. At 3:30 p.m., when you need a conference room for the product managers’ meeting, you won’t even have to book it. It’ll just be there. And everyone attending remotely will already be invited.
[#image: /photos/5947e0146c638b3847cde2a7]|||||| Jessi Hempel is Backchannel's editorial director. --------- Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
“This isn’t right away, of course,” David Fano tells me. “But it’s not that far out.”
We’re standing in the epicenter of WeWork’s cavernous New York City headquarters, where Fano, the company’s Chief Growth Officer, has set up a demo area to show off new technologies for prospective clients. A balding guy with a shaved head and dark eyebrows, Fano stands 5’11”, and when he touches his phone to a desk, it recognizes him and raises itself to rest at his standing height. The smart furniture is just one of many ways that WeWork is wrangling data that it’s collected over the years to quietly reorganize an office around its workers. To Fano’s right is a touchscreen the size of a chalkboard where he can, with a swipe or a pinch, pull up real-time information about any of WeWork’s 164 open locations. Want to know when the air filters were last cleaned in WeWork’s Mexico City offices? Curious how many conference rooms are currently occupied in Charlotte, North Carolina? This program can tell you.
WeWork is counting on this research to form the meat of its business and to justify its newly ordained position at the very top of an elite group of startups. Maybe you thought WeWork was about hip shared offices for millennials and beer on tap, or corporate slogans in twee typeface that read “Do What You Love.” But WeWork has much larger ambitions. Seven years after it opened its first coworking spot in SoHo, it has catapulted into a briskly ballooning global business—and it is now trying to position itself as the foremost expert on offices. In the past two months, WeWork has partnered with Softbank to open in Tokyo, where it will own 50 percent of WeWork Japan; it has announced a Chinese unit; and it has purchased Singaporean competitor Spacemob. It’s operating in 16 countries outside the United States right now, and it has launched upscale, dorm-like apartment buildings—aptly called WeLive—in New York, Washington, D.C., and soon Seattle. In late August, the company raised $4.4 billion from Softbank’s gigantic Vision Fund. WeWork is now valued at close to $20 billion, putting it in a league with Palantir and SpaceX as the most highly valued private US tech startups after Airbnb and Uber.
WeWork’s bet is that because it is amassing so much office space and studying how thousands of different businesses use it, it can position itself as the company with the most valuable firsthand knowledge about how jobs best get done. Since its inception, WeWork has been collecting data about how people work, where they are most productive, what they need to feel good, and how much space they really require in the first place. (It’s less…much, much less…space than you think.) So far, WeWork has applied this knowledge to its own locations. But for the past year, the company has quietly been experimenting with ways to turn that data into new products for enterprise customers. These offerings include building out custom office interiors, licensing software that companies can use to book conference rooms, analyzing data on how people are using those conference rooms, and providing on-site human community managers indoctrinated in WeWork’s community-minded philosophies. Fano calls this grab-bag of services “Powered by We.”
Think of it as office space-as-a-service. To date, big companies like Microsoft or IBM have used WeWork spaces in places where they don’t need to have as many employees or in areas where they believe their employees might benefit from an outside environment. But many of those companies are now testing deeper integrations. WeWork manages an entire building for IBM in Greenwich Village, and it now runs Airbnb’s Berlin office as well as Amazon’s Boston office. Soon, the company anticipates, large enterprises will outsource their office buildings to WeWork, which will draw from its increasingly sophisticated data to insure that enterprise clients get the most productivity possible for the least amount of money. It’s a natural extension of WeWork’s current business, according to Chief Operating Officer Jen Berrent, who explains that the idea of adding a services business is “something that there’s demand for in the market.”
Over time, this could be a much bigger opportunity than coworking spaces, one in which everything WeWork has built so far will simply feed an algorithm that will design a perfectly efficient approach to office space. WeWork aspires to be the de facto source to which businesses will turn when they need help figuring out how to spend the least amount possible for an environment that will delight employees and entice new ones. |
Long leases could be WeWork’s undoing | The bear case against WeWork is that its leases are believed to be very long — sources have said typical WeWork leases in London are 15 years to 25 years. Payments on such leases tend to increase in increments over time. The obvious question is what happens in a downturn, when demand for office space declines and rental prices go down? Won't WeWork be stuck in a market where the price of rent falls below the level of its leases? | http://uk.businessinsider.com/wework-finances-financials-accounts-revenues-leases-profits-2017-5 | 2017-11-09 15:40:20.987000 | We take a deep dive through WeWork's financial statements.
When WeWork launched in the UK it ran at a loss, taking in less in rent than it paid out for its leases.
A lot of those losses came from launch costs and fitting out new buildings.
The revenue-profit gap looks small enough that WeWork doesn't have to go far to be profitable.
Whether the company is worth its purported $17 billion valuation remains an open question.
The reception area at WeWork's SoHo-Sheraton House location in London. WeWork
LONDON — WeWork launched in Britain in 2014 and for more than a year ran at a loss, renting out its space for less money in total than it paid to lease the buildings it controlled.
Between October 2014 and the end of 2015, WeWork's finances looked like this, according to copies of its accounts filed with Companies House:
Total revenues: £13.6 million
£13.6 million Leasing costs: £18.3 million
£18.3 million Net loss: £14.4 million
The top and bottom lines suggest that WeWork is renting to its customers for less than what it pays landlords to obtain its offices. But the numbers only show a snapshot in time after WeWork's UK launch, when the company was spending money to get itself set up here, and before some locations were open to paying customers.
The numbers offer a glimpse inside one of the hottest "unicorn" startups on the planet. London is the company's second largest city.
The company was valued at a staggering $17 billion (£13.1 billion) at its last investment round. It is funded as if it were a tech startup even though the core of its business is the provision of physical office space. The curiosity around WeWork's finances are intense: People want to know why a property company is being treated by venture capitalists as if it were a social media app; they want to know if it is possible to make short-term profits on long-term leases; and most of all they wonder whether it can ever meet the sky-high valuation that has been laid upon it.
WeWork begins paying its leases on the day it signs a contract for a new building, yet it cannot accept new "members" as tenants until the building is renovated, a period called the "fit-out." A fit-out typically takes four to six months, and a WeWork location might not reach 90%-plus occupancy until nine months later, multiple sources familiar with WeWork's business, both inside and outside the company, told Business Insider.
On that basis, WeWork's business model shows promise.
The roof area of WeWork in Soho, London. WeWork
Back-of-the-envelope calculations show WeWork's leases could theoretically generate more rent than their costs: In its 14-month launch "year" in Britain, WeWork's revenues were 35% less than the cost of its property leases. Thirty-five percent of 14 months is 5 months — roughly the same time as a typical fit-out. That implies that the rent on a fully occupied WeWork building would break even on its lease before its first full year.
Early loss-making periods are typical for new businesses, as companies hire staff and develop their products before going out to find customers. As such, WeWork's financial numbers look typical for a startup. The company told us it was profitable on its "mature locations" (buildings open for nine months or more). A spokesperson said:
“WeWork is stronger than ever. In 2016, the company doubled its buildings, cities, countries, members and revenue run rate, and tripled gross profit in mature locations."
"In the years 2014 through 2015 (which this filing reflects), WeWork was setting up its business in the UK and investing heavily here. This was a period of intense growth and expansion for the company as we set up our first European locations and operations."
WeWork's London Fields location has a vintage truck for a reception desk. WeWork
Today, WeWork has 2,200 employees, more than 100,000 members, at 140-plus locations in 44 cities worldwide. It has taken $3.69 billion (£2.85 billion) in funding from investors such as Benchmark , Fidelity, Wellington , JP Morgan Chase , Goldman Sachs, and Hony Capital.
The company was last valued at a reported $17 billion.
It is that "$17 billion" unicorn number that has people like Stratechery analyst Ben Thompson asking questions. In 2015, when WeWork was reportedly worth "only" $10 billion (£7.7 billion), Thompson said in an email to his clients:
"It's easy to be skeptical: WeWork is for all intents and purposes engaging in arbitrage. It rents commercial real estate at one price (preferably a low one -- WeWork focuses on new developments where it can be an anchor tenant with its attendant ~10% discount) chops it up, adds a ping pong table and a beer tap, and rents it out at another significantly higher one. Neat trick, except that Regus [a traditional property broker], with 2,500 locations in 110 countries, does pretty much the same thing and has been valued by the public markets as a $3.74 billion company."
WeWork doesn't just make money on renting space, however. It also offers various types of services and "community" benefits. The company gives tenants an app store (in the US), offering more than 100 services such as office software, chat apps like Slack, and car rentals. It is those add-ons plus the underlying rent fees that get WeWork to profitability, the numbers suggest.
Yes, there is ping pong. WeWork
"The reception WeWork has had in the UK has been exceptional and the level of demand in London was apparent immediately, fueling our continued expansion here," a spokesperson told Business Insider.
"In London alone, WeWork has more than doubled the number of locations and members in 2016, and we plan to do so again in 2017. Our UK occupancy is at or above 90% marketwide. We continue to see unprecedented strength and diversity in our global member community, which includes entrepreneurs, SMEs and large corporates. We are proud to have Business Insider as a member company in San Francisco.” (Disclosure: Business Insider is indeed a tenant of WeWork in that city.)
Income Statement
Here is WeWork's income statement, as filed with Companies House, the UK corporate accounting databank:
Companies House
The key numbers are:
Revenue : £11.9 million
: £11.9 million Other operating income : £1.7 million
: £1.7 million Administrative expenses : £3 million
: £3 million Other operating expenses : £25 million
: £25 million Operating loss: £14.3 million
Most of those "operating expenses" are WeWork's leasing costs — £18.3 million — which are broken out elsewhere:
Companies House
The bull case for WeWork is that £13.6 million in total revenue on underlying lease costs of £18.3 million, in just the first 14 months of business, means that WeWork doesn't have to go very far to become profitable and run on its own revenues.
The bear case against WeWork is that its leases are believed to be very long — two sources told us that typical WeWork leases in London are 15 years to 25 years. Payments on such leases tend to increase in increments over time. The obvious question is what happens in a downturn, when demand for office space declines and rental prices go down? Won't WeWork be stuck in a market where the price of rent falls below the level of its leases?
WeWork defenders say that in a recession, larger companies will seek smaller, more flexible working spaces. And laid-off employees will become freelancers and entrepreneurs. They will all need WeWork-type spaces, which rent for the low hundreds of pounds per month. So We Work gets clients on the way up, when demand for office spaces increases, and on the way down, when the demand for smaller, flexible spaces increases.
It is also notable that on top of the £18.3 million in lease costs there were a further £5.5 million in other running costs. Again, high costs are normal for a company launching from scratch. But still — these are the numbers that will have to decline in proportion over time, if WeWork is to live up to its reputation.
Even if you do not believe that WeWork will be immune from the normal boom-bust cycle of capitalism, it is well-funded, via its US parent. Here is a look at the balance sheet of the UK division.
Balance Sheet: Assets
WeWork
Balance Sheet: Liabilities
Companies House
Balance Sheet: Equity
Companies House
The cashflow statement indicates that WeWork is cashflow positive, but mostly because it borrowed £56.4 million from its parent company at launch.
Cashflow statement
Companies House
The company does not break out its cash from operating activities beyond that £15 million top line. But, interestingly, its operating cashflow is greater than the revenue it recognises on its income statement – a healthy sign for a growing business. It usually means the company has the power to delay payments where it owes money and get paid first by its customers. (The income statement is a formal comparison of a company's costs and revenues; the cashflow statement examines the actual movement of money through the company.)
Companies operating in the UK must file their accounts with the government annually, but they have a 12 month grace period to do so — which explains why these numbers are so old. The next set, detailing the 12 months of 2016, are likely to be filed after the end of this year. They will show more like-for-like revenues on locations that have been open long enough to reach 90% occupancy or "maturity."
Of course, as WeWork is still expanding, they will also contain numbers for new buildings where costs are racing ahead of revenues. The key will be to see whether WeWork can improve its profitability as it grows. If it can do so, then there will be fewer doubters for that $17 billion price tag. |
Twitter launches first subscription ads product for small businesses | Twitter has launched the public beta test of Promote Mode, its first subscription ads product which automatically promotes tweets for businesses. The mobile-first feature costs $99 per month, while the accompanying dashboard offers a breakdown of reach, monthly visits and additional followers data. In a blog post, Wook Chung, director of product management at Twitter, said the tool "filled a need for simplicity and continuous results". | http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/twitter-promote-mode-ad-subscription-service | 2017-11-09 15:39:42.367000 | Twitter has launched its first subscription ads product in public beta, helping small businesses and individuals to promote their tweets and attract followers for a monthly fee.
Promote Mode, which Twitter began trialling back in July, costs a flat fee of $99 per month and requires no ad campaign management. Through the mode, businesses or individuals tweet as normal, and their tweets and profile are automatically promoted.
“We know that budding businesses and individuals with personal brands want to grow their presence on Twitter, but this can be hard — especially for those who are new to Twitter,” said Wook Chung, director of product management at Twitter, in a blog post. “Promote Mode fills a need for simplicity and continuous results that many people on Twitter have been seeking.”
The promotion feature is mobile-first and its dashboard can be accessed via the Twitter app by tapping on the ‘Promote Mode’ icon in the menu drawer. Here, users are able to see how many additional people their tweets reached, how many followers they gained, and how many people have visited their profile in that month. The results will vary depending on account type, targeting selection, and frequency of tweets.
The new mode is available in public beta in the US and the UK. Twitter says it will also be rolled out to Japan ‘in the near future’.
Join us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here. |
JPMorgan is backing WeWork because of ‘Coase’s Law’ | WeWork is tapping into a reversal of Coase’s Law that means companies today are plugging into open networks instead of keeping functions in-house. "Now we've got the interweb. Connectivity is so cheap and you can go out and externalise so many more corporate functions”, a JPMorgan analyst said. That "means a vastly different type of real estate. Big firms are opening up their networks because it's now cheaper to use the market and small firms don't need to grow." | http://uk.businessinsider.com/jp-morgans-tim-leckie-explains-the-appeal-of-wework-2017-10 | 2017-11-09 15:39:08.693000 | One of WeWork's trendy flexible offices in Paddington, London. WeWork
The New York-based firm has attracted over $4.75 billion of funding to date and is worth over $20 billion .
A theory described by Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase explains why WeWork-style offerings hold so much appeal for the start-ups and growing firms.
LONDON — The rise of co-working start-up WeWork has been spectacular.
Founded in 2010, the New York-based firm has attracted billions of pounds worth of funding to date with its millennial-friendly offering of short-term leases, trendy spaces. The company is currently valued at over $20 billion, and there's also widely-rumoured IPO in the pipeline.
Reversing Coase's Law
One of WeWork's most prominent backers is JP Morgan, which led an early $150 million funding round in 2014 which saw the firm valued at $1.5 billion.
Speaking at a panel discussion hosted by commercial property agents CBRE in London on Tuesday, a JP Morgan analyst explained why WeWork-style offerings hold so much appeal for the start-ups and growing firms.
JP Morgan carried out research into the growing propensity for flexible workspace, and settled upon a law of economics called Coase's Law cited by Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google's parent company Alphabet, in his book "How Google Works."
Coase's Law, expressed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase, attempts to explain why big firms emerge, and it goes like this: Large firms emerged in the twentieth century because, after taking transaction costs into account, it was often more efficient to get things done within a firm, rather than contracting out on the open market.
"It was expensive to use the external market for transactions, whether it was getting pencils or accounting," the analyst said. "You had to go out and find a vendor, you had to search for reputation and price and negotiate. So you would internalise a lot as many functions as you could until the cost of doing it internally matched the external cost."
That environment meant the twentieth century was dominated by corporations that were big hierarchies or closed networks, which only worked with a tightly-controlled group of partners.
"What you do is you put that behind a big marble and glass lobby that basically says 'F off' to the world," he said. "You're not sharing. And if you look at big corporate office space, that's basically what it looks like."
That changed when the internet arrived.
"Now we've got the interweb. Connectivity is so cheap and you can go out and externalise so many more corporate functions. And there's people competing in each of those spaces, trying to improve and do it at a lower cost, so what firms are now doing is organising themselves for an open network."
That "means a vastly different type of real estate. Big firms are opening up their networks because it's now cheaper to use the market and small firms don't need to grow."
Analysts still have serious questions about WeWork's business model: when it launched in the UK, it ran at a loss, taking less in rent than it paid out for its leases, but its appeal is permanent.
"It's the reverse of Coase's law and I think it's a very powerful model for explaining why perhaps the demand side is permanent," he said. |
AI finds potentially dangerous cracks in nuclear reactors | Researchers at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University have developed an AI system capable of identifying potentially disastrous cracks in nuclear reactors. Monitoring cracks is paramount to reducing costs and fatalities at nuclear plants, according to Mohammad R. Jahanshahi, assistant professor at Lyles. "Ageing degradation is the main cause that leads to function losses and safety impairments caused by cracking", said Jahanshahi. The researchers have filed a patent application on the crack-detection technology through the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization. | http://www.futurity.org/deep-learning-nuclear-reactor-safety-1598922/ | 2017-11-09 15:36:12.503000 | Share this
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Email You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University Purdue University
A new system that uses artificial intelligence to find cracks captured in videos of nuclear reactors could help reduce accidents as well as maintenance costs, researchers report.
“Regular inspection of nuclear power plant components is important to guarantee safe operations,” says Mohammad R. Jahanshahi, an assistant professor in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University.
“However, current practice is time-consuming, tedious, and subjective and involves human technicians reviewing inspection videos to identify cracks on reactors,” Jahanshahi says.
The fact that nuclear reactors are submerged in water to maintain cooling complicates the inspection process. Consequently, direct manual inspection of a reactor’s components is not feasible due to high temperatures and radiation hazards. Technicians review remotely recorded videos of the underwater reactor surface, a procedure that is vulnerable to human error.
Checking the tape
Researchers are proposing a “deep learning” framework called a naïve Bayes-convolutional neural network to analyze individual video frames for crack detection. An innovative “data fusion scheme” aggregates the information from each video frame to enhance the overall performance and robustness of the system.
Convolutional neural networks are a form of artificial intelligence called deep learning that have been instrumental in the development of various commercial products capable of facial and speech recognition.
The new system detects cracks in overlapping “patches” in each video frame while the data fusion algorithm scheme is capable of tracking the crack from one frame to the next. The approach achieves a 98.3 percent success rate, which is significantly higher than other state-of-the-art approaches, Jahanshahi says.
Cracks lead to leaks
The United States is the world’s largest supplier of commercial nuclear power, which provides around 20 percent of the nation’s total electric energy. Between 1952 to 2010, there have been 99 major nuclear power incidents worldwide that cost more than $20 billion and led to 4,000 fatalities. Fifty-six incidents occurred in the United States.
The algorithm mimics the ability of human vision to scrutinize cracks from different angles.
“One important factor behind these incidents has been cracking that can lead to leaking,” Jahanshahi says. “Nineteen of the above incidents were related to cracking or leaking, costing $2 billion. Aging degradation is the main cause that leads to function losses and safety impairments caused by cracking, fatigue, embrittlement, wear, erosion, corrosion, and oxidation.”
Although several vision-based crack detection approaches have been developed for concrete, rock, or pavement surfaces, only a few approaches consider crack detection on metallic surfaces. The majority of existing approaches focus on detecting cracks in a single image.
“If a crack is not detected in these single images or a noisy pattern is falsely detected as a crack in the image, no other information is available to correct the detection results,” he says.
Developing the system
To develop and evaluate the proposed system, researchers collected videos of 20 underwater specimens representing internal nuclear power plant components. They scanned samples at 30 frames per second, and the convolutional neural network examined each frame for cracks. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a nonprofit organization that the electric utility industry funds provided the data.
As the data-fusion algorithm observes a crack from one frame to the next it is able to account for changing configurations due to the moving camera, pinpointing the location of the crack. The algorithm mimics the ability of human vision to scrutinize cracks from different angles, which is important because some cracks are obscured by the play of light and shadow, Jahanshahi says.
“Data fusion comes up with more robust decision making than would otherwise be possible,” he says.
The approach also uses powerful graphical processing units to train the neural network how to detect cracks with a dataset that contains around 300,000 crack and non-crack patches, he says.
The researchers have filed a patent application on the crack-detection technology through the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization.
The research team also is using deep learning to detect corrosion in photographs of metal surfaces, a technology that could potentially inspect structures such as light poles and bridges. The researchers reported the details of that work in a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Structural Health Monitoring.
Future research will include work to further improve the technologies.
The researchers detail their work in the journal IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. Computer engineering doctoral student Fu-Chen Chen was Jahanshahi’s coauthor.
Source: Purdue University |
Rauch develops drone for fertiliser distribution | Engineers at Rauch have developed a drone that is reportedly capable of distributing fertiliser payloads of up to 30kg to crops. According to Rauch, the drone will eliminate issues of soil compaction and field damage that have consistently plagued the fertiliser distribution industry. The drone is capable of 40 minutes of flight-time, with a full unit charge taking 20 minutes. The unit will be available for viewing at the Agritechnica show in Germany, which takes place between 12 and 18 November.
| http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/here-it-comes-this-drone-can-spread-your-fertiliser/ | 2017-11-09 15:34:17.437000 | We’ve all heard of ‘agricultural’ drones that can monitor your crops. However, Rauch will shortly unveil a unit that can spread fertiliser.
Rauch’s engineers have essentially modified an eight-rotor Agronator ‘Octocopter’, which weighs 80kg and boasts a diameter of 4m.
The modified unit’s on-board fertiliser hopper can carry 30kg of fertiliser.
So far, the drone has been tested spreading anti-slug bait, small seeds and mineral fertiliser. Its spreading system is an electrically-driven, one-disc unit – dubbed DRACO (Drone Application Copter); it is fed from a 50L hopper.
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Not surprisingly, Rauch says that the single biggest advantage is the drone’s ability to spread fertiliser regardless of ground conditions – simply because the unit flies well above the potential quagmire below.
Therefore, says the company, soil compaction or field damage is simply not an issue.
Thanks to its GPS technology, Rauch says that it is possible to “exactly define flight
routes and even individual spreading areas”. It is simply a case of pressing a button; then the so-called CultiCopter automatically follows the predefined flight route.
The DRACO spreading unit automatically adjusts the application rate and working width, as per user requirements. It is also possible to record data from each run.
Two lithium-polymer batteries – or accumulators as Rauch refers to them – apparently provide enough energy for up to 40 minutes of flight-time. It then takes 20 minutes to recharge the unit – before it’s able to embark on its next fertiliser-spreading mission.
The unit will be on display at next week’s massive Agritechnica show in Germany.
World’s largest machinery exhibition: Should you be there? |
By Degrees releases app targeting Indian English learners | Australian edtech company By Degrees has unveiled its Burst Learning product in India, a way of teaching English using a WhatsApp-like conversation thread. The company aims to provide a mobile-only service to help Indian students get through the popular Pearson Test of English (PTE). By Degrees' CEO Danny Bielick explains the targeting of PTE students by saying: "The numbers are exploding. Canada just accepted the PTE for their visa application, so projected numbers are going through the roof."
| https://thepienews.com/news/by-degrees-mobile-only-platform-targets-indian-english-learners/ | 2017-11-09 15:28:28.647000 | “For many years online learning has held a lot of promise, but hasn’t delivered much”, CEO of By Degrees Danny Bielik states in a catchy promo video on the firm’s website.
He explained that By Degrees developed the product after learning of Indian students’ struggle to get through English proficiency tests from agency association AAERI.
“[AAERI] came to me with this problem, [students are having] a difficulty with English, and IELTS especially. A lot of kids are just not getting through the test,” he said.
The Australian company aims to solve the problem of low completion rates in e-learning, and the high numbers of Indians under-30 who are not in education employment or training, with a fully mobile product that will act like a conversation to encourage attainment.
“We’re not delivering long, didactic lectures with exercises at the end,” Bielik told The PIE News.
He explained that the learning experience will be, visually at least, much like a multi-contributor conversation on existing messaging applications.
“It looks like a Whatsapp conversation. And over the years people have established ad hoc learning groups this way anyway,” he said.
“It’s not a great secret that the PTE, especially in India, is booming”
“[University students] establish groups in [messenger services] where they say ‘read this’, ‘what do you reckon about that’, ‘how would you go about this’ and so on and so forth,” Bielik continued.
According to figures discussed at an AAERI meeting in early 2017, 80% of all web traffic in India is via mobile devices.
With that in mind, Burst Learning will initially focus on English and training for the Pearson Test of English. Bielik told The PIE News that this was an obvious choice for the firm’s initial venture.
“It’s not a great secret that the PTE, especially in India, is booming. The numbers are exploding. Canada just accepted the PTE for their visa application, so projected numbers are going through the roof,” he related.
“English test prep is a big industry in India… Almost all agencies have their own training department”
By Degrees thinks the Indian market is ripe for this type of short form, fast-paced, and crucially, mobile style of learning – another form of “nano-learning” which The PIE News covered in 2015.
Ravi Lochan Singh, managing director of Indian education travel agency Global Reach, agrees with Bielick that mobile test preparation could find fertile ground in India, though his positivity is not without reservation.
“English test prep is a big industry in India… Almost all agencies have their own training department or work with an outsourced third party. There is a scope for technology being introduced…if the mobile based delivery is cost effective, it will find a niche,” he said.
But Singh doubts that mobile technology such as Burst Learning will be the death knell for brick and mortar training colleges.
“How much will it replace face to face training[?] I am not sure.”
By Degrees aims to venture across Asia soon after their first year is complete.
“We’re very much an Asia-focused business, but what we’re doing here has global applicability… we’re hoping to expand quite rapidly,” Bielick told The PIE. |
MasterCard pushes India towards 'digital payments ecosystem' | MasterCard is encouraging India towards a 'digital payments ecosystem', partnering with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to roll out their Digital Rath campaign nationwide. Speaking at the launch, Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani highlighted the 103% increase in digital transactions in the last year. “Small merchants are the backbone of Indian economy & a less-cash society will bring more transparency. This initiative by Mastercard India & CAIT is commendable”, said Irani.
| http://www.india.com/business/mastercard-digirath-takes-off-to-fulfill-governments-digital-india-dream-2613043/ | 2017-11-09 15:19:41.083000 | Home
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Mastercard DigiRath Takes Off to Fulfill Government’s Digital India Dream
Mastercard DigiRath Takes Off to Fulfill Government’s Digital India Dream
The DigiRath will support the government’s target of powering 2500 crore digital transactions by March 2018 and bring more transparency and efficiency.
Mastercard (File Photo)
New Delhi, November 8: Mastercard India and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday came together to revolutionise the digital payments ecosystem in India. This move is believed to encourage Indian consumers and merchants to pay and accept digital payments. Mastercard and CAIT on Wednesday marked Demonetisation’s anniversary by flagging of Digital Rath for a cashless India. Under the partnership, CAIT and Mastercard will organise workshops on electronic payments across five cities in India that include Lucknow, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Navi Mumbai & Bhopal.
Highlights Mastercard India and CAIT came together to revolutionise the digital payments ecosystem
It will encourage Indian consumers and merchants to pay and accept digital payment
Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani flagged off the Digital Rath from New Delhi today. The Minister said that debit card transactions have gone up by 103% in the last one year. “Our citizens & merchants have embraced digital transactions proactively; contributing to India’s development. “Small merchants are the backbone of Indian economy & a less-cash society will bring more transparency. This initiative by Mastercard India & CAIT is commendable”, she added.
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#MastercardDigiRath flags off in New Delhi; launches a movement that aims to reach merchants across Lucknow, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Navi Mumbai & Bhopal for a @cashlessbano India. @_digitalIndia @Mastercard @TEAMCAIT pic.twitter.com/VOFxSP0fiB — Mastercard India (@mastercardindia) November 8, 2017
While addressing #CashlessBano India conference, Irani said that in past one-year Mobile Transactions increased by 218% & Debit Card Transactions increased by 103%. Apart from this, UPI transactions surged from 3.8 mn in April’17 To 77 mn in October’17.
What is Mastercard DigiRath?
DigitalRath will motivate trading fraternity transforming from cash-based business formats to technology-led #DigitalPayments. #CashlessBano
The Digital Rath is going to be a PAN India campaign covering 20,000 kms addressing more than 10 lac people.
There will be 30 Digital Rath for #CashlessBano India campaign to promote Digital India.
The DigiRath aims to reach merchants across Lucknow, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Navi Mumbai & Bhopal for a cashless India.
The DigiRath will support the government’s target of powering 2500 crore digital transactions by March 2018 and bring more transparency and efficiency. In October, Masterccard launched its first innovation lab in India in Pune to work on new commerce, payment and technology ideas for the rapidly growing digital economy in the country. As per reports, Mastercard Labs in India is the company’s ninth lab in the world and the second in Asia Pacific (following Singapore). The lab will also support and work with start-ups developing next generation, breakthrough commerce solutions through Mastercard’s Start Path programme.
For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest Business News on India.com. |
European sweatshops supply major brands | Clothes factories supplying major brands pay poverty wages and provide dangerous working conditions across Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, according to a report by the Clean Clothes Campaign. The report claims that workers in Ukraine earn €89 ($103) per month including overtime, equivalent to a fifth of the “living wage”, and that approximately 1.7 million workers in the region’s garment sector live in poverty. The research also reveals that forced overtime is widespread, along with exposure to heat and chemicals. Abuse by managers is also common, and skilled female workers are particularly badly paid.
| https://www.ecotextile.com/2017110923078/social-compliance-csr-news/fashion-brands-implicated-in-european-sweatshops.html | 2017-11-09 13:47:06.863000 | AMSTERDAM – Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) has published a report claiming that the garment and apparel industry is host to poverty wages and sweatshops across Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. CCC says the factories are customers of major fashion brands such as Benetton, Espirit, GEOX, Triumph and Vera Moda and that many workers in Ukraine earn EUR89 per month, despite overtime and the ‘living wage’ being five times that. |
Russia's Robomed uses blockchain for healthcare network | A Moscow-based start-up is using blockchain technology to deliver better and less expensive healthcare. Robomed Network founder and healthcare entrepreneur Philipp Mironovich has used Ethereum to launch an initial coin offering to raise $30m. Robomed uses a smart contract and payment system to link doctors and patients, and provide treatments plans, with payments held in a virtual wallet. The system also allows patients to list symptoms, suggest possible medical issues and then get matched with doctors who have expertise in those areas. Robomed hopes to use the $30m for new office purchases, hiring and product development.
| https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/08/robomed-sees-blockchain-as-a-way-to-revolutionize-health-care-contracts-and-payments/ | 2017-11-09 13:14:22.723000 | Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More
Blockchain technologies are slowly seeping into every conceivable market. And if one Russian company succeeds, the health care industry will be the next to be feel the impact of this new technology.
Robomed Network, a Moscow-based startup founded by health care entrepreneur Philipp Mironovich, has launched an initial coin offering using Ethereum to raise $30 million from investors. The company is riding the astonishing wave of ICOs this year that are rewriting the rules for which companies can raise money and where.
Located about as far from Silicon Valley as one can get, Robomed is a pretty good example of how ICOs have opened new fundraising doors. But perhaps more critically, it’s also emblematic of the ways blockchain technologies have moved far beyond their cryptocurrency roots.
For Mironovich, blockchain is potentially a tool to help deliver better and less expensive health care without patients or doctors needing to know the first thing about the technology.
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“It guarantees the patients that the doctor they go to will have the best treatment for them,” Mironovich said. “This will help ensure that people, particularly in developing nations, received good value for their money.”
Mironovich launched into the health care industry in a way that would be difficult to imagine in the United States: He started a chain of hospitals in Russia known as Open Clinics. He opened his first when he was 21 years old and now operates five, using loans and revenue from the hospitals to continue to expand.
Image Credit: Robomed
As he did so, he began thinking about the technical infrastructure and how to reinvent it across his hospitals. He and a team of several developers spent a couple of years and about $1 million creating the Robomed Network system.
The idea is to use blockchain technology to create smart contracts and payment systems between patients and doctors. The system helps set a market-based price between doctor and patient. The smart contract lays out milestones for diagnosis and treatment, with various metrics and checkpoints along the way.
A patient puts money into the Robomed system using cash or a credit card, and it’s held there in a virtual currency wallet. As the doctor proceeds through the contract, some money is released along the way.
On the front end, the system also allows patients to list symptoms, suggest possible medical issues, and then get matched with doctors who have expertise in those areas, Mironovich said.
So far, 23 clinics have signed on to use the Robomed platform, and now the company is looking to accelerate its growth. To do that, it launched the ICO a few weeks ago to raise $30 million that it will use for hiring, opening new offices, and product development.
“We want to scale this business and make it global,” Mironovich said. |
Climate change even hitting areas less prone to disasters | North American states not traditionally impacted by freak weather attacks are becoming increasingly caught in the crosshairs of nature, as climate change in the takes its toll on Midwestern infrastructure. Mary Craighead, Transportation Policy Analyst at Illinois Economic Policy Institute, calls for wide-reaching reviews in to existing development regulation. Midwest temperatures have increased by 4.5 degrees since the 1980s, whilst days with “very heavy precipitation” increased by 27% since the 1950s. Craighead argues that as the "freight hub of North America", economic and trade prosperity depends upon the Midwest's infrastructure being sufficiently prepared for the effects of climate change.
| http://www.brinknews.com/climate-change-and-infrastructure/?utm_source=BRINK+Subscribers&utm_campaign=82b8e48949-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_11_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c3639d7c98-82b8e48949-110036825 | 2017-11-09 12:55:21.957000 | Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
While Texas, Florida, California, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico were harshly reminded of a changing climate following a historically active season of hurricanes and drought-enabled wildfires, Midwestern states would do well to acknowledge that climate changes are already reaching much further inland. The Midwest’s transportation and electricity systems are particularly at risk of physical damage and disruption to services, leading to far wider economic impacts to both the region and the nation.
For taxpayers and businesses to thrive, there are few things more important than a region’s infrastructure systems. Reliable transportation networks are crucial to ensure the efficient movement of food, energy, and trade. Workers and consumers depend on roads, bridges, and transit systems to access jobs and markets. Energy production not only rests upon the delivery of resources, but also the operability of the transmission lines to homes and businesses. Yet climate change, and the corresponding extreme weather events experienced across the nation, will continue to threaten these systems.
Temperatures in the Midwest have increased by 4.5 degrees since the 1980s. The number of days with “very heavy precipitation” has increased by 27 percent since the 1950s. The Great Lakes only experienced 43 percent ice coverage in the early 2000s, compared to an average ice coverage of 52 percent between 1961 and 2013. And these conditions are only expected to worsen, with temperatures continuing to rise and precipitation patterns changing; through the mid-century, spring rains are anticipated to increase by 9 percent, while summer rains decrease by 8 percent.
Evidence clearly indicates that the climate is changing both in the Midwest and worldwide. Transportation and electricity infrastructure systems will particularly feel these effects. And as these systems serve as the lifeblood of any region, governments, individuals, and businesses will be forced to bear the burden.
Climate change puts the Midwest’s transport and electricity systems at risk, with impacts all across North America.
Increased heat will reduce the lifespan of pavements, add stress to expansion joints for bridges and highways, cause pavements and railways to buckle, and affect aircraft performance. Flooding will weaken structural supports for bridges, deteriorate soil that supports roadways, tunnels, and bridges, and increase sedimentation in waterways. And severe storms that produce high winds, ice, snow, and lightning can damage electricity lines, particularly those in the Midwest where the majority of electricity transmission and distribution is above ground.
The Midwest as a Trading Hub
Beyond these already alarming structural concerns, the disruption of the operations of these systems has the potential to affect the entire nation, as the Midwest serves as the freight hub of North America. Roughly 25 percent of the nation’s freight trains and 50 percent of all intermodal trains pass through Chicago alone. Approximately 35 percent of all trade between the U.S. and Canada comes through Michigan. National and international trade is further supplemented through the Midwest’s interstate highway system, expansive waterways facilitating maritime connections to the Great Lakes, and multiple border crossings with Canada.
To put it into perspective, five of Chicago’s top 10 domestic trading partners are outside the Midwest, including Los Angeles, New York City, Memphis, Atlanta, and Dallas/Fort Worth. Cumulative domestic trade flows in 2012 between the Chicago region and Los Angeles and Atlanta totaled $11 billion and $7.9 billion, respectively. Similarly, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth are among Indianapolis and Detroit’s top domestic trading partners.
As a result, businesses both near and far will be touched if the Midwest does not adequately prepare for the impact of climate change on its infrastructure. As a prime example, the drought of 2012 disrupted barge traffic due to near record low water levels on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, forcing shipments to switch to alternate modes of transportation. While it is fortunate that viable alternatives were available, this is not an option for all shipments; it causes added economic stress to businesses and leads to unnecessary traffic on already-congested highway and railway corridors.
It is widely known that infrastructure is grossly underfunded to meet the maintenance and growth needs of the nation. The funding gap already stands at more than $2 trillion by 2025, yet how much more will be required to address climate-change-related repairs?
As local, state, and federal governments consider issues ranging from modernizing transportation systems to planning new housing and commercial developments, it is in the taxpayers’ best interest that they also account for today’s climate realities. In terms of infrastructure, policymakers and project planners should incorporate updated design standards to protect these investments and mitigate against future damages and disruptions. This should also include limits on development in areas that have already experienced extreme weather-related damage.
Similarly, a review of existing development regulations should also be considered. Following the flood of 1993, Midwest communities attempted to remedy flood-prone areas by elevating and relocating properties. However, the region faced severe flooding again in 2008. And as reported by the Congressional Research Service, while some communities were better off due to their efforts, significant commercial, industrial, and highway development had occurred in the 500-year flood plain, opening these areas up to risks from the heavy precipitation storms that have become more common. From Houston to New Orleans, communities across the nation have learned time and again it is far cheaper to invest in smart planning and risk management than it is to repair or rebuild after the fact.
Further Action Required
Several Midwestern states have taken positive strides in recent years, including the adoption of greenhouse gas emissions targets, climate action plans, and adaptation plans. However, much more can and should be done.
Only Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota have adopted adaptation plans, which outline a state’s infrastructure vulnerabilities toward climate change and create a plan and implementation process to address those weaknesses. Similarly, the state departments of transportation in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio have pursued asset management programs to identify vulnerabilities and protect the investments taxpayers have already made in infrastructure.
While it is encouraging to hear of the adoption of such policies, it is important to remember that policies and plans are only as good as the leaders who are intent on implementing them. Although climate action plans were pursued in Illinois and Michigan in the late 2000s, neither have been actively pursued under current leadership. Similarly, President Donald Trump has been quick to retreat from international agreements designed to curb worldwide emissions and to rescind many climate-related strategies of the Obama administration.
Climate change has already caused, and will continue to cause for many years to come, unimaginable impacts on the nation’s population, environments, and economy. No one policy or action alone will halt the harmful effects, but we cannot hide from this new climate reality.
As the Midwest and the nation continue to see an increase in the number and severity of extreme weather events attributable to climate change, it is imperative that public officials act to protect the tens of billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure systems that serve as the heart of the nation’s economy. |
UK to back total ban on neonicotinoids: Gove | The UK will back a complete ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, which are the most widely used insecticides in the world, according to the country’s environment secretary Michael Gove. The decision is based on new evidence demonstrating the environmental contamination and damage to bee colonies caused by the insecticides. Neonicotinoids were banned for use on flowering crops by the European Union (EU) in 2013, although the UK opposed the ban. The EU will vote on a total ban on the pesticides outside of greenhouses in December. The changed UK position makes it more likely that the ban will be introduced.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/09/the-evidence-points-in-one-direction-we-must-ban-neonicotinoids | 2017-11-09 12:26:21.077000 | Two principles guide this government’s approach to the natural world. We want not just to protect but to enhance the environment. And we want our decisions to be informed at all times by rigorous scientific evidence.
Which is why when the science shows that our environment is in increasing danger we have to act. Like many others, I was deeply concerned by a recently published German study into the health of some insect populations. The Guardian covered the report in depth, not least because the statistics were so stark. Data gathered over 25 years appeared to indicate a 75% fall in the numbers of flying insects within those sites.
Environmental change on such a scale is profoundly worrying. Not least because of the critical role played by bees and other pollinators. These particular flying insects are absolutely critical to the health of the natural world. Without a healthy pollinator population we put the whole ecological balance of our world in danger.
Official biodiversity indicators show that the pollinator population has been in a state of overall decline since 1987. Although 29% of bee species increased over that period, 49% declined. Other evidence suggests more than half of solitary bees have declined.
And as is always the case, a deteriorating environment is ultimately bad economic news as well. Pollinators contribute somewhere between £400-680m every year to agricultural productivity, benefitting both the yield and the quality of crops. For example, gala apple growers are already spending £5.7m a year to do the work that natural pollinators should be doing, while for some crops like field beans there is evidence that a deficit in pollinator numbers is already having an adverse effect.
Where there is evidence that human activity is contributing to pollinator decline, we have a duty to act. Among the potential threats to pollinators are neonicotinoids, a type of pesticide. A recent report found that 75% of honey samples collected around the world contained neonicotinoids. However, the impact on bee health of the prevalence of neonicotinoids has been disputed.
In 2013, the European Commission proposed a ban on the use of three types of neonicotinoids on flowering crops. At that time, the UK’s assessment was that there was insufficient evidence of a link between neonicotinoids and pollinator decline, but other member states took a different view and a ban was implemented across the EU.
Since 2013, the evidence base has grown. The European Commission has now proposed the ban is extended to non-flowering crops. I asked the UK’s independent advisory body on pesticides to review the issue again. In their view, there is a growing body of evidence that indicates that the risks posed by neonicotinoids are greater than previously understood. They advise that the evidence now supports the restrictions introduced in 2013; indeed, there may also be a case for going further.
The most recent studies into neonicotinoids have taken the investigation out of a laboratory into the field to gather more meaningful results. These show a number of worrying indicators. First, when neonicotinoids are used on one crop, their residues can be found across the landscape. This contaminates pollinators’ food sources far and wide, not only on the crops where the pesticide was used. Second, wider investigation has shown that neonicotinoids can persist in soils for many years and have been detected in areas where there has been no known recent use. Neonicotinoids are also taken up by flowering weeds or subsequent flowering crops on those soils, causing further exposure to pollinators. Although the effects are subtle, the most recent studies point to a discernible effect on food sources and the productivity of bee colonies, which could have a worrying long-term impact on their populations.
While there is still uncertainty in the science, it is increasingly pointing in one direction. Not to act would be to risk continuing down a course which could have extensive and permanent effects on bee populations. That is not a risk I am prepared to take, so the UK will be supporting further restrictions on neonicotinoids. Unless the evidence base changes again, the government will keep these restrictions in place after we have left the EU.
The current process of emergency authorisations – used not just in the UK but across the EU – will remain in place, allowing the short-term, limited and controlled use of neonicotinoids in exceptional situations to control a threat that cannot be contained by any other reasonable means. Farmers will be able to apply to Defra who will take advice from the advisory body on pesticides and Defra’s chief scientist, with authorisations granted where the evidence is clear that neonicotinoid use is essential.
I understand the importance of pesticides for farmers. They have to protect their crops from dangerous threats throughout the growing season, and in that respect neonicotinoids have been useful. Farmers work hard round the clock to produce the high quality food and drink we all enjoy. Decisions which can, certainly in the short term, make their lives more difficult are not easy to take.
But ultimately we must ensure that we think about the long term health of our environment, because unless we take steps now to arrest environmental damage we will all be the losers. We only have one earth and it is our responsibility to hand it on to the next generation in a better state.
Michael Gove is the UK environment secretary
|
UK to back total ban on neonicotinoids: Gove | The UK will back a complete ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, which are the most widely used insecticides in the world, according to the country’s environment secretary Michael Gove. The decision is based on new evidence demonstrating the environmental contamination and damage to bee colonies caused by the insecticides. Neonicotinoids were banned for use on flowering crops by the European Union (EU) in 2013, although the UK opposed the ban. The EU will vote on a total ban on the pesticides outside of greenhouses in December. The changed UK position makes it more likely that the ban will be introduced.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/09/uk-will-back-total-ban-on-bee-harming-pesticides-michael-gove-reveals | 2017-11-09 12:26:21.077000 | The UK will back a total ban on insect-harming pesticides in fields across Europe, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, has revealed.
The decision reverses the government’s previous position and is justified by recent new evidence showing neonicotinoids have contaminated the whole landscape and cause damage to colonies of bees. It also follows the revelation that 75% of all flying insects have disappeared in Germany and probably much further afield, a discovery Gove said had shocked him.
Neonicotinoids are the world’s most widely used insecticide but in 2013 the European Union banned their use on flowering crops, although the UK was among the nations opposing the ban. The European commission now wants a total ban on their use outside of greenhouses, with a vote expected in December, and the UK’s new position makes it very likely to pass.
“The weight of evidence now shows the risks neonicotinoids pose to our environment, particularly to the bees and other pollinators which play such a key part in our £100bn food industry, is greater than previously understood,” said Gove. “I believe this justifies further restrictions on their use. We cannot afford to put our pollinator populations at risk.”
In an article for the Guardian, Gove said: “As is always the case, a deteriorating environment is ultimately bad economic news as well.” He said pollinators boost the yield and quality of UK crops by £400m-£680m every year and said, for example, gala apple growers are now having to spend £5.7m a year to do replace the work of lost natural pollinators.
Gove said the evidence of neonicotinoids’ harm to pollinators has grown stronger since 2013, including a landmark field trial published in July that showed neonicotinoids damage bee populations, not just individual insects, and a global analysis of honey revealing worldwide contamination by the insecticides.
This and other research was examined by the UK’s Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP), which published its updated advice on Thursday. “Exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides under field conditions can have an unacceptable effect on honeybee health” they concluded. “Such unacceptable effects are occurring at a landscape level and between seasons.”
Professor Ian Boyd, chief scientific advisor at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “The important question is whether neonicotinoids’ use results in harmful effects on populations of bees and other pollinators as a whole. The available evidence [now] justifies taking further steps to restrict the use of neonicotinoids.”
Boyd warned in September that the assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is false. This followed other highly critical reports on pesticides, including research showing most farmers could slash their pesticide use without losses and a UN report that denounced the “myth” that pesticides are necessary to feed the world.
Tractors sow seeds treated with neonicotinoids. Photograph: Paul Weston/Alamy Stock Photo
Gove’s decision has delighted campaigners and scientists who have long argued that heavy pesticide use, along with the destruction of habitat and disease, are having a devastating impact on insects.
“Michael Gove is to be congratulated for listening to the experts on this issue and backing tougher restrictions,” said Friends of the Earth’s chief executive Craig Bennett. “But lessons also need to be learned – we now need to move away from chemical-intensive farming and instead boost support for less damaging ways of tackling persistent weeds and pests.
“We warmly welcome the UK’s change of position,” said Matt Shardlow, at insect conservation group Buglife. “Brexit will give the UK more control over the health of our ecosystems and it is essential in doing so that we apply the highest standards of care.”
He said the EU had been stuck on the issue of a full neonicotinoid ban, unable until now to get sufficient votes from member states: “In taking this ‘unfrozen moment’ in British politics to put bees and science at the centre of our priorities for sustainable agriculture, Michael Gove may also unfreeze the EU and secure an EU-wide ban that will benefit insects across the continent.”
Chris Hartfield, the National Farmers Union’s acting chief science adviser, said: “Farmers are acutely aware that bees play a crucial role in food production and have done an enormous amount to help them.” But he said the committee’s finding of “unacceptable effects” came despite their acknowledgement of a gap in understanding in whether neonicotinoids damage overall ecosystem services: “In our view, the ECP has leapt beyond its brief.”
But Gove said: “While there is still uncertainty in the science, it is increasingly pointing in one direction.” He said a post-Brexit farming subsidy system would channel more money into environmentally sustainable ways of farming. |
News app Toutiao looks to buy its way into China insurance market | China's Toutiao plans to acquire a local insurance broker, making it the latest media platform to seek entry into the country's mushrooming insurance market. The five-year-old app-based service, which uses artificial intelligence to provide customised news, is valued at about $20bn. It wants to enter the insurance sector through acquisition in order to sidestep the long process of getting a license. Tech firms like Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba are clamouring to enter China's online insurance market on bets the sector will surge over the next five years.
| https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2017/11/08/china-news-aggregation-giant-jinri-toutiao-said-seeking-buy-insurance-broker | 2017-11-09 12:04:24.503000 |
Chinese news app Toutiao appears to be the latest Chinese media platform looking to get into financial technology. According to local news reports, the five-year-old company with a valuation estimated at US$20 billion is looking to acquire an insurance broker in China to break into the insurance business, but without having go through the time consuming process of obtaining an insurance license.
The company did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation by China Money Network.
Toutiao ranks as the fifth highest valued private company on China Money Network’s Unicorn Ranking with valuation of US$20 billion. The company, which uses artificial intelligence to provide customized news for its users, claims to have over 700 million users and 150 million monthly active users. With its broad customer base and precision advertising, selling insurance online could become a significant new revenue source for the company. It is estimated that Toutiao has made RMB6 billion (US$904 million) in advertising revenues in 2016.
Toutiao is reported to have made several inquiries to regulators about obtaining an insurance license, according to the local media reports. But judging from the prior cases, it takes China’s Insurance Regulatory Commission about one year to process license applications. Toutiao therefore is seeking to acquire a broker that already holds a license.
The news comes amid a rush of Chinese tech companies competing to get into the insurance business. China’s big-three tech companies, Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba, collectively known as the BAT, have each obtained insurance licenses recently. In October, WeSure Insurance, a company controlled by Tencent Holdings, obtained a license. Baidu’s subsidiary Baidu Penghuan Asset Management acquired an insurance broker with an insurance license in September. Ant Financial’s subsidiary Hangzhou Baojin Insurance also got its license in September.
Also, Zhongan Insurance, backed by Alibaba, Tencent and Ping An Insurance, raised US$1.5 billion in its initial public offering in September.
The rush to get into online insurance is backed by expectations that the Chinese online insurance market will grow significantly over the next five years. The amount of life and non-life insurance products sold online or via mobile devices reached over US$45 billion in 2016, and the figure is expected to hit US$145 billion by 2021, according to Oliver Wyman. |
Insurer AmTrust signs agriculture data deal with Farmobile | US agriculture insurer AmTrust Ag has entered into an agreement with agricultural data provider Farmobile. The data company uses hardware to pick up statistics on factors such as fertiliser distribution and plant populations, which is used to determine crop insurance premiums. AmTrust is also taking an equity stake in Farmobile as part of the partnership.
| https://www.dig-in.com/news/amtrust-partners-with-farmobile-on-crop-insurance-data?brief=00000159-faf0-d111-af7d-fbfd9f0a0000 | 2017-11-09 10:45:19.310000 | AmTrust Agriculture Insurance, a subsidiary of multiline P&C insurer AmTrust Financial, has signed on with insurtech Farmobile to leverage the latter's data collection platform for its crop insurance clients.
Farmobile’s hardware device, the passive uplink connection, transmits data to a central repository every second over cellular networks. If a connection is lost, the device stores data locally until connectivity is restored. This information is used to calculate crop insurance premium.
Soybeans are harvested with a Case IH Agricultural Equipment Inc. combine harvester in this aerial photograph taken above Princeton, Illinois, U.S., on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. Soybean futures for November delivery rose 0.1% a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade after falling as much as 0.5%, the lowest since September 13. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
“Today crop insurance reporting is not a standardized process,” said Jeffrey Fenster, SVP at AmTrust. “The capabilities of Farmobile’s data collection system will allow AmTrust to innovate and provide additional time and cost savings to our crop insurance agents and farmers. They also standardize the data, make it portable and have an incredibly transparent sharing and accessibility model."
As part of the agreement, AmTrust also will take an equity stake in Farmobile.
“AmTrust is taking a leadership position in using digital agricultural advancements to aid in crop insurance reporting. We’re inspired by their vision to leverage technology to recruit agents and help farmers,” said Jason Tatge, CEO of Farmobile. “Together with AmTrust, we’ll be able to deliver a faster, cheaper and smarter workflow for crop insurance reporting through better data management. In short, we help farmers and agents create shared value through efficient reporting.” |
Uber partners with NASA on flying taxi project UberAir | Following the unveiling of plans in April to introduce flying taxis, Uber has partnered with NASA on the project, known as UberAir. NASA said it is seeking to create a framework with industry players for the air traffic management of drones to enable deployment of air vehicles that carry passengers. In 2019, the recommendations developed by NASA and other partners such as Uber will be shared with the Federal Aviation Administration, which will study how to integrate passenger drones into existing air traffic systems. Uber is hoping to demonstrate its air taxis in 2020. | http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/08/technology/uber-web-summit-uberair/index.html | 2017-11-09 10:20:57.333000 | Uber continues to aim for the sky.
The tech company has partnered with NASA to help it develop air traffic management systems for its flying taxi initiatives, chief product officer Jeff Holden said on Wednesday. Holden made the announcement at Web Summit, a technology conference in Lisbon.
In April, Uber unveiled its plans to introduce flying taxi fleets, known as uberAIR.
The four-person ridesharing flights won't become a reality anytime soon but Holden said there are plans for demos coming to Los Angeles in 2020. Uber previously announced cities Dallas, Texas and Dubai as other partner cities.
The tech firm has agreements to work with other aviation companies, but this is the first time it has formally partnered with a federal U.S. agency. Uber's partnership is part of NASA's Space Act Agreement, a consortium of industry players working to ensure "safe and efficient operations" of its taxis and other small unmanned aerial systems flying at low altitudes.
"These are exactly the kind of partners we need to make uberAIR a reality," Holden said of NASA.
A NASA spokesman said Wednesday the agency will help create a framework for the air traffic management of drones. This will help pave the way for air vehicles carrying passengers, such as uberAIR.
In 2019, the recommendations developed by NASA and its partners will be shared with the Federal Aviation Administration, which will determine how they should be integrated into existing air traffic systems.
Known for its unmanageable traffic, Los Angeles will make for an interesting test bed for the flying vehicles.
Related: Tesla Roadster might fly
To get a sense, Uber projects that trips from the Los Angeles airport to the Staples Center during rush hour will take less than 30 minutes -- down from 1 hour 20 minutes by car. It expects to offer rides in the flying taxis for prices comparable to its UberX service.
The goal is to make transportation fast, and inexpensive -- and it hopes the service will be ready for commercial operations "several years ahead" of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Updated: This story was updated to add more details about NASA's involvement in the project. |
FANG investing encourages bad habits: Bogle | Investing in "FANG" technology stocks encourages investors to engage in unnecessary trading, said Jack Bogle, founder and former CEO of Vanguard Group. Bogle's comments come amid ICE launching futures contracts linked to the major tech companies - Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet - which account for the acronym. "If you like gambling, if you like casinos, these things are really, really, really good," said Bogle. | https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/07/jack-bogle-bashes-fang-investing-says-trading-mentality-losers-game.html | 2017-11-09 10:09:51.027000 | Vanguard founder and former CEO Jack Bogle is not a believer in trading 'FANG' stocks.
When asked about Intercontinental Exchange launching a FANG+ index futures contract for traders on Wednesday, Bogle blasted the idea.
The product enables investors to trade an index that tracks the performance of Facebook , Apple , Amazon , Netflix , and Google-parent Alphabet , along with Alibaba , Baidu , Nvidia , Tesla and Twitter .
"If you want to do such a crazy thing, it certainly makes it easy to do. ... I have no doubt it's a liability," Bogle said on CNBC's "Power Lunch" Tuesday. "I think the odds are very bad. It appeals to the trading instincts in investors. ... If you like gambling, if you like casinos, these things are really, really, really good."
Instead he recommended investors focus on the long term with a multidecade time horizon by buying index funds that minimize trading transaction costs.
"Anything that gets investors into trading is a negative," he said. "Trading is a loser's game. Trading is short term speculation."
Bogle founded Vanguard Group in 1975. The firm is widely regarded as the leader of passive index investing. It has approximately $4.7 trillion in assets under management, according to its president. |
Taiwan becomes fifth Asian nation to adopt fintech sandbox | Taiwan has become the latest Asian economy to adopt the concept of "sandboxing" for technology-focused companies. Sandboxing allows companies to test their concept - often a technology-driven financial service - without fear of running afoul of regulations. A bill suggesting the establishment of this framework is now awaiting final review having passed the first legislative hurdle. Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand also allow fintech firms to test their concepts using regulatory sandboxes. | https://fundselectorasia.com/taiwan-to-set-up-fifth-sandbox-in-asia/ | 2017-11-09 10:08:54.980000 | Taiwan is expected to be the fifth region to approve a fintech sandbox initiative, after Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand, according to local media reports.
The supervisory sandbox will permit applicants to develop and test fintech solutions without full compliance. The initiative aims to provide an optimum regulatory environment for startups developing prototype financial technology.
A bill has passed the first review and is heading to final approval. In the review, legislators have extended the experiment period to a maximum of 36 months from 18 months in a preliminary plan submitted by the government’s executive arm, reports said. If approved, Taiwan will have the longest experimental period among the existing sandboxes. Singapore, for example, allows nine months and the UK six months.
The framework is expected to receive final approval in December. The sandbox will be supervised by Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).
Fintech regulation docket
In other fintech regulatory moves, local media reported that the FSC in July permitted the use of robo-advisers. In August, regulators added that they would allow robo-advisors to re-balance an investor’s portfolio if the return on a specific asset or on the portfolio deviates from the chosen benchmark. Before deploying the automatic adjustment, investors must give prior consent and be informed instantly after any re-balancing.
Last month, the Taiwan Fintech Industry Development Association (FIDA) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fintech Association of Hong Kong and corresponding associations in Singapore and Switzerland. The purpose was to improve the fintech ecosystem across Asia and Europe, as cross-border collaboration on fintech gains momentum.
Industry organisation ICI Global believes fintech disruption is likely to come from China, FSA reported earlier. China accounts for 88% of the world’s fintech investment and significant innovation is occurring, driven by firms with an immense user base such as Alibaba and Tencent, according to a PWC report. |
Investment in US fintechs increases two-fold | Investments in US fintech firms totalled $5bn in Q3 2017, according to a report from KPMG. The figure is double that reported in Q2, with financiers putting to work $2.6bn during the preceding period. Advice platforms in particular garnered attention during the period, the report noted. More in-demand than pure robo-advisory platforms, however, were those making use of both human advisers and algorithm-powered advice. | http://www.wealthmanagement.com/technology/us-fintech-investments-double | 2017-11-09 10:07:53.363000 | Investments in U.S. fintech companies nearly doubled during the third quarter to $5 billion, up from $2.6 billion in the second quarter, according to KPMG’s recent Pulse of Fintech report. There were a total of 142 deals during the quarter, up from 125 deals in the prior year quarter and 147 deals last quarter. KPMG attributes the jump to robust venture capital funding, an increase in deal value and strong performance by the private equity sector. The automated advice platform technology was a big bet during the quarter, with hybrid models—those using a combination of humans and technology—gaining more traction over pure robo advisors, the report said. “We see a lot of optimism in the U.S. Fintech market – from the maturation and adoption of early stage technologies like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and IoT to the rapid acceleration of others, such as Insurtech, Robo-advisory, Blockchain and Regtech,” said Anthony Rjeily, leader for Financial Services’ Digital and Fintech practice in the U.S. at KPMG.
The Trump Stock Market
One year after President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton to become President of the United States, the stock market has risen 21.2 percent. That’s the third-best rise in the S&P 500 of any first-term president since 1952, according to CNBC. Trump trails President John F. Kennedy’s 26.5 percent rise in the markets following his election and President George H.W. Bush’s 22.7 percent hike. Measuring every election since 1952, the Trump rally is bumped down to fifth place, following President Bill Clinton’s 28.1 percent hike after his election for a second term, then Kennedy, followed by President Barack Obama’s 23.8 percent rise after his election for a second term and then Bush. The worst stock market performance came after President Jimmy Carter was elected, when stocks fell 10.2 percent during his first year in office.
InvestCloud, Willis Towers Watson Partner
HStocks/iStocks/Thinkstock
InvestCloud and Willis Towers Watson are partnering. The cloud-based financial services platform was selected to build a bespoke solution for the WTW Asset Management Exchange that will enable clients to better access and monitor roughly $2 billion, according to a statement. The exchange provides asset managers easy access to significant capital on a global basis and seeks to plug “value leakage” caused by inefficiencies in the investment supply. InvestCloud will look to enhance the user experience for both the asset owners and the managers. |
Robinhood adds social network to everyman investment app | Investing app Robinhood is launching a web-based network that aims to better educate its users on finance and investing. The trading app, which has amassed three million users since its launch in 2013, will now allow customers to see how many of their peers also own a particular stock along with trading data for securities. The network will also suggest stocks for investors to buy based on their previous trading activity.
| http://www.tearsheet.co/future-of-investing/why-robinhood-is-launching-a-social-network?utm_source=Autonomous%20NEXT&utm_campaign=8fb38a4b02-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c8cf357092-8fb38a4b02-90551329 | 2017-11-09 09:50:45.757000 | Robinhood is bringing investing under the social finance umbrella. The company behind the popular trading app is launching a web platform to help to deliver the second part of its mission to make stock trading accessible to everyday people: help them make more informed decisions. It’s adding tools, features and information on other users’ activity that makes the experience feel more like a social network. Robinhood, which launched in 2013, says it has crossed 3 million users as of Wednesday and more than $100 billion in transaction volume with about 100 employees, according to co-CEO Baiju Bhatt. By comparison, the 42-year-old TD Ameritrade has 11 million funded accounts and more than 10,000 employees as of this September; E-Trade, 35 years old, reported 3.5 million accounts by the end of last year with some 3,600 employees. Robinhood users have saved more than $1 billion in commission fees (typically $7 per transaction) using the fee-free app, Bhatt said. Robinhood will show users on each stock detail page how many other people own shares of that same company, the average price paid by other users for those shares, the distribution of all the different prices people have paid for shares in that company in the past year. The point is to start giving people more reference prices, Bhatt explained. Humans fundamentally aren't very good at thinking of numbers in terms of absolute value and it can be hard for early or first-time investors to understand that Apple shares, for example, have reached the $160 mark. “They’d say, ‘Sure? I don’t know if that’s high or low.’ We’re starting to think about reference prices people will immediately be familiar with and be able to dissect,” Bhatt said.Robinhood wants to juxtapose data generated by its own users with opinion from Wall Street analysts so users can see what “experts” are saying about a particular stock. So it’s going to begin pulling those reviews and opinions from Morningstar into a new Analyst Reviews section. “It’s a riff on theme of comparison shopping,” Bhatt said. “Really well-worn routes for buying stuff online is doing e-commerce. You can see the expert rating on a stock — [which could say that] 77 percent say ‘buy’ based on 10 analyst reviews from Morningstar — and the number of people that own it.” It will also show other stocks purchased by people that bought shares of a particular company and display a For You section that will suggest stocks to investors by using their buying and browsing data, as well as “playlists,” as Bhatt likes to call them (for now; others in the company call them collections, engineers just call them tags): collections of stocks based on common themes, like Virtual Reality Companies, 2017 IPOs or 100 Most Popular.“From a discovery standpoint the playlists are pretty similar to music. There are tens of thousands of stocks; there are tens of thousands of songs or albums you wanna listen to and there’s always this problem where you can't quite think of the one that you want but it’s kind of on the tip of your tongue and you just need to do some bookmarking to remember it. It’s the really large inventory problem.” Beyond buying and selling, the mobile app currently lets users browse different stocks, track the price movement and features a news feed, which will also be incorporated to the web platform. The website will launch in early 2018. Later in the year the company plans to bring the same features to the mobile app.Bhatt said the company has no plans to introduce advertising to its platforms. With each user averaging 10 to 15 sessions each day, Robinhood has greater engagement than all of its direct competitors added up, he said, touting “the best organic growth of any financial product since Venmo.” Robinhood’s premium product, Robinhood Gold, starts at $10 a month and allows users to trade after hours. It also has a well-performing referral program in which users get a free stock for each new user they refer, who also gets a free stock upon joining. Bhatt said he and co-CEO Vlad Tenev have always been curious to get people connected with each other Robnihood because most people have found their way to investing through social conversations. “The stock market is inherently social,” he said. “From the days of open outcry in the pit it’s always been about humans interacting and transacting. What we’ve got in our product right now is the beginning of a much longer product focused on social.” Venmo has shown legacy financial firms the value of making financial transactions between friends and peers as easy as having a conversation with them. Through an agreement with PayPal, Facebook is also trying to make payments activity a natural extension of the conversation its users are already having in an app where they already spend most of their time. SoFi has been trying to prove people, millennials specifically, want to do business with financial companies based on community and the likemindedness of people with similar financial goals and plans. Offline, there are at least three behaviors or conversations taking place that the founders want to amplify on the screen, Bhatt explained. First, most young people have at least one person friend or family figure who’s a generation older that they talk to about stocks and finance; second, many young people have an informal social network among colleagues or friends where they're kind of competitive about their investing conversations; and there’s usually someone in people’s social networks that isn't a close friend but probably could be based on continued conversations around investing. Opting to connect with Facebook friends and you can post to all of them is probably not effective, Bhatt asserted. Neither is a broadcast-based system where users publish their trades to followers. “That kind of product is going to be one that has very high engagement with a certain kind of active user that wants to show off that they know what they're doing and is not going to be interesting at all for other people,” Bhatt said. “Trying to thread the needle between these different conversations that are actually happening is where my head is right now.” |
Chicago O’Hare airport promotes renewable jet fuel | Eight commercial airlines including United and Emirates have taken part in a promotional event for renewable fuels at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. For the first time, the airport supplied aircraft with renewable alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel through its existing fuelling infrastructure, rather than relying on separate trucks. The ATJ fuel from biofuels supplier Gevo is derived from renewable fuel source isobutanol, and was blended with fossil-based jet fuel by Air BP before being supplied to the aircraft. The Fly Green Day was intended to encourage airlines to switch to lower carbon fuels in future. | http://biofuels-news.com/display_news/13098/chicago_ohare_airport_goes_green_with_renewable_jet_fuel/ | 2017-11-09 09:06:25.040000 | US advanced biofuels company Gevo announced that its alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) derived from renewable isobutanol is being used today by eight commercial airlines for Fly Green Day, sponsored by the O'Hare Fuel Committee, at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
This event is the first time renewable jet fuel has been supplied at Chicago O'Hare using the existing airport fueling infrastructure, such as pipelines, terminals and tankage.
To date, airlines and airports have generally relied on alternative means of supplying renewable jet fuel to the wing, usually trucking jet fuel on site for blending and fueling. For today's Fly Green Day, Air BP blended Gevo's ATJ with regular fossil-based Jet A fuel, certified its quality and then supplied its customers through the airport's main fuel hydrant system.
Commercial airlines participating in today's event are:
Lufthansa
United Airlines
Etihad
Cathay Pacific Airways
Emirates
Japan Airlines
Korean Air
Atlas Air
"This is the first time we have supplied our customers with biojet produced from alcohol and demonstrates how we are working with multiple suppliers to build a leadership position in this area," said Air BP's CEO Jon Platt. "We anticipate that through this promotion we will inspire more of our customers to use lower carbon fuels."
‘The next stage’
"We are excited to be a part of this project. This is the next stage in development of our goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move forward with the full commercial deployment of renewable jet fuel," said Thorsten Luft, VP Corporate Fuel for Lufthansa.
Gevo’s CEO, Patrick Gruber, said: "This is a significant milestone as we continue to develop our ATJ platform. We fundamentally believe that our ATJ is one of the most cost competitive bio-based jet alternatives in the market place. Leveraging existing supply infrastructure should lower the full cost to serve our end customers. Jet fuel is one of Gevo's core market segments and this represents the next step in building a profitable business from this market vertical.” |
US and China sign $250bn in commercial deals during Trump visit | During President Trump's visit to China, the two nations have signed over $250bn in commercial deals, according to China's commerce minister, with Trump saying he doesn't blame China "for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens" with regard to international trade agreements. However, some US businesses are concerned that despite the new deals they will not gain any additional access to Chinese markets. Also, the two leaders did not make any significant progress on curbing North Korea, and divisions over trade remained, with President Xi seeking more access to US markets. | http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/11/09/trump-xi-herald-new-era-they-agree-north-korea-solution-can-be-found?mc_cid=4f57e953eb&mc_eid=a37072368a | 2017-11-09 07:37:02.953000 | US President Donald Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping he believes, like Mr Xi, a solution can be found to the North Korean nuclear issue, a day after warning Pyongyang of the grave danger of developing nuclear weapons.
Speaking alongside Mr Xi in the Chinese capital, Mr Trump also said on Thursday it was disappointing his predecessors had let the bilateral trade balance get out of kilter.
"But we will make it fair and it will be tremendous for both of us," Mr Trump said, expressing respect for Mr Xi.
Mr Trump is pressing China to tighten the screws further on North Korea and its development of nuclear weapons.
At least modest progress is hoped for, although there are no immediate signs of a major breakthrough, a US official said earlier on Thursday.
Referring to Mr Xi, Mr Trump said: "I do believe there's a solution to that, as do you."
In a show of the importance China puts on Mr Trump's first official visit, Thursday's welcoming ceremony outside Beijing's Great Hall of the People overlooking Tiananmen Square was broadcast live on state television - unprecedented treatment for a visiting leader.
Mr Xi said he had a deep exchange of views with Mr Trump and reached consensus on numerous issues of mutual concern.
"For China, cooperation is the only real choice, only win-win can lead to an even better future," Mr Xi said.
Mr Xi said China and the United States strengthened high-level dialogue on all fronts over the past year and increased coordination on major international issues, such as the Korean peninsula and Afghanistan.
"Relations between China and the United States are now on a new historical starting point," Mr Xi said
Mr Trump and Mr Xi hit it off at their first meeting in April at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and continued their "bromance" on Wednesday with an afternoon of sightseeing together with their wives, followed by dinner.
However, deep divisions persist over trade and North Korea.
And while Mr Xi is riding high after consolidating power at a twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress last month, Mr Trump comes to China saddled with low public approval ratings and dogged by investigations into Russian links to his election campaign.
'Unfair' trade agreement
President Xi beamed as Mr Trump praised the leader for looking out for China's economic prosperity saying he didn't blame him for the United States' disadvantage in existing trade agreements.
"Right now, unfortunately, it is a very one-sided and unfair one. But, but, I don't blame China. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens? I give China great credit. But in actuality, I do blame past administrations for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow."
The Chinese President responded with a promise of sorts.
"The business environment for investment of foreign companies, including U.S. companies, will become increasingly open, transparent and standardised," he told media.
Ahead of the visit, Mr Trump had ratcheted up his criticism of China's massive trade surplus with the United States - calling it "embarrassing" and "horrible" last week - and has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices, fuelling worries of increased tension between the world's two largest trading countries.
For its part, China says US restrictions on Chinese investments in the United States and on high-tech exports need to be addressed.
More than $250 billion in commercial deals between US and Chinese firms were signed during the visit, China's commerce minister said.
Several corporate CEOs are in Beijing as part of a delegation led by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Some in the US business community have expressed worry that contract wins could come at the expense of resolving long-standing complaints over market access restrictions in China.
"This shows that we have a strong, vibrant bilateral economic relationship, and yet we still need to focus on levelling the playing field because U.S. companies continue to be disadvantaged doing business in China," William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said.
Mr Trump railed against China's trade practices during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and threatened to take action once in office.
But he has since held back on any major trade penalties, making clear he was doing so to give Beijing time to make progress reining in North Korea.
'In sync'
A US official said both sides are "in sync" about wanting to minimise friction during the visit and recreate the positive tone of the Mar-a-Lago summit.
Mr Trump was not expected to put much emphasis in his talks with Xi on thorny issues like the disputed South China Sea and self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its own, although the two presidents' aides may deal with those matters privately, the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
China has repeatedly pushed back at suggestions it should be doing more to rein in North Korea, which does about 90 per cent of its trade with China, saying it is fully enforcing UN sanctions and that everyone has a responsibility to lower tensions and get talks back on track.
Mr Trump used some of his toughest language yet against North Korea in a wide-ranging address in Seoul on Wednesday that lodged specific accusations of chilling human rights abuses, although he offered no evidence to support the accusations.
He also called on countries around the world to isolate Pyongyang by denying it "any form of support, supply or acceptance".
Chinese state media praised the tone of the initial get-together on Thursday, part of what China has promised will be a "state visit plus" for Mr Trump.
|
US and China sign $250bn in commercial deals during Trump visit | During President Trump's visit to China, the two nations have signed over $250bn in commercial deals, according to China's commerce minister, with Trump saying he doesn't blame China "for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens" with regard to international trade agreements. However, some US businesses are concerned that despite the new deals they will not gain any additional access to Chinese markets. Also, the two leaders did not make any significant progress on curbing North Korea, and divisions over trade remained, with President Xi seeking more access to US markets. | https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/opinion/trump-china-xi-jinping.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&mc_cid=4f57e953eb&mc_eid=a37072368a | 2017-11-09 07:37:02.953000 | BEIJING — [Read more on Joe Biden selecting Antony Blinken as Secretary of State.]
Amid the pomp that President Xi Jinping of China is bestowing upon his visiting American counterpart, President Trump, it’s hard not to see two leaders — and two countries — heading in very different directions.
Mr. Xi emerged from last month’s Communist Party Congress the undisputed master of the Middle Kingdom. “Xi Jinping Thought” was enshrined in the party constitution — an honor previously granted only to Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Breaking with precedent, Mr. Xi neglected to anoint a successor — a big hint that he feels emboldened to extend his rule beyond the second five-year term he has just begun. The Economist heralded Mr. Xi with an honorific usually reserved for America’s president: the world’s most powerful man.
Mr. Trump stepped off Air Force One in Beijing on Wednesday with historically low job-approval ratings, just hours after suffering a shellacking in off-year elections. His credibility is cratering abroad — polls have shown a drop in confidence in American leadership.
As the personal trajectories of Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi diverge, so too does the focus of their leadership. While Mr. Trump is obsessed with building walls, Mr. Xi is busy building bridges. |
Corporate Equality Index finds 18% rise in top-scoring companies | A record 609 US businesses earned a top score of 100 in the 2018 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), up 18% from 517 in the previous year. The Index, released by US advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, measures policies and practices to protect LGBTQ workers around the world. The report found that 83% of Fortune 500 companies now include gender identity in non-discrimination policies, up from 3% in 2002, and that 459 leading employers now have supportive inclusion guidelines for workers who are transitioning.
| https://www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-releases-annual-corporate-equality-index-609-companies-earn-perfect-sco | 2017-11-09 00:00:00 | A record number of the nation’s major companies and law firms are advancing vital policies and practices to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workers around the world, according to the 2018 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) released today by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.
This year, a record-breaking 609 businesses earned the CEI’s top score of 100, up from 517 last year -- a single-year increase of 18 percent. This record sets a new high water mark for corporate leadership over the 16-year history of the CEI.
The CEI underscores the historic support for LGBTQ equality among the nation’s top employers as sustained attacks by the Trump-Pence Administration on LGBTQ people continue. Over the last ten months, Donald Trump and Mike Pence have engaged in a systematic dismantling of Obama-era protections for LGBTQ people and undertaken new lines of attacks, including their effort to ban transgender troops and a “license to discriminate” order that enables the government to discriminate against LGBTQ citizens in myriad ways. LGBTQ workers have also been under seige by the Trump-Pence Administration: just last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the administration will not enforce nondiscrimination protections for transgender workers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“At a time when the rights of LGBTQ people are under attack by the Trump-Pence Administration and state legislatures across the country, hundreds of top American companies are driving progress toward equality in the workplace,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “The top-scoring companies on this year’s CEI are not only establishing policies that affirm and include employees here in the United States, they are applying these policies to their operations around the globe and impacting millions of people beyond our shores. In addition, many of these companies have also become vocal advocates for equality in the public square, including the dozens that have signed on to amicus briefs in vital Supreme Court cases and the 106 corporate supporters of the Equality Act. We are proud to have developed so many strong partnerships with corporate allies who see LGBTQ equality as a crucial issue for our country and for their businesses.”
The LGBTQ community is not explicitly protected by federal non-discrimination law -- but these companies are bridging that gap for their employees and beyond. The global number of employees with a corporate non-discrimination policy protecting against sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination is 14.5 million. 106 top businesses are corporate supporters on the Equality Act -- landmark federal legislation that would provide the same basic nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people as other protected groups under federal law.
The CEI, launched in 2002 to assess LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices at Fortune 500 companies, also highlights how corporate leaders are increasingly stepping up to play a leading role in opposing anti-equality legislation -- from statehouses to the U.S. Capitol. Through their actions, taken as LGBTQ workers and customers have been facing a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures across the country and attacks from our nation’s highest offices, business leaders are building on their longstanding commitment to expanding workplace equality for LGBTQ people. In Texas, 70 businesses, along with several Texas Chambers of Commerce, signed a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker of the House Joe Straus and other lawmakers, voicing their opposition to Texas’ SB 6, an anti-transgender bill similar to North Carolina’s HB2 law. The bill did not pass.
Over the last several years, CEI-rated companies have dramatically expanded their support for transgender workers. When the CEI launched, just three percent of Fortune 500 companies had non-discrimination protections that included gender identity. Today, that number is 83 percent. And even as the Affordable Care Act has come under attack by lawmakers, trans-inclusive health care coverage has become a business norm. 79 percent of companies participating in this year’s CEI now offer transgender workers at least one health care plan that has transgender-inclusive coverage. HRC's work through the CEI ,often through one-on-one consultation with individual companies, has helped employers move toward full inclusion for their transgender employees.
Key national findings revealed in the 2018 CEI:
609 companies earned a perfect 100 points, up from 517 in the 2017 report;
Gender identity is now part of non-discrimination policies at 83 percent of Fortune 500 companies, up from just 3 percent in 2002;
459 major employers have adopted supportive inclusion guidelines for transgender workers who are transitioning;
137 Fortune 500 companies were given unofficial scores based on publicly available information.
The CEI rates companies and top law firms on detailed criteria falling under five broad categories:
Non-discrimination policies
Employment benefits
Demonstrated organizational competency and accountability around LGBTQ diversity and inclusion
Public commitment to LGBTQ equality
Responsible citizenship
The full report, including a searchable employer database is available online at www.hrc.org/cei. |
Twitter halts verification process after far-right controversy | Twitter announced on Thursday that it would be halting its verification system, following the granting of a blue tick to white supremacist Jason Kessler earlier in the week. Verification is the process whereby the account of a high-profile user is confirmed to be real. The move prompted strong criticism, with some users arguing that the verification indicated endorsement of Kessler. On Thursday, Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey tweeted: “The system is broken and needs to be reconsidered”. Kessler’s account remains verified.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/technology/jason-kessler-twitter-verification.html?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=5c9a38a229-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-5c9a38a229-154403165 | 2017-11-09 00:00:00 | “Verification was meant to authenticate identity and voice but it is interpreted as an endorsement or importance,” the company said on Twitter. “We have created this confusion.”
Twitter originally began verifying accounts to give high-profile individuals — celebrities, politicians, journalists and others — a way to distinguish themselves from impersonators. The blue check mark has since become something of a badge of honor, signaling that someone had reached a certain level of importance.
“It’s recognition. It’s a simple as that,” Richard Spencer, a white supremacist who was verified by Twitter in 2016, said in an interview. “The blue check mark is useful.”
The white nationalist movement has flourished on Twitter, but Mr. Spencer said the platform had been behaving erratically toward his community lately.
“It seems to be non-algorithmic now,” he said. “It seems like there’s one person who doesn’t like this tweet or that account one day, and it seems like a judgment. It’s incoherent.” |
Over 50% of Chinese shoppers bought UK brands recently | Around 55% of Chinese consumers bought products made by UK brands in a recent three-month period, according to a study by the Royal Mail. It suggested that British goods are as considered to be genuine and well made. "UK brands are really clicking with China’s shoppers. UK retailers should feel confident that exporting to China can deliver benefits to their business," said the Royal Mail's Nick Landon, its managing director of parcels. He added that breaking into the market has been helped by "Chinese third-party platforms such as Alibaba’s Tmall”. | http://postandparcel.info/83508/news/chinas-appetite-for-brand-britain/ | 2017-11-08 17:49:16.637000 | Over half (55%) of shoppers in China bought items from British brands in a recent three-month period, spending an average of £104 per month, according to a study commissioned by Royal Mail ahead of China’s Singles’ Day.
In a statement issued today (8 November), Royal Mail said that there is a real appetite for ‘Brand Britain’, as the goods are “regarded as being well made and genuine”. 87% like to buy British brands and 76% trust items bought from British retailers not to be counterfeit.
Nick Landon, Managing Director of Royal Mail Parcels, commented: “This study provides a deep dive into the largest e-commerce market in the world. By 2020, China’s e-commerce market is set to be larger than those of the US, Japan, Germany, the UK and France combined.
“UK brands are really clicking with China’s shoppers and have a unique advantage as their goods are perceived to be of premium quality. UK retailers should feel confident that exporting to China can deliver benefits to their business. Breaking into this market has been made much more straightforward thanks to Chinese third-party platforms such as Alibaba’s Tmall.” |
West Health: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act May Put Vulnerable Seniors at Risk | Healthcare organization West Health has expressed its concerns about the proposals for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act put forward by House Republicans. Despite the organization’s favorable attitude towards tax reform, West Health has said that the short-term and long-term repercussions of the legislation have not been clarified. The changes that have been detailed, such as the elimination of medical expense deduction, could lead to undesirable outcomes such as tax increases for older Americans with serious disabilities, who would be forced to pay for long-term services and support services with their own funds. West Health has also expressed concern that the proposed tax cuts may affect “critical” programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which presently rely on tax revenues for funding. The organization has called for further analysis and debate on the proposed cuts before changes are made for shorter-term tax relief. West Health was established by Gary and Mary West, two philanthropists, and includes the non-profit, nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute and Gary and Mary West Foundation. The organization aims to provide seniors with opportunities to age in place, as well as have access to affordable, higher-quality health and support services.
| http://www.westhealth.org/press-release/west-health-tax-cuts-jobs-act-may-put-vulnerable-seniors-risk/ | 2017-11-08 16:58:48.563000 | West Health: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act May Put Vulnerable Seniors at Risk
SAN DIEGO AND WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 6, 2017 – Dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services, West Health has concerns about the proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act unveiled last week by House Republicans.
“While we believe tax reform is needed, both the short- and long-term implications of this proposed legislation on older adults are far from clear. However, there are provisions that raise concerns,” said Shelley Lyford, president and CEO of West Health. “For example, the plan calls for the elimination of the medical expense deduction, which could actually mean a tax increase for older Americans with significant disabilities paying the high costs of essential long-term services and supports from their own resources. This would be unfortunate. How can Congress increase the burden for some of the oldest and most frail and vulnerable who often struggle to afford the many expenses associated with long-term care?”
“We also have concerns that a tax cut of the size proposed in the legislation may eventually impact critical programs including Medicare and Medicaid, which rely on tax revenue for their stability and funding. We must not rush through this legislation for the sake of short-term tax relief. We must have rigorous debate and analysis, and understand as fully as possible what the tax changes we are considering today would mean for tomorrow,” Lyford said.
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About the West Health Institute and West Health
Solely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, West Health includes the nonprofit and nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute and Gary and Mary West Foundation in San Diego, and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C. These organizations are working together toward a shared mission dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence. For more information, visit westhealth.org and follow @westhealth.
Press contact:
Tim Ingersoll
[email protected]
(858) 412-8727 or (619) 871-3769 (cell) |
UK online estate agent eMoov reintroduces no sale, no fee plan | UK online estate agent eMoov has reintroduced a no sale, no fee offer to customers. "Pay Only When Sold" is priced at £1,495 ($1,945), instead of the ordinary upfront fixed fee of £795, and was first trialled in 2015. Rival agents HouseSimple and Hatched have also begun offering a similar option, but eMoov says its service offers better value with buyer vetting, offer negotiation and sales progression included. Market leader PurpleBricks was recently told by regulators to better inform customers its fees applied whether their property sold or not.
| http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/online-agent-emoov-re-launches-no-sale-no-fee-payment-choice/ | 2017-11-08 16:11:30.510000 | Post navigation
eMoov has launched a new ‘no sale, no fee’ payment option called ‘Pay Only When Sold’.
It costs £1,495 as opposed to its upfront fixed fee of £795.
It has done so at a time when the battle between online agents is hotting up, and after market leader Purplebricks was told by the Advertising Standards Authority that it must flag up that its fee is payable whether or not a property sells.
The new eMoov option is the reintroduction of a model offered two years ago as a trial, but CEO and founder Russell Quirk says that this one will be permanent.
He said: “eMoov were the first online/hybrid agent to offer a ‘no sale, no fee’ choice back in 2015.
“That was a pilot which has provided the data, alongside further intelligence from third parties that we’ve gathered, that’s convinced us to launch ‘Pay Only When Sold’.
“We will further refine and analyse this approach over the next few weeks to ensure that it meets customer needs in our fast-moving demanding sector.
“This option will sit alongside our standard fixed fee proposition and is designed to provide customer freedom, transparency and value when deciding which estate agent to instruct.”
He added: “We are truly putting our money where our mouth is.
“eMoov is the only UK estate agent that is genuinely the best of the traditional sector and the best of the so-called online space combined.
“Fixed fee value, pricing integrity, an end to end offering and transparency are blended with a technology that has been built around the customer journey but that does not replace the property professional within the process.
“It’s key to our proposition above others that the important aspects of the job are done in full around buyer vetting, offer negotiation and sales progression.
“Many of our competitors simply do not carry out these vital functions, but they are, in our view, the most important aspects of an agent’s role and cannot be neglected if one is to be seen as effective and viable.”
Included in both the fixed fee and ‘pay only when sold’ packages are photos, floorplans, portal listings, negotiation and sales progression.
In both cases, however, it is the vendor who will be doing the viewings – currently at least.
Quirk said: “We’ve tested some approaches to this and we’re considering these further.”
eMoov competitor HouseSimple also offers a choice between fixed fees upfront and a no sale, no fee option at £495 and £995 respectively – both cheaper than eMoov. Hatched also offers a no sale, no fee option. |
Investors eye bitcoin-linked stocks to cut crypto-collapse risk | Investors keen to capitalise on the success of bitcoin without incurring the risk of the cryptocurrency bubble bursting are urged to take positions in digital currency-linked companies. Graphics cards manufacturer Nvidia's revenues have risen 40% this year thanks to demand from bitcoin miners, while AMD's graphics processors have experienced similar interest. Smaller-scale investors have flocked to the Bitcoin Investment Trust fund, doubling the amount of the cryptocurrency it holds. In addition, analysts suggest Microsoft, which has been experimenting with the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, could be the company to watch in the future.
| https://www.investopedia.com/news/bitcoinrelated-stocks-aim-capitalize-cryptocurrency-craze/?utm_campaign=rss_headlines&utm_source=rss_www&utm_medium=referral | 2017-11-08 16:07:05.023000 | As the price of bitcoin surges to more than $7,000, cryptocurrency-focused investment possibilities are emerging. (See more: Bitcoin Price Is Up Again And Could Go Higher.)
Wild price fluctuations have made some bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investors a great deal of money, but they also scare away some prospective investors. So what should one do to balance the desire to get involved against the riskiness of actually purchasing tokens or coins?
One suggestion that Investor Place has made is to buy stock in companies related to the cryptocurrency trend. These are companies which might be capitalizing on some aspect of the boom, but which ideally offer a bit of a buffer in case the entire market collapses.
Nvidia is a corporation that has seen its stock price nearly double in 2017, largely thanks to interest from cryptocurrency enthusiasts. This is because Nvidia makes high-performance graphics processors. These computer hardware pieces were originally designed for use with complicated video game rigs, but they have been co-opted by mining operations that generate bitcoin and other digital currencies.
The result? As bitcoin mining outfits have taken off around the world, Nvidia's revenue has climbed 40% for fiscal 2017. And its graphics cards have sold out around the world because the demand among miners is so high.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. launched in 1969. This makes Advanced Micro ancient compared with other tech companies. And yet, AMD has quickly earned a spot in the cryptocurrency hall of fame because of its graphics processors.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) decided to use Advanced Micro Devices chips for its cloud operations last year, which set AMD on a path to success. The cryptocurrency mining trend has helped fuel this growth.
Bitcoin Investment Trust is a company that aims to bring digital currency investment to small-scale investors. It is notable for being the first publicly-traded bitcoin fund.
It launched as a private investment fund in 2013. The value of Bitcoin Investment Trust is nearly double the value of the bitcoin it holds, allowing users to buy GBTC in a tax-advantaged account. The coins associated with the trust are held independently and securely.
As of this writing, Microsoft has not entered the digital currency field directly. Still, the blockchain technology which supports digital currencies has made a major impact on some of the largest tech companies around, including MSFT.
Microsoft has bolstered open-source and blockchain technology since its early days. (See also: When Will Amazon Accept Bitcoin?) |
Visa payment gloves released for Winter Olympics | Visa has partnered with a South Korean firm to produce payment gloves for sports fans attending the Winter Olympics in the country next year. The card company is working with Lotte Card, the finance division of retailer Lotte Department Store, to market the gloves ahead of the event in PyeongChang. They will have a duel interface chip embedded with a contactless antenna and be capable of making payments using compatible readers across the world. Visa is also producing a range of payment-enabled lapel pins for the Winter Games, of which the company is the exclusive payment partner. | https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31307/visa-payment-gloves-keep-the-cold-at-bay-at-winter-olympics | 2017-11-08 16:05:43.807000 | Sports fans attending the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang will be able to keep their hands warm and fend off frostbite while paying for goods and services thanks to a special pair of wooly mittens bearing the Visa brand and an embedded NFC chip.
Visa teamed up with Lotte Card, the financial arm of South Korean-based retail giant, Lotte Department Store, to produce and make the gloves, as well as a commemorative Olympic pin and NFC stickers, available for purchase in Korea.
With the average temperature in PyeognChang hovering at 4.8°C, the payment glove will offer fans a way to pay securely without having to get cold hands. The gloves contain a dual interface chip housed with a contactless antenna capable of completing purchases throughout official Olympic Venues and compatible readers globally. The mittens will come with embedded prepaid amounts valued at KRW30,000 or KRW50,000.
Visa is also bringing to market four lapel pins featuring custom PyeongChang 2018 designs to offer a payment-enabled collectable for fans and athletes to utilise on-site. Cost per pin is KRW5,000 plus desired embedded prepaid amounts valued at KRW30,000 or KRW50,000.
The wearable stickers are available in denominations of KRW30,000, KRW50,000, KRW100,000 and KRW200,000. The collection includes 8 distinct designs including Soohorang - the official PyeongChang 2018 mascot - and the Korean flag.
As the exclusive payment partner of the Olympic Games, Visa is managing the entire payment system infrastructure and network throughout all venues within the arena. This includes more than 1,000 contactless point-of-sale terminals capable of accepting mobile and wearable payments.
“We are looking forward to transforming the payment experience for everyone who attends the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang,” says Iain Jamieson, Korea country manager at Visa. “At Visa, we have been working tirelessly to ensure all of the Olympic venues are equipped with the very latest payment capabilities to provide the best experience possible for all those on-site.” |
Hybrid AI developed to detect explosives by 'smelling' them | A Silicon Valley-based tech start-up has created a hybrid artificial intelligence (AI) device that its founder claims can detect explosives by their smell. Nigerian inventor Oshi Agabi fused live neurons from the stem cells of mice into a silicon chip to create the detection system, which he said could also be used to detect cancerous cells in the same way dogs are able to do. His company, Koniku, was founded in 2015 and has raised $8m of revenue since then. Agabi says its objective is to extend its AI research and "build a brain".
| http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/28/africa/koniku-kore-tedglobal/index.html, | 2017-11-08 15:47:10.300000 | Story highlights A Nigerian start-up founder has created a device that he says can be used to detect the smell of explosives and cancer cells
The device, Koniku Kore, is the first to fuse live neurons from mice stem cells into a silicon chip
Arusha, Tanzania (CNN) A Nigerian start-up founder has created a device that he says can be used to detect the smell of explosives and even cancer cells.
The device, called Koniku Kore , is the first to fuse live neurons from mice stem cells into a silicon chip.
Oshi Agabi said: "We merged synthetic neurobiology with traditional silicon technology with the goal of fixing urgent real world problems."
Silicon Valley-based Agabi unveiled his invention at TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania on Sunday and says it could one day revolutionize airport security, enabling travelers "to walk from their car to the aircraft."
"One of the problems that plagues us right now is security," he tells CNN.
Koniku Kore, a new device that may be able to detect explosives and cancer cells.
Read More |
Texcent plans eight staggered ICOs over four years | Singapore-based Texcent, which operates financial platform Paycent, is holding the opening phase of the world's first staggered initial coin offering (ICO). It began on 2 November and has so far reached 22% of its market cap of 30 million paycent tokens, offering investors an 18% bonus on tokens until 30 November. Subsequent ICOs held over the coming four years (there will be eight in total) will offer decreasing bonuses to incentivise early investment. Paycent plans to offer investors 33% of revenue generated from currency conversions performed by users of its wallets and 33% of interest revenue generated by microloans.
| https://cointelegraph.com/news/first-ever-phased-ico-by-paycent-brings-transparency-to-contributors | 2017-11-08 15:38:53.213000 | Bitcoin has hit new highs, and the popularity of other altcoins has also been steadily growing. We recently covered how Bitcoin is now ranked 32nd global currency in terms of physical money supply. The trends in the future are also bright for cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, with crypto market cap all set to hit $1 tln by 2018. In this scenario, anything that makes trading cryptocurrencies easier and safer will have a huge impact.
One of the big developments in this direction has been Paycent, a financial platform powered by Texcent. Paycent provides a wallet that can handle multiple cryptocurrencies and its users can convert these currencies internally. The icing on the cake is that they can also convert between fiat and crypto in real time. Recently Paycent completed their pre-ICO, which successfully hit a hard cap of 22,500 ETH in 10 days.
They were able to raise these funds from 857 investors in 41 countries. A unique product offering and the right mix of products like debit cards, wallets plus Paycent’s garnering of regulatory licenses in the UAE and Philippines as well as getting in principle approvals from Singapore and Hong Kong put them in a position to contribute immensely to the crypto domain.
Convenience and comfort
Paycent offers convenience and comfort to its user through its unique wallet that allows for sending and receiving funds in real time. Not only can users interact with cryptocurrencies but also with fiat. Conversions are done internally and wallet users can choose to exchange funds within the wallet ecosystem.
The wallet isn’t just good for exchanging and holding funds but Paycent has taken a rather utilitarian approach with it. As an example, you can pay bills for water, electricity or cable with the wallet. Pay for goods and services within your own country or across borders or even cash out funds with the partner merchants to get cold hard cash in your hands.
Ultimately this amounts to a great deal of choice for the end user, who now can not only choose the currency in which they want to keep their money in but also choose what to do with it at any point of time. The Paycent wallet is available for download on both the Google Play and Apple Appstore.
More than just a wallet
Paycent’s plans go beyond just the multicurrency wallet that they have created. Paycent debit cards will be released in Asia Pacific, CIS, EU and the UK starting April 10, 2018. The cards are classified into Solitaire, Sapphire and Ruby Cards.
Early contributors will be given Solitaire and Sapphire cards free of charge if they have invested more than 500 ETH and 100 ETH respectively. Ruby cards will be available for a nominal payment. Paycent will also be able to build a profile of user’s credit ratings that would be attached to their wallet. This will allow Paycent users to leverage good credit ratings to get loans.
The loan amount will vary and limits can be increased as the profile of the user improves. Paycent is evolving a full financial ecosystem that includes mPOS services integrated into the application, which allows users to pay for utilities and telecom needs.
Staggered ICO, a world’s first
Paycent is holding an initial coin offering (ICO), whose first phase has commenced on Nov. 2, 2017. Interestingly, the Paycent ICO is the world’s first staggered ICO, which is being held in eight phases over four years. Each phase will have a hard cap.
This decision to split the ICO into phases comes as a result of Paycent following the advice of their community and advisors. It will allow contributors the token sale to track the performance of each phase before they contribute. The staggered ICO increases transparency and allows contributors to follow the project through its evolution. The holding of the token sale in phases though gives rise to the obvious question about why shouldn’t contributors just hold out and play the wait and watch the game.
In order to encourage early participation, they will be giving a bonus for early contributors. The bonus Paycent (PYN) tokens available would decrease with every phase. The first phase of the ICO is already in progress and contributors have a chance to get an 18 percent bonus on purchased tokens till Nov. 30, 2017.
At the time of writing of this article, the token sale had successfully reached 22 percent of the total cap. The details of the ICO and all the phases can be found in a whitepaper that Paycent has released. Paycent is accepting Ethereum, Bitcoin, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash for the token sale. The exchange rate has been pegged at 1 ETH = 600 PYN. Phase one of the token sale in progress has a hard cap of 30 mln PYN.
Encouraging crypto adoption
The facet that holds the most appeal for contributors is the fact that Paycent is straddling the sweet space between fiat and crypto. The project allows for mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies by people who have so far been bereft of the advantages of digital currencies. Contributors in the ICO also stand to benefit as they will receive 33 percent of the aggregate revenue that arises from conversions between fiat and cryptocurrencies by the users of the e-wallet.
Contributors will also be getting 33 percent of the interest revenue generated by microloans that Paycent extends. As there will be no PYN tokens created after the ICO and unsold tokens will be burned, the contributors can also potentially benefit from the scarcity of the token. The Paycent project acts as a bridge between currencies, people and businesses. If after all these years they can make cryptocurrencies usable by everyone, they would have accomplished a great deal. |
Hasbro toys converted into helper robot pets with AI boost | Researchers at Brown University will partner with toymaker Hasbro to build robot cats and dogs that use artificial intelligence (AI) to provide companionship for the elderly and remind dementia patients to take their medication. The AI technology will be added to Hasbro's Joy for All Companion Pets, toys designed to improve mental health among older adults. "What we want to do now is leverage our expertise in cognitive and computer science to add capabilities to this robotic pet," said Bertram Malle, a key researcher on the project from Brown's.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/researchers-adding-ai-medication-reminders-companion-robots-seniors | 2017-11-08 15:30:43.697000 | Brown University researchers have announced a partnership with Hasbro to add medication reminders, basic artificial intelligence, and other capabilities to the toymaker’s Joy for All Companion Pets, a collection of animatronic cats and dogs intended to relieve loneliness and improve mental health among older adults.
The Affordable Robotic Intelligence for Elderly Support (ARIES) project looks to assist older adults who have mild dementia or may otherwise be in need of daily reminders. The three-year project is supported by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, and will include researchers from Brown’s Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative (HCRI), Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School, and the University of Cincinnati.
"Hasbro did a great job developing a product that can provide comfort and joy for older people," Bertram Malle, professor, co-director of HCRI, and the principal investigator on the grant, said in a statement. "What we want to do now is leverage our expertise in cognitive and computer science to add capabilities to this robotic pet."
Loneliness and isolation is a growing focus for digital health, as depression can amplify mental health conditions and lead to worse outcomes overall. At last month’s Connected Health Conference in Boston, Ted Fischer, vice president of business development at Hasbro, said that since launch his company has heard from users and market groups that the product line has had a positive impact on the wellbeing of both seniors and their caregivers.
“We went out to senior homes and communities whoever would have us and asked ‘Is this a valid concept?’” Ted Fischer, vice president of business development at Hasbro, explained during a panel. “The foundational insight we gained was this need for interactive companionship to combat social isolation and loneliness.”
After an initial period of research to identify user needs, the team will develop and embed an AI into the companion robots to assist with tasks.
"There are some things — like locating objects and taking medications — that we know from the literature people find useful," he said. "But in our first year we want to find out what other challenges people face that we don't know about, and then see if we can develop technologies to address them.”
Other challenges of the program will include the design of new sensors for the animatronic animals, and communicative purrs, growls, or gestures that can guide an older adult toward their medication, lost object, or other object of interest. The team hopes to have a completed prototype after three years ready to comfort and assist lonely seniors.
"To us, this project really represents what we do at HCRI, which is to let societal needs drive technology development," Malle said. "We know that caring for an aging population will be a tremendous challenge in the coming years, and we think technologies like ARIES could play a small but potentially important role in helping people meet that challenge." |
Asian proptech investment dwarfs that in Europe or US: JLL | European and US proptech companies are lagging behind the Asian market, where 179 start-ups have secured $4.8bn in funding in the past four years, more than 60% of all global funding in the sector. Research by property giant JLL found that China and India are leading the charge, with 34 deals worth more than $3bn and 77 deals raising $928m, respectively. JLL also predicted annual funding for proptech will reach $4.5bn by 2020. | http://www.shine.cn/biz/property/1711086111 | 2017-11-08 15:28:03.880000 | China and India emerge as top two markets for proptech start-ups in the region, based on funding value and total number of deals
PROPERTY technology, or proptech, start-ups in Asia Pacific are outpacing their counterparts in Europe and the US, international real estate consultancy JLL said in a research released today.
Since 2013, 179 proptech start-ups in the region have raised around US$4.8 billion in funding, representing more than 60 percent of proptech investment worldwide, according to the latest research, which analyzed the state of proptech and its growth potential in 13 markets across Asia Pacific.
Proptech refers to the application of technology to solve challenges in the real estate sector.
"Technology and real estate are converging in exciting ways and we're already seeing the potential of data analytics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual reality and blockchain, to transform how we invest in and occupy real estate in the future," said Anthony Couse, chief executive officer of JLL Asia Pacific.
China and India emerged as the top two markets for proptech start-ups in the region, based on funding value and total number of deals. Start-ups in China raised the most funding of US$3.02 billion, or over 60 percent of Asia Pacific's total, from 34 deals. India has the highest number of proptech start-ups in the region at 77 deals which raised US$928 million in total.
The research also forecast funding for proptech in the region of US$4.5 billion a year by 2020, mainly boosted by the region's young population, rapid urbanization and "mobile first" mindset.
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Panorama Education nets $16m in series B round | Boston-Based edtech company Panorama Education has raised $16 million in a series B round led by Emerson Collective, bringing total investment raised to $32 million. Founded in 2012, Panorama's digital survey tools aim to help parents and teachers understand the social-emotional needs of their children at school. More than 400 school districts in the US currently use Panorama, which itself employs 80 people. Panorama’s co-founder and CEO Aaron Feuer spoke of a “new chapter” for Panorama, as the company moves from "helping [people] understand one sliver of a child on the social-emotional side, to understanding the whole, complete picture”.
| https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-11-07-panorama-education-raises-16m-to-connect-emotional-academic-wellbeing-with-data | 2017-11-08 15:25:30.333000 | Panorama Education’s first product was a survey tool that let students speak up about their learning environment. Kids could let teachers and administrators know how they really felt about things like safety and school climate.
It turns out these insights are only a sliver of the data the company wants to surface and share with educators and parents. “The key things we now want to bring together are academics, social-emotional learning (SEL) and family engagement, all together in one platform,” says Aaron Feuer, Panorama’s co-founder and CEO, in an interview.
Doing that requires capturing more data, expanding his team—and raising additional capital. The Boston-based company’s new big-data play is backed by big funding: $16 million in a Series B round led by Emerson Collective. Other participants include Spark Capital, Owl Ventures, SoftTechVC, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The company has now raised $32 million in venture funding.
Founded in 2012, Panorama pitched its survey tools as a way for parents and educators to better understand the social-emotional needs of their children. The company provides template questions to help schools gauge students’ competencies in areas such as classroom effort, growth mindset, perspective-taking and emotion regulation. It also offers resources created by organizations such as Character Lab and Teaching Tolerance to help teachers better understand and tailor their SEL strategies.
Feuer saw, at the time, that too much of student success hinged on test scores and grades. So these surveys shed light on the emotional and psychological aspects of the learning experience that was—and still is—difficult to quantify.
Yet the company doesn’t just want to be a survey tool. And like so many of his fellow technology entrepreneurs, Feuer believes that connecting the dots between data silos can surface deeper insights.
In a “new chapter” for Panorama, he says, the company is “making a leap from helping you understand one sliver of a child on the social-emotional side, to understanding the whole, complete picture.”
What that really means: grades and other traditional measures of student success still matter. The company wants to pair social-emotional data from its surveys with academic, attendance and behavior data. By doing so, educators can better get a fuller picture of what students need and how to best support them. For instance, what’s the best way to help a child who has been absent for 20 percent of the school year, has a C in math, and self-reports low confidence?
To be able to answer this question, the company needs to sync up with other systems so that information can be transferred seamlessly. “We don’t want districts to send us data files any more,” quips Feuer.
This year, his team has been working on a new tool, dubbed “Panorama Student Success,” that captures and reports data from other systems used in schools. That’s no easy feat. It takes the company 10 full-time staff, focused exclusively on this effort, to connect data from education software that don’t speak to one another.
In many ways Panorama is diving headfirst into tackling the K-12 data interoperability problem, where software systems can’t easily share data with one another. So far the company’s Student Success platform works with 20 educational data tools; over time it hopes to grow that number to 300. If a district wants to connect its platform with a product that Panorama does not currently support, Feuer claims his engineers can sync it up in about eight weeks.
Collecting more data can mean playing with fire, however. Across the country, online software used by schools have been hacked and hit with data breaches; more than 230 public incidents have been tallied since January 2016 by Doug Levin, an education consultant.
That’s a risk that Feuer says he’s aware of. “Part of our need for the funding is actually to increase our security investment,” he shares. “We’re actually setting up a team that’s focused on platform security exclusively, as opposed to [it being a part of] the features team.”
More than 400 school districts currently use Panorama. That includes 20 of the 100 largest ones such as New York City Department of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, Dallas Independent School District and Long Beach Unified School District. Altogether the company claims to serve more than 5 million students in 7,500 schools across 45 states.
One of the biggest pushbacks the company has heard from educators are questions about whether there’s enough time and space in a given school day for SEL instruction. Those concerns are shared in a recent survey (PDF) of principals by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, which cited a lack of time, training and funding as the biggest barriers.
Feuer’s stance: “Social-emotional growth is part of everything you do. It’s not separate. There’s no SEL class; you weave SEL into math [or other] classes.” Recently the company has been growing its client success team to provide on-site training with principals and teachers.
Panorama’s team currently numbers 80 people. Expect that headcount to balloon by another 150 in 2018 as the company looks to fill additional product, engineering and research roles.
Panorama is hardly the only player aspiring to be the go-to platform that leverages data to drive student achievement. From private equity-backed juggernauts like PowerSchool, to smaller players like Schoolzilla, the industry is replete with data-hungry companies looking to turn bytes into actionable insights. |
Conservative ousted by trans person in US state legislature | Danica Roem, a former journalist, has become only the second transgender person to be elected to a US state legislature. Roem, a Democrat, unseated Republican Bob Marshall in Virginia. Earlier this year, Marshall sponsored a bill that would have required transgender people to use public toilets corresponding to their sex as specified on their birth certificates. Elsewhere in the US, Andrea Jenkins, victorious in Minneapolis, became the first transgender person to win a city council seat in a major city, while Ravinder Bhalla became the first Sikh mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey.
| https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/08/danica-roem-virginia-first-transgender-person-elected-state-legislature | 2017-11-08 15:25:28.843000 | A transgender Virginia politician has been elected to the state legislature, unseating one of the state’s longest serving and most socially conservative lawmakers.
The Democrat Danica Roem, a former journalist for the Gainesville Times, beat the Republican Bob Marshall, who sponsored a bill this year that would have required transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding with the sex on their birth certificate.
David Toscano, the Democratic leader in Virginia’s house of delegates, said: “It’s historic ... It sends a message to politicians everywhere that the politics of bigotry is over.”
In a good night for diversity in US politics, Andrea Jenkins clinched the ward eight Minneapolis city council seat, becoming the first transgender person to win such a seat in a major city, and Ravinder Bhalla became the first Sikh mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, despite an aggressive campaign that turned ugly when he was labelled a terrorist in flyers.
Overall, Democrats did well in key contests on Tuesday night. Ralph Northam decisively beat Ed Gillespie in the Virginia governor race, and in New Jersey, Phil Murphy romped to victory against the state’s incumbent lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno.
Roem will be the first transgender member of the house of delegates and the second trans woman to be elected to a statehouse. Althea Garrison, a black woman who won as a Republican in Massachusetts in 1993, was the first.
Roem discussed her gender identity during the campaign, but focused more on jobs, schools and northern Virginia’s traffic congestion.
The Democrat underwent therapy to begin her gender transition when she was 28, and said in an interview earlier this year that politics should be inclusive of all.
“No matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship or who you love, if you have good public policy ideas, if you’re qualified for office, you have every right to bring your ideas to the table,” Roem said.
Roem also argued that Marshall, who has served in the House since 1992, spent too much time on social policy. He was the author of a now-void constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between a man and a woman, and sponsored a bill banning gay people from openly serving in the Virginia national guard.
Roem has played in a heavy metal band, Cab Ride Home, since 2006. The quintet, with Roem roaring vocals over high-speed, chugging guitars, has independently released four albums, supported metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse and Amon Amarth, and toured the UK in 2012.
The band describe their style as “drunken thrash metal” and say on their Bandcamp page: “Cab Ride Home represents one thing: partying ... Our songs are about drinking and our shows are about raging.”
“Just because I sing in a heavy metal band while spinning my head in circles and getting paid to do it, why can’t I run for government?” Roem told Noisey earlier this year. “[Metal is] not just what you listen to in your car on the way home. The lyrics inspire part of your life. The music tells your story.” |
Alibaba drones fly over water, delivering fruit to island | Drones operated by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba have delivered packages over water for the first time. The company said three of its unmanned aerial vehicles had successfully made the 5km trip from Putian in Fujian Province to the nearby Meizhou island in nine minutes. They carried six boxes of passionfruit weighing a total of 12kg on the trip, which took place on 31 October. The company said it plans to use the drones for similar deliveries of value-added products such as fresh food and medical supplies in future.
| https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/alibabas-drones-deliver-packages-to-islands/articleshow/61545583.cms | 2017-11-08 15:23:12.833000 | Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba today said that it has used drones to deliver packages over water for the first time.
Three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) carrying six boxes of passionfruit with a combined weight of around 12 kilograms flew from Putian in China's eastern Fujian Province to nearby Meizhou Island on October 31, the company said in a statement.
Flying into a strong wind, the drones took nine minutes to make the five-kms crossing. Each drone can carry up to seven kilograms, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing the statement.
The drones were jointly developed by Alibaba's delivery arm Cainiao Network, the company's rural shopping platform Rural Taobao, and a domestic technology firm.
Zeng Jinmei, an online store owner based on the island, said the drone delivery service will cut the transportation time by half and save logistic costs.
Alibaba has prepared extra drones ahead of the upcoming November 11 "Singles' Day" shopping festival.
The day, which can be compared to Black Friday in the US, became a shopping festival in China after Alibaba launched a major promotional campaign in 2009.
Alibaba plans to use drones to deliver high value-added products such as fresh food and medical supplies over water in the future.
Using drones to deliver packages has increased in recent years.
Another Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com started conducting trial deliveries using drones in 2016. Smaller drones are being used in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province and Suqian, Jiangsu Province. |
Ethereum client Parity hacked leaving $150m of coins in limbo | A bug in cryptocurrency Ethereum’s second-most popular client, Parity, has frozen coins valued at $150m and left the initial coin offering of blockchain tech firm Polkadot in limbo. The glitch was triggered after a security hole was found in the technology that backs the cryptocurrency. Ethereum may have to be forked to release the funds, the second time such a measure has been taken in as many years after the currency's largest smart contract was hacked in 2016.
| http://www.trustnodes.com/2017/11/07/ethereums-parity-hacked-half-million-eth-frozen | 2017-11-08 15:16:16.813000 | A security vulnerability in Ethereum’s second most popular client, Parity, has been exploited by this address earlier today.
All Parity multi-sig wallets have been frozen. That includes the Polkadot ICO and may include many others totaling around 500,000 eth, worth $150 million, according to some number crunching. |
Ethereum client Parity hacked leaving $150m of coins in limbo | A bug in cryptocurrency Ethereum’s second-most popular client, Parity, has frozen coins valued at $150m and left the initial coin offering of blockchain tech firm Polkadot in limbo. The glitch was triggered after a security hole was found in the technology that backs the cryptocurrency. Ethereum may have to be forked to release the funds, the second time such a measure has been taken in as many years after the currency's largest smart contract was hacked in 2016.
| https://paritytech.io/blog/security-alert.html | 2017-11-08 15:16:16.813000 | Severity: Critical
Product affected: Parity Wallet
Affected implementations: Parity 1.5 or later
Summary: A vulnerability in Parity Wallet's variant of the standard multi-sig contract has been found.
Affected users: Any user with assets in a multi-sig wallet created in Parity Wallet prior to 19/07/17 23:14:56 CEST.
Mitigation steps: Immediately move assets contained in the multi-sig wallet to a secure address.
UPDATE (20/07/17, 00:26 CEST): Multi-sig wallets created in Parity Wallet after 19/07/17 23:14:56 CEST are secure. (Fix in the code is https://github.com/paritytech/parity/pull/6103 and the newly registered code is https://etherscan.io/tx/0x5f0846ccef8946d47f85715b7eea8fb69d3a9b9ef2d2b8abcf83983fb8d94f5f). |
MRI Software announces fixed asset accounting | Ohio-based MRI Software has launched an end-to-end fixed asset accounting solution for the real estate sector. MRI Fixed Assets enables companies to manage, track and record an asset's status, as well as offering depreciation forecasts and calculation across multiple books. In addition, MRI Fixed Assets is compliant with IFRS and UK GAAP and integrates with other systems, including Horizon and Qube PM platforms.
| http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/MRI-Software-Announces-New-Fixed-Asset-Accounting-Solution-for-Real-Estate-Sector-1007267662 | 2017-11-08 15:09:57.487000 | MRI Fixed Assets enables real estate owners and operators to meet audit regulations, achieve compliance, and increase the ROI of their fixed assets
LONDON, Nov. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions, today announced MRI Fixed Assets, a new fixed asset accounting solution for the real estate sector. MRI Fixed Assets is a a comprehensive solution for real estate owners and operators to better manage accounting, meet audit regulations, improve compliance, and increase the ROI of their assets.
"Regulations for fixed asset accounting continue to grow more complex, and organisations with real estate interests need solutions that can automate and simplify compliance," said Charles McDowell, Vice President of Commercial Solutions and Client Experience at MRI Software. "MRI Fixed Assets builds upon the proven history of our recent acquisition, Real Asset Management, to easily address these ever-changing requirements. Our solution enables compliance with common accounting standards, including IFRS and UK GAAP. And, because it is linked with our Version X Financials platform, it provides a modern, intuitive user experience that leverages the full power of MRI."
MRI Fixed Assets allows organisations to manage, track and record all changes to an asset's status, from its physical location to the history of how it has been used. The application readily enables depreciation forecasts, manages the valuation of assets, and calculates depreciation for any period or range of periods across multiple books and multiple currencies. MRI Fixed Assets can be integrated with barcoding, RFID and other electronic readers to enable asset audits.
Available via MRI's Version X platform, MRI Fixed Assets shares integrated data and common work processes with the core financial management platform, giving users the benefits of increased automation within a single, intuitive experience. The solution is flexible and can be used in conjunction with other accounting and property management systems – including the Horizon and Qube PM platforms from Qube Global Software, also recently acquired by MRI Software, providing the sector with even more freedom to choose the right solutions for their business.
About MRI Software
MRI Software is a leading provider of innovative real estate software applications and hosted solutions. MRI's comprehensive and flexible technology platform coupled with an open and connected ecosystem meets the unique needs of real estate businesses—from property-level management and accounting to investment modeling and analytics for the global commercial and residential markets. A pioneer of the real estate software industry, MRI develops lasting client relationships based on nearly five decades of expertise and insight. Through leading solutions and a rich partner ecosystem, MRI liberates real estate companies to elevate their business and gain a competitive edge. For more information, please visit mrisoftware.com.
Contact Information:
Jeff Miller
LEWIS
[email protected]
541-207-3461
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/599518/MRI_Logo_RGB.jpg |
Cape Town plans first micro-flat development | South African real estate company Dogon Group Properties has partnered with AJ Developers, Power Construction and Gardner Property Solutions to construct Cape Town's first micro-living apartments. Aimed at helping first-time buyers get on the property ladder, the units are priced between ZAR799,000 ($56,000) and ZAR945,000, while flexible finance partner Nedbank is offering a swathe of discounts to attract buyers. Construction on the units is set to begin in February 2018.
| https://propertywheel.co.za/2017/11/cape-town-to-follow-international-micro-living-trend/ | 2017-11-08 15:05:26.580000 | Cape Town is following the trend seen in cities such as Berlin, London, New York, Barcelona and Paris and is set to see the development of the first state-of-the-art micro-living apartments in the city.
To be constructed at 1 Albert Road in Woodstock, these micro units will range in size from 21 square metre studio’s to 75 square metre two-bedroom units. All the apartments will feature top end SMEG appliances, flat screen smart TV’s and uncapped, unshaped 100megs per second fibre internet – to name but a few of the features.
Rob Stefanutto, Managing Director of Dogon Group Properties, explains that in addition to the 133 living units over seven floors, the 1 On Albert development will also feature communal recreational spaces, shops, a food court, laundromat, heated swimming pool and more: “All part of a new conceptual design in living known as integrated living solutions, which incorporates all the elements needed for inner city living without having to leave the building.”
The 1 On Albert building, which is centrally situated in the up-and-coming area of Woodstock on a MyCiti bus route and with an Uber point at its doorstep, has been designed by award winning architects Louis Karol and the interiors of the apartments designed by leading hotel room designer Grant Gillis of Delta Interiors.
First-time buyers able to enter the property market
“Micro living units have been popular internationally for several years and we are now following this trend in Cape Town. Millennials are looking for location over square footage. They want to be close to the city center, close enough to walk, bike, or rely on public transportation. However, with cities becoming increasingly over-crowded there is not only a shortage of housing but also the cost of properties has sky rocketed to such a point that young people cannot afford to buy their first property and get onto the property ladder – forcing them to rent on an ongoing basis,” says Stefanutto.
“Recognising this, 1 On Albert, which is the first offering in a collaborative partnership between Dogon, AJ Developers, Power Construction and Gardner Property Solutions, has been designed to let the consumer buy their first home, with Nedbank having come on board to offer flexible finance that includes reduced interest rates, discounted registration fees and flexible deposit options.”
“The key to the value chain in real estate is to get on the property ladder as early as possible and 1 On Albert is providing the missing link to the property value chain.”
The entry levels units at 1 On Albert are priced at R799 000 to R945 000 inclusive of transfer duty – this equates to a monthly bond instalment that is in line with, if not lower than, rental figures. Those earning between R18 000 and R25 000 per month should qualify for finance through Nedbank.
“At these asking prices, when buyers eventually sell to move up the property ladder they will in all likelihood not face any Capital Gains Tax if they have been living in the unit as their primary residence. This, coupled with no transfer duty and reduced bond registration costs, means that there is minimal investment leakage for buyers – further helping them to climb the property ladder,” advises Stefanutto.
Stefanutto further explains that another benefit of these micro living units are the low monthly levies and rates – a cost which, in the case of many other developments, creates a barrier for budget conscious first time buyers.
A significant development for Cape Town’s property industry
“It is necessary for the property development industry to produce an ever changing and adapted product that fulfils the needs of consumers and I feel that 1 On Albert is one of the most significant developments to hit the property market in the 20 years that I have been in the industry.”
“Dogon Group are very excited to be a part of this project which allows us to introduce a whole new segment of customers to the property market through entry level units which are still in keeping with the upmarket, top-end style of properties which Dogon is synonymous with.”
“Construction will begin on 1 On Albert in February 2018 and units have already started to sell in this exciting development which is seen as the gateway project for the emerging suburb of Woodstock – a suburb which has seen ongoing revival in recent years and offers direct access to the city centre,” concludes Stefanutto. |
Deutsche Bank looks to robots to help it shrink workforce | Deutsche Bank could replace many of its staff with robots, according to its CEO, John Cryan. Speaking to the Financial Times, Cryan bemoaned the bank's "manual and error-prone" systems, argued the number of sales and trading roles compared with back-office positions was "out of kilter" and said Deutsche Bank's staffing levels were double those of rival banks. He also said that he was looking at closing branches. A survey by Greenwich Associates revealed 75% of financial companies will investigate or implement AI solutions within the next 12 months.
| https://qz.com/1123703/deutsche-bank-ceo-john-cryan-suggests-half-its-workers-could-be-replaced-by-machines/ | 2017-11-08 15:03:40.080000 | Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan, who has been planning a “big number” of job cuts at the German lender, thinks robots could replace a large chunk of its workforce. Cryan has already cut thousands of jobs as part of a five-year restructuring plan, and he hinted in a Financial Times interview (paywall) that he’s ready to cut much deeper by using technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate banking tasks.
The bank currently employs 97,000 people, but in a telling comment, Cryan noted that Deutsche Bank’s main rivals have about half that number on their payroll. He told the FT that the ratio of sales and trading roles to back office staff was “out of kilter,” and that the bank’s processes were far too manual and error-prone. He is also looking to close bank branches as part of the restructuring.
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The rest of the financial industry is struggling with similar problems, but most executives aren’t nearly as forthright about it as Cryan. Two months ago, he said (paywall) the bank’s accountants who “spend a lot of the time basically being an abacus” will need to find new things to do.
By next year, around 75% of financial firms will either explore or implement artificial intelligence technologies, according to a survey by Greenwich Associates. The research and consulting firm thinks some 15% of the industry’s jobs are at risk.
Deutsche Bank’s woes go beyond employing too many costly accountants. It used to the be world’s biggest investment bank, but lately its trading revenue has lagged behind its rivals. In the first nine months of this year, the bank’s revenue is down by 10% versus the same period last year.
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Cryan is refreshingly honest about the bank’s struggles—maybe too honest. The bank has struggled to win back customers, and talk of replacing thousands of employees with machines is unlikely to motivate the ones whose jobs aren’t on the line. |
Shell buys EV charging company NewMotion | Shell has advanced its interests in the electric vehicle (EV) charging market by acquiring Dutch EV charging company NewMotion, which has 30,000 charging points across the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK. Other oil companies including Statoil, Enel and Engie have also sought to invest in EV charging, in an attempt to secure the future of their retail operations.
| http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/money/business/2017/10/12/shell-buy-electric-vehicle-charging-company-newmotion/757108001/ | 2017-11-08 14:59:25.363000 | Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Oil company Shell has signed an agreement to buy electric vehicle charging firm NewMotion. It did not disclose terms.
The company, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, operates more than 30,000 private electric charge points for homes and businesses in the Netherlands, Germany, France and the U.K.
Shell's Vice President for New Fuels, Matthew Tipper, says Thursday that the deal will give customers "flexibility to charge their electric vehicles at home, work and on the go."
Shell has insisted it is planning for the day when demand for oil starts to fade. CEO Ben van Beurden has promised to look at "very aggressive scenarios" to remain competitive in a world that gets more of its energy from renewable sources and less from crude oil.
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Shell buys EV charging company NewMotion | Shell has advanced its interests in the electric vehicle (EV) charging market by acquiring Dutch EV charging company NewMotion, which has 30,000 charging points across the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK. Other oil companies including Statoil, Enel and Engie have also sought to invest in EV charging, in an attempt to secure the future of their retail operations.
| https://about.bnef.com/blog/shell-acquisition-shows-ev-charging-market-consolidation/ | 2017-11-08 14:59:25.363000 | This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.
Shell recently bought NewMotion, with 30,000 charging points
Shell joins other energy majors active in electric mobility
Number of electric vehicles on the road in Europe
Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Marklines
Large energy companies are snapping up groups active in EV charging infrastructure. Royal Dutch Shell Plc acquired NewMotion, a Dutch EV charging company with 30,000 charging points. Statoil ASA invested in ChargePoint Inc. in 2016 and in March 2017, Engie SA acquired EVBox which has over 40,000 stations. On October 25, Enel SpA bought eMotorWerks, another provider focused on monetizing the demand flexibility from EVs. The list of large energy companies active in EV charging includes Fortum Oyj, Vattenfall AB, EON SE, RWE AG. Utilities aim to reduce customer churn and expand into new services, while oil companies look to ensure their retail stations stay relevant as the vehicle mix shifts.
Clients can access the full report here.
BNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us. |
Plentific builds property management tool for housing association | London-based Plentific has created a property management platform with and for Notting Hill Housing association in London. The digital system aims to streamline repairs and maintenance schedules and reduce admin for property managers. Plentific has also developed a B2B version of the platform for other housing associations, estate agents and property-management firms.
| http://labmonline.co.uk/news/plentific-notting-hill-housing-online-platform/ | 2017-11-08 14:58:50.120000 | Plentific has launched a new property management platform for Notting Hill Housing, created in collaboration with the housing association.
The new self-serve platform is designed to cut down the amount of time spent organising maintenance and repairs, as well as administrative tasks such as invoicing and sending payments.
Commenting on the launch, Notting Hill’s Chief Operating Officer Andy Belton said: “When I saw Plentific’s presentation at the HouseMark event, I was very impressed and immediately thought we could use the platform and instant booking system for some areas of our business.
“Having done further work with Plentific, we can see the potential that it offers to create a streamlined digital approach for maintaining properties that will save a great deal of valuable time and resources.”
Plentific Co-founder Cem Savas added: “Having the chance to work alongside Notting Hill Housing is a great opportunity to showcase the strength of the Plentific platform. Our goal has always been to make organising repairs and home improvements as easy as possible, a task that property managers at Notting Hill Housing can really appreciate.
“Our platform will make it easier for Notting Hill’s tenants to find the Pros they need to maintain their homes. This will in turn free up valuable time for property managers and help to increase efficiency overall.”
The partnership began following Plentific’s appearance at ‘Evolve’, an exclusive startup accelerator programme for the social housing sector organised by HouseMark and L Marks. Plentific has since built a B2B platform which can allow any housing association, estate agent or property management firm to digitally transform its repair and maintenance process. |
Domino's in Australia will use AI to check pizza quality | In a further reflection of growing cross-industry reliance upon artificial intelligence (AI), Domino's Pizza Australia has partnered with smart-restaurant firm Dragontail Systems to incorporate the technology into its food quality-control processes. A 12-month global exclusivity deal with Dragontail is to form the backbone of what Dominos's is dubbing the "Checked by DRU AI Pizza Checker". The company claims the system's sensor and camera can carry out and deliver a comprehensive quality report within just three seconds. The intention is to roll the technology out to other markets following the Australian run. | https://www.itnews.com.au/news/dominos-using-ai-to-check-pizza-quality-477187 | 2017-11-08 14:54:44.427000 | Domino's Pizza Australia is using an artificial intelligence platform within its kitchens for quality control of its pizzas.
The fast food chain has been working with quick service restauraunt (QSR) technology vendor Dragontail Systems since earlier this year.
The partnership has borne from what Domino's is calling the Checked by DRU AI Pizza Checker.
The technology will "solve the number one customer complaint of incorrect toppings and poorly made pizzas", Domino's said.
The system includes a sensor and camera that monitor the preparation and cooking process and proprietary AI technology that checks for the proper distribution of ingredients.
Domino's said the system analyses and reports back in three seconds.
It has signed a 12-month global exclusivity agreement with Dragontail with the intention of rolling the technology out to the other markets it operates in.
Dragontail launched its computer vision quality system last December.
The firm's core product is the 'Algo' restaurant management system, which manages the food preparation and delivery process from start to finish.
It has submitted 13 patents for its technology in eight different countries including Australia. Dragontail debuted on the Australian Stock Exchange in December last year.
iTnews has a new report on the adoption of artificial intelligence within Australian enterprises. Download the report here. |
US college to co-develop centre for overseas study in Connemara | An education centre is being developed to provide US students with a place to study in the Galway village of Connemara. The €2.5m ($2.9m) project is due to be completed in autumn 2019 and is a joint venture between the Aquinas College of Grand Rapids and Connemara West, a community development organisation. The centre will offer group study rooms, an auditorium, a library, video conference rooms and nine thatched cottages for 40 students and staff. The centre is intended for the growing number of US students coming to the village as part of its longstanding study abroad provision.
| https://thepienews.com/news/3-1-million-to-be-invested-in-an-educational-centre-in-ireland/ | 2017-11-08 14:35:28.463000 | The centre, scheduled for completion in the autumn of 2019, is planned in partnership with Aquinas College of Grand Rapids, US. The state-of-art building will include an education hub (with a 50-seat auditorium), a library, group study rooms, video conference facilities and meeting rooms.
The centre will also include nine renovated thatched cottages to accommodate up to 40 students and staff. It is hoped the new centre, along with new and extended partnerships, will lead to a five-fold increase in student numbers.
Connemara West, a locally managed community development organisation based in Letterfrack, Galway, is leading the project. Its chairman, Kevin Heanue, said the new centre was needed due to the popularity of the Connemara study abroad offerings.
“[The centre] is needed to accommodate the growing number of US colleges who are bringing students and faculty to the village as part of Connemara West’s education-led development strategy,” he said.
It is understood that Aquinas will foot around half of the €2.5m bill, through its US interests. It is also hoped that the Irish government may assist the development as part of its rural development plan.
“The Aquinas College Ireland Study Abroad programme reflects the best of a liberal arts education”
“Extending fibre optic cables from Letterfrack to Tullycross is part of that ‘ask’ from the State,” Heanue added.
Dr Steve Barrows, executive vice president of Aquinas College, said: “our partnership between Aquinas College, Connemara West, and the Tullycross community is a concrete and wonderfully successful example of exposing our students to global opportunities and thereby promoting critical thinking.”
“The Aquinas College Ireland Study Abroad programme reflects the best of a liberal arts education with a global perspective,” he added.
The community has been promoting education tourism for several decades, with students from the US visiting the region on Ireland’s west coast for over 40 years. At least 1,000 US students have embarked on study visits to the region since 1973.
According to the latest available Open Doors data, complied by IIE, Ireland is the seventh most popular destination for mobile US students.
With a 15.9% year-on-year increase in student numbers (which equates to more than 10,000 US students in Ireland in 2015), Ireland is the only top 10 destination for US students that can boast double-digit growth in inbound students.
Along with Aquinas, which launched a renewed study abroad program in Tullycross earlier in 2017, six other colleges from across the US now base study abroad programs in the quiet Galway village.
The partnerships are based around Irish Studies minor courses at the US institutions, but have recently expanded to include Irish cultural studies courses taught by NUI Galway. |
OPEC daring to think oil could reach 'fair price' of $70 a barrel | The global "fair price" for oil could reach $70 a barrel, according to OPEC officials. The Venezuelan oil minister suggested last year that $70 a barrel was a fair price, whilst Iraq has suggested a level of $70-$80. There are concerns that such aspirations could trigger a similar boom and crash to that seen between 2011 and 2014, blamed on attempts to keep prices above $100 a barrel. Rising prices could also endanger OPEC's output deal with Russia.
| https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/OPEC-Eyes-70-Oil.html | 2017-11-08 14:30:37.063000 | Brent prices hit $60 a barrel 10 days ago and have maintained that level ever since, sparking talk that this could be the new floor under oil prices and that $70 oil in the short term is now not only in producers’ wildest dreams, but a real possibility.
Although OPEC never officially admitted it, analysts have largely thought that pushing oil up to $60 was one of the cartel’s goals with the production cut deal.
Three weeks before OPEC’s November 30 summit in Vienna, some oil producers have already started thinking that $70 is the ‘fair price’ for oil, fairer than $60, Julian Lee, oil strategist for Bloomberg First Word, writes.
But if the cartel wants to target a higher price (which it won’t officially communicate to the market), it will likely trigger a new wave of U.S. shale production next year. More importantly, that higher oil price target may meet the resistance of Russia—the leader of the non-OPEC group of producers’ pact—which is now generally viewed as steering the OPEC/non-OPEC oil production policy, together with OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia,
Both the Saudis and Russians have signaled that they’re willing to extend the pact beyond March 2018, lending further support to oil prices over the past few weeks.
The higher the price of oil, the stronger the temptation for OPEC members to cash in on short-term gains and cheat (even more than they do now). Currently, Saudi Arabia is over-complying with its share of the production cuts, covering for rogue members—most prominently, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, Iraq.
Related: Russia Aims To Dominate Middle East Energy
Saudi Arabia needs oil prices at $70 per barrel in 2018 for a budget breakeven, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated last week, while Russia claims that it “can live forever” at $40 oil.
Although the November 30 meeting will discuss the production cut deal, OPEC and the Russia-led non-OPEC producers may not make or communicate a firm decision on extending the pact at that summit.
Last week, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the decision would likely come at a later stage—a delay that the market would surely be displeased with.
“If we see that the market is not balancing then we’ll do it. I can give you a more specific answer if you can find me any person now who can say what the market will look like in five months. If you find a person like this, I will shake his hand,” Reuters quoted Novak as saying through a translator.
Maybe no one can correctly predict how the oil market will look like in March 2018, but the recent oil price rally made analysts and investors much more bullish than they were just a couple of months ago.
“We think both fundamental data and an improvement in trader sentiment act as strong support for a continued test of the upside for oil prices,” Paul Horsnell at Standard Chartered told the Financial Times.
Money managers had a near-record net long position in crude oil and refined products contracts as of end-October, with the net long position soaring nearly 720 million barrels since end-June to 1.022 billion barrels, just shy of the February record of 1.025 billion barrels, Reuters’ John Kemp writes. The amassed long positions mean that hedge funds and other money managers expect oil prices to continue rising, but the amount of the net longs also raises the risk of a sharp correction if and when investors decide to take profits, Kemp says.
Related: Can Oil Prices Hit $65 This Week?
Part of the oil price movements in the next few weeks hinges on the OPEC-Russia production deal rhetoric leading up to the November 30 meeting. While it looks like Saudi Arabia continues to convey the “whatever it takes” message, its key partner in the pact—Russia—appears to be stalling, unwilling to give U.S. shale very solid reasons to boost production next year.
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“Russia appears to be trying to slow down the extension talk until there is more clarity on the outlook for balances and what they mean for prices in 2018,” consultancy Energy Aspects told the FT.
Some OPEC producers may be vying for a ‘fair price’ of above $60, but $70 oil could be a deal-breaker for Russia, a further incentive to cheat for OPEC, and an additional impetus for U.S. shale to defy skeptics.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: |
France delays nuclear power targets to focus on CO2 reduction | The French government has postponed a target to reduce the share of nuclear energy in the country’s power production to 50% by 2025 after grid operator RTE said it risked supply shortages after 2020 and could miss a goal to curb carbon emissions. France currently relies on nuclear power for 75% of its power output. Its nuclear reduction target will likely be pushed back to between 2030 and 2035. | http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP-France-to-review-nuclear-reduction-target-07111702.html | 2017-11-08 14:30:37.063000 | France to review nuclear reduction target
07 November 2017
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The French government will come up with a more "realistic" target to reduce the share of nuclear energy in the country's electricity generation, Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot told a news conference in Paris today.
The previous government of Francois Hollande in 2015 established an energy transition law which set a target of reducing the share of nuclear in the power mix to 50% by 2025 from the current 75%.
Hulot told reporters today that this is not realistic, but he did not set a new deadline.
"We will reduce the share of nuclear in the mix as soon as possible," he said, adding that doing so in a hurry would increase France's CO2 emissions and could endanger the security of power supply and put jobs at risk, according to Reuters.
Hulot also said that the Fessenheim nuclear plant, France's oldest, would be closed during President Emmanuel Macron's five-year term.
Elected in May, Macron had promised to respect Hollande's target and Hulot had said in July France might have to close as many as 17 of its 58 reactors by 2025 to achieve it.
State-owned utility EDF, which operates France's nuclear power plants, has argued instead to extend the operation of its nuclear fleet from 40 to at least 50 years.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
Related topics |
ParallelDots develops AI to identify brain haemorrhaging | Delaware-based artificial intelligence (AI) company ParallelDots has developed a deep neural network called Recurrent Attention DenseNet (RADnet), which outperformed three radiologists in the detection of brain haemorrhages in computed tomography (CT) scans. The RADnet system achieved a success rate of almost 82% by analysing 3D CT scans and cross-referencing them against 2D cross-sectional slices. ParallelDots said RADnet could be used to identify other brain anomalies from CT scans, and had potential applications as an emergency diagnosis tool.
| https://www.medimaging.net/industry-news/articles/294771363/ai-software-identifies-brain-hemorrhage.html | 2017-11-08 14:01:54.100000 | Visit expo > Gold Supplier FDR Xair Portable X-Ray System New Vista Series 3-Bank X-Ray Film Illuminator New Sectra UniView Web Viewer New Silver Supplier DAPcheck Plus Field Calibration Instrument
ParallelDots Inc. (Lewes, Delaware, USA), an artificial intelligence (AI) company that develops algorithms, has trained a deep neural network to act as a second pair of eyes for radiologists by automatically detecting brain hemorrhage from computed tomography (CT) scans.ParallelDots Inc. focuses on building a proprietary AI stack, which can solve real-world problems end to end, including proprietary datasets, proprietary algorithms and deployment mechanisms. The company’s Data Tagging engine churns out annotated data from various domains (social media, healthcare, and retail), while its Data Science team develops novel algorithms, which can use this data and deliver AI agents that can be deployed in the real world.The company’s model, named Recurrent Attention DenseNet (RADnet), emulates the procedure followed by radiologists for diagnosis of brain hemorrhage by analyzing 3D CT scans and sifts through 2D cross-sectional slices while paying close attention to potential hemorrhagic regions. It utilizes 3D context from neighboring slices to improve predictions at each slice and subsequently, aggregates the slice-level predictions to provide diagnosis at the CT level.When benchmarked against independent analysis performed by three senior radiologists for 77 brain CTs, RADnet demonstrated 81.82% hemorrhage prediction accuracy at the CT level that was comparable to the radiologists. What was particularly remarkable was that RADnet achieved higher recall than two of the three radiologists.ParallelDots Inc. has acknowledged that very high sensitivity is required for deploying automated emergency diagnostic tools and that there are several other equally severe brain conditions which RADnet is unaware of. However, the company envisions a future where similar emergency diagnostic tools will be used to detect different anomalies from brain CT scans and believes that RADnet also demonstrates potential to be deployed as an emergency diagnosis tool. |
Apple tests P2P cash transfers via iMessage texting platform | Apple is testing the use of its iMessage texting platform to make P2P payments. Apple Pay Cash is available on devices running iOS 11.2. It also enables users to ask virtual assistant Siri to send transfers and any payments received can be used within the apps of stores that accept Apple Pay. Irish company Circle has already enabled P2P cash transfers using iMessage, while Dublin fintech firm Plynk created a rival service earlier this year.
| https://www.siliconrepublic.com/companies/p2p-cash-imessage-apple-pay-wallet | 2017-11-08 14:01:25.970000 | Person-to-person cash transfers via iMessage using Apple Pay kicking off in the US first.
Apple has every intention of being at the helm of the fintech revolution and has just soft launched the beta for Apple Pay Cash, which enables users to send cash to each other via iMessage.
The programme is launching on iOS 11.2 beta 2. Users can opt in by joining the Apple Beta Software Program.
With the new service, users can pay each other within iMessage or by telling Siri to transfer cash to another user.
The money can then be used within apps, in stores where Apple Pay is accepted on the web.
Cash is king in the P2P economy
Peer-to-peer cash transfer is one of the fastest evolving areas in the fintech space.
Irish-based company Circle already lets users transfer cash in Europe using either the Circle app or a plugin for iMessage. It recently launched a new group payments feature and free transfers to US accounts.
Another Irish-based company called Plynk allows people to send money via message to a single contact or in-group chats, instantly and with no fees.
Using the new Apple Pay Cash platform, when users opt in and accept the cash, they are issued a new virtual Apple Pay Cash card that will sit in their Wallet on the iPhone. The card can only be used to send money or pay for goods or services via Apple Pay.
Because it sits within Apple Pay, Apple can fund payments immediately to the card so the money can be spent right away.
It could be a handy way for parents to send their kids at college cash to buy iBooks or food, or a neat way to pay rent or support your local sports club.
To use the platform, you need an iPhone that runs iOS 11.2 and two-factor authentication for your Apple ID as well as an eligible credit or debit card in Wallet.
The new Apple iPhone X. Image: hurricanehank/Shutterstock |
Twitter rolls out 280 character limit to all users | Twitter has doubled the character limit for tweets from 140 to 280 for all English-language users. Trials in September saw users hitting the character limit fall from 9% to 1%, though only 2% of the test group sent out tweets using more than 190 characters. Aliza Rosen, product manager at Twitter, said the change would mean people spent less time on editing and added: "more space makes it easier for people to fit thoughts in a tweet".
| http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/twitter-280-character-tweets-all-users | 2017-11-08 13:54:37.543000 | Back in September, Twitter began testing an increase to its tweet length, doubling the character limit from 140 characters to 280 characters. Now, the microblogging site has decided to roll out the 280-character limit to all users.
According to Twitter, its short trial period was a success with the number of tweets hitting the character limit falling from nine per cent to just one per cent for English-speaking users.
“Since we saw Tweets hit the character limit less often, we believe people spent less time editing their Tweets in the composer,” said Aliza Rosen, product manager at Twitter, in a blog post. “This shows that more space makes it easier for people to fit thoughts in a Tweet, so they could say what they want to say, and send Tweets faster than before.”
Despite having a 280-character limit, those in the test group only sent out five per cent of their tweets over 140 characters and only two per cent over 190 characters – appeasing user concerns about the character length ruining user experience. Twitter notes that this may notes that the “novelty effect” will mean users initially get excited with their use of tweet space, but normal behaviour should be resumed once this wears off.
“You’ll still see about the same amount of Tweets in your timeline,” said Rozen. “For reference, in the timeline, Tweets with an image or poll usually take up more space than a 190-character Tweet.”
As with the trial, those on the Japanese, Korean and Chinese versions of the platform will not have the ability to tweet in 280 characters, as their languages are already able to condense thoughts into less space due to their writing systems.
Join us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here. |
Owner of Capital and Heart to launch weekly Twitter show | UK media company Global, the owner of Capital and Heart radio brands, is set to launch a new weekly show on Twitter. PopBuzz Presents, a series of 30-minute broadcasts, is aimed at people aged between 18 and 24, while the revenue-sharing deal includes a mix of advertising packages similar to television. Analysts said that although Twitter can't compete with Facebook or Google in terms of reach, it was among the first to broadcast live content, offering tempting monetisation options to a range of advertisers.
| https://digiday.com/media/twitter-launching-live-weekly-evening-show-uk/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171108 | 2017-11-08 13:50:10.863000 | Global, the U.K. media company known for its radio brands like Capital and Heart, is launching a weekly show exclusively for Twitter on Nov. 16. called “PopBuzz Presents,” opening up new revenue streams for the media company.
The 30-minute show will stream each Thursday from Twitter’s London headquarters at 5 p.m. local time, hosted by presenters Lilah Parsons and Will Hardy. The show will consist of three seven-minute segments, featuring discussions around trending stories, guest interviews and games.
While the goal is for people to tune in to the entire show, Global remains realistic that it’s creating a show for people who don’t watch much TV. PopBuzz, Global’s pop culture and music-streaming site — and first non-radio brand — launched three years ago, targeting the 18- to 24-year-old age bracket.
“In the lifetime of PopBuzz, we’ve learned that Twitter is the first place audiences go to get close to the things they really care about, whether that’s celebrities, musicians or politicians,” said Charles Ubaghs, head of social at Global. “Twitter has the scope and scale representative of the whole web. People can make connections with their passion points quickly.”
Social platforms are vying for exclusive content, and Twitter is proving it’s still in the running, despite being unable to compete with Facebook and Google on reach. During August, Twitter had 22 million monthly unique users; in the 18- to 24-year-old age bracket, Twitter had more users than Instagram and Snapchat, according to Global, which cited comScore figures.
Beyond reach, Twitter’s ability to monetize “PopBuzz Presents” was appealing, said James Hickman, Global’s director of digital. As part of a revenue-share deal, Twitter and Global are selling a mix of commercial packages that include pre-roll, mid-roll and sponsorship, a model more closely resembling TV. Global hasn’t announced which brands it’s working with.
“The options for monetization for publishers are clearer and more mature on Twitter than other platforms, partly because they have been doing it for longer,” said Gareth Capon, CEO at video tech platform Grabyo. Twitter has also been quicker than Amazon and Facebook to license sports content.
Twitter’s differentiator is the live element, and it has pushed sponsorships around live video, according to Katie Manor, head of paid social worldwide at MediaCom. According to Manor, sponsorships can range from £25,000 ($33,000) for packages with less reach to north of £500,000 ($658,000), depending on the market and scale of exposure.
“PopBuzz Presents” will run for at least six months. Eleven people, including the hosts, from Global’s central video team of 25 people and from PopBuzz’s team will work on the show.
“’PopBuzz Presents’ is still something specific for a platform, using the immediate reaction from the audience in a public way,” Ubaghs said. “It’s TV for your thumbs.”
Capon said as Twitter becomes a more attractive alternative to other social platforms and brings more choice to the market, publishers will have more room for negotiation with platforms.
In the U.K., Twitter has deals with BT Sport to stream “Score,” a weekly football show that simultaneously runs on TV. Sky Sports also streams exclusive Twitter content on transfer-window deadlines. In the U.S., companies like Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, Time Inc. and Vox Media are among those producing exclusive content for the platform and seeing more promise there than with other social platforms.
“Historically, people have maybe ignored Twitter in favor of Instagram or Snapchat,” Ubaghs said. “In the last year, there’s a realization there’s still a big audience there; there won’t be the scale, but it has a utility and a unique way of selling live video.”
Image courtesy of Global |
VW fails to fix one third of UK cars with cheating devices | Volkswagen (VW) has not fixed a third of the 1,207,152 cars in the UK fitted with emissions-cheating devices, two years after the scandal first emerged. VW pledged to remove all such devices, which caused vehicles to appear less polluting in tests than they were in reality. The monthly rate of fixes has now fallen to 2% of vehicles affected, from 10% in February, according to the UK Department of Transport.
| https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/08/one-in-three-cars-in-vw-emissions-scandal-yet-to-be-fixed-figures-show | 2017-11-08 13:49:03.163000 | A third of cars manufactured by Volkswagen with devices to cheat emissions tests remain unfixed, two years after the scandal erupted.
In what was coined the “diesel dupe”, VW equipped their vehicles with defeat devices designed to realise when they were being tested so they could appear to be much less polluting than in reality.
The company subsequently pledged to recall all of its cars and remove the devices.
However, the monthly rate of fixes to Volkswagen manufactured cars has fallen to 2% of those affected from a previous high of 10% in February, despite the task not having been completed, according to the Department of Transport.
The emissions scandal affected 1,207,152 vehicles in the UK and while two-thirds of the cars have been fixed, the rate of fixes to the remainder has stalled.
An analysis showed the fix-rate of Skoda’s spiked between July and August to around double that of other Volkswagen brands, an anomaly queried by Mary Creagh, Labour MP for Wakefield and chair of the environmental audit committee.
The fix-rates for other brands has faltered.
Creagh has written to the Department for Transport to express the committee’s concerns about the lack of progress in applying fixes to cars equipped with the defeat devices.
“It is over two years since the VW emissions scandal was discovered, a third of vehicles have yet to be fixed and rates have slowed considerably,” said Creagh.
“It is essential that the vehicles on Britain’s roads adhere to emissions regulations, particularly as the country is faced with dangerous levels of pollution. The department must take responsibility for ensuring that these fixes are completed as soon as possible”.
A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: “The UK government continues to take the unacceptable actions of Volkswagen extremely seriously and is working hard on behalf of UK consumers.”
“Officials in the Department for Transport hold monthly meetings with representatives from Volkswagen for information on the number of updates applied across all of the affected brands and to press them on remaining issues.”
Volkswagen UK managing director Paul Willis told the Commons transport select committee in February that the firm hoped to have completed the fixing programme by autumn of this year.
Greenpeace clean air campaigner Mel Evans said: “Time and again VW has dodged its responsibility.
“It’s paid no fines, or faced criminal charges in the UK as it has in the US.
“Now it won’t even meet its own timeline for a product recall of its dodgy diesels, which is currently the only redress on offer to the public here.”
The report comes the day after it was announced the UK government is being sued for a third time over the widespread illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year.
Nitrogen dioxide pollution, largely produced by diesel vehicles, has been unlawfully high in most of urban Britain since 2010.
The government’s latest plan was derided as “woefully inadequate” by city leaders and “inexcusable” by doctors.
Volkswagen manufacture cars for the Audi, Skoda, SEAT and VW brands, all of which were affected by the scandal that affected 11m cars worldwide.
The hidden damage from VW vehicles fitted with the devices amounted to between 250,000 to 1m extra tonnes every year, according to one analysis.
This could equate to all of the UK’s NOx emissions from all power stations, vehicles, industry and agriculture.
The car’s were programmed to adjust air-fuel ratios and exhaust flows, and in some cases, to inject a solution which makes NOx harmless when they were being tested.
However, when running normally, at a far greater performance level, the cars would never operate in the same way. The NOx they produced, for instance, would indeed be harmful.
Following the initial revelations VW boss Michael Horn said the company had “totally screwed up”, while other bosses pledged to win back trust by “leaving no stone unturned”. |
Ghana and Ivory Coast draw up plans to stop cocoa deforestation | The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are drawing up proposals to prevent deforestation, following an investigation by The Guardian into the environmental impact of the cocoa industry on these countries. The newspaper disclosed in September that cocoa linked to deforestation had entered the supply chains of Barry Callebaut and Cargill, which sell to Cadbury, Mars and Nestle, while environmental group Mighty Earth found illegally grown cocoa was also being used by Godiva and Hershey’s. It remains unclear whether either government has the power to make traders pay for their reforestation plans.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/13/chocolate-industry-drives-rainforest-disaster-in-ivory-coast | 2017-11-08 13:20:09.537000 | The world’s chocolate industry is driving deforestation on a devastating scale in West Africa, the Guardian can reveal.
Cocoa traders who sell to Mars, Nestlé, Mondelez and other big brands buy beans grown illegally inside protected areas in the Ivory Coast, where rainforest cover has been reduced by more than 80% since 1960.
Illegal product is mixed in with “clean” beans in the supply chain, meaning that Mars bars, Ferrero Rocher chocolates and Milka bars could all be tainted with “dirty” cocoa. As much as 40% of the world’s cocoa comes from Ivory Coast.
Q&A How does 'dirty' cocoa end up in our chocolate? Show The chocolate industry works mainly as follows: small-scale farmers grow cocoa on plantations, many of which are illegal as they are in national parks or protected forests. They sell it to middlemen with motorbikes known as ‘pisteurs’, or direct to buyers in local towns. These supply traders, which are often multimillion-dollar companies, which in turn sell to big chocolatiers. There are so many transactions in the supply chains that big brands sourcing from implicated traders cannot be sure their product is not contaminated. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.
The Guardian travelled across Ivory Coast and documented rainforests cleared for cocoa plantation; villages and farmers occupying supposedly protected national parks; enforcement officials taking kickbacks for turning a blind eye to infractions and trading middlemen who supply the big brands indifferent to the provenance of beans.
When approached for comment, Mars, Mondelez and Nestlé, and traders Cargill and Barry Callebaut did not deny the specific allegation that illegal deforestation cocoa had entered their supply chains. All said they were working hard to eradicate the commodity from their products.
00:43 Ivory Coast deforestation
Up to 70% of the world’s cocoa is produced by 2 million farmers in a belt that stretches from Sierra Leone to Cameroon, but Ivory Coast and Ghana are the giants, the world’s first and second biggest producers. They are also the biggest victims of deforestation. Ivory Coast is losing its forests at a faster rate than any other African country – less than 4% of the country is covered in rainforest. Once, one quarter was.
The ballooning global demand for chocolate means that if nothing is done, by 2030 there will be no forest left, according to the environmental group Mighty Earth which today publishes an investigation into deforestation caused by chocolate. The final, insulting irony is that locals are so poor they could never afford to eat a Mars bar.
Evidence of deforestation is not hard to find. Inside the Mount Tia protected forest, Salam Sawadougou, a Burkinabé farmer, is hacking a yellow cocoa pod off one of his plants in a four hectare (10 acre) plot. Here, the grey stumps of enormous ancient trees are all that is left of the forest.
“I burned it little by little,” Sawadougou says, explaining that his cocoa needed full sun to grow. Farmers generally believe that recently deforested soil produces the biggest beans, so they remove the trees one by one, planting more cocoa as they go.
In recent years, the annual rate of deforestation inside parks has doubled, and in both Ivory Coast and Ghana, it is going twice as fast as deforestation in unprotected areas.
Cocoa is a monster that will eventually eat itself, scientists say. Farmers will miss the trees they cut and burned down for the very reason that their shade would have protected their cocoa plants from increasingly parched, dry seasons, driven by cutting down trees.
When approached for comment, most big companies acknowledged the problem of deforestation for cocoa production and said they were committed to tackling the problem.
Barry Parkin, chief sustainability officer at Mars, said: “We are committed to identifying the best ways to end deforestation and forest degradation in the global cocoa supply chain.
“We know that sustainable cocoa is too big a challenge for any one company to address. That is why we are partnering with others in the industry to try and drive change at a global scale.”
Nestlé said it was “opposed to the deforestation of rainforests and peatlands around the world. Nestlé regards it as one of the most serious environmental challenges facing the world.”
It noted that in 2010 it had pledged that none of its products should be associated with deforestation, and added that it supported international moves to secure zero net-deforestation by 2020.
Mondelez’s Cathy Pieters said that deforestation in supply chains was something they were actively trying to root out.
“We all recognise the urgency, and we all acknowledge the issue,” she said. “As an individual company we have probably worked the longest on this. We are exactly in the middle of that process, because of the urgency and the need for a solution.”
Hershey said it was committed to sourcing 100% certified, sustainably sourced cocoa by 2020. “We take concerns about deforestation and forest degradation very seriously,” said spokesman Jeff Beckman.
Ferrero did not respond to request for comment.
Cocoa dries outside the chief’s house in the illegal village of Zanbarmakro in the Marahoué national park, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Ruth Maclean/The Guardian
The cocoa traders Cargill said: “We have made a pledge to end deforestation – and we are committed to delivering.” The company added that it was aiming to ensure that more than 70% of its Ivory Coast product would be third-party verified or certified by the end of next year.
Barry Callebaut, another trading firm, pointed out its commitment to be 100% deforestation free by 2025.
It added: “For any global company/industry commitment to succeed, the boundaries of the national parks and forêt classée [classified forests] need to be redrawn or reconfirmed for an area equivalent to its original designation. The redrawn or reconfirmed boundaries need to be legally enforced by the governments.”
Many cocoa industry players – although not all – have pledged to end deforestation and forest degradation in a collective statement published in June. But this is a vague promise to try harder, while the real test will be the contents of the framework for action presented at the UN’s Convention on Climate Change in November.
A captive monkey, one of the last remaining in Mount Tia protected forest, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Ruth Maclean/The Guardian
Some of the farmers growing cocoa inside protected areas have been living there for decades, and how to resettle them and find them a new means of making a living is one of the major problems that the government and the industry need to work out in November.
None of the companies said they would support a moratorium on deforestation cocoa, despite the fact that one on soy worked well to stop deforestation in the Amazon. Neither did they say they would commit to 100% shade-grown cocoa.
Government commitment to protecting national forests is also key. “Companies alone can’t solve this, and the government alone can’t solve this,” says Richard Scobey of the World Cocoa Foundation.
The situation inside the country’s 231 classified forests is even worse than in the parks, and this has partly to do with the different authorities that run them.
The government-funded agency protecting forests is called Sodefor; the state parks authority is the OIPR (Office Ivorien des Parcs et Réserves). Neither is doing its job. In the Marahoué park, the Guardian found repeated examples of kickbacks and racketeering by OIPR officials. In the Mount Tia classified forest, the top Sodefor official, Karma Bakary, was asked how long it would take for the forest to grow back to its former size. “One to two years,” he said. Under further questioning he upped his estimate to 10 years.
It is also the responsibility of the Conseil Café Cacao, the state regulator for coffee and cocoa, to oversee the industry, checking the quality of the cocoa, ensuring the right prices are being paid, and seeing that none of it is grown using child labour or in protected areas.
Responding to the Guardian, the Conseil Café Cacao said that it was committed to “good governance and ethics” in its activities and pointed to a programme it started, Cocoa, Friend of the Forest. There is little evidence of the programme on the ground.
Privately, activists have been warned not to touch cocoa, the backbone of the country’s economy whose vertebrae reach the highest levels of society. Those who do can get in to serious trouble. In 2004 Guy-André Kieffer, a French-Canadian journalist working on a story about cocoa and corruption, disappeared. He is believed to have been killed.
Evidence of deforestation in Mount Tia protected forest, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Ruth Maclean/The Guardian
The destruction of Mount Tia started in 2004, during the first Ivorian civil war, but its much larger neighbour, Mount Sassandra forest, remained almost untouched until 2011, long after that conflict ended.
In Mount Sassandra, farmers run away at the sight of visitors, aware that their business is illegal. But these farmers are not the ones earning the vast profits to be made from chocolate: many live in poverty, often exploited and underpaid for their crop. Most cannot even afford that basic luxury in the west: a bar of chocolate.
“It’s white people who eat chocolate, not us,” one says. |
Ghana and Ivory Coast draw up plans to stop cocoa deforestation | The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are drawing up proposals to prevent deforestation, following an investigation by The Guardian into the environmental impact of the cocoa industry on these countries. The newspaper disclosed in September that cocoa linked to deforestation had entered the supply chains of Barry Callebaut and Cargill, which sell to Cadbury, Mars and Nestle, while environmental group Mighty Earth found illegally grown cocoa was also being used by Godiva and Hershey’s. It remains unclear whether either government has the power to make traders pay for their reforestation plans.
| https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/08/rare-victory-for-rainforests-as-nations-vow-to-stop-death-by-chocolate | 2017-11-08 13:20:09.537000 | The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are formulating plans to immediately put a stop to all new deforestation after a Guardian investigation found that the cocoa industry was destroying their rainforests.
The west African neighbours have been drafting new measures to rescue their remaining forests and replant degraded ones.
In an investigation published in September, the Guardian found that deforestation-linked cocoa had entered the supply chains of some of the biggest players in the chocolate industry. At the same time, the environmental group Mighty Earth published Chocolate’s Dark Secret, a report that found that “a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Mars, Nestle, Hershey’s, Godiva, and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally.”
Corrupt Ivorian officials whose job it was to protect the country’s national parks and classified forests were accepting huge bribes to allow small-scale farmers to cut them down and grow cocoa.
This cocoa was then bought by middlemen who sold it on to large cocoa traders including Barry Callebaut and Cargill, companies which sell to Mars, Cadbury and Nestlé.
The action taken by the governments is very promising, Mighty Earth said, but will not succeed unless the cocoa traders and chocolate manufacturers put money into the effort.
“The big danger now is that the industry’s going to kick the can down the road and blame the Ghanaian and Ivorian governments and make them fix the problem without helping enough financially. But the people who have the money and the technical resources to fix it are the industry,” said Etelle Higonnet, the lead author of the Mighty Earth report.
Contacted by the Guardian, the chocolatiers Mars, the Hershey Company and Mondelez, the owners of Cadbury, did not say that they would commit any money to the governments’ plans; Mondelez pointed to its sustainable sourcing programme Cocoa Life, while Hershey said that more than 75% of the cocoa it buys is certified and sustainable, and that it would be at 100% by 2020. Mars said that “joint frameworks for action” would be released at the climate change conference, outlining “the key actions, time frames, and technical and financial commitments for forest protection and restoration in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.”
Under the Ivorian draft plans, which appear to be sanctioned by the prime minister’s office, these traders will each take responsibility for a number of degraded classified forests and turn them into densely shaded forest, organising farmers to plant trees while growing cocoa underneath them.
This is a far more sustainable way of growing the cocoa on which the Ghanaian and Ivorian economies rely than the current way, whereby many farmers cut down ancient trees to ensure their cocoa plantations have full sun.
As well as the effect that the decimation of west African rainforests has on global climate change, scientists say it also dramatically reduces rainfall. If current patterns continue, there will not be enough rain to grow cocoa at all.
The handful of Ivorian classified forests that have not lost swaths of trees will be upgraded to national parks, while one national park, Marahoué, is in such a bad condition that it will probably be downgraded, perhaps to a classified forest.
It is unclear who will pay for the Ivorian government’s plans. It expects the traders to pay, but has not made it clear what the consequences will be if they refuse. The number of people living inside protected areas makes it a complicated and fraught task: the government has faced accusations of human rights abuses for evicting thousands of cocoa farmers from Mont Péko national park.
In Ghana, meanwhile, the plans are far-reaching, and if enacted, could transform the landscape, though it is unclear whether those drafting them have sufficient clout or money to do so.
In addition to committing to no new deforestation, land and tree tenure reform, and transparency in the supply chain so that cocoa can be traced down to the farm gate level, ensuring that none of it comes from illegal protected areas, the government is also agreeing to the high carbon stock approach. This is a way of making decisions about land use that protects low as well as high-density forest, which means that more of Ghana’s forests can be salvaged.
However, there is still less clarity on how this will be funded than in the Ivory Coast. Cocoa prices in both countries have fallen by a third in the past year, and Ghana’s economy has been affected by low gold and oil prices too, as well as a fiscal crisis that that the IMF plugged with credit that so far totals $565m. Monitoring and replanting the forests will cost tens of millions the country will struggle to afford.
Chocolate companies and traders should pay, according to Higonnet.
“The companies need to pay for planting the trees next year. They’re likely to reap a $4bn windfall profit, because the price of chocolate bars has stayed the same but the price of cocoa is collapsing,” she said. “So what can they do with that extra money? Well, they can use it to plant trees.”
Many top players in the cocoa industry say they will release a “joint framework for action” with the governments on 17 November. But there is concern that a tightening in west Africa could just push the trade elsewhere.
“Cocoa is moving into these frontier forests,” Higonnet said, “ in central Africa, Indonesia and the Amazon – and we will keep reproducing the same disasters that we saw in west Africa unless we protect those forests now.”
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Ghana and Ivory Coast draw up plans to stop cocoa deforestation | The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are drawing up proposals to prevent deforestation, following an investigation by The Guardian into the environmental impact of the cocoa industry on these countries. The newspaper disclosed in September that cocoa linked to deforestation had entered the supply chains of Barry Callebaut and Cargill, which sell to Cadbury, Mars and Nestle, while environmental group Mighty Earth found illegally grown cocoa was also being used by Godiva and Hershey’s. It remains unclear whether either government has the power to make traders pay for their reforestation plans.
| http://www.mightyearth.org/chocolatesdarksecret/ | 2017-11-08 13:20:09.537000 | Cocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana responsible for the owoss of extensive forested areas, endangered chimpanzee and elephant habitat
WASHINGTON D.C.– A new investigation by Mighty Earth, “Chocolate’s Dark Secret,” finds that a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Mars, Nestle, Hershey’s, Godiva, and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally in national parks and other protected areas in Ivory Coast and Ghana. The countries are the world’s two largest cocoa producers.
The report documents how in several national parks and other protected areas, 90% or more of the land mass has been converted to cocoa. Less than four percent of Ivory Coast remains densely forested, and the chocolate companies’ laissez-faire approach to sourcing has driven extensive deforestation in Ghana as well. In Ivory Coast, deforestation has pushed chimpanzees into just a few small pockets, and reduced the country’s elephant population from several hundred thousand to about 200-400.
About half of the world cocoa market is controlled by just three companies: Cargill, Olam, and Barry Callebaut. The investigation traced how cocoa makes its way from growers in national parks, through middlemen, to these traders, who then sell it onto Europe and the United States where the world’s largest chocolate companies make it into truffles, bars, syrups, and myriad other chocolate treats.
“The extent to which big chocolate brands like Mars are linked to destruction of national parks and protected areas is shocking,” said Etelle Higonnet, Mighty Earth Campaign and Legal Director. “These companies need to take immediate action to end deforestation once and for all, and remediate past damage.”
With West Africa’s forests nearing exhaustion, the chocolate industry has begun to bring its model to other rainforest regions like the Peruvian Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia’s Paradise Forests.
“The ancient forests of our nation, once a paradise for wildlife like chimpanzees, leopards, hippopotamus, and elephants, have been degraded and deforested to the point that they’re almost entirely gone. This deforestation is due principally to the cultivation of cocoa. Our country has become dependent on a cocoa industry that destroys forests and the whole range of ecosystem services they offer the country. We must achieve a sustainable cocoa industry that respects forests and that actually benefits communities and the country’s economy. The big chocolate companies must make financial and technical contributions to support the government’s conservation efforts,” said SIGNO Kouamé Soulago Fernand, General Secretary ROSCIDET, a network of Ivorian NGOs specializing in environmental protection and sustainable development.
Our investigators found large villages of cocoa growers, in some cases consisting of tens of thousands of inhabitants, inside protected areas like national parks. We documented traders openly purchasing cocoa beans grown illegally inside these areas, which would then go on to be sold to most of the world’s largest chocolate companies. Despite many chocolate companies’ public sustainability initiatives, these practices have continued without any real change.
“The cocoa industry continues to exploit both forests and communities of West Africa for cocoa that is sold for large quantities of cheap, environmentally unsustainable cocoa beans. The low price of cocoa is costing us dearly here in Côte d’Ivoire in terms of deforestation and abuses of human rights. It is high time for the industry to start paying growers a living wage and to implement sustainable production practices to ensure the resilience of local ecosystems, because without forests we will all suffer and pay sooner or later,” said Sindou Bamba, General Coordinator of the Coalition of Ivorian Human Rights Actors (RAIDH).
On average, cocoa growers in Ivory Coast and Ghana are paid less than 80 cents (USD) per day and often work in dangerous conditions with long hours. Child labor is still prevalent throughout the industry, despite pledges by many chocolate companies to eliminate the practice.
The report comes at a time of unique opportunity for the chocolate industry to take real action for a more environmentally responsible future. Earlier this year, Prince Charles convened CEOs and senior leadership of 34 chocolate industry companies to begin to urge them to act on deforestation. The companies pledged to come up with a concrete plan by November’s climate summit in Bonn.
“This report shows that the chocolate industry’s long history of heralding their own commitment to sustainability hasn’t stopped them from engaging in egregious behavior,” said Higonnet. “Prince Charles has managed however to get the industry to finally start talking about doing something real, creating a unique moment in which change is possible.”
About Mighty Earth
Mighty Earth is a global environmental campaign organization that works to protect forests, conserve oceans, and address climate change. We work in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and North America to drive large-scale action towards environmentally responsible agriculture that protects native ecosystems, wildlife, and water, and respects local community rights. Mighty Earth’s global team has played a decisive role in persuading the world’s largest food and agriculture companies to dramatically improve their environmental and social policies and practices. More information on Mighty Earth can be found at https://www.mightyearth.org/.
Read the full report here. |
Asos launches chatbot on its Facebook page | As it faces growing competition from Amazon, Asos has launched a chatbot on its Facebook page, intended to provide a more personalised experience. The bot will assist shoppers in the UK and France with Christmas gift ideas on their site. The feature joins a slew of other recent innovations by the company, including customer profiling and a "Pay Later" service available through its app. The service encourages a try-before-you-buy mentality, allowing customers pay for items 30 days after the point of order; Amazon Prime Wardrobe offers a similar grace period.
| https://digiday.com/marketing/amazon-moves-fashion-asos-tries-stay-ahead-digital/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171108 | 2017-11-08 12:59:54.017000 | Fashion retailer Asos is testing new digital features, including a gifting assistant and a “pay later” feature.
The fashion company is launching a chatbot, created by Byte London, on its Facebook page on Nov. 8 for shoppers in the U.K. and France. Shoppers answer a series of questions, which the chatbot then uses to suggest potential gifts that are available on the site. Questions such as, “What item would most likely fall out of their bag?” will target the retailer’s younger shoppers.
The service will run throughout Christmas, yet it could form the basis of something bigger on the social network, given Asos’ ongoing experiments with artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, it began testing a virtual assistant, which helps customers search for products and keeps profiles on their personal data, including size and preferences.
Meanwhile, Asos is the latest retailer to jump on the try-before-you-buy trend.
Similar to Amazon Prime Wardrobe, shoppers who buy from the Asos app only pay for items they keep by selecting the “Pay Later” option to get 30 days to use either their credit or debit card to pay for the items they want.
But unlike Prime Wardrobe, which discourages people from making returns by offering discounts to those who keep a certain number of items, Asos’ focus is on shoppers who bail on buying clothes they may have to return.
The retailer said the service will appeal to customers who want to try on everything they’ve ordered and only pay for what they keep. Not being able to try on items before buying them has long been a challenge, so it made sense to explore a try-before-you-buy service in the U.K., said Nicola Thompson, Asos’ global trading director.
The retailer didn’t have the internal expertise to build its own flexible payment process like PayPal, for example, and doesn’t have ownership of its logistics process like Amazon. Instead, Asos worked with payments provider Klarna to offer the Pay Later feature following a successful run in Germany, where the financial firm let shoppers pay for their products up to 14 days after delivery. The retailer doesn’t break out specific metrics for the Klarna service, which it has used since 2013.
“The positive experience of flexible payment options in other territories, our belief in the Klarna service and a clear desire from customers made us confident that now would be a good time to launch,” Thompson said.
If customers know they don’t have to pay for products immediately, they could spend more time searching the app for clothes they might not have otherwise considered. As strong as dwell time is on the Asos app — users spend 80 minutes per month on average on it — the business has admitted that only a fraction of its catalog gets explored due to limitations in screen size, search and navigation.
No incentives are planned to drive adoption of Asos’ try-at-home feature, according to a company spokesperson. The retailer likes to bide its time before throwing marketing weight behind innovations, similar to its approach with its recently launched visual search feature.
Pay-later options are set to become a key battleground in online fashion sales, with Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Amazon already offering similar services. In Amazon’s case, it began testing its feature in the U.S. this summer, allowing Prime subscribers to order brands such as Hugo Boss, Adidas and Levi’s with no upfront charge. Customers have seven days to decide what they don’t want.
As Amazon expands the service to other markets, experts have noted that retailers like Asos, as big as they are, could feel the same pressure that has hit book publishers, broadcasters, supermarkets, consumer goods and others over the years. Analysts from investment banking firm Cowen & Co. expect Amazon’s clothing and accessory sales in the U.S. to grow by nearly 30 percent next year to $28 billion, making it the country’s biggest apparel seller. |
Young Kenyan farmers group double harvests using hydroponics | A group of young Kenyan farmers have turned to hydroponics to grow crops after discovering their local soil was contaminated. The 15-strong Esteem Eagles Welfare Youth Group received a KES419,000 ($4,050) grant from national government agency the Upper Tana Natural Resource Management Project and installed the system in June 2017. Because no fertilisers are used the crops are free of diseases and because they are not dependent on rainfall, they can be harvested three times a year. Group member Dennis Mutwiri said: “Now we get double the harvests we used to get when we planted on soil.”
| https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001259254/we-started-as-fun-group-now-we-re-a-force | 2017-11-08 12:51:23.703000 | Some of the Esteem Eagles Welfare Youth Group members at the greenhouse in Meru South. [Peter Muthomi, Standard]
Tired of looking for elusive white-collar jobs, a group of young farmers decided to think out of the box. The 15-member group named ‘Esteem Eagles Welfare Youth Group’ started farming together. Initially it was a merry-go round, before they decided to pool resources and venture into greenhouse farming.
“We started out as a fun group doing picnics together. Since most of us did not have stable jobs, we decided to pool resources and focus on hydroponic farming because the bad soils could not allow us to do conventional farming,” says Stephen Kamau, a member. Hydroponics is a modern system of farming where plants are grown in liquid, sand, gravel with added nutrients but without use of soil. After deliberations the group approached the National Government’s Youth Fund in February 2014 for assistance.
“We wrote a proposal and were given Sh358,000 for a greenhouse,” says Kamau. In 2015, the members planted tomatoes and the result were disastrous.
“The soils were contaminated. We had to uproot the crop and re-planted in pots. Most of the crops failed because of bacterial wilt,” Dennis Mutwiri, a member recalls. The members resorted to fetching new soils from Kiraro, part of Mount Kenya forest, 20 kilometres away, an energy sapping activity.
“Though we re-planted the crops in the new soils we were only able to redeem a small fraction,” Kamau says.
Since the soils in their area were toxic, an idea to explore hydroponics came up. They wrote a proposal for funding from the Upper Tana Natural Resource Management Project, a national government agency. The agency gave them a Sh419,000 hydroponic system. The members attended training at Chuka University last year, and in June they installed the system.
“Now we get double the harvests we used to get when we planted on soil,” Mutwiri says. County agriculture officer Samuel Mutuma says because no manure is used in hydroponics chances crops thrive because they are free of diseases.The idea has flourished the members are now economically stable.
“We are doing well. Unlike others who depend on rainfall and soils, we are able to harvest several times a year. We always have a ready market. When the other farmers exit the market we are always in the market!” he says. |
Seven global megatrends could avert climate disaster | Seven global mega-trends might enable humanity to avert the worst consequences of global warming, according to an op-ed in The Guardian that cites formerUN climate chief Christiana Figueres, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance Michael Liebreich and climate economist Nicholas Stern. The trends include: low environmental footprint plant-based meat, increasing use of renewable energy, the death of coal, greater use of electric cars, increased battery storage and greater energy efficiency. Deforestation is the largest mega-trend not yet moving in the right direction, but better land management and forest planting could reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/08/seven-megatrends-that-could-beat-global-warming-climate-change | 2017-11-08 12:50:00.037000 | ‘Everybody gets paralysed by bad news because they feel helpless,” says Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who delivered the landmark Paris climate change agreement. “It is so in our personal lives, in our national lives and in our planetary life.”
But it is becoming increasingly clear that it does not need to be all bad news: a series of fast-moving global megatrends, spurred by trillion-dollar investments, indicates that humanity might be able to avert the worst impacts of global warming. From trends already at full steam, including renewable energy, to those just now hitting the big time, such as mass-market electric cars, to those just emerging, such as plant-based alternatives to meat, these trends show that greenhouse gas emissions can be halted.
“If we were seeing linear progress, I would say good, but we’re not going to make it in time,” says Figueres, now the convener of the Mission 2020 initiative, which warns that the world has only three years to get carbon emissions on a downward curve and on the way to beating global warming. “But the fact is we are seeing progress that is growing exponentially, and that is what gives me the most reason for hope.”
No one is saying the battle to avert catastrophic climate change – floods, droughts, famine, mass migrations – has been won. But these megatrends show the battle has not yet been lost, and that the tide is turning in the right direction. “The important thing is to reach a healthy balance where we recognise that we are seriously challenged, because we really have only three years left to reach the tipping point,” says Figueres. “But at the same time, the fact is we are already seeing many, many positive trends.”
Michael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, agrees. “The good news is we are way better than we thought we could be. We are not going to get through this without damage. But we can avoid the worst. I am optimistic, but there is a long way to go.”
Also cautiously hopeful is climate economist Nicholas Stern at the London School of Economics. “These trends are the start of something that might be enough – the two key words are ‘start’ and ‘might’.” He says the global climate negotiations, continuing this week in Germany and aiming to implement the Paris deal, are crucial: “The acceleration embodied in the Paris agreement is going to be critical.”
THE TRENDS
1. Methane: getting to the meat
A lab-grown burger. Photograph: David Parry/PA
Carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is the main greenhouse gas, but methane and nitrous oxide are more potent and, unlike CO 2 , still rising. The major source is livestock farming, in particular belching cattle and their manure.
The world’s appetite for meat and dairy foods is rising as people’s incomes rise, but the simple arithmetic is that unless this is radically curbed, there is no way to beat global warming. The task looks daunting – people hate being told what to eat. However, just in the last year, a potential solution has burst on to the market: plant-based meat, which has a tiny environmental footprint.
What sounds like an oxymoron – food that looks and tastes just as good as meat or dairy products but is made from plants – has attracted heavy investment. The buzz is particularly loud in the US, where Bill Gates has backed two plant-based burger companies and Eric Schmidt, formerly CEO of Google, believes plant-based foods can make a “meaningful dent” in tackling climate change.
Perhaps even more telling is that major meat and dairy companies are now piling in with investments and acquisitions, such as the US’s biggest meat processor, Tyson, and multinational giants Danone and Nestlé. The Chinese government has just put $300m (£228m) into Israeli companies producing lab-grown meat, which could also cut emissions.
New plant-based products, from chicken to fish to cheese, are coming out every month. “We are in the nascent stage,” says Alison Rabschnuk at the US nonprofit group the Good Food Institute. “But there’s a lot of money moving into this area.”
Plant-based meat and dairy produce is not only environmentally friendly, but also healthier and avoids animal welfare concerns, but these benefits will not make them mass-market, she says: “We don’t believe that is what is going to make people eat plant-based food. We believe the products themselves need to be competitive on taste, price and convenience – the three attributes people use when choosing what to eat.”
Plant-based milks – soya, almond, oat and more – have led the way and are now about 10% of the market and a billion-dollar business in the US. But in the past year, sales of other meat and dairy substitutes have climbed 8%, with some specific lines, such as yoghurt, shooting up 55%. “I think the writing’s on the wall,” says Rabschnuk. Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson agrees. “I believe that in 30 years or so we will no longer need to kill any animals and that all meat will either be [lab] or plant-based, taste the same and also be much healthier for everyone.”
2. Renewable energy: time to shine
Solar panel installation. Photograph: Kristian Buus/Corbis via Getty Images
The most advanced of the megatrends is the renewable energy revolution. Production costs for solar panels and wind turbines have plunged, by 90% in the past decade for solar, for example, and are continuing to fall. As a result, in many parts of the world they are already the cheapest electricity available and installation is soaring: two-thirds of all new power in 2016 was renewable.
This extraordinary growth has confounded expectations: the respected International Energy Agency’s annual projections have anticipated linear growth for solar power every year for the past decade. In reality, growth has been exponential. China is leading the surge but the impact is being felt around the world: in Germany last week there was so much wind power that customers got free electricity.
In the US, enthusiasm for green energy has not been dented by President Donald Trump committing to repeal key climate legislation: $30bn has been invested since he signed an executive order in March. “I am no longer concerned about electric power,” says Figueres.
3. King coal: dead or dying
The flipside of the renewables boom is the death spiral of coal, the filthiest of fossil fuels. Production now appears to have peaked in 2013. The speed of its demise has stunned analysts. In 2013, the IEA expected coal-burning to grow by 40% by 2040 – today it anticipates just 1%.
The cause is simple: solar and wind are cheaper. But the consequences are enormous: in pollution-choked China, there are now no provinces where new coal is needed, so the country has just mothballed plans for 151 plants. Bankruptcies have torn through the US coal industry and in the UK, where coal-burning began the industrial revolution, it has fallen from 40% of power supply to 2% in the past five years.
“Last year, I said if Asia builds what it says it is going to build, we can kiss goodbye to 2C” – the internationally agreed limit for dangerous climate change – says Liebreich. “Now we are showing coal [plans] coming down.” But he warns there is more to do.
Solar and wind are cheaper than new coal, he says, but a second tipping point is needed. That will occur when renewables are cheaper to build than running existing coal plants, meaning that the latter shut down. If renewable costs continue to fall as expected, this would happen between 2030 and 2040. At that point, says Liebrich, “Why keep digging coal out of the ground when you could just put up solar?”
4. Electric cars: in the fast lane
Vehicles being charged at China’s leading maker of electric cars, BYD Co, in Shenzhen, China. Photograph: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Slashing oil use – a third of all global energy – is a huge challenge but a surging market for battery-powered cars is starting to bite, driven in significant part by fast-growing concerns about urban air pollution.
China, again, is leading the way. It is selling as many electric cars every month as Europe and the US combined, with many from home-grown companies such as BYD. US-based Tesla is rolling out its more affordable Model 3 and in recent months virtually all major carmakers have committed to an electric future, with Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover announcing that they will end production of pure fossil-fuelled cars within three years.
“We have a domino effect now,” says Figueres. These cars are “now being made for the mass market and that is really what is going to make the transformation”.
“I don’t think it is going to slow down,” says Viktor Irle, an analyst at EV-volumes.com. Drivers can see the direction of travel, he says, with a stream of choked cities and countries from Paris to India announcing future bans on fossil-fuelled cars.
It is true that global sales of electric cars have now achieved liftoff, quadrupling in the past three years, but they still make up only 1.25% of all new car sales. However, if current growth rates continue, as Irle expects, 80% of new cars will be electric by 2030.
The rapid rise of electric cars has left the oil giants, who have a lot to lose, playing catchup. The oil cartel Opec has increased its estimate of the number of electric cars operative in 2040 by five times in the past year alone, with the IEA, ExxonMobil and BP all bumping up their forecasts too. Heavy transport remains a challenge, but even here ships are experimenting with wind power and batteries. Short-haul electric airplanes are on the drawing board, too.
5. Batteries: lots in store
A lithium-ion battery. Photograph: Alamy
Batteries are key to electric cars and, by storing energy for when the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing, they are also vital when it comes to enabling renewable energy to reach its full potential. Here too, a megatrend is crushing prices for lithium-ion batteries, which are down 75% over the past six years. The International Renewable Energy Agency expects further falls of 50-66% by 2030 and a massive increase in battery storage, linked to increasingly smart and efficient digital power grids. In the UK alone, government advisers say a smart grid could save bill-payers £8bn a year by 2030, as well as slashing carbon emissions.
Fears that lithium-ion, the technology that dominates today, cannot be scaled up sufficiently are overblown, argues Liebreich, as the metal is not rare. “I think lithium-ion is a banker in that you can be sure it will get cheaper and you can be sure there is enough.” He is also frustrated by frequent claims that a grid based on renewables and storage cannot be cheap and reliable: “That stupidity and absolute certainty is in inverse proportion to any knowledge of how you run an electrical system.”
It is true, however, that batteries will not be the solution for energy storage over weeks or months. For that, long-distance electricity interconnectors are being built and the storage of the energy as gas is also being explored.
6. Efficiency: negawatts over megawatts
A zero-carbon house. Photograph: Alamy
Just as important as the greening of energy is reducing demand by boosting energy efficiency. It’s a no-brainer in climate policy, but it can be very tricky to make happen, as it requires action from millions of people.
Nonetheless, good progress is being made in places such as the EU, where efficiency in homes, transport and industry has improved by about 20% since 2000. Improving the efficiency of gadgets and appliances through better standards is surprisingly important: a new UN Environment Programme report shows it makes the biggest impact of any single action bar rolling out wind and solar power.
But again, continued progress is vital. “We need to drive energy efficiency very, very hard, even for European countries,” says Prof Kevin Anderson at the University of Manchester. “We could power down European energy use by about 40% in something like 10-15 years, just by making the most efficient appliances available the new minimum.”
In countries with cool winters, better insulation is also needed, particularly as a fossil fuel – natural gas – currently provides a lot of heating. “What is a crime is every time a building is renovated but not renovated to really high standards,” says Liebreich, who thinks labelling such homes as “zero-energy-bill” homes, not “zero-carbon” homes, would help overcome opposition.
One sector that is lagging on energy efficiency is industry, but technology to capture and bury CO2 from plants is being tested and ways to clean up cement-making are also being explored.
7. Forests: seeing the wood
The destruction of forests around the world for ranching and farming, as well as for timber, causes about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is the biggest megatrend not yet pointing in the right direction: annual tree losses have roughly doubled since 2000.
This is particularly worrying as stopping deforestation and planting new trees is, in theory at least, among the cheapest and fastest ways of cutting carbon emissions. But it is not getting the support it needs, says Michael Wolosin at Forest Climate Analytics. “Climate policy is massively underfunding forests – they receive only about 2% of global climate finance.” Furthermore, the $2.3bn committed to forests by rich nations and multilateral institutions since 2010 is tiny compared with the funding for the sectors that drive deforestation. “Brazil and Indonesia’s governments alone invested $276bn in the same timeframe, in just the four key driver commodities: palm oil, soy, beef and timber,” says Franziska Haupt at Climate Focus.
In fact, new research has shown that better land management could deliver a third of all the carbon cuts the world needs, and Wolosin says there are some grounds for hope that new forests can be planted. “Achieving large-scale forestation is not just theoretical. We know we can do it because a few countries have done it successfully.”
In the past two decades, tree-planting in China, India and South Korea has removed more than 12bn tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere – three times the entire European Union’s annual emissions, Wolosin says. This action was driven by fears about flooding and food supply, meaning that global warming needs to be seen as equally urgent in this sector. Regrowing forests can also play a crucial role in sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere, which is likely to be necessary after 2050, unless very sharp cuts are made now.
The race against time
Will these megatrends move fast enough to avoid the worst of climate change? Opinions vary and Anderson is among the most hawkish. He says it remains possible for now, but is pessimistic that the action will be taken. “We’re pointing in the right direction but not moving [there]. We have to not just pursue renewables and electric vehicles and so forth, we have to actively close down the incumbent fossil fuel industry.”
Stern is cautiously optimistic, saying that what has changed in recent years is the realisation that green economic growth is the only long-term option: “There is no long-run high-carbon growth story because it creates an environment so hostile that it turns development backwards.
“There are some tremendous developments so I am very confident now we can do this, but the change, attractive as it is, has to be radical,” he says. “Will we have the political and economic understanding and commitment to get there? I hope so.” |
Chinese edtech Yixue offers AI-powered personalised learning | Chinese K12 online education company Yixue has raised CNY270m ($41m) in an angel round of investment. The edtech company uses AI to provide tailored educational programmes and has partnered with more than 100 schools in China. The company's founder, Li Haoyang, said: "With AI, we can adjust teaching strategies in real time to achieve personalised learning, more efficient than one-to-one teaching with teachers." The angel investors included SIG, Nokia Growth Partners and New Oriental Education, according to local media.
| https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2017/11/08/chinese-artificial-intelligence-powered-educational-firm-yixue-education-completes-41m-angel-round | 2017-11-08 12:33:44.637000 | Yixue Education, a Chinese K12 online education company, has raised RMB270 million (US$41 million) in an angel round from SIG, Nokia Growth Partners, New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc. and Greenwood Investment, local media reports. |
Sunflower oil microcapsules create ‘self-healing’ roads | A scientist at the University of Nottingham has developed a new "self-healing" material for road surfaces incorporating tiny capsules filled with sunflower oil. Dr Alvaro Garcia was inspired to investigate the use of microcapsules after seeing a culinary technique called spherification on the Spanish version of the "MasterChef" TV programme. When the new material cracks, the capsules release the oil, which softens the asphalt and sticks it back together. The research has been funded by England's highways agency, and Dr Garcia believes it could extend a road's lifespan by up to a third. | https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2017/october/masterchef-inspires-engineer-to-cook-up-a-new-recipe-for-self-healing-roads.aspx | 2017-11-08 12:07:36.603000 | When roads start to crack, the capsules break open and release the oil within, softening the asphalt around it. This helps the asphalt ‘stick’ back together, effectively filling in cracks and preventing small defects from deteriorating further. Dr Garcia who is heading up the research, has named his new ‘recipe’ Capheal – a pioneering, world-leading technology based on microcapsules of sunflower oil, which can be combined in asphalt mixes to improve the self-healing abilities of roads.
Dr Garcia watched one of the show’s contestants use the spherification technique, which is the controlled jellification of a liquid to form spheres that resemble caviar when submerged in a bath. This is when he lit upon the idea of placing capsules of oil in asphalt, a material used for surfacing roads.
Dr Alvaro Garcia, a lecturer with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham, has hit on a recipe for success by drawing inspiration from the Spanish version of the popular MasterChef series and come up with an innovative method, which uses sunflower oil to repair roads.
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Dr Garcia said, ‘Our preliminary results showed that the capsules can resist the mixing and compaction processes without significantly reducing the physical and mechanical properties of asphalt and they also increased its durability. More importantly, we found that the cracked asphalt samples were restored to their full strength, two days after the sunflower oil was released.’
Sunflower oil can reverse the effects of ageing in bitumen used in asphalt by reducing the viscosity of the binder. The microcapsules created by Dr Garcia and his team, help to reduce the amount of other healing agents used because they can be activated in precise areas when required, thus avoiding the need to be mixed up in bulk.
Dr Garcia and his team are based at the Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC), the UK's foremost university-based research organisation in pavement engineering, infrastructure asset management and sustainability. He estimates that Capheal could increase a road’s lifespan by at least one-third from 12 to 16 years and costs about the same as other additives that are commonly used in asphalt paving. In a report in Auto Express, Alan Mackenzie, the former chairman of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) said, ‘Our local roads are an asset worth in excess of £400 billion but, at present, less than one percent of their value is being spent annually on maintenance.’ The AIA’s 2017 ALARM survey showed that a total of 1.7 million potholes were filled on local authority roads in England and Wales during 2016. Based on these figures, it is estimated that Capheal could potentially reduce the annual costs for major road repairs by £260 million per annum.
Speaking about the advantage Capheal offers over other self-healing technologies, Dr Garcia said, ‘I previously worked on developing self-healing roads in the Netherlands and Switzerland that featured metal fibres. An induction heater would pass over the surface to melt the bitumen and fill in cracks in the roads, but the problem with that is you need a large machine, which is expensive and requires a road to be closed to traffic.
‘We needed a different way to create self-healing roads - without the use of an external aid, so I decided to design capsules containing oil that can break by themselves when the mechanical loading on a carriageway caused it to crack.’
At present, the NTEC team is refining the geometry of the microcapsules to better understand how they degrade over time. They will go on to develop capsules with varying degrees of strength to see how they perform under different types of stresses to determine their suitability for a range of asphalt mixes and traffic conditions. The team is also looking into recycling cooking oil to reduce the viscosity of binders in asphalt.
This research project is being funded by Highways England, a government-owned company which operates, maintains and improves England's motorways and major A roads. Senior Pavements Advisor Robin Griffiths said, ‘We know road users want good quality road surfaces, with fewer potholes and not as many roadworks disrupting their journeys. This self-healing technology could give them that and offer real value for money.
‘So far the Nottingham University research we have funded is showing real potential in how easy it is to mix and apply, as well as being sustainable and environmentally friendly.
‘Now we have to test the material on small patches of road, to see how it copes with the stresses and strains of daily traffic and the British weather. The safety of the travelling public will be integral as we take this work forward with the University.’
NTEC’s team is near the end of the initial stage of the project with the successful completion of laboratory tests and pilot trials. After this, Highways England will test bed Capheal on carefully selected sections of a road during planned overnight maintenance work. This will be followed by a monitoring period of about 12 to 24 months to determine Capheal’s level of durability and endurance.
— Ends —
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Sunflower oil microcapsules create ‘self-healing’ roads | A scientist at the University of Nottingham has developed a new "self-healing" material for road surfaces incorporating tiny capsules filled with sunflower oil. Dr Alvaro Garcia was inspired to investigate the use of microcapsules after seeing a culinary technique called spherification on the Spanish version of the "MasterChef" TV programme. When the new material cracks, the capsules release the oil, which softens the asphalt and sticks it back together. The research has been funded by England's highways agency, and Dr Garcia believes it could extend a road's lifespan by up to a third. | https://www.theengineer.co.uk/masterchef-self-healing-road/ | 2017-11-08 12:07:36.603000 | An episode of MasterChef inspired a researcher from the University Nottingham to develop a new technology for repairing cracks in road surfaces.
After watching a contestant on the Spanish version of the show use a technique known as spherification (the controlled jellification of a liquid to form spheres), Dr Alvaro Garcia, from the Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC), began exploring how the addition of microcapsules of oil to asphalt could be used to create self-repairing road surfaces.
The idea is that as cracks appear in the road the capsules break open, releasing the oil within and softening the asphalt around it. This helps the asphalt ‘stick’ back together, effectively filling in cracks and preventing small defects from deteriorating further.
Working with funding from Highways England, Garcia’s team has created and carried laboratory tests on microcapsules filled with sunflower oil. Commenting on the research Garcia said, ‘Our preliminary results showed that the capsules can resist the mixing and compaction processes without significantly reducing the physical and mechanical properties of asphalt and they also increased its durability. More importantly, we found that the cracked asphalt samples were restored to their full strength, two days after the sunflower oil was released.’
Sunflower oil can reverse the effects of ageing in bitumen used in asphalt by reducing the viscosity of the binder. The microcapsules created by Dr Garcia and his team, help to reduce the amount of other healing agents used because they can be activated in precise areas when required, thus avoiding the need to be mixed up in bulk.
Garcia estimates that the material – which he has named Capheal - could increase a road’s lifespan by at least one-third from 12 to 16 years and costs about the same as other additives that are commonly used in asphalt paving.
He added that is has potential advantages over other road healing technologies, which often rely on additional equipment. "I previously worked on developing self-healing roads in the Netherlands and Switzerland that featured metal fibres,” said Garcia. “An induction heater would pass over the surface to melt the bitumen and fill in cracks in the roads, but the problem with that is you need a large machine, which is expensive and requires a road to be closed to traffic.”
NTEC’s team is near the end of the initial stage of the project with the successful completion of laboratory tests and pilot trials. After this, Highways England will test bed Capheal on carefully selected sections of a road during planned overnight maintenance work. This will be followed by a monitoring period of about 12 to 24 months to determine Capheal’s level of durability and endurance.
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MIT teams wins architecture prize in Mars City Design competition | An MIT team's concept for a populated city on Mars called Redwood Forest has claimed first prize in the architecture section of the Mars City Design 2017 competition. Using an interdisciplinary approach that uses water taken from the Martian polar ice caps to supply tree-like habitats, MIT's design consists of large surface domes that contain the trees, with tunnels connecting the domes. Living quarters would be situated underground directly beneath each dome and an entire city could hold up to 10,000 residents, with each individual dome housing 50 residents.
| https://newatlas.com/mars-city-design-redwood-forest/52018/ | 2017-11-08 12:06:30.183000 | Most plans for Mars bases make becoming a colonist about as desirable as setting up house in an oil drum, but an MIT team has come up with a plan for a Mars city based on the architecture of a tree. Taking out first place in the Architecture section of the Mars City Design 2017 competition, the Redwood Forest concept is intended to provide settlers with not only protection against the harsh Martian environment, but open public spaces filled with plants and abundant water.
As Sir Elton John said, Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids. Though the Red Planet is the most habitable of the planets, aside from our own, in the Solar System, it is still a terribly hostile place. The nighttime temperatures put the Antarctic to shame, the air is only a hundredth the pressure of Earth's and is composed mostly of carbon dioxide, deadly UV radiation rains down during the day, and cosmic rays are present 24/7. It's also dry to the point where the soil is composed of corrosive substances with very unpleasant properties.
Due to these drawbacks, it's difficult to come up with designs for manned outposts that don't look like a collection of tins that make the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station look like a luxury resort. To break away from this stereotype, the MIT team of nine students led by MIT postdoc Valentina Sumini and Assistant Professor Caitlin Mueller took an interdisciplinary approach that uses location and system architecture, as well as water harvested from the Martian polar ice caps to supply tree-like habitats, for a design capable of housing 10,000 inhabitants in shirt-sleeve comfort.
The habitats include an intricate network of subsurface tunnels MIT
At first glance, the MIT habitats don't look very tree-like. They look more like giant glass balls sitting on the Martian plains, each housing 50 people. But, like real trees, much of the habitat is below the surface in the form of intricate tunnels that connect the spheres and provide protection from cold, radiation, micrometeorites, and other surface hazards.
"On Mars, our city will physically and functionally mimic a forest, using local Martian resources such as ice and water, regolith or soil, and sun to support life," says Sumini. "Designing a forest also symbolizes the potential for outward growth as nature spreads across the Martian landscape. Each tree habitat incorporates a branching structural system and an inflated membrane enclosure, anchored by tunneling roots. The design of a habitat can be generated using a computational form-finding and structural optimization workflow developed by the team. The design workflow is parametric, which means that each habitat is unique and contributes to a diverse forest of urban spaces."
The habitats rely heavily on water, but not just for drinking, agriculture, or public fountains. It's a key ingredient in making the domes habitable.
Left to right: Team members George Lordos, Alpha Arsano, Caitlin Mueller, and Valentina Sumini MIT
"Every tree habitat in Redwood Forest will collect energy from the sun and use it to process and transport the water throughout the tree, and every tree is designed as a water-rich environment," says Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics doctoral student George Lordos. "Water fills the soft cells inside the dome providing protection from radiation, helps manage heat loads, and supplies hydroponic farms for growing fish and greens. Solar panels produce energy to split the stored water for the production of rocket fuel, oxygen, and for charging hydrogen fuel cells, which are necessary to power long-range vehicles as well as provide backup energy storage in case of dust storms."
The team believes that the Mars tree habitats could find a niche on Earth as well, at high latitudes, deserts and the sea floor, for example. In addition, the hydroponics technology could provide city dwellers with fresh food and the tunnels could be used to ease congestion in urban areas.
The team took out first place in the Architecture section of the 2017 Mars City Design competition
Source: MIT |
New record-low solar price set in Chile auction | Chile's latest energy auction has set a new record low price for solar PV, with a bid from Italian company Enel's local subsidiary coming in at just $21.48/MWh. Overall, the government of Chile secured an average price of $32.5/MWh, which is a 75% fall from the beginning of its auction programme in 2015. Consumer prices will fall by nearly 50% as a result, according to the country's energy minister. The previous lowest solar price was set in the UAE earlier this year, and this latest record may be broken in Saudi Arabia this month. | http://reneweconomy.com.au/chile-solar-auction-sets-new-record-low-for-solar-pv-85114/ | 2017-11-08 11:47:04.060000 | The latest energy auction in Chile has set a new record low for solar PV, with one bid by the local subsidiary of Italian outfit, Enel, coming in at just $US21.48/MWh ($A28/MWh).
The result beats the previous record low of $US24.20 set in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, although it could be beaten by Saudi Arabia’s first auction, should the early results of a tender that secured an offer of $US17.90/MWh be verified later this month.
Either way, the Chile government is happy with the result, which secured an average price of $US32.5/MWh for 600MW of solar and wind capacity, expected to produce around 2,200GWh. This is a 75 per cent fall since its auction program began in 2015.
The Chile government says it will mean consumer prices fall by nearly 50 per cent once all the new projects are completed and online in 2024.
“This price of energy is a milestone in the sector,” energy minister Andrés Rebelled said in a statement accompanying the results. (See here in Spanish).
In 2014 “the goal proposed by President Bachelet was to lower energy prices by 25 per cent, today we can say with great calm, transparency and joy, that we have managed to lower the price of energy by 75 per cent in the last three years.”
Andrés Romero, the executive secretary of the National Energy Commission, said households currently pay around $US90/MWh. “Now, with this tender, we expect that these new contracts will gradually go down at prices in around $US50, which will go directly benefit of households. ”
Reuters reported that the lowest bid came from Enel, a part owner of one of the biggest solar farms under construction in Australia, the 220MW Bungala solar project in South Australia.
The second-lowest bid came from GPG Solar Chile, a unit of Spanish power and gas utility Gas Natural Fenosa, which offered $US24.80/MWh for the same block. |
Interaxon goes after meditation market with Muse EEG headband | Canadian company Interaxon is seeking to increase take-up of its EEG-sensing headband Muse by health professionals who provide meditation services. The firm, which recently raised $11.6m (CAD14.8m) in a funding round, will use the investment to expand into corporate wellness programmes and offer its technology to business and athletics coaches, as well as to mental health professionals. Interaxon's CEO, Derek Luke, said the firm was "uniquely positioned to harness the potential of its brain interface into the consumer, professional and wellness markets". Interaxon also said Muse is being considered as a control device by virtual reality developers.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/116m-eeg-wearable-maker-interaxon-goes-after-mental-health-professionals-corporate-wellness | 2017-11-08 11:36:37.663000 | Toronto-based Interaxon, creator of the Muse EEG-sensing headband, has raised $11.6 million ($14.8 million CAD) in a round led by Trend Forward Capital, Export Development Canada, and OMERS Ventures. Epic Capital Management and Bridge Builders Collaborative also contributed to the round.
Interaxon raised $287,000 for Muse in late 2012 and officially launched the product in 2014, one of a handful of consumer-focused EEG wearables entering the market around that time. Since then, in addition to its direct-to-consumer marketing, the company has made several enterprise plays. For instance, the company has an offering for mental health professionals that allows them to quantify and track clients' meditation habits.
“Meditation has become a billion-dollar business, and Muse is unique in that it provides a hardware device with insight into brain activity to help consumers build a meditation practice,” Derek Luke, Interaxon CEO, said in a statement. “The ability to benchmark and measure progress has been particularly attractive not only to consumers but also leaders of corporate wellness programs, mental health professionals, and business and athletic coaches. With this investment, Interaxon is uniquely positioned to harness the potential of its brain interface into the consumer, professional, and wellness markets, creating a vibrant services-based platform positioned for growth.”
Interaxon plans to use the new funding to build out that clinical market, as well as a software as a service offering for corporate wellness. The company is also making Muse available to developers. Among other things, according to a release from the company, virtual reality researchers are looking at using the headband as a control mechanism for virtual reality experiences.
Interaxon also announced last year that it is partnering with Safilo, an Italian eyeglasses brand, to create glasses with built-in sensors, starting with sunglasses for athletes that include EEG, a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis magnetometer, a UV sensor, a temperature gauge, and a pressure sensor.
"We’ve been providing superior vision and safety through our market-leading goggles and helmets for more than 50 years and are excited to add cognitive training and conditioning to our offering," Thorsten Brandt, general manager of Safilo’s sports and outdoor lifestyle brands, said in a statement at the time. "Active consumers at all levels intuitively understand the importance of finding their focus, yet up until now, there haven’t been a lot of products that help you up your mental game. We believe our collaboration with Interaxon is truly unique and something our customers will love. This is a first in bringing together innovative products that beautifully blend technology, form, and style.”
Finally, Muse has also become something of a favorite of researchers, used in brain research at more than a hundred hospitals and universities for studies of pain, PTSD, fatigue, and more — as well as mindfulness and meditation. |
Redrow First phase of 950-home development to be built by Redrow | UK house builder Redrow is drawing up plans to construct about 300 properties as part of a £110m ($144m), 950-home development in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. Edward Irving, the land director for Redrow Homes South Midlands, said the company would be submitting a reserved matters planning application for 299 homes, 30 of which would be affordable housing. Work is expected to start on the development next summer.
| http://www.buildingconstructiondesign.co.uk/news/redrow-homes-planned-for-former-quarry-in-leighton-buzzard/ | 2017-11-08 11:18:08.973000 | The first phase of a new 950 home community in Leighton Buzzard is to be created by Redrow.
The award-winning housebuilder has exchanged contracts with Arnold White Estates to acquire part of the former Chamberlains Barn Quarry, in Heath Road, and is drawing up plans to build almost 300 homes.
The wider 95 hectare site has outline planning permission for up to 950 new homes plus a school, local centre, a country park, play areas and will form part of the Eastern Leighton Linslade Urban Extension Scheme.
Edward Irving, land director for Redrow Homes (South Midlands), said:
“We’re very excited to be involved in such a high profile project to bring the redundant quarry site back into good use to provide much needed new homes. Ensuring that new neighbourhoods have the facilities and infrastructure people want and need is key and the wider scheme will have amenities that will benefit the whole community, including an abundance of open space and a school. Both of these factors ranked highly in a Redrow research report earlier this year, ‘Creating Britain’s new communities’. “We’re currently finalising our plans and will soon be submitting a reserved matters planning application for 299 homes from our Arts & Crafts inspired Heritage Collection which combines traditional exteriors with bright, modern interiors.”
Redrow’s plans include 30 affordable homes, as well as 269 private sale properties which would offer a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom homes.
The Heath Road scheme would have a gross development value of around £110 million.
Subject to planning, Redrow hopes to start construction work on site in summer 2018.
Redrow is currently building and selling homes from its Heritage Collection nearby at Caddington Woods, between Chaul End and Caddington, in Central Bedfordshire and at Weston Grove, Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire. |
Smart-beta ETF market enters slowdown as passive dominance grows | The number of smart-beta exchange-traded funds being launched is declining as investors continue to pour money into low-cost passive strategies. The number of smart-beta offerings set to be launched in 2017 is likely to be the lowest since 2014, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs. In 2015 and 2016 these offerings took off with 107 and 91 ETFs launched, respectively. Pressure on fees is also being billed as a reason for the slowdown.
| http://uk.businessinsider.com/smart-beta-etfs-slowing-active-vs-passive-debate-2017-11 | 2017-11-08 10:43:27.550000 | The "smart beta" fund industry, a kind of hybrid between active and passive fund management, boomed in 2015 and 2016, with close to 200 funds launched in 24 months.
But the business has gotten increasingly competitive, and its year-over-year growth is slowing.
As smart beta decelerates, many in the investing industry will face the ongoing question about how to remain competitive, and the answer is probably to cut fees.
As the battle between active money managers and their computer-driven passive counterparts has raged for years, one investment strategy has served as a compromise of sorts.
Known as "smart beta," it takes the passive approach of mirroring an index and combines it with the more analytical practice of stock picking. And that fundamental overlay usually adheres to a predetermined investment style, such as low-volatility or high-growth.
The ability to straddle that line has translated into an area of serious growth for exchange-traded fund providers looking to capture the massive flow of capital into passive strategies while also proving their bona fides as active managers.
But unfortunately for those providers looking to break into smart beta, the window to get involved appears to be closing. Only 36 new smart-beta funds have been launched this year, on pace for the lowest annual number since 2014, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs.
The growth of smart-beta exchange-traded fund launches is on pace to slow this year. Goldman Sachs / Morningstar
'Smart beta ETFs are facing increasing pressure'
"The economics in smart beta ETFs are facing increasing pressure," a group of analysts led by Alexander Blostein wrote in a client note. "Market share is ultimately consolidating among top players, fees are migrating lower and the limited success of several recent launches could discourage others from entering the space."
Goldman offers three clear-cut reasons that fund managers may be discouraged from entering the smart-beta space:
New entrants into the space — The smart-beta heyday of 2015 and 2016, when roughly 100 new funds were launched each year, saw loads of new providers get into smart beta. That creates a considerable barrier to entry for an already-inundated area.
— The smart-beta heyday of 2015 and 2016, when roughly 100 new funds were launched each year, saw loads of new providers get into smart beta. That creates a considerable barrier to entry for an already-inundated area. The biggest providers are continuing to grow — BlackRock, Vanguard, Invesco, WisdomTree, and State Street are the big dogs of the ETF world. The massive amount of capital they've accrued gives them a big advantage in both bringing new funds to market and consolidating with other firms.
— BlackRock, Vanguard, Invesco, WisdomTree, and State Street are the big dogs of the ETF world. The massive amount of capital they've accrued gives them a big advantage in both bringing new funds to market and consolidating with other firms. Fee rates are trending lower — Goldman finds that "fee pressures are accelerating significantly," which will make it more difficult for new entrants to break into the ETF marketplace.
With forays into the universe of smart beta looking decreasingly appealing, managers using an active stock-picking component must find a way to adapt. After all, just because smart beta is slowing doesn't mean passive investment is.
The huge shift to passive management from active
According to the EPFR, passive equity funds have seen global inflows of $620 billion in the past 12 months, while active funds have seen outflows of $359 billion. In terms of sheer size, the combined assets of US ETFs hit $3.1 trillion in August, increasing roughly $700 billion in a single year, according to Investment Company Institute data.
A huge part of this divergence stems from a factor mentioned in the third bullet above: Passive funds are cheaper. With the opportunity in smart beta shrinking, perhaps it's time for active managers to stop trying to combine their efforts with passive funds and start making their pricing more competitive.
One possible route would be for active managers to pursue vehicles known as variable pricing mutual funds. Pioneered by AllianceBernstein earlier this year, the methodology is simple: the bigger the outperformance, the bigger the fee. Citigroup sees the strategy delivering investors better net returns on average and says it could "radically alter" money management as we know it.
It's a nuanced approach that certainly gives providers more flexibility than simply making huge fee cuts — a practice Goldman sees as ultimately futile, given the wide pricing discrepancy that already exists. The firm instead recommends the "surgical" lowering of select fees.
Beyond these suggestions, it's clear that the investing industry will continue to carve out new paths toward profitability as others dry up. And it's a wise move because, for the time being, it appears as if the smart-beta ship has sailed. |
BlackRock could win big by combining analytics and robo platforms | BlackRock, which is in the process of a major digital initiative starting with the establishment of its digital wealth unit, could be on to a winner if it combines its robo-advice platform with its analytics capabilities. Combining FutureAdvisor, the firm's robo platform, and Aladdin, its data and risk analytics arm, could give the asset manager significant distribution clout, wrote Brooke Southall in RIABiz. | https://riabiz.com/a/2017/11/7/blackrock-may-build-the-biggest-baddest-ria-platform-yet-as-boy-wonder-begins-aladdin-izing-futureadvisor | 2017-11-08 10:42:34.090000 | Since its acquisition in 2015, crickets for the $152-million robo-advisor, but under young legend Rob Goldstein, that could all change as BlackRock rolls out its play to own the advisor desktop
Author Brooke Southall November 7, 2017 at 8:39 PM |
Chinese fintechs may be regulated like banks: PBOC | The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is set to begin regulating fintech firms in the same way it regulates legacy banks. Bank officials have noted fintech firms have faced more lenient regulations in order to encourage innovation and add more diversity to the Chinese financial system. The PBOC now notes, however, that certain risks have flown under the radar and a new treatment of fintech firms may be in order. | http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/pboc-chief-we-may-regulate-fintech-firms-banks | 2017-11-08 10:41:02.827000 | Fintech companies should fall under the same risk assessment framework as banks, a PBOC official said. Back in August, the PBOC for the first time said it wanted to include internet finance companies in its Macro Prudential Assessment framework, a risk monitoring and mitigation system designated for banks. It remains unknown whether or when that will happen, according to Caixin. “Systemically important financial institutions do not necessarily have to be traditional financial institutions,” Sun Guofeng, head of the PBOC’s finance research institute, said during a recent digital finance conference. Regulators have been “exercising tolerance” toward fintech firms to encourage innovation and improve the financial system’s competitiveness, Sun said. China’s financial system is dominated by banks, so increasing sources of competition can make the entire system more efficient, but at the same time many risks were exposed and left unattended. The actions of some large fintech firms could have an impact on the health of the entire financial system, he added.
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Energy storage could reach 35 GW by 2025: Navigant Research | Energy storage could reach 35 GW by 2025, according to the Energy Storage Association and Navigant Research. The first quarter of 2017 saw the biggest-ever increase in storage projects, with 71 MW of new capacity deployed, a 276% increase on the same quarter last year. The report identifies market forces that it claims will drive further expansion, including the increased adoption of electric vehicles and the need for a more resilient energy grid. The authors claim increased storage could create more than 167,000 new jobs and save $4bn in operational costs. | https://www.utilitydive.com/news/energy-storage-could-hit-35-gw-by-2025-new-white-paper-says/510188/ | 2017-11-08 10:23:43.137000 | Dive Brief:
The Energy Storage Association on Monday released a paper that charts a path toward reaching 35 GW of new energy storage systems by 2025.
The “35x25: A Vision for Energy Storage” white paper, created in conjunction with Navigant Research, outlines the market drivers behind the rapid growth of energy storage and the value of a “disruption-proof grid.”
The paper argues that widespread use of energy storage could result in $4 billion in cumulative operational grid savings and the potential for more than 167,000 new jobs.
Dive Insight:
GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association already noted the first quarter of this year was the largest ever for energy storage.
There were 71 MW of storage projects deployed in the first quarter, a 276% increase over Q1 2016 and the second highest quarter since GTM and the ESA began tracking energy storage in 2013, surpassed only by installations in fourth quarter 2016. Despite that strong performance, storage is still a small part of the total U.S. market, with all storage installations composing only about 0.5 GW.
But market forces will drive much wider expansion of energy storage according to the ESA-Navigant paper. Among the market drivers are the electrification of the transportation sector, and the need for a variety of industries, such as communications and some manufacturing processes, for a more flexible and resilient grid. The paper argues that in an electrified economy, grid disruptions will become even more costly. Already, it is estimated that power outages, surges and spikes cost the U.S. economy more than $150 billion every year, the paper says.
Energy storage is key to building a disruption-proof grid by providing on-demand capacity and responsive balancing capability. The paper outlines a variety of benefits that wider adoption of energy storage could provide.For one, faster response times enabled by storage could result in $4 billion in cumulative operational cost savings by 2025, the authors say.
In addition, they say wider adoption of energy storage could enhance reliability and resilience, help reduce air pollution and create more than 167,000 jobs.
“Energy storage is the key to creating a powerful energy ecosystem whose backbone is an efficient, resilient, affordable, and sustainable grid,” Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA, said in a statement. |
Insurers need to adopt more tech: Singapore deputy PM | Singapore's deputy prime minister has said insurers need to be more willing to adopt and accept technological advances. Tharman Shanmugaratnam suggested there were many areas of insurance which could benefit from technology adoption, noting a number of health insurers already use apps and wearables to track data for policyholders. Among other changes insurers should be making is retraining staff to tackle risk management or compliance-related position given the growing importance of these in the industry, said Shanmugaratnam. | http://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/insurers-must-do-more-to-tap-digital-technology-tharman | 2017-11-08 10:08:41.827000 | Insurance firms can - and must - do a lot more to take advantage of digital technology, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday.
Mr Tharman said at the launch of Prudential Singapore's new office at Marina One that health insurers can tap digital technology to go beyond paying for medical claims to preventive care and encouraging a healthy lifestyle and habits.
He noted that some insurers have already begun tracking users' health and habits through fitness devices and apps, and pricing in premium discounts for healthier lifestyles.
Healthcare itself can also be delivered and administered more effectively with digital technology, Mr Tharman noted, and insurers should encourage this.
"Tele-health is increasingly being used, saving patients time and money. Here in Singapore, we have been rolling out TeleRehab services for stroke patients.
"It delivers better health outcomes because doctors can monitor patients and make sure they follow through on rehabilitation without the inconvenience of regular physical travel to the clinic."
Apps and social media also present insurers with more touch points to engage their clients, Mr Tharman added, while telematics and Internet-of-Things devices enable data analytics, allowing insurers to deliver more customised and innovative products and services.
At the backend, he noted that the life insurance industry is testing artificial intelligence and blockchain to automatically trigger and settle claims.
With such changes, the role of the insurance agent will also evolve, Mr Tharman said. From selling life or health products, he must now offer more holistic wealth and risk management advice.
"Given the growing demand for risk management and compliance-related roles in the industry, I also encourage insurers to consider reskilling some of their agents to take on such roles," he said.
The new PRU Workplace aims to promote such change. The insurer has two floors totalling 80,000 sq ft at the new office, which houses 1,000 employees.
The office's open plan is designed to inspire innovation and build a creative work culture to support the company's future growth.
It includes social spaces, activity rooms - such as one in which employees can play with Lego bricks as they brainstorm ideas - nature-inspired nooks and rest pods for naps.
Employees also have the flexibility and autonomy to work from anywhere and at any time.
"Just as we are challenging our people to make a mental shift to a more creative and collaborative culture, our physical workspace and work policies must equally support our journey," said Prudential Singapore chief executive Wilf Blackburn. |
Toyota to introduce Japan's first telematic car insurance | Toyota is bringing Japan's first telematic-driven auto insurance to market. The car manufacturer has partnered with MS&AD Insurance Group’s Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance for the policies, making coverage available to owners of certain Toyota connected car models. The manufacturer will use data provided by these vehicles to determine premium rates. Premiums will also be able to be divided into "ownership-based" premiums and "usage-based" premiums, allowing drivers who use their cars less to experience reduced insurance costs. | http://www.autocarpro.in/news-international/toyota-introduces-driving-insurance-japan-26938 | 2017-11-08 09:57:19.613000 | Toyota Motor Corporation, along with MS&AD Insurance Group’s Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, has jointly developed Japan’s first driving behaviour-based telematics automobile insurance.
The new insurance by Toyota is available to owners of certain units of Toyota connected cars that will use driving data gathered via telematics technologies for adjusting the insurance premium based on the level of safe driving habits of the user every month. The insurance premium will consist of a combination of the basic insurance premiums and usage-based insurance and under this new plan up to 80 percent of usage-based insurance premiums can be discounted.
In addition to driving behaviour discounts, other services will be provided under the concepts of ‘enjoyment’, ‘benefits’, and ‘safeguards’. The new service will go on sale from January 15, 2018, while insurance liability is scheduled to commence in April 2018.
According to Toyota and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance the intention is to contribute towards the realisation of a safe and secure traffic environment through the development and provision of telematics automobile insurance that utilises connected cars and automobile big data.
Development background
Advancement in telematics technologies has led to major changes in the automobile landscape, such as the creation of a variety of new products and services that utilise automobile driving data. In Europe and the USA, there has been an increase in the number of automobile insurance policies that utilise telematics technologies to provide discounted insurance premiums based on levels of safe driving. In Japan, the government is advocating the use of automobile insurance that leverages telematics technologies as a means of reducing the number of accidents. Consequently, automakers and IT companies are engaged in lively competition for technological development.
Recently, Toyota declared the three pillars of its connected strategy: connecting all cars; the creation of new value and business revolution; and the creation of new mobility services. Through the development of connected cars, that are equipped with data communication modules (DCM), which are required for transmitting data, it provides connected services that utilise big data.
This has enabled the company to engage in the creation of new value for a mobility society and, at the same time, it aims to realise the ultimate goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and injuries. For this, the company promotes the development of advanced safety technologies such as Toyota Safety Sense and ICS, and has increased the number of models equipped with these technologies along with working together with dealers, commencing Support Toyota programs―educational traffic safety activities aimed at enhancing customer safety and peace of mind.
In the initial phase the company’s new insurance scheme will see Toyota’s connected cars (including Lexus vehicles) and the line-up will be gradually expanded starting with the Crown (scheduled for launch in April-May,2018) and all new models that will be sold from January 2018 onwards are eligible (excluding the HS and LC; certain existing models are also eligible).
How it works?
The connected cars will automatically transmit a variety of car-related data via a DCM to the Toyota Smart Center. Utilising this vehicle driving data, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance will provide a new service that will be unique to Toyota vehicles.
Apart from utilising data for determining the policy premium, the data will also generate a drive report that will help vehicle users for getting – tips that can be checked after every drive, safe driving score and tips, after each drive, the driver's speed, acceleration, and braking are evaluated on a five-point scale. A combined safe driving score out of 100 is also provided. This report will enable drivers to verify both the route taken and locations where dangerous driving was detected and provide them simple tips on each aspect of driving.
Apart from driving-behaviour, vehicular information alerts will also be provided that include –the operational state of active safety devices, tire pressure, electronic key charge status, among other items.
Depending on the monthly report, a detailed evaluation will enable drivers to review their monthly driving results, along with safe driving score and insurance premiums and discounts will be determined based on the driver's safe driving score.
Additional features as part of the new scheme will incorporate – real-time support during emergency situations, automatic emergency report service, previously, when customers were involved in an accident, they had to call their insurance company themselves. However, under this plan, if a large collision is detected, staff at a specialised Automatic Report Desk will place a 'safety confirmation phone call' and make any necessary arrangements in a speedy manner to reduce the burden on the customer.
Also, customers can opt not to receive safety confirmation phone calls, in which case Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance will then send emergency contact information by email. When directly contacted by the customer, the company will make emergency tow truck arrangements, accident reports, and rental car arrangements as necessary. |
Driverless cars will be commonplace soon: XL's McGavick | Autonomous vehicles are likely to be on the roads sooner than expected, said XL Group's CEO Mike McGavick. The insurance industry needs to accept and react to the pace of change, he added. Rather than keep up with technology, insurers have actually stepped back from development, McGavick said. The industry can react by changing the way risk is pooled while also altering and developing liability theory. | http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2017/11/07/driverless-vehicles-will-be-here-much-sooner-than | 2017-11-08 09:56:13.230000 | During his presentation Monday morning at IRMI’s Construction Risk Conference, XL Group Ltd. CEO Mike McGavick delivered a wake-up call that the insurance industry needs to evolve in tandem with the accelerating pace of change in a digitally powered, evolving world: Some of the innovations that will shape our collective destiny, including autonomous vehicles, will arrive faster than some may think.
“I believe completely that we’re living in the Renaissance of the insurance industry,” McGavick told the audience at the J.W. Marriott in downtown Indianapolis during the IRMI conference’s kickoff session. “The rate of change is extraordinary, and will not slow down.” |
Renewables won't replace baseload for 'foreseeable future': Lazard | The cost of renewable energy is continuing to fall, but it will not be able to fully replace conventional generation in the foreseeable future, according to Lazard's annual reports on the levelised cost of energy and energy storage. The analysis shows utility-scale solar costs today can be as low as $43/MWh, and wind generation as low as $30/MWh, whilst gas plant generation starts at $42 per MWh. The cost of utility-scale solar and onshore wind fell about 6% from last year, while capital costs for lithium-ion batteries will fall as much as 36% over the next five years. | https://www.utilitydive.com/news/lazard-falling-clean-energy-costs-dont-yet-spell-the-end-of-baseload-gene/509913/ | 2017-11-08 09:53:04.920000 | Dive Brief:
Lazard has analyzed of the financials of energy from various generation sources, and storage for different applications, finding clean energy resources are broadly declining in cost.
of the financials of energy from various generation sources, and storage for different applications, finding clean energy resources are broadly declining in cost. But while renewables are "increasingly cost-competitive" and storage technology "holds great promise," the firm said alternative energy systems alone "will not be capable of meeting the baseload generation needs of a developed economy for the foreseeable future."
are "increasingly cost-competitive" and storage technology "holds great promise," the firm said alternative energy systems alone "will not be capable of meeting the generation needs of a developed economy for the foreseeable future." Factors contributing to the declining costs include lower financing costs, declining capital expenditures per project, and increased Industry competition. The levelized cost of energy for utility-scale solar and onshore wind declined approximately 6% from last year, according to the reports. Lithium-ion capital costs are expected to decline as much as 36% over the next five years.
Dive Insight:
Lazard's analysis of power generation and storage costs solidifies the conventional wisdom that these clean resources are declining in cost, but it also highlights the wide variability depending on use case.
The report on energy storage concludes the technology is sparking much discussion right now but "it is not currently cost competitive in most applications." There are some applications where energy storage pencils out, relating primarily to strengthening the grid, reducing bills and participating in demand response.
Most of the expected future decline in storage costs will result from manufacturing and engineering improvements in batteries, and will vary widely among technologies. Lithium-ion capital costs are expected to decline by more than a third over the next five years.
Source: Lazard Ltd.
The cost of lithium-ion batteries for peaker replacement currently runs $282/MWh to $347/MWh, and is expected to decline again next year. In distribution use cases the costs and expectations are similar, but in microgrids the costs are slightly higher, running from $363/MWh to $386/MWh.
Behind-the-meter storage costs are substantially higher. In commercial applications, the costs currently run from about $900/MWh to $1,000/MWh. Residential prices can be as high as $1,274/MWh.
Like storage, the use case of renewable generation also dictates wide swings in cost.
Source: Lazard Ltd.
Rooftop solar can run anywhere from $187/MWh to $319/Mwh. Community solar can get down to around $76/MWh, with utility-scale installations even cheaper. Wind generation ranges from $30/MWh to $60/MWh, while utility-scale solar runs about $43/MWh to $53/MWh. Cobmined-cycle natural gas plants are costing between $42/MWh and $78/MWh.
Lazard's analysis shows cost declines are slowing "modestly" for utility-scale alternative energy generation, but the cost-gap with conventional resources is widening because fuel-based cost profiles have remained flat or increased. The firm said the estimated levelized cost of energy for nuclear generation increased approximately 35% versus prior estimates, reflecting increased capital costs at various nuclear facilities currently in development.
But while non-emitting resources can be cheaper than fossil fuels, that doesn't mean the end of baseload generation.
"Although alternative energy is increasingly cost-competitive and storage technology holds great promise, alternative energy systems alone will not be capable of meeting the baseload generation needs of a developed economy for the foreseeable future," the report concludes. "Therefore, the optimal solution for many regions of the world is to use complementary conventional and alternative energy resources in a diversified generation fleet." |
Antibiotics use on healthy farm animals should be banned: WHO | Farmers must be made to stop using antibiotics completely on healthy animals that are reared for food as it is causing increasingly serious risks to human health and is one of the leading causes for the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, the World Health Organisation has warned. Using antibiotics to promote growth and prevent disease in farmed animals is routine in some parts of Asia and the US, and, although it is banned in Europe, campaigners suggested the rule is sometimes ignored.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/07/farmers-must-stop-antibiotics-use-in-animals-due-to-human-health-risk-warns-who | 2017-11-08 09:02:07.200000 | Farmers must be prevented from using powerful antibiotics on animals reared for food, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned, because of the serious risks to human health that result.
New guidelines from the global body suggest farmers should stop using any antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in animals that are otherwise healthy, a common practice in some parts of the world, including Asia and the US. Such routine use is banned in Europe, though campaigners fear the rules are sometimes flouted.
Using antimicrobial medicines on farm animals is one of the leading causes of the rise of superbugs, resistant to all but the strongest antibiotics. Medical authorities warn that the antibiotics available to treat even relatively minor human diseases are running out because of the rapid rise of such resistance.
Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, has warned repeatedly that, a decade from now, even routine, previously low-risk operations, such as hip replacements, may become dangerous because of the risk of infections resistant to medicines.
The WHO reported on Tuesday that in some countries, as much as 80% of antibiotic use is on farm animals. Even in some countries where routine use for enhancing growth is banned, more antibiotics are used on animals than on humans.
The use of the strongest antibiotics, a last resort for the most deadly infections affecting humans, should be banned altogether in animals, the guidelines advise. This should apply, according to the WHO, even in cases where an illness has been diagnosed in a food-producing animal. Implementing this could require animals to be quarantined, allowed to die, or for herds to be culled in order to halt the spread of a serious disease rather than attempting to cure it.
This recommendation is likely to be unpopular with farmers, who could risk financial loss, but is crucial to protect human health, according to the WHO, because the use of such antibiotics in animals is leading to increased resistance even to last-resort medicines, to the despair of doctors.
However, the WHO has no power to enforce its guidelines, which are up to national governments to accept or reject.
The forthright warning comes as new research, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, showed that restricting antibiotic use on farms reduced the antibiotic-resistant bacteria in farm animals by up to 39%. The WHO said it had used the research to inform its new guidelines.
Restricting our remaining effective antibiotics for human use is crucial because of the lack of alternatives available. “There are very few promising options in the research pipeline” for new antibiotics to replace those that are becoming ineffective because of overuse and resistance, the WHO warned.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, said: “A lack of effective antibiotics is as serious a security threat as a sudden and deadly disease outbreak. Strong, sustained action across all sectors is vital if we are to turn back the tide of antimicrobial resistance and keep the world safe.”
Animal herds treated with antibiotics can develop bacteria resistant to the drugs, and pass this on to humans directly, through contact with farm workers, or through food. A Guardian investigation found that the superbug MRSA was found in a significant sample of pork products on the UK’s supermarket shelves, risking humans becoming infected with the strain.
Kazuaki Miyagishima, director of food safety at the WHO, said the links between antibiotic use on farms and risks to human health were clear: “Scientific evidence demonstrates that overuse of antibiotics in animals can contribute to the emergence of antibiotic resistance. The volume of antibiotics used in animals is continuing to increase worldwide, driven by a growing demand for foods of animal origin, often produced through intensive animal husbandry.”
Dr Clare Chandler of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said: “This is a welcome set of recommendations from WHO. It will be a challenge for producers to follow these recommendations to reduce antibiotic use, but possible for larger scale producers with good biosecurity. Many smaller scale farmers around the world are dependent upon antibiotics to supplement animal feed, and actions will be needed to support them to make this change which will affect their lives and livelihoods.”
The Guardian, in a joint investigation with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, also found a rapid increase in the number of megafarms in the UK. Megafarms across the globe are on the rise, and they have been linked with antibiotic resistance, as whole herds of many hundreds of animals are often treated at once. |
Deadly Marburg virus kills three in Kenya, Uganda | Three people have died from the Marburg virus in Uganda and Kenya, while hundreds may have been exposed to the rare and often fatal disease, according to the World Health Organisation. The Marburg virus is related to Ebola, with both carrying high fatality rates. The Marburg virus is passed on to humans by the Egyptian fruit bat, and spreads between people through the exchange of bodily fluids, either directly or after contact with external objects. | https://www.livescience.com/60880-what-is-the-marburg-virus.html | 2017-11-08 08:44:46.777000 | Three people in Uganda and Kenya have died from an extremely rare and deadly disease caused by the Marburg virus, the World Health Organization reported today (Nov. 7).
The Marburg virus is related to another notorious virus, the Ebola virus, according to WHO. Both viruses are members of the "filovirus" family and have high fatality rates. The fatality rate for the disease caused by the Marburg virus can be as high as 88 percent.
The Marburg virus is transmitted to people from a type of fruit bat called Rousettus aegyptiacus, or the Egyptian fruit bat, WHO says. Once a human is infected, however, the virus can be spread to other humans via direct contact with bodily fluids, or by coming into contact with surfaces and materials that have been contaminated with these fluids. [The 9 Deadliest Viruses on Earth]
The amount of time it takes for symptoms to appear after a person is infected with the virus — known as the incubation period — can vary from two to 21 days, WHO says. But when symptoms begin, they begin abruptly, and can include muscle aches and pain. About three days after symptoms begin, a person can develop gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and severe diarrhea that can persist for a week. WHO describes patients at this phase of the infection as "ghost-like," with drawn features, deep-set eyes, expressionless faces and extreme lethargy.
Like the Ebola virus, the Marburg virus causes a condition called severe hemorrhagic fever, which includes symptoms such as a high fever and dysfunction in the body's blood vessels, which can result in profuse bleeding. These hemorrhagic symptoms often begin between five and seven days after the onset of symptoms, according to WHO. Blood may be found in vomit and feces, and patients may also bleed from the nose, gums and, for women, the vagina. Bleeding at injection sites during medical treatment can be "particularly troublesome," according to WHO.
The virus can also cause problems with the central nervous system, leading to confusion, irritability and aggression, WHO says.
In fatal cases, death occurs between eight and nine days after the symptoms begin, usually due to severe blood loss and shock, according to WHO.
In the current outbreak, which was declared on Oct. 19, the three people who died came from the same family in the Kween District in Eastern Uganda, according to WHO. One of the individuals traveled to Kenya prior to his death. Because only three people have been infected thus far, and all three died, the current outbreak has a fatality rate of 100 percent.
Originally published on Live Science. |
Waymo removes safety driver from autonomous vehicles | Alphabet's Waymo has begun testing its autonomous vehicles without a human fail-safe backup. Announcing the move at Web Summit in Lisbon, CEO John Krafcik stated that “fully self-driving cars are here”. The company is testing the technology in minivans in Phoenix, Arizona, and plans to offer it in a ride-hailing service within the next few months. | https://www.wired.com/story/waymo-google-arizona-phoenix-driverless-self-driving-cars/ | 2017-11-08 08:10:40.177000 | Eight years after launching its self-driving “moon shot,” Waymo, a k a Google’s driverless car company, is having its Neil Armstrong moment.
The company is now running its autonomous minivans around Phoenix with no human inside to grab the wheel if things go bad, CEO John Krafcik announced Tuesday. And in just a few months, it will invite passengers to climb aboard the world’s first driverless ride-hailing service.
This launch brings up a host of unanswered questions about the details and practical elements of such a service, but what’s already clear is Waymo is taking one of the final steps on the long road toward taking the human driver out of the picture and finally cashing in on the profits and safety benefits that come with the transition to robot chauffeurs.
“Fully self-driving cars are here,” Krafcik said at Web Summit in Lisbon, where he announced the move.
Waymo took its first driverless spin on public roads in October 2015, when it was still officially part of Google. (In December 2015, it launched as a stand-alone company under the umbrella of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.) Steve Mahan, a blind man, took a solo, 10-minute ride around Austin, Texas in the company’s “pod car,” the funky one without a steering wheel or pedals (Waymo retired those cars this summer in favor of its minivans).
The difference here, Krafcik says, is that the cars prowling Phoenix sans humans aren’t part of a demo. “What you’re seeing now marks the start of a new phase for Waymo,” he said in Lisbon.
Indeed, this is a massive step toward the driverless future Waymo/Google has been pursuing since starting this project in 2009. The company has been toting select riders around the Phoenix metro area since April, but with safety drivers at the wheel to make sure everything stays on track. Now, those drivers are coming out.
And once you’ve taken the driver out, putting a rider in becomes something like an afterthought. “The difference between those two things is relatively slight,” Krafcik told reporters last week. “You’ve still got a fully driverless car interacting with the world, all of the other human-driven cars, pedestrians and cyclists and other things that are on the road at the same time.”
In other words, the technology has to be damn near perfect to get to this point. Then it’s just a matter of buttoning things up—and reaping the safety benefits and dollars that come with it.
Waymo is also experimenting with self-driving trucks and will consider selling autonomous technology straight to automakers who want to implement it in their vehicles, but a ride-hailing service makes sense as a starting point.
OK, here’s the part where we go over all the things that aren’t quite clear. Waymo hasn’t disclosed how much territory its cars will cover or what kind of hours they will run, whether it will charge passengers for rides, or the timeline for announcing or figuring out any of that. (Company reps recently declined to give any such details for the existing early rider program in Phoenix.) |