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Miraah solar thermal plant sends first steam for EOR

The 1 GW Miraah solar thermal park in Oman has begun sending steam to the Amal West oilfield for enhanced oil recovery. The steam is generated from the first of 36 greenhouse-enclosed parabolic solar troughs due to be built. When complete, Miraah will generate 1,021 MWp of thermal energy, producing 6,000 tonnes of steam daily. GlassPoint’s greenhouse blocks use mirrors to focus sunlight on a tube containing water, yielding high-pressure steam.

https://www.renewablesnow.com/news/miraah-solar-thermal-plant-in-oman-delivers-1st-steam-for-eor-589407/

2017-11-06 07:29:41.917000

GlassPoint Solar Inc and partner Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), together building the 1-GW Miraah solar thermal park in Oman, announced today that the plant’s first block has successfully delivered steam to the Amal West oilfield. The project developers said in a joint statement that the first out of 36 standard greenhouse blocks housing parabolic trough collectors was completed safely on schedule and on budget. Upon completion of the remaining blocks, they will make up a complex with the capacity to deliver 1,021 MWp of thermal energy to produce 6,000 tonnes of steam per day. Using mirrors that concentrate sunlight on a pipe filled with oilfield-grade water, the Miraah plant will generate steam for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Its 36 greenhouses will act as foundations and structures, while also providing protection. GlassPoint built a 7-MW pilot solar plant for PDO in 2013 and commenced construction work on the Miraah project at the same oilfield in south Oman in November 2015. Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!

Apple moved subsidiaries to Jersey to lower tax payments

Apple moved parts of its business to Jersey in order to maintain an ultra-low tax rate after new rules came into force in Ireland, according to an analysis of the Paradise Papers featured in The Guardian. Two of the company’s major Irish subsidiaries, Apple Operations International and Apple Sales International, were involved in the move. Apple’s behaviour was not against the law, but is expected to raise further questions for the company, which has already been criticised in relation to its taxes.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/06/apple-secretly-moved-jersey-ireland-tax-row-paradise-papers

2017-11-06 00:00:00

Apple reacted to widespread criticism of its tax affairs by secretly shifting key parts of its empire to Jersey as part of a complex rearrangement that has allowed it to keep an ultra-low tax rate, according to an analysis of Paradise Papers documents. The move affected two of its most important subsidiaries, one of which is thought to hold the key to a company cash pile worth more than $250bn (£190bn). Over the past three years, Apple has reported paying very low tax rates on its profits outside the US – not much more than previously. But this remains significantly lower than all the major markets where its phones, iPads and desktop computers are sold – and less than half the rate in Ireland, where the company has many of its subsidiaries. Though Apple has done nothing illegal, the disclosure is likely to raise fresh questions for the technology company, which has been forced to defend its tax affairs. It may also prompt awkward questions about the nature of the new tax rules introduced by the Irish government and their timing. Apple refused to answer detailed questions, but defended the new arrangements and said they had not decreased the company’s tax payment anywhere in the world. “The debate over Apple’s taxes is not about how much we owe but where we owe it. We’ve paid over $35bn in corporate income taxes over the past three years, plus billions of dollars more in property tax, payroll tax, sales tax and VAT,” it said. “We believe every company has a responsibility to pay the taxes they owe and we’re proud of the economic contributions we make to the countries and communities where we do business.” Edward Kleinbard, a former corporate lawyer who is a professor of tax law at the University of Southern California, told the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: “US multinational firms are the global grandmasters of tax avoidance schemes that deplete not just US tax collection, but the tax collection of almost every large economy in the world.” Tim Cook announcing the new iPhone 7 in 2016. Photograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Documents in the Paradise Papers show how Apple began to consider its options in 2014 following criticism of the way it was doing business through Ireland. A year earlier, a bipartisan US Senate committee had pilloried the company for seeking “the holy grail of tax avoidance”. It highlighted practices that had saved Apple from paying billions of dollars over decades. The 40-page analysis published in May 2013 described how Apple had incorporated one of its main subsidiaries, Apple Operations International (AOI), in Ireland in 1980. But the subsidiary had “no employees and no physical presence [in Ireland] … and holds its board meetings in California”. Senators highlighted two other Apple subsidiaries in Ireland, Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE), which were also in effect “stateless”. The scale of the tax avoidance was huge, the senators said. They described Apple’s arrangements as “a gimmick”. Senators were so infuriated by the arrangements that they accused Apple of exploiting the gap between the two nations’ tax laws and creating a “byzantine tax structure” that was inexcusable. One of the report’s authors, the Democratic senator Carl Levin, said Apple had “created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars while claiming to be tax resident nowhere”. The Republican senator John McCain said: “Apple claims to be the largest US corporate taxpayer, but by sheer size and scale it is also among America’s largest tax avoiders … [It] should not be shifting its profits overseas to avoid the payment of US tax, purposefully depriving the American people of revenue.” Senator John McCain. Photograph: Aaron P Bernstein/Reuters In the months that followed the publication of the report, and with the European commission also starting to scrutinise Apple’s tax arrangements, Ireland came under pressure to change its tax rules and new proposals were announced in October 2013. The Irish government said companies incorporated in Ireland, such as Apple’s subsidiaries, would be able to avoid owing corporation tax only if they could show they were being “managed and controlled in another jurisdiction” where they would be liable for tax. The announcement left Apple with a stark choice. It either had to acknowledge the subsidiaries were being run from the US, meaning they would have to pay American taxes. Or it had to find a new jurisdiction for the subsidiaries, preferably one with little or no corporation tax – such as Jersey. The documents in the Paradise Papers show Apple was actively looking for a new home for its key subsidiaries in early 2014. The company had approached Appleby through its US lawyers, who asked Appleby’s offices in different offshore jurisdictions to fill out a questionnaire that would highlight the advantages to Apple of moving there. In a letter from the lawyers on 20 March 2014, Appleby was asked “to provide assistance with and coordination of a multijurisdictional project involving the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cayman, Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey … If your proposal is cost-effective then we will ask you to handle the entire project.” Sixty-eight minutes later, a senior Appleby executive sent an email to other partners expressing excitement that Apple had made the approach and encouraging a swift and positive response. “This is a tremendous opportunity for us to shine on a global basis … Please could you consider the questionnaire and provide your best fee proposal for … your jurisdiction. I … would ask that you embrace this opportunity to build a closer relationship with their prestigious client,” the email said. The executive noted that discretion was important: “Finally, for those of you who are not aware, Apple are extremely sensitive concerning publicity and do not generally permit their external counsel to disclose that they have been engaged by Apple or to make any mention (not even generically) in promotional materials to the relevant engagement.” Four days later, Appleby partners exchanged further emails in which they spoke of having impressed Apple’s lawyers, who had added Bermuda to its list of potential new jurisdictions – another territory where Appleby had a base. A partner in Appleby’s Isle of Man office told colleagues: “We have tried to make our answers as attractive as possible given that we would be delighted to work with Apple.” The need to secure a new home for Apple’s subsidiaries became urgent later in October 2014, when the Irish government made a further announcement. Delivering his budget statement, the then Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said Dublin was tightening the rules even further and would prevent companies that are incorporated in Ireland being managed and run in tax havens. That could have jeopardised Apple’s plans for moving its subsidiaries to Jersey but for an important caveat. Michael Noonan, the former Irish finance minister. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images Noonan said any companies incorporated in Ireland before the end of 2014 that were being run from tax havens could continue with these arrangements until 31 December 2020 – a six-year period of grace known as “the grandfathering provisions”. This gave Apple two months to finalise a move to Jersey, a crown dependency of the UK, which makes its own laws and is not subject to most EU legislation, making it a popular tax haven. The Paradise Papers show two of Apple’s Irish subsidiaries, AOI and ASI, in the process of changing tax residency to Jersey. Apple refused to discuss the details. But the Guardian understands ASI is now a dormant company. Apple refused to say where the valuable economic rights once owned by ASI had been moved to but it is understood all its Irish operations are now run through companies tax resident in Ireland. One theory is that AOE “bought” the rights owned by ASI taking advantage of an incentive called capital allowance. This means that if a multinational buys its own intellectual property through an Irish subsidiary, the cost of that purchase will generate many years of tax write-offs in Ireland. Some experts have suggested multinationals switching intellectual property to Ireland could achieve tax rates as low as 2.5%. Apple declined to comment on this, but said: “The changes we made did not reduce our tax payments in any country. In fact, our payments to Ireland increased significantly … (in 2014/15/16) we’ve paid $1.5bn in tax there – 7% of all corporate income taxes paid in that country.” But Apple refuses to say how much money it makes through its Irish companies, making it difficult to assess the significance of the sum. Apple’s financial statements indicate that it has continued to enjoy a low tax rate on its international operations. The firm made $122bn in profits outside the US during that same three-year period, on which it was taxed $6.6bn – a rate of 5.4%. Apple said: “Under the current international tax system, profits are taxed based on where the value is created. The taxes Apple pays to countries around the world are based on that principle. The vast majority of the value in our products is indisputably created in the United States, where we do our design, development, engineering work and much more, so the majority of our taxes are owed to the US. “When Ireland changed its tax laws in 2015, we complied by changing the residency of our Irish subsidiaries and we informed Ireland, the European commission and the United States. The changes we made did not reduce our tax payments in any country. An Apple logo on hoarding boards outside the company’s campus in Cork, Ireland. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images It “We understand that some would like to change the tax system so multinationals’ taxes are spread differently across the countries where they operate, and we know that reasonable people can have different views about how this should work in the future. At Apple, we follow the laws, and if the system changes we will comply. We strongly support efforts from the global community toward comprehensive international tax reform and a far simpler system, and we will continue to advocate for that.” The company has repeatedly defended its tax affairs over the years. Its chief executive, Tim Cook, told the US Senate committee that Apple paid all the taxes it owed and complied with both “the laws and the spirit of the laws”. The company has also condemned attempts by the European commission to get it to pay a record $14.5bn in unpaid taxes. “The finding is wrongheaded,” Cook told the Irish broadcaster RTÉ. “It’s not true. There wasn’t a special deal between Ireland and Apple. When you’re accused of doing something that is so foreign to your values, it brings out outrage in you.”

Enel awarded 1.18 TWh of renewables in Chile

Italian utility Enel has won a contract for the supply of 1.18 TWh of wind, solar and geothermal energy per year through its subsidiary, Enel Generación Chile. The Comisión Nacional de Energía put out a tender for 2.2 TWh of annual supply between 2024 and 2043.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/press-releases/enel-wins-242-mw-of-solar-wind-and-geothermal-capacity-in-chiles-tender/

2017-11-06 00:00:00

Thanks to the synergies between Enel Generación Chile and Enel Green Power, the Group won 54% of the 2.2 TWh per year offered in the tender, more than any other participant. The energy awarded to Enel will be provided by a mix of new renewable projects comprising of 116 MWp of solar, 93 MW of wind and 33 MW of geothermal for a total capacity of 242 MW. “We are extremely pleased about this new important award for the supply of electricity to Chilean customers,” said Enel CEO and General Manager Francesco Starace. “The combination of different renewable technologies and some thermal generation has proven once again the winning approach. To this end, it is worth mentioning that in the past few years we have grown, through Enel Green Power, a solid renewable footprint that includes hydro, wind, solar as well as completing the construction of the first geothermal plant in South America, Cerro Pabellón. This award grants the possibility to finance and build 242 MW of renewable energy plants sustaining a continuing investment flow in Chile towards a more competitive and more sustainable generation mix in the country and lower cost of energy in the years to come.” The 242 MW of new renewable capacity are based on solar and geothermal plants located in the Antofagasta region, in Northern Chile, as well as on a wind farm located in the Araucanía region, in Southern Chile. The facilities are expected to enter into service by 2024, generating around 1.180 TWh per year and avoiding the annual emission of around 500,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. The tender was launched following Chile’s General Power Service Law (Ley General de Servicios Eléctricos) n. 4 from 2006 shaping the regulatory framework for public tenders in order to provide distribution system operators with long-term power supply contracts with generators that would enable them to meet the power consumption needs of regulated market customers in their concession areas. Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global, power, gas and renewables markets. It is Europe’s largest utility in terms of market capitalisation and figures among Europe’s leading power companies in terms of installed capacity and reported EBITDA. The Group is present in over 30 countries worldwide, producing energy with more than 86 GW of managed capacity. Enel distributes electricity and gas through a network of over 2 million kilometres, and with over 65 million business and household customers globally, the Group has the largest customer base among European competitors. Enel’s renewables arm Enel Green Power already manages more than 39 GW of wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydropower plants in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and has recently arrived in Australia. The Enel Group operates in Chile in the conventional generation and distribution sectors through Enel Chile and its subsidiaries Enel Generación Chile and Enel Distribución Chile. The Group also has a significant presence in the country’s renewable energy market through Enel Green Power Chile. The Group has a total installed capacity of around 7.5 GW (4.8 GW renewables and 2.7 GW thermal), 1.9 million customers and over 2,200 employees in Chile. The country is also home to Enel Americas, which is the Enel Group’s platform for investment in the conventional generation and distribution sectors in other countries of Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru).

Engie partners with WEG for residential solar finance program

Brazilian electrical equipment provider WEG is partnering with a local subsidiary of Engie to establish a Santa Catarina solar programme alongside Brazil's federation of industries, FIESC. The Programa Industria Solar will create residential photovoltaic solar systems with lower-interest credit offers, designed to cover employees initially, as well as local businesses and utilities. The programme's second stage, which should begin in 2018, will be offered to further Santa Catarina companies, with further expansion planned in future.

https://www.renewablesnow.com/news/weg-engie-launch-residential-solar-financing-programme-in-brazil-589331/

2017-11-06 00:00:00

Brazilian electrical equipment manufacturer WEG SA (BVMF:WEGE3) announced last week it has entered a partnership with a local unit of France’s Engie SA (EPA:ENGI) to create a new solar programme in Santa Catarina state. The state's federation of industries (FIESC) is also part of the agreement. The goal of the Programa Industria Solar, as it is named, is to facilitate the installation of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems through credit lines with lower interest rates. The programme only covers at this initial stage employees from the three companies and in other local institutions and companies like Santa Catarina's unit of the National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI) and Brazilian utility Celesc (BVMF:CLSC3). These companies have together more than 40 thousand employees, thus a great potential for joining PV systems, WEG's Automation Managing Director, Manfred Peter Johann, stated. During its second phase, scheduled for 2018, the programme will benefit employees from other Santa Catarina companies. It will later expand further. Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!

Irradiated plastic can reduce the eco-footprint of concrete

Undergraduates at MIT have developed a technique which strengthens industrial concrete and makes it more environmentally friendly using irradiated plastic bottles. Concrete manufacturing is responsible for approximately 4.5% of human-induced CO2 emissions. Introducing plastic to the concrete can lower emissions, but also weakens the structure of the material. However, the students discovered that certain forms of plastic grow stronger after exposure to gamma radiation. When such plastic was added to cement, it increased the concrete’s strength by 15% compared to control samples.

http://news.mit.edu/2017/fortify-concrete-adding-recycled-plastic-1025

2017-11-06 00:00:00

Discarded plastic bottles could one day be used to build stronger, more flexible concrete structures, from sidewalks and street barriers, to buildings and bridges, according to a new study. MIT undergraduate students have found that, by exposing plastic flakes to small, harmless doses of gamma radiation, then pulverizing the flakes into a fine powder, they can mix the irradiated plastic with cement paste and fly ash to produce concrete that is up to 15 percent stronger than conventional concrete. Concrete is, after water, the second most widely used material on the planet. The manufacturing of concrete generates about 4.5 percent of the world’s human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. Replacing even a small portion of concrete with irradiated plastic could thus help reduce the cement industry’s global carbon footprint. Reusing plastics as concrete additives could also redirect old water and soda bottles, the bulk of which would otherwise end up in a landfill. “There is a huge amount of plastic that is landfilled every year,” says Michael Short, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. “Our technology takes plastic out of the landfill, locks it up in concrete, and also uses less cement to make the concrete, which makes fewer carbon dioxide emissions. This has the potential to pull plastic landfill waste out of the landfill and into buildings, where it could actually help to make them stronger.” The team includes Carolyn Schaefer ’17 and MIT senior Michael Ortega, who initiated the research as a class project; Kunal Kupwade-Patil, a research scientist in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Anne White, an associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering; Oral Büyüköztürk, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Carmen Soriano of Argonne National Laboratory; and Short. The new paper appears in the journal Waste Management. “This is a part of our dedicated effort in our laboratory for involving undergraduates in outstanding research experiences dealing with innovations in search of new, better concrete materials with a diverse class of additives of different chemistries,” says Büyüköztürk, who is the director of Laboratory for Infrastructure Science and Sustainability. “The findings from this undergraduate student project open a new arena in the search for solutions to sustainable infrastructure.” An idea, crystallized Schaefer and Ortega began to explore the possibility of plastic-reinforced concrete as part of 22.033 (Nuclear Systems Design Project), in which students were asked to pick their own project. “They wanted to find ways to lower carbon dioxide emissions that weren’t just, ‘let’s build nuclear reactors,’” Short says. “Concrete production is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide, and they got to thinking, ‘how could we attack that?’ They looked through the literature, and then an idea crystallized.” The students learned that others have tried to introduce plastic into cement mixtures, but the plastic weakened the resulting concrete. Investigating further, they found evidence that exposing plastic to doses of gamma radiation makes the material’s crystalline structure change in a way that the plastic becomes stronger, stiffer, and tougher. Would irradiating plastic actually work to strengthen concrete? To answer that question, the students first obtained flakes of polyethylene terephthalate — plastic material used to make water and soda bottles — from a local recycling facility. Schaefer and Ortega manually sorted through the flakes to remove bits of metal and other debris. They then walked the plastic samples down to the basement of MIT’s Building 8, which houses a cobalt-60 irradiator that emits gamma rays, a radiation source that is typically used commercially to decontaminate food. “There’s no residual radioactivity from this type of irradiation,” Short says. “If you stuck something in a reactor and irradiated it with neutrons, it would come out radioactive. But gamma rays are a different kind of radiation that, under most circumstances, leave no trace of radiation.” The team exposed various batches of flakes to either a low or high dose of gamma rays. They then ground each batch of flakes into a powder and mixed the powders with a series of cement paste samples, each with traditional Portland cement powder and one of two common mineral additives: fly ash (a byproduct of coal combustion) and silica fume (a byproduct of silicon production). Each sample contained about 1.5 percent irradiated plastic. Once the samples were mixed with water, the researchers poured the mixtures into cylindrical molds, allowed them to cure, removed the molds, and subjected the resulting concrete cylinders to compression tests. They measured the strength of each sample and compared it with similar samples made with regular, nonirradiated plastic, as well as with samples containing no plastic at all. They found that, in general, samples with regular plastic were weaker than those without any plastic. The concrete with fly ash or silica fume was stronger than concrete made with just Portland cement. And the presence of irradiated plastic along with fly ash strengthened the concrete even further, increasing its strength by up to 15 percent compared with samples made just with Portland cement, particularly in samples with high-dose irradiated plastic. The concrete road ahead After the compression tests, the researchers went one step further, using various imaging techniques to examine the samples for clues as to why irradiated plastic yielded stronger concrete. The team took their samples to Argonne National Laboratory and the Center for Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE) at MIT, where they analyzed them using X-ray diffraction, backscattered electron microscopy, and X-ray microtomography. The high-resolution images revealed that samples containing irradiated plastic, particularly at high doses, exhibited crystalline structures with more cross-linking, or molecular connections. In these samples, the crystalline structure also seemed to block pores within concrete, making the samples more dense and therefore stronger. “At a nano-level, this irradiated plastic affects the crystallinity of concrete,” Kupwade-Patil says. “The irradiated plastic has some reactivity, and when it mixes with Portland cement and fly ash, all three together give the magic formula, and you get stronger concrete.” “We have observed that within the parameters of our test program, the higher the irradiated dose, the higher the strength of concrete, so further research is needed to tailor the mixture and optimize the process with irradiation for the most effective results,” Kupwade-Patil says. “The method has the potential to achieve sustainable solutions with improved performance for both structural and nonstructural applications.” Going forward, the team is planning to experiment with different types of plastics, along with various doses of gamma radiation, to determine their effects on concrete. For now, they have found that substituting about 1.5 percent of concrete with irradiated plastic can significantly improve its strength. While that may seem like a small fraction, Short says, implemented on a global scale, replacing even that amount of concrete could have a significant impact. “Concrete produces about 4.5 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions,” Short says. “Take out 1.5 percent of that, and you’re already talking about 0.0675 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. That’s a huge amount of greenhouse gases in one fell swoop.” “This research is a perfect example of interdisciplinary multiteam work toward creative solutions, and represents a model educational experience,” Büyüköztürk says. This story has been updated to clarify that concrete containing both irradiated plastic and fly ash, rather than with irradiated plastic alone, is stronger, by up to 15 percent, compared to conventional concrete.

Irradiated plastic can reduce the eco-footprint of concrete

Undergraduates at MIT have developed a technique which strengthens industrial concrete and makes it more environmentally friendly using irradiated plastic bottles. Concrete manufacturing is responsible for approximately 4.5% of human-induced CO2 emissions. Introducing plastic to the concrete can lower emissions, but also weakens the structure of the material. However, the students discovered that certain forms of plastic grow stronger after exposure to gamma radiation. When such plastic was added to cement, it increased the concrete’s strength by 15% compared to control samples.

https://www.seeker.com/tech/materials/recycled-and-irradiated-plastic-bottles-make-concrete-stronger-and-more-eco-friendly

2017-11-06 00:00:00

It's a familiar refrain in engineering circles — in any industry, really: You never know where the next big idea is going to come from. An undergraduate class project at MIT may prove to be the next big idea in cement manufacturing. A group of students developed a new technique to make industrial concrete stronger and friendlier to the environment, according to newly published research. And the secret ingredient for the eco-friendly concrete is discarded plastic bottles blasted with gamma radiation. “The thing that's most interesting to me is that undergraduates actually did this,” Michael Short, an assistant professor in MIT’s department of nuclear science and engineering, told Seeker. “We instructors helped to keep them on the rails, technically. But this was the students idea.” The research, published in the journal Waste Management, details the project, which as an independent study exercise aimed at finding ways to lower carbon dioxide emissions using nuclear technologies. Concrete manufacturing generates about 4.5 percent of the world’s human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. One way to reduce that footprint could be to make plastic-reinforced concrete. But introducing even small amounts of plastic tends to weaken the material’s structures. But rooting through the literature, the students discovered that certain types of plastic actually become stronger when exposed to gamma radiation. The students' hypothesis: Irradiate the plastic before adding it to the concrete mixture. The student researchers gathered plastic bottles from the local recycling center and took them over to an MIT lab where they crushed the plastic using a high-energy ball mill. “That's basically a hardened canister with metal balls that shakes back and forth real fast and violently,” Short said. “But that didn't finish the job, so the students actually did it by hand with a mortar and pestle.” RELATED: We've Made 9.1 Billion Tons of Plastic and Have Recycled Almost None of It They then walked the crushed plastic to another MIT lab, which houses a cobalt-60 irradiator that emits gamma rays — a radiation source often used commercially to decontaminate food. “It's constantly emitting radiation, only there's a shield in front of it,” Short said. “They were able to put the plastic in there, remotely open the shield, then go back in safely to retrieve it.” After the irradiated plastic was added into standard cement mixes, the team ran tests. Sure enough, the irradiated plastic improved the concrete, increasing its strength by up to 15 percent compared with control samples. Short cautioned that the new technique is in a very preliminary stage, and more research is required to confirm the study's various findings. “The paper is basically saying, here's a method that works, here's the quantification on how well it works,” Short said. “We know that the plastic makes it denser and forms particular crystalline structures in the material that make the final concrete stronger.” RELATED: Thirsty Concrete Reduces Runoff at Yellowstone Park The research team — students and instructors both — intend to stay with the project and keep publishing new findings. The group is working on a proposal for the National Science Foundation for further funding. Short, who guided the project in his role as faculty adviser, said that he's particularly proud of the student-run aspect of the project. “Actually, I took this same class in 2004, as an undergraduate,” he said. “It was well-taught, but I found the design aspect to be lacking. I thought we were going to do something or make something physical, and we didn't.” As an instructor, Short wanted to let the students use hands-on methods to take the idea as far as they could. “They decided what to do, they did it, and they wrote it up,” he said. “This is a bunch of twenty-year-olds that may have just developed a new kind of cement.” WATCH: What Would a World Without Plastic Look Like?

Vaccine could prevent 100,000 annual infant deaths

Over 100,000 infant deaths and still births across the world could be prevented by a vaccine against group B streptococcus, carried by one in five pregnant women, according to research presented at a scientific conference in the US. The bacteria, linked to septicaemia and meningitis, has only recently been considered in relation to the health of newborns and babies in the womb. A vaccine would reduce dependence on antibiotics in developed countries and could offer a way of countering deaths in developing nations.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/06/streptococcus-vaccine-could-prevent-over-100000-baby-deaths-worldwide

2017-11-06 00:00:00

More than 100,000 stillbirths and baby deaths worldwide could be prevented by the development of a vaccine against an infection commonly carried by pregnant women, according to a groundbreaking report. The impact of disease caused by group B streptococcus (GBS) has not been properly chronicled before and only in relatively recent years has anyone taken seriously its role in the deaths of babies in the womb as well as in the early days of life. Worldwide, more than 21 million pregnant women carry the bacteria which used to be thought harmless, say researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Today it is recognised as a cause of septicaemia and meningitis in newborns, with potentially deadly effects, and also as a major cause of stillbirths, but vaccines against it are only now in development. Eleven papers have been published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases and presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting in Baltimore, revealing the scale of infection and the damage it causes. They say there are 410,000 cases of disease every year and 147,000 stillbirths and infant deaths. One in five pregnant women carries the bacteria, which can cause meningitis and also life-threatening septicaemia – blood poisoning – in them and their baby. In wealthy countries, women thought to be at risk are given antibiotics in labour, but that does not prevent stillbirths and is not a practical solution for Africa and other developing countries where the infection rate is high. It could also contribute to antibiotic resistance, which is a global problem. “Vaccines are the way to go,” said Joy Lawn, co-lead author of the papers and professor of maternal, reproductive and child health at the LSHTM. “They are on the way but it is going to be probably a five-year time horizon. The vaccine process needs to be accelerated. The World Health Organisation is already moving to make sure that when we get a vaccine it will be available for countries where the need is highest.” In affluent countries, parent groups have called for more action against GBS, including universal testing to check whether pregnant women are carrying the bacteria. “In the US particularly and also in the UK, it is an issue that is upsetting to parents, because neonatal death rates [in the first month of life] are quite low now and this happens to articulate, rich families; people don’t expect their children to die any more,” said Lawn. But most of the focus has been on babies born alive who then become ill and die, or are damaged. There has been little attention to GBS as a cause of stillbirths. The team calculate it causes 90,000 infant deaths and 57,000 stillbirths worldwide at a very conservative estimate. There is no global goal to reduce stillbirths, as there is for newborns. “There are 2.6 million babies dying in the last three months of pregnancy, the same number as in the first month of life,” said Lawn. “For the baby who dies five minutes before birth, there isn’t a global goal.” Stillbirths are under-investigated even in affluent countries, partly because of a sense of fatalism and also stigma. “People don’t know what the causes are. This [GBS] is an incredibly preventable cause,” said Lawn. The researchers say that a vaccine which was 80% effective and reached 90% of women, could potentially prevent 231,000 infant and maternal cases of disease. Dr Keith Klugman, director of the pneumonia team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which funded the research, said: “The first few days and weeks of a baby’s life are the most vulnerable – by far. By filling in one of the great voids in public health data, this work provides crucial insight and shows the pressing unmet need for the development of an effective GBS vaccine. Immunising expectant mothers is a potentially groundbreaking approach that could dramatically reduce the number of maternal and child deaths.” Johan Vekemans, co-author of the papers from the World Health Organisation, said an unacceptable number of families were affected. “It is now essential to accelerate the GBS vaccine development activities,” he said.

Statoil wants buyer for New York offshore wind power by end 2018

Statoil plans to sign a power purchase agreement for the output of a wind farm offshore New York by the end of 2018. The Norwegian energy major paid $42.5m last December to lease a 79,350-acre site that could host a 1 GW wind farm in that location. Statoil already supplies New York with natural gas from the Marcellus shale. It aims to invest up to $12.3bn in renewable energy and low carbon technology through 2030.

https://www.epmag.com/statoil-aims-sign-wind-power-purchase-agreement-new-york-late-2018-1666661

2017-11-06 00:00:00

Norway’s Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO) aims to sign a power purchase agreement with a U.S. utility to develop an offshore wind power project off New York, a senior company official said on Oct. 31. Statoil won a lease sale of 79,350 acres offshore New York, which could be potentially used to develop up to a one gigawatt capacity wind power park, by bidding $42.5 million December 2016. “Now we need to sign a power off-take agreement to develop the project. The counterpart would be one of New York’s utilities,” Stephen Bull, Statoil’s senior vice president, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference. “We expect to sign the agreement towards the end [of] 2018,” he added. Statoil, which also supplies New York with natural gas from the Northern Marcellus shale play, sees the U.S. as an important emerging market for offshore wind, both for bottom-fixed and floating turbines. The company built the world’s first floating wind power park off Scotland in 2017 and is looking at more opportunities in Japan, California and Hawaii. “We hope to have a new [floating wind power] project within the next three years,” Bull said. Statoil plans to invest up to 100 billion Norwegian crowns (US$12.3 billion) in the renewable energy and low carbon technologies from 2017 until 2030.

Paradise Papers reveal extent of offshore tax arrangements

Offshore tax avoidance is more extensive than previously thought, according to 13.4 million leaked files referred to as the Paradise Papers. Of these files, 6.8 million relate to law firm and corporate services provider Appleby. The files reveal the ways in which individuals and companies can use artificial structures to avoid paying tax. Such structures are legal, if operated correctly, but are facing increasing political scrutiny. Companies including Apple, Facebook and Nike, as well as individuals including Bono and the Queen, feature in the leak.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/what-are-the-paradise-papers-and-what-do-they-tell-us

2017-11-05 00:00:00

What are the Paradise Papers? The name refers to a leak of 13.4m files. Most of the documents – 6.8m – relate to a law firm and corporate services provider that operated together in 10 jurisdictions under the name Appleby. Last year, the “fiduciary” arm of the business was the subject of a management buyout and it is now called Estera. 02:07 What are the Paradise Papers? – video There are also details from 19 corporate registries maintained by governments in secrecy jurisdictions – Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Cook Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Labuan, Lebanon, Malta, the Marshall Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vanuatu. The papers cover the period from 1950 to 2016. How many media organisations have been looking at the data? The Guardian is one of 96 media partners in the project. A total of 381 journalists from 67 countries have been analysing the material. Who got the documents – and how? The leaks were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which also received the Panama Papers last year. Süddeutsche Zeitung shared the material with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a US-based organisation that coordinated the global collaboration. Süddeutsche Zeitung has not, and will not, discuss issues around sourcing. Do the Paradise Papers focus on companies or individuals? Both. They are united by one thing – money. Some of the world’s biggest multinationals feature in the leak, including Apple, Nike and Facebook, as well as some of the richest people in the world, from the Queen to Bono, and from the stars of British sitcoms to the stars who grace Hollywood Boulevard. What do the documents show? The files show the offshore empire is bigger and more complicated than most people thought. And even companies such as Appleby, which prides itself on being a standard bearer in the field, have fallen foul of the regulators that try to police the industry. The files set out the myriad ways in which companies and individuals can avoid tax using artificial structures. These schemes are legal if run correctly. But many appear not to be. And politicians around the world are beginning to ask whether they should be banned. Are they fair? Are they moral? A fundamental question posed by the Paradise Papers is: has tax avoidance in all its guises gone too far? Key revelations include: What does Appleby say? The firm has denied any wrongdoing, either by itself or by any of its clients. But it has conceded that it is not infallible and has tried to learn from its mistakes. The company has agreed to take part in any formal inquiries that come out of the disclosures. Estera has declined to comment.

Russian state institutions funded Twitter and Facebook

Facebook and Twitter received substantial investments from Russian state institutions connected to Vladimir Putin through an associate of Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, according to documents exposed in the Paradise Papers leak. The investments were made by Yuri Milner, a Russian tech entrepreneur who holds a stake in a firm co-owned by Kushner. Neither company was made aware of the fact that the investments came from the state-controlled VTB bank, which in 2011 invested $191m in Twitter, and a division of state oil and gas company Gazprom, which funded a vehicle holding $1bn of Facebook shares.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/russia-funded-facebook-twitter-investments-kushner-associate

2017-11-05 00:00:00

Two Russian state institutions with close ties to Vladimir Putin funded substantial stakes in Twitter and Facebook through an investor who later acquired an interest in a Jared Kushner venture, leaked documents reveal. The investments were made through a Russian technology magnate, Yuri Milner, who also holds a stake in a company co-owned by Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser. The discovery is likely to stir concerns over Russian influence in US politics and the role played by social media in last year’s presidential election. It may also raise new questions for the social media companies and for Kushner. Alexander Vershbow, who was a US ambassador to Russia under George W Bush and to Nato under Bill Clinton, said the Russian state institutions were frequently used as “tools for Putin’s pet political projects”. Vershbow said the findings were concerning in light of efforts by Moscow to disrupt US democracy and public debate. “There clearly was a wider plan, despite Putin’s protestations to the contrary,” he said. The investments are detailed in the Paradise Papers, a trove of millions of leaked documents reviewed by the Guardian, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and other partners, along with other previously unreported filings. Facebook and Twitter were not made aware that funding for the investments came from the state-controlled VTB Bank and a financial arm of the state oil and gas firm Gazprom, according to Milner. The files show that in 2011, VTB funded a $191m investment in Twitter. About the same time, Gazprom Investholding financed an opaque offshore company, which in turn funded a vehicle that held $1bn-worth of Facebook shares. The money flowed through investment vehicles controlled by Milner, who in 2015 invested in a startup in New York that Kushner co-owns with his brother. Kushner initially failed to disclose his own holding in the startup, Cadre, when he joined Trump’s White House. A spokesman for Kushner declined to comment. Milner once advised the Russian government on technology through a presidential commission chaired by Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and current prime minister. Now based in California’s Silicon Valley, Milner has invested $7bn in more than 30 online companies including Airbnb, Spotify and the Chinese retailers Alibaba and JD.com. In a series of interviews, Milner said VTB’s funding did not buy it influence at Twitter. He said he was not aware that Gazprom Investholding had backed the stake in Facebook. Milner said the deals were a small part of his overall investment portfolio and were done when US-Russia relations were better. Milner disputes that he is an associate of Kushner. He said he had invested in Kushner’s business purely for commercial reasons. He said they had met only once, over cocktails in the US last year. “I’m not involved in any political activity. I’m not funding any political activity,” said Milner. I’m not involved in any political activity. I’m not funding any political activity Yuri Milner The disclosure that stakes in two of the US’s biggest technology companies were financed by Russian entities with links to the Kremlin comes as the covert use of their platforms by Russians aiming to boost Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign is under intense scrutiny. Both VTB and Gazprom are now under US sanctions. Though Milner said the investments had no connection to the controversy, the findings are likely to add to pressure on Facebook and Twitter to give a full and transparent account of their interactions with Moscow entities before and during the US election. Vanessa Chan, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said the investment backed by Gazprom Investholding had been sold five years ago, after Facebook went public. Chan said Facebook “rejected the notion of a lack of due diligence” being done on its investors. A Twitter spokesperson said: “As a matter of policy Twitter conducted reviews of all pre-IPO investors.” The Twitter and Facebook investments were made by Milner’s investment company DST Global, which was set up in 2009. At the time, Milner joined forces with the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, a co-owner of Arsenal FC, who invested heavily in DST Global funds. Alisher Usmanov. Photograph: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images Purchases of Facebook and Twitter were public knowledge and turned out to be lucrative. Usmanov is estimated to have made more than $1bn on his original $200m stake. Usmanov sold the last of his Facebook holdings in September 2013 and Milner said DST Global had sold all stakes in Facebook and Twitter by 2014. But the role of major state-run Russian banks in funding some stakes – including in Twitter, Trump’s favourite medium – was previously unknown. Born in Soviet Moscow in 1961, Milner was named after Yuri Gagarin, who had become the first man in outer space earlier that year. Milner studied theoretical physics at Moscow State University and in 1990 moved from the Soviet Union to the US, where he attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Yuri Milner with his wife, Julia. Photograph: Trisha Leeper/WireImage After a stint at the World Bank in Washington, he returned to Russia and set up Mail.ru, an email and social networking service, which became popular and profitable. In 2009, he was asked to join Medvedev’s innovation commission. Milner said the role involved advising Russian ministers and officials on moving public services online. Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, was so impressed with Milner’s rise that he invited the Russian to invest in Facebook. Milner’s company “stood out because of the global perspective they bring”, Zuckerberg said when announcing their first $200m deal in 2009. “I believe I had some expertise at the time that Mark found valuable,” Milner said. The pair became friends and Zuckerberg attended Milner’s wedding in California late in 2011. The ceremony was held at a vast mansion atop a hillside near Silicon Valley that Milner had recently bought for $100m. Milner and Zuckerberg are advisers to each other’s philanthropic ventures and remain close. Associates of Milner told the Guardian that he tried to secure funding for new investments from western banks. But they turned him down, forcing him after the 2008 financial crisis to go instead to Russian institutions. His exit from Moscow followed Putin’s return as president in 2012, as Russia moved in a more authoritarian direction. Milner has lived in the US with his family since 2014. Yuri Milner’s Los Altos Hills house, bought for $100m. Photograph: Google Earth Milner said that as a management company, DST Global had sole discretion over its investment decisions. He said that he, like other investment managers, did not disclose the identities of his funders to the companies where DST Global invested. He said funders such as VTB received only basic updates on investments. He briefly mentioned VTB’s role in the Twitter investment during an interview with Forbes magazine last month. The partial disclosure appeared to have been prompted by questions put to him by the Guardian and other media partners. It is unclear if Moscow saw a political interest in funding stakes in Facebook and Twitter, or if the acquisitions were only intended to make money. Sources familiar with the situation told the Guardian that Facebook had carried out a discreet internal review of Russian investments before its IPO in 2012, and that the review was unable to draw firm conclusions. Karen Vartapetov, the director of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor’s, said the Russian government had “a strong influence on VTB’s strategic and business plans” even when these were not expected to be lucrative. “VTB plays a very important role for government policies, including implementation of some less profitable and socially important tasks,” said Vartapetov. Russia’s role in exploiting Facebook and Twitter to influence the 2016 US election is an important strand of an FBI inquiry and congressional investigations. Facebook has identified 3,000 advertisements and 470 fake accounts on its network that were set up by a “troll factory” in St Petersburg. Details have been passed to Congress and to the special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, who is examining alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. VTB has a close relationship with the Kremlin and, according to analysts, has received more state subsidies than any other Russian bank. In 2009, the bank boasted that its investment banking arm was “pivotal in managing the state’s interests”. VTB also has close ties to Putin’s FSB intelligence agency. The bank’s chairman, Andrey Kostin, is a former KGB foreign intelligence operative, it has been reported, who has received several state decorations from Putin. Milner denied knowing about VTB’s ties to Russian intelligence. VTB funded 45% of the Twitter stake. The bank denies Kostin worked for the KGB. In an email, Milner’s spokeswoman said: “Yuri Milner has never been an employee of the Russian government.” Milner said he not spoken to Medvedev nor any other Russian minister about social media, and that he and Zuckerberg had not discussed the controversy over Russian exploitation of social media. “Politics is something I’m very uninterested in,” Milner told the Guardian. ‘They operate in the shadows’ The Paradise Papers help to unravel complex arrangements that led Russian state money to fund investments in the US social media companies. They involve a bewildering array of companies using similar names and acronyms, some registered offshore in places that offer secrecy about ownership. The arrangements are legal, but have led campaigners to demand more transparency. The trail begins in December 2005, when Gazprom Investholding began putting money into Kanton Services, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Usmanov was at the time general director of Gazprom Investholding, which the Kremlin has used to renationalise assets sold off in the 1990s. Gazprom in effect took control of Kanton in 2009 in return for $920m. In 2011, Kanton in turn took a majority stake in DST USA II, a vehicle publicly associated with Milner. By 2012, DST USA II had bought more than 50m shares in Facebook, according to filings at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, amounting to more than 3% of the social media company. Over the following months, ownership of DST USA II was transferred to an Usmanov company, which sold off $1bn worth of the shares in Facebook at a significant profit after the social network floated on the stock market. The ultimate owner of Kanton was not made clear, but the company has several ties to Usmanov. An executive who dealt with Kanton on another deal, who requested anonymity to discuss private details, said: “I was led to believe this was one of Usmanov’s investment companies.” Milner said he knew who owned Kanton but declined to name them, citing a confidentiality agreement. He said he did not know where Usmanov and his other partners obtained funding. “I had no knowledge of him using state funds to invest with us – he had enough funds already from the holdings that he owned,” said Milner. Russia's influence operations are intentionally opaque Alina Polyakova Rollo Head, a spokesman for Usmanov, said in an email: “To be absolutely clear, Mr Usmanov did not borrow from or use state or quasi-state funds to make investments in Facebook.” Alina Polyakova, a specialist in Russian foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said Moscow frequently used intermediaries to ensure “plausible deniability” for the actions of senior officials. “Russia’s influence over operations – whether that be allocating funds for disinformation campaigns or providing financing to extremist movements, or others – are intentionally opaque,” said Polyakova. “They operate in the shadows.” The leaked documents, together with public filings, show that VTB funded another offshore investment vehicle, DST Investments 3, which was registered on the Isle of Man, a tax haven and UK crown dependency. VTB put about $191m into this vehicle, which bought 11m shares in Twitter in 2011. When Twitter was preparing to float on the stock market in 2013, the VTB-funded vehicle held a 2% stake in the company. The VTB-funded stake was sold in May 2014, according to Milner. Stock prices from that time indicate the sale would have returned more than $240m in profit. In July 2014, shortly before the US imposed sanctions on Russian entities such as VTB and Gazprom over the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine, control of DST Investments 3 was transferred to Kanton, the same company tied to Usmanov that was used as a go-between in the Facebook deal. Milner insisted VTB had been treated like his other investors, but acknowledged it was different in one respect. “VTB Bank is clearly an institution controlled by the Russian government,” he said. The Russian companies denied that their funding of the investments was politically motivated. “The loans were provided for general corporate purposes,” said Oleg Maksimov, a spokesman for Gazprom Investholding. A VTB spokesperson said that in 2011 the bank “executed several deals in the high-tech industry, as we considered this field to have high potential” but had since sold its stakes. 02:07 What are the Paradise Papers? – video Russian investor backed Kushner The disclosure of Milner’s partial backing by Russian state interests may also cause difficulties for Kushner. Milner in 2015 contributed $850,000 from his family trust to a $50m investment in Cadre, a New-York-based company that Kushner co-founded in 2014 with his brother, Joshua, and a friend of theirs from Harvard. The startup, which the Kushners claim is worth $800m, is based around an online marketplace where wealthy financiers can club together to invest in properties. Cadre has attracted an estimated $133m of venture capital from backers including Peter Thiel, the controversial libertarian billionaire who co-founded PayPal and backed Trump’s campaign for president in 2016. Jared Kushner. Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP The company has already caused controversy for Kushner, after he initially failed to detail his stake in Cadre in financial disclosures to the US Office of Government Ethics. Kushner later added Cadre to revised paperwork, saying his stake in the firm was worth up to $25m. Cadre initially said in a June press release that Milner’s stake in the company was held through his firm DST. A different version of the release on Cadre’s website said, however, that Milner himself was the investor in Cadre. The breakdown of the $50m funding was not made public by Cadre. Milner said in an interview that he had invested in Cadre based only on the merits of the business. “I just thought it was an attractive opportunity,” he said. He said he knew Joshua Kushner and had met Jared Kushner once, at a conference in Aspen, Colorado, in autumn 2016. “He was very pleasant and nice, and it was sort of a cocktail-type conversation,” said Milner, adding that politics was not discussed. Cadre operates from the Puck Building in the Nolita section of Manhattan. The Kushners’ father, Charles, bought the building in the 1980s before being jailed for a string of crimes including 18 counts of tax evasion. The building, a red-brick Romanesque revival, was named after the 19th-century satirical magazine based there. A gilded Puck statue, wearing a top hat and tails, gazes down on staff as they arrive for work. Mueller’s inquiry is believed to be reviewing Jared Kushner’s finances. Kushner was questioned by US senators in July about his connections to Russia. The closed-door session followed a series of explosive reports, including that Kushner had undisclosed contacts with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia’s ambassador to the US. In remarks at the White House in July, Kushner said he had “not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector”. Kushner attended a meeting at Trump Tower in June last year at which Donald Trump Jr was expecting to receive damaging information on Hillary Clinton, their Democratic opponent, which he was told had come from the Russian government. Kushner claimed he knew nothing about the meeting’s purpose before attending and left shortly after it began. He has also denied reports that following his father-in-law’s election victory, he proposed setting up a secure communication channel between Trump’s team and Moscow to avoid snooping by the US before Trump took office. Kislyak reportedly told his superiors in Moscow, during conversations intercepted by American intelligence, that Kushner had asked for the backchannel during a meeting at Trump Tower last December.

SmartStudy to expand online learning platform with $30m funding

Online education firm SmartStudy has raised CNY200m ($30m) in a B-plus round, taking its total series B financing to CNY400m. The company offers Chinese students the opportunity to study overseas to improve their application test results, as well as assistance with overseas study applications and management of academic studies while abroad. The company has nearly 6 million registered students, with 150,000 of those paying for the service. SmartStudy plans to use the funds to upgrade the current offering of classes and develop talent within the company.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/tech/2017-11/02/content_34028264.htm

2017-11-03 18:57:55.940000

Online education company SmartStudy announced on Wednesday that it has received 200 million yuan ($30 million) in its B-plus round of financing. Together with another 200 million yuan acquired in November last year, the whole B round of financing of the education startup totaled 400 million yuan, according to CEO Wei Xiaoliang. Established in 2013, SmartStudy targets Chinese students who want to improve test results needed for applications to study overseas. The company has expanded its services to include helping students with their whole overseas study application process, and their life and studies while abroad. According to Wei, the company has almost 6 million registered learners, of whom 150,000 paid for the company's services. He said the incomes of Chinese families, particularly those in large cities, have increased greatly over the past decade, and well-off parents are looking for more informative, customized and international education for their children. He added that the size of the market for foreign language education in China is expected to reach 600 billion yuan by 2020, and the market size of overseas study services might exceed 56 billion yuan. "There are great potential and development opportunities in the field," he said, adding that much of the money raised will be put into upgrading SmartStudy's classes and nurturing talent for the company.

Bango mobile payments expands presence in South Korea

Mobile payments firm Bango has extended its South Korean operations, seeking to expand its offerings to new partners and hiring a country manager to boost its operations and relationships with major clients. It aims to offer further payment opportunities across real-world, digital and internet of things services. Alex Oh will manage the company's relationships with Danal and Samsung. The move follows Bango's expansion in Japan last year, where it offered a new payment solution for Amazon, and hopes to do the same for Direct Carrier Billing in Korea.

http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/bango-south-korea-expansion

2017-11-03 18:24:06.987000

Bango CEO and founder Ray Anderson Mobile payments company Bango has expanded its presence in South Korea to increase payment opportunities for digital, physical and internet of things (IoT) services in the nation. Along with the increased presence, Bango has appointed a country manager for the region in the form of Alex Oh. His 25-year career has included technical leadership at the likes of Samsung, Dilithium Networks and Comverse. “The Bango Platform is truly differentiated by being capable of powering physical goods sales and capabilities that enable internet connected devices to be monetised,” said Oh. “I look forward to expanding the established Bango relationships with Danal and Samsung, along with introducing the Korean mobile operators to the benefits of the Bango Platform, in particular the unique technology that increases content sales. I am thrilled to join the Bango team to help make its strategic partners – and anybody selling to internet uses – more successful.” In 2016, Bango expanded its presence in Japan. This eventually led to it deploying a new payment method for Amazon in Japan. Bango says it sees similar opportunities for Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) in Korea, and expects the expansion to be a growth opportunity for its partners to collect payment for physical good, IoT services, and digital content. “Following this year’s successful launch of carrier billing for Amazon in Japan, I am excited to establish a Bango presence in South Korea led by a hugely experienced country manager,” said Ray Anderson, Bango CEO. “The Bango strategy, to power the leaders in physical and digital retail, and in exciting new areas such as smart home, has seen a continued increase in End User Spend and Bango is EBITDA positive on a run-rate basis entering November 2017.” 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.

Wells Fargo to offer AI-supported, mobile-only account

Wells Fargo is to launch a mobile-only account in the US that offers artificial intelligence-based budgeting and savings support as well as a current account. The Greenhouse app offers one account for day-to-day spending on a linked debit card and another that looks after savings and bills. The app provides AI-based insights into customers' spending trends and alerts for keeping budgets on track. The app will be available via a national pilot in Q1 2018, with a predicted launch for iPhone users to follow. Greenhouse is particularly aimed at customers who have unpredictable or multiple income sources.

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31284/wells-fargo-to-launch-pfm-based-mobile-only-account

2017-11-03 18:19:31.053000

Wells Fargo is to launch a new mobile-only customer account tied to a standalone AI-based budgeting and savings app. The Greenhouse app operates across two distinct accounts: one for weekly spending tied to a dedicated debit card, and one account reserved for savings and bills. In this latter account, customers can set aside money to build a savings cushion as well as for specific expenses, such as rent or a phone bill. The app ties the two bank accounts together and provides spending trend visualisations, personalised insights based on an artificial intelligence engine, and alerts to help customers stay on track. Avid Modjtabai, head of payments, virtual solutions and innovation at Wells Fargo, says the new account has been designed to appeal to a broad base of consumers, many of whom have several income sources or are paid infrequently, which can make budgeting a challenge, “Whether you are new to banking, don’t have regular paychecks, or typically manage money with cash, we believe the Greenhouse experience can help you manage day-to-day spending while planning for the future,” he says. The move bring the banking behemoth into a market which has been identified by a host of social savings startups as an overlooked aspect of banking that is ripe for the picking. The Greenhouse app will be available in a limited, national pilot in the first quarter of 2018 and is slated to launch for Apple iPhone users during the first half of 2018.

IBM claims new tech can make computers run 200-times faster

IBM researchers have claimed that their computational memory technology can make computers run 200 times more efficiently in terms of speed and energy. Experiments using phase change memory (PCM) devices made of germanium antimony telluride alloy placed between two electrodes, showed the technology was suitable for the high-level needs of computing systems that test applications in artificial intelligence. The research's lead author, Abu Sebastian, said the concept was "loosely inspired by how the brain computes" and memorises simultaneously.

https://futurism.com/ibms-new-cutting-edge-tech-could-make-computers-200-times-faster/

2017-11-03 18:12:47.370000

An All-in-One Approach to Computing Regular desktop computers, as well as laptops and smartphones, have processing units dedicated to computing and memory. They're called von Neumann systems and are named after physicist and computer scientist John von Neumann who, among other things, was a pioneer in modern digital computing. They work by moving data back and forth between the memory and computing unit; a process that can, and often does, end up being slow and not very efficient. At least, not as fast or efficient as what we could achieve using "computational memory." Also known as "in-memory computing," computational memory allows for storing and processing information using just the physical properties of a computer system's memory. A team from IBM Research claims to have made a breakthrough in computational memory by successfully using one million phase change memory (PCM) devices to run an unsupervised machine learning algorithm. Details of the research have been published in the journal Nature Communications. The IBM team's PCM device was made from a germanium antimony telluride alloy stacked and sandwiched between two electrodes. "[T]his prototype technology is expected to yield 200x improvements in both speed and energy efficiency, making it highly suitable for enabling ultra-dense, low-power, and massively-parallel computing systems for applications in AI," according to a post on IBM Research's blog. Fit for AI The new PCM devices can perform computation in place through crystallization dynamics. Essentially, this involves an electrical current being applied to the PCM's material, which changes its state from one of a disordered atomic arrangement to an ordered configuration — i.e. crystalline. The IBM team demonstrated their PCM technology using two time-based examples, which they then compared to traditional machine-learning methods. The ability to perform computations faster will, obviously, benefit over all computer performance. For IBM, that means better computing power for AI applications. “This is an important step forward in our research of the physics of AI, which explores new hardware materials, devices and architectures,” IBM Fellow and co-author of the study Evangelos Eleftheriou said in a statement quoted in the blog. “As the [Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor or CMOS] scaling laws break down because of technological limits, a radical departure from the processor-memory dichotomy is needed to circumvent the limitations of today’s computers. Given the simplicity, high speed and low energy of our in-memory computing approach, it’s remarkable that our results are so similar to our benchmark classical approach run on a von Neumann computer.” Computational memory presents an opportunity for a more "real-time" processing of information; a much-needed improvement in today's world, where more companies are putting a premium on data analytics. At the same time, as industry giants like Amazon and Google place AI at the center of their business, faster computing for AI applications is indeed a welcomed development. For IBM, in-memory computing is key. “Memory has so far been viewed as a place where we merely store information. But in this work, we conclusively show how we can exploit the physics of these memory devices to also perform a rather high-level computational primitive," lead author Abu Sebastian said. "The result of the computation is also stored in the memory devices, and in this sense the concept is loosely inspired by how the brain computes.”

Android Pay seen testing card purchase history feature

Android is said to be testing a Full Purchase History feature on its payments app, offering users the ability to see a full transaction history for cards even if those payments were not made with Android Pay. Only certain cards appear to be compatible at present, including American Express. The added functionality is also expected to give users notifications of purchases made on their card.

https://9to5google.com/2017/10/30/android-pay-full-purchase-history-testing/

2017-11-03 17:47:39.010000

Keeping track of your purchases isn’t always easy. That’s why services such as PayPal which can notify you of every purchase or deposit can really come in handy. Android Pay does something similar, but only when you pay with your phone. Now, it’s looking like the service might be able to pull transaction history from your card(s) regardless of if it was on your phone or not. As noted on Twitter, the Android Pay app appears to be testing out a new feature for “Full Purchase History.” In short, this new feature pulls your entire transaction history from your card and displays it right alongside Android Pay purchases. This new setting on Android Pay appears to only work for specific cards, though. In this first case, it works with an American Express Cash card, and other users with American Express cards are reporting the same on Reddit, even in the UK. Presumably, adding this functionality will also give users the ability to receive notifications for purchases with that card through Android Pay, just like purchases made with the phone, but that has not been fully confirmed yet. Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:

Indian edtech Meritnation to scale its online learning tools

Indian elearning platform Meritnation has raised $5.8m in investment from Info Edge, a digital classifieds platform. Info Edge has invested more than $20.7m into Meritnation through three investment rounds, and now owns a 66% stake in the company. The funds will be spent on resolving some of Meritnation's debt, with the remainder dedicated to extending the start-up's operations. The Meritnation platform reportedly has more than 9.5 million active users in nine countries, providing 14,000 tests, homework help forums, digital exercises and animated videos to help students.

https://inc42.com/buzz/elearning-meritnation-info-edge/

2017-11-03 17:41:36.080000

With The Latest Funding, Info Edge Now Holds 66% Stake In The Edtech Startup Delhi-based elearning platform Meritnation has raised $5.8 Mn (INR 38 Cr) from online classifieds platform Info Edge, which runs job portal Naukri.com, real estate site 99acres and Jeevansaathi. As per its BSE filings, Info Edge has pumped over $20.7 Mn (INR 134 Cr) in the online education startup across three rounds so far. With the latest funding round, the parent of Naukri.com now holds a 66% stake in Meritnation. Of the newly-raised capital, around $5 Mn will be spent on paying off some of Meritnation’s debt on its books, states the filing. The remaining amount will be infused towards scaling the startup’s daily operations. Meritnation: Integrating Technology To Make Education More Accessible Founded in 2007 by Pavan Chauhan and Ritesh Hemrajani, the elearning platform targets K-12 students across various educational boards like CBSE, ICSE and State Boards such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Owned by Applect Learning Systems, the platform which can be accessed on iOS and Android platforms, has study related apps like Tables App, IIT JEEnius Mobile Apps to make studies easy and interactive for students. At present, the company claims to have over 9.5 Mn active users across nine countries, up from 9 Mn students in 2015. It also has a repository of more than 14,000 animated videos, tests, homework help forums and interactive exercises. Meritnation Live, which was made available in 2014 for students of grades 6 to 12, offers online classes for JEE and AIPMT entrance exams. Through this platform, Meritnation avails IIT professionals to teach the students along with tracking every student’s progress closely and displaying personalised recommendations. Complying with its delivery of personalised and engaging content model, the company had rolled out Meritnation Junior in April 2014. Around the same time, the elearning platform launched a franchise model at 6 offline centres in Chandigarh and Lucknow. The model was originally tested in 2012 when Meritnation opened a centre in Gurgaon and subsequently launching four more centres in Jaipur two years later. Earlier in June 2015, the elearning startup secured funding of $4 Mn from Info Edge. At the time, founder and CEO of Meritnation told Inc42 that the funds would be utilised to ramp up the technology for Meritnation Live and increase the number of employees in the organisation. Info Edge: An Overview Incorporated in May 1995, Info Edge is the parent company of a number of online portals, including 99acres, Naukri.com, matrimony classifieds Jeevansathi.com, and online education platform Shiksha.com. It currently boasts a workforce of more than 4,000 employees in 62 offices across 43 cities in India. As per the company’s latest filings, it has seen around 7% increase in operational revenues in the second quarter of FYY 2017-18 to $34.7 Mn (INR 225.2 Cr) from $32.4 Mn (INR 209.9 Cr) in Q2 2016. Over the years, the investment arm of Info Edge has backed several early-stage Internet-based startup ventures. Among them are Zomato, Mydala, PolicyBazaar, HappilyUnmarried, VCare, Unnati, and Goa-headquartered Vacation Labs. In December 2015, Canvera Digital secured $2.2 Mn (INR 15 Cr) funding from Info Edge. Later in January of the same year, the company invested $1 Mn software services provider, Rare Media, in exchange for a 35% stake. The move, as per reports, was aimed at bolstering the growth and expansion of Info Edge’s subsidiary 99acres. Online gifting platform HappilyUnmarried received a $740K funding boost from Info Edge in July last year. A couple of months later, the company poured $2.3 Mn into Bengaluru-based online photography startup Canvera. In December, phone directory app Diro Labs raised $147K (INR 1 Cr) through optionally convertible cumulative redeemable preference shares from Info Edge. This year in April, the company acquired AmbitionBox to enhance the overall experience of Naukri users. Two months later, in July, online beauty services provider BigStylist raised $1.2 Mn (INR 8 Cr) in a funding round led by Info Edge. Most recently, in the month of September, Info Edge invested another $1.3 Mn (INR 8.6 Cr) in Canvera Digital Technologies. Online education in India will see approximately 8x growth in the next five years, says a recent report by Google, KPMG. This will have a significant impact on the edtech market that has a potential to touch $1.96 Bn by 2021 from where it stands now i.e. $247 Mn. As per Inc42 Datalabs Report for H1 2017, edtech took the fourth spot with 23 deals in the sector. Armed with the $5.8 Mn funding from Info Edge, elearning startup Meritnation is gearing up to compete with a number of emerging players in this segment including BYJU’S, Unacademy, Coursera, UCLID, Avagmah, iProf, Simplilearn and Englishleap.

Jaguar Land Rover cautious about YouTube after misplaced ads

Jaguar Land Rover is cautious about the placement of its video ads on YouTube following the revelation that one was misplaced on unfavourable sites. The car maker plans to continue its level of spend on YouTube, but will focus on placement over density. However, greater relevance in ad placement will be more costly, as services such as Google Preferred or programmatic exchanges will need to be tailored to include only channels that are considered safe. JLR will use Google and analytics firm OpenSlate to select which channels it uses.

https://digiday.com/marketing/jaguar-land-rover-wants-bring-relevancy-youtube-buys/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171103

2017-11-03 14:37:45.790000

Jaguar Land Rover is coming around to the idea that appearing next to fewer but more relevant videos on YouTube won’t come cheap. The irrelevancy of ad placements on the video site is a pressing issue for the car manufacturer, perhaps even more of one than its brand-safety fears. JLR isn’t spending as much as it did on YouTube since it was revealed as one of the brands that had its ads misplaced on the site, but it wants to — it’s just cautious about the returns from its spend there. When JLR’s spending on YouTube returns to the previous levels, it will focus more on knowing where its ads run. Dominic Chambers, JLR’s global head of digital marketing, said if that means the brand’s videos appear on a smaller pool of channels, then so be it. There’s no point in a JLR ad appearing next to gaming content when those videos are mainly watched by kids, for example. It’s not like TV, where a carmaker could justify a similar placement with the likelihood that an adult and their child would watch the program. Chambers doesn’t control JLR’s media budget directly, but he does influence how it’s spent, which will increasingly lead to his peers accepting that greater relevance on YouTube will cost more. In other words, through services like Google Preferred or via private programmatic exchanges, the brand is removing channels that may be brand-safe yet aren’t relevant — the so-called long tail of content that would have bloated previous campaigns to maximize reach. Chambers said costs have increased when the brand bought ads on a smaller number of channels, but he believes sharper targeting and “a better-quality experience” offset the additional expense. “There’s lots of data to prove that if you’re in a relevant context, then you have much higher engagement and action,” he said. There aren’t many brands with the resources to sift through thousands of YouTube URLs, monitoring what is uploaded to the channels they want to appear on. It is difficult but possible, using technology, to pick the specific YouTube videos you want your advertising to appear against. JLR is working with Google and analytics company OpenSlate to do this and ensure its cost-per-video rate doesn’t increase too much, Chambers said. Digital agency Jellyfish set up a similar service for its own clients, and its KPIs are off the chart because it’s targeting the consumer based on their viewing habits and not targeting a cookie, said Daniel Wilkinson, head of paid media at Jellyfish. YouTube is too big to avoid for a long stretch of time, and it has become a key destination for people preparing to buy a car. Like many of his peers, Chambers has pressured the business the video site to ease the tension between reach and relevance. “It was unfortunate about the [brand-safety] issues we had earlier in the year,” he said, “but Google [is] putting in account-level controls [so] that as long as we can set them up globally, [that] will mean we’ll be back on it.” JLR’s future on YouTube is likely a key talking point in its current media review. While its incumbent media agency Mindshare buys YouTube inventory in the U.K., a significant chunk of its European spend on the site goes through DBM directly. Whether JLR sticks with Mindshare or looks elsewhere hasn’t been announced, though Chambers said its contract will change to create a more transparent model. JLR started the review just days after The Times of London revealed that ads for a number of major brands, including JLR, had appeared on extremist videos or sites. Image courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover

Russian entrepreneurs heat home with bitcoin mining rig

Two Siberian bitcoin miners have devised a way to use the energy generated by their bitcoin mining operation to heat a small cottage in the town of Irkutsk. The prototype 215 sq ft house, built by Ilya Frolov and Dmitry Tolmachyov, includes two rigs, which warm liquid for radiators inside the structure. Tolmachyov, who earns around $430 per month from mining, hopes that more homes in the region can be heated in this manner.

https://qz.com/1117836/bitcoin-mining-heats-homes-for-free-in-siberia/

2017-11-03 14:01:29.057000

Two entrepreneurs have figured out how to heat their homes for free: bitcoin mining. Bitcoin transactions require a lot of processing power, which creates a lot of heat. So Ilya Frolov and Dmitry Tolmachyov built a wooden cottage in the Russian Siberian town of Irkutsk, and they’re heating it with two bitcoin mines. The men pocket about $430 a month from bitcoin transactions, while keeping the 20 square meter space warm. Advertisement Watch our video to see how the heating system works.

Japan's Tech Bureau backed by Shinsei Bank

Tech Bureau, the Japanese company behind the Zaif cryptocurrency exchange, has secured more than $760,000 in investment from Shinsei Bank and Q&A social community OKWAVE, following investments totalling $24m in August and September. The funds will be used to grow Tech Bureau's European and Asian presences and invest in new businesses, among other projects. Tech Bureau recently closed its inaugural token sale on its COMSA integrated platform, raising over $90m.

https://www.cryptoninjas.net/2017/11/03/shinsei-bank-okwave-invest-767k-crypto-blockchain-firm-tech-bureau/

2017-11-03 13:11:38.853000

Tech Bureau, a leading Japanese blockchain and cryptocurrency company has announced that Shinsei Bank, a Japanese bank that provides a full range of financial products and services, and OKWAVE, the first and largest Q&A social community in Japan with bitcoin support and over 40 million users, have invested in Tech Bureau. The brief history of Tech Bureau has seen the company launch the Zaif cryptocurrency exchange in the spring of 2015, its private blockchain product mijin swiftly followed in the fall of 2015. In 2016, Zaica, a token issuance service for corporations, and Zaif started to handle tokens as an exchange. In August 2017, Tech Bureau announced its next development phase with the launch of COMSA, an integrated ICO solution and platform for enterprises that want to adopt blockchain technology and launch an ICO at the same time. The first token for sale on the platform is the COMSA (CMS) token issued by Tech Bureau itself, ending November 6, 2017 and which has sold USD $90 million so far. The COMSA concept was conceived more than 2 years ago, and now it represents the ultimate integration of all products and services that Tech Bureau has to offer. Tech Bureau received $15M from Japan’s largest VC JAFCO in September, this was on top of a $9 million commitment in August from VCs Nippon Technology Venture Partners, FISCO Capitals, and ABBALab Inc. to support COMSA. The investment from Shinsei and OKWAVE will go to support not just COMSA, but will help boost the ecosystem of Tech Bureau’s other businesses. INVESTMENT BREAKDOWN: Shinsei Bank – USD $460,500 OKWAVE – USD $307,000 (second investment) FUNDRAISING PURPOSE: Expand business and increase headcount. Expand and improve Zaif cryptocurrency exchange infrastructure and services Build “mijin CloudChain,” BaaS (blockchain as a service) cloud service Expand mijin licensing and mijin CloudChain sales worldwide Grow its US, European, and Asian business bases Invest in new businesses, M&A Merge existing financial services with Tech Bureau’s technology and services Proceeds from the sales of CMS tokens on COMSA will be invested separately in system development of COMSA itself to expand its services and operations as outlined in the COMSA white paper.

Study shows negligible benefits of blood as anti-aging treatment

High hopes for reversing the symptoms of Alzheimer's have been dashed after the first study investigating the effects of blood plasma from young people on patients ended inconclusively. Participants in the study performed no better on cognitive tests taken after receiving plasma injections for an extended period of time. However, a survey of caregivers indicated that there were improvements in patients' ability to carry out everyday tasks, like preparing food or travelling. Despite the inconclusive results, the treatment is being offered commercially, at prices as high as $8,000 for two days.

https://futurism.com/first-results-of-a-clinical-trial-to-cure-aging-using-young-blood-just-came-in/

2017-11-03 13:02:34.237000

Young Blood The results of a study investigating whether blood plasma taken from young people can reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease are in. Unfortunately, it seems that the technique doesn't hold as much potential as many had hoped, yet the scientists behind the work are quick to note that the research is still in its nascent stages. Within this study, a group of elderly people with Alzheimer's disease were given weekly injections of blood plasma from people aged between 18 and 25. But, while some improvements were recorded, the effects of the treatment were not significantly pronounced. The participants of the study did not perform better on objective cognitive tests taken after the had received injections for an extended period of time. However, a survey of caregivers indicated that there were improvements in terms of their ability to carry out everyday tasks like preparing food or traveling. The idea of injecting plasma to combat the effects of aging comes from a 19th-century concept that's now referred to as parabiosis. In its earliest iteration, the skin of old and young mice was stitched together to allow blood to circulate freely between the two animals. In recent years, the technique has been revisited, and it was demonstrated to revitalize the liver, brain, and muscles of older mice. This prompted a search for the molecules that were causing these improvements. Peer Review Doubt has been cast on this study because of the way that the treatment's effectiveness was tested. Initially, one group of patients was set to be given a saline placebo, and another would be injected with plasma. After several weeks, they would switch – but this plan was thrown out after several participants dropped out. Instead, the remaining participants were all given plasma for four weeks, and this was compared to the placebo effect from the first study. Between the study results and the fact that caregivers might be predisposed to observe improvements where there are none, it's being argued that the study is far from conclusive. Alkahest, the technology company that bankrolled the study, finds the results encouraging. Further trials are set to be carried out to determine whether or not the treatment is at all viable. Another study will take this a step further and only use the part of blood plasma that contains growth factors, which has proven to be more effective in animal testing. There are also early plans to test a larger number of Alzheimer's sufferers, including people with a more severe form of the condition, with a variety of different dosages. There are still questions that need to be answered before we know how effective plasma injections really are. Despite this and the inconclusive and seemingly ineffectual results, the procedure is already being offered commercially, with prices as high as $8,000 for a two-day course of treatment.

UK seabed litter increases 158% in a year

The amount of litter on the seabed around the UK has risen dramatically, according to data from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Last year saw an average of 358 items of litter per square kilometre of seabed, a rise of 158% from 2015 and of 222% from 1992-94. Of the litter, nearly 78% was plastic, while 6.3% was rubber and 2.7% was metal. The 2016 rise was the first after three years of decreasing figures. The production of plastic is expected to double over the next two decades.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/england-natural-environment-indicators

2017-11-03 12:59:47.790000

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Roman launches platform that targets men's health

Roman has gone live with its men's health platform, after securing $3.1m in funding from General Catalyst, among others. Roman CEO Zachariah Reitano said the platform, initially available in California, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania, aims to erase the stigma about erectile dysfunction, which is sometimes a symptom of more serious health issues. The platform's chatbot helps users fill out a telehealth assessment form, which is them checked by a doctor, with any medication required discreetly mailed to patients. Reitano said the company hopes to cover other conditions that disproportionately affect men.

http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/mens-health-platform-roman-launches-31m

2017-11-03 12:48:32.973000

Roman, an online men's health platform initially focused on erectile dysfunction, launched this week with $3.1 million in funding. General Catalyst led the round, with participation from Initialized Capital, Box Group, and Slow Ventures. The company also announced a number of angel investors including Casper CEO Philip Krim, Bark CEO Matt Meeker, WayUp CEO Liz Wessel, Code Academy CEO Zach Sims, former Behance CEO Scott Belsky, and PillPack CEO TJ Parker. The idea behind the company is that the stigma behind erectile dysfunction keeps many men from seeking any treatment, or drives them to seek treatment outside of the healthcare system. This is dangerous because ED can be an early warning sign of diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, or depression. An online platform allows men to seek discreet treatment they might be more comfortable with. "Basically, having ED is your body’s check engine light turning on,” Zachariah Reitano, Roman CEO and cofounder, said in a statement. “A check engine light that’s so highly stigmatized — men rarely admit it, even to their own doctor, which means they wait until things become worse.” Reitano shared in a medium post that he experienced ED himself as a teenager and it turned out to be an early symptom of a dangerous heart condition. Roman's offering includes an asynchronous telehealth assessment that patients fill out online with the help of a chatbot. Then a physician reviews those questions and follows up if necessary. Many times users will be prescribed ED meds, which can then be shipped discreetly to the patient and refilled automatically. Patients can chat with a pharmacist or medical team at any time. Roman charges $15 for the initial consultation, as well as charging for any medication. The company does not accept insurance and the service will initially be available only in New York, California, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The company is also committed to encouraging patients to see a doctor to discover the underlying causes of their ED, and will make it easy to forward information to providers. Reitano doesn't plan for ED to be Roman's entire business in the long run. He hopes to discover what other conditions are disproportionately affecting men because men's reluctance to seek care and gradually add those to the platform. "First, Roman will strive to be the easiest, safest, and most affordable way to receive treatment for erectile dysfunction. If we don’t accomplish this, we will never be able to do anything else," he wrote. "If we are fortunate to take the first step, we will look to our patients. Roman exists to serve our patients. The data shows that many conditions are highly correlated with ED but we don’t yet know which conditions our patients most need us to help them treat. We will progress adaptively and continue to be an important part of their healthcare journey."

Google's AI can be tricked into misidentifying 3D objects

Machine vision systems of all kinds are susceptible to confusing everyday objects with what a team at MIT are terming "adversarial images". These are objects that computers perceive as optical illusions and that can easily confuse an artificial intelligence (AI) system's recognition ability. For example, a driverless car could be tricked into seeing Stop signs everywhere. However, the team behind the adversarial image technology argue that it doesn't pose a present threat, as a working knowledge of Google's AI was required for them to be effective in confusing the system.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/2/16597276/google-ai-image-attacks-adversarial-turtle-rifle-3d-printed

2017-11-03 12:45:32.300000

From self-driving cars to smart surveillance cams, society is slowly learning to trust AI over human eyes. But although our new machine vision systems are tireless and ever-vigilant, they’re far from infallible. Just look at the toy turtle above. It looks like a turtle, right? Well, not to a neural network trained by Google to identify everyday objects. To Google’s AI it looks exactly like a rifle. This 3D-printed turtle is an example of what’s known as an “adversarial image.” In the AI world, these are pictures engineered to trick machine vision software, incorporating special patterns that make AI systems flip out. Think of them as optical illusions for computers. You can make adversarial glasses that trick facial recognition systems into thinking you’re someone else, or can apply an adversarial pattern to a picture as a layer of near-invisible static. Humans won’t spot the difference, but to an AI it means that panda has suddenly turned into a pickup truck. Imagine tricking a self-driving car into seeing stop signs everywhere Researching ways of generating and guarding against these sorts of adversarial attacks is an active field of research. And although the attacks are usually strikingly effective, they’re often not too robust. This means that if you rotate an adversarial image or zoom in on it a a little, the computer will see past the pattern and identify it correctly. Why this 3D-printed turtle is significant, though, is because it shows how these adversarial attacks work in the 3D world, fooling a computer when viewed from multiple angles. “In concrete terms, this means it's likely possible that one could construct a yard sale sign which to human drivers appears entirely ordinary, but might appear to a self-driving car as a pedestrian which suddenly appears next to the street,” write labsix, the team of students from MIT who published the research. “Adversarial examples are a practical concern that people must consider as neural networks become increasingly prevalent (and dangerous).” Labsix calls their new method “Expectation Over Transformation” and you can read their full paper on it here. As well as creating a turtle that looks like a rifle, they also made a baseball that gets confused for an espresso and numerous non-3D-printed tests. The classes they chose were at random. The group tested their attack against an image classifier developed by Google called Inception-v3. The company makes this freely available for researchers to tinker with, and although it’s not a commercial system, it’s not far from one. Although this attack was not tested against other machine vision software, to date there’s no single fix for adversarial images. When contacted by The Verge, Google did not offer a comment on the paper, but a spokesperson directed us to a number of recent papers outlining ways to foil adversarial attacks that have been published by the company’s researchers. An example from labsix of how fragile adversarial attacks often are. The image on the left has been altered so that it’s identified as guacamole. Tilting it slightly means it’s identified once more as a cat. The research comes with some caveats too. Firstly, the team’s claim that their attack works from “every angle” isn’t quite right. Their own video demos show that it works from most, but not all angles. Secondly, labsix needed access to Google’s vision algorithm in order to identify its weaknesses and fool it. This is a significant barrier for anyone who would try and use these methods against commercial vision systems deployed by, say, self-driving car companies. However, other adversarial attacks have been shown to work against AI sight-unseen, and, according to Quartz, the labsix team is working on this problem next. Adversarial attacks like these aren’t, at present, a big danger to the public. They’re effective, yes, but in limited circumstances. And although machine vision is being deployed more commonly in the real world, we’re not yet so dependent on it that a bad actor with a 3D-printer could cause havoc. The problem is that issues like this exemplify how fragile some AI systems can be. And if we don’t fix these problems now, they could lead to much bigger issues in the future.

Dutch thieves target bitcoin ATM, later realise it only has notes

Thieves in the Dutch town of Oudenbosch recently stole the Netherlands' first-ever bitcoin automatic teller machine (ATM), believing it to be full of the virtual currency. Herman Vissia, director of ByeleX, the company which owns the ATM, said: "when the thieves connect the device to the internet, it is recognised immediately, so they can not do anything about it". Vissia said he hoped the machine could be recovered.

https://www.businessinsider.nl/deze-inbrekers-begrijpen-niet-dat-bitcoin-een-virtuele-munt-is-en-geen-fysieke/

2017-11-03 12:43:06.060000

In het Brabantse plaatsje Oudenbosch hebben inbrekers een bitcoin ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) gestolen. Ze hadden hun oog bij de inbraak in brasserie Tivoli speciaal gericht op de bitcoinautomaat, want verder is er niks meegenomen. Maar ze hebben er helemaal niks aan, want fysieke bitcoins bestaan natuurlijk niet. Directeur Herman Vissia van ByeleX dat de automaat heeft geplaatst zegt tegen Omroep Brabant: “Een hele domme actie van de dieven. De bitcoin kan tegenwoordig dan wel veel waard zijn, de digitale valuta zit niet in het apparaat, maar staat in de cloud.” Als de dieven het apparaat aansluiten op internet wordt het direct herkend, dus ook in die zin kunnen ze er niks mee. Wel zat er nog wat briefgeld in de automaat. Loodzwaar apparaat De inbrekers hebben zich een breuk moeten tillen, want ze namen het apparaat mee inclusief de zuil waar die op staat, de voet van een oude sterrenkijker. Gezamenlijk weegt dat zo’n 120 kilo. De automaat in Oudenbosch was het allereerste bitcoinapparaat van Nederland: "Een primeur, maar wat de inbrekers nu voor elkaar hebben gekregen is een wereldprimeur te noemen", zegt Vissia. Hij hoopt dan ook dat de bitcoin ATM nog wordt teruggevonden, zegt hij tegen BN DeStem: "Dan leg ik nog wel uit dat ze met bitcoins wel degelijk geld kunnen verdienen, maar niet op die manier." De waarde van de bitcoin is inmiddels gestegen tot boven de 7.000 dollar gestegen.

Facebook earns $709m showing ads to ad-block users

Despite attempts to circumvent Facebook's advertising technology by the leading ad-blocking providers, the social media giant was able to generate $709m in revenue in Q2 2017 by presenting ads to ad-block users on desktop platforms. Facebook continues to see significant revenue from desktop users, despite the vast majority of its base having switched to mobile. Johnny Ryan at ad-block analysts PageFair argues that the experience shows that other sites can follow suit and "convert the ad-block audience from a revenue threat to a revenue generator”.

http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/facebook-709m-ad-revenue-adblock-users-q2-2017-pagefair

2017-11-03 12:41:35.210000

Facebook is said to have generated $709m of its advertising revenue from showing ads to adblock users on desktop, after implementing tamper-proof technology last year. The $709m figure relates to Facebook’s ad revenue in Q2 2017, and not the company’s just-released, impressive Q3 figures. Either way, according to PageFair – despite many attempts to hack Facebook’s advertising technology from the likes of Adblock Plus creator Eyeo – Facebook has managed to secure almost three quarters of a billion dollars from serving ads to people that are using adblockers. The substantial amount generated from serving ads to adblock users is entirely from desktop, despite the large majority of Facebook’s revenue shifting from desktop to mobile. I.e. mobile ad revenue represented around 88 per cent of Facebook’s more than $10bn revenue in Q3 2017. “All websites can emulate this strategy. Facebook shows that websites can convert the adblock audience from a revenue threat to a revenue generator,” said Johnny Ryan, head of ecosystem at PageFair. 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.

Fingerprint follows kids into mobile video viewing

Child-friendly education and entertainment app firm Fingerprint has added over 1,500 children's videos to its library. Accessible from tablets and smartphones, Fingerprint content aims to provide children with a safe digital environment. The switch to video reflects consumption habits of under 12s, of whom 61% prefer to view video content on a tablet, according to a recent DHX Media/Ipsos poll. Fingerprint's media library now holds over 4,000 games, books and videos, supporting learning on topics like literacy, STEM and creativity. The amount of time that children spend on mobile devices has tripled since 2011.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/02/fingerprint-adds-1500-kids-videos-to-its-mobile-learning-platform/

2017-11-03 12:39:08.723000

Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here. Fingerprint has added more than 1,500 children’s videos to its digital learning platform on mobile devices. The San Francisco company has created a kind of virtual app library for safe kids apps and games, which are accessible on smartphones and tablets. Now it has added a bunch of videos including Animal Planet, Stuff Happens with Bill Nye, Care Bears, Inspector Gadget, Sesame Street, and Franny’s Feet, among others. This strategic move into video is in sync with the viewing habits of children under 12. A 2016 study by DHX Media/Ipsos found that 61 percent of children under 12 prefer to view video content on tablets. Fingerprint has other content from partnerships with Toongoggles, Entertainment One, Tinybop, Oceanhouse Media, Treehouse (a division of Corus Entertainment/Nelvana) and iHeartRadio Family. So now its content library has more than 4,000 games, books, and videos that support learning on such topics as literacy, STEM, creativity, and more. “We are creating a powerhouse library that reflects the preferences of families today who are cutting the cord in favor of streaming and mobile options that are more cost effective and as it relates to our business, accessible to young audiences who primarily use digital devices for experiencing their favorite content,” said Nancy MacIntyre, CEO of Fingerprint, in a statement. “Our mission has always been to find and share the very best learning content — whether games, books or video — and these additions allow us to deliver even more robust offerings to millions of families through the distribution channels of our business partners.” Image Credit: Fingerprint The company noted that children today split their time between TV and digital screens. According to Common Sense Media’s 2017 Annual Report, while the amount of time children spend on mobile devices has tripled since 2011, screen time overall for children 8 years-old and under is approximately 2.5 hours per day, almost exactly what it was that same year. Fingerprint isn’t wed to any single format for entertainment or learning, and so it is packaging a variety of games, videos, music and e-books from popular kids brands on its platform, which reaches consumers through subscription services or as premium content. The idea is to give safe content to parents so they can entertain and educate their kids more easily. Facebook has 300 partnerships with developers around the world. Investors including Corus Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation, Reed Elsevier Ventures, Trinity Capital Investment, and GSV.

Engagement with Facebook food videos is declining

Engagement with food videos on Facebook has fallen, with monthly views of several leading food publishers' content remaining flat or falling, according to web analysts CrowdTangle. The increase in the number of such videos from a range of publishers has driven down advertising prices, according to industry representatives. However, views of videos with more than 100,000 viewers are up 43% YoY, and Buzzfeed's popular Tasty videos still command premium rates for advertisers.

https://digiday.com/media/signs-facebook-food-videos-losing-luster/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171103

2017-11-03 12:37:14.203000

Facebook’s pivot to video was a boon for food-content providers, leading to a flood of “hands-in-pans” videos stuffing the News Feed. Now, engagement on food videos has been declining on Facebook, advertisers have raised their expectations, and the prices for branded food videos are largely coming down. Monthly Facebook video views at several leading food-focused publishers are either flat or have declined over the past year, according to CrowdTangle data. That said, Facebook’s algorithm still loves a hit: Through the first eight months of 2017, Facebook views of food videos with at least 100,000 views are up 43 percent year over year, according to Tubular data. Recipe videos still deliver a lot of impressions, but the sheer supply of publishers offering to shoot branded-content videos has given advertisers leverage. One of the big struggles food-video creators face: Everything pretty much looks the same, particularly when people are whizzing past in a feed. The overhead recipe format, where a dish is assembled, step by step, in a sped-up presentation, is easily replicated. The Facebook audience’s hunger for recipe videos helped a number of new media companies, including Jungle Creations, So Yummy and Render Media, pile up nine-figure monthly video view counts. Legacy publishers like Hearst and Time Inc. also got on board. “There’s not a significant difference between Partner A and Partner B,” said Whitney Smith, digital partner at Mindshare North America. “It gives us more negotiating power.” That, in turn, has put downward pressure on prices. A separate media agency source said that publishers, citing increased competition, have lowered prices for branded overhead recipe video on a cost per view and CPM basis. Minimums on spend remain because of overhead production costs, however, the source said. One exception is BuzzFeed’s Tasty, simply because of the sheer scale of distribution it brings to the table: Seven of Tubular’s top 25 food publishers are Tasty verticals. According to buyers, Tasty still commands premium rates. “They’re still the most expensive option,” a third agency source said. “But you get what you pay for.” For example, that agency source noted that four Tasty videos costs twice as much – $300,000 – as a program that included three videos, three pieces of written sponsored content and a batch of supporting media offered by a competitor, Tasting Table. That third source said that other publishers are fighting for the crumbs left at Tasty’s table. With the space getting crowded, food publishers are diversifying in search of new ways to make money. Render Media, which owns Cooking Panda, has moved into shows and sales of branded products. It’s also looking to launch a subscription video product later in the year. Tastemade has expanded into home and travel and started getting into events. Recipe videos will remain a staple of food publishers’ content diets, though. “[They] will always be a large piece of what we do,” said Stacey Rivera, digital content director for food at Time Inc. “People will watch a skilled person do a skilled thing.”

Coastal cities will fall below sea level if warming hits 3C

Cities with hundreds of millions of inhabitants are at risk of being submerged by rising seawater if the United Nations’ (UN) latest warning on global warming is correct, according to analysis by The Guardian. Earlier this week, the UN disclosed that the world was headed for 3C of global warming. The Guardian has analysed data from the Climate Central group of scientists to show that such a temperature increase would result in irreversible sea-level rises of up to two metres. Cities including Alexandria, Miami, Osaka, Rio and Shanghai would be among the worst affected.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/03/miami-shanghai-3c-warming-cities-underwater

2017-11-03 12:36:38.627000

Hundreds of millions of urban dwellers around the world face their cities being inundated by rising seawaters if latest UN warnings that the world is on course for 3C of global warming come true, according to a Guardian data analysis. Famous beaches, commercial districts and swaths of farmland will be threatened at this elevated level of climate change, which the UN warned this week is a very real prospect unless nations reduce their carbon emissions. Data from the Climate Central group of scientists analysed by Guardian journalists shows that 3C of global warming would ultimately lock in irreversible sea-level rises of perhaps two metres. Cities from Shanghai to Alexandria, and Rio to Osaka are among the worst affected. Miami would be inundated - as would the entire bottom third of the US state of Florida. Quick Guide Why are we talking about a three-degree world? Show Why are we talking about a 3C world? The world is currently on course to heat up by 3C, according to the United Nations. That is because nations are not doing enough to reduce emissions. Climate negotiators are now discussing how to ratchet up ambitions to avoid this outcome. What happens at 3C? Harsher droughts, more extreme weather, worse disruption of food production, increased migration by climate refugees, heightened storm surges and steadily rising sea levels. That is what we know for sure, then there is the risk of feedback loops - for example the release of methane from melting permafrost - that could quickly push 3C to 6C. How quickly will oceans rise? It could take decades or centuries, but change will be locked in by a 3C temperature rise, which would extensively melt ice caps, shrink glaciers and thermally expand the oceans so many current coastlines and low-lying plains would be under sea level. Unless massive barriers or water diversions are constructed, many cities, small islands, population centres, economic hubs and iconic sights will be submerged. Imagine a map with giant chunks missing from Florida, Manhattan, Lincolnshire, Rio de Janeiro and the deltas of the Nile, Amazon, Pearl, Mekong, Ganges and Brahmaputra. How can this be avoided? National governments need to promise greater emissions cuts and enact policies to keep global warming to the more ambitious target of 1.5C or at most 2C, which they set as the goal of the Paris climate agreement. That will mean phasing out fossil fuels more quickly and ramping up effort to protect and restore forests. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback. The Guardian has found, however, that local preparations for a 3C world are as patchy as international efforts to prevent it from happening. At six of the coastal regions most likely to be affected, government planners are only slowly coming to grips with the enormity of the task ahead - and in some cases have done nothing. This comes ahead of the latest round of climate talks in Bonn next week, when negotiators will work on ways to monitor, fund and ratchet up national commitments to cut CO2 so that temperatures can rise on a safer path of between 1.5 and 2C, which is the goal of the Paris agreement reached in 2015. The momentum for change is currently too slow, according to the UN Environment Programme. In its annual emissions gap report, released on Tuesday, the international body said government commitments were only a third of what was needed. Non-state actors such as cities, companies and citizens can only partly fill this void, which leaves warming on course to rise to 3C or beyond by the end of this century, the report said. The UN’s environment chief, Erik Solheim, said progress in the year since the Paris agreement entered into force has been inadequate. “We still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future,” he said. South Beach, Miami, would be mostly underwater. Photograph: Nickolay Lamm/Courtesy Climate Central Nature’s ability to help may also be diminishing. On Monday, the World Meteorological Organisation said concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose last year at a record speed to reach 403.3 parts per million - a level not seen since the Pliocene era three to five million years ago. A 3C rise would lead to longer droughts, fiercer hurricanes and lock in sea-level rises that would redraw many coastlines. Depending on the speed at which icecaps and glaciers melt, this could take decades or more than a century. Colin Summerhayes of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge said three-degrees of warming would melt polar and glacier ice much further and faster than currently expected, potentially raising sea levels by two metres by 2100. At least 275 million city dwellers live in vulnerable areas, the majority of them in Asian coastal megacities and industrial hubs such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Bangkok and Tokyo. Japan’s second biggest city, Osaka, is projected to lose its business and entertainments districts of Umeda and Namba unless global emissions are forced down or flood defences are built up. Officials are reluctantly accepting they must now put more effort into the latter. “In the past our response was focused on reducing the causes of global warming, but given that climate change is inevitable, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we are now discussing how to respond to the natural disasters that will follow,” said Toshikazu Nakaaki of the Osaka municipal government’s environment bureau. In Miami - which would be almost entirely below sea level even at 2C warming - the sense of urgency is evident at city hall, where commissioners are asking voters to approve a “Miami Forever” bond in the November ballot that includes $192m for upgrading pump stations, expanding drainage systems, elevating roads and building dykes. Elsewhere, there is less money for adaptation and a weaker sense of urgency. In Rio de Janeiro, a 3C rise would flood famous beaches such as Copacabana, the waterfront domestic airport, and many of the sites for last year’s Olympics. But the cash-strapped city has been slow to prepare. A report compiled for Brazil’s presidency found “situations in which climate changes are not considered within the scope of planning”. A before and after image of Candelária Church in Rio, Brazil, under two different temperature rise scenarios. A before and after image of Candelária Church in Rio, Brazil, under two different temperature rise scenarios. In Egypt, even a 0.5m sea-level rise is predicted to submerge beaches in Alexandria and displace 8 million people on the Nile Delta unless protective measures are taken, according to the IPCC. But local activists say the authorities see it as a distant problem. “As far as I’m concerned, this issue isn’t on the list of government priorities,” said Ahmed Hassan, of the Save Alexandria Initiative, a group that works to raise awareness of the effects of climate change on the city. The impacts will also be felt on the economy and food production. Among the most vulnerable areas in the UK is Lincolnshire, where swaths of agricultural land are likely to be lost to the sea. “We’re conscious that climate change is happening and perhaps faster than expected so we are trying to mitigate and adapt to protect people and property. We can’t stop it, but we can reduce the risk.” said Alison Baptiste, director of strategy and investment at the UK Environment Agency. She said the measures in place should protect most communities in the near and medium term, but 50 years from now the situation will become more challenging. “If climate change projections are accurate, we’re going to have to make some difficult decisions.” Additional reporting by Justin McCurry, Dom Phillips and Ruth Michaelson Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to join the discussion, and explore our archive here

Coastal cities will fall below sea level if warming hits 3C

Cities with hundreds of millions of inhabitants are at risk of being submerged by rising seawater if the United Nations’ (UN) latest warning on global warming is correct, according to analysis by The Guardian. Earlier this week, the UN disclosed that the world was headed for 3C of global warming. The Guardian has analysed data from the Climate Central group of scientists to show that such a temperature increase would result in irreversible sea-level rises of up to two metres. Cities including Alexandria, Miami, Osaka, Rio and Shanghai would be among the worst affected.

http://www.unenvironment.org/resources/emissions-gap-report

2017-11-03 12:36:38.627000

The UNEP Emissions Gap Report (EGR) series tracks our progress in limiting global warming well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C in line with the Paris Agreement. Since 2010, it has provided an annual science-based assessment of the gap between estimated future global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if countries implement their climate mitigation pledges, and where they should be to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Each year, the report also highlights key opportunities to bridge the emissions gap, tackling a specific issue of interest. With the aim to inform the climate negotiations among UN Member States, the EGR is launched every year ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP). The EGR is co-produced by UNEP, the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC) and partners.

Criteo fears Safari's new privacy settings will hit revenues

New privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser will have a net negative impact on Criteo's revenue of up to 8% to 10%, according to projections by the global advertising technology company. The changes made by Apple aim to prevent ad networks from tracking users, so advertising companies such as Criteo, which specialise in personalised retargeting services, look set to be particularly affected. However, in a recent stock filing, Criteo claimed to have developed a solution to "mitigate about half of the potential impact". Online advertisers have recently asked Apple to reconsider the new browser settings.

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/309667/criteo-says-new-safari-privacy-settings-will-hurt.html

2017-11-03 12:35:26.160000

by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, November 2, 2017 Apple's new privacy settings for Safari users could negatively affect Criteo's revenue, the ad-tech company said this week in a stock filing. Last month, Apple rolled out new default settings that aim to prevent ad networks and other tech companies from tracking users. The Safari browser has long blocked cookies set by ad networks and other third parties by default. But the new settings go further by also deleting some of the cookies set directly by publishers after 30 days. The move will help prevent tracking by companies that use first-party cookies to get around Safari's long-standing block on cookies set by third parties. Criteo, known for its retargeting technology -- which serves ads to people for products they previously viewed on retail sites -- said in its most recent stock filing that it has has developed a "solution" that will allow the company to "mitigate about half of the potential impact" from Safari's new settings. But the company adds that it expects the settings "to have a net negative impact" on revenue (minus acquisition costs) of 8% to 10%. Criteo's revenue minus acquisition costs totaled $234 million for the third quarter. advertisement advertisement A coalition of online ad industry groups recently asked Apple to reconsider the new settings. "Apple's unilateral and heavy-handed approach is bad for consumer choice and bad for the ad-supported online content and services consumers love," the American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers, Data & Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising Bureau and Network Advertising Initiative said in a letter sent to Apple in September.

Pandora blames flat ad revenues on lack of tools for advertisers

In his first earnings call since taking over, CEO Roger Lynch confirmed that Pandora's outdated tech for advertisers has resulted in slowed growth for the last quarter. While subscription revenues have jumped 50% year on year to $84m, ad revenues remained flat at 1% ($276m). "We know we need to invest in ad tech," said Lynch. "If you’re a $30m advertiser or a $300m advertiser, our [sales] process is the same." Lynch said Pandora will invest in products that automate sales and optimise ads more quickly, transact programmatically and better measure ROI for advertisers.

https://adexchanger.com/digital-audio-radio/pandora-admits-slow-programmatic-ad-revenue-flattens/

2017-11-03 12:26:22.537000

Gaps in Pandora’s ad tech stack slowed growth in the last quarter, CEO Roger Lynch said Thursday in his first earnings call since taking the helm. “One consistent theme I’ve heard from advertisers is that we don’t have all of the features they need to easily transact with us,” he said. “This is starting to have material impact on our revenue.” Revenue at Pandora grew 9% year over year (YOY) to $360 million, missing estimates. While subscription revenues jumped 50% YOY to $84 million, ad revenues were flat at 1%, or $276 million. Shares fell almost 11% to $6 in after-hours trading. Pandora is struggling with declines in its listener base and a lack of the programmatic and measurement capabilities that advertisers want, Lynch said. Pandora’s manual sales process has caused some advertisers to stop buying on the platform, although Lynch didn’t say how many. “We know we need to invest in ad tech,” Lynch said. “We need a significant upgrade to our ad technology and what we can provide advertisers. We need to become an easier company to transact with.” Pandora will invest in engineering resources and focus on products that automate sales, optimize ad campaigns more quickly, better measure ROI and transact programmatically, Lynch said. It will also build out a self-serve business to attract smaller local buyers. “Today, if you’re a $30 million advertiser or a $300 million advertiser, our [sales] process is the same,” Lynch said. “We don’t really address the smaller advertiser end of the market because we don’t have self-service tools.” Despite providing two-thirds of digital audio impressions in the market, Pandora has been notoriously slow to develop ad tech. The platform launched programmatic video for the first time this year and still doesn’t sell audio inventory programmatically, although Lynch said it will do so soon. Spotify launched programmatic audio in mid-2016. “Because of the urgency, we’re going to look carefully at both build vs. buy options,” Lynch said. “If we’re successful, we can intelligently raise ad load, increase sell-through, command premium pricing and drive revenue growth, all while protecting the listener experience.” Lynch said the company will do its best to fund those investments internally. Investors, however, shouldn’t expect a quick return. “There’s nothing near-term that’s going to happen on that front,” Lynch said. “We’ve really got some work to do there.” In addition to flat ad dollars, Pandora’s losing attention from its audience in a competitive streaming environment. Total listener hours for the quarter shrank to 5.1 billion from 5.4 billion last year. To bring listeners back, Pandora will add new forms of content like podcasts and integrate with devices such as connected cars and voice-activated systems. Pandora is already available on more than 2,000 connected devices, and listening on voice-activated devices grew 300% YOY, Lynch said. “It is essential that we grow our base of listeners,” Lynch said. “We will harness our scale, distribution, data and discovery capabilities to deliver non-music content in a very unique way.” Pandora also hopes to draw listeners back to its platform with a better ad experience that focuses on reward-based units, such as videos that offer skips, replays and sponsored listening sessions, which reduce ad load for listeners. “All of the elements are here to do that,” Lynch said. “We just need to bring them together. There’s no silver bullet here that’s going to come in and all of the sudden solve all these problems.”

Google Shopping said to show immediate returns for SA retailers

Google Shopping in South Africa is reportedly producing four-figure return-on-investment percentages for some retail advertisers less than a year after the service's introduction. Digital advertising agency NMPi predicts the positive trend will continue in the nation, with more and more online businesses designing their sites and optimising data in line with a Google Shopping-first strategy.

https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/marketing/142909/google-shopping-is-showing-exponential-growth-for-early-adopters

2017-11-03 12:17:42.230000

Google Shopping delivering in South Africa Get it right from the start The holy grail of Google Shopping Google Shopping made a low-key entrance into the South African market late in 2016, with many people still not even aware of its existence. The product ads appear either directly above the regular adwords adverts or to the right of search results, and most people would not have noticed a significant difference in their browsing experience.The attraction of Google Shopping for any company that sells goods online, however, is obvious. The feature-rich ads, including pictures, descriptions, prices, and ratings works for consumers looking for everything in one place. It allows them to click through to your website and buy the goods directly from you, without any third parties involved.As local companies look hard for more measurable ways to spend their marketing money, focus on targeted digital campaigns is picking up sharply. Digital leaders at some of the more forward-thinking retailers now see Google Shopping as a strategic addition to the digital marketing bouquet.NMPi clients who are running Google Shopping campaigns have seen immediate benefits. Although an early entrant into the Google Shopping game, one local e-commerce retailer saw a 4 000% return on ad spend (ROAS) since they signed up in March.Another large retailer is seeing Google Shopping delivering 70% of its impressions week-on-week. At the moment, the conversion rate is a little lower than Search, but NMPi believes this will improve as local consumers become more familiar with the offering.These results are in line with what NMPi is seeing with its Australian clients. The Australian office benchmarked results of six clients and found that year-on-year return on investment was up 9% and revenue had jumped a significant 68% since they had initiated Google Shopping campaigns.Setup and implementation of Google Shopping campaigns are relatively painless when working with an experienced team. We ensure that we supplement Google Shopping with re-marketing on display and it’s easily integrated with analytics. The latter is important as it allows us to identify top performing products.We have found that, especially for the larger retailers, it makes sense to focus on the top 1 000 performing products, for example, rather than the full 15 000 products they may have on offer.This stops the top performing products losing out on search impact because of generic bidding. Based on data, we develop a specific strategy for top performing goods and then apply a base strategy for the rest of the products, ensuring efficiency of spend and optimising return.Product feed optimisation requires you to input as many data fields about the product as possible. Descriptions, prices, and most especially product titles mean your product will be seen and clicked on ahead of your competitors. What’s more, the better the quality of the feed, the smarter you can be when refining your strategies.NMPi works with technical partners, Liquidbox, to deliver Google Shopping campaigns. Working through a checklist, we can assist companies that may not have everything in place – and this happens more often than not. We have seen retailers struggle for months to get their feeds right. We can now do a same-day turnaround using FeedsUp from Liquidbox and deliver a full, working feed in 24 hours.One of the biggest challenges we are facing in South Africa is that companies are still reticent about handing over any part of what they see as their core business. They would rather try to handle all digital marketing in-house, which often results in poor delivery and, ultimately, in companies dropping Google Shopping as part of their digital offering.Evidence from international clients, meanwhile, shows that global retailers are much happier to outsource their feed management, allowing the technical professionals to work according to an agreed strategy, taking care of the finer nuances of this complex delivery and seeing results far faster.Looking forward, we believe Google Google Shopping will grow quickly in South Africa. In fact, NMPi believes that the efficacy of Google Shopping will be so significant that online retailers will soon change the way they build their websites – optimising data and designing sites with a Google Shopping-first strategy.However, with that growth will come more and more competition. There is no doubt that the early adopters will reap the rewards. There is also no doubt that companies that want to get up and running quickly, and that want to outmanoeuvre their competition, will need to know how to use data to their advantage. This will require technical insight into how to manipulate their offering on the fly.For more information, visit www.nmpidigital.com . Alternatively, connect with them on Twitter

Rental market growth set to outpace sales in London: Savills

London's rental market will outperform its sales sector, UK estate agency Savills forecasts. The agency predicts compound growth in the rental market from 2018 to 2022 will be 17 percent, matching forecasts for wage growth but ahead of anticipated inflation. However, it emphasised that the outlook is strongest for cities outside of London, which are increasingly attracting "employees from high-value sectors such as professional services, technology, and finance”.

https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/11/londons-rental-market-to-outperform-sales-says-savills

2017-11-03 12:14:51.563000

Rental growth is forecast to exceed house price growth in London, despite a glut of properties on the lettings market in London after investors scrambled to buy before the three per cent stamp duty surcharge on additional homes came in April last year. However, Savills says asking rents in the capital fell 3.2 per cent in the year to June 2017, compared to a 1.9 per cent rise on average across England and Wales. The agency says rents in the capital have now stabilised. Compound growth of 17 per cent is projected from 2018 to 2022, in line with wage growth but ahead of inflation. But it warns that the withdrawal of mortgage interest tax relief will push investors from London to higher yielding regional locations over time. Increased rental supply there will dampen potential rental growth beyond the capital. “The rental outlook is strongest in regional cities that attract employees from high value sectors such as professional services, technology, and finance,” says Savills.

Artist cryptograffiti spreads word on cryptocurrency disruption

The pseudonymous artist and bitcoin enthusiast known as cryptograffiti is hoping to bring digital currencies to a new audience via art. The artist was the first to receive donations using a public wallet and has produced works including the controversial "Banker with a Conscience" at the New York Stock Exchange, as well as signs at ATMs urging people to learn more about bitcoin. In an interview with Coincafe, the artist said the banking sector's accountability was most in need of disruption and called for "more positivity and less censorship within the community". 

https://cryptograffiti.com/collections/mens-shirts

2017-11-03 11:27:58.487000

Refine results 23 products in "Men's Shirts" Filter by Sort by Featured Best Selling Alphabetically, A-Z Alphabetically, Z-A Price, low to high Price, high to low Date, new to old Date, old to new Apply Clear

Axel Springer develops traffic-light system for ad measurement

German newspaper Bild, which is owned by Axel Springer, has instituted a traffic light system to help it evaluate its relationships with Facebook, Snapchat and Google. It compares each platform's performance against that of its own titles, using five parameters, including monetisation and user engagement, with areas for improvement assigned red and good performance coloured green. Stefan Betzold, managing director of digital at Bild, said the system has demonstrated how much work needs to be done, with all three platforms lacking green lights for monetisation and subscriptions.

https://digiday.com/media/axel-springers-bild-flexes-muscles-platforms/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171103

2017-11-03 11:20:22.007000

Publishers face no shortage of dilemmas in a platform-dominated world. Bild, Axel Springer’s most-read news brand, has developed a framework based on a traffic-light system for approaching its partnerships with Google, Facebook and Snapchat. The value of each platform is assessed by comparing its performance on five parameters with that of Bild’s own properties. These include brand expression, user engagement, the ability to attract new users, relative monetization (comparing the revenue per article on platforms and Bild’s own properties) and the ability to sign up subscribers. Each platform is assigned red, yellow or green — with red indicating improvement is needed and green indicating good performance — for each of the criteria. During meetings with the tech platforms, this framework keeps the focus on strategic issues and clearly and easily shows when little movement has occurred regarding the parameters. “With Facebook, we said, ‘We have five strategic areas with you, and if only three of those five lights are green, we will stop everything,'” said Carsten Schwecke, chief digital officer of Axel Springer’s sales house, Media Impact. “We do this power game to get things moving. Right now, we feel things are moving.” In general, publisher relationships with platforms might be improving, but Bild’s framework shows there’s room for growth. For Google and Facebook, organic user growth has stagnated (it will only improve if Bild pays for reach), so these lights are grayed out in Bild’s framework. While Snapchat performs well on new users, engagement and brand expression, it struggles with monetization and the ability to sign up subscribers. “We thought [the monetization on Snapchat] would start stronger: It’s a great product, it’s hard to attract that audience, and it’s an innovative ad format,” said Stefan Betzold, managing director of digital at Bild. The publisher, which was one of four Snapchat Discover launch partners in Germany in April, claims to have 3 million monthly uniques and an average watch time of 1.7 minutes on its Discover channel. Bild’s Discover channel is young, so media agencies and advertising clients might need more time to get more comfortable with Snapchat and its scant analytics. “[Monetization] is not where we need it to be,” said Betzold. “Why should a big brand sell advertising if they don’t know Discover is working? More communication, sharing best practices and case studies on how the advertising works will help. We are open as long as it’s a partnership.” Meanwhile, neither Facebook nor Google has reached green status for relative monetization, which includes how the platforms handle data. Bild evaluates its access to data in two categories: access to targeting data so it can better understand user behavior and access to tracking data so Bild and third-party measurement companies can understand reach. Schwecke said “there is no technical reason” why Facebook can’t transfer relevant consumer data to Bild’s data management platform, but there is still no easy way to connect the two. Although Facebook has provided more analytics and ad formats for publishers using Instant Articles. For YouTube and Snapchat, publishers rely on the platform’s data for reach, making it difficult to see how the platform’s audience overlaps with the publisher’s direct audience. No platform is in the green for subscriptions, although Google and Facebook have shown improvement, which publishers see as being a big change in mindset for these two companies. Betzold stressed that publishers need to spend money and time testing on the platforms to improve the ecosystem, rather than simply complain about the dominance of the platforms. For Facebook Instant Articles, Bild has been testing a number of different call-to-action units that lead users to install apps or sign up for a two week-free trial to its subscription product, Bild Plus. Collectively acting while adhering to antitrust laws also gives publishers more might. Axel Springer is in talks with the Guardian and Schibsted, among others, about how to flush out ad fraud, clean up the programmatic supply chain and gain more control over their ad tech stacks. “[Platforms] are coming under more pressure,” said Schwecke. “There’s a momentum in the market that we can use.”

Office space start-up Convene seeks $150m as it mulls fund launch

Office-space startup Convene is seeking a $150m cash injection as it looks to set up a property investment fund. Co-founder Ryan Simonetti said the company has "verbal commitments" from unnamed investors willing to add to Convene's $119.2m of capital already raised from the likes of Brookfield and Elysium Capital Management. Simonetti said that while talks on setting up a fund with a private equity partner had begun, no deal was imminent.

https://therealdeal.com/2017/11/02/wework-rival-convene-seeks-to-raise-another-150m-mulls-cre-investment-fund/

2017-11-03 11:12:25.700000

UPDATED, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.: Convene, the office-space startup backed by Brookfield and the Durst Organization is looking to raise another $150 million in venture funding in a Series D round and plans to launch a property investment fund in the future. The company’s co-founder Ryan Simonetti said the firm already has “verbal commitments” from some existing investors for the Series D round but declined to name them. The firm has raised $119.2 million from investors to-date, most recently in a $68 million Series C round that included Brookfield, Durst, Conversion Venture Capital, ArrowMark Partners and Elysium Capital Management. Founded in 2009 as Sentry Centers and renamed Convene in 2011, the firm manages meeting rooms and common amenities in office towers. “We’re running a hotel in an office building,” Simonetti said. The firm, which also manages flexible office space, currently has eight locations in New York City, including an event space on the 34th floor of One World Trade Center. Convene also plans to launch a property investment fund in partnership with a private equity firm, Simonetti said. He claimed the firm has held preliminary talks with potential partners, but no deal is imminent. Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. “Creating a side fund to buy properties is not on Convene’s near-term roadmap, but something we are thinking about forming in the future,” he said. “It would likely be used to invest alongside our landlord partners, not to be competitive with them.” Earlier this year, Convene’s competitor WeWork launched a real estate investment fund in partnership with Rhone Group. Last month, the firms announced their first acquisition: the Lord & Taylor flagship store in Midtown. Correction: Convene rebranded in 2011, not 2013.

Buy to Let Club, Landbay speed lending for new London building

A collaboration between broker Buy to Let Club and peer-to-peer lender Landbay has resulted in the completion of lending within two months for a new building in the London suburb of Southgate. Buy to Let Club MD Ying Tan was quoted as being "delighted by the speed and efficiency shown by Landbay in this case". Mortgage Introducer reported that the loan, which represented 76.31% of the value of the building, was made to a company set up especially for the deal. 

https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2017/11/124033-landbay-buy-let-club-complete-lending-new-southgate-building-less-two-months/

2017-11-03 10:45:14.637000

Earlier this week, Landbay and Buy to Let Club completed lending to a new building in Southgate, a suburban area of north London, in under two months. The initial case was reportedly submitted on the broker portal by Buy to Let Club on August 24th. According to Mortgage Introducer, the lending was to an SPV, who owns seven other properties, with 75% LTV plus product fee added to the loan so that 76.31% of gross loan was the final deal. It also included an ICR of 125.55% at pirate on the gross loan amount. Speaking about the deal and Landbay collaboration, Ying Tan, managing director at Buy to Let Club, stated: “Providing an exceptional service is at the heart of everything we do at Buy to Let Club. We work hard to develop relationships with lenders who appreciate and share these values and are delighted by the speed and efficiency shown by Landbay in this and other cases we have placed with them. Their ability to make things happen quickly makes all the difference when time is of the essence and is certainly a stand-out factor for us when deciding which lender to use.” Paul Brett, Managing Director of Intermediaries at Landbay, added: “Whilst this case is exemplary, a quick turnaround is not uncommon for Landbay. We’ve worked to leverage our cutting-edge technologies to deliver streamlined solutions to these more complex cases.” Back in September, Landbay reported it saw a total of £6.31 million lent across 31 mortgages. The news of that month’s success came after the online lender raised over £2.4 million through its latest equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. The lender was granted ISA Manager Status by HMRC and launched its propers-backed ISA earlier this summer.

Redrow Redrow appoints Paul Moore as managing director for the North West

UK housebuilder Redrow has appointed Paul Moore as managing director for the North West office. Moore, formerly of Kier Living, will be based at Redrow's Daresbury Park bureau, near Warrington, and will cover developments including more than 3,000 homes across Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and North Wales.

https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/redrow-appoints-north-west-md-from-kier-living/

2017-11-03 10:05:54.883000

Redrow has appointed former Kier Living and Southdale director Paul Moore as its new managing director for the North West, replacing John Grime who joined Anwyl Homes in April. Moore will be based at Redrow’s North West office at Daresbury Park near Warrington, and will cover Redrow’s developments in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, and North Wales. He will replace John Grime, who left Redrow after 25 years in April to head up Anwyl Homes’ newly-established Lancashire division. Anwyl Homes has since hired two more executives from Redrow to help grow the Lancashire division. Redrow’s North West business is delivering 3,000 new homes across two garden villages in Woodford, and Ledsham in Cheshire, where the housebuilder secured detailed planning consent for 450 homes in March this year. The housebuilder also plans to launch two projects in Nantwich and Congleton in its current financial year. Moore said: “Redrow NW has an enviable land bank, including several large-scale new homes developments with considerable units in the pipeline. “My focus is on managing this strong position to bring these and other schemes through the planning process and to deliver more award-winning homes and create new communities for our customers.” Last month, Redrow was announced as Oldham Council’s construction partner for its Counthill School regeneration site, beating rival bidders Barratt, Countryside Properties, and Willmott Partnership Homes.

Chinese companies back government plan for more city rentals

Alipay and property developer China Vanke are among the companies throwing their weight behind the Chinese house rental sector, set to be worth CNY4.2tn ($630bn) by 2030. The initiative, which aims to cool the country's overheated house-buying market, includes a recently introduced policy from Beijing addressing some of the obstacles to renting, including tenants' rights and living conditions. In addition, at least 10 cities have been allocated land to build rental properties, but analysts have warned the rental sector will require sustained support from the government to fully develop.

http://www.4-traders.com/CHINA-VANKE-CO-LTD-13491314/news/Chinese-cities-companies-jump-on-bid-to-spur-rental-housing-25424951/

2017-11-03 09:58:50.047000

News in other languages on CHINA VANKE CO., LTD.

New York-based Islamic robo-adviser to launch in UAE

Wahed Invest, a New York-based robo-adviser which offers a Sharia-compliant investment service, is set to launch in the UAE after receiving additional funding. The firm scored $2m from Dubai-based Beco Capital, which It will use to launch in the Middle East within the next two weeks, according to reports. The robo-adviser focuses on low- to mid-income investors and would reportedly be the first such platform introduced in the region.

https://www.thenational.ae/business/exclusive-first-islamic-robo-adviser-to-launch-in-mena-1.672209

2017-11-03 09:38:19.047000

One of the world’s first Sharia-compliant “robo advisers” plans to start operations in the UAE in the next fortnight, as it looks to a US$2 million funding boost this week from the Dubai venture capital firm Beco Capital. New York digitally automated investment adviser Wahed Invest launched in the US five months ago following a two-year incubation. Its chief executive Junaid Wahedna said the company was in the process of moving its senior management to a new office in Dubai it hopes will become the company’s new global headquarters. Wahed Invest seeks to capitalise on pent-up demand for Islamic investment services among low to middle-income investors across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Subject to local approvals, the US securities and exchange commission (SEC) regulated company expects to start regional operations by mid-Nov­ember, focusing initially on the UAE. The news is a coup for this country, which is striving to become a global hub for the financial technology, or fintech sector, which is seen as a key driver of economic growth. ____________ Read more: Another victory for robots as Hong Kong Exchange floor closes What drives the "robot" fund that just can't stop buying? Saudi Arabia entertains world's business chiefs with robots and future cities ____________ Financial free zones across the Emirates, including Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), have published fintech regulatory frameworks and developed strategies to lure fintech start-ups and related businesses to the UAE. Robo-advisers offer automated, low-cost, investment and wealth management services via digital platforms. The industry is relatively nascent and exists predominantly in the US and Canada, where Betterment – the biggest robo-adviser with an estimated $10 billion of assets under management – and Wealthfront are the best-known examples. Others include Schwab, Vanguard and TradeKing. Global assets under management by robo-advisors are expected to grow by 68 per cent annually to $2.2 trillion by 2020, according to a 2015 report by consultancy AT ­Kearney, and the industry is set to transform the investment management business – and wider banking industry – with its low-fees, low-overheads model. Wahed Invest claims to be the world’s first Islamic robo-adviser in operation at present. The Malaysia private wealth management firm Farringdon Group said in June it would launch a Sharia-compliant robo-adviser, Algebra, later this year, but there is no such outfit in the Mena region. “Our target for ethical, Sharia robo-advisory is the younger demographic, 25-35 years old, digitally savvy and educated millennials,” said Mr Wahedna. “So when you look at the figures, the Mena region is one of the best places to be – especially when you look at the growth rates of internet penetration, it’s absolutely perfect for us and we’re going where nobody has gone before.” Unlike conventional wealth managers, which require clients to have a minimum saving of $100,000 or more, Wahed Invest asks for a minimum of just $100 to enable it to tap into a broader customer base. Mr Wahedna said he believed the company could grow much larger through operating in Mena. “There are 3 million Muslims in the US; in the Mena region there are 400 million, so you can see the scale of growth possible. “The numbers in the US are bigger because they are higher income clients, so the average account size [in Mena] will be smaller. However, the total numbers should more than make up for that,” he said. He said that, three months after launching in the US, ­Wahed Invest had already secured 1,000 clients, the same as Betterment and Wealth Front had acheived within a year. Wahed Invest plans to have 20 people in Dubai within the next month, six of whom are from its US management team, including Mr Wahedna and the company’s chief technology officer. The VC firm Beco Capital will this week announce the $2m funding injection in Wahed Invest, in addition to Wahed’s latest $5m Series A fundraising round. Wahed also had an initial $2m seed funding for launch. “This is a very large series A ticket for us – not the biggest we’ve ever made, but a sizeable cheque,” said Dany Farha, the chief executive and managing partner of Beco. “We did this because it’s a Sharia-compliant robo-advisory. There’s nothing like this in the world.”

ETFs likely to cause a crash: Baillie Gifford exec

A senior executive at Baillie Gifford has sounded off against exchange-traded funds, saying the products will likely lead to a market crash. Charles Plowden, who manages the firm's flagship Monk Investment Trust, likened ETFs to collateralised debt obligations mis-sold prior to the global financial crisis of 2008. Investors didn't care what was held within those offerings, and few are paying attention to what's in their ETFs today, said Plowden. An ETF-driven crash could spell good news for active managers, he added.

https://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/top-baillie-gifford-partner-warns-etfs-dumb-money/

2017-11-03 09:32:09.167000

Baillie Gifford partner and fund manager Charles Plowden has condemned exchange traded funds as “dumb money” and warned they are likely to lead to another crash like the one seen in the latest global financial crisis. The manager of one of Baillie Gifford’s flagship funds, the £1.5bn Monks investment trust, compared index funds with the complex packaged trading instruments which were missold before the crisis 10 years ago. Speaking at a conference in Edinburgh attended by Money Marketing, Plowden said investors are blindly buying ETFs without knowing what they contain. He said: “Over the last five years we have seen there are more indices on the American stockmarkets than there are American stocks in the whole US stockmarket. “The thing an ETF most closely resembles to me is when the industry came out with collateralised debt obligations and all of these abilities to package dodgy mortgages into triple A-rated bonds which were a statistical construct sold to people as a safe investment and no one knew or cared what was in it. And look at how that ended. “There’s no interest [in what is in an ETF] because things are going to be there for only three months. Some ETFs turn over once a week. They don’t have time to be interested in the companies they are in. We tend to think of these index funds as dumb money, they are non-thinking money.” Index funds make up around 30 per cent of the US market, a statistic that makes it “troubling” for the likes of Baillie Gifford to justify active management, said Plowden. However, he argued active managers will be the survivors if ETFs crash, since this will create pricing inefficiency in the market. He said: “I haven’t spent time to see how ETFs are structured, I am just observing that there is an enormous industry within the finance area and I suspect it is the same investment bankers that came up with CDOs in 2004. “They’ve found a new bunch of suckers to suck up and they are all from investment banks. It is not contributing to anything to the wider economy.” Plowden argued index funds are unfairly categorised as investments as ETFs have a built-in ability to buy and sell shares quickly and on a daily basis. He said: “A definition that we would buy of investing is ‘the careful selection and long-term ownership of value created businesses’. That is what investing is. It’s backing successful businesses and then living off that cashflow and dividends for the next 30 years. So the selection and the time periods are absolutely vital to that. “Whereas passive investing doesn’t know what’s in the package, and the main appeal of it is that it is cheap to get in and out of the package, which implies that there is going to be a lot of trading in and out, so almost by definition it is trading not investing.” In May, Baillie Gifford adopted a tiered-based fee system on a number of its largest investment trusts in response to the FCA’s asset management market study. This means as the funds increase in size, fees will decrease. In the case of Monks’s fund, fees will reduce to 0.33 per cent on assets over £750m, while below this amount annual management fees will remain at 0.45 per cent. Plowden argued a problem with index trackers is that many ETFs might hold stocks that have performed well in the past but might see more disruptions in the future. He said those ETFs that follow the US market are more exposed to financial sectors, which are a quarter of the global index, and are being disrupted by financial technology firms.

HSBC plans holistic robo-advice product

HSBC is planning to introduce a robo-advice platform next year that provides financial advice rather than just automated investment portfolios. The firm is hoping to eventually expand the usage of this platform to help consumers manage other areas of their financial lives, such as pensions and insurance. The firm already has a financial advice offering that provides alerts to clients encouraging them to save more and put money to work in investments. It is reported this service will be integrated into the new platform.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/hsbc-unveils-robo-advisor-plans-2017-11?r=US&IR=T

2017-11-03 09:24:46.717000

BI Intelligence This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. HSBC's head of retail wealth, Dean Butler, provided his perspective on automated advice, and the bank's plans for new products in the area, at the UK Robo-Advice Innovation Forum on Wednesday, attended by BI Intelligence. Butler believes there are both positives and negatives associated with current automated investment products: On the plus side, current products are affordable; easily accessible thanks to their digital format; and often educational, in that firms offering the solutions take pains to provide tailored marketing materials. current products are affordable; easily accessible thanks to their digital format; and often educational, in that firms offering the solutions take pains to provide tailored marketing materials. On the other hand, Butler believes the sheer number of automated investment products available is confusing to consumers, as they find it hard to understand any differences between products. Additionally, he said the complex language associated with all investment products, which is often a requirement of regulation, is off putting. HSBC is planning to launch a new product in 2018 that counters these downsides.HSBC’s new product, dubbed Robo-Advising 2.0 by Butler, will provide holistic financial advice, rather than just automated investment, helping it to differentiate. His vision for the product includes transforming an existing offering that “nudges” customers into saving more via simple notifications into a financial advice tool, in order to help customers better manage their entire financial life. Eventually, that will include recommending and managing additional products such as pensions and insurance. HSBC’s goal is admirable, but it will have to move fast. It seems probable that customers will be more likely to take an investment product from their current bank than from an unknown startup, as a trusted brand would help alleviate the mistrust many consumers feel toward automated investing. Additionally, HSBC’s plan to enable customers to see all their financial details in one place will likely prove popular. However, with open banking approaching fast, other banks will no doubt be planning similar propositions, and the new rules will make it easier for them to pull in ready-made investment products from startups, meaning HSBC will have to move quickly if it wants to benefit from a first-mover advantage. BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together a detailed report on the evolution of robo-advising that scopes the current market for robo-advisors, providing an updated forecast through 2022. In addition, it explains the different types of robo-advisors emerging, details how startups and incumbents are working to ensure the success of their products, and outlines what will happen to the market over the next 12 months. Here are some of the key takeaways from the report: BI Intelligence forecasts that robo-advisors — investment products that include any element of automation — will manage around $1 trillion by 2020, and around $4.6 trillion by 2022. Startups offering robo-advisors are struggling to acquire AUM due to overcrowding in the global robo-advisory market and lower than expected customer uptake. Incumbents are rolling out their own robo-advisor products, a trend we expect to pick up in the period to 2022. North America remains the leading robo-advisory market, but we expect Asia to catch up and outpace the region in terms of AUM managed by robo-advisors in the period to 2022. There will be a winnowing of the startup robo-advisory market as only a few firms remain stand-alone, while incumbents looking to launch their own products will profit from purchasing the technology of startups that have fallen by the wayside, at low cost. In full, the report: Provides a forecast for the volume of assets robo-advisors will manage by 2022. Outlines the current robo-advisory landscape. Explains how startups with robo-advisor products are evolving their business strategies. Provides an outlook for the future of the robo-advising industry. To get the full report, subscribe BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now

US legacy regulation makes insurtech enormous challenge

Insurance codes in US states that date back decades, if not centuries, are making the regulation of insurtech a daunting task, according to Adam Hamm, former president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. In order for insurtech to be regulated properly many legal codes may need to be rewritten by regulators, he said. Hamm added that many codes adopted years ago were written for a paper-based insurance market. Certain codes date back to as early as the 1800s and many insurtech firms may not realise there are significant differences between the codes of each state, Hamm noted. 

https://www.dig-in.com/news/outdated-codes-make-insurtech-tough-challenge-for-regulators

2017-11-03 09:12:54.860000

The emergence of insurtech represents the biggest challenge facing regulators over the next decade, as lawmakers work to ensure startups comply with state provisions imposed on carriers while encouraging growth. Individual state insurance codes, some dating as far back as the 1800s, also make insurtech business models difficult to grasp for regulators, according to Adam Hamm, who served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2014. He argues established legal codes were written for an old paper-driven market, not a digital world where insurtechs produce data in real-time. “Of course, legislature gets to meet, revise or add to a statute, but it’s built on the original model,” says Hamm, who was North Dakota’s insurance commissioner from 2007 to 2016. “Regulators have to either rewrite codes completely or tweak statutes to allow for these new business models.” The NAIC Innovation task force established this year will play a big role in regulating insurtech going forward, Hamm predicts. By giving insurers and startups a seat at the table, regulators can better balance industry innovation with consumer protections and solvency requirements. In return, insurers and industry newcomers can communicate the pain points of current insurance codes. “The task force is regulators trying to wrap their minds around how to eat this huge elephant one bite at time,” he added. Finally, Hamm warns insurtechs are in for a “rude awakening” as they expand into new markets, as the majority of startups are unaware of the standards they are required to meet as part of the U.S. 50-state regulatory system. “Not a lot grasp this will not be a one-stop shop,” he says. Hamm now serves as managing director of Protiviti, a global consultancy firm. In this role, he educates insurtechs on how to make business models fit within current regulatory environments. Hamm also advises carriers on the pros and cons of their insurtech approach, which largely involve M&A activity or building emerging technologies in-house. “Market share players understand regulation, but should know that regulators aren’t going to grant insurtechs shortcuts,” he said. “The same rules applied to carriers will be applied to startups.”

Insurtech Haven Life connects users to emergency services via app

MassMutual-owned insurtech Haven Life has introduced an app that allows users to easily connect with emergency services. The app, known as LifeLink, also allows users to alert emergency services on behalf of friends and family. The app is free to use for Haven Life policyholders for a one-year period, after which they will have to pay up to $5 a month. The app was developed in partnership with start-up RapidSOS. 

https://www.dig-in.com/news/insurtech-haven-life-rolls-out-emergency-services-app?brief=00000159-faf0-d111-af7d-fbfd9f0a0000

2017-11-03 09:09:28.210000

Attendees use Samsung Electronics Co. smartphones at the company's extraordinary general meeting at the company's Seocho office building in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. Lee Jae-yong, the crown prince of the founding family that controls the Samsung Group, officially joined a nine-person board at Samsung, whose botched roll out of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone has delivered a blow to a premier tech brand and cost the company billions of dollars in profit. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg Haven Life, an insurtech startup backed by MassMutual, has rolled out a one-touch emergency services mobile app for customers. The new tool, LifeLink, is powered by four-year technology startup RapidSOS; leveraging cloud communications and data analytics to connect users with emergency dispatchers. Along with its one-touch 911 dialing feature, policyholders can also text or call for help on behalf of family members while viewing their exact location, according to the company. LifeLink is free for one year for of iOS and Android users. Account holders will be required to pay up to five dollars a month for individual or family plans after, Haven Life says. "Since launching, we've sought out ways to make life less hard outside of just financial protection,” said Yaron Ben-Zvi, CEO and co-founder of Haven Life, in a statement. “LifeLink is a transformative app that protects us, our partners, our children, our parents - anyone we love - no matter where we are." The debut of its smartphone app follows Haven Life’s launch of a Facebook chatbot last week, designed to educate consumers on the real costs of life insurance. After a few questions, the startup’s AI chatbot will automatically calculate life insurance needs of a customer and generate a monthly rate for Haven Term coverage.

Bajaj Allianz launches India's first individual cyber policies

Bajaj Allianz has introduced personal cyber coverage policies in India. The policies cover cyber attacks, cyberbullying, or online extortion, as well as any legal costs involved. Policies can be purchased by any individual over 18-years-old. Identity theft is also offered as part of the coverage. The line of business was introduced due to the sheer amount of personal data being stored and transferred in India's modern economy.

http://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/banks/bajaj-allianz-cyber-attack-cyber-insurance-cover--malware-attack-financial-loss-it-theft/story/263228.html

2017-11-03 09:02:43.587000

In a first cyber cover for individuals, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has launched Individual Cyber Safe policy. The policy provides coverage for people who fall victim to threats such as cyber-attacks, cyber extortion and cyberbullying. And cover against financial loss, defence cost, prosecution cost, IT theft loss, restoration cost, due to identity theft, malware attack. Anyone above 18 years of age can buy this policy for a cover ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Any financial loss resulting from email spoofing and phishing, losses and expenses related to defence will also be taken care of by the policy. The policyholder will also have cover for prosecution cost related to identity theft, IT theft loss, restoration cost to retrieve or reinstall Data or Computer Program damaged by entry of the Malware. The policyholders can also claim for expenses incurred on counselling services treatment, claim for damages against third-party for privacy breach and data breach, cyber extortion loss and transportation for attending court summons. Announcing the launch, Tapan Singhel MD and CEO Bajaj Allianz, said "In an increasingly connected digital world, the amount of personal data being generated, transmitted, and stored on to various digital devices is growing at an exponential rate," "The critical nature of this data and the complexity of the systems that support its transmission and use, have created a gamut of cyber risks," he added.

Fall in pre-revenue Australian fintech firms shows boom in sector

More than 70% of Australian fintech start-ups are generating revenue, with the number of companies describing themselves as "pre-revenue" dropping dramatically over the past 12 months, according to an annual survey of fintech firms. The number of companies surveyed that were described as being "pre-revenue" has fallen from 43% to 29%. Start-ups have a median monthly revenue of AUD95,000 ($72,891), up from AUD30,000 in 2016. A quarter of the 166 fintechs surveyed said they had achieved annual revenue growth of 700% over the past year.

http://www.startupdaily.net/2017/11/70-percent-local-fintech-startups-post-revenue-fintech-australia-census-finds/

2017-11-03 08:59:42.130000

Australian fintech startups are seeing median revenues of $95,000 a month, up from a median of $30,000 a month last year, the 2017 Fintech Australia census has found. With the census based on a survey of 166 fintech companies across Australia, 24 percent of respondents reported they had seen annual revenue growth of 700 percent over the last year, though as the census points out many of these companies were likely to have been growing from a small revenue base. A growing number of fintechs overall are making money, with the number of pre-revenue startups dropping to 29 percent from 43 percent in 2016. With this growth, 54 percent of respondents stated they will be looking to expand overseas, or further their overseas expansion, within the next 12 months. The key markets for expansion are the UK, Singapore, and US. Simon Cant, chair of Fintech Australia, said the growth of local companies highlights the fact Australians are embracing nascent fintech companies. “The fact that the industry has experienced a tripling in median revenue is a strong sign that fintech firms are acquiring customers and making strong inroads into the traditional financial services sector,” he said. “Equally so, it is exciting to see that fintech firms are now sufficiently comfortable with their domestic positions to be increasingly planning international expansions. This is another sign of a healthy and maturing industry.” Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing, with respondents identifying a number of government policy-related issues they would like to see addressed to help do business better. Among the chief concerns is improving the research and development initiative, capital gains tax relief, and more transparent access to the New Payments Platform. Forty percent of respondents also highlighted the challenges they have faced in making efforts to collaborate with banks and other financial institutions, indicating this as an external impediment to their business. Like the wider startup and tech landscape, access to talent across various roles is also an issue. Thirty-five percent of respondents reported facing a talent pool shortage of sales professionals, up from 41 percent in 2016. Almost 30 percent found a shortage of marketing professionals, while 61 percent reported a shortage of engineering and software staff and 24 percent seeing a shortage in design and user experience professionals. Gender diversity in the sector is also poor; the number of female employees at fintech companies grew only two points from 22 percent last year. Furthermore, 83 percent of fintechs have all-male founding teams. Stuart Stoyan, deputy chair of Fintech Australia and founder of the census, said the organisation will look to focus on driving female participation in the sector. “Our programs have included a speaker gender equality target at the Intersekt Festival, ensuring at least 30 percent of the FinTech Australia board are women and by promoting a Female FinTech Leader of the Year award at our annual Finnies awards,” he said. The release of the census results follows the launch of Insurtech Australia late last month as a standalone division of Fintech Australia focused on representing insurtech startups and others working within the space. The launch of the body, which is supported by partners including QBE, Suncorp, and IAG, comes as data from CB Insights shows Australian startups attracted just one percent of the almost US$1.7 billion invested in insurtech startups in 2016. Brenton Charnley, cofounder and lead of Insurtech Australia, said one of the organisation’s key goals is to make Australia one of the world’s leading markets for insurance innovation. “Insurtech is a rapidly growing sector worldwide, and Australia has the ideas and skills to compete. Insurtech Australia’s mission is to foster a diverse community of insurance, startup and technology leaders to help Australia become a world leader for insurtech,” he said.

Sales of Australian milk powder surge in China

Sales of Australian milk powder have boomed in China over the past few months, with a 53% rise in imports between January and August 2017, according to Rural Bank's Australian Dairy Update. China's import pattern for the product has been so fast – with predictions it could rise by as much as 43% year on year – that Australian supermarket chains have put in place local customer limits because of shortages.

http://www.farmingahead.com.au/insight/on-farm/milk-powder-boom-amid-dairy-downturn/

2017-11-03 08:37:06.827000

The latest figures from Rural Bank’s Australian Dairy Update forecast milk powder exports by volume could increase as much as 43% year on year as China’s appetite for milk powder continues to grow. The report also shows China’s import pattern has changed dramatically in the last few months with a 53% surge in Australian milk powder imports having been recorded for the January to August 2017 period. Demand for Australian milk powder products has gone from strength to strength in recent years with the prevalence of daigou or shoppers for Chinese retail customers leading to many Australian supermarket chains enforcing local customer limits due to shortages of milk powder based baby formulas. Rural Bank for general manager agribusiness, Andrew Smith, said the increase in Chinese demand for Australian milk powder was encouraging for Australian dairy farmers and could allow processors and producers to capitalise on any future increases in global dairy prices. “The out of cycle rise in Chinese demand for Australian milk powder, combined with year-on-year increases in the value of dairy exports to Singapore and Malaysia, means that three of the five main Australian export markets are performing well despite lower global prices,” Mr Smith said “This is good news for dairy farmers and highlights once again the strong appetite and demand for Australian dairy products throughout Asia,” he said. According to the Australian Dairy Update, national milk production is also tracking slightly above this time last year, with South Australia and Victoria leading the way with 12.7% and 0.9% increases respectively. Following an extremely dry September, welcome rains fell across most dairy regions of Australia in October. Weather conditions are expected to improve further in the coming months according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The agribusiness general manager said milk production increases will become more feasible as October rains support good pasture growth. “There is also now a good chance of above average rainfall occurring across many dairy regions this summer,” Mr Smith said.

Buyers warned about fake mature whiskies at auction

Buyers should look out for counterfeit mature whiskies being sold at auction and on the secondary market, David Robertson of Rare Whisky 101 has said. "Over the past year, we have been invited by numerous bottle owners and auction houses to assess suspicious bottles," he said. His comments followed news that a bottle of Macallan 1878 Scotch whisky was confirmed as a fake after Chinese tourist Zhang Wei paid $10,050 for a single dram in a Swiss hotel bar. Increasingly more people are investing into old and rare whiskies, which has heightened concerns about fake Scotch on the market.

http://www.decanter.com/wine-news/fake-macallan-1878-scotch-whisky-379267-379267/

2017-11-03 07:59:58.497000

A bottle of Macallan 1878 Scotch whisky has been confirmed as a fake after a Chinese tourist paid nearly £8,000 for a single dram in a Swiss hotel bar. Lab tests confirmed this week that the Macallan 1878 at the The Waldhaus Hotel Am See in St Moritz, Switzerland, was too good to be true. A Chinese customer, named in press reports as 36-year-old writer Zhang Wei from Beijing, paid almost 10,000 Swiss francs (£7,700, $10,050) for a single glass of the ultra-rare Scotch whisky over the summer. But, the hotel said that it subsequently sent the whisky for tests after suspicions were raised by experts following media coverage of what has been dubbed the world’s most expensive Scotch. Rare Whisky 101, a Scottish brokerage and consultancy, commissioned analysis at the University of Oxford on the hotel’s behalf and found that the liquid inside the Macallan 1878 bottle was likely only created between 1970 and 1972. More tests by Tatlock and Thomson lab showed the whisky was probably a blend of 60% malt and 40% grain; in other words, not a single malt Scotch whisky as claimed. ‘The result has been a big shock to the system, and we are delighted to have repaid our customer in full as a gesture of goodwill,’ said Sandro Bernasconi, Waldhaus Am See hotel manager and bar manager at Devils Place. Bernasconi flew to Asia to refund the customer in person. RW101 co-founder David Robertson said that the story was an example of rising concerns about counterfeits as greater amounts of mature whiskies are sold at auction and on the secondary market generally. ‘Over the past year, we have been invited by numerous bottle owners and auction houses to assess suspicious bottles,’ he said. ‘As with any purchase, we would recommend that each buyer does their research, assesses the bottle and its packaging presentation, and where they can afford to do so, send some of the liquid for technical evaluation and/or carbon dating.’ More stories like this:

LendInvest and Citi enter long-term financing partnership

UK fintech firm LendInvest has "evolved from disruptive fintech start-up to established scale-up business", according to CEO Christian Faes, after he announced a long-term partnership with Citi. The latter firm will provide LendInvest with a warehouse funding line, including terms up to 30 years, for use in the UK's £40bn ($52bn) buy-to-let market. LendInvest, which started out as a short-term, peer-to-peer lender, is on track to have the UK fintech sector's largest institutional lending base, and has more than £750m total assets under management.

http://www.p2pfinancenews.co.uk/2017/11/02/lendinvest-citi-buy-to-let/

2017-11-02 16:33:17.303000

ALTERNATIVE property lender LendInvest has announced a new long-term financing partnership with Citi, as it eyes the UK’s £40bn buy-to-let (BTL) market. LendInvest has also revealed that it now manages more than £500m of lending capital on behalf of its institutional lenders, and more than £750m in total. Its investors have lent more than £1.1bn to help borrowers buy, build or renovate 4,000 UK homes. The platform, which stopped describing itself as a peer-to-peer lender earlier this year, is now set to have the largest institutional lending base in UK fintech. “Institutional capital coming onto our platform from some of the world’s largest institutions is the ultimate validation of the quality of the lending we do,” said Christian Faes, co-founder chief executive at LendInvest. “This new funding line from Citi shows how our business has evolved from disruptive fintech startup to established scale-up business as we move towards the mainstream mortgage market. “Citi’s backing equips us with the firepower to expand into longer-term lending, as we take our superior technology and processes into the professional portfolio landlord market. It also gives us an opportunity to work closely with a team that is world-class in the global mortgage market and a well-established player in the securitisation space.” Read more: MarketInvoice, Funding Circle, Zopa, LendInvest make Fintech 250 The Citi partnership will provide LendInvest with a warehouse funding line that will be used to finance specialist BTL loans. These loans will be available on terms up to 30 years, marking a move away from the firm’s past focus on the UK’s short-term bridging finance market. The news has been welcomed by MP Chris Philp, PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who said that the partnership is “a great example of major institutions getting behind UK fintech in a serious way.” “LendInvest’s push into buy-to-let is a great example of fintech moving into more hard-to-disrupt markets that could be otherwise left behind by financial innovation,” he added. Prior to the Citi partnership, LendInvest secured institutional investments from Macquarie Bank, Merseyside Pension Fund and a listed UK challenger bank. High-net-worth individuals and other corporate investors can also access its investment opportunities via the company’s online investment platform, a discretionary fund, and a £500m bond programme listed on the London Stock Exchange. Read more: Oversubscribed, not stirred! LendInvest bond enters the stock market

SEC warns about legal dangers of celebrity endorsements of ICOs

The US Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) has warned that celebrities who promote initial coin offerings (ICOs), in which the tokens are regarded as securities, must ensure they comply with federal legislation. In a statement, the SEC said the nature, source and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion must be disclosed. Celebrities failing to do so risk falling foul of the anti-touting provisions of federal securities laws. The statement also urged potential investors to seek professional advice on ICOs, as famous faces are not necessarily financial experts.

https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/statement-potentially-unlawful-promotion-icos?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3BKRrvPaguSJa3BKOFAaCPpA%3D%3D

2017-11-02 16:18:59.357000

Celebrities and others are using social media networks to encourage the public to purchase stocks and other investments. These endorsements may be unlawful if they do not disclose the nature, source, and amount of any compensation paid, directly or indirectly, by the company in exchange for the endorsement. The SEC’s Enforcement Division and Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations encourage investors to be wary of investment opportunities that sound too good to be true. We encourage investors to research potential investments rather than rely on paid endorsements from artists, sports figures, or other icons. Celebrities and others have recently promoted investments in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In the SEC’s Report of Investigation concerning The DAO, the Commission warned that virtual tokens or coins sold in ICOs may be securities, and those who offer and sell securities in the United States must comply with the federal securities laws. Any celebrity or other individual who promotes a virtual token or coin that is a security must disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion. A failure to disclose this information is a violation of the anti-touting provisions of the federal securities laws. Persons making these endorsements may also be liable for potential violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws, for participating in an unregistered offer and sale of securities, and for acting as unregistered brokers. The SEC will continue to focus on these types of promotions to protect investors and to ensure compliance with the securities laws. Investors should note that celebrity endorsements may appear unbiased, but instead may be part of a paid promotion. Investment decisions should not be based solely on an endorsement by a promoter or other individual. Celebrities who endorse an investment often do not have sufficient expertise to ensure that the investment is appropriate and in compliance with federal securities laws. Conduct research before making investments, including in ICOs. If you are relying on a particular endorsement or recommendation, learn more regarding the relationship between the promoter and the company and consider whether the recommendation is truly independent or a paid promotion. For more information, see an Investor Alert that the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued today regarding celebrity endorsements. Additional Resources Investor Bulletin: Initial Coin Offerings Investor Alert: Public Companies Making ICO-Related Claims Investor Alert: Social Media and Investing – Avoiding Fraud

Visa launches real-time payments platform in European market

After boosting volumes by 75% in other markets, Visa is bringing its real-time payments software, Visa Direct, to Europe, ensuring wide adoption by requiring all card issuers to enable such payments by October 2018. Visa Direct allows person-to-person, business-to-consumer and business-to-business payments to be made in minutes. Visa has partnered with Worldpay and is releasing an API on its developer platform to support merchants as they adopt the technology.

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31279/visa-rolls-out-real-time-payments-platform-in-europe

2017-11-02 16:11:38.717000

Visa is to bring its real-time payments platform to market in Europe after experiencing strong growth in other key markets globally. Visa Direct enables person-to-person (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) payments with funds transfers to recipient accounts taking place within minutes. For the European roll-out, Visa has partnered with Worldpay to equip merchants with the capability to send real-time payments to consumers. The card scheme is also releasing an API on its developer platform to help bank and merchant clients implement the technology. To further push take-up, Visa in Europe has announced a mandate that requires card issuers to enable real-time payments by October 2018. In other global markets where the technology is already available, Visa Direct saw volumes increase by 75% over last year. In the US, the platform enables push payments for a host of partners, including PayPal, Braintree, Square Cash, and Stripe. Mike Lemberger, SVP of product solutions, Visa in Europe, comments: “Visa Direct is a proven platform that enables technology companies, businesses and financial institutions to meet the demand for real-time payments, backed by the ubiquity, cost-efficiency and speed of Visa’s global network.”

China will surpass US in AI by 2025: Alphabet's Eric Schmidt

The US is heading in the wrong direction by cutting science and research budgets if it wants to prevent China from becoming a leader in artificial intelligence (AI), according to Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt. He made the comments during the Artificial Intelligence & Global Security Summit in Washington. Schmidt predicted China will match the US's AI capability by 2020 and added: "By 2025, they will be better than us. By 2030, they will dominate the industry." Schmidt, the chair of the Defense Innovation Advisory Board, also criticised President Trump's travel ban for preventing talented employees from entering the US.

http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2017/11/google-chief-china-will-surpass-us-ai-around-2025/142214/

2017-11-02 16:06:29.533000

In April, as Eric Schmidt watched a computer program defeat China’s top go player in a ground-breaking match in the Chinese city of Wuzhen, the executive chairman of Google’s parent company was struck less by the considerable innovations displayed by human and machine than by the audience: “To me the more interesting thing [was that] all the top computer science people in China had shown up.” It showed, Schmidt said, the importance placed on AI development by both the Chinese government and its people, and was a postcard from the future competition for AI dominance. “I’m assuming our [U.S.] lead will continue over the next five years and then that China will catch up extremely quickly,” the Google leader told the Center for New American Security’s Paul Scharre at the Artificial Intelligence & Global Security Summit on Wednesday. Schmidt doesn’t like the term “arms race” to describe the U.S.-Chinese rivalry in artificial intelligence, in part because defining AI as a weapon is limiting at best and flatly inaccurate at worst. But it is a tool that can make one military, company, economy, and even nation much more effective than another. And China, he says, is positioning itself to devour the current U.S. advantage in just a few years. In July, China unveiled a massive, national plan for the future of artificial intelligence, to guide both commercial and military development. Its timeline caught Schmidt’s attention. “By 2020, they will have caught up. By 2025, they will be better than us. By 2030, they will dominate the industries.” For Schmidt, the take-home was clear: “We need to get our act together, as a country…This is the moment when the [U.S.] government collectively, and private industry, needs to say, ‘these technologies are important.’” But, he said, the Trump administration isn’t doing that. In fact, several moves are putting the U.S. at a disadvantage. For example, Trump’s 2018 budget request slashes funds for basic science and research by $4.3 billion, roughly 13 percent compared to 2016. (Trump’s military budget does increase money for basic science and research in the Pentagon, but only by $117 million.) While there’s lots of private and corporate money going into AI research, those funds don’t guarantee advantage on a national level. “It feels, as an American, that we are fighting this conflict with one hand behind our back. What I would rather do is not adopt the Chinese policies, but...fund basic research. The Trump budget does reduce that. It’s the wrong direction,” Schmidt said. The Google leader also slammed Trump’s multicountry travel ban and other immigration policies that would close America’s doors to smart students, researchers, and entrepreneurs who want to come study and start companies. “Let’s talk about immigration. Shockingly, some of the very best people in AI are in countries that we won’t let into America. Would you rather have them building AI somewhere else or would you have them building here?” he asked. “Iran produces some of the top computer scientists in the world. I want them here. I want them working for Alphabet and Google. It’s crazy not to let these people.” Schmidt has not been shy about his disagreement with Trump on immigration, but Wednesday marked the first time he cast the disagreement in terms of future national security and state-on-state competition. It’s an area he knows something about; the Google leader currently chairs the Defense Innovation Advisory Board, set up by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. In January, the Board approved 11 recommendations to help the Pentagon better integrate technology and innovation into the way it buys and operates weapons. The future of those recommendations, and the board itself, is undetermined. Related video:

Fitbit and One Drop partner for diabetes management

New York-based healthtech One Drop has partnered with Fitbit to integrate data from the health tracker into its mobile app. The partnership follows One Drop's August collaboration with inhalable insulin manufacturer MannKind. One Drop's app monitors user activity, offers reminders to take medication and tracks basal rates, and will now include data from Fitbit devices, revealing how activity affects blood glucose levels. A recent study demonstrated a 1.1%-1.3% drop in HbA1c levels in participants after four months of using the One Drop Mobile app.

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/one-drop-fitbit-diabetes/

2017-11-02 15:37:24.777000

One Drop has teamed up with Fitbit to integrate fitness tracker data into its diabetes management platform. The new alliance reflects growing competition in digital health, with many rival digital diabetes management services currently emerging. One Drop is up against rival platforms such as MySugr (recently acquired by Roche) and Glooko, and all these services need to sign up and retain tens of thousands of patients in order to prove their long-term value. The core of One Drop's offering is its mobile app, One Drop Mobile, which acts as a hub of information gathered from its blood glucose monitors and user input regarding medications, food intake, and activity. The app analyses this data to provide insights into blood glucose trends, helping users better manage their condition. Now thanks to a new partnership with Fitbit, data gathered from the firm's fitness trackers will integrate into the One Drop mobile app, giving a better idea of how activity impacts blood glucose. The data will also be incorporated into One Drop reports - summaries of user information that can be shared with healthcare professionals via the company's One Drop Experts and One Drop Professional services. Physicians can then use this data can to inform more personalised care decisions. One Drop will also be given the opportunity to analyse Fitbit data, in addition to its current 500 million customer base, with the goal to identify new insights into diabetes. [caption id="attachment_22514" align="alignnone" width="150"] CEO and founder of One Drop, Jeff Dachis[/caption] "We strive to provide our community with the most comprehensive set of data and tools to manage their diabetes or prediabetes. Working with Fitbit, the leading global wearables brand, was a natural next step for One Drop," said Jeff Dachis, CEO and founder of One Drop. The partnership will also see data flowing from One Drop to Fitbit, specifically into an app created for its new Ionic smartwatch. "Our mission is to help make the world healthier, and our new Ionic smartwatch is the health platform that allows us to deliver our most advanced health and fitness features to the market," said Adam Pellegrini, general manager of Fitbit Health Solutions. "This holistic experience brings the power of Fitbit data together with One Drop's sophisticated care management technology to provide meaningful insights on the role of physical activity and how it can improve the health of those living with diabetes." The partnership with Fitbit adds to a good year for One Drop. Since launching One Drop | Chrome at the end of 2016 - a sleek set of chrome diabetes devices to accompany its app platform - One Drop partnered with MannKind in August to investigate the firm's inhalable insulin, Afrezza. Around the same time, positive results from a study published in JMIR Diabetes demonstrated a 1.1% to 1.3% absolute reduction in HbA1c levels among One Drop Mobile users after four months of using the service. One of the most significant developments in the field this year was pharma giant Roche acquiring mySugr, a diabetes management app which already has 1 million users.

UK publishers said to lose £500,000 a year due to ad-blocking

A UK Association of Online Publishers survey of 40 of its members found they are losing out on an average of £500,000 ($664,000) annually because of ad-blocking. Auto Trader, Bauer, Haymarket and Dennis Publishing will begin refusing access for ad-block users from early 2018 in a test of the impact of so-called "hard bans" on their niche auto titles. Dennis Publishing has already found that 70% of ad-block users will view its site with ads via an ad-recovery solution, with 30% of users disabling their ad-blocker.

https://digiday.com/media/ignore-peril-ad-blocking-costs-top-uk-publishers-average-500000-per-year/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171102

2017-11-02 15:07:09.320000

Ad blocking has moved from exponential to linear growth: The sky might not be falling, but ignore it at your peril. Skewed metrics are a major distraction for publishers trying to tackle this problem, but focusing on the financial losses is one route to encourage all parties to find a solution. The UK Association of Online Publishers aggregated data from 40 members — AOP members include Condé Nast, ESI Media, Global, the Guardian and The Telegraph — and found that the average U.K. publisher is losing £500,000 ($660,000) a year due to ad blocking. “People should be getting more passionate about this,” said Nick Flood, product and commercial operations director at Dennis Publishing. “People need to take this more seriously.” In order to learn more about ad-blocking behavior and recovery, Dennis Publishing, Bauer, Auto Trader and Haymarket plan to collectively run a hard ban on content early next year for ad-block users across their auto sites for a day. Hard blocks on general news sites tend to be ineffective because users can access the content elsewhere. Dennis has had experience in banning ad-block users from accessing content. Flood said it’s seeing about 20 percent of its audience block ads, which is in line with other U.K. publishers. Dennis is asking ad-block users visiting site Carbuyer to disable their ad blockers or continue to view the site with ads. In recent tests, the publisher found that 70 percent of ad-block users continue to view the site with ads — the publisher uses an ad-recovery solution — while 30 percent disabled their ad blocker. It has also tested showing a 30-second video ad before people continue through to an ad-free site, which has had a 70 percent view-through rate, according to Flood. “People will interact with you if you have content they want to engage with; you need to push that agenda,” he said at the AOP’s Inside Out conference in London this week. “You will lose people; 30 percent of our users bounced, but we weren’t monetizing them anyway.” With the likelihood of more browser-based ad-blocking solutions around the corner and the anticipation that mobile ad blocking will grow, communicating with users is more effective than tackling ad-block developers and companies. “Rather than a cat-and-mouse game, it’s more like an in-browser knife fight,” said Flood. Desktop rates in the U.K. appear to have stabilized. Studies from the Internet Advertising Bureau found that the percentage of U.K. adults blocking ads has held steady at 21 percent since February 2016. However, this could be because there has been a higher growth in ad blockers that block analytics, and mobile is accounting for more of publishers’ traffic. “From a data perspective, I’ve always been concerned that we can’t accurately analyze our audience,” said Jo Holdaway, chief data officer at ESI Media. “It’s not just the loss of revenue but the loss of insight and inference about our audience.” Around 20 percent of ESI Media’s audience blocks ads across The Independent and the Evening Standard. ESI Media has been monitoring ad-blocking rates before deciding on a firm strategy; it’s asking users politely to disable ad blockers, but the conversion is low. For Dennis, this soft approach only saw 3 percent of users engage. Holdaway estimates that 30 percent of those who block ads are also blocking analytics. This corresponds with studies by Oriel, which provides ad-blocking solutions for publishers, across publishers using its technology. There has been a 125 percent increase from last year in analytics blocking, according to Oriel. “On desktop, it might have stabilized, but don’t be complacent,” said Holdaway. “Ignore it at your peril.”

Facebook's Q3 revenue passes $10.1 billion

Facebook's advertising revenue exceeded $10bn for the first time in Q3, with profits rising to $4.7bn. Advertising revenue rose 49% since the same period in 2016, with 88% of that due to mobile income. Profits rose 79%, but the social media giant has warned that future profits may not be as favourable as it puts money behind security efforts to clear the platform of fake news and abuse. Facebook's daily active users and monthly active users increased 16%.

http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/facebook-q3-2017-earnings-report

2017-11-02 14:44:24.643000

Facebook soared beyond Wall Street predictions in the third quarter of 2017, with advertising revenue topping $10bn for the first time and profits hitting $4.7bn. Ad revenue saw a 49 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase compared to Q3 2017, with mobile ad revenue representing around 88 per cent of that total. Meanwhile, profits were up 79 per cent YoY. Despite this, the company warned that future profitability could take a hit due to its investments in dealing with abuse and fake news on its platform. “Our community continues to grow and our business is doing well,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. “But none of that matters if our services are used in ways that don't bring people closer together. We're serious about preventing abuse on our platforms. We're investing so much in security that it will impact our profitability. Protecting our community is more important than maximising our profits.” During an earnings call, Zuckerberg added: “I've expressed how upset I am that the Russians tried to use our tools to sow mistrust. We built these tools to help people connect and to bring us closer together, and they used them to try to undermine our values. What they did is wrong, and we are not going to stand for it.” Away from the financials, Facebook’s daily active users (DAUs) and monthly active users (MAUs) saw a YoY increase of 16 per cent. DAUs were 1.37bn on average for September 2017, while MAUs were 2.07bn as of 30 September. Facebook’s photo sharing platform, Instagram, also passed 500m DAUs in the quarter. “We have seen Facebook's stock price grow by over 50 per cent this year and it’s not showing signs of slowing. Recent projects like avoiding further ad saturation on the News Feed with ads on Instant Articles and Videos, and the platforms ever increasing 2bn user base makes it prime for rising digital ad revenue spend,” said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO at social media analytics firm Socialbakers. “Facebook’s expansion into additional markets such as Asia Pacific, will further expand its reach and continue to keep the social giant far ahead of its peers in regard to sheer volume and therefore engagement and potential ad revenue. However, the company must remain mindful of oversaturation and subsequently irritating users,” he continued. “As another arm of Facebook, Instagram has also emerged as an advertising powerhouse creating significant revenue for Facebook, as we are seeing more and more marketers shifting their focus towards Instagram for both their organic and paid activity. The introduction of the Stories function is enhancing its relevance among brands and will continue to galvanise market share in the photo sharing arena. Instagram has clearly contributed to Facebook's numbers this quarter and will continue to do so in the 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.

Private investment of $1tn means Paris climate targets in reach

At least $1tn of commercial investment around the world is going into sectors including energy efficiency, agri-business, public transport and renewable power, according to a report by the International Finance Corporation. This funding is making it possible for governments to meet the commitments they made under the Paris Climate Agreement, said the World Bank subsidiary. It estimated investments of $23bn a year in energy storage and off-grid solar could be possible by 2025 if governments back renewables over fossil fuels. Signatories to the agreement are meeting in Bonn this month to discuss its further implementation.

http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/climate%20business/resources/creating%20markets%20for%20climate%20business%20report

2017-11-02 14:20:54.700000

Creating Markets for Climate Business identifies seven industry sectors that can make a crucial difference in catalyzing private investment: renewable energy, off-grid solar and energy storage, agribusiness, green buildings, urban transportation, water, and urban waste management. Already, more than $1 trillion in investments are flowing into climate-related projects globally in these areas. But trillions more can be triggered by creating the right business conditions in emerging markets. Learn more: Climate Investment Opportunities Report Series Press Releases: English | Chinese | Spanish | German | Portuguese | Indonesian | Russian Download Report

Private investment of $1tn means Paris climate targets in reach

At least $1tn of commercial investment around the world is going into sectors including energy efficiency, agri-business, public transport and renewable power, according to a report by the International Finance Corporation. This funding is making it possible for governments to meet the commitments they made under the Paris Climate Agreement, said the World Bank subsidiary. It estimated investments of $23bn a year in energy storage and off-grid solar could be possible by 2025 if governments back renewables over fossil fuels. Signatories to the agreement are meeting in Bonn this month to discuss its further implementation.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/02/huge-private-sector-investment-puts-paris-climate-target-in-reach-says-report

2017-11-02 14:20:54.700000

At least one trillion dollars are being invested globally in ways to reduce the threat of climate change, including renewable power, energy efficiency, and public transport around the world. The sums involved are likely to make it possible in future for the world’s governments to meet their commitments under the Paris agreement on climate change, provided the investment continues and is directed to the right ends, according to a new report. The World Bank Group’s subsidiary, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), said on Thursday that the investment could hold the key to fighting climate change. Governments will meet in Bonn next week to discuss the next steps in implementing their pledges made at the 2015 Paris conference on climate change. Philippe Le Houérou, chief executive of the IFC, said: “The private sector holds the key to fighting climate change. We can help unlock more private sector investment, but this also requires government reforms as well as innovative business models, which together will create new markets and attract the necessary investment. This can fulfil the promises of Paris.” The IFC report, entitled Creating Markets for Climate Business, found that governments could work with businesses by fostering renewable energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. For instance, IFC provided $653m (£492m) in debt financing to fund the construction of 13 solar plants near Aswan, in Egypt. Such financing can result in lower electricity costs for local people, as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions and cutting down on air pollution from coal-fired power plants. People in developing countries can also benefit from renewable energy installations, such as solar panels and wind turbines, that provide local power, removing the need for them to be connected to a national electricity grid to receive power – a distant dream in some countries, where the national grid is under-developed or prone to breakdown. The availability of power generated locally has multiple benefits, including safety and education, as it enables emissions-free light and power late into the night, instead of people being forced to rely on expensive and polluting kerosene burners. The authors of the report estimated that investments in energy storage and off-grid solar of $23bn a year could be possible by 2025, if national governments favour renewable energy over fossil fuels. However, in many countries, developed and developing, fossil fuel companies have the incumbent advantage, and in some cases policies have been developed to suit them. The International Energy Agency estimated fossil fuel subsidies at $325bn a year in 2016. Making buildings more energy efficient could also reduce carbon emissions dramatically, according to the IFC report, but only if countries adopt better building codes and higher standards. Public transport is another area ripe for investment, which could yield billions of dollars in greater efficiency, and improve the quality of lives of people around the globe, but which has been held back by poor government involvement. Christian Aid, the development charity, called on the World Bank Group to stop lending to fossil fuel projects. Funding by the group’s members for fossil fuel projects has increased to $4.7bn in 2016, according to the charity. Fran Witt, senior climate change adviser at Christian Aid, said: “Despite aiming to champion clean energy, the World Bank Group actually continues to finance large volumes of dirty energy projects, which are driving climate change around the world. It is staggering that even after the Paris agreement the group is still investing most of its energy portfolio in dirty energy.”

Climate change 'will cause major refugee crisis' within a decade

Climate change will force tens of millions of people to abandon their homes, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, within the next decade, resulting in the world’s largest ever refugee crisis, according to a study by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). US military and security experts told the EJF that the number of refugees will far exceed that created by the Syrian conflict, causing vast challenges for Europe. The study, published on Thursday, calls for the creation of a new legal framework designed to protect climate refugees.

https://ejfoundation.org/reports/beyond-borders

2017-11-02 13:32:04.327000

This report focuses on one particular result from climate change – the negative impact on food security and how this factor contributed to the desperation and anger that manifested itself against the Al-Assad regime in Syria. The Syrian war has resulted in more than 470,000 deaths. 6.6 million people have been internally displaced and nearly five million people are residing in camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon as well as an estimated 1.2 million seeking refuge in Europe. Whilst the war was not solely a result of climate change, the intertwining effects of drought, rural to urban migration, and the increasing unrest due to a lack of government measures to avoid water scarcity, unemployment and growing inequality, are clear.

Climate change 'will cause major refugee crisis' within a decade

Climate change will force tens of millions of people to abandon their homes, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, within the next decade, resulting in the world’s largest ever refugee crisis, according to a study by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). US military and security experts told the EJF that the number of refugees will far exceed that created by the Syrian conflict, causing vast challenges for Europe. The study, published on Thursday, calls for the creation of a new legal framework designed to protect climate refugees.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/02/climate-change-will-create-worlds-biggest-refugee-crisis

2017-11-02 13:32:04.327000

Tens of millions of people will be forced from their homes by climate change in the next decade, creating the biggest refugee crisis the world has ever seen, according to a new report. Senior US military and security experts have told the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) study that the number of climate refugees will dwarf those that have fled the Syrian conflict, bringing huge challenges to Europe. “If Europe thinks they have a problem with migration today … wait 20 years,” said retired US military corps brigadier general Stephen Cheney. “See what happens when climate change drives people out of Africa – the Sahel [sub-Saharan area] especially – and we’re talking now not just one or two million, but 10 or 20 [million]. They are not going to south Africa, they are going across the Mediterranean.” The study published on Thursday calls on governments to agree a new legal framework to protect climate refugees and, ahead of next week’s climate summit in Germany, urges leaders to do more to implement the targets set out in the Paris climate agreement. Sir David King, the former chief scientific adviser to the UK government, told the EJF: “What we are talking about here is an existential threat to our civilisation in the longer term. In the short term, it carries all sorts of risks as well and it requires a human response on a scale that has never been achieved before.” The report argues that climate change played a part in the build up to the Syrian war, with successive droughts causing 1.5 million people to migrate to the country’s cities between 2006 and 2011. Many of these people then had no reliable access to food, water or jobs. “Climate change is the the unpredictable ingredient that, when added to existing social, economic and political tensions, has the potential to ignite violence and conflict with disastrous consequences,” said EJF executive director, Steve Trent. “In our rapidly changing world climate change – and its potential to trigger both violent conflict and mass migration – needs to be considered as an urgent priority for policymakers and business leaders alike.” Although the report highlights to growing impact of climate change on people in the Middle East and Africa, it says changing weather patterns – like the hurricanes that devastated parts of the US this year – prove richer nations are not immune from climate change. But Trent said that although climate change undoubtedly posed an “existential threat to our world” it was not to late to take decisive action. “By taking strong ambitious steps now to phase out greenhouse gas emissions and building an international legal mechanism to protect climate refugees we will protect the poorest and most vulnerable in our global society, build resilience, reap massive economic benefits and build a safe and secure future for our planet. Climate change will not wait. Neither can we. For climate refugees, tomorrow is too late.”

UK to see an extra 400,000 children in ‘absolute poverty’

The number of UK children in “absolute poverty” will rise by 400,000 within six years as a result of benefit cuts, according to a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The research, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, indicated that approximately 7.5 million low income households will have their benefits cut by over £500 ($653) per year, leading to a 4% increase in child poverty levels in the East Midlands, the north-east and Wales. “Absolute poverty” is defined as an income of less than 60% of the UK median average.

https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/10028

2017-11-02 12:54:07.343000

Download press release | Download full report Debates over living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK are often hampered by the fact that official data on household incomes are available only with a significant lag. Currently, the latest statistics are for 2015–16. In this report, we attempt to fill this gap by estimating what has happened since 2015–16 to household incomes and poverty rates. We also look at how they might evolve up to 2021–22 if current tax and benefit policy plans are kept to and if the macroeconomic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – for things such as earnings and employment – were correct. Key findings Real median income is projected to grow by around 5% between 2015–16 and 2021–22 – but this is highly sensitive to future earnings growth. Real median income in 2015–16 (latest data) stood 3.7% above its pre-recession level. We project that median income has grown by around 1% in total over the past two years and will grow by around 4% in total over the next four years. This is very slow growth by historical standards, and would leave real median income in 2021–22 around 20% lower than if growth since 2007–08 had continued in line with the long-run trend. But these projections depend upon what happens to pay: our previous report showed that for every percentage point (ppt) that earnings growth differs from the OBR expectation, median income growth differs by 0.6ppts per year. While income inequality has fallen since the recession, it is projected to rise over the next four years. Between 2007–08 and 2015–16, real incomes rose by 7.7% at the 10th percentile but fell at the 90th percentile. However, this trend is projected to be reversed over the next four years, as real earnings growth boosts the incomes of high-income households and working-age benefits are cut. This is especially true if incomes are measured after housing costs have been deducted: we project that AHC incomes below the 20th percentile will fall in real terms between 2015–16 and 2021–22. However, the future path of inequality is highly dependent upon the distribution of growth in workers’ earnings, which is itself highly uncertain. The official rate of relative AHC poverty is projected to rise by over 2ppts between 2015–16 and 2021–22. All of the projected increase in relative poverty is driven by relative child poverty, which is projected to increase by almost 7ppts. The relative poverty rates among pensioners and working-age non-parents are projected to remain fairly constant. Planned tax and benefit reforms account for about a third of the projected increase in relative poverty. With real incomes of poor households stagnant or falling, the official rate of absolute AHC poverty is projected to remain roughly unchanged between 2015–16 and 2021–22, but to increase for children. These projections are somewhat sensitive to the path and distribution of future earnings growth, but tax and benefit policies also matter: planned reforms are projected to increase absolute poverty by about 1ppt. Absolute child poverty is projected to rise by around 4ppts, primarily due to the impact of planned reforms. Absolute pensioner poverty is projected to fall by over 2ppts, due in large part to the fact that beyond 2018 the basic state pension and pension credit are projected to rise in line with earnings. Different regions face differing prospects for overall absolute poverty, but all are projected to see absolute child poverty rise between 2013–2015 and 2019–2021. Absolute poverty is projected to fall in southern regions, the East, Yorkshire & the Humber and Scotland, but rise in the North East, the North West, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Midlands. Although absolute child poverty is projected to increase in each nation and English region, the largest projected rises are in the North East, East Midlands and Wales, which see increases of at least 5ppts. With the exception of London, poverty is generally projected to rise more in areas where it is already higher. The relative fortunes of different regions could be different from our projections if there is significant geographical variation in future growth in rent or pay. Differences in projected poverty trends across the country are partly driven by the share of income that low-income families get from earnings. Working-age families in poverty or just above the poverty line in regions such as London and the South East get over half of their income from earnings, whereas those in the North East get only about a third (with most of the rest of their income coming from benefits). Families that are more dependent on benefits are more exposed to benefit cuts, and gain less when real earnings rise. The projected impact of upcoming tax and benefit reforms on poverty varies across regions, partly due to the differing effects of limiting the child element in tax credits and universal credit to the first two children in a family. This ‘two-child limit’ is projected to increase overall absolute poverty by a little under 1ppt and absolute child poverty by over 2ppts. Some regions are affected much more heavily than others: Northern Ireland and the West Midlands, with twice as many large poor families as Scotland and the South West, are projected to see a larger increase in poverty as a result of the policy. There is, of course, significant uncertainty around any macroeconomic forecasts, and hence around any projection of future trends in household incomes based on those forecasts. Notably, the OBR has already indicated that it will downgrade its forecast for productivity – the key driver of earnings – at the Budget later this month. Such a downgrade would leave our projections for median income (based on the OBR’s March forecast) looking optimistic. However, our poverty projections, and those for relative poverty in particular, are less sensitive to forecast earnings growth. Snapshot of our findings...

TalkTalk Glitch in Talk2Go app causes mobile and landlines to ring at once

A technical issue with TalkTalk's Talk2Go app, which caused landline and mobile phones to ring simultaneously, has left customers furious. The glitch was unresolved days after first being reported. A spokesperson for TalkTalk said a "handful of customers" had experienced problems and offered an apology. The company has suggested it is looking to divest its mobile phone service and focus on offering broadband, although it was recently voted worst UK internet provider in a Which? survey.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/02/glitch_causing_talktalk_mobe_and_landline_numbers_to_go_off_at_once/

2017-11-02 12:31:55.783000

Beleaguered TalkTalk customers are complaining that their landline and mobile phones ring at the same time, an issue that appears to be due to a glitch in the telco's Talk2Go app. According to the TalkTalk community forum, the problem first occurred earlier this week. However, customers were still reporting issues this morning. "The worst thing is that I get no mobile signal at all at work during the day, so calling our landline is instantly diverting to the mobile voicemail and nobody at home is able to answer the landline as it doesn't ring (as voicemail answered)," complained the original poster. Many other customers have since piled in to report they are experiencing similar problems. One customer deserved the issue as "another **** up from TalkTalk". He said: "I have emailed the CEO's office as its an absolute joke! My broadband hasn’t worked properly for 5 months and constant issues, they are still happy to take the payment every month. "It has to be linked to the talk2go app as its the only way they had my work mobile number. but first line support in india didn't have a clue what I was saying!" Another customer said that TalkTalk had informed them there was a known issue to the service. One said they received a message from TalkTalk this morning via a Twitter DM, which read: "Apologies for any inconvenience caused Paul! Please let us know if you need anything." Customer: "Only the problem fixed (just confirmed that it's still broken)." TT: "Paul you're still having trouble with your service?" Customer: "Oh yes, same fault as reported, still unfixed." He wrote: "I'm always amazed that a company that calls itself 'TalkTalk' use every method possible to avoid actually picking up the phone to customers who have faults and check that it's been fixed to their satisfaction." TalkTalk has suggested it is keen to ditch its poorly performing mobile business and concentrate on broadband instead. In September TalkTalk was named the worst UK internet provider in a biannual survey of providers by consumer charity Which? for the fifth time running. Users named slow speeds, frequent connection drop-outs and poor customer service their biggest bugbears with the provider. A TalkTalk spokesman said: “A handful of TalkTalk customers recently experienced concurring ringing to both their mobile and landline. We’d like to thank these customers for their patience whilst we resolved the issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused.” ®

Hulu doubles its ad-sales research division to 12 people

US streaming service Hulu has doubled the size of its ad-sales research division to 12 people in response to its growing audience. The company reported 47 million monthly unique viewers during the summer, with 33 million from its ad-supported subscription offering. The ad-sales research team, headed by former NBCUniversal sales and research executive Julia DeTraglia, is working with partners including Millward Brown and Nielsen Catalina Solutions to maximise first-party data on viewing habits, as well as effectiveness and attribution.

https://digiday.com/media/inside-hulu-growing-ad-sales-research-team/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171102

2017-11-02 12:04:12.610000

Hulu has been building an ad-sales research division. In the last 18 months, Hulu’s ad-sales research team has doubled in size to 12 people, pulling in people from TV networks, digital media companies, research firms and ad agencies. This included bringing on Julie DeTraglia, a longtime NBCUniversal sales and research exec, as Hulu’s first head of ad-sales research. Reporting to Peter Naylor, Hulu’s head of ad sales, DeTraglia and her team are embedded with Hulu’s sales teams in New York and Los Angeles — with frequent trips to the company’s sales offices in Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco. “I’ve worked in sales and research organizations for a long time; sometimes [the sales and research teams] are separate,” DeTraglia said. “We frequently go on calls with sales — they consider it a real service. When we have new data to share, even if it’s not specific to a campaign or a media buy with that advertiser, we’re asked to join to show [our knowledge of] the landscape.” In the world of movie and TV streaming services (at least in the U.S., since Hulu is not available internationally), Hulu occupies a unique role: It’s both an ad-supported and subscription streaming service — and it has a sizable audience. Hulu’s lowest tier, which is available from $5.99 to $7.99 per month, features limited commercial breaks. This tier is included in Hulu’s live TV option, for which Hulu — like any other cable, satellite or internet-TV distributor — has some ad slots to sell across channels. (Hulu’s $11.99-per-month option is almost entirely ad-free.) Last year, Hulu said it had 12 million subscribers across both plans. That number has grown by double-digit percentages this year, according to a Hulu source. This year, Hulu said it would stop publicly reporting subscriber numbers, arguing that it was the wrong metric since its platform also has advertising, and advertisers care about video viewership. To that end, Hulu said this past summer that it has 47 million monthly unique viewers, with 33 million of those viewers watching from the ad-supported subscription tier. Today, Hulu’s CPMs can be in the mid-$30 to $40 range when negotiating upfront deals. The prices can increase dramatically — twice or three times the upfront costs — if inventory is close to being sold out, according to one ad buyer, who requested anonymity due to ongoing negotiations with Hulu. “[Hulu’s] CPM pricing has gone up and moves faster than anything else,” this buyer said. “If you don’t do it upfront, it can be on par with national TV.” With Hulu’s audience and advertising business growing, it made sense to build an ad-sales research team that can drill deep on areas such as ad effectiveness and attribution, as well as general consumer research on streaming consumption. “Building out our ad sales research division was a focus for us not only to help better serve our advertiser partners, but also to drive the industry forward with new measurement capabilities and insight into the changing face of the viewer,” said Peter Naylor, svp of ad sales for Hulu. The team’s work is supported by partnerships with other research firms and measurement vendors, including Millward Brown, Nielsen Catalina Solutions and Samba TV. “The thing we talk about all the time is how right now about 78 percent of our total viewing is happening on connected devices in the living room,” DeTraglia said. “That posed a bunch of measurement challenges for us and the industry, as we had to figure out how to do ad-effectiveness research there and measure audience there. We also know it’s a blind spot for the industry, where there is no real third-party measurement. But we have a lot of great first-party data, and we can educate the industry about viewing habits there and what that means for marketing partners who spend with us and what it means for the TV industry as well.” At any given time, the ad-sales research team is conducting a “couple of handfuls” of ad-effectiveness studies for clients, DeTraglia said. Simultaneously, Hulu is working on six larger custom research studies either in tandem with one of its partners or on its own. Some of this work is geared toward next year, as Hulu preps its next upfront presentation and talks about its follow-up to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which became the first show from a subscription streaming service to win best drama at the Emmys. One big area of focus will be Hulu’s live TV product, which launched in beta earlier this year and has been able to grow to 300,000 subscribers, according to The Information. Early internal data shows that the more people watch live TV on Hulu, the more they’re likely to catch up on other stuff through Hulu’s subscription on-demand offering, DeTraglia said. “It supports the notion of what Hulu wants to be, which is TV all in one place,” she said.

Video ad fraud grows alongside rising video ad spend

The video ad industry needs a tool like ads.txt to combat the rising tide of fraud in the industry, according to Justin Festa, CDO of publisher LittleThings. He said bad actors exploiting the "byzantine" ad supply chain were preventing premium publishers from achieving decent rates on open exchanges. Meanwhile, DoubleVerify COO Matt McLaughlin warned Q4 would see an increase in fraud, as advertisers scrambled to hit year-end goals. Video accounts for 64% of all ad fraud, despite making up 45% of ad spend, according to Forrester.

https://digiday.com/marketing/state-video-ad-fraud/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171102

2017-11-02 11:54:50.977000

This is the second article in an occasional series on ad fraud. The first entry examined why old fraud tactics won’t die. Fraudsters are pivoting to video, which is bad news for publishers looking to siphon cash from the growing pot of video ad spend. The ad industry’s massive growth in video ad spend has simply created a strong incentive for fraud. As BuzzFeed’s recent ad fraud exposé showed, the demand for video inventory is so great that hucksters can still depend on old schemes like sending traffic to garbage sites and domain spoofing to trick big brands into forking over some of their money. The distrust that these ad fraud operations create could potentially slow down growth in programmatic advertising. Here’s what you need to know about the state of video ad fraud. The key numbers Ad spend on video in the U.S. nearly doubled in just a few years from $7.7 billion in 2015 to $13.2 billion in 2017, according to eMarketer. By 2020, video ad spend is expected to exceed $18 billion. Video is associated with a disproportionate amount of fraud. While video accounts for 45 percent of total ad spend, it is tied to 64 percent of all ad fraud, according to Forrester. Among different types of video inventory, fraudsters go after the most premium stuff. Bots drive just 4 percent of mobile web video traffic. But for over-the-top video — where CPMs are much greater than the mobile web — 20 percent of traffic is from bots, according to Pixalate. Fraud is roughly twice as common in video as it is in display. About 10 percent of the video impressions that DoubleVerify scans in North America are fraudulent, while only about 5 percent of display impressions are tied to fraud. White Ops estimates that fraud accounts for 22 percent of video spend and 9 percent of display spend. Why this matters for publishers Since it is the money of advertisers that fraudsters are gobbling up, ad-fraud conversations are usually couched from a buy-side perspective. After all, no marketer wants a fourth of their ad budget going to waste. But video fraud also strains publishers by diverting money from them and lowering ad rates. To entice ad buyers, fraudsters sell bot traffic and impressions tied to masked URLs at a discount. This creates a perception that buyers can obtain video inventory on the cheap, said Josh Cariveau, svp of global operations at video ad platform SpotX. But in reality, quality video inventory remains expensive. “My concern is that because of fraud, premium publishers do not get the rates they deserve through the open exchange,” said Justin Festa, chief digital officer of feel-good publisher LittleThings. What it means for the industry Engineering programmatic platforms to have as deep of a pool of advertisers as possible has led to a byzantine ad-supply chain that provides fraudsters plenty of nooks to hide in. Although digital advertising is more than two decades old, its fraud problems still persist. For video specifically, fraud appears to have gotten worse over time. “We have definitely seen a growth in video ad fraud,” said Matt McLaughlin, COO of ad-verification firm DoubleVerify. Since ad budgets grow in the fourth quarter as advertisers try to reach their annual goals just before the year ends, fraudulent activity will be higher than normal during the next two months, he said. One ad buyer, requesting anonymity, said he only buys video through private marketplaces where he can work directly with publishers. Limiting buys to PMPs significantly reduces the amount of available inventory, but the fraud concerns on the open exchange aren’t worth the trade-off for more scale, the buyer said. On the sell side, LittleThings has found that advertisers prefer PMPs for video, so they can get more transparency, Festa said. “PMPs don’t fully solve the problem, though,” he said. “Long term, we need to clean up the open market and bring more transparency to video with initiatives like ads.txt.”

Snap Pixel allows marketers to track users across platforms

Marketers can follow visits, purchases and sign-ups by using Snap's latest addition to Snapchat Ad Manager, Snap Pixel, to track websites. The feature functions across devices, and once activated, will continue measuring revenue, performance, growth and acquisition for 28 days after an ad is viewed. Early adopter TechStyle Fashion Group said 24 hours after an ad was viewed, its cost per purchase fell by 40% to 60% lower than its goal across its brands. Snap aims to add custom audience creation and real-time optimisation to Pixel in the coming months.

http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/snapchat-pixel-cross-platform-conversion-tracking-tool

2017-11-02 11:21:21.940000

Snapchat has launched a conversion tracking tool, enabling marketers to track people across mobile, tablet and desktop owned online environments. Snap Pixel enables marketers to measure the revenue, performance, growth, and acquisition that Snapchat has driven across devices. This includes being able to measure website visits, purchases, and sign-ups. Snap says it will introduce features such as custom audience creation and real-time optimisation in the coming months. Pixels are generated directly in the Snapchat Ad Manager by advertisers, where they select a website to track. Once it has been setup, results are measured for up to 28 days after someone has viewed or engaged with an ad. One of the first advertisers to trial Snap Pixel was the TechStyle Fashion Group, which boasts eCommerce brands such as JustFab, Fabletics and ShoeDazzle. TechStyle is said to have seen its cost per purchase sit at 40 to 60 per cent lower than its goal across all its brands, just 24 hours after someone saw one of its ads. In addition, it achieved a cost per sign-up 30 to 50 per cent under its goal for each brand. ShoeDazzle, alone, was able to drive a cost per purchase 63 per cent under goal, and a cost per sign-up 48 per cent under. 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.

Didi Chuxing to build its own EV charging network across China

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing will partner with Swedish firm NEVS to develop and build its own charging station for electric vehicles (EVs). CEO Cheng Wei said the stations would serve the more than 260,000 EVs on its platform as well as cars owned by the public. Didi Chuxing aims to increase its fleet to one million EVs by 2020, while China accounts for 40% of all global EV sales, according to the International Energy Agency.

https://qz.com/1118336/didi-chuxing-plans-to-build-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-across-china/

2017-11-02 10:54:58.810000

China’s Uber competitor Didi Chuxing is getting in on the nation’s electric-vehicle boom. The company announced today it will begin building a network of EV charging stations across the country, highlighting the seriousness with which both China’s government and private enterprise are approaching the emerging industry. Advertisement According to Didi, the stations will be accessible both for Didi drivers and others. It will build the stations through a joint-venture with Beijng-based Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO). The venture will be known as Global New Energy Vehicle Service. A feature in Didi’s app for drivers will display which charging stations are nearby. The company did not lay out a timeline for the stations’ deployment, or specify how many it intended to build. “The future of transport is new energy vehicles, and ridesharing will be a key link in promoting new energy on the road,” said Didi CEO Cheng Wei in a statement today at an energy summit in Beijing co-sponsored by the United Nations and GEIDCO. China already leads the world in EV charging stations. As of 2016, there were about 150,000 stations across the country, amounting to about one per every seven electric cars (link in Chinese), according to China’s National Energy Administration. It expects the number of charging stations to surpass 1 million by year’s end. The US, by comparison, has about 16,000 public vehicle charging stations, with 43,000 connectors. Advertisement China also leads the world when it comes to EV purchases. According to the International Energy Agency, 40% of the EVs sold in 2016 went to China, amounting to twice the number sold in the US. The country has seen a surge of EV buying thanks in part to government subsidies and incentives, both for buyers and manufacturers. The city of Shenzhen, for example, picked cars from EV maker BYD to fill its taxi and bus fleets. Didi says it now has over 260,000 EVs in its network of 21 million drivers.

Property firm Lendlease publishes gender pay report

Property management and construction company Lendlease has issued a report on gender pay ratios. The firm currently has a ratio of 71% men to 29% women on its staff overall, while its construction business has 19% female employees, dropping to 7% for senior management roles. The study showed that, in the construction business, among the lowest 25% of earners, one-third were women, compared with 67% men, while women made up just 6% of the top percentile. Lendlease's report also demonstrated around 78% of male and female employees received a performance-related bonus during the 2016 financial year.

http://www.lendlease.com/uk/company/about-us/diversity-and-inclusion/gender-pay-gap/

2017-11-02 10:50:42.200000

When it comes to gender equity we are committed to creating a level playing field so everyone has an equal chance of success. This applies to all our processes and policies, ensuring opportunities are fair and equitable for all. Foreword from Neil Martin, Chief Executive Officer, Europe We want to create a level playing field at Lendlease in which everyone has the opportunity to succeed and fulfil their potential. At Lendlease, we’ve already achieved equal pay, meaning both men and women get paid the same amount for doing the same role. Whether through recruitment, training or ways of working, Lendlease is committed to providing long-term, rewarding careers for all its employees. This approach is helping us to close our gender pay gap and since we started the process in 2017, we have seen a 6 per cent increase in female representation overall. Lendlease UK now has a female representation of 35 per cent (from 29 per cent) and our construction business is at 26 per cent (from 19 per cent). I am incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to achieve this. Representation is an industry-wide problem, but at Lendlease we are spending time levelling the playing field so that everyone has access to the opportunities we offer. Gender will not secure a role at Lendlease, but talent will, so it’s critical that we do what we can to ensure talented people from all backgrounds are able to join our business. We have set specific recruitment targets for our construction business and changed the way we recruit so that our roles reach more people. We have seen great progress since making these changes and in 2019, for the first time, more of our graduate intake was female (64 per cent). But we can always do more. One of the areas we are focusing on is increasing the number of women in senior roles. So far, we have worked hard to reduce unconscious bias; pushed our recruiters to have inclusive shortlists; consciously helped women to seek promotion within the business; and created several programmes designed to support our employees with their individual needs. Over the next 12 months our senior leaders will be working towards achieving targets that help them to increase representation within their areas. We will also continue to run our development programmes, including the introduction of a brand-new programme for people returning to work after a career break. In addition to this, we’re doing more research into flexible working so that this becomes a real option for those working on live construction sites. Lendlease is already an outstanding place to work but if we get these things right, we can make it even better. Gender Pay Reporting Requirements All UK organisations which employ over 250 employees are required to report annually on their gender pay gap. The gender pay gap is defined as the difference in the average earnings of men and women over a standard period of time, regardless of their role or seniority. Due to historical mergers and acquisitions Lendlease has a number of business entities. Only our construction entity is required to publish data under the regulations, however we felt it was important to analyse and publish data for our Lendlease UK business overall. Read our Gender Pay Gap Report here.

Investors concern over fees comes under scrutiny

Investors' obsessions with low management fees is causing many to miss out on helpful financial advice, argues personal finance columnist Rob Carrick. Punting for the lowest-cost investment options, nominally exchange-traded fund products, may save money upfront, but it may backfire is financial plans aren't developed and stuck to. "If you can't manage those ETFs effectively, the higher costs of robo and human advice can be a good value," wrote Carrick. 

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/financial-literacy-gone-berserk-people-are-too-edgy-about-investing-fees/article36776413/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

2017-11-02 10:27:12.847000

Finding the lowest fee for the service level that will make you a successful investor won’t always be the cheapest option.cacaroot/Getty Images/iStockphoto Share Three facts about financial literacy: 1) You need to understand the cost of all the financial products you own and use. 2) Lower is better when it comes to cost – it means less of your money is being transferred to the financial industry. 3) Value is nearly as important as cost in determining whether you have the right product, and that includes investment advice. November is Financial Literacy Month, so expect to hear all kinds of messages about how to be smarter about money in the weeks ahead. Here's my contribution: Be ruthless about finding out the price of investing products and advice, but understand that a race to the bottom on costs may deprive you of the help you need to reach your goals. A lot of Globe readers ask me these days about exchange-traded funds, which are basically very low-cost mutual funds that trade like a stock. Often, these readers are fuming about the fees they pay for mutual funds or for the services of an investment adviser. They're convinced their fees are too high and that ETFs are the answer. ETFs are the lowest-cost way to build an instantly diversified portfolio, but you need to know some investing basics to work them properly. For example, you must be able to set a mix of bonds and Canadian, U.S. and international stocks that works for your needs, then keep that mix in line over the years. As you age, you'll have to adjust the mix to reflect approaching retirement. Then, you'll need to make major renovations to your portfolio as you move from the saving phase of life to living off your retirement income. On top of all this, you need to be comfortable using an online broker and choosing ETFs from a selection of hundreds. An ETF portfolio would be a much lower-cost way to invest than having an investment adviser and a somewhat cheaper avenue than using a robo-adviser. But if you can't manage those ETFs effectively, the higher costs of robo and human advice can be a good value. Find the lowest fee for the service level that will make you a successful investor. Sometimes, this won't be the cheapest option. Subscribe to Carrick on Money Are you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for Carrick on Money here. Calling all seniors Some colleagues and I are looking at when various generations reached milestones such as buying a house, getting married, having kids and retiring. We've heard from lots of people in all age groups – except those of you aged 65 and older. If you're in that group, please help us out by filling out our short online survey. Rob's personal finance reading list… The top 10 perks of debt-free living Life is better when you're out of debt. The overdressed investment portfolio My experience interacting with investors tells me this advice is right on the money – stick to the basics in building a portfolio and avoid trends and new flavours. Equifax deserves the corporate death penalty Many more Americans were affected by the security breach at the credit reporting company Equifax than Canadians. But that still doesn't explain how much angrier Americans are about this lapse. Here's an example – a call for the company to be dissolved. Wedding costs have gone crazy A woman looks at what her parents $2,000 wedding in 1974 would cost in 2017 dollars. The inflation-adjusted cost would be $10,000. The actual cost is different story. Warning: Some foul language is used here. It's just the vernacular of young personal-finance writers. Today's featured financial tool Wondering how much you can safely withdraw from your savings every year when you're retired? Try the Big Picture, an online tool that you can access for free through a 10-day trial. Ask Rob The question: "In a registered retirement income fund, do you think the iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income ETF (FIE-T) is a good choice? What factors should one consider in making this decision?" The answer: "FIE has a high dividend yield of about 6.4 per cent, so I get why I've been asked a few times about it lately by readers. A couple of things to watch out for: the high management expense ratio of 0.94 per cent and the concentration on financials, a sector to which many Canadian investors are already over-exposed. FIE is almost like a balanced fund, with a mix of dividend stocks, preferred shares and corporate bonds in the financial sector. As an alternative, what about a more broad-based Canadian dividend ETF, with exposure to financials and other market sectors as well?" Do you have a question for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can't answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length. More Carrick and money coverage For more money stories, follow me on Twitter and join the discussion on my Facebook page. Millennial readers, join our Gen Y Money Facebook group. Send us an e-mail to let us know what you think of my newsletter. Want to subscribe? Click here to sign up. If you like Carrick on Money. We've launched a new Top Business: Evening Edition newsletter providing a summary of the biggest business headlines of the day. Sign up for it and more than a dozen other Globe newsletters here.

London housing development to accommodate religious requirements

London’s Hackney council plans to build a housing development in Stamford Hill aimed at the area’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Tower Court will feature lifts requiring no manual operation on the sabbath, kitchens suited for preparing kosher meals, and balconies designed support temporary enclosures during Sukkot. A number of the flats will feature four or five bedrooms, in order to accommodate larger families. Of the new homes, 35% will be available for social rent, 15% will be available through shared ownership, and half will be sold on the open market.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/02/london-council-builds-housing-with-religion-friendly-features-hackney

2017-11-02 00:00:00

A London council is to build housing with religiously compliant features designed to appeal to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, in what is thought to be a first for a local authority. Hackney council’s development, Tower Court in Stamford Hill, north-east London, will include lifts which do not require manual operation on Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath; open balconies to accommodate temporary enclosures during the religious holiday of Sukkot, and separate kitchens which can be easily adapted to kosher requirements. Some of the 132 flats will be larger than the norm, with four or five bedrooms. Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, families typically include seven or eight children. The development will also house the London headquarters of Hatzola, a Jewish volunteer medical emergency service, which operates around the world. Tower Court used to be an estate of 67 homes, which was demolished in 2014 ahead of regeneration. The project was put out to competitive tender, with a brief to pay special attention to the the housing requirements of the Haredi community. Thirty-five percent of the new homes will be available for social rent, with half sold on the open market and 15% sold under special schemes such as shared ownership. Design and access statement for Tower Court. Photograph: Adam Khan Architects & muf architecture/art “All homes for rent will be allocated according to housing needs,” said a spokesperson for Hackney council. The flats had not been designed solely for Haredi families, he stressed, and they would not be prioritised. Some flats would be allocated to former tenants of the demolished estate. Stamford Hill is home to more than 30,000 Haredi Jews, one of the largest communities in Europe, which is growing at a rate of about 4% a year. A shortage of suitable available housing has forced some members of the community to leave London to establish a new Haredi community in Canvey Island, Essex. Adam Khan Architects, which is responsible for the design of the new development, held consultation sessions with the Haredi community to establish its needs and priorities. “We showed models and drawings, and we had people grabbing the pencils out of our hands to show us what they wanted,” Khan told the Guardian. “They were very generous in sharing intimate details of family life to give us a better understanding.” Among the issues raised by Haredi families during the consultation were the need for a wall to accommodate shelves of religious books; master bedrooms to be big enough to hold twin beds, and storage space sufficient for meat and dairy kitchen equipment and ceremonial dishes. Some flat will have open balconies for temporary enclosures used during religious holiday of Sukkot. Photograph: AKA MUF The development will include door entry systems and a lift which complies with the rules of Shabbat, under which observant Jews are forbidden from activating electrical equipment. Some flats will have open balconies required for the erection of sukkah, the temporary enclosure in which observant Jews eat and sleep during the religious holiday of Sukkot. Rabbi Abraham Pinter, who speaks for the Stamford Hill Haredi community, said the development was “really exciting”. “The council is putting a lot of effort into recognising the community’s needs, which is quite difficult in an area of inner London where there are a lot of competing needs,” he said. “This is a major development the council has initiated. It is appreciated, and hopefully it will lead to other developments.” Philip Glanville, the mayor of Hackney, said: “With 13,000 families on the council’s housing waiting list and 3,000 households in currently living in temporary accommodation, we are not only doing everything we can to build the new homes Hackney needs, but making sure that these are firmly rooted in their communities. Construction of the flats is expected to begin early next year, and be completed in 2020 or 2021.

Outsourcing firm Capita fails to pay hundreds of trainee doctors

Capita, an outsourcing company, has failed to pay hundreds of trainee GPs in the UK, forcing some to rely on charities for emergency funds, according to The Guardian. Capita holds a contract to administer training grants to the doctors via a body named Primary Care Services England. On 30 October, the British Medical Association sent a letter to NHS England claiming that some practices were “having to pay trainees out of already overstretched practice budgets”. Capita, which was awarded its contract in June 2015, has previously faced criticism over missing records and payments, as well as administrative errors.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/02/hundreds-of-trainee-gps-facing-hardship-as-outsourcing-firm-capita-fails-to-pay

2017-11-02 00:00:00

This article is the subject of a complaint on behalf of Capita Plc Hundreds of trainee GPs have not received their salaries from the outsourcing company responsible for paying them, forcing some to turn to charities for emergency funds, according to the BMA. It says that some GPs have been unable to cover their mortgages because of the delays by Capita, which holds a contract to administer training grants for GPs in three areas of England through a body called Primary Care Services England. A letter sent to NHS England on 30 October by the British Medical Association and seen by the Guardian warns that some practices were “having to pay trainees out of already overstretched practice budgets, or trainees are going months without being paid if the practice cannot cover the shortfall”. Capita denies being responsible for the delays and says it has not failed to reimburse any trainee GP salaries in the three areas - Thames Valley, Yorkshire and the Humber and part of Wessex. It says it has outstanding payments to some trainee GPsas a result of waiting for information from their employers. It said that it was chasing details of those trainee GPs and that salaries would be reimbursed immediately once those were received. Capita was unable to say how many trainee GP salaries it is responsible for paying, or how many it had been unable to pay. The BMA estimates that hundreds of trainees have been affected, although NHS England was also unable to give a number. The Cameron Fund, a charity for the prevention of hardship among GPs and their dependents, said it had received three applications for emergency funding in the last week alone. “This is actually probably the tip of the iceberg,” said the treasurer of the charity, Dr David Wrigley. “NHS England has commissioned out what was a very efficient service run within the NHS, and now Capita runs this contract in what I’d call another botched privatisation.” A trainee GP in one of the affected areas, who asked not to be named, was not paid for two consecutive months by Capita. At the end of October she posted on a private message board for GPs asking: “Anyone know of how I access hardship funds (quickly) to feed children/pay nursery/mortgage (quickly)?” She applied for charitable assistance immediately afterwards, she told the Guardian. The Cameron Fund gave her emergency funds so she could buy a present for her daughter’s seventh birthday. “It’s pretty stressful. A constant drain. I’ve run out of energy to be able to fight it,” she said. Her surgery also provided her with a loan last month to tide her over, but did not hold enough surplus funds to do the same to help her again. But in the last 24 hours, she says, “partners literally just stepped forward [and have] all taken a pay cut and provided me with a loan to get me through the month as they were worried about my family”.Capita has faced issues with its primary care support services contract since it was awarded in June 2015, including missing records, administrative errors preventing GPs from working, and missing payments. Critics will see the latest claims as evidence of the dangers of outsourcing NHS services. An NHS England spokesperson said it was “holding Capita’s feet to the fire on needed improvements”. It added: “In the meantime, the lead employer for Health Education England or the GP practice are responsible for paying their GP trainee salaries and are subsequently reimbursed for this. Backlogs are being prioritised by Capita.” But while it now says that it is piling on the pressure, six months ago NHS England appeared to be sanguine about Capita’s performance, with the GPs’ magazine Pulse reporting NHS England saying it was “encouraged” by the progress made by its much-criticised contractor in implementing a recovery plan. Capita says that in cases where there are outstanding payments it has not received all the information it needs to pay salaries from the relevant employers and that it had reimbursed salaries where information had been provided to them. A spokesperson said the problems were an “inevitable” part of “a major transformation project to modernise a localised and unstandardised service”. It added: “We have made significant investment to deliver improvements and these have been recognised by NHS England and demonstrated through improved service performance and improved customer satisfaction. We are continuing to transform locally managed operations into a modern and efficient national customer-focused service for NHS England and all primary care organisations.” The BMA’s letter, to the NHS chief executive, Simon Stevens, says there are a range of problems with Capita. “We are disappointed at the lack of progress that has been made,” it says. “These issues have been ongoing since NHS England commissioned Capita … and it is unacceptable that more progress has not been made to getting these resolved.” The BMA also claims there have been significant issues with processing both locum and trainee GPs’ pension contributions. “The reality is that there are huge levels of funding that should be going to GP practices that are not going through,” said a BMA spokesperson, Dr Krishna Kasaraneni. “All the issues we’ve identified add up to this being a patient safety matter. Patients are at risk.” A doctor in her third year of GP training in one of the affected areas, who asked not to be named, told the Guardian her salary had not been paid from April until August this year. “My surgery gave me a loan initially, and then when it still wasn’t being paid, I had to dig into savings,” she said. “I was pretty frustrated. The people who were in charge of solving it clearly weren’t all that bothered, and it took a lot of very angry emails to get the fifth month paid. If it hadn’t been I was about to apply to a charity for help as I was running out of money.” At the Cameron Fund, Wrigley says he believes Capita’s alleged failings are so serious that the public accounts committee should be investigating the contract. “NHS England have known about this for a while and the BMA has been putting constant pressure on, and it’s all promises that it’ll get better but it doesn’t. I heard [that in] Nigeria trainee doctors weren’t getting paid but you don’t expect it in the world’s fifth richest economy,’ he said. “It’s a complete failure and I’d like the contract taken back to be run by the NHS.” New systems for cervical screening and GP payments and pensions that are also contracted out to Capita are due to go live next July. The BMA has told NHS England that it has “no confidence” in Capita’s ability to deliver these services. “The consequences of failings will be very serious for practices, potentially affecting their viability,” its letter concludes. “All of us who work in general practice and who depend on this service, expect to see much more robust stance taken by NHS England to resolving these many problems.” At the Cameron Fund, Wrigley is anticipating more requests for help. “I expect we’ll see more [applications],” he says. “There’s no sign of Capita sorting its act out.”

Q3 insurtech investment ahead of 2016 levels

A total of 48 deals, accounting for $312m, occurred in the insurtech sector during Q3 2017, according to a report from Willis Towers Watson and CB Insights. Investment in the sector is roughly one-third greater than during Q3 2016. China's Ping An led the way, completing four deals during the quarter, while European stalwarts Allianz and Axa both closed three. 

https://www.dig-in.com/news/insurtech-investment-in-q3-up-35-year-over-year

2017-11-01 19:42:06.490000

Investment in insurtech startups by carriers and venture capitalists continued an uneven ascent in the third quarter of this year, with 48 deals totaling $312 million outpacing the same period last year by about a third. That's according to the quarterly Insuretech Briefing report, released today by Willis Towers Watson and CB Insights. Though Q3 2017 represents a precipitous drop in terms of funding from the nearly $1 billion invested in Q2 -- the second-most lucrative quarter for insurtechs -- the almost 50 deals completed in the quarter are the third-most by that measure. In the third quarter of 2016, 38 total deals yielded $230 million in funding. Study data goes back to 2012, and the relatively new industry has had periods of intense activity followed by comparatively calm ones. Three quarters -- Q2 2015, Q1 2016 and Q2 2017 -- have reported funding volume between $783 million and $1.85 billion. However, funding in the calm periods has been on a steady climb over the past year. Of the total deals, 28 included direct investment by insurance companies and/or their investment arms, with some making multiple deals: 4 deals Ping An 3 deals AXA Allianz 2 deals MassMutual Hannover Re China Life Aviva CMFG Driving the year-over-year increase, as well as buoying the insurtech funding trend, were significant investments in these health insurtechs, according to the report:

Early Palliative Care Is Key Driver in Reducing Costs

Palliative care can significantly lower healthcare costs for patients suffering from advanced cancer, and could have saved approximately $1.8 billion for the 595,000 patients who died of cancer in 2016, according to research presented at the Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium 2017. The study, carried out by lead medical student Wendi G. Lebrett of the University of California, found that there were average savings of around $3,000 per patient when palliative care was provided. Another study from Johns Hopkins Medicine found that establishing a palliative care unit saved the healthcare facility $367,751 in expenditures. Palliative care has also been shown to reduce the amount of aggressive end-of-life care, when compared with no palliative service provision, also helping to reduce costs. The University of California study compared the expense for case patients and control patients before and after palliative care was implemented, and included all costs, such as for hospice care and medical equipment. Palliative care was more frequently deployed in teaching hospitals (67 percent versus 58 percent). The total healthcare costs in the 30 days before palliative care between the two groups were similar, but after it was implemented, total healthcare expenditures significantly diverged, with the cost of care per patient 120 days after implementation dropping 28 percent from $9,604 to $6,880. Palliative care was more effective for reducing costs when offered well in advance of death; within seven days of death, the costs dropped by $975, but with four weeks in advance of death, the costs dropped by $5,362. Steven D. Pearson, the president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, said that the “evidence continues to pile up that it can improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, but there are structural problems with the way that care is paid for and in the ability to identify high-quality providers of palliative care". He encourages specific training for clinicians and oncologists, as well as collaboration for a “seamless” partnership.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/887756

2017-11-01 18:04:35.950000

SAN DIEGO, California ― Palliative care can substantially reduce healthcare costs for advanced cancer patients, and when initiated early, it is a key driver in lowering expenditures, according to a new study. "To put it into context, we took the average savings of approximately $3000 per patient [found in the study] and applied it to the 595,000 cancer deaths in 2016," said lead author Wendi G. Lebrett, a medical student at the University of California, San Diego. "That is approximately $1.8 billion in cost savings, and this helps highlight the impact of palliative care." Lebrett presented the findings of her study at the Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium (PCOS) 2017. A number of recent studies have investigated the impact of palliative care on healthcare utilization and its potential for reducing costs. One study conducted at Johns Hopkins Medicine found that opening a palliative care unit saved the facility $367,751 in direct costs. Another study showed that palliative care substantially reduces aggressive end-of-life care compared with end-of-life care with no palliative component, which in turn would lower related costs. Lebrett explained that her group has also previously found that palliative care decreases healthcare utilization, so "the next logical question is that if it decreases utilization, then what does this mean in dollars and cents?" Quantifying the impact of palliative care has been understudied by investigators, she pointed out. The Earlier the Palliative Care, the Lower the Cost To determine the impact of palliative care ― and of the timing of that care ― on healthcare costs among elderly patients with advanced cancer, Lebrett and colleagues compared cost between case patients and control patients before and after the palliative care intervention. All direct costs were included, such as costs associated with inpatient, outpatient, and home healthcare, as well as hospice care and medical equipment. Using SEER data, they identified 166,124 elderly patients with advanced disease. After applying exclusion criteria, about 3600 patients had received palliative care. "The vast majority ― 72,000 ― had not," she said. They further excluded about 1400 patients because they had their first palliative care consult on the day of their death, and therefore the timing was not sufficient for that care to have had an impact on their healthcare costs. The final analysis included 1288 matched pairs. The demographics were balanced between the two groups, but more of the palliative care patients had been treated in a teaching hospital compared to the control patients (67% vs 58%). "This is consistent from what we know in the literature, that patients who receive palliative care are also more likely to be treated at a teaching hospital," she pointed out. Among the entire cohort of 2576 patients (ie, the matched pairs), the total healthcare costs per patient in the 30 days before palliative care consultation were similar between palliative care patients ($12,881) and control patients ($12,335). However, after the initiation of palliative care, total healthcare expenditures declined. The total cost of care per patient in the 120 days after palliative care began was $6880 vs $9604 for control patients ― a 28% decrease in spending (P < .001). Timing of palliative care was very important with respect to cost. When a palliative care consultation took place within 7 days of death, healthcare costs declined by $975, but when the palliative care consultation occurred more than 4 weeks before death, costs decreased by $5362. "The palliative care patients had consistently lower average daily costs compared to controls," said Lebrett. "Timing of care was a significant factor in determining the magnitude of savings in cost." High Priority and Skill Set Needed Approached for an independent comment, Steven D. Pearson, MD, president, Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, Boston, Massachusetts, explained that making high-quality palliative care available to patients with cancer should be a high priority for all clinicians, provider groups, and insurers. "The evidence continues to pile up that it can improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, but there are structural problems with the way that care is paid for and in the ability to identify high-quality providers of palliative care," he told Medscape Medical News. "There is also a gap in the awareness and ability of clinicians to integrate palliative care into their practices. "Many clinicians think they can do it themselves, but there is a clearly defined skill set that really requires specific training, and so most oncologists will need to figure out how to collaborate with clinicians ― but not necessarily physicians ― who can provide these services in a seamless way," Dr Pearson added. Wendi Lebrett has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr Pearson is president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium (PCOS) 2017. Abstract 91, presented October 27, 2017. For more news, join us on Facebook and Twitter

Interdisciplinary approach needed for geriatric patients

A new interdisciplinary model of care is needed for seniors’ dental treatment in how they receive and pay for care. As part of a speech given at the 2017 ADA annual meeting, Leonard Brennan, DMD, a specialist in treating aging parents, set out a series of recommendations for treating and communicating with senior patients. In particular, he argued that there needs to be better communication between professions and older patients around senior dentistry, particularly that oral disease is not a necessary aspect of growing older. For instance, when talking with physicians, he understood that they did not consider the effect on oral healthcare of drugs they had prescribed. Taste and appetite are often connected, and taste loss from drugs may hurt a patient's physical health. Unlike other patients, seniors are more prepared to listen and effective communication ensures the continued health of older people. Further to this, he observed that in long-term care facilities, staff support was hindered by a high turnover or caregivers. These issues will only be overcome if dental practitioners encourage better communication with their patients and in their practice.

http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=pmt&pag=dis&ItemID=322265

2017-11-01 18:02:18.373000

You understand intuitively that the patients in your practice, and the population in general, are aging. The problem many dentists face is not knowing what practical steps can be taken to help these patients. Leonard Brennan, DMD, a pioneer in treating aging patients, urges a focus on interdisciplinary approaches and patient communication to aid these patients and your practice. Many healthcare practitioners of all specialties -- and even patients -- believe that oral disease is just an unfortunate part of getting older. But this is nothing more than a myth to be debunked, according to Dr. Brennan. "Seniors need a model of care where they afford and receive care," he said in a presentation at the recent 2017 ADA annual meeting in Atlanta. Dr. Brennan practices in Portland, ME. He is a member of the ADA's National Eldercare Advisory Committee and also co-director of the geriatric dentistry fellowship at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. Interdisciplinary teams Dr. Brennan brought up the common condition of older adult patients having xerostomia, or persistent dry mouth. More than 400 pharmaceuticals can cause dry mouth in these patients, which means interdisciplinary communication is crucial to find solutions, he said. "There needs to be communication across the dental-medical silos to find solutions that allow these patients to not have dry mouths and to be able to eat and taste their food," he told the audience. Dr. Brennan recounted many times when he's talked with physicians who had no idea what effects the drugs they prescribed had on their patient's oral healthcare. "Don't misunderstand me, those drugs have a role to play," he said. "But all of us in healthcare need to be thinking about polypharmacy issues." Dr. Brennan said that what his older adults patients are most interested in is being able to eat, taste food, and smile. Eating and tasting food are separate issues, he noted. "The senses of smell and taste are correlated," he said. "After age 60, we all have a reduced ability to taste sugar and salt." Whether the patient lives in the community or a long-term care facility, communication between healthcare professionals is crucial to help patients eat and taste their food. Often, this reduced ability to taste sugar and salt means these adults add more of these substances into the food they eat, he said. Dr. Brennan gave the example of observing a patient he knew who previously had added one spoonful of sugar to her coffee now was adding four or five spoonfuls. "This behavior directly affects what we do as dentists when we are treating these patients," he told the audience. Communication tips One of the advantages of treating older patients is their compliance, according to Dr. Brennan. As long as your communication is good and they can hear, these patients are happy to please you, he noted. — Leonard Brennan, DMD “How we communicate is what changes their life.” "Seniors are conscientious. If you give them instructions on what to do, they will do it," he said. "How we communicate is what changes their life." Dr. Brennan cautioned, however, that your practice can't expect to treat older patients on the same schedule as younger patients. Dental teams need to take the time to properly communicate with these patients. "Our problem often is that we are working on a schedule and don't take time to properly instruct these patients," he said. Dr. Brennan offered several recommendations for communicating with these patients: Avoid terms of endearment. Structure and organize your message. Do not present too much information at one time. Listen. Keep your face well lit and face the patient as you speak. Speak slowly. Ask open-ended questions. Oral care for seniors Another myth Dr. Brennan was quick to bust concerned the issue of oral care in long-term living environments. He said he was talking with a staff member at a long-term facility when he relayed that it seemed as if the staff did not put much time into cleaning their patients' teeth. "And I was told quickly that it was a myth that caregivers don't want to clean their patients' teeth," Dr. Brennan said. The issue at these facilities, he said, is not willingness to care for the patients but rather staff turnover. "Turnover at these facilities can be high," Dr. Brennan said. "We can train staff, but it's difficult to train everyone if people leave all the time."

Fried chicken order debuts test of drone deliveries in Japan

Japanese convenience store operator Lawson has partnered with e-commerce company Rakuten to test deliveries by drone. The trial took place in the city of Minamisoma, and involved a delivery of fried chicken and croquettes from a Lawson store to a 70-year-old man at his home. The area was evacuated after the Fukushima nuclear accident, and the city is developing its potential as a robotics testing ground as part of recovery efforts. Rakuten will test the drone deliveries for the next six months before deciding whether to expand the service.

https://qz.com/1116992/rakuten-and-lawson-teamed-up-to-deliver-fried-chicken-by-drone-to-minamisoma-in-fukushima/?mc_cid=89509b49a9&mc_eid=222ba8be72

2017-11-01 16:17:24.200000

Almost seven years after the nuclear meltdown in Japan’s northeastern Fukushima prefecture that was triggered by an earthquake and tsunami, life is very slowly returning to normal. But in some areas, the conveniences of Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores remain out of reach. Advertisement Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and convenience-store operator Lawson have zeroed in on one city in Fukushima, Minamisoma, to test drone deliveries. Yesterday (Oct. 31) the first delivery by drone was made to residents in Minamisoma, whose population is mostly elderly people who still have difficulty getting access to daily necessities. The delivery was an order of fried chicken and croquettes (link in Japanese)—staples of Japanese convenience stores—to a 70-year-old man, who was apparently very pleased with the order. It’s also the first drone delivery conducted by a convenience store in Japan. Minamisoma is located just 25 kilometers (about 16 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and most of its 71,000 residents were forced to evacuate after the disaster. Last year, the evacuation order was lifted and residents started to return, with the population now at some 57,000. Schools also reopened this spring, according to Rakuten. As part of its recovery efforts, the city is working with the government to turn Minamisoma, a mountainous region, into a sort of ”testing ground for robotics technologies.” Advertisement Rakuten started experimenting with drone deliveries last year, and this year delivered hot soup to surfers on the Fukushima coast over a distance of 12 km. The food items were delivered from a Lawson store in Minamisoma, which reopened in October 2016. Lawson also operates mobile stores, but not all items are available at these mobile sales vehicles. Residents can place their orders at these mobile outlets, after which an employee will call a Lawson store and have the order delivered by drone. Mobile stores are currently available twice a week (link in Japanese) in Minamisoma. Rakuten said it would test its drone delivery program in Fukushima for six months before deciding whether to make it a more long-term offering. The company said it is also experimenting with using drones to deliver medicine to residents of Minamisoma.

HomeOwners Alliance urges £1,000 fine for home-purchase failures

A pressure group has proposed a £1,000 ($1,328) penalty for any party that pulls out of a home-buying deal, saying it would help reduce transaction collapses that cost consumers $500m a year. The HomeOwners Alliance, which aims to represent the interests of domestic property owners and aspiring buyers, issued the proposal in response to a government review of the homebuying process. It said a £1,000 bond should be paid by both parties and held by their solicitors until completion or forfeited in the event of a pulled deal.

http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/should-chain-breakers-be-fined-1000-consumer-group-proposes-penalties-for-those-pulling-out-of-a-property-sale/

2017-11-01 15:57:54.273000

Post navigation Anyone responsible for a property purchase falling through should have to pay £1,000 to the other side if they pull out. The call has come from the HomeOwners Alliance, which says that fall-throughs are costing buyers and sellers over £500m a year. It is proposing a £1,000 reservation agreement – a legally binding bond paid by both the buyer and seller and held by their own solicitor – in answer to the Government’s latest call for evidence into the home buying and selling process. The organisation is also calling for estate agents to publish fuller particulars of sale for a property at the time it is listed. The organisation claims that providing the TA6 particulars of sale form earlier, as well as introducing a reservation agreement, would iron out any problems earlier and speed up the process. The HOA said: “Sellers will have to fill out TA6, the standard property information form which includes all material information such as length of lease and ground rent if leasehold, before the reservation agreement. “This is simply good practice, and there is no reason they cannot do this before putting their house on the market and the estate agent can provide it to the buyer, and the estate agent can then provide those details to the seller before they make an offer.” If a prospective buyer then decides to make an offer, a refundable reservation agreement would need to be paid by both sides to their respective solicitor. Here is how the HOA proposes a reservation agreement would work: – Before the reservation agreement, the buyer will need proof of funds such as a mortgage in principle. In the reservation agreement, the buyer’s solicitor will confirm to the seller’s solicitor that the buyer has sufficient funds. – Both sides agree to pay the other side £1,000 if they pull out of the transaction for any reason. – Both pay their conveyancer/solicitor a repayable £1,000 bond to cover the payment if they do pull out. – If any previously undeclared material issues emerge during the surveys and searches that potentially affect the value of the property by more than 1%, then either side has the right to renegotiate. If they can’t agree a change of price, then the side that is detrimentally impacted will have the right to pull out without losing their £1,000 bond. – If either side breaches their commitment to being a “genuine” seller or buyer – such as by putting the property back on the market, accepting a higher offer from another buyer, or the buyer putting in a lower offer after the sale price agreed, then they will be deemed to have pulled out of the transaction, and are liable to pay the other side the £1,000. If either side pulls out over matters that are financially less than 1% of the value of the property (eg over whether a cooker is included) they will be liable to pay the other side £1,000. – If either side is worried about being able to afford the £1,000, they can take out home buyers/sellers insurance. – There would need to be a backstop date for completion of the purchase, say three months after the reservation letter. If both sides want to continue with the transaction, they can agree to extend the deadline, but if one side has failed to meet their requirements, then they will be deemed to have pulled out, and have to pay the other side £1,000. – Interpretation of a fall-through and any disputes should be covered by standard industry guidance, or failing agreement between the conveyancers, by the Property Ombudsman or the small claims court. – Only those that cause the collapse of the chain will have to pay and will pay £2,000 if they are both buying and selling and pull out of both transactions at the same time. The consumer group estimates consumers waste £500m a year on failed attempts to buy and sell properties. It come to this figure using the Government’s call for evidence on the home buying process that claimed – without a source – that failed transactions cost on average between £695 and £744 for buyers, and £582 and £740 for sellers. There were 1.24m property transactions last year according to the ONS, which the analysis then multiplies by 28%, which is the estimate of fall throughs by property buyer Quick Move Now. This comes to 344,000. It then adds the £744 and £740 figure to give a cost of £1,484 for both sides of a sale. This figure is then multiplied by the £344,000 to give an estimated sum of £511m wasted per year. Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HOA, said: “This is the true cost of the UK’s not-fit-for-purpose home selling and buying system – home owners losing more than £500m down the drain every year. “It is no surprise that some parts of the property industry have too often resisted previous government attempts at reform – this is extra business for them.”

UK government publishes Draft Tenants’ Fees Bill

The British government has published its Draft Tenants' Fees Bill, setting out their plans to ban letting agents charging fees to tenants. The proposed legislation would create a civil offence with fines of up to £5,000 for an initial breach of the ban, with criminal sanctions and fines of up to £30,000 for repeat offenders. It also contains provisions to cap the amount that can be taken from tenants as a deposit and sets out new rules on returning it to them.

http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/eyenewsflash-government-publishing-bill-today-to-ban-lettings-fees/

2017-11-01 15:54:45.767000

Post navigation Lettings agents in England will face civil and criminal charges for flouting a ban on fees, the Government has revealed as it publishes its Draft Tenants’ Fees Bill today. It will create a civil offence with a fine of £5,000 for an initial breach of the ban, and create a criminal offence where an agent has been fined or convicted of the same offence within the past five years. Penalties of up to £30,000 can be issued. A ban on lettings fees to tenants was first announced a year ago and there was a consultation in June answered by 4,700 respondents. The Government has also launched a consultation on making membership of client money protection schemes mandatory for letting and managing agents that handle client money. The Bill will: Cap holding deposits at no more than one week’s rent and security deposits at no more than six weeks’ rent. The draft Bill also sets out the proposed requirements on landlords and agents to return a holding deposit to a tenant. Create a civil offence with a fine of £5,000 for an initial breach of the ban on letting agent fees and create a criminal offence where a person has been fined or convicted of the same offence within five years. Civil penalties of up to £30,000 can be issued as an alternative to prosecution. Require Trading Standards to enforce the ban and to make provision for tenants to be able to recover unlawfully charged fees. Appoint a lead enforcement authority in the lettings sector. Amend the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to specify that the letting agent transparency requirements should apply to property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla. The full draft bill can be viewed here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-tenants-fees-bill

Toyota investigates airless tyres to reduce weight in EVs

Automaker Toyota is testing airless tyres to lower the weight of battery-electric and fuel cell cars, though the technology is unlikely to be ready for commercial use for several years. The airless tyres use individual motors for each wheel, which comprise a plastic-aluminium hub with a rubber casing to offset the motors’ weight. Though they still weigh the same as currently-used tyres, it is hoped that 30% of the wheel's weight, or approximately 5 kg, can be removed through technological advancements by 2025.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20171030/COPY01/310309947/toyota-explores-airless-tires-to-build-lighter-evs

2017-11-01 15:43:04.933000

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor is exploring airless tires to help reduce the weight of battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles and boost performance, even though the technology is years away from being ready for commercial use. The automaker is using airless tires -- featuring individual motors in each wheel -- on a vehicle for the first time with its hydrogen-powered concept car, Fine-Comfort Ride, unveiled at the Tokyo auto show last week, chief engineer Takao Sato said in an interview. Since such tires comprise a band of rubber encircling a plastic-aluminum hub, the premise is that they could one day compensate for the weight of the motors, he said. Currently the concept tires weigh about the same as their pneumatic cousins, but Sato is counting on developments in the technology that can help shave 11 pounds -- or about 30 percent -- from each tire's weight by as early as 2025. Sumitomo Rubber Industries, which supplied the tires and has been testing them on local "kei" minicars and golf carts, said other Japanese carmakers are also interested, particularly for smaller EVs. "For automakers, the attraction of airless tires is for electrified vehicles," Sato said. While Toyota's Fine-Comfort Ride is the size of a crossover, "these wheels could be used on any electrified vehicle," he said. Wako Iwamura, head of the five-year airless-tire project at Sumitomo Rubber, said his personal target is to have a commercial product ready by 2020. The Japanese tiremaker is actually a late entrant to the world of airless tires, following others including Bridgestone and Michelin & Cie. Michelin's Tweel -- a combination of tire and wheel -- is currently available for lawnmowers, golf carts, construction machinery, and recreational all-terrain vehicles. The technology is still unproven on passenger cars, and manufacturers will need to convince both automakers and the public that they are safe. A lighter tire is only one of Iwamura's goals. The other challenge to overcome is rolling resistance, or the friction that works against the tire when it's in motion. He estimates it's 10 percent to 20 percent worse than current pneumatic tires, a level unacceptable for vehicles that need to squeeze every kilometer of driving range from their lithium ion batteries. Cost, however, won't be a hurdle. Iwamura says his tires are already comparable in price to those filled with air.

Germany paid customers to use up excess electricity

German utility companies were forced to pay customers last weekend as a result of excess energy production. On 28 October, wind output reached 39,409 MW, the same energy output as 40 nuclear reactors. German electricity prices turned negative as excess wind energy forced energy producers to close their power facilities, or pay consumers to use electricity and remove it from the network. According to Bloomberg analysis, it was the first 24-hour period this year in which average electricity prices were negative.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/germany-wind-power-free-energy-consumers-weekend-surplus-a8031141.html

2017-11-01 15:27:21.977000

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Germany generated enough wind power at the weekend for consumers to get free energy. So much was generated by wind turbines in weekend storms that costs fell to below zero. Bloomberg reported that power prices turned negative as wind output reached 39,409 megawatts on Saturday. To balance supply and demand in this situation, energy producers close power stations or pay consumers to take extra electricity from the network. Ahead of the weekend, Bloomberg said it would be the first whole day this year that the average price for electricity was negative, rather than just being negative for a few hours. Wind Europe, which promotes wind power in Europe and globally, said in a press release that European wind energy broke a new record on 28 October. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled – leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: “Europe’s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue’s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped £4m off of Flybe’s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline’s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. The organisation, which tracks daily wind power in Europe, said that over 24 per cent of the EU’s electricity demand was powered by wind on Saturday, the highest per cent ever recorded. This beat a previous record set on 7 October of over 19 per cent. Offshore wind accounted for 2.8 per cent of the EU’s electricity demand while onshore wind accounted for 21.8 per cent. Wind represented 61 per cent of electricity demand in Germany. Wind Europe attributes the record figures to both the continued expansion of wind energy in Europe and to the weekend’s weather – particularly strong northern winds and a wave of polar air travelling across central, eastern and south-eastern Europe.

Demand for online fintech courses driven by finance professionals

Seasoned professionals and executives from some of the world's biggest banks are among the students driving demand for online fintech courses. LinkedIn and Princeton have started their own programmes and more than half those who signed up for Oxford University's online fintech teaching product are company leaders. In 2016, a report by Citigroup estimated between two and six million jobs would disappear from the banking sector over the next decade due to automation and artificial intelligence.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/30/financial-pros-flock-to-online-fintech-courses.html

2017-11-01 15:08:19.567000

Financial professionals are taking online financial technology (fintech) courses to fend off competition and stay ahead of disruption. The boost in uptake is due in part to a feeling among those in the industry that financial technology has reached a turning point in its evolution. A report from Citigroup in 2016 caused widespread debate when it estimated that between 2 million and 6 million jobs would be lost in banking across the U.S. and Europe over the next 10 years. That was attributed to both automation and artificial intelligence (AI), innovation and the rise of more efficient and less cost-intensive challenger banks. Santander's fintech-focused venture capital fund, Santander InnoVentures, estimates cost savings for banks that implement blockchain technology as high as $20 billion per year by 2022. Highly-regarded educational institutions are also being forced to innovate and provide the resources to the financial industry to up-skill and stay ahead of an ever-steepening curve. The likes of Oxford University and Princeton now offer online courses aimed at busy and high-level banking executives. According to a report from e-learning software provider Docebo, online education in general is set to grow by 5 percent over the next decade and generate over $240 billion by 2023.

Cryptology, cryptocurrency university courses surge in popularity

Growing numbers of students are flocking to cryptography and cryptocurrency courses following the boom in bitcoin and blockchain. Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon have all launched classes linked to the sectors. Dan Boneh, co-director of the Stanford Computer Security Lab said: "Cryptocurrencies are a wonderful way to teach cryptography. There are a whole bunch of new applications for cryptography that didn't exist before". More than a million people have signed up for Boneh's cryptography class via online learning site Coursera.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/next-generation-of-tech-geniuses-signing-up-to-study-cryptocurrencies

2017-11-01 15:06:40.033000

In a nod towards the direction cryptocurrencies are heading, the youth of the globe are surging towards university courses that offer teaching in cryptography, as well as cryptocurrency. The value of Bitcoin is soaring, and students are identifying a new market that is emerging that they are trying to ready themselves for with university accredited courses. Hugely popular Dan Boneh, co-director of the Stanford Computer Security Lab and a professor of cryptography has noted that security and cryptography represent the second-most popular subject in the university's computer science department, behind only machine learning. He added: "A lot of people are attracted to the huge valuations in these currencies. Cryptocurrencies are a wonderful way to teach cryptography. There are a whole bunch of new applications for cryptography that didn't exist before." The rise in popularity has been comparable to the growth of the digital currency which is making all the noise, Bitcoin. It has hit the mainstream in a big way, and now there is a second wave of those who are looking to be more than just investors in the potentially revolutionary technology. In 2015, Boneh began teaching a class on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and was quickly attracting over 100 students. Boneh said that more than one mln people have signed up for an online cryptography class he teaches through the website Coursera. Spreading across the campuses In Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon's Vipul Goyal is using Boneh's interactive online textbook for a class called Special Topics in Cryptography that the school is offering for the first time this year. About 20 students, mostly PhD candidates, are taking the class which focuses on Blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The trend is not just limited to these two universities: the University of California at Berkeley launched a class last year called the Cryptocurrency Decal, and in 2015 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab established the Digital Currency Initiative. Bitcoin, its underlying technology Blockchain, and the theory behind it, Cryptography, is big business as there has already been evidence of growth in the job market for the associated disciplines. It is understandable thus that University students would want to align themselves with a burgeoning technology that is desperate for growth and can only benefit from additional human capital.

Ride-hailing company Grab allows payments through mobile wallet

Ride-hailing firm Grab has unveiled a service enabling customers to make payments via its GrabPay mobile wallet. Available at 25 restaurants and food stalls in Singapore, the system aims to wean people off cash, still the preferred method of payment in Southeast Asia. To persuade businesses to adopt the system, Grab said it will initially offer a zero merchant discount rate - a usually high payment processors' fee - before increasing it to a "reasonable" level. Grab has 63 million downloads in Southeast Asia, with four million in Singapore, but has no plans to expand beyond the region.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/01/grab-says-users-can-now-pay-for-goods-using-grabpay.html

2017-11-01 15:00:57.147000

Southeast Asian ride-hailing company Grab on Wednesday said users can now pay for goods and services in shops and restaurants using GrabPay, the company's mobile wallet. The option is currently available in Singapore, but the company's co-founder, Tan Hooi Ling, told CNBC it will be rolled out simultaneously across Southeast Asia by 2018 if the company gets regulatory approvals. At the moment, Grab has 25 restaurants and food stalls in Singapore that signed up to accept cashless payments using GrabPay — and the long-term focus for the company is to target the 20,000 odd merchants in Singapore, as well as businesses across Southeast Asia, who still prefer to use cash. There's no dearth of digital-payment options in Asia due to a pickup in smartphone ownership and the widespread penetration of the internet. But in August, a PayPal study found that cash is still king in many major markets, including those in Southeast Asia. For example, more than 70 percent of the respondents to the PayPal study in the Philippines and Indonesia said they used cash most often. Cash can be hard to keep track of, can be easily misplaced and is inefficient, according to Tan. Still, merchants have not yet moved to cashless payment options "because it's difficult and it's expensive," she said. She pointed to the various points of sales that are accepted in large supermarkets as an example: Setting up those payment options take time and it's also expensive because there is a need to put in the right hardware and to train people. "What we're providing is the complete opposite of that: something that is super easy to install, easy to use and something that's going to be affordable for the merchants, as well as the customers," Tan said. Moreover, Tan said, many businesses face high merchant discount rates (MDRs) — the transaction fee that is deducted by the payments processor from the total amount received — for accepting cashless payments. That, she added, is likely due to costly hardware and sales processes that make the technology inefficient and "more expensive than it needs to be." MDRs are a common way for many digital payments platforms to make money.

Charity urges end to developers' social-housing dodge loophole

UK homeless charity Shelter is calling on the government to close a legal loophole that allows housebuilders to renege on pledges to build affordable homes. So-called viability assessments of a project's impact on profit margins have enabled developers to avoid building 79% of previously promised social homes, contributing to a chronic shortfall, according to figures obtained via freedom of information requests. Shelter said Birmingham, Manchester and parts of London were the worst affected, and that larger developers were the biggest culprits. The Department for Communities and Local Government said proposed changes to viability assessments were being considered.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/affordable-homes-majority-lost-legal-loophole-developers-shelter-a8029601.html

2017-11-01 14:48:46.267000

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Property developers are dodging their commitment to building thousands of affordable homes each year due to a legal loophole, new research has revealed. Figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests show developers have sidestepped local planning policy to avoid building 79 per cent of social homes they had initially committed to, due to a legal loophole called a “viability assessment”. A sample of 11 local authorities across nine cities in England shows developers were able to first win planning permission by promising to build a required number of affordable homes, but later go back to the council to say they can no longer honour the pledge because it would reduce their profit margin. This means many developers face no penalty for overpaying for land because they can recover the costs by reducing their commitments to building homes that are affordable for people on middle and low incomes. The research, carried out by the housing charity Shelter, reveals that viability is used most frequently on larger developments, which are generally managed by the country’s biggest developers. It shows that the worst affected areas were Manchester, Birmingham and parts of London, where viability was used to reduce the affordable housing to less than 1 per cent of homes being built. Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey said the loophole was largely due to changes made by the Conservative Government, which he said has seen the number of affordable homes councils have been able to demand of developers through the planning system halve since 2010. “This is one big reason why new affordable housebuilding has fallen to a 24-year low, and the number of new social rented homes has fallen to the lowest level on record,” the Labour MP said. “After seven years of failure on housing, hard-pressed households desperately need more low-cost homes to rent and buy.” It comes after it emerged housing developers in Kensington and Chelsea used the same legal loophole to dodge their commitment to build more than 700 social homes in the borough – which would have been enough enough to house all the survivors of the Grenfell fire plus many more. Just over three months after the Grenfell Tower tragedy, as around 200 households still wait to be resettled, the figures showed developers had avoided building 706 social homes in the borough over the past seven years. Shelter is now calling on the Government to change national planning laws so developers can no longer use this loophole to get out of delivering affordable homes. Polly Neate, chief executive of the charity, said: “What this research reveals is the scale at which developers are able to use legal loopholes to protect their profits and dramatically reduce the numbers of affordable homes available for people. “The Government needs to fix our broken housing system – and it must start by closing this loophole to get the country building homes that are genuinely affordable for people on middle and low incomes to rent or buy.” The Geoff White, interim head of UK external affairs at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said in a statement about what it is doing to address affordable housing issues: ““The delivery of adequate and affordable housing is an important public policy objective [...] "We recognise that the measures adopted by the Government, regional and local authorities have not succeeded in addressing the shortfall in housing of all kinds, particularly in areas of high demand." UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 June 2023 A cyclist trains in the early morning, as hot weather continues, in Richmond Park, London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 June 2023 A performer walks on a tightrope at Covent Garden during a sunny day in London AP UK news in pictures 8 June 2023 A women rides her horse through the river during the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 7 June 2023 The Princess of Wales during a game of walking rugby during her visit to meet local and national male rugby players at Maidenhead Rugby Club PA UK news in pictures 6 June 2023 An aerial view shows the dry bed of Woodhead Reservoir, revealed by a falling water level after a prolonged period of dry weather, near Glossop, northern England AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 5 June 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak onboard Border Agency cutter HMC Seeker during a visit to Dover PA UK news in pictures 4 June 2023 A hot air balloon rises into the sky above Ragley Hall, Alcester, south of Birmingham in central England AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 June 2023 Skaters use the mini ramp at the Wavelength Spring Classic festival in Woolacombe Bay in Devon PA UK news in pictures 1 June 2023 The And Beyond installation, during a photo call for the London Design Biennale at Somerset House in London PA UK news in pictures 31 May 2023 Emergency services attending to a blaze at a derelict listed building in Samuel Street, Belfast PA UK news in pictures 30 May 2023 A robot named Stella interacts with visitors during the International Conference on Robotics and Automation ICRA in London AP UK news in pictures 29 May 2023 Dave Hackett and his daughter Daisy, five, explore the laburnum arch in the grounds of Preston Tower, East Lothian, in the warm Spring Bank Holiday weather PA UK news in pictures 28 May 2023 Great Britain’s Nick Bandurak scores their side’s third goal of the game during the FIH Hockey Pro League men’s match at Lee Valley, London PA UK news in pictures 27 May 2023 People enjoy the sunny weather at a park in London AP UK news in pictures 26 May 2023 People drink coffee inside Daleks during MCM Comic Con at the ExCel London in east London PA UK news in pictures 25 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a visit to Enniskillen Castle, Co Fermanagh as part of a two day visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2023 Horses enjoy the sunny weather on Middleham Gallops in North Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2023 An aerial view of a yellow rapeseed field in Hemel Hempstead, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 22 May 2023 Manoj Malde and Clive Gillmor kiss after getting married, the first wedding ever at the Chelsea Flower Show AP UK news in pictures 21 May 2023 People enjoy the warm weather as they take punt tours along the River Cam in Cambridge PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2023 Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex PA UK news in pictures 19 May 2023 Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire PA UK news in pictures 18 May 2023 Choristers from the Choir of St John’s College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol - a custom dating back to 1902. PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2023 Oxfam activists wearing 'big heads' of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2023 Part of a child’s jacket during a photo call for the China’s hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2023 Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses’ (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at £60,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 14 May 2023 Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London EPA UK news in pictures 13 May 2023 Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 12 May 2023 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer PA UK news in pictures 11 May 2023 Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Mary’s Church, Melton Mowbray PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2023 A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2023 Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2023 Britain’s Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England, AP UK news in pictures 6 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty UK news in pictures 5 May 2023 Britain's King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 May 2023 A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2023 Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 1 May 2023 Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking "Trump Force One" at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 April 2023 Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green. PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2023 England’s flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international women’s rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 28 April 2023 Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966 PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2023 Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2023 Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library PA UK news in pictures 25 April 2023 Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day PA UK news in pictures 24 April 2023 Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 23 April 2023 People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon Getty UK news in pictures 22 April 2023 A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2023 A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion's 'The Big One' event, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 20 April 2023 The funeral cortege of Paul O’Grady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwold’s Church PA UK news in pictures 19 April 2023 Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the ‘Online safety bill’ PA A spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said: “Affordable housing is a top priority for the Government. That’s we have confirmed that funding for affordable homes will be increased by a further £2bn to more than £9bn and since 2010, we have delivered almost 333,000 affordable homes. “Where a local authority recognises the need for affordable housing they should set policies for meeting this as part of their local plan. “We are currently consulting on a proposed changes to the approach to viability assessments. Our measures would speed up decision-making and increase transparency, so that local communities know what is expected from developers on new sites.”

The Advertising Association supports DCMS on gambling review

The Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) has gained the backing of The Advertising Association (AA) for its reconsideration on current regulations for gambling advertising. The DCMS is evaluating whether present rules are enough to protect children and vulnerable adults. The AA's specifically-created focus group, though believing the regulations are sufficient, has suggested a two-year media campaign encouraging responsible gambling, with a proposed annual budget of £5m to £7m. The advertising would cover television, cinema, radio and digital content and would raise awareness of the risks of gambling, suggesting outlets for help and support.

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/10/31/advertising-association-responds-uk-government-gambling-review-with-support-pledge

2017-11-01 14:46:39.090000

The Advertising Association has voiced its support for the Department of Culture Media and Sport after it announced it was pressing ahead with a long-awaited gambling review to establish whether current rules do enough to protect children and vulnerable people from the potential for harm in gambling advertising. Advertising Association responds to Gambling Review with support pledge This follows the establishment of a focus group by the association, composed of sports broadcasters and gambling industry representatives, to thrash out their formal response, arguing that the imposition of further restrictions would be "ineffective" at dealing with the issue.

New funding to help Kano offer coding kits to North American kids

Education technology start-up Kano has raised $28m in its latest investment round, enabling the London-based firm to make its coding teaching kits available in thousands of outlets across North America. The kits help children learn computer coding for use with applications like Pong, Snake and Minecraft. Funding was led by Thames Trust and Breyer Capital. CEO Alex Klein said Kano is helping young people to "make their own technology".

https://www.uktech.news/news/investment-news/kano-lands-28m-series-b-from-backers-including-breyer-capital-20171101

2017-11-01 14:41:38.527000

EdTech hardware startup Kano has raised $28m (£21m) in a Series B round led by Thames Trust and Breyer Capital. Index Ventures, the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund, LocalGlobe, Marc Benioff, John Makinson, Collaborative Fund, Triple Point Capital and Barclays also participated in the round, which includes both debt and equity funding. The London-based company was co-founded by Saul Klein, his cousin Alex Klein and Yonatan Raz-Fridman. Kano has created computer coding kits to help children learn to code projects such as Pong, Snake and Minecraft. Alex Klein, the CEO, commented on the news: “We believe the time has come for a new kind of computing, premised on people’s need to understand and shape the world around them – not just swipe, tap, and wait for the latest similar-looking screen. “The next generation is rising and ready to make their own technology,” he added. Alongside the funding, Kano said its coding kits will be available in over 4,500 shelves across North America. “Kano has grown into a category leader, with hardware and software that prepares all ages for the future,” commented Jim Breyer, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital. “The financing, expansion into mass retail, and new products will expose the unique Kano experience to millions more.” Kano previously landed $15m in Series A funding and raised $1M on Kickstarter in 2013. The startup’s Seed round drew participation from Index Ventures, James Higa, Troy Carter and Shana Fisher. Check out our UK tech investment tracker for all the latest industry deals.

US 'pivot to video' isn't receiving the same response in the UK

The trend of US publishers "pivoting to video" by replacing text journalists with video specialists has not be replicated to the same degree in the UK. The difference can be explained by the smaller number of British digital-first publishers, and less funding from venture capitalists, according to industry figures. The rise of video content has been driven largely by Facebook, meaning those companies reliant on the platform for traffic have had to increase their video output. Currently, advertising spend on video in the UK stands at 13%, while in the US it is 16%.

https://digiday.com/media/uk-survival-uk-publishers-arent-going-video/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171101

2017-11-01 14:12:28.207000

While publishers in the U.S. have “pivoted to video” in droves, those in the U.K. haven’t done so to the same degree, due to a smaller market, fewer VC-backed publishers and comparatively less reliance on Facebook. The much-mocked term “pivot to video” has become a catch-all phrase for replacing text-based journalists with video specialists. Since 2016, publishers like MTV News, Fox Sports, Mic, Vocativ and Mashable have all laid off writers to focus on creating more video. The argument is people want to watch video, and with programmatic display advertising stagnating, there’s more potential to make money through video’s higher CPMs. In the U.K., it’s a slightly different story: Video’s importance is increasing, but not at the expense of other formats. Much of that is due to the fact that the U.K. has fewer venture-backed media companies scrambling to live up to inflated expectations, comparatively less Facebook dependence, and a less perky video ad market. The U.S. publishing market is filled with digital-first publishers, like Vox Media, BuzzFeed and Refinery29, backed by venture capital and legacy media companies. CB Insights forecast that funding from legacy media companies for digital-first publishers in 2016 would reach a new high of $4.5 billion across roughly 130 deals. The audience growth has been a success story hard to ignore, and the pressure is on VC-backed companies to keep the lines going up. “The structure and the mentality for VC-backed companies is different. VCs can hedge their bets and invest in many companies on the next big thing, knowing that only a small fraction will succeed,” said Jamie Bolding, founder of Jungle Creations. “VCs talk about making money in five years’ time. In the U.K., it’s about survival: With less funding, there’s more requirement to earn revenue now.” The publishing landscape in the U.K. mostly consists of legacy publishers that have transitioned to digital such as News UK and Trinity Mirror, or Facebook-first, so-called viral publishers like Ladbible, Jungle Creations’ VT and Unilad. With Facebook’s shift toward video, publishers more reliant on the platform for traffic have followed suit. While Facebook is a source of traffic for U.K. publishers, most are unlikely to reach the same level of scale and dependence on the platform as those in the U.S. To make money off platforms, publishers need scale. For Facebook’s mid-roll ads, this means hundreds of millions of views, and even then it’s tough. Facebook partners with big publishers closer to its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, to test its new formats, like Facebook mid-roll ads in videos over 90 seconds long. U.K.-based publishers might be impatient to join Facebook’s programs, but they can learn from afar. “I have allocated a lower priority to this revenue stream on the U.K. road map based on industry forecasts and feedback,” said Mick Greenwood, head of video at Time Inc. UK, which is waiting for confirmation from Facebook that it can join the mid-roll program, but details are scant. “[Mid-roll ads are] only on a decent CPM on Facebook’s 20-second views, and we don’t have any way of judging what the CPM would be where sold,” he said. “If eCPM was calculated against Facebook’s three-second views, I think our rate would be low.” Facebook’s popularization of the three-second view and subsequent metric flubs shows how imperfect its measurement is. Add to that the increasing difficulty in growing organic reach, and Facebook has publishers in an even tighter grip by limiting audience growth. Ultimately, publishers will follow the ad dollars. In the U.K., video ad spend, which includes programmatically traded video, branded content and video-on-demand formats, will account for 13 percent of total digital ad spend in 2017, according to eMarketer forecasts. For comparison, eMarketer forecasts this figure in the U.S. to be 16 percent. If the growth of video is hampered in the U.K., it’s because of constraints in premium programmatic video inventory outside of social platforms, said Bill Fisher, senior analyst at eMarketer. “As more outstream formats are released programmatically in the U.K., this will balance out,” he said. With revenue from platforms scant, publishers are turning to branded content, which requires investment in production, studios, account management, client services, distribution and proving return on investment for clients. For some publishers, that’s a whole new business.

Healthtech Grail seeks extra investment despite $900m funding

Alphabet and Amazon-backed healthtech Grail is seeking additional funding, despite closing a $900m round in March and securing $100m last year. According to insiders, Grail has approached Softbank and Abu Dhabi's $125bn sovereign fund, Mubadala, with mixed results, sources said. Grail is running a massive global breast cancer trial and has also spent heavily recently, including the $100m acquisition of Chinese firm Cirina and a $278m purchase of shares to reduce the stake of parent company Illumina. Grail, whose CEO, Jeff Huber, left the firm in August, said it was "always in touch with the capital markets".

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/grail-seeking-more-funding-in-wake-of-900m-raise.html

2017-11-01 13:55:07.797000

Grail, the cancer detection start-up backed by tech giants Alphabet and Amazon , is already seeking new funding, mere months after it closed a $900 million round in March. The company had previously raised $100 million in 2016. Grail is primarily pitching sovereign funds, with mixed success, according to two sources familiar. It has approached Softbank and Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's $125 billion sovereign fund, according to one of the people. The start-up is primarily planning to use the funds for its massive breast cancer trial that it announced in April of this year. That study involves analyzing the blood of 120,000 women in many different locations. But the company has also had some other expenses that may be pushing it back to the fund-raising market. Grail announced in March that some of the proceeds from its financing would be used to buy a large portion of its shares from parent company Illumina , reducing Illumina's ownership to a minority stake. The aggregate purchase price was $278 million, according to a public filing. It also shelled out more than $100 million to merge with a Chinese company called Cirina, according to one of the sources. Cirina is developing an early-stage commercial test for a type of cancer called nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Additional funds were earmarked for another expensive clinical study, its Circulating Cell-Free Genome Atlas Study (CCGA), which involves enrolling 10,000 participants. This study is meant to give Grail a more detailed map of cancer genetics. The company declined to comment on its financing plans, but said "we are always in touch with the capital markets." Meanwhile, the company has seen multiple senior leaders depart in recent months, including former CEO Jeff Huber, formerly of Google; data scientist Franz Och; and former head of clinical development Mark Lee. These departures were previously reported by Buzzfeed. Business development lead Elaine Cheung also departed recently, according to her LinkedIn profile. When Grail burst onto the scene in 2016, it announced an ambitious objective to have its first test on the market within three years. The idea behind such early-detection tests, which are in development by Grail and its chief competitors Guardant Health and Freenome, is to catch cancer early by picking up signals of free-floating tumor DNA in the bloodstream. The hope is that at that point, it would be easier and cheaper to treat. The biggest challenges to get these tests to market include price -- the tests might be too expensive to get covered by insurers -- and high rates of both false positives and negatives. For that reasons, these companies need to invest heavily on clinical studies.

Global companies remain unprepared for cyberattacks: PwC

Global companies are still unprepared for cyberattacks, with 44% lacking an overall information security strategy, while 48% have no employee-awareness training. The figures come from PwC's Global State of Information Security Survey (GSISS), which collated responses from more than 9,500 senior executives across 122 countries. It revealed 54% had no incident response process, and only 39% said they were confident of identifying cyberattack culprits. The GSISS urged senior board members to lead the fight against cyber crime, called for greater risk resilience and for increased collaboration between governments and organisations.

https://www.albawaba.com/business/pr/organisations-are-failing-prepare-effectively-cyberattacks-says-pwc-1042004

2017-11-01 13:50:19.797000

Massive cybersecurity breaches have become almost commonplace, regularly grabbing headlines that alarm consumers and leaders. But for all of the attention such incidents have attracted in recent years, many organisations worldwide still struggle to comprehend and manage emerging cyber risks in an increasingly complex digital society. PwC launched its 2018 Global State of Information Security® Survey (GSISS), based on responses of more than 9,500 senior business and technology executives from 122 countries. Executives worldwide acknowledge the increasingly high stakes of cyber insecurity. Forty percent of survey respondents cite the disruption of operations as the biggest consequence of a cyberattack, 39% cite the compromise of sensitive data, 32% cite harm to product quality, and 22% cite harm to human life. Yet despite this awareness, many companies at risk of cyberattacks remain unprepared to deal with them. Forty-four percent say they do not have an overall information security strategy. Forty-eight percent say they do not have an employee security awareness training programme, and 54% say they do not have an incident-response process. How cyber interdependence drives global risk Case studies of non-cyber disasters have shown that cascading events often begin with the loss of power—and many systems are impacted instantaneously or within one day, meaning there is generally precious little time to address the initial problem before it cascades. Interdependencies between critical and non-critical networks often go unnoticed until trouble strikes. Many people worldwide—particularly in Japan, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and South Korea—are concerned about cyberattacks from other countries. Tools for conducting cyberattacks are proliferating worldwide. Smaller nations are aiming to develop capabilities like those used by larger countries. And the leaking of US National Security Agency (NSA) hacking tools has made highly sophisticated capabilities available to malicious hackers. When cyberattacks occur, most victimized companies say they cannot clearly identify the culprits. Only 39% of survey respondents say they are very confident in their attribution capabilities. The soaring production of insecure internet-of-things (IoT) devices is creating widespread cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Rising threats to data integrity could undermine trusted systems and cause physical harm by damaging critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, there is a wide disparity in cybersecurity preparedness among countries around the world. In our 2018 GSISS, the frequency of organisations possessing an overall cybersecurity strategy is particularly high in Japan (72%), where cyberattacks are seen as the leading national security threat, and Malaysia (74%). In May 2017, G-7 leaders pledged to work together and with other partners to tackle cyberattacks and mitigate their impact on critical infrastructure and society. Two months later, G-20 leaders reiterated the need for cybersecurity and trust in digital technologies. The task ahead is huge. "Often in the Middle East, organisations try to address their cybersecurity issues by buying the latest technology or implementing the best standards, but unfortunately that doesn't work on its own,” said Wael Fattouh, PwC Middle East Partner, Cyber and Technology Risk. “Effective security must be achieved by smart and effective investments in People, Processes, and Technology together, that is the only way to ensure a proper and resilient level of protection.” Next steps for business leaders So what can business leaders do to prepare effectively for cyberattacks? PwC recommends three key areas of focus: C-suites must lead the charge and boards must be engaged: Senior leaders driving the business must take ownership of building cyber resilience. Setting a top-down strategy to manage cyber and privacy risks across the enterprise is essential. Pursue resilience as a path to rewards—not merely to avoid risk: Achieving greater risk resilience is a pathway to stronger, long-term economic performance. Purposefully collaborate and leverage lessons learned: Industry and government leaders must work across organisational, sectoral and national borders to identify, map, and test cyber-dependency and interconnectivity risks as well as surge resilience and risk-management.

Brexit could reduce UK's supply of fruit and vegetables: RSA

If the UK fails to agree a Brexit deal there could be serious implications for public health, according to a report by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). The study is designed to coincide with the launch of a new RSA commission that will explore the impact of leaving the European Union on UK food and farming. The report stated that of 35 portions of fruit and vegetables, equivalent to a week of the recommended five-a-day intake, just one is grown in the UK and harvested by UK or non-European Union workers. 

https://www.thersa.org/about-us/media/2017/new-rsa-commission-to-examine-brexit-impact-on-food-farming-and-countryside

2017-11-01 13:49:43.743000

The RSA Commission on Food, Farming and Countryside, which will be run by the RSA and is launched today, will also look at measures to improve the public’s health, the countryside and rural communities. The Commission’s launch prospectus outlines some of the changes in the UK’s food, farms and countryside since the UK joined the then EEC in 1973. UK rural areas have lost population equivalent to Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh combined; from 12.7m to 11.3m. The amount we spend on food has decreased, as a proportion of our weekly household budget, from 31% to 17% of household budgets. The UK has lost 51% of farmland birds, several species have become extinct, and over 1,000 species today are threatened with extinction. Poor diets have become more common as a cause of poor health. The latest estimates put the cost of obesity at £16 billion a year, obesity has risen from 5% of the adult population to 27% today and Type II Diabetes rates have doubled since 2000. Over the past 40 years, the UK has come to depend on rules and money from Brussels including laws that protect our wildlife and water. Of the £3.6 billion net income made by UK farms in 2016, £3.1bn from EU farm payments, and less than half of our fruit and veg is homegrown, and 90% of that by EU-born workers [see Notes for source]. Sir Ian Cheshire, Chair of the new Commission, said: “We rely on the countryside even when we don’t see it; not only for food but so much we take for granted, like clean water. It’s part of who we are. We have come to depend on EU laws and money but they haven’t been working well enough, and they are set for the biggest shake-up in a generation. “Farmers groups, conservation charities and others are already putting huge thought into this. But they don’t have all the answers and might not agree. The role of this Commission is to learn what people want, as well as the established experts, what’s working in communities around the country, to come up with some creative answers and find a way through.” The Commission is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and will be launched at RSA House on Wednesday, with speakers including: Sir Ian Cheshire, Chair of the Commission, also Chair of Barclays UK Helen Browning OBE, Chief Executive of the Soil Association Lord Curry of Kirkharle, Farmer and Businessman Caroline Mason, Chief Executive, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Sue Pritchard, Director of the RSA Food, Farming & Countryside Commission Sue Pritchard, RSA’s Director of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission said: “Every single person in the UK has a stake in our food, farming and countryside. “The UK has great strengths but real challenges too. We are a global leader in food manufacturing, but we rely heavily on imported fruit and veg. And while some people have more food choices than ever, inequality in the UK means for too many the reality is little choice and food poverty. “What’s on our plates affects all of us, and what is on our neighbours’ plates affects us too: the effect of food inequality is a public health time bomb. “So we need both optimism and realism in spades. The Commission will take this once-in-a-generation opportunity to renew our food, farming and countryside for the next forty years and beyond, helping to turn our shared ambitions into actions.” Caroline Mason, Chief Executive, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, said: “We have funded this Commission because we believe there are ways to produce higher quality food that are better for people and the environment. Our support for 170 sustainable food initiatives over the past 10 years - from community allotments to healthier fast food - has shown us that the food system is disjointed, but that many people want the chance to make it better. The Commission represents a perfectly-timed, once in a generation opportunity for people and communities to influence the role of food in their lives.” Contact: Ash Singleton, [email protected], 07799 737 970. Notes: Source on EU migrants working in agriculture: Written evidence submission to House of Lords EU Committee inquiry, made by the British Growers Association.

Brexit could reduce UK's supply of fruit and vegetables: RSA

If the UK fails to agree a Brexit deal there could be serious implications for public health, according to a report by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). The study is designed to coincide with the launch of a new RSA commission that will explore the impact of leaving the European Union on UK food and farming. The report stated that of 35 portions of fruit and vegetables, equivalent to a week of the recommended five-a-day intake, just one is grown in the UK and harvested by UK or non-European Union workers. 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/01/most-of-uks-fruit-and-veg-is-from-other-eu-nations-so-brexit-impact-may-be-dramatic

2017-11-01 13:49:43.743000

The UK faces serious health implications if the government fails to agree a Brexit deal, finds a report that says of 35 portions of fruit and vegetables, a figure relating to the five-a-day recommendation for individuals, just one “portion” is grown in the UK and picked by British or non-EU workers. The report, to mark the launch of a new RSA commission examining the impact of Brexit on food and farming, found that the five-a-day health target – which adds up to the 35 portions of fruit and vegetables a week – was overwhelmingly met by food grown in the EU or harvested by EU workers in the UK. Sue Pritchard, director of the RSA Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, said Brexit offered a great opportunity to reshape farming and food, but warned that no deal over the exit from the union would have a dramatic and immediate effect. “What would be available on the shelves would change dramatically. There will be delays at ports and all along the food supply system – the impact will be felt very, very quickly,” she said. The study found that of the average 28 portions consumed by Britons of the recommended weekly intake of 35 portions of fruit and vegetables, the equivalent of 11 portions came from the EU, seven from the rest of the world and nine arose from the UK and were harvested by workers from other EU countries. The equivalent of just one portion was grown in the UK and harvested by British or non-EU workers. Of 35 ‘portions’ of fruit and vegetables just one has been harvested from the UK and picked by UK or non-EU workers. Photograph: Edd Westmacott/Alamy Pritchard added: “If there is no deal the system is very fragile and the impact in the UK food supply is likely to be dramatic.” The majority of farmers backed Brexit, but the National Farmers’ Union has since suggested that crops will “rot in the fields” and that Britain will be unable to produce the food if the government cannot secure a deal that allows tens of thousands of EU workers to continue to work on UK farms. The government has been criticised for failing to make any meaningful progress in the Brexit negotiations and key figures, including the prime minister, have argued that a no deal would be better than a bad deal. The commission, which will be officially launched on Wednesday, aims to explore what will happen to food and farming after Brexit and how the UK might then improve public health, sustainability and the rural environment. It says that since the UK joined the European Economic Community, in 1973, the amount people have spent on food has decreased as a proportion of their weekly household budget, from 31% to 17%. Poor diets have also become more common as a cause of ill health, with the latest estimates putting the cost of obesity at £16bn a year. Sir Ian Cheshire, chair of the RSA commission, said: “The role of this commission is to learn what other people want, as well as the established experts, what’s working in the communities around the country, to come up with some creative answers and find a way through.” Pritchard said that although less than a fifth of people in the UK lived in rural areas, everyone relied on the countryside for “food, clean water and more”. She added: “The countryside and rural scenery is the top feature that people say makes them proud of their country.” She said that though Brexit would pose a serious challenge to the UK’s food and farming, it also presented a once-in-a-generation opportunity. “It is forcing us to address many systemic failings that we have ignored for too long and if we can get this right we can create a better, more sustainable, healthier future.”

Waymo looks to improve autonomous vehicle user experience

Alphabet's self-driving company Waymo has been working on improving the user experience in its autonomous vehicles, with around half of participants in its Early Rider programme in Phoenix comfortable with being a self-driving car. To help build up the trust of the other 50%, the company is developing a system of visual and verbal cues using seat-mounted screens to inform passengers about what the car is doing and its intentions. Waymo is also examining ways to identify picking up riders who approach the car from a prearranged pick-up location.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/waymo-demos-autonomous-vehicles-at-california-testing-site-2017-10?r=US&IR=T

2017-11-01 13:41:05.987000

Waymo, Google's self-driving car spinoff, showed off its technology to reporters on Monday at its California testing facility. Waymo officials declined to say when they expect to offer the technology commercially or where it will first show up. The technology seems mature, but questions and challenges remain. MERCED COUNTY, California — California's Central Valley is known for its miles and miles of farm orchards, fights over water rights, and, these days, high unemployment. High-tech? Not so much. But I was here on Monday to see in action a cutting-edge technology that has the potential to greatly reshape our economy and society — the self-driving car. Waymo, Google's autonomous vehicle spinoff, has its testing facility at a decommissioned Air Force base. The company invited several dozen reporters to see its cars in action, get a ride in one, and hear its case that its technology is all-but ready for the real world. "We're pretty excited about where we are right now," in terms of developing fully autonomous cars, John Krafcik, Waymo's CEO, told the assembled journalists. He continued: "We're getting to the point where we're really close." Just how close, though, is anyone's guess — anyone outside Waymo, that is. When asked when we might see Waymo roll out its technology commercially in a product the public at large can see or interact with, Krafcik declined to offer a forecast. Unanswered questions It's also unclear exactly where Waymo's technology will first start showing up. Krafcik said the company is pursuing several opportunities at the same time: in trucking, ride-hailing, and ride-sharing, in making "last-mile" connections between consumers homes and the closest public transit stops, and in personal vehicles. But he declined to say which opportunity the company thinks is closest. Waymo's Chrysler Pacifica minivan navigates the company's obstacle course sans a driver. Waymo Krafcik did say that the company plans to work with partners such as Fiat Chrysler, Lyft, and the rental-car company Avis to deploy the technology, rather than going it alone. Waymo has spent the last 12 to 18 months building out such partnerships, he said. "We see our role not as disruptors but as enablers," Krafcik said. Waymo has been focusing on so-called Level 4 autonomy. At that level of sophistication, a car can drive itself without any driver input, but can only do so in a relatively confined area or in a relatively circumscribed set of conditions. The company is already offering fully autonomous rides in certain areas of Chandler, Arizona, outside Phoenix, as part of a test of its systems. The company is hoping to gradually progress up to Level 5 autonomy, where self-driving cars can basically go just about anywhere a human-driven car could go. Riding in a car with no driver We reporters got to see first-hand how just far along Waymo's Level 4 technology is. Part of the outing involved an approximately 10-minute, two-mile drive around the company's testing facility with nothing but Waymo's technology behind the wheel. Some of the obstacles the Waymo vehicles had to navigate on Monday. Waymo Waymo's testing site is at Castle Air Force Base, a decommissioned military facility where pilots trained for World War II and in the Cold War, was the home of a wing of the nation's Strategic Air Command. On its 91-acre section of the old base, the company has set up a network of streets, traffic circles, driveways, crosswalks, and even a railroad crossing to create a wide range of scenarios for its cars to contend with. Accompanied by a Waymo engineer who was sitting with us in the back of one of the company's specially equipped Chrysler Pacifica minivans, another reporter and I could do little but watch and hope for the best as our vehicle made its way around the facility. To show what the minivan could do and how it might handle real-world situations, Waymo had some of its employees drive around in other cars, cross streets or bicycle beside the vehicle. At least in this fairly staged environment, the vehicle handled everything with aplomb. I was never concerned about my safety or those around us. And while it was a bit strange to not have anyone in the driver's seat at first, I quickly grew accustomed to it. Reassuring riders Waymo has put a lot of thought into how its cars will reassure and communicate with riders, using visual and verbal cues. On the back of the front-row seats there are a pair of screens that show an image of the vehicle you're riding in along with some of the things in the environment that it senses, such as other cars, pedestrians, traffic cones, stoplights. Waymo uses its displays to reassure and communicate with riders. Waymo. The display is designed to show riders that the car is aware of what's happening around it, and view changes noticeably depending on what the car is doing. If the car is attempting to turn right, for example, the angle of view will shift to show more of the road to the left of the car and any oncoming traffic from that direction. But the screens also show messages to provide more information. They might show the speed limit in the area or flash a quick message to explain that the car is "yielding to pedestrians." And when you've arrived at your destination, the screen will tell you, "We're here." The information on the screens is designed to build trust, so "people will feel Waymo is a safe and reliable and trusted chauffeur," said Ryan Powell, Waymo's head of user experience design. The challenges ahead However, as well Waymo's car performed, it's clear that the company still has plenty of challenges ahead of it, both technical and otherwise. Much of Waymo's autonomous vehicle testing has been done in relatively mild climates, including the San Francisco Bay Area. The cars don't have a lot of experience driving in winter weather conditions. The company is trying to address that. It announced last week that it will begin testing its cars in Michigan specifically to see how they handle ice, sleet, and snow. Another key question for self-driving cars is how they will handle unusual situations that may occur in the real world. Waymo's been trying to address that multiple ways, not only by having its cars drive on real streets, but also by running through potential scenarios at its facility here, and then using data from those scenarios to run computer simulations back at its Mountain View headquarters. Waymo is hoping consumers will soon be pressing "Start Ride." Waymo There are also numerous non-technical questions with which the company has to contend, not only about how it will market its technology but also about how it will convince government regulators that it is ready for the road. And there are the societal questions about how the rollout of autonomous cars will impact jobs. What will happen to taxi and Uber drivers, truck drivers, and the like? And then there's the public. It's an open question about whether the public is ready to adopt robotic cars. Even if they're open to the idea — and Waymo's data suggests about half of them are — they're likely to have plenty of questions about how they will use such cars, how they will work, and how they will handle particular driving scenarios. In that area alone, Waymo seems to have a lot of work to do. When asked by reporters how its cars would handle particular situations like obstacles in the road that might block traffic, representatives gave conflicting answers. One even suggested that the cars might not move until an obstruction — a moving van that was double parked, say — were cleared out of the way. I'm guessing Waymo's engineers have a better answer than that. But they may find navigating the non-technical obstacles to our self-driving car future are as difficult as the technical ones.

Fossil fuel companies accused of thwarting Paris climate talks

International negotiations on the implementation of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords are being undermined by corporate interests, according to a report co-authored by campaign group Corporate Accountability. The report, released ahead of a meeting of parties to the Accord next week, gives examples of fossil fuel firms that it claims have manipulated the negotiations and questions the role of leading polluters that sponsor meetings in return for high-level access. Firms and organisations named in the report include EDF, Monsanto, Shell, Syngenta and the International Emissions Trading Association.

https://www.corporateaccountability.org/resources/polluting-paris-big-polluters-undermining-global-climate-policy/

2017-11-01 13:21:56.557000

In November 2017, during one of the most unprecedented periods of climate-related extreme weather events and humanitarian crises, governments will once again gather in Bonn, Germany, for the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). High on government’s list will be to discuss the procedures that will guide the implementation of the Paris Agreement. If the world is to avoid the worst of the climate crisis and keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and well below 2 degrees, Parties must agree to real, just, and sustainable solutions, and reject the false solutions peddled by the world’s dirtiest polluters and their proxies (including obstructionist governments and industry trade groups). Read the executive summary.

Fossil fuel companies accused of thwarting Paris climate talks

International negotiations on the implementation of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords are being undermined by corporate interests, according to a report co-authored by campaign group Corporate Accountability. The report, released ahead of a meeting of parties to the Accord next week, gives examples of fossil fuel firms that it claims have manipulated the negotiations and questions the role of leading polluters that sponsor meetings in return for high-level access. Firms and organisations named in the report include EDF, Monsanto, Shell, Syngenta and the International Emissions Trading Association.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/01/fossil-fuel-companies-undermining-paris-agreement-negotiations-report

2017-11-01 13:21:56.557000

Global negotiations seeking to implement the Paris agreement have been captured by corporate interests and are being undermined by powerful forces that benefit from exacerbating climate change, according to a report released ahead of the second meeting of parties to the Paris agreement – COP23 – next week. The report, co-authored by Corporate Accountability, uncovers a litany of ways in which fossil fuel companies have gained high-level access to negotiations and manipulated outcomes. It highlights a string of examples, including that of a negotiator for Panama who is also on the board of a corporate peak body that represents carbon traders such as banks, polluters and brokers. It also questions the role of the world’s biggest polluters in sponsoring the meetings in return for access to high-level events. The report argues that as a result of the corporate influence, outcomes of negotiations so far have been skewed to favour the interests of the world’s biggest corporate polluters over those of the majority of the world’s population that live in the developing world. It finds that influence has skewed outcomes on finance, agriculture and technology. We have the wrong people at the table and we’re looking to the wrong people for advice Corporate Accountability's Jesse Bragg It comes as the 2018 deadline approaches for member countries to finalise the rule book that guides the implementation of the Paris Agreement. That rule book will determine things such as how compliance will be monitored and enforced and how the developing world will receive finance and support. “We’ve been at many crossroads on climate change but this is perhaps one of the last of those that we have left,” said Jesse Bragg from Corporate Accountability. “If parties don’t arrive at a set of guidelines that actually facilitates the transition we’ve been talking about and keeps us under 1.5C, we may never have another shot at this.” “We’re doing this wrong right now. We have the wrong people at the table and we’re looking to the wrong people for advice. If we don’t course-correct at COP 23 and the next inter-sessional in Bonn, we’re in real trouble. And you can look at what’s happened so far to see the evidence of that.” Examples of the infiltration of polluters into the official negotiations include: The UNFCCC’s Climate Technology Network, which advises on how to develop and transfer green technology to the developing world, includes a member of the World Coal Association, and its board has included managers at Shell and EDF – one of the world’s biggest electricity producers. A negotiator for Panama is currently a board member of the International Emissions Trading Association (Ieta), and was previously its president for several years. Ieta was set up by the fossil fuel companies including BP and Rio Tinto in order to make sure climate action caused “minimal economic harm”. Today its members include Chevron, BHP, Dow, Duke Energy, Repsol, Xcel Energy, Veolia and Statoil. Sponsorship of the COP21 meeting in Paris gave fossil fuel companies access to the “communications and networking area” inside the rooms where the negotiations were taking place. Big agricultural corporations such as Monsanto, Syngenta and Yara have been lobbying heavily at UNFCCC meetings, with Monsanto even co-charing the World Business Council on Sustainable Development’s Climate-Smart Agriculture working group. The report argues this access has influenced outcomes at the UNFCCC, undermining the Paris agreement in the following ways: Market-based solutions to climate change have become dogma at UNFCCC meetings, despite many developing world countries urging alternative mechanisms such as direct regulation, and despite studies suggesting they can allow big polluters to continue polluting, according to Corporate Accountability. The US and Canada have adopted agricultural corporations’ approach to “climate-smart agriculture”, and argued against regulation of non-CO2 emissions from agriculture. Most of the funds from the Green Climate Fund have so far been allocated to private sector projects. The report argues that if the UNFCCC process results in a rulebook being developed in line with what the world’s biggest polluters want, then the Paris agreement is doomed to failure. “If those rules are written in a way to give weight to the provisions that industry is in favour of, and ignores those things that the industry is against, then you’re almost renegotiating the Paris agreement,” Bragg said. “What you’re doing is cherry-picking out of the Paris agreement the things that they want, and leaving behind the things that the global south [developing] countries need. “It’s where you lose any nod to incorporate non-market mechanisms into article 6. It’s where ‘climate smart agriculture’ becomes the only focus of agricultural negotiations, and so big ag is dominating negotiations there and petrochemicals are the solution. And the fossil fuel industry dominates the conversation around technology so we’re just hoping for a successful large-scale carbon capture and storage to get us out of this mess. It’s those things that are at risk in the rulebook negotiations.” Momentum has been building over the past couple of years to have an official conflict-of-interest policy agreed on at the UNFCCC. In Marrakech in 2016 moves instigated by a group representing the majority of the world’s population – the Like Minded Group of Developing Countries – were thwarted by the US, EU and Australia. Australia’s delegation has argued that “there is no clear understanding of what a conflict of interest is and it means different things to different people” and that fossil fuel companies were “the providers of the biggest and best solutions”. But in May this year in Bonn, the group succeeded in getting the UNFCCC to agree to improve “transparency”, and discussions will continue in May 2018. The World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control successfully implemented a conflict of interest policy that has widely been acknowledged as a key ingredient in its success. Corporate Accountability says a similar policy is needed for the UNFCCC.

Researchers use sunlight to produce biodegradable plastic

Scientists at Michigan State University have developed a low-cost method of producing biodegradable plastics. The team paired genetically altered cyanobacteria, which use sunlight to produce sugar, to feed natural bioplastic-producing bacteria in a saltwater medium, whose voracious appetite encouraged the cyanobacteria to generate more sugar. The virtuous circle combination produced biomass at 20 times the rate of other systems, and contained a steady 30% bioplastic material, four times more that previously produced.

http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2017/10/31/michigan-state-researchers-propose-new-method-to-produce-bioplastics-from-sunlight-and-cyanobacteria/

2017-11-01 13:12:14.883000

In Michigan, Michigan State University scientists are proposing a new way to economically produce biodegradable plastics with sunlight and help from an ancient microorganism. Researchers at the Ducat MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory took cyanobacteria, that use sunlight to naturally produce sugar, and genetically tweaked them to constantly leak that sugar into a surrounding saltwater medium. They paired them with natural bioplastic-producing bacteria that fed on the leaked sugar. The pairing was prolific. Processed biomass contained a near constant 30 percent bioplastic content, four times more than similar experimental systems, and production rates were over 20 times faster.

Researchers use sunlight to produce biodegradable plastic

Scientists at Michigan State University have developed a low-cost method of producing biodegradable plastics. The team paired genetically altered cyanobacteria, which use sunlight to produce sugar, to feed natural bioplastic-producing bacteria in a saltwater medium, whose voracious appetite encouraged the cyanobacteria to generate more sugar. The virtuous circle combination produced biomass at 20 times the rate of other systems, and contained a steady 30% bioplastic material, four times more that previously produced.

http://www.fox47news.com/we-are-spartans/msu-scientists-work-to-make-biodegradable-plastic-from-sunlight

2017-11-01 13:12:14.883000

Michigan State University scientists are proposing a new way to economically produce biodegradable plastics with sunlight and help from an ancient microorganism. The team, led by Taylor Weiss, a postdoctoral researcher in the Ducat MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratorylabat the MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory, took cyanobacteria, that use sunlight to naturally produce sugar, and genetically tweaked them to constantly leak that sugar into a surrounding saltwater medium. They paired them with natural bioplastic-producing bacteria that fed on the leaked sugar. The pairing was prolific. Processed biomass contained a near constant 30 percent bioplastic content, four times more than similar experimental systems, and production rates were over 20 times faster. The approach avoids fossil fuels for production and aims to reduce plastic’s impact on the environment. “A major problem is that most synthetic plastic today is not completely biodegradable, so it lasts for hundreds of years after being discarded, in landfills and in water ecosystems,” Weiss said. Although researchers have developed 100 percent biodegradable plastics made with special bacteria, it is very expensive. These methods also tend to rely on feeding plastic-producing bacteria with loads of sugar derived from agricultural crops, like corn or beets, that also feed people and animals. There is a risk of competing for limited agricultural resources and driving food prices up in the long term. Scientists are looking to genetically alter cyanobacteria, tiny photosynthetic workhorses, also known as blue-green algae, to funnel their outputs into useful products. Weiss said that scientists create gradually more efficient bio-production systems all the time, but a major twist is that his improves over time, without human meddling. “The cyanobacteria constantly make sugar through photosynthesis, and the bacteria constantly beef up on it, which encourages the cyanobacteria to keep producing,” Weiss said. “So, the system continuously evolves in a virtuous cycle.” Looking forward, Weiss wants to partner cyanobacteria with other specialist bacteria to create cheap, environmentally friendly bioproducts, like biofuels to power jets and cars, fragrances, edible dyes and medicines. “Ultimately, we aren’t just creating alternatives to synthetic products,” Weiss said. “We’re trying to ask nature to do what it does best: figure out the problem for us.” SOURCE: MSU Today

Facebook introduces creative A/B testing and Test and Learn

Facebook is launching two tools: creative split testing and Test and Learn, aimed at enabling marketers to get the best out of their campaigns, according to a blog post. Creative split testing, available from this month through Ads Manager, allows A/B testing of various ad formats. Test and Learn, currently in pilot testing and set to be rolled out early next year, gives advertisers the chance to ask questions about campaigns and get information about which tests would be most useful.

http://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-creative-split-testing-test-and-learn/

2017-11-01 13:01:23.067000

Facebook Tuesday introduced two new ways for brands to optimize their future campaigns: creative split testing and Test and Learn. Creative split testing enables advertisers to A/B test different ad formats, visuals, headlines and calls to action in order to determine which versions of their ads drive the best results. Users will only see one version of ads during split tests. Facebook said in a Facebook Business blog post introducing the new features, “When setting up a split test, you can choose to isolate a specific creative variable or test multiple creative variables.

Paris's Brighteye Ventures raises $58m for edtech investment

French venture capital firm Brighteye Ventures is set to make significant investments in the edtech sector after closing a €50m ($58.2m) fund. Paris-based Brighteye, founded by Alex Spiro and Benoit Wirz, will participate in or lead seed series A and B rounds for 20 companies around the world that are using technology to improve education, investing between €500,000 and €3m per round over the next three years. The fund has already taken part in the $8m series C of content platform Epic! and a $5m seed round for Helsinki firm Lightneer.

http://www.finsmes.com/2017/11/european-edtech-venture-capital-firm-brighteye-ventures-closes-first-fund-at-e50m.html

2017-11-01 12:53:14.963000

Brighteye Ventures, a Paris, France-based education technology (edtech) venture capital firm, closed its first fund, at €50m. The fund will lead or participate in seed and series A and B rounds for innovative companies using technology to enhance learning and creativity. It will consider companies working across a full range of educational levels, from K-12 to university and beyond. Brighteye Ventures is looking to invest between €500k and €3m per round in 20 companies over the next three years. It has a global remit, looking to lead investments in Europe and Israel and co-invest alongside smart partners in the US. The fund has already invested in two companies participating in the $8m series C of Epic!, a digital content platform for under 12s, and in the $5m seed round of Lightneer, a learning games studio from Helsinki set up by ex-Rovio executives. Brighteye Venture Advisers, based in Paris, is the sole advisory to the fund. Its two partners, Alex Spiro, managing partner, and Benoit Wirz, investment partner, have previously built and invested in some of the most dynamic companies in the edtech space and both have significant experience and relationships in technology, media and venture capital. Managing partner Alex Spiro has a proven track record in children’s media, and is co-founder of children’s publisher Flying Eye Books, and Minilab Studios, an educational app development studio. Investment partner Benoit Wirz brings nearly 20 years’ experience of developing and investing in edtech, media, enterprise software and other tech companies, most recently at the Knight Foundation. FinSMEs 01/11/2017

Russia has change of heart in favour of cryptocurrencies

Russia could use digital currency mining as a way to diversify away from fossil fuels, take on China as a bitcoin mining leader and work around US-imposed economic sanctions, according to analysts. The U-turn apparently followed an unplanned meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin in June. Putin recently called for legislation to be created to govern the sector, and Central Bank of Russia and VEB have both begun work on crypto projects, including a digital currency. Some have also suggested the abundance of cheap electricity in chilly Siberia makes it ideal for huge mining warehouses.

https://news.vice.com/story/russia-is-going-all-in-on-bitcoin-and-everyones-got-a-theory

2017-11-01 12:32:53.673000

In 2016, the Russian government was convinced bitcoin was a danger to its economy and a threat to its national security, so much so that politicians introduced legislation that, if passed, would spell jail time for anyone found using the technology. The offense carried a 7-year jail sentence. One year later, Russia has established itself as a preeminent hub for bitcoin and other emerging cryptocurrencies, launching an audacious plan to grab almost one-third of the world’s bitcoin mining network from China. Everyone from the government to private businesses are embracing blockchain, the technology which powers bitcoin, and they’re doing so at an unprecedented rate. Advertisement Moscow’s change of heart has left experts guessing at what the Kremlin has up its sleeve. Theories range from Russia making a strategic decision to reduce its economy’s reliance on oil and gas through bullish cryptocurrency investment to Russian oligarchs looking for clever ways to avoid western sanctions — blockchain technology allows for anonymous exchanges, making it popular among criminal entities looking to avoid government oversight. One thing is clear, however: change came from the top. Analysts say Russia’s sudden embrace began on June 3, 2017, when Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. There, Putin had an unexpected meeting in the corridors of the Lenexpo Exhibition Complex with Vitalik Buterin, the Russian-Canadian programmer who created bitcoin-rival ethereum. “After the meeting, it seemed to me that the light flicked on for him” Tom Luongo, an expert on the Russian economy, told VICE News. ”This was a way to rapidly push forward Russian financial and banking services, they are now moving rapidly to effectively digitize their entire economy.” The appeal is obvious. Not only is every major financial institution around the world pouring huge amounts of money into research in cryptocurrencies, but according to one expert, in the right conditions — and Russia has the right conditions — mining bitcoin could be “10 times more lucrative than pumping oil.” Advertisement Luongo says that Putin soon realized cryptocurrencies were not entirely dangerous, and instead offered the potential to diversify the country’s economy away from oil and gas. Russia has thus far focused primarily on Buterin’s creation: ethereum. While having less than a third the market capitalization of bitcoin ($29 billion versus $93 billion) many experts see ethereum having a bigger future, as it has widespread applications in the financial world, allowing banks and other institutions to run smart contracts. “Right after the meeting, the government pivoted towards cryptocurrencies, and said we need to start looking into it because it might be a ground-breaking technology,” Andrei Barysevich, a researcher at threat intelligence company Recorded Future, told VICE News. Russia’s pivot occurred seemingly overnight. The state development bank VEB is developing an ethereum-based project; Russia’s billionaire businessman Boris Titov launched a blockchain project promising secure voting; the Central Bank of Russia is developing its own digital currency called masterchain; and Burger King Russia is embracing the currency to promote its restaurants. One Russian entrepreneur reportedly applied to patent his plans to distribute “vodka that trades on the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic brand names.” Last Wednesday, Putin asked his government to create legislation to regulate cryptocurrency mining and establish legal definitions for various digital assets — a move which will give the Kremlin greater control over how this industry develops. Advertisement But it’s not all about innovation and development. Barysevich believes there are other reasons behind Russia’s turn toward cryptocurrencies — and in particular bitcoin. “It is not because of the convenience of the technology, it is purely because they want to be controlling the technology and making huge profits out of it,” Barysevich told VICE News. Key to to Russia’s bitcoin takeover is an audacious enterprise launched in August to grab almost one-third of the world’s bitcoin mining network from China. Russian Miner Coin (RMC), a company co-owned by Putin’s internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev, is in the process of raising $100 million to fund the building of vast warehouses full of specialized computers that will work day and night with the sole purpose of mining bitcoins. This gambit isn’t new to Russia. China has been dominant here for the last two years, currently mining around 60 percent of the world’s bitcoins. The Middle Kingdom’s efforts have been richly rewarded: the price of one bitcoin has soared from $1,000 at the beginning of 2017 to a record high of over $6,300 as of this writing. Russia wants to get into the game and has a competitive advantage over almost every other country in the world: Electricity in Russia is cheap and abundant — especially in regions like Siberia — making it an ideal location to run the vast computing warehouses 24/7 at little cost. Barysevich said that with the current government-controlled electricity prices, Russia could make a lot of money from bitcoin. “If you have an electricity at the cost of 2 cents per kilowatt, it’s 10 times more profitable than pumping oil.” Advertisement But bitcoin comes with some notable drawbacks, including its proliferation and popularity among criminals, who’ve embraced the currency because it’s difficult to trace. The currency’s shady origins hasn’t been lost on Putin, who has publicly said that he wants restrictions put in place on who can use bitcoin. Not everyone is buying Putin’s posture however, with some experts suggesting that Russia’s sudden interest in cryptocurrencies coincides with the latest round of U.S. economic sanctions, which even friendly economists say will deal a blow to Russia’s recovering economy. Specifically, Russia’s emboldened interest in cryptocurrencies hasn’t evaded the U.S. government. The U.S. Treasury told VICE News that it is “aware of the reports” regarding Russia and its increased adoption of cryptocurrencies, and they are continuing to monitor “evolving trends and new potential avenues for sanctions evasion,” a spokesman for the department said. Russia’s enthusiasm for largely anonymous currencies like Bitcoin and ethereum comes at a time when Russian financial affairs have never been more closely scrutinized. But Marc Johnson, a security consultant and former CIA operations officer, told VICE News, early indication suggests it’s mostly “sincere.”

MetaX testf blockchain with undisclosed advertiser

Blockchain advertising platform MetaX has completed a beta test with an undisclosed advertiser. CEO Ken Brook said that over 30% of the advertiser's ad expenditure was misused, an issue that could be alleviated through the blockchain. The online ad spend was wasted on bot traffic, unauthorised inventory vendors, and invalid banner videos. Brook said that the issue of "disparate" data sets and obfuscation on inventory sales and resales causes problems for advertisers. Pavel Cherkashin, co-founder and CEO of the Blockchain Programmatic Corporation, added that DSPs and SSPs cannot offer the necessary amount of transparency and data processing as blockchain.

https://digiday.com/marketing/blockchain-in-programmatic/

2017-11-01 12:30:48.493000

Blockchain — which originated in financial services and is essentially an open ledger (a massive spreadsheet) of transaction data — is a new ad tech solution in town. Its promise is to provide advertisers more transparency and solve problems related to ad fraud and brand safety. The underlying technology of blockchain is sophisticated, but how it works is straightforward. In its simplest form, blockchain works as a community. For instance, if a brand buys inventory from 10 publishers programmatically, the 10 publishers, the supply-side platforms that those publishers work with, the advertiser’s media agencies, demand-side platforms and the brand itself could form a group where members have different levels of access to a ledger. Pavel Cherkashin, co-founder and CEO for Blockchain Programmatic Corporation, explained that the multiple access levels allow only authorized parties in the transaction to access the data for audit purposes, while the remaining members have access to aggregate data for analysis and modeling purposes, etc. Transactional data is encrypted to ensure its protection. “Each member of the network is a ‘node’ storing a certain amount of data on their servers and earning rewards, or tokens, for processing this data,” said Cherkashin. “They also conduct the audit and crowdsourcing of the data to ensure its accuracy and compliance.” Blockchain is still in its early days, but some industry initiatives use it. For instance, Nasdaq said in March that it is providing blockchain technology to power a startup called the New York Interactive Advertising Exchange that trades guaranteed advertising contracts, while the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Tech Lab formed a blockchain working group in September led by GroupM’s mPlatform and NYIAX. (It is hosting its first full working group meeting on Nov. 1.) Despite these applications, lots of use cases for blockchain are still theoretical. Here’s what you need to know. The key numbers The global blockchain market is expected to grow from $339.5 million this year to $2.3 billion in 2021, according to data firm Statista. EMarketer predicts U.S. programmatic display ad spend will reach around $32.6 billion this year. There are at least 11 publicly traded blockchain companies. The number of blockchain firms — private and public — that specialize in advertising is not clear. The blockchain company view Ken Brook, CEO for blockchain ad platform MetaX, said that in an unreleased beta test of blockchain with an undisclosed advertiser, his team discovered that between bot traffic, invalid banner video and unauthorized inventory sellers, more than 30 percent of the advertiser’s online ad spend wasn’t what it paid for. “There is an immense problem around disparate data sets, especially when these numbers are used to justify ad spend and return,” said Brook. “There is also a lot of obscurity on how inventory is sold and resold.” Cherkashin added that neither SSPs nor DSPs can provide the required level of trust and ability to process data as crowdsourcing in blockchain does. After all, with blockchain, the intermediary is a robot, not a human, so people can trust it with their data. Cherkashin’s team patented the concept of multilayer blockchain, where 100,000 independent blockchains can work concurrently, which allows the system to process more than 1 million transactions per second, according to Cherkashin. “The compromise we need to accept is that there is no real-time consensus between all of the blockchains, but for advertising audit and data analysis, this is not required,” he added. BPC will launch with more than 100 publishers this December, and Cherkashin expects at least 10,000 advertisers will get on board through token purchase by the end of this year. The industry view It is widely reported that one big problem with blockchain’s application in programmatic buying is the technology is not capable of handling millions of bid requests per second. “I don’t think blockchain is the solution. From what I’ve read, blockchain can only handle around 2,000 transactions per second, while in programmatic, we are doing millions of transactions per second,” said Nick Jordan, founder of data trading company Narrative I/O. “Ad tech likes to add layers of solutions on top of other solutions.” Jordan said that even if blockchain can process 100 billion ad impressions per day, only three or four organizations like Google and Amazon have the computing power to manage the large databases required by that volume, which goes against the promise of blockchain: a distributed ledger. “Basically, the industry goes back to the hands of walled gardens,” he said. Drew Bradstock, svp of product for Index Exchange, echoed Jordan’s sentiment. Bradstock said SSPs, DSPs and publishers can work together to provide advertisers more transparency. If advertisers and publishers rely on blockchain, there will probably be an ad tax on using the solution. “You don’t need blockchain to audit the ledger,” said Bradstock. “For advertisers, it’s always cheaper and easier to hold their partners accountable than pay extra tech tax.”

Unassuming Dutch cycle bridge is a 3D-printed first

The first 3D-printed concrete bridge has been opened in Gemert in the Netherlands. The cycle bridge, which is only eight metres long, consists of about 800 layers of 3D-printed, pre-stressed and reinforced concrete, and took about three months to build since work began last June. The project was carried out by the Eindhoven University of Technology and the BAM Infra construction company, and the structure was successfully tested for a maximum load of two tonnes. The 3D-printing technique enabled the use of less concrete than would have been required by traditional mould methods.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/18/world-first-3d-printed-bridge-cyclists-netherlands

2017-11-01 12:21:00.300000

Dutch officials have toasted the opening of what is being called the world’s first 3D-printed concrete bridge, which is primarily meant to be used by cyclists. There was applause as officials wearing hard hats rode over the bridge on their bikes at the inauguration in the southeastern town of Gemert on Tuesday. “The bridge is not very big, but it was rolled out by a printer, which makes it unique,” Theo Salet, from the Eindhoven University of Technology, told Dutch broadcaster NOS. Work on printing the bridge, which has some 800 layers, took about three months after starting in June and it is made of reinforced, pre-stressed concrete, according to the university. “One of the advantages of printing a bridge is that much less concrete is needed than in the conventional technique in which a mould is filled,” it said on its website. “A printer deposits the concrete only where it is needed.” The eight-metre (26-ft) bridge spans a water-filled ditch to connect two roads, and in conjunction with the BAM Infra construction company was tested for safety to bear loads of up to two tonnes. “We are looking to the future,” said the head of BAM, Marinus Schimmel, adding in a statement that his company was constantly “searching for a newer, smarter approach to addressing infrastructure issues and making a significant contribution to improving the mobility and sustainability of our society”. 3D printing meant “fewer scarce resources were needed and there was significantly less waste”, he added. The Netherlands is among countries, with the United States and China, taking a lead in the cutting-edge technology of 3D printing, using computers and robotics to construct objects and structures from scratch. Last year a Dutch architect unveiled a unique 3D printer with which he hopes to construct an “endless loop” building. And a Dutch start-up called MX3D has begun printing a stainless steel bridge, of which a third is already completed. The aim is to finish printing by March and lay the bridge over an Amsterdam canal in June.

Alibaba launches 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in Shanghai

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has launched this year's 11.11 (Singles Day) Global Shopping Festival with the See Now, Buy Now fashion show in Shanghai. The 24-day shopping extravaganza forms part of Alibaba's "new retail" initiative, bringing together the online and offline shopping experiences and blending them with entertainment, including live streaming events and augmented reality games. In 2016, Singles Day took CNY120.7bn ($17.4bn). This year's event will see more than 60,000 international brands exposed to the Chinese market, as well as Chinese goods offered to international shoppers.

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/11/01/alibaba-kicks-three-week-1111-shopping-festival-it-moves-blend-e-commerce-and

2017-11-01 11:48:05.493000

Alibaba has officially launched its 11.11 (Singles Day) Global Shopping Festival, kicking off the three-week event with a fashion show in Shanghai. The “See Now, Buy Now” fashion show, which showcased the fashion and apparel that is available to buy during the 11.11 festival, was one a number of promotions and entertainment features unveiled by the e-commerce giant to promote the annual event. The event highlights a key strategic focus for Alibaba, which aims to blend e-commerce with entertainment through live-streaming, short content videos and personalised features. Alibaba's chief marketing officer Chris Tung told Alizila, "We are elevating the shopping experience from a shelf-based, item-based presentation to a content-based experience for the visitors to our app. "The [Tmall] platform is not just a shopping mall for customers exposed to the top brands in the world, but also a very informative medium for shoppers," said Tung. Alibaba’s 11.11 (Singles Day) shopping extravaganza has become one of the largest and most anticipated e-commerce events globally, with last year’s event taking a record-breaking RMB 120.7 bn ($17.4 bn). The event has evolved from a 24-hour online sale into a 24-day festival season, with consumers around the world offered 15 million product listings from more than 140,000 brands. This year’s festival will also showcase Alibaba’s ‘New Retail’ strategy, which aims to integrate online and offline shopping, with the e-commerce giant launching pop-up stores and smart-stores where consumers can experience products and use facial recognition payment and scan-and-deliver O2O shopping. This year’s event will also enable more than 60,000 international brands including Adidas, Bose, La Mer, L'Oréal, Mac, Mattel, Mondelez, Nike, P&G, Shiseido, Siemens, Unilever, Uniqlo, Wyeth and Zara to target Chinese consumers, with Chinese brands also able to sell goods globally via its Tmall World initiative. The festival will also incorporate AR games to drive traffic and gift prizes and coupons to consumers, as well as sharing red envelopes with more than RMB 250 million and the annual 11.11 Countdown Gala Celebration will again be broadcast live on Chinese TV. Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang said: “The 11.11 Global Shopping Festival is a large-scale business collaboration bringing together consumers, retailers, logistics companies, financial institutions, online as well as offline stores and shopping centers around the world. It is a grand stage for showcasing the New Retail initiative pioneered by Alibaba.”

Ads.txt now used by 44% of most popular digital ad domains

Adoption of the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab's ads.txt tool by digital ad sales domains grew to 44% between mid-September and October, according to Ad Ops Insider, largely thanks to Google. The search giant has thrown its weight behind the tool to help maintain trust in programmatic advertising. In addition, the recent announcement that its DoubleClick Ad Exchange and AdSense network will use ads.txt files could lead to Google allowing only publishers that have ads.txt to sell on its platforms. The ads.txt tool helps ad buyers verify inventory by checking it against a list of authorised sellers. 

https://digiday.com/media/can-good-big-stick-thanks-google-ads-txt-taking-off/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=171101

2017-11-01 11:42:49.787000

The Digiday Programmatic Media Summit is taking place in New Orleans November 13-15. For information on how to attend or sponsor the summit, click here. After a slow start out of the gate, adoption of ads.txt is taking off with some help from Google. Only 13 percent of the 10,000 most popular domains that sell digital ads adopted ads.txt in the 100 days following its release by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab in May. But between mid-September and the end of October, that number jumped to 44 percent, according to data from Ad Ops Insider publisher Ben Kneen. The time frame of the uptick in adoption overlaps with Google’s recent announcements that several of its most popular ad products will begin filtering for ads.txt. It also underscores just how much sway Google holds over publishers. The IAB Tech Lab launched ads.txt as a tool to help ad buyers avoid illegitimate sellers that arbitrage inventory and spoof domains. The way that ads.txt works is that publishers drop a text file on their web servers that lists all the companies authorized to sell their inventory, which allows buyers to check the validity of the inventory they purchase. If a publisher uses ads.txt, then anyone with an internet connection can verify the publisher’s authorized sellers. Domain spoofing remains a serious threat to the growth of programmatic advertising, so aside from shady resellers, pretty much everyone who works with automated advertising has incentive to back ads.txt. But despite the fanfare that followed ads.txt’s announcement, publishers dragged their feet in adopting ads.txt early on. The text files take just a few hours to create, according to multiple publishing sources, but publishers were slow to adopt because they had finite tech resources overcommitted to other projects, a lack of understanding about how ads.txt could benefit them and a lack of clarity about the impact. (Some publishers also weren’t crazy about exposing all the ways buyers could get onto their site outside of direct sales.) “Even one or two months ago, it was slow going,” said Dennis Buchheim, svp and gm of the IAB Tech Lab, noting that ads.txt has since become one of the Tech Lab’s fastest-growing initiatives. “People were saying good things, but not necessarily acting on it.” Google isn’t alone in pushing for ads.txt, so it can be difficult to separate correlation from causation when trying to determine what prompted so many publishers to create ads.txt files recently. Some ad buyers have said they won’t buy from publishers without ads.txt by the end of year, ad industry lobbyists support ads.txt and ad tech firms like AppNexus and MediaMath have created tools around the initiative. A few publisher execs have also clamored for more adoption of ads.txt to protect media brands from fraudsters, and ads.txt has become a buzzword at industry events. All of these factors likely helped goose adoption rates, but none of these other organizations have Google’s power. Before Google announced it would use ads.txt files to filter unauthorized inventory, just 20 percent of the publishers that work with ad tech firm Advelvet had ads.txt files, said Murat Deligoz, CEO of Advelvet, which helps publishers set price floors in Google’s ad exchange. Now, all the publishers that work directly with Deligoz’s company have ads.txt files. “Google is definitely the force to get ads.txt up and running,” he said. In the past six weeks, Google announced that its DoubleClick Ad Exchange, AdSense network and demand-side platform DoubleClick Bid Manager will begin using ads.txt files to filter unauthorized inventory. For now, publishers without an ads.txt file can still sell their inventory through these channels. But if a publisher does have an ads.txt file, Google will block unauthorized vendors not listed in the file from selling the publisher’s inventory, said Pooja Kapoor, Google’s head of programmatic global strategy. “I believe that Google should get most of the credit [for the increase in ads.txt adoption] because until the DoubleClick Bid Manager mandate went out a few weeks ago, many publishers, though not all, were just playing a waiting game,” said Michael Stoeckel, vp of global tech strategy at Prohaska Consulting. Aside from the public announcements, Google has worked in the background to push ads.txt. In mid-October, Google sent emails to publishers using its DoubleClick exchange that said publishers should update their ads.txt files “in order to prevent impact to your earnings.” In the past month, Google’s ad server added an ads.txt management tab to its dashboard that shows publishers which sellers are listing their domains without authorization, according to a publishing source requesting anonymity. Last week, Google launched a tool that scans publishers’ ad calls and spits out ads.txt files for them based on who it thinks is authorized to sell their inventory, Kapoor said. Publishers are encouraged to fact-check and tweak these files. The idea isn’t to set a publisher’s ads.txt file in stone but instead to remove friction to help it start one. Google’s recent moves regarding ads.txt can be seen as the first steps that ultimately culminate with Google requiring ads.txt files from publishers before they can sell inventory through Google platforms. Google has discussed requiring ads.txt files from publishers, but no timeline exists for making such a move since ad buyers and sellers are just beginning to account for ads.txt in their transactions, Kapoor said. “There’s no reason why we as an industry should monetize counterfeit inventory,” Kapoor said. Google’s ability to help push ads.txt adoption is just one recent example that shows the search giant’s influence in the media industry. When Google ended its first-click free policy that required subscription-based publishers to let readers see at least three free articles in order to have the publishers’ content surfaced in search, publishers breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Google’s plan to turn off the sound on autoplay videos and unleash an ad-blocking version of its Chrome browser in 2018 has concerned publishers. Since Google owns the most popular ad exchange, DSP and ad server in the ad industry, it wants to prevent further erosion in the trust in programmatic. Google’s ad exchange is listed on nearly 14,000 ads.txt files, which is 50 percent more files than the second-most popular exchange AppNexus has, according to ad measurement company Pixalate. Propping up trust through initiatives like ads.txt is one way for the search giant to encourage ad buyers to keep sending dollars through programmatic platforms, which is an area Google dominates. Although publishers and advertisers alike have wearied of the power that platforms like Google and Facebook possess, the industry is welcoming Google’s push for ads.txt adoption. Liane Nadeau, director of programmatic at ad agency DigitasLBi, called Google’s backing of ads.txt “a great step.” Slate adopted ads.txt in September a few weeks before Google announced its DSP would start using ads.txt files to filter unauthorized sellers, said Dan Check, vice chairman of The Slate Group. While Google wasn’t the main catalyst to nudge Slate to use ads.txt, Check recognized and supported Google’s use of its influence to push for industrywide ads.txt adoption. “It can be good to have a stick, waved judiciously, in cases like this,” he said.