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GOP split over fixing or gutting Obamacare as deadline looms | Republicans are paralyzed over what to do about health care, caught between a bipartisan effort to shore up Obamacare and the opportunity to take one last swing at their years-long promise to repeal the law.
| http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/12/congress-obamacare-republicans-funding-242620 | 2017-09-13 09:41:50.207000 | “I don’t see it,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who backs the block grant proposal set to be introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), said on Wednesday. “I don’t see voting on doing it one more time.”
Shot back Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who came to prominence attacking Obamacare: “I think we are much closer to getting this done than many outside observers believe. I think we’ve got 45-46 votes in the Senate.”
But it has always been the last five votes that have stymied action on Obamacare repeal, and 46 votes isn’t close enough for GOP leaders to reopen the painful wound left by July’s failure to pass even a slimmed down Obamacare repeal bill.
The problem for McConnell is that the alternative doesn’t seem to be taking off either.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is trying to work with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on a bill to shore up the insurance markets, but the two health committee leaders are already at odds over including looser regulations with the package. Without regulatory reform, many Republicans argue, the bill amounts to a giveaway to the insurance industry.
“All I see so far are suggestions for further bailouts of insurance companies and no real reform,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). He said it “may be” better to do nothing at all.
Alexander said Tuesday that he wants to have some kind of plan “in our minds by early next week in order to be able to hand it to Senator McConnell and [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer in time to deal with it before the end of the month.”
So far, Alexander is looking at a bill that would fund Obamacare’s cost-sharing program for two years, allow for people to buy “catastrophic” health care plans that were restricted under Obamacare and make changes to a state waiver program. The waivers, dubbed 1332s, have proven to be the most controversial element, as Democrats say the changes shouldn’t eliminate consumer protections and Republicans say structural changes are needed to reduce costs in the health system.
McConnell on Tuesday refused to rule out votes on either a repeal or a fix of Obamacare, wary of picking sides among his caucus and aware that both proposals divide the Senate GOP.
“The way forward as of today is unclear,” he told reporters.
But doing nothing at all seems an equally bad option.
Insurance companies make final decisions on their 2018 plans at the end of the month, and inaction seems likely to cause a premium spike. Congress would also be ceding more authority to President Donald Trump, who currently threatens to withhold Obamacare subsidies on a monthly basis, a move that could cripple the insurance markets and allow Democrats to blame the GOP for high premiums.
Senate Republicans also are still stewing over the failure of their July repeal effort. Cassidy, Graham and two other senators will begin a final push for their block grant approach at a Wednesday news conference. Senators say their voters are sick of hearing excuses and need to see some action.
“My constituents want to see Obamacare repealed. But the votes aren’t there right now,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).
Cruz, Graham, Cassidy and their allies are trying to change that narrative, and they believe that stated interest by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — who with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) killed the GOP’s “skinny” bill — could help get them to 50 votes. They also see an opening on the calendar: The Senate is likely to have a window for another repeal vote at the end of month, once the chamber passes the defense bill it is currently debating.
But some Democrats are skeptical that McCain, who opposed the previous bill in part because it was rushed to the floor, could back Graham-Cassidy, which is being introduced less than three weeks before the deadline for passage.
“Anybody that said that they want regular order can’t vote for a bill when regular order is literally playing out before your eyes,” Sen. Chris Murphy said of the health committee’s process. “How on earth do you short circuit a bill and undercut Lamar Alexander?”
But with the budget reconciliation tool to evade a filibuster about to expire, pressure is increasing from the White House and among rank-and-file GOP senators to give repeal another try. Trump has repeatedly needled McConnell and his members over this summer’s failure.
And that requires Republicans to keep the door cracked for another repeal vote this month.
“It’s not done. It’s still a live round out there,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). “It’s pretty slim, but there’s a chance.”
The block grant plan would likely cut hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending and potentially leave millions more uninsured, a problem for the more moderate Republicans. But Graham and Cassidy are running into resistance from conservatives because the bill keeps some of Obamacare’s taxes and regulations.
The main selling point to the right is that the bill is better than allowing the fast-track power to lapse with nothing to show for it.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says that’s not enough for him.
“Keep all the Obamacare taxes? Keep most of the Obamacare regulations? And then give some sort of pretense to giving state control? They leave all the regulations in place as far as I’m concerned. It sounds to me like a bad idea,” Paul said Monday. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I’ve heard nobody talking about it.”
Heritage Action spokesman Dan Holler said the conservative advocacy group is waiting to see details but prior versions of the bill were “far off the mark from what conservatives had anticipated” from the GOP Obamacare repeal effort.
“What they proposed in the summer had some pretty big downfalls — keeping most of the taxes,” Holler said. “But there were elements of good things in there too [such as] allowing states to be flexible.”
Conservatives are even less likely to support the Alexander-Murray effort, but the bipartisan duo was never going to get the most conservative members of the Republican Conference. Instead, the bill would likely pass with a mix of Democratic votes and centrist Republicans, if McConnell decides to bring it to the floor.
“We need cost-sharing. We need it soon,” Schumer said. “Sens. Alexander and Murray are working on a compromise proposal, which we hope will be ready very soon. And we can move that, not some effort to repeal.” |
AAFP Debates Medical Aid-in-Dying Laws | Some family physicians want the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to spike the term "assisted suicide" and recognize medical aid-in-dying as "an ethical, personal, end-of-life decision."
| http://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/aafp/67840 | 2017-09-13 09:35:52.160000 | SAN ANTONIO -- Some family physicians want the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to spike the term "assisted suicide" and recognize medical aid-in-dying as "an ethical, personal, end-of-life decision."
California delegates presented and argued for their resolution here at the AAFP's Congress of Delegates meeting, inciting vigorous debate on Monday afternoon.
While the AAFP currently abides by the American Medical Association's code of ethics -- and in 20 years the AMA has not altered its position on the issue -- Heather Paladine, MD, a New York delegate, and sponsor of the "ethical" resolution said the AAFP should take the lead. Others "wholeheartedly" agreed.
"To use the term 'assisted suicide' is arrogant and I also believe it's judgmental. We as physicians do not have the right nor the power to decide what life is and the quality of that life for a patient," said Karla Booker, MD, an alternate delegate from Georgia, who noted that she wasn't willing to "stand by" as her husband suffered from terminal lung cancer.
Critics of the resolution said it directly contradicts the Hippocratic Oath and could lead to a "slippery slope." Others opposed the resolutions arguing that the term "medical aid-in-dying" is inaccurate, since hospice care providers also help patients through the dying process, minus the "lethal prescription."
Delegates also explored arguments for repealing the Hyde amendment, endorsing a single-payer system and improving the public's perception of physicians in relation to opioids.
The Hyde Amendment prohibits the federal government from providing coverage for abortion, and delegates from California want it scrapped. They argued that health plans funded by the states or the federal government that offer coverage for continuing a pregnancy should also provide coverage for ending a pregnancy.
Not everyone agreed.
"The murder of a child has not yet been defined as healthcare," said James "Jim" Taylor, MD, an alternate delegate from Louisiana, who added that now is not the time to bring up a "settled issue."
Wanda Filer, MD, board chair for the AAFP, speaking neither for or against, said the group typically opposes laws when they are applied in ways that restrict patients' access to legal medical services.
However, Filer suggested that a separate resolution, proffered by New York, which aimed to prohibit laws that ban or limit telemedicine's use for medication abortion, would likely need further study, due to "complicated and variable" state laws.
California, Colorado, Illinois, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine all put forward some version of a resolution supporting healthcare as a human right.
Taylor, a Louisiana alternate delegate, opposed the idea. " If this is a right, that creates an open-ended demand on your labor," he said, warning members to be careful what they wish for.
However, Filer recommended the resolution be referred "until we have a sense of where our membership resides."
Lastly, a resolution to "Stop the Blame the Doctors Game," sponsored by Mississippi, and aiming to engage public relations staff to reframe public perception of physicians' role in the opioid epidemic, was panned by some delegates.
"This is a multifactorial problem, and we don't want to lower ourselves to that level," said Domenic Casablanca, MD, a Connecticut delegate.
The AAFP Congress will review these and other resolutions when it re-convenes Tuesday to begin voting on proposed new policies.
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Hospice care is short and may start later than needed | Older adults are admitted to hospice for short duration despite experiencing symptoms months prior to the end of life, according to a Yale-led study. The finding highlights the need for earlier hospice admission or other strategies to address increasing symptoms and disability at the end of life, the researchers said.
| https://news.yale.edu/2017/09/12/hospice-care-short-and-may-start-later-needed | 2017-09-13 09:33:21.803000 | Older adults are admitted to hospice for short duration despite experiencing symptoms months prior to the end of life, according to a Yale-led study. The finding highlights the need for earlier hospice admission or other strategies to address increasing symptoms and disability at the end of life, the researchers said.
The study was published on September 12 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The researchers examined information from a study of 562 people, aged 70 and older, who were not disabled when the study began but died over the following 16 years. Of these individuals, 244 (43.4 percent) were admitted to hospice during the last year of life. They were slightly older and more likely to have cognitive impairments (problems thinking and making decisions) than older adults who weren’t admitted to hospice.
The researchers found that cancer and advanced dementia were the conditions that most often resulted in hospice admission. Older adults who were frail were least likely to be admitted to hospice. The most common condition leading to death was frailty, followed by organ failure, advanced dementia, and cancer.
The study also found that the duration of hospice care was less than 13 days for half of the study participants. This short duration suggests that healthcare providers might need to consider discussing referrals to hospice sooner with people who are approaching the end of their lives. Alternatively, providers may need to develop and test other ways to reduce the high burden of distressing symptoms and disability at the end of life, said the researchers.
“Failing or delaying to refer older persons to hospice at the end of life can place a high burden on caregivers and result in patient suffering,” said Dr. Thomas Gill, the Humana Foundation Professor of Medicine and the study’s first author.
Referral to hospice at the end of life should be based on an older adult’s burden of pain and other distressing symptoms, suggest the researchers. Those symptoms include fatigue, nausea, depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and difficulty with memory, among others.
Study authors are Dr. Ling Han, Linda Leo-Summers, Dr. Evelyne A. Gahbauer, and Heather G. Allore.
The work for this report was funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging. The study was conducted at the Yale Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. |
Non-traditional teachers highly value digital learning tools | More than half of US teachers believe that digital technology is helping students take "greater ownership" of their education compared to traditional methods, according to a report by Project Tomorrow. The study formed part of the 2016 Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning, which surveyed more than 500,000 K-12 students, teachers, administrators and parents. "Those teaching in new classroom models - flipped, blended and virtual - are pointing the way for how technology can actually change teaching and learning", said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow.
| https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/09/12/tech-savvy-teachers-value-digital-tools-for-personalized-learning.aspx | 2017-09-13 09:26:59.407000 | Research
Teachers in Non-Traditional Classrooms Value Digital Tools for Personalized Learning
Teachers in flipped, blended and virtual classrooms see greater value in digital learning tools than their counterparts in traditional classrooms — in particular for personalized learning.
According to a new report released by Project Tomorrow, more educators in non-traditional classrooms indicated that, thanks to technology, "they are now providing students with more individualized attention, creating more student-centered learning experiences, helping my students become self-directed learners," and 53 percent said the use of tech "results in students taking greater ownership of their own learning," compared with about a third of educators in traditional classrooms.
The data were released as part of a Congressional briefing by Project Tomorrow, compiled from information collected for the 2016 Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning, which included input from more than 500,000 K-12 students, teachers, administrators and parents. (Registration for the 2017 Speak Up Survey is open now; input will be collected from Oct. 16, 2017 to Jan. 19, 2018.)
"The opportunities technology presents to transform learning have yet to be fully explored and implemented in classrooms across the country," said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, in a statement released to coincide with the report. "Speak Up data continues to show evidence of external indicators of change, but also indicate the lack of real systematic changes in activities, attitudes or aspirations of teachers. Those teaching in new classroom models — flipped, blended and virtual — are pointing the way for how technology can actually change teaching and learning."
Further information can be found at tomorrow.org/speakup. |
Start-up Sophia Genetics raises $30m for AI cancer diagnosis | Swiss start-up Sophia Genetics has raised $30m in a funding round led by London-based Balderton Capital, one Europe's largest venture capital firms, and featuring participation from 360 Capital Partners, Invoke Capital and Alychlo. Sophia Genetics, founded by a group of academics from Stanford University in 2011, uses artificial intelligence to analyse the human genome and diagnose a range of illnesses, including cancer and metabolic disorders. The company recently expanded to offer liquid biopsies through an app.
| http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/indyventure/sophia-genetics-startup-ai-cancer-diagnosis-investor-balderton-capital-london-a7943151.html | 2017-09-13 09:21:17.900000 | For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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
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A startup that’s using artificial intelligence to help analyse the human genome and then diagnose illnesses like cancer and metabolic disorders, has raised $30m in a recent funding round.
Sophia Genetics, which was founded in 2011 by academics from Stanford University and Switzerland, provides over 330 hospitals in more than 50 countries with software to analyse genomic profiles and diagnose patients.
It recently expanded into so-called liquid biopsies, offering an app that can help diagnose cancer by analysing DNA and tumour cells in blood, urine, cerebral spinal fluid and other liquid samples.
The latest funding round was led by London-based Balderton Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in Europe. Balderton manages around $2.3bn in assets and has invested in more than 100 companies since 2000, including Betfair, before it publicly listed, and LOVEFiLM, before it was sold to Amazon in 2011.
Other investors that participated in the latest funding round include 360o Capital Partners, entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s Invoke Capital and Alychlo, which was started by Belgian pharmaceutical entrepreneur Marc Coucke.
“As diagnostic kits and sequencers become cheaper and more powerful, we believe that there is an opportunity to build the defining software layer on top of these technologies in genomics, just as Windows did for PCs and Android has for smartphones, and Sophia is already leading in this field,” said James Wise, a partner at Balderton Capital.
Jurgi Camblong, chief executive and co-founded of Sophia said that the group aims to break down the “information silos in healthcare, meaning that the information from a patient in London or Paris can for instance help better diagnose and treat a patient in Lagos or Rio”. |
US researchers link biofuel production decline to drought | Drought may cause bioenergy crops to produce far less beneficial fuel, according to a recent scientific study. Researchers looking into the impact of the 2012 drought in the US Midwest found that sugars had built up in bioenergy crops, inhibiting the production of biofuel and instead creating highly toxic compounds. The research, the first to link changes in climate conditions with crop growth and their effect on biofuel production, concluded that "fluctuations in precipitation and water availability must be mitigated" to develop sustainable bioenergy production systems.
| https://phys.org/news/2017-09-consequences-drought-stress-biofuels.html#jCp | 2017-09-13 09:09:16.453000 | From field to fuel. The switchgrass conversion process. Credit: Matthew Wishiewski
Plant-derived sustainable fuel sources could contribute to near-term U.S. energy security and independence. However, weather conditions could greatly affect crop yields. In this study, researchers examined the effect of weather on biofuel production by comparing switchgrass and corn stover harvested after a year of major drought and after 2 years of normal precipitation. They found that the plants produced more sugar, but the sugar changed during pretreatment and produced toxic compounds rather than the desired fuels.
The study is the first linking changes in rainfall and other conditions during crop growth to potential detrimental effects on biofuels. The work underscores the need to develop production systems that can tolerate sugars produced under stress and turn those sugars into the desired biofuels.
In response to the 2012 severe Midwestern drought, soluble sugar accumulated in switchgrass at significantly higher levels in comparison to non-drought years. The sugars were chemically changed during the pretreatment stage, the step that opens up the physical structure of the plant cell wall. The soluble sugars chemically changed by reacting with the ammonia-based pretreatment chemicals to form highly toxic compounds known as imidazoles and pyrazines. The formation of toxic compounds during the pretreatment stage inhibited conversion, the final step where intermediates such as sugars are fermented into biofuel by microorganisms, such as the microbe S. cerevisiae.
However, it may be possible to overcome this issue by 1) removing the soluble sugars before pretreatment or 2) using microbial strains resistant to the toxic effects of imidazoles and pyrazines. This study demonstrates that while there are benefits to growing bioenergy crops on marginal lands to avoid competition with food crops, the plants grown there may experience higher levels of stress resulting in deleterious impacts on microbes during biofuel production. To develop sustainable biofuel production systems, the deleterious effects of stress, such as fluctuations in precipitation and water availability, must be mitigated. This research helps to provide an understanding of the effects of drought stress on switchgrass.
More information: Rebecca Garlock Ong et al. Inhibition of microbial biofuel production in drought-stressed switchgrass hydrolysate, Biotechnology for Biofuels (2016). DOI: 10.1186/s13068-016-0657-0 Journal information: Biotechnology for Biofuels |
Ieso lands $24m for AI-driven virtual behavioural therapy | UK-based firm Ieso Digital Health has secured $24m in a funding round led by venture capital firms Draper Esprit and Touchstone Innovations. Ieso aims to become a global leader in mental health delivery with its innovative and proven cognitive behavioral therapy. Delivered via text-messaging in a secure virtual room, the data from each session is analysed and machine learning is used to help teach therapists best practices. The new funding will be used to scale its technology in the UK and the US.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/ieso-digital-health-gets-24m-ai-optimized-online-therapy | 2017-09-13 09:04:47.060000 | Ieso Digital Health, a Cambridge, UK-based digital behavioral health company, has raised $24 million in a new round of funding led by European VC firms Draper Esprit and Touchstone Innovations.
The company offers cognitive behavioral therapy via text-based messaging that takes place in a secure virtual room. Ieso collects data from sessions and uses machine learning to continue training its therapists in best practices.
“This financing is a great vote of confidence in Ieso’s ability to become a global leader in mental health delivery and our technology which lies at the intersection of online evidence-based CBT, dynamic artificial intelligence learning, real time therapist support, and mobile accessibility, ultimately creating high quality, accessible CBT therapy,” Dan Clark, Ieso’s CEO, said in a statement. “Up to 60 percent of people in the US alone have unmet behavioral health needs. This presents a major opportunity for Ieso to make a radical impact on healthcare outcomes and costs. With our technology and clinical data science we are simultaneously improving patient outcomes and reducing costs to the healthcare system.”
Ieso offers its services directly in some markets, but also works with health plans and employers. The company will use the funding to expand and scale its technology in the US and UK.
The company’s methodology was validated in a 2009 study in The Lancet. The study did show that online CBT improved depression recovery rates, but notably the intervention group received that therapy in addition to their regular care.
“Because of its focus on clinical results, Ieso has been at the forefront of the clear and long overdue movement from volume to value based reimbursement,” continued Clark. “Put simply, unlike the existing subscriber-based services, Ieso only does well, if the patient does well.”
Behavioral health is a hot topic for digital health these days, and a number of companies in the space have received large funding rounds in the space just recently.
Behavioral health technology company AbleTo secured $36.6 million in a round led by Bain Capital Ventures last month. Talkspace, another online therapy company, raised $31 million last week in a round led by Qumra Capital. |
Instagram apologises after removing image of child with deformity | Instagram has apologised after removing a photograph of a child with a facial deformity in response to a user complaint. Twelve-year old Harry Beswick has Goldenhar syndrome, which means he was born without a left eye, eye socket, nostril and ear. Beswick’s mother posted a photograph of Harry without his prosthetic eye, which was judged to breach community guidelines by the content moderation team. Instagram stated that the photograph had been removed due to bullying, after the misinterpretation of an accompanying comment. Following complaints by Harry’s mother and other users, the image was restored and an apology issued. | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/12/instagram-harry-beswick-photo-removed | 2017-09-13 09:02:26.360000 | Instagram has apologized for taking down a photo of a boy with a facial disfigurement after another user reported it to the app’s content moderation team.
Twelve-year-old Harry Beswick was born with Goldenhar syndrome, which means he has no left eye, eye socket, nostril or left ear. His mother, Charlie, runs a parenting blog and Instagram account where she posts about parenting Harry and his twin brother Oliver.
Beswick posted a photo to Instagram in which Harry was not wearing his prosthetic eye. According to Charlie, another Instagram user reported the image, and when Instagram’s content moderation team reviewed it, they decided it breached community guidelines. The picture was removed.
Someone is reporting my son's face & #Instagram agree saying it doesn't meet their guidelines before removing it. RT to support me in this! pic.twitter.com/XxOvthBT5O — Charlie Beswick (@ouralteredlife) September 12, 2017
Beswick complained about the decision on social media, with a tweet that was shared thousands of times. In a longer Facebook post, she wrote: “What do you see when you look at my boy? I see the most beautiful smile, wonderful heart and purest love. Sadly some people on Instagram feel that it’s too much to look at and have reported a picture of him (again).
“I’m beyond disgusted. Instagram need to rectify this discrimination!”
Instagram’s community guidelines ban photos deemed “inappropriate for a diverse audience” including those that depict nudity, celebrate organized crime or terrorism, or glorify self-injury. The app also bans content used to bully or harass anyone because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disability or injury.
In this case, the photo was removed for bullying, possibly because the reviewer misinterpreted the lighthearted comment that accompanied it as offensive.
Many people contacted Instagram to express outrage over the decision, and the photo was restored.
“We mistakenly removed the photo, but quickly restored it as soon as the mistake was brought to our attention,” said an Instagram spokeswoman. “We have apologized to the family.”
Once the photo was restored, Beswick, who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, edited the description to read: “Note to the person who reported the last image of my son like this. It’s his face. If you’re offended then scroll past. Shame on you!”
Instagram has a team of content moderators, called community operations analysts, who review millions of reports from users and automated systems a week.
This is not the first time they’ve made a mistake. In March, the photo blogger Morgan Bartley’s 110-pound weight loss was reported and removed.
“It sucks that people express negativity toward something with only positive intentions,” she wrote once the picture was restored.
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Instagram – and its parent company, Facebook – have also waged a continuing battle against the female nipple. This led to a campaign in 2015 that encouraged women to photoshop male nipples on to their topless photos to test the censorship policy.
Similarly, a trio of advertising students – Evelyn Wyss, Morgan-Lee Wagner and Marco Russo – set up the @genderless_nipples Instagram account in which they post close-up shots of nipples in which it’s impossible to determine the sex of the person they belong to.
In another case, Instagram reportedly confused a cake for a naked breast. |
FA to increase cybersecurity for World Cup in Russia | Officials at the Football Association have tightened their cybersecurity ahead of the World Cup tournament in Russia, amid fears of cyber attacks. The governing body has reportedly strengthened firewalls and introduced encrypted passwords for devices and websites, while players are set to be reminded of guidelines surrounding their use of social media. The move follows the recent hack by Russian group Fancy Bear, in which information about players who had failed drugs tests in 2015 was leaked.
| http://www.businesscloud.co.uk/news/fa-increases-cyber-security-over-world-cup-concerns | 2017-09-13 08:56:32.687000 | The Football Association is increasing cyber security ahead of next summer’s World Cup due to hacking concerns.
The governing body is concerned that sensitive information such as injury, squad selection and tactical details could be exposed during the tournament in Russia.
The advice is understood to have been put into action by the FA already, but worries over data theft have increased following last month’s Fancy Bears hack regarding the use of banned medicines in football.
The hacking group claimed the information showed that 160 players had failed drugs tests in 2015, with the number rising to 200 the following year.
The FA has written to Fifa with its concerns about IT security, and is thought to be particularly concerned about the leaking of its own correspondence with the governing body.
An email from FA head of integrity Jenni Kennedy, which revealed details regarding four anti-doping cases in May 2017, was released in the August hack.
In response to the FA’s letter, a Fifa spokesman said: “Fifa has informed the FA that [it] remains committed to preventing security attacks in general and that, with respect to the Fancy Bears attack in particular, it is presently investigating the incident to ascertain whether Fifa’s infrastructure was compromised.
“Such investigation is still ongoing. For the purposes of computer security in general, Fifa is itself relying on expert advice from third parties.
“It is for this reason that Fifa cannot and does not provide any computer security advice to third parties.”
Bryan Campbell, senior security researcher at Fujitsu UK & Ireland believes that the cyber security lessons learned from the World Cup can be put in place for any business.
“The steps taken by the FA to strengthen its cybersecurity ahead of the 2018 World Cup are equally simple and effective,” he said.
“It’s been known that hackers can exploit Wi-Fi connections to compromise or steal user data, and consumers have been warned on numerous occasions not to access unknown Wi-Fi sources.
“Now that the FA will provide its own internet access and staff and players have been asked not to use Wi-Fi in hotels or cafes, hopefully we can see the general public become more aware of this danger and avoid putting their data at risk.
“The FA also advised players to think twice before posting anything on social media, such as photos that can reveal details of their location or personal information, and this should apply to all internet users. The greatest defences are often the least exciting, and consist of doing the basic IT housekeeping well.
“These efforts should not be limited to one country, and instead have to become a regular occurrence for organisations of every size, and in every industry.
“Using the analogy of the World Cup, the same way training becomes a lifestyle and does not begin only after the team has arrived at the tournament, security surrounding operational and technical standards should be well practised before cybercriminal strike next time.
“To prepare for a potential attack, it is vital organisations move to a proactive approach focusing on the integration of threat intelligence and other information sources to provide the context necessary to deal with today’s advanced cyber threats.
“Implementing a strong security education programme underpinned by a robust security framework will allow companies to get on the front foot in combating these types of threats.
“It would also be great to see more companies work together to raise awareness about these easy steps we all can take to protect ourselves online.
“Security is a non-competitive issue, and a team game not an individual sport.”
England, who is top of their World Cup qualifying group, will confirm their place in Russia with victory against Slovenia at Wembley in their next qualifier on 5 October.
FA officials are understood to be increasingly concerned about IT security in Russia, and have been boosting cyber counter-measures.
Practical measure have seen the governing body strengthen online firewalls and introduce encrypted passwords for websites and devices.Players are also expected to be reminded of existing guidelines relating to their use of social media. |
Twitter aims to be top platform for video content in Asia Pacific | Social media site Twitter is seeking to become the "platform of choice" for consumers seeking premium content in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, after agreeing a raft of partnerships with broadcasters, including Bloomberg, KBS in Asia Pacific, Riot Games and Fox Sports Asia, according to Maya Hari, Twitter’s managing director for APAC. She said advertisers would be offered pre-roll and mid-roll ads on its live feed, and added Twitter would focus on "distribution, conversation and engagement", and leave content creation to its partners.
| http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/13/we-will-become-the-platform-choice-premium-content-says-twitter-managing-director | 2017-09-13 08:45:58.610000 | Twitter has announced a slate of over 35 premium video content partnerships with the likes of Bloomberg, Fox Sports Asia, Riot Games and KBS in Asia Pacific and will offer in-stream video advertising to advertisers, starting with Australia.
Speaking to The Drum on the sidelines of All That Matters 2017, Maya Hari, Twitter’s managing director for Asia Pacific, explains that while these deals are a great value proposition for the audience, the platform wants to build its monetisation strategy around it by offering pre-roll and mid-roll advertising on its live feed.
Transparency issues like viewability and advertising fraud will also be a key part of Twitter’s pitch to advertisers, according to Hari.
“We offer the ability to do pre-roll advertising for snippet and highlights videos. This is for brands who want brand safe, premium content to associate with, while still getting social engagement out of it, so this the perfect opportunity for them,” says Hari.
“Brand safety and ad fraud are things that are important to our advertisers which we have taken care of in building our platform and product.
“In the regular format, we follow the IAB viewability standard and we also have a more stringent standard that we allow for 100% in-frame viewability at three seconds, which is what we call the 'Twitter standard', where we give the advertisers the option to choose what they want to buy.”
Even as Twitter is building its strategy in video, Hari dismisses the idea that the company has evolved from a social media platform to a purely broadcast company.
She explains that the company look at itself as a news platform that brings the best of what is happening in the world to consumers, but news in a looser definition of what is current, which includes sports, entertainment and current affairs.
“Do we see ourselves as purely a broadcaster? No. Do we see ourselves as a strong, synergistic partner to the content industry? Yes, as we have the distribution and monetisation capabilities,” says Hari.
“We also have an immense amount of data and insights because we are a public platform for these partners to reap rewards from.
“Do we expect Twitter to become the platform of choice for a consumer to go watch premium content in news, sports and entertainment? Absolutely.”
Looking ahead, Hari admits that the prospect of in-house programming is appealing, but is keen to stress that production is not Twitter’s greatest strength and will leave that aspect to content creators at the moment.
“At the moment, we do not have plans for that, but we do work with creators in informal capacity to do interesting interviews and snippets, but not in the long-form format, which is not our core strength,” notes Hari.
“We much rather leave quality production to our content partners and we bring our strength which is the distribution, conversation and engagement, which is a good marriage.
“It is not something that we experimenting with, but things can always change.”
In other parts of the world, Twitter also signed similar deals with BT Sport to showcase its football results, BuzzFeed news to broadcast a daily morning news show and with BBC to stream coverage of Wimbledon. |
AMA demands EHR overhaul, calls them 'poorly designed and implemented' | Primary care physicians spend more than half of their workday typing data on a computer screen and completing other EHR tasks, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin and the American Medical Association.
| http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ama-demands-ehr-overhaul-calls-them-poorly-designed-and-implemented | 2017-09-13 08:45:25.167000 | Primary care physicians spend more than half of their workday typing data on a computer screen and completing other EHR tasks, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin and the American Medical Association.
Researchers gleaned their findings from EHR event logs. Confirmed by direct observation data, they found that during a typical 11.4-hour workday, primary care physicians spent nearly six hours on data entry and other tasks with EHR systems. The study was published in the Annals of Family Medicine.
[Also: Doctors loathe their EHRs, right? Not these physicians]
“This study reveals what many primary care physicians already know – data entry tasks associated with EHR systems are significantly cutting into available time for physicians to engage with patients,” AMA President David O. Barbe, MD, a family physician from Mountain Grove, Missouri, said in a statement.
Barbe blames poorly designed and poorly implemented EHRs for the growing sense among physicians that they are neglecting their patients as they try to keep up with an overload of type-and-click tasks.
Doctor burnout rates are at more than 50 percent, according to Barbe.
An overhaul of EHR systems is needed to address the lack of actionable data for patient care; convoluted workflows that take time away from patients; and long hours added to difficult clinical days just to complete quality reporting and documentation requirements.
The AMA is calling for the implementation of eight priorities for improving EHR usability, calling for a reframing the design and configuration of EHR technology to emphasize the following priorities:
Enhance physicians' ability to provide high-quality patient care
Support team-based care
Promote care coordination
Offer product modularity and reconfigurability
Reduce cognitive workload
Promote data liquidity
Facilitate digital and mobile patient engagement
Expedite user input into product design and post-implementation feedback
The AMA said it recognizes that many of the recommendations can only be implemented in the long-term due to vendor product development life-cycles, limitations of current legacy systems and existing contracts, regulations and institutional policies.
“However, there is a great sense of urgency to improve EHRs because every patient encounter and the physician’s ability to provide high-quality care is affected by the current state of usability,” AMA writes in its call for action.
Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: [email protected] |
FlyPulse partners with FlytBase to deploy defibrillator drones | Swedish drone builder FlyPulse has partnered with Californian drone software developer FlytBase to build a drone capable of delivering automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in emergency situations. The drone will also be able to diagnose life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias and treat them with defibrillation. With global heart disease-related deaths forecast to rise to more than 23.6 million per year by 2030, FlyPulse aims to improve survival rates by rapidly cutting down AED delivery times.
| https://www.suasnews.com/2017/09/flypulse-join-hands-with-flytbase-to-build-a-network-of-life-saving-drones/ | 2017-09-13 08:20:37.583000 | Heart disease remains the No. 1 global cause of death with 17.3 million deaths each year, according to “Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics — 2015 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association.” That number is expected to rise to more than 23.6 million by 2030, the report found.
A minuscule number of these patients get defibrillation in-time and survive. The time between the cardiac arrest and defibrillation of the patient is the most crucial factor for achieving higher survival rates.
FlyPulse, a Sweden based company, is building the next-generation technology, based on their specially-designed drones, to address this challenge. LifeDrone AED is a transportation drone, equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED) — a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the life threatening cardiac arrhythmias and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy.
“FlyPulse develops, sells and provide services with LifeDrone AED to medical and rescue service providers. Our system can improve the survival rate for people with cardiac arrest, where it is difficult to arrive with an AED in time with ambulances or other transportation,” explains Sebastian Wallman, Co-Founder and CEO of FlyPulse.
To reach their goal, FlyPulse needs to build and integrate a number of complex technologies. This includes the mechanical drone system, it’s payload, electronics, and the software to manage complete operations, with a high level of automation. Of course, they have to build a viable business model around this technology and make sure that the technology addresses the requirements of all key stakeholders.
Software plays a critical role in the success of this application. They need to integrate the following major modules:
Flight control and safety
Payload management
Cloud connectivity for remote telemetry and control
Fleet management through a centralized dashboard
Live video streaming for situational awareness and remote patient monitoring
Collision avoidance and airspace management
Integration with first responders’ applications, emergency help lines, messaging platforms
Authentication, security and fail-safe management
Custom user and operator mobile/web apps with status updates
After careful evaluation of their options, FlyPulse decided to partner with FlytBase, and leverage its products and expertise, to accelerate their drone application development.
Sebastian Wallman, CEO of FlyPulse, is excited to announce the partnership, “we get a very fast pace in our development with the help of FlytBase team and their products. Partnership with companies like FlytBase gives us the development speed we need.”
FlytBase offers the world’s most advanced drone software development platform, with “intelligence” and “connectivity” as its core features.
FlytOS, its operating system for drones is compatible with the widest range of drones and computer hardware platforms. This enables developers to make their applications agnostic to hardware. It provides a number of other capabilities, like, navigation and control, computer vision, payload management, authentication and security, machine learning, a simulator for testing, SDKs for web/mobile.
FlytBase Cloud extends a number of these capabilities to the cloud. It helps developers manage large fleets of drones, connect over wifi/4G networks, and easily integrate drones with other business applications.
FlytBase has deep expertise in drone technology and has won numbers of start-up awards for their innovation in product and business. They recently graduated from the Cisco Launchpad Accelerator program. Their team of experts has an extensive background in Aerospace, Computer Science, and Robotics.
Sebastian comments, “ very positive, helpful and skilled team. This is one of the most important reasons why we want to work with FlytBase.”
Nitin Gupta, CEO of FlytBase, adds, “FlytBase provides all the critical building-blocks to assist in quick assembly of complex drone applications. We look forward to working closely with FlyPulse team to help them build a successful professional product in the shortest possible time.” |
Lockheed Martin debuts 2 kg tube-launched drone | US defence company Lockheed Martin has unveiled a 2 kg miniature unmanned aircraft system (UAS) dubbed Outrider, which can be hand-launched and fly for more than two hours. Co-developed with UK-based engineering firm Wirth Research, Outrider could enable submarines to stay undetected, or offer military aircraft in a hostile area an "eye in the sky". Lockheed is expecting orders for the device by the end of the year. | http://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/dsei/2017/09/12/outrider-lockheed-debuts-multi-domain-tube-launched-drone/ | 2017-09-13 08:18:19.240000 | LONDON — Lockheed Martin debuted a lightweight, tube-launched, micro unmanned aircraft system designed and built entirely in the U.K. that can be launched from platforms across domains and the services.
Dubbed Outrider, the UAS is 4 inches wide and weighs fewer than 2 kilograms. It can take off from helicopters, vehicles, surface ships and submarines and can also be hand-launched, according to Paul James, Lockheed Martin’s international business development manager for the UAS, who was at DSEI, a defense conference in London, England.
The company displayed its UAS on Tuesday at its booth on the showroom floor and provided footage of the UAS launching — at the press of a button — from a pool of water to simulate its capability to deploy subsurface at periscope depth from a submarine, from a vehicle and by hand.
The UAS has a folding wing structure in order to fit inside of a canister-launching system. Outrider can fly up to 50 knots and can stay aloft for two and a half hours. The payload sits on the back of the UAS and can be used during the day and at night.
Some scenarios Lockheed envisions for the Outrider include giving submarines the ability to stay undetected and to have deep situational awareness to support either a military operation or to get surveillance on shore over large areas, and “that information can come back to the submarine in real time,” James said.
“The same really goes for a military aircraft going through a hostile area where it might need to have an eye in the sky but doesn’t know when it needs to launch it,” he said, “or equally troops carrying hand-launched.”
The UAS is controlled by Lockheed’s common ground control station. James noted many customers that already have Lockheed drones, and said Outrider can fit into their inventories without a new controller entering the mix. The system can also fly completely autonomously in preprogrammed configurations, he added.
The UAS was developed through a partnership with Wirth Research, a U.K.-based engineering company with experience in aerodynamics and composite materials gained from work in the motor-racing world, James said.
Lockheed is poised to sell Outrider now, according to James, and since it was developed in the U.K. and can be sold in an International Traffic in Arms Regulations-free configuration, it “gives us a wide international market” in which to sell the UAS.
James said the company is looking for orders from first customers by year’s end.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College. |
UK government wants to keep EU cyber security links post-Brexit | The UK government will seek to "maintain the broadest possible cooperation" with the European Union’s cyber security working groups after the country leaves the bloc in 2019, according to a position paper on foreign policy and defence. The document sets out Britain's wish to participate in the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security’s cyber security incident response team network and network and information security cooperation group, but adds that the nation and the EU are "vulnerable to attacks on parts of the networks that are essential for the day-to-day running of our countries and economies". | http://www.computerweekly.com/news/450426158/Government-wants-to-remain-in-EU-cyber-security-club-after-Brexit | 2017-09-13 07:56:32.687000 | The UK government will seek to continue to collaborate in-depth with its former European Union (EU) partners on cyber security matters after Brexit.
It hopes to maintain Britain’s participation in the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security’s (Enisa’s) Cybersecurity Incident Response Team (CSIRT) Network and Network and Information Security (NIS) Cooperation Group, according to recently released position paper on foreign policy and defence.
In the document, the government set out a wide range of proposals offering the EU a “deep security partnership” as the region faces a number of significant global threats such as illegal immigration and terrorism, and even raised the prospect of the UK continuing to make financial contributions to EU defence operations.
“The cyber threat the UK and its European allies face from state actors and non-state actors remains significant,” wrote the paper’s authors.
“This threat knows no international boundaries and the UK and European partners operate in a single cyber space. We collectively get stronger when each country improves its cyber defences. But we are vulnerable to attacks on parts of the networks that are essential for the day-to-day running of our countries and economies.”
The UK is already a global leader in the cyber security field, said the government, with last year’s National Security Cyber Strategy reiterating a previous commitment to splash £1.9bn on the UK’s cyber security capabilities.
It said the UK was one of the first nations to make these capabilities available to support Nato operations, with 22 EU member states also being members of the Nato alliance.
The UK has worked consistently with EU partners and other allies on the application of international and human rights law in cyber space and diplomatic efforts to counter malicious online activity, among other things.
Read more about Brexit and cyber security Most UK firms are planning to hire extra staff to help them meet the requirements of the EU’s new GDPR data protection regulation.
The free flow of data after Brexit is essential for UK trade and security, a Lords’ inquiry has found, urging the government to ensure transitional measures are in place.
“Cyber security is a key element of protecting European security and values, and to ensure that European nations remain at the forefront of technology. It will continue to grow in importance,” said the paper.
“The UK is a world leader in cyber security and seeks to maintain the broadest possible cooperation to address the shared cyber security threats that the UK and its European partners face.”
Besides retaining the UK’s participation in the CSIRT network and Cooperation Group, sharing threat information, conducting joint analysis and coordinating investigations into cyber attacks, the government set out a number of other objectives that it will seek to secure agreement on during the ongoing Brexit negotiations.
These include the continuation of collaboration to promote frameworks for conflict prevention, cooperation and stability in cyber space, to support “common prosperity and social well-being”; the continuation of work on developing effective cyber security legislation and international standards and a consistent and robust stance to deter harmful activity; and the continuation of work to encourage the development of the cyber security industry across borders. |
GE develops 4 MW onshore turbines to win market share in Europe | General Electric (GE) has unveiled designs for a 4 MW onshore wind turbine. With a rotor diameter of 158 meters, the turbine is aimed squarely at the European market, where space for wind farms is limited and greater yield from individual turbines is an advantage. The turbine, which generates energy at a lower cost, could help GE to better its sixth place and 8% share of the European onshore-wind market; globally it is number two with 12.7% market share. | https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ge-unveils-a-bigger-better-turbine-aimed-at-european-customers | 2017-09-13 07:45:08.427000 | General Electric’s latest turbine release reaffirms the wind industry’s leading trend: the bigger the turbine, the better.
On Tuesday the company unveiled its 4.8-megawatt turbine, with a rotor diameter of 158 meters, the length of a Boeing 747. The turbine will be among the largest on the market, but likely not for long.
“This is a much larger turbine than what’s typically out there,” said Aaron Barr, a senior consultant with MAKE Consulting. “This new class of 4-megawatt turbines has really just hit the market over the last year-and-a-half, and they’re so new that very few of them have been prototyped to date, but every turbine manufacturer is rushing toward this space.”
The play by GE could make the manufacturer more competitive in the European market, where limited and expensive space for wind farms means bigger turbines are advantageous.
As shown in the chart below from MAKE's global trends report, the European market’s average turbine is expected to climb past 3 megawatts by 2024.
“The European market is quickly racing toward this 4-megawatt installment,” said Barr. “This move to introduce the new larger turbine size is clearly aimed at trying to increase their market share in the European market.”
According to MAKE, GE ranked second in the world for onshore wind in 2016, with 12.7 percent market share. But GE held only 8 percent of market share in Europe, coming in sixth place. Barr said about 80 to 90 percent of GE’s current onshore installs are in the 2-megawatt class. With this innovation, the company could change that.
The announcement comes on the first day of the HUSUM Wind conference in Hamburg, where MAKE expects other platform announcements from competitors like Nordex and Intercon. All are hoping for a larger slice of the blossoming wind market in Europe.
While GE’s new turbine represents a bold move forward for the manufacturer, it also speaks to larger forces at work in the onshore wind industry that are especially observable in Europe.
As turbines get bigger and blades get longer, turbines can produce more energy at lower costs. An August report from MAKE showed turbine sizes steadily climbing globally.
In 2010, 40 percent of onshore turbines were 2 megawatts or more. In 2016, that figure reached 90 percent.
While the growth is more pronounced in Europe, economies of scale mean bigger turbines will also gain in popularity in markets with plentiful, windy space like the United States and Latin America.
According to Barr and several members of GE’s onshore team, the innovations are all geared toward achieving the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE). “That’s the whole name of the game,” said Barr. “You want to maximize the output of every turbine. By doing so, they’re able to limit the LCOE and also generate a lot more energy per turbine.”
While GE has not yet disclosed pricing details, the release of this turbine puts LCOE front and center. “The LCOE race never ends, but our mission is to get out front and stay out front,” said Pete McCabe, GE’s president and CEO of onshore wind business. “This technology will do it.”
The company is now making final decisions on design and production logistics (which presents challenges because the blades are so large), as well as European locations for a prototype install. That installation will be complete before the end of next year. The turbine will be on the market for customers by the end of 2019. |
Apple announces Apple Watch Series 3 | Apple has announced the Apple Watch Series 3, calling it "the ultimate expression of Apple Watch". The device is the company's first to feature long-term evolution (LTE) connectivity, enabling wearers to stream music, send texts and make calls without requiring a smartphone. Apple claims the Series 3 has up to 18 hours of battery life, and all models will include a new dual-core processor, powerful enough to enable conversations with Siri. LTE-enabled versions will cost $399, while Apple and Hermès are set to launch bespoke models, retailing from $1,149. | https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/12/16270442/new-apple-watch-lte-announced-price-release-date-features | 2017-09-13 07:43:49.943000 | Apple announced its Apple Watch Series 3 today, the first to include LTE connectivity. This means that you can now stream music, make phone calls, and send texts without being tethered to your phone.
Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, calls the new device "the ultimate expression of Apple Watch." Aside from the LTE watch, Apple CEO Tim Cook also declared the Apple Watch the "number one watch in the world" (likely in terms of revenue), beating out Rolex, Fossil, and Omega. Cook also said the device experienced 50 percent year-over-year growth, though Apple was characteristically cagey about sharing unit sales numbers.
The new Apple Watch Series 3 costs $399 with cellular connectivity, and $329 without it. It's available in either 33mm or 42mm case sizes. Orders start on September 15th, but the watch will be available on September 22nd. You can check on carrier availability here. The Series 1 now starts at $249. The company didn't mention the Series 2, which is likely being replaced by the non-LTE Series 3.
All models of the Series 3 include a new dual-core processor that Apple says is 70 percent faster, thereby allowing Siri to actually talk. This new W2 chip is said to deliver 85 percent faster Wi-Fi while also being 50 percent more power efficient, which will prove important because of cellular connectivity depleting battery more rapidly. (Apple says the Watch should have up to 18 hours of battery life.)
Williams says that the Apple Watch team had to rethink how it builds its Watch to accommodate LTE. Instead of a conventional antenna, the display itself serves as the antenna, and although users need a SIM, the Series 3 features a smaller, electronic SIM. Still, even with the cellular connectivity, the Series 3 is the same size as the Series 2, although the back is expanded by 0.25mm.
The Series 3 Watch comes in gold, silver, or space gray and is being launched with new band colors and styles, including an updated woven nylon. The cellular version features a red digital crown and an exclusive "explorer" watchface that'll display cellular connection. Hermès and Apple are launching unique models, too, that'll feature designer bands and a watchface inspired by the brand. They start at $1,149.
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There have always been workarounds to LTE. You can, for example, store music locally on an Apple Watch (earlier models had 8GB of internal storage with 2GB allocated for music) and play music that way. The Series 2 Watch also had built-in GPS, which means you didn’t need to have your phone with you to get an accurate reading on workout distances.
However, this is the first smartwatch from Apple that features true connectivity independent of the phone, which presents some existential questions about smartwatches that we can’t answer until we use the device. |
Nissan marketing boss says ad fraud main issue not brand safety | Advertising measurement and fraud are more of a concern than brand safety, according to Roel de Vries, Nissan's global head of marketing and brand strategy. With regard to walled garden issues with Facebook and Google, he said: "The industry, and the big players in the industry, are still not very secure in making sure we only buy the real stuff," and added he worried that money was being poured into "things we are not getting results from" rather than about brand safety issues. Ad fraud is forecast to cost $16.4bn in 2017, according to a World Federation of Advertisers study.
| http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/13/nissan-s-top-marketer-more-worried-about-google-fixing-ad-fraud-brand-safety | 2017-09-13 07:30:09.013000 | The Times' expose into how brands are funding extremist content has provoked action from global marketers to ensure they're not the face of the next brand safety crisis. However, Nissan’s global marketing boss has cautioned that ad fraud is the more damaging problem being overlooked.
That's not to say Roel de Vries hasn't taken the damning ‘brands funding terror’ reports seriously. Alongside the marketers from the UK government, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson, it reviewed its media buying processes and bulked up internal know-how. Speaking to The Drum, the head of brand and marketing applauded how much more time and investment is going into blocking and excluding unsafe and illegal sites.
And thanks to marketers actively tackling the problem, the dial is moving is moving in the right direction. According to the Media Quality Report from Integral Ad Science, brand safety risk in the UK fell from 6.8% in the second half of 2016 to 3.7% in the first half of 2017.
But a more pertinent concern is measurement and fraud, with de Vries warning that despite the promises from Google and Facebook to break down the so-called 'walled gardens' it's still a "risky" area of the marketing mix.
In another blow to Facebook - which is still overcoming reports of mismeasurement on video ads from last year - it was found by one research firm to be claiming to advertisers that it can reach more young people than actually exist in the UK, the US and Australia.
In the UK for example, Facebook says it can reach 7.8 million users aged between 18 and 24, however, the Office of National Statistics notes there were only 5.8 million people in that age group in the whole in the country in 2016.
This is a big problem for Nissan, which was estimated to have spend over $2bn on ads in 2016.
“The industry, and the big players in the industry, are still not very secure in making sure that we only buy the real stuff," said de Vries.
“They are going to fix that over time but in my view it’s still not resolved. I’m more worried about our dollars and our pounds going into things that we are not getting results from as opposed to brand safety.”
Following the fallout of a 2016 media transparency report from the US Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and K2, a recent World Federation of Advertisers Study WFA found that transparency remains the number one priority for almost half (47%) of brands.
The figure forecast to be lost to ad fraud in 2017 currently stands at $16.4bn, and the WFA claims that 40% are developing internal solutions to the problem, highlighting a trend for brining digital buying capabilities in-house or working to a hybrid model.
Nissan has sought to mitigate the risks of an industry grappling with what’s been described by others as a “murky at best fraudulent at worst” digital ecosystem by in-housing its digital media buying.
But away from problems like online safety and viewability, de Vries believes there is a tougher nut to crack – creativity.
While he has recruited in-house digital media specialists, Nissan – unlike other brands – doesn't’ have a dedicated in-house media team. Bringing in more internal data and analytics capabilities are high on the agenda but there are elements of this which are still contracted out to agencies, including OMD which handles the brand's media account.
“My biggest focus now is how we can create agile creative,” he added, giving the example that advancements in digital targeting mean that during the costumer journey Nissan can be faced with over 27 shopper profiles, each in three or four different phases of the purchase consideration – all of whom could potentially buy a car.
“You now need 75 or 80 pieces of creative that still lather up to one message and that’s still going to be a bigger challenge in the future,” de Vries asserted.
With agencies going through an intense period of consolidation, brands have been turning to different models to tackle this step-change – Airbnb for example works to a hybrid in-house/agency model to produce creative content, while others like Unilever have been turning to UGC platforms like Vidsy to produce various iterations of creative campaigns for local markets or building their own in-house content studios.
For Nissan, it's unlikely the latter will be an option, with de Vries putting this down to the company's own internal capabilities. When it comes to creating agile content, however, on the production side the brand is "absolutely" looking at what should be done in-house and what should be outsourced.
Within the wider industry, de Vries is firm in his belief that the model is going to change. From Nissan's point of view, it has "far more" direct relationships with media owners – the Google, Facebook, the Twitter as well as big broadcasters –than it has in the past.
"That trend will continue – some companies will have internal departments for creative and some will keep outsourcing it but in five years time the industry will look completely different. The role of a creative agency, the role of a media agency, the role of data and analytics, the role of a client; all of these things are changing at a rapid pace."
With change, comes opportunity - and discussion around the role of agencies has not gone unnoticed by management consultancies which are snapping at the heels of creative shops. The likes Accenture and Deloitte are increasingly encroaching into ad land’s turf, and while de Vries acknowledged that his brand is using the services of these businesses more, he remains unconvinced of the role they will play in the creative arena.
"Today, you see media companies starting to produce creative, you see more creative companies working across data and analytics – so everybody is jumping on the bandwagon to try and solve these [industry issues] and it’s not clear yet where they will go.
De Vries is aware that everyone "wants a piece of the pie" when it comes to creative; "we need to think about what the role of the agencies will be, and I think in a few years time the agency grid will look completely different." |
Facebook enables retailers to recreate print catalogues on mobile | Facebook has expanded its Collection ad format to include "lifestyle templates". The move allows marketers to display versions of their print catalogues on mobile devices. The full-screen templates allow products to be tagged and let advertisers add a store locator card. The templates can be used to re-engage with consumers who regularly purchase items, although Facebook said the feature would not be used to swamp people with ads.
| http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/facebook-collection-retail-ad-format-lifestyle-templates-catalogue | 2017-09-13 07:18:38.150000 | Facebook has expanded the capabilities of its ‘collection’ ad format, which enables retailers to display their products in a carousel under a video or image-based ad.
Collection, which was launched back in March, has been given the addition of a new creative format called lifestyle templates. This feature enables retailers to bring digital versions of their print catalogues to mobile via a full-screen template.
In addition, the new ad format comes with the ability to tag products directly to help with product discovery, and retailers can add a store locator card to their template to show people where there nearest store is.
Furthermore, the feature can be used to re-engage high intent consumers who have previously engaged with the retailer’s Facebook catalogue. Facebook says it only surfaces product categories to the most relevant people.
“Given the shift to digital, and as eCommerce accounts for more than 50 per cent of our business, innovation is at our core to ensure we continue to tell our brand stories in new formats,” said Felix Carbullido, CMO at kitchenware and home furnishing company Williams-Sonoma. “The lifestyle template for collection is an exciting opportunity to unify our heritage in catalogue with a new lifestyle digital format designed to inspire our customers to discover new products, all on mobile where we know they are spending their time,” |
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon denounces bitcoin as fraud | JP Morgan's CEO Jamie Dimon has said that bitcoin is a 'fraud' that will eventually be closed. He made the remarks in appearances at two conferences in New York on Tuesday, likening the popularity of bitcoin to the tulip bulb craze of the 17th century. Bitcoin initially fell by 2% on his remarks, which he repeated later in the day in another interview. In other remarks, Dimon warned about further declines in trading for JP Morgan, with Q3 trading expected to be down 20% year-on-year.
| https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/12/jpmorgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-raises-flag-on-trading-revenue-sees-20-percent-fall-for-the-third-quarter.html | 2017-09-13 06:26:17.743000 | JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon took a shot at , saying the cryptocurrency "is a fraud."
"It's just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed," Dimon said Tuesday at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor.
Dimon joked that even his daughter bought some bitcoin, looking to cash in on a trend that has seen it soar more than 300 percent this year.
"I'm not saying 'go short bitcoin and sell $100,000 of bitcoin before it goes down," he said. "This is not advice of what to do. My daughter bought bitcoin, it went up and now she thinks she's a genius."
In an appearance at a separate conference earlier in the day, Dimon said bitcoin mania is reminiscent of the tulip bulb craze in the 17th century.
"It's worse than tulip bulbs. It won't end well. Someone is going to get killed," Dimon said at a banking industry conference organized by Barclays. "Currencies have legal support. It will blow up."
Dimon also said he'd "fire in a second" any JPMorgan trader who was trading bitcoin, noting two reasons: "It's against our rules and they are stupid."
Bitcoin fell to its session lows after Dimon's comments. As of 3:01 p.m. in New York, bitcoin traded at $4,106.23, down 2 percent.
Dimon's criticism comes at a time when some of the most well-known figures on Wall Street are starting to embrace the cryptocurrency. Fundstrat's Tom Lee said he sees bitcoin surging to $6,000 next year and value investor Bill Miller reportedly owns bitcoin. |
Syrian hospitals turn to solar power to combat fuel supply risk | Hospitals in Syria are being fitted with solar panels to help secure their energy needs amid uncertainty over fuel supplies. The national electricity network in Syria has been crippled by the civil war, with $5bn of infrastructure destroyed or damaged, leaving hospitals largely reliant on diesel generators. International humanitarian alliance UOSSM began installing solar panels at one hospital at the end of 2016, and the system is expected to provide 30-40% of the facility's energy needs, making it more resilient to future fuel shortages. | http://www.power-technology.com/features/featuresolar-power-for-syria-stepping-away-from-the-fuels-at-the-centre-of-conflicts-5924053/ | 2017-09-13 06:21:57.493000 | Prior to the outbreak of war in 2011, Syria was an electrified nation with 95% of homes connected to a reliable grid system. But after six years this has completely changed. The transmission network and power stations have been destroyed both tactically and accidentally, leaving Syrians predominantly reliant on heavily polluting and expensive diesel generators to keep the lights on.
The lack of power has had a dramatic effect upon people’s lives, and nowhere is this felt more acutely than within hospitals and health facilities. The UOSSM has set about changing this, by providing solar panels to hospitals to ensure respirators, incubators and operating rooms can always be kept going.
A decimated network
Syria was once a power hub, producing enough power not just for domestic use but also for exportation. This was thanks to a network of 15 power plants, including the Aleppo thermal power plant and three hydropower dams; however, since the outbreak of war, $5bn worth of infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged.
“Civilian parts of [the power network] have been destroyed, power generation capacity in power plants has been completely out of service, certain transmission lines also have been destroyed, and a number of transformer stations have been destroyed,” says UOSSM Syria Solar Initiative projects director Tarek Makidssi. “The last comprehensive assessment of the power network conditions within Syria as a whole, showed that within the regime areas a number of them still operate but at a much lower capacity.”
Electricity infrastructure has been specifically targeted by different warring factions. The effects of these tactics have left those within opposition held areas in particular without access to reliable power. As such, most have been turning to alternative sources of power. People have been forced to make their own candles out of fats and rice for light, and have turned to diesel generators for electricity. There are a number of downsides to this, including reliability of supply, cost and pollution. But the people of Syria have been left with no alternative.
“Since the outbreak of war, $5bn worth of infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged.”
Now renewables are increasingly being viewed as a means to securing energy independence. “We see renewables as a way to transition from diesel to increase the resilience of the population, to increase the resilience of critical infrastructure, to reduce dependence of diesel, the commodity at the centre of the war economy, and we see it as the first way to break the cycle of this economy as there is a different alternative,” says Makidssi.
Solar panels for hospitals
The concept of installing solar panels on hospitals was first suggested by the UOSSM in 2013, when it became apparent that hospitals along with other health organisations had to rely solely on diesel generators for power.
“Then, in the middle of 2015, there was a huge diesel cut when the route that usually brought fuel to the area was disputed between different armed groups,” says Makidssi. “That caused the markets to suddenly shrink, which was especially bad for hospitals because there’s only a certain amount that they could actually procure. So at that point, larger NGOs started to actually look at alternative power planning and feasibility studies and primary agencies evaluated some system development work for it which came through last March.”
Work began to install UOSSM’s first solar panels at the end of 2016, and continued throughout the winter into 2017, despite dangerous conditions. The system is now in operation at the hospital, providing a security of supply of power. “It’s a hybrid PV system based on an energy storage system and a diesel generator that runs in parallel,” says Makidssi. “The system is composed of 480 solar PV modules, each at 265W capacity, formulating a 127KW PV system PV capacity.”
“The system throughout the year is expected to generate 30%-40% of the hospital’s total energy use,” Makidssi continues. “This, obviously, is in the standard operating scenario where you do have diesel in the market and you are operating at full capacity in the hospital.” Alternatively, should there be a problem with supply, the solar panels will ensure that key parts of the hospital such as surgical rooms are able to remain active.
A modular system was specifically chosen to ease maintenance and operations, “because you can have certain sections of the system offline and still have the rest of the system operating and providing electricity,” says Makidssi. There were 18 inverters installed within this project.
During installation, the local maintenance team at the hospital were trained to be able to operate the PV system, as well as make basic repairs using locally sourced materials should the panels or other elements become damaged.
Humanitarian solar power
One particular area where renewable power could make a difference is within refugee camps. A recent report titled ‘Heat, Light and Power for Refugees: Saving Lives, Reducing Costs’ by Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, showed that current systems providing energy to displaced populations are economically, environmentally and socially unsustainable. The report claims that in 2014 the cost of household energy usage for displaced peoples was an estimated $2.1bn. This amounted to 3.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent.
Alternatively, the report states that “the widespread introduction of improved cook stoves and basic solar lanterns could save $323m a year in fuel costs in return for a one-time capital investment of $335m for the equipment”.
Along with the economic benefits, there are also clear environmental and safety incentives. Diesel generators, kerosene lamps and wood fires are dangerous. However, governments have been resistant to pursuing renewable power networks within refugee camps, as to do so would accept a level of permanence.
“The widespread introduction of improved cook stoves and basic solar lanterns could save $323m a year in fuel costs in return for a one-time capital investment of $335m for the equipment.”
Renewables, in particular solar, have been making a contribution to relief efforts elsewhere. Following the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, 1.4 million people were in need of immediate help. NGO Sunfarmer set about raising money and providing solar powered water purification to ensure those affected had access to clean water.
Solar lanterns have now been used in the wake of several disasters, including the Haitian earthquake in 2010. Access to clean, safe and economical sources of light has many benefits, not least safety for women and girls to move about at night as they are particularly at risk following disasters.
Solar for Syria?
Looking towards the future, there is hope that solar, amongst other renewable sources, will play an increasingly important role within Syria. UOSSM alone is pursuing five more solar PV projects for hospitals around the country.
“Those hospitals have been selected based on criteria that ensure diversity of medical services that are provided in case of an all diesel outage,” says Makidssi. “We see them as low risk of vandalism; the hospitals were selected after a comprehensive survey of 140 hospitals.”
As Syria moves forwards, a new energy network will have to be practically built up from the ground. While this is a colossal task, it also brings new opportunities regarding which energy sources it will be reliant on. But Syria’s energy priorities remain unclear and dependant on stability. Despite solar powers obvious advantages, there will be challenges to overcome.
Not least is Syria’s inexperience with solar power, something which provided one of the greatest challenges to UOSSM’s project. “Because it’s the first time a project of this scale has been deployed in Syria…sometimes we had problems with material access, with logistics, with the capacities we needed in order to actually deploy the system,” says Makidssi. This lack of experience and easily accessible technology will undoubtedly play a role in the uptake of solar.
A key consideration is Russia and its involvement with the Bashar al-Assad regime’s and Syria. Russia entered the Syrian war in 2013, bombing opposition forces despite US and western condemnation. Its motives have been questioned, and it seems clear that oil plays a role in Russia’s interest in the conflict. The Russian energy company Soyuzneftegaz has a permit for exploration in Syrian waters, and it has been suggested that Assad has signed agreements giving Russia the right to operate regardless of a change of government.
Russia suffered greatly for the downturn in oil prices, and a large portion of its economic policy remains reliant of oil and gas exports. As such, it seems evident that it will be backing oil and gas activity in Syria which would deprioritise renewables such as solar.
Nations recovering from war have found the high CAPEX required by renewables hard to come by, and in the dash to rebuild a country, refurbishments to previous thermal power stations have been favoured. In Iraq, despite the war officially ending in 2011, access to reliable energy remains out of reach. Diesel generators still account for 8% of the country’s total electricity supply and the country is an estimated quarter short of meeting demand. Foreign companies have a monopoly over its oil and gas fields, while alternative potential power sources are largely ignored. As the country endeavour’s to rebuild its economy, investment focus remains firmly with hydrocarbons, a situated Syria could easy fall into.
None of this bodes particularly well for solar power. But some remain optimistic that with stability will come greater decentralisation, and a greater focus on renewables. “Previously we’ve had a very centralised national grid,” says Makidssi, “and in the future there are a number of considerations and a number of points of view about how this will transition in the post-conflict era.
“I personally see it heading more towards decentralisation, perhaps more along the lines of local mini-grids. Syrians can have local renewable energy based mini grids for different villages, or combine three or four villages together to make a mini grid.” |
Talks continue over expanding UK exports of pig trotters to China | Negotiations to allow more British producers to export pig trotters to China are continuing, after three UK facilities were approved to begin supplying the product. While Karro gained approval for exports from its Cookstown plant in Northern Ireland, and Cranswick for its plants in Ballymena and Hull, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is frustrated at the slow pace of approvals. Chinese officials had inspected the sites in 2015, but only gave them the nod in August. Chinese officials said they wish to inspect other facilities individually, meaning any further approvals for exports may not happen until 2018 at the earliest, the AHDB said.
| http://www.pig-world.co.uk/news/efforts-to-continue-to-secure-china-trotter-exports.html | 2017-09-13 06:07:38.760000 | Negotiations will continue on getting permission for more meat plants to export trotters to China, after three plants were granted permission last month.
But it will not be a quick process and might not happen until at least 2018, AHDB Pork strategy director Mick Sloyan told the recent NPA’s producer group meeting.
In August, it was announced that two plants in Northern Ireland – Karro’s Cookstown plant and Cranswick’s Ballymena facility – had been approved for export to China, including trotters. A third plant – Cranswick’s Hull facility, already approved for export to China – was also approved to export trotters.
While this provides a timely boost for the sector, there is a disappointment that the approval for trotters doesn’t apply to other pig meat plants already approved for export to China.
Mr Sloyan explained that the two Northern Ireland plants were inspected by Chinese officials in 2015, along with Cranswick’s Hull factory, initially with a view to wider UK permission for trotters.
But, while the three inspected plants have got the go ahead, the Chinese authorities have now confirmed they want to inspect other plants individually before granting permission.
Mr Sloyan said: “We are pressing to get the rest of the country approved for trotters without the need for inspection. That’s going to be hard work – the chances are there will need to be an inspection visit and that’s not going to happen this year. It may happen next year.”
He praised the work of the British Embassy in Beijing in helping to secure the latest deal, alongside the efforts of UK and Northern Ireland Government officials, AHDB and the meat processors.
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Swedish researchers look to extract lignin from wheat straw | Researchers from the University of Borås in Sweden are developing a method to efficiently turn lignin from waste wheat straw into bio-oil-based products. While the use of lignin-based feedstock in ethanol plants is not new, these projects' low profitability has meant they are unsuitable for commercial production. However, the researchers are still developing the hydrothermal liquefaction process for transforming the lignin into high-value bio-oil. Lignin can also be converted into high-performance carbon fibre, bio-oil and vanillin, researcher Swarnima Agnihotri said. | http://biofuelsdigest.com/nuudigest/2017/09/11/swedes-look-to-valorize-lignin/ | 2017-09-13 06:02:41.880000 | In Sweden, University of Borås researchers are investigating ways to extract and refine lignin from wheat straw for use in industrial applications.
Lignocellulosic ethanol plants currently use lignin to heat and power plants, but high investment costs and low profitability are driving the need to valorize more of fractions.
“If biofuels are to become a reality, we need to realize the industrial potential of lignin and get more value from it,” says UB research Swarnima Agnihotri. “Seeing the complexity and richness of its functional groups, there are various potential applications of lignin by converting it in variety of value added products like high performance carbon fiber, bio-oil and vanillin, to name a few.”
Once the extraction from wheat straw is optimized, the group will work to transform the pure lignin into bio-oil through a hydrothermal liquefaction process.
Agnihotri’s work is part of AGROinLOG, a European Union Horizon 2020 project. |
Swedish researchers look to extract lignin from wheat straw | Researchers from the University of Borås in Sweden are developing a method to efficiently turn lignin from waste wheat straw into bio-oil-based products. While the use of lignin-based feedstock in ethanol plants is not new, these projects' low profitability has meant they are unsuitable for commercial production. However, the researchers are still developing the hydrothermal liquefaction process for transforming the lignin into high-value bio-oil. Lignin can also be converted into high-performance carbon fibre, bio-oil and vanillin, researcher Swarnima Agnihotri said. | https://phys.org/news/2017-09-lignin-industrial-bio-oil.html | 2017-09-13 06:02:41.880000 | Lignin, a waste product in biomass and ethanol production, now finds new value as bio-oil in new products. At the University of Borås, Sweden, a team of researchers has investigated methods to extract and refine lignin for industrial applications.
While the commercial lignocellulose-to-ethanol plants use lignin after pretreatment as biomass feedstock to heat and power plants, in the Horizon 2020 project AGROinLOG, lignin is instead transformed into bio-oil-based products.
The researcher Swarnima Agnihotri has spent a year at the University of Borås refining the methods to extract the lignin from lignin-rich wheat straw. She says, "If biofuels are to become a reality, we need to realize the industrial potential of lignin and get more value from it. Seeing the complexity and richness of its functional groups, there are various potential applications of lignin by converting it in variety of value added products like high performance carbon fibre, bio-oil and vanillin, to name a few."
The project uses an agricultural residue, wheat straw, which is available in surplus in Sweden, and also in other European countries.
What is there to gain for the society or industry from your part of the project?
Wheat straw lignin valorization will add value to the whole process, and in turn provide benefit to industry, as well as further insight in creating value from lignin, which has been considered a waste until now.
Integration of lignocellulose-based feedstock in ethanol plants is not new. There are a number of techniques already producing ethanol from lignocelluloses at commercial scale.
It is the high investment costs and the low profitability of the process which needs to be addressed. The goal with this AGROinLOG project will be to see the possibilities of adding a high valuable byproduct, eg. bio-oil, to the whole production chain, and therefore increase the profitability of the process.
What challenges did you face in the project?
Finding a cost-effective biomass fractionation process was a challenge. There is a lot of ongoing research on pretreatment for a better lignin extraction from lignocelluloses, but still the main challenge is to bring the cost down. The results are interesting and motivating.
What is the next step in the project?
Now, when we have optimized an efficient pretreatment process for effective lignin extraction from wheat straw, we will scale up the process, and the pure lignin obtained will be transformed into bio-oil through a hydrothermal liquefaction process done, that is, extracting liquid and get a concentrated oil. The bio-oil product obtained will be a high valuable byproduct since it can be further upgraded in refineries to obtain green chemicals and biofuels.
Provided by University of Borås |
China's Huawei lures graduates to Japan lab with double pay | China's Huawei Technologies is seeking to lure graduates to work in its new Japanese production research lab with an offer of monthly salaries that are roughly double those paid by local rivals. The company will pay bachelor's degree holders upwards of JPY401,000 ($3,650) per month and monthly salaries for master's degree holders will start at JPY430,000. The move is intended to draw talent that would otherwise opt to work for Japanese rivals, such as SoftBank, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.
| https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/China-s-Huawei-makes-hiring-splash-in-Japan-by-doubling-salaries | 2017-09-13 06:00:25.133000 | TOKYO -- China's Huawei Technologies is causing a stir among young Japanese job seekers by offering monthly salaries of around $4,000 for prospective science and engineering graduates.
Huawei, the world's No. 3 smartphone maker by sales, will set up a major "production research laboratory" in Japan as early as this year, and is determined to hire the best engineers. |
Pollution crackdown dents output in China's Shandong province | China's attempts to curb emissions from energy plants in Shandong province are putting small and medium-sized oil and chemical businesses under pressure as refineries struggle to comply with new standards. While random environmental inspections formerly scrutinised large state-owned facilities, the authorities' targeting of smaller companies has caused 30 independent refineries to shut since mid-July. Additionally, a number of chemical plants making propylene oxide (PO), PVC and rubber tyres in the region have stopped production, according to industry sources and market analysts. The amount of lost production is not known; however, China's imports of PO have risen 40% since the start of the year.
| http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2110983/chinas-war-smog-choking-shandongs-oil-and-chemical | 2017-09-13 05:03:58.393000 | A man rides a scooter along a street in heavy smog in Liaocheng, Shandong. The government’s efforts to improve air quality have led to the closure of dozens of oil and chemical plants in the province. Photo: Reuters |
SA anti-corruption campaign targets KPMG and McKinsey | KPMG faces criticism and its clients being urged to sever ties with the firm over its alleged involvement in controversial business deals in South Africa. The Save South Africa campaign says the company risks "becoming the Bell Pottinger of the auditing profession." It accuses KPMG of being involved in numerous deals by members of the Gupta family, which has faced widespread public criticism amid accusations of corruption in their links to President Zuma's government. McKinsey is also now under scrutiny as its South African operation stands accused of turning a blind eye to corrupt payments made to the Guptas by one of its clients, Eskom. | https://www.standard.co.uk/business/jim-armitage-now-kpmg-and-mckinsey-feel-the-heat-in-south-africa-a3634031.html | 2017-09-13 03:54:47.637000 | T he speed with which anti-business campaigns can snowball in the internet age never ceases to amaze.
Following last week’s implosion of Bell Pottinger over its South African smear campaign for the Gupta family, KPMG is in the line of fire.
The accounting giant is auditor to the Guptas, who are accused of winning state contracts due to their friendship with the president Jacob Zuma. KPMG, anti-Zuma campaigners allege, played a “central role in facilitating state capture”.
Already, stung by virulent social media, several South African companies have distanced themselves from the firm.
The world’s press has picked up on the digital buzz in South Africa, and today KPMG finds itself splashed all over the Financial Times. Desperate to get ahead of the story, KPMG has launched a review into its Gupta work and pledged to “rebuild the public’s trust”, an admission its reputation has been badly damaged.
Next will surely be McKinsey. Its South African operation is accused of turning a blind eye to corrupt payments to the Guptas by the state utility Eskom, a McKinsey client.
McKinsey has launched an independent inquiry into itself, but that won’t stop the clamour. Particularly after Reuters today quoted ex-McKinsey employees saying that local staff warned the firm off the contract as early as 2013. Back in the day, multinationals would have seen little blowback in their important western markets from such African skirmishes.
Now, with Twitter and Facebook having the power to spread bad news globally in milliseconds, a well-organised local campaign in a faraway place can sink a business within weeks.
Bell Pottinger, once famed for its skills in organising such campaigns itself, will not be the last to learn that to its cost.
Barclays battler back
An update from a pal at Barclays’ Canary Wharf tower gives cause for cheer.
Back in March, in the aftermath of the Westminster terror attack, we were looking for positive stories to counter the gloom. We alighted on Barclays in Canary Wharf, where 60 traders were spending the day on a charity effort on the office gym’s StairMasters to “climb Mount Everest”.
Their efforts — which raised a chunky £70,000 — were to support their colleague on European rates sales, Tarun Mathur, who was fighting a gruelling battle with cancer.
I’m delighted to report that Tarun yesterday returned to the bank’s vast dealing room for the first time, to a standing ovation from the whole floor. The noise resounded across the North Colonnade, leaving not a dry eye in the house.
Great to have you back, Tarun. Now, crack on and tell us when the ECB’s putting up rates. |
SA anti-corruption campaign targets KPMG and McKinsey | KPMG faces criticism and its clients being urged to sever ties with the firm over its alleged involvement in controversial business deals in South Africa. The Save South Africa campaign says the company risks "becoming the Bell Pottinger of the auditing profession." It accuses KPMG of being involved in numerous deals by members of the Gupta family, which has faced widespread public criticism amid accusations of corruption in their links to President Zuma's government. McKinsey is also now under scrutiny as its South African operation stands accused of turning a blind eye to corrupt payments made to the Guptas by one of its clients, Eskom. | http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politics/kpmg-could-be-the-next-bell-pottinger--save-sa | 2017-09-13 03:54:47.637000 | Campaign call on corporates to urgently review business relations with auditing firm
KPMG could be the next Bell Pottinger
The Save South Africa campaign calls on corporate South Africa to urgently review business relations with KPMG in light of ongoing revelations about the audit firm’s central role in facilitating state capture -- and to cancel their contracts where possible.
We support demands by other civil society organisations, including FutureSA, for ongoing action and pressure against KPMG, as well as full investigations by regulatory bodies into their relationship with the Gupta family.
Organised business, including formations such as Business Leadership South Africa and Business Unity South Africa, must take a clear stand given that many corporates continue to use KPMG as their auditors despite the revelations. These include British American Tobacco, BHP Billiton and other mining companies, a number of leading financial institutions – including Standard Bank, Old Mutual, Barclays Africa, Absa, Investec and Nedbank – and the JSE itself.
(A full list of South African companies using KPMG for auditing services is published here: http://www.biznews.com/global-investing/2017/08/10/kpmg-gupta-state-capture/)
KPMG was clearly a central player in several controversial Gupta deals, including the acquisition of Optimum coal mine and Shiva uranium mine. It was also involved in “auditing” Linkway Trading‚ which channeled R30m in public money to fund the Gupta wedding in Sun City, and helped Duduzane Zuma and the Guptas set up shop in Dubai by advising on investments and company formation there. |
Insurtech Metromile secures reinsurance package | Pay-per-mile auto insurer Metromile has secured a reinsurance agreement led by Hudson Bermuda. The firm said its use of machine learning, which it utilises in its claims modelling, makes it appealing to reinsurers. Metromile is available in seven US states. The reinsurance agreement will allow the insurtech firm to pursue future growth, according to a company statement. | http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/09/13/463974.htm | 2017-09-13 03:09:06.010000 | Pay-per-mile personal auto insurer Metromile announced a partnership with global reinsurance broker JLT Re for a risk transfer and unique reinsurance agreement. Hudson Bermuda led this reinsurance agreement which also includes MAPFRE RE.
Metromile said the agreement gives it additional leverage for future growth.
Metromile claims that while the industry is grappling with an increase in frequency of claims, its pay-per-mile model creates a hedge against this trend. That makes the company attractive to reinsurers because of the lower volatility in the loss ratio, according to an Preston, CEO, Metromile.
“This reinsurance agreement provides continued validation that the pay-per-mile model is efficient and highly scalable,” said Preston. “It also emphasizes our innovative customer experience and strong retention which is driven by our customers’ desire for technology-first solutions.
Metromile uses machine learning for claims modeling, which lowers risk and further enhances the model’s appeal to reinsurers, according to Preston. Last month Metromile paid its first completely automated claim.
Metromile’s pay-per-mile insurance is currently available in seven states, including California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia. and Washington.
JLT Re’s Insurtech and Transportation teams led by Gregg Holtmeier and David Johnson, worked with Hudson Structured Capital Management and MAPFRE RE to develop the bespoke agreement. JLT Re is part of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc.
Related:
Topics Carriers Reinsurance |
LNG exporter Tellurian buys Haynesville shale assets | Tellurian has agreed to buy 9,200 acres in the Haynesville shale for $85.1m from an unidentified company, the first US firm to secure cheap natural gas for its export terminal by producing the power-plant fuel itself. It eventually wants 40% of the gas supplying its Driftwood LNG facility, due to begin production in 2022, to come from its own wells. | http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/111689-tellurians-new-haynesville-assets-bringing-supply-closer-to-lng-export-project | 2017-09-12 22:25:16.523000 | Houston-based Tellurian Inc. last week veered into the upstream sector, making a deal to buy gassy Haynesville Shale acreage near its planned natural gas export facility in Louisiana.
A subsidiary of Tellurian last Thursday made an $85.1 million pact with a private, undisclosed seller for some producing assets and undeveloped acreage in northern Louisiana.
“Acquisition of natural gas producing assets is integral to our growing business,” said CEO Meg Gentle. She formerly was a top executive at LNG developer Cheniere Energy Inc., co-founded by Tellurian cofounder Charif Souki.
“We expect our full-cycle cost of production and transport to markets will be approximately $2.25/MMBtu, which represents a significant savings to natural gas we will purchase at Henry Hub and other regional liquidity points,” Gentle said.
Included in the transaction, set to close by the end of November, are 9,200 net acres in Red River, DeSoto and Natchitoches parishes, with 138 operated Haynesville and Bossier sand drilling locations. Tellurian estimated the total resource potential at 1.3 Tcf.
The properties now have 19 producing wells with net output of 4 MMcf/d, along with associated midstream facilities that have additional capacity available.
The acreage is 100% held by production and 92% operated, which would allow Tellurian to control the pace of development for its multi-year drilling inventory.
Tellurian is developing the Driftwood LNG export terminal in Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish south of Lake Charles, which would be able to export up to 26 million metric tons/year, requiring up to 4 Bcf/d of feed gas. The design for the project, now set to go online in 2022, includes five plants, each composed of one gas pretreatment unit and four liquefaction units.
A 96-mile pipeline would deliver feed gas to the facility from the interstate pipeline grid, according to the filing with FERC [PF16-6]. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved Driftwood’s pre-filing request in June 2016.
In August 2016, Tellurian merged with privately held Magellan Petroleum Corp.to advance the Driftwood project and other ventures. By late 2016, other takers were coming aboard. In November 2016, GE Oil & Gas made a $25 million preferred equity investment in Tellurian. Last December Paris-based oil major Total SA , which works in the Barnett Shale in North Texas, bought a 23% stake in Tellurian for $207 million.
“Actually owning a stake in production, and doing it much closer to the LNG facility, both secures supply and should minimize transportation costs,” said NGI’s Patrick Rau, director of strategy and research. “Tellurian could take that vertical integration one step further by owning a stake in the production.”
Several local distribution companies have tried to vertically integrate in similar ways via a regulated cost-of-service model, but not all public utility commissions are amenable, Rau said. “There’s no such worry with Tellurian.”
Total’s stake in Telluride is not a new concept. BG Group plc, formerly one of the largest global LNG players now owned by Royal Dutch Shell plc, once had a 50-50 joint venture with Exco Resources Inc.in the Haynesville, and BG also held export capacity at Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility in Texas.
“Having supply close to the export facility was part of the concept there,” Rau said. |
India rejects Russia offer for stake in five Siberian oil fields | India has rejected Russia’s offer of a stake in five more oilfields in the Vankor Cluster in Siberia after state oil firms invested $5.4bn last year on substantial stakes in two Russian fields, according to people with direct knowledge of the negotiations. Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Oil India, IndianOil and Bharat PetroleumBSE together bought 49.9% in Vankor last year for about $4.22 billion from Russian state firm Rosneft. Indian companies also signed a preliminary pact with Rosneft early last year to buy stake in three satellite fields, referred to as the Vankor Cluster.
| http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/india-rejects-russias-stake-sale-offer-in-five-more-siberia-oilfields/articleshow/60399635.cms | 2017-09-12 22:13:53.810000 | NEW DELHI: India has rejected Russia’s offer of stake in five more oilfields in the Vankor Cluster in Siberia as it doesn’t want to concentrate its upstream investments in just one country, people with direct knowledge of the negotiations said. Indian state oil firms are now taking it easy after having invested about $5.4 billion last year to buy substantial stakes in two Russian fields. “We don’t want to put all our eggs in just one basket. Russia can keep offering fields but we can’t keep accepting every offer,” one of the persons cited earlier told ET. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Oil India, IndianOil and Bharat Petroleum together bought 49.9% in Vankor last year for about $4.22 billion from Russian state firm Rosneft. Indian companies also signed a preliminary pact with Rosneft early last year to buy stake in three satellite fields, referred to as the Vankor Cluster. Oil India is leading the negotiations for five state firms, including ONGC, IndianOil, BPCL and HPCL, which are interested in the Vankor cluster. Mid-way through the negotiations, Rosneft had offered to club five more fields in the same region to the three that were already on the table, another person said.These five fields are not developed assets. Indian companies had a preliminary look at the offer and then conveyed to Rosneft that they had no interest in the five new fields being offered and would like to limit their negotiations to just three fields of Suzunskoye, Tagulskoye and Lodochnoye that were already being discussed, he said.This new offer and rejection delayed the negotiation for the Vankor Cluster, which has taken one and a half years and not yet closed, the person cited earlier said. “The evaluation is underway. We have invested enough in Russia, so there is no urgency to quickly seal the deal,” he said. “Besides, there are competing investment opportunities across the globe for Indian oil firms, which have limited capital and wouldn't want to put all of it in just one region.”Investments in Russian fields so far have been a mixed bag, with some of the fields offering rich dividends and others turning out to be dud. Selling stake in oilfields last year brought oil-rich Russia lot of cash, which was useful in dealing with hardship due to sanctions imposed by the US. India has been trying to diversify its energy security risk by procuring from a range of suppliers across geographies and spreading out upstream investments across regions. |
FirstEnergy to sell 1.6 GW of assets to LS Power Equity for $825m | FirstEnergy said that it has revised the terms of sale for several generating assets to LS Power Equity Parners III LP. It will now sell 1,615 MW of competitive natural gas and hydroelectric generation assets located in Pennsylvania and Virginia for an all-cash price of $825m after agreeing in January to sell 1,572 MW of generation capacity for $925m.
| http://www.utilitydive.com/news/firstenergy-revises-agreement-to-sell-1600-mw-of-generation-to-ls-power/504421/ | 2017-09-12 22:06:53.973000 | Dive Brief:
FirstEnergy Corp. announced yesterday that it has revised the terms of sale for several generating assets to LS Power Equity Parners III LP, lowering the price and raising the capacity first announced in January.
FirstEnergy now says it has entered into a revised agreement for the sale of 1,615 MW of competitive natural gas and hydroelectric generation assets located in Pennsylvania and Virginia for an all-cash price of $825 million.
When the deal was announced in January, the transaction included 1,572 MW of generation capacity being sold for $925 million in cash.
Dive Insight:
No explanation was given for revisions to the deal, but FirstEnergy says its plan remains the same: transition to a fully regulated company and exit from commodity-exposed generation.
As originally announced, the assets included: Bath County Hydro, a 713-MW pumped-storage hydro plant in Warm Springs, Va.; five units totaling 638 MW of the Springdale facility in Springdale Township, Pa.; two units totaling 88 MW at the Chambersburg plant in Guildford Township, Pa.; two units totaling 88 MW at the Gans station in Springhill Township, Pa., and the 45 MW Hunlock Creek plant in Hunlock Creek, Pa.
The revised deal also includes Allegheny Energy Supply's indirect interest in a joint venture that owns the Buchanan Generating Facility in Oakwood, Va., which accounts for another 43 MW of gas generation. This asset was not included in the original purchase agreement.
The transaction involving the Springdale, Chambersburg, Gans and Hunlock power stations is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017. The sale of the interests in Bath and Buchanan is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, the company said.
Last year, FirstEnergy said it could sell more than a dozen power plants as it shifts back toward a focus on its regulated assets. A series of regulatory approvals will be required for the sales to go through. The utility, along with AEP, has attempted to win income supports from regulators for a group of aging coal and nuclear plants, but were forced to change approach after FERC blocked the subsidies.
FirstEnergy said it expects proceeds from the sale will be invested in its unregulated money pool and may be used for the repayment of debt and other corporate purposes. Once the divestiture is complete, FirstEnergy will own or control generating capacity totaling more than 15,000 MW from a range of technologies across Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, Virginia and Illinois. |
Kidman, SQM sign $110m lithium joint venture | Kidman Resources has finalised a $110m, 50-50 joint venture agreement with Chile’s SQM to exploit lithium resources at Mt Holland in Western Australia. The two companies, which flagged they would form a JV in July, intend to build a mine and concentrator producing 6% lithium concentrate. They eventually aim to develop a refinery for the production of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide. Kidman will retain sole marketing rights to its 50% share of lithium production, as well as all rights to Mt Holland’s gold resources. SQM is paying $30m for a 50% share of the Mt Holland tenements, while the remaining $80m will also be paid by SQM for further project funding.
| https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/kidman-sqm-agree-us110-million-lithium-jv/ | 2017-09-12 20:59:45.817000 | Kidman Resources has finalised a $US110 million, 50-50 joint venture agreement with Chile’s SQM (Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile) at the Mt Holland lithium operations in Western Australia.
The two companies, which flagged they would form a JV in July, intend to build a mine and concentrator producing 6 per cent lithium concentrate.
They eventually aim to develop a refinery — currently undergoing a feasibility study — for the production of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, dependent on the continued potential of the in-demand ore.
The JV represents a considerable step for Kidman into the lucrative lithium mining industry, drawing on what the company’s managing director Martin Donahue refers to as SQM’s “considerable metallurgical expertise”.
Kidman will retain sole marketing rights to its 50 per cent share of lithium production, as well as all rights to Mt Holland’s gold resources as part of the deal.
The $US110 million JV is broken into two parts. SQM is paying $US30 million for a 50 per cent share of the Mt Holland tenements, while the remaining $US80 million will also be paid by SQM for further project funding.
SQM is one of the world’s major players in the lithium industry, controlling 26 per cent of the global market as of January 2017.
WA has experienced a boom in lithium production over the last year, increasing from just one mine to seven, and also hosts the world’s largest lithium mine, Greenbushes, a joint Sino-American venture.
Lithium has become something of a hot property in the mining industry, with its demand fuelled in part by emerging technological developments.
Australia is the world’s largest lithium-producing country, though the so-called South American ‘Lithium Triangle’ of Chile (the world’s second-biggest producer), Bolivia, and Argentina edge out Australian reserves overall.
Demand for emerging green technologies, such as solar panels, EVs, (the upcoming Tesla Model 3 is expected to be a game-changer for the nascent electric car industry) and flow batteries, as well as high demand from Chinese producers, have all been explained as reasons behind the surge in popularity. |
Tianqi says expansion of world's biggest lithium mine to go ahead | A looming legal dispute won't affect plans by China’s Tianqi Lithium to expand its Greenbushes mine in Western Australia by 1.34 million tons per annum (mtpa) or double the capacity of a proposed processing plant at Kwinana to 24,000 tpa, the company’s Australian general manager said. Resource Capital Funds-owned Global Advanced Metals, which has rights to other minerals at Greenbushes, has said that the expansion will effectively waste its tantalum resource. The Greenbushes mine is the world’s biggest lithium mine, producing 31% of global supply, and is operated by Talison Lithium, a joint venture between Tianqi and Albemarle. | https://thewest.com.au/business/mining/legal-fight-will-not-put-a-stop-to-tianqi-plan-ng-b88595938z | 2017-09-12 19:33:53.480000 | A looming legal dispute will not affect plans by China’s Tianqi Lithium to expand its Greenbushes mine or double the capacity of a proposed processing plant at Kwinana, according to the company’s Australian general manager.
In June, Tianqi announced a 1.34Mtpa expansion of its Greenbushes mine in the South West to provide feedstock for a doubling of capacity of its proposed lithium hydroxide plant from 24,000tpa to 48,000tpa to supply the burgeoning electric vehicle battery market.
But the Resource Capital Funds-owned Global Advanced Metals, which has rights to other minerals at Greenbushes, has taken issue with the company’s plans, arguing the expansion will effectively waste its tantalum resource.
The Greenbushes mine is the world’s biggest lithium mine, producing 31 per cent of global supply, and is operated by Talison Lithium, a joint venture between Tianqi (51 per cent) and US-based Albemarle Corporation (49 per cent).
GAM argues Talison did not discuss its expansion plans for Greenbushes with it as required by a reserved minerals rights agreements over the asset. It wants the company to halt the expansion and negotiate in good faith before proceeding.
Tianqi Lithium’s Australian boss Phil Thick told a Benchmark Mineral Intelligence conference in Perth yesterday he thought the dispute would be resolved.
“Our legal opinion is about as crystal-clear as I’ve seen — we’re going ahead with the expansion,” he said.
“It’s not my company so I’m speaking a bit out of school but I expect they’ll just come to a commercial settlement at some point that will allow them to go on.
“But it’s not stopping us in any way and I’m not concerned about it.”
GAM chief executive Andrew O’Donovan said the company’s tantalum rights at Greenbushes were valuable and critical to its position as the global leader in the integrated supply of a range of tantalum products for use in high-tech industries.
He said Talison had not complied with its contractual obligations to GAM.
Mr Thick said Kwinana would be Tianqi’s global headquarters outside of China. The company wanted to be considered in the same league as Rio Tinto, BHP, Woodside and Wesfarmers in terms of sponsorship and support of the WA community. |
IBM and UBS to build in-vehicle blockchain payments platform | Car parts manufacturer ZF is teaming up with IBM and UBS to launch a blockchain application to enable car-related payments. The Car eWallet is being marketed as a "digital assistant", automatically collating parking costs with little to no input from the driver, and making secure payments. The system will also pay for electric charging, digital services and car sharing once those technologies become commonplace. | https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31057/ibm-and-ubs-team-on-blockchain-payments-for-cars?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=finextrafeed | 2017-09-12 17:38:11.343000 | UBS, IBM and car parts manufacturer ZF are working together to build a blockchain-based payments system that automatically collects fees for things such as parking and power charging.
The partners say that their Car eWallet will act as a digital assistant, enabling secure and convenient payments on the go. The system is likely to become increasingly useful as driverless cars become a reality, providing a way to independently authorise payments without the owner or user having to be active themselves.
Veronica Lange, head of innovation at UBS says: “In today's digitally connected world, no single institution works in isolation. As a leading financial services institution we pursue the development of a new platform that will transform how transactions and payments between vehicles and other machines can be done efficiently and safely.”
In the future, the platform, provided through the IBM Cloud and driven by Hyperledger Fabric 1.0, will not only be used for parking and tolls, but also car sharing, electric charging and delivery services.
Dirk Wollschlaeger, GM, IBM Global automotive, aerospace and defence, says: "The world of mobility is quickly evolving with self-driving vehicles, electric cars and new mobility services having quickly evolved from visionary concepts into reality. Time of great change requires transformational solutions.
"Together with UBS and ZF, we are engineering a new mobility platform to redefine how, when and where traditional transactions occur." |
Restaurant-focused mobile payments firm Glance expands into US | Canada's Glance Technologies is expanding into the US with its mobile payments system for restaurants. The Glance app lets restaurant users place orders, make payments, redeem deals and interact with owners. The Vancouver-based company has signed its first US-based customer and opened its US head office in Silicon Valley. "Our U.S. expansion is key to our strategy of signing large North American restaurant chains", said Desmond Griffin, CEO at Glance.
| https://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/news/glance-technologies-signs-first-us-restaurant-for-mobile-payments-system/ | 2017-09-12 17:36:57.897000 | Glance Technologies Inc., a Vancouver-based company that specializes in mobile payments for the restaurant industry, has signed its first U.S.-based customer in Ta’cul Mexican Cocina, located in California, according to a press release.
Glance also announced it has set up its U.S. head office in Silicon Valley.
"Our U.S. expansion is key to our strategy of signing large North American restaurant chains," Glance CEO Desmond Griffin said in a statement. "Silicon Valley is an ideal location for us to access the world's premier high tech ecosystem as we continue to develop our technology."
Glance Pay is a payments system that enables users to order goods and services, make payments, access digital receipts, redeem digital deals, earn great rewards and interact with merchants. The app is available for Android and iOS. |
Real-time simulator slashes product design time | ANSYS, a multi-physics software developer, has launched the Discovery Live platform, enabling engineers to alter CAD models and to see update simulations instantly. The instant design change and immediate feedback the platform provides compares with the days, months or weeks to set up, run and analyse digital prototypes with traditional engineering simulation solutions, ANSYS claims. | http://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/design-engineering-news/ansys-releases-real-time-multi-physics-simulation-platform-1/160562/ | 2017-09-12 16:57:14.427000 | Multi-physics software developer, ANSYS, has released its Discovery Live platform, which allows engineers to make changes to a CAD model and have the simulation updated in front of them, instantaneously. The new level of interactivity means that the physical results of a design change can be seen as they are being made, bringing a new level of intuitive engineering capability. The company insist that the assumption that multi-physical simulation programs are only for specialist engineers or PhDs is outdated, and plan to get simulation in the tool box of every engineer by 2020, up currently from the estimated 1 in 6.
Instead of taking days, months or weeks to set up, run and analyse digital prototypes with traditional engineering simulation solutions, Discovery Live allows engineers to immediately examine the impact of their design changes. Users can pose what-if questions upfront in the design process to rapidly explore thousands of design options and receive immediate feedback – enabling the user to digitally explore the impact of changes with results updating immediately.
For the first-time, engineers can rapidly explore design options and receive instant and accurate simulation results with new cutting-edge technology that can be run on most standard laptops. The only upgrade that might be needed is the graphics card.
“We've rewritten, from the ground up, the classic simulation algorithms to run natively on the GPU architecture, and that’s what gives you the speed,” said Mark Hindsbo, vice president and general manager at ANSYS. “And it's not some insane graphics card, it’s a modern 4GB NVidia graphic card with a number of CUDA cores to run on.”
Discovery Live supports fluids, structural and thermal simulation applications – enabling engineers to experiment with design ideas and see instant feedback. Users can run an analysis first approach as they design – enabling them to iterate with a 3D model and interactively explore the impact of simple and complex changes.
“The tool allows us to use multiple physics and the results are practically instantaneous, so we can get answers to the quick ‘what-if’ studies very quickly – helping us engage more people in simulation with the ultimate goal of moving faster,” said Bob Tickel, director of structural and dynamic analysis at engine developer, Cummins. “We are committed to analysis-led design and I believe that Discovery Live will propel us forward faster in this area.”
The Ansys Discovery Live platform is currently available today for technology preview and is available for download at: www.ansys.com/discovery/ |
Zelle launches peer-to-peer mobile payments app | Zelle has launched a peer-to-peer mobile payments app for Apple and Android users. Zelle users can transact using a mobile number or email address, irrespective of where the user banks. Payments can also be split as necessary. Zelle has a longstanding relationship with such banks as Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, but with the launch of its standalone app opens its services to a much broader userbase. | http://uk.businessinsider.com/zelle-to-launch-p2p-mobile-payment-app-2017-9?r=US&IR=T | 2017-09-12 16:36:00.137000 | BI Intelligence
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Zelle, a bank-based P2P offering operated by Early Warning, is launching its long-awaited standalone app for both Apple and Android users on September 12. (It has been available within its partners' banking apps since late 2016.)
To use Zelle, the sender and recipient can download the app and conduct transactions using an email address or mobile number — regardless of bank affiliation. Customers can also use Zelle to split payments, if need be. The app will compete directly with other mobile and digital P2P services like Venmo and Square Cash.
This app will provide consumers with another channel to access Zelle's services.
Almost anyone with a debit card can now use Zelle. Zelle is partnered with many major banks — including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citi, among others. The app will also allow consumers with accounts at smaller banks and credit unions that don't support Zelle on their digital platforms to use its services. And through partnerships with Visa and MasterCard, almost anyone with a debit card linked to a US bank account can use the app. Additionally, the Zelle app won't support credit cards, allowing it to offer free transfers. That could extend its reach to up to 86 million users.
Zelle is partnered with many major banks — including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citi, among others. The app will also allow consumers with accounts at smaller banks and credit unions that don't support Zelle on their digital platforms to use its services. And through partnerships with Visa and MasterCard, almost anyone with a debit card linked to a US bank account can use the app. Additionally, the Zelle app won't support credit cards, allowing it to offer free transfers. That could extend its reach to up to 86 million users. A standalone app makes Zelle a competitor for millennials' P2P business. Digital P2P payments tend to be favored among millennials, but Zelle's bank-app focus has helped it target an older generation, by introducing them to digital P2P in a familiar environment. But as a standalone service, the app will more directly compete against players like Venmo and Square Cash in the crowded market. That could heat up the space — Venmo, the market leader, saw $14.8 billion in volume in the first half of 2017, while Zelle partner banks' P2P services were used for 100 million transactions worth $33.6 billion.
It remains to be seen how Zelle will fare on its own, but its current success, combined with an appetite for mobile P2P, could position it well. Zelle already counts about 50,000 new enrollees a day. But the app could broaden its reach, especially since it has a much more inclusive audience than third-party services, like Venmo, which might have a more sophisticated sign-up process. And the differentiating features, like free instant cashouts, could help it stand out, though other providers have similar offerings. That means that, though Zelle is off to a good start, the firm could stand to build out its in-app offerings in order to establish a unique need, or a specific use case, to grow its own audience and beat out the competition in a market where no one player holds a majority share.
Jaime Toplin, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on mobile P2P payments that:
Forecasts the growth of the P2P market, and what portion of that will come from mobile channels, through 2021.
Explains the factors driving that growth and details why it will come from increased usage, not increased spend per user.
Evaluates why mobile P2P isn’t profitable for companies, and details several cases of attempts to monetize.
Assesses which of these strategies could be most successful, and what companies need to leverage to succeed in the space.
Provides context from other markets to explain shifting trends.
To get the full report, subscribe to an All-Access pass to 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
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Race to the bottom: average estate agency fees slide to 1% ex-VAT | The average estate agency fee has dropped to nearly 1%, excluding VAT, and is on a trend to decrease further despite the strain on agents. Agents are limited in their options because limits of marketing and staffing costs mean they cannot move from the high-street or become “hybrid” to compromise. Property sellers are paying less in terms of a percentage than those who have successfully sold within the last 12 months, with predictions putting average fees at 0.75% by Q1 2019. In 2011, 76% of sellers paid more than 1%; presently, that figure stands at 31%.
| http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/average-estate-agents-fee-sinks-to-1-with-more-falls-forecast/ | 2017-09-12 16:31:11.690000 | Post navigation
The average estate agency fee has fallen to almost exactly 1% excluding VAT – and is likely to fall further, despite mounting costs for agents.
Peter Knight, of the Property Academy, said that moving off the high street and/or going ‘hybrid’ would not be a solution for most agents because of their marketing and staffing costs.
In the 2017 Home Moving Trends Survey carried out for this month’s EA Masters event, 5,838 home sellers were asked about fees.
Knight said: “In simple terms, you can break things down into three thirds.
“One third pay more than 1%. One third pay less than 1%. And one third pay 1%. The average fee is now, as near as damn it, 1%.
“And as if this isn’t concerning enough there’s a worrying trend – the fees are going even lower.
“Those currently selling are paying less in percentage terms than those who have sold within the last 12 months.
“This confirms data Stephen Hayter of My Home Move shared with me that estate agent fees fall between 0.1% and 0.15% every 12 months.
“On that basis, in the first quarter of 2019, the average fee could be as low as 0.75%.”
The study of home movers showed that relatively few (30%) were selling for over £1m, and most (60%) were selling for £250,000 or less.
Knight told EYE: “This is the tenth year we’ve surveyed people who are currently selling a property and we’ve seen a marked reduction in the average fee.
“In 2011, 76% of sellers were paying in excess of 1%, whereas today it’s just 31%.
“We will be sharing further insights from this survey and also two others, the 2017 Landlord Survey and 2017 Tenant Survey, at the EA Masters.
“In addition, we will also be revealing insights from our 30,000 mystery shops for the Best Estate Agent Guide and highlighting what it takes to be exceptional.”
Knight said the continuing reduction in fees cannot continue – “unless the industry is prepared to experience even greater levels of change than those of the last few years”.
He said the main costs of staff and marketing are going up, not down: “So, while a small saving can be achieved by leaving the high street and working from a conventional office, or from home, or going ‘hybrid’, this isn’t enough to compensate for the reduction in fees.”
Knight said that the subject will be tackled at the EA Masters on September 22. There are just 50 tickets left for what will be the largest estate agency event ever staged in the UK.
Details here – where you will also find a rather stirring short video about the Best Estate Agents Guide, also to be part of the event: |
Telehealth May Ease Docs into ACOs, MedPAC Suggests | Providing incentives for physicians to incorporate telehealth services under the new Medicare value-based payment model may encourage fee-for-service Medicare providers to consider becoming part of an accountable care organization (ACO), the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has noted. Telehealth may provide the risk-sharing environment that proves appealing to providers and patients alike, with the practice potentially being used to introduce providers to behavioral health and family practice modalities. The Commission defines telehealth as covering basic care and consultation for patients and doctors connecting to other physicians; patients connecting with doctors from home; doctors connecting to other physicians; remote hospital monitoring; remote home monitoring; and storing and forwarding data for remote evaluation. Under the Medicare fee-for-service system, cost-sharing is shared 20 percent with patients for telehealth, with the patient’s facility being paid a $25 flat fee, and the receiving remote facility paid 100 percent of the rate for fee-for-service. For providers at present, telehealth is either considered a cost-effective replacement for in-person consultation, or an additional supplemental service that extends costs.
| http://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicare/67798 | 2017-09-12 14:54:49.257000 | WASHINGTON -- Incentivizing doctors to use telehealth services under Medicare's new value-based payment models might be a good way to get fee-for-service Medicare providers to consider joining an accountable care organization (ACO) or another new model, a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) said Thursday.
"We need to be building incentives to providers to want to get out of fee-for-service and get into an environment where there is more accountability and more risk-sharing," said Sue Thompson, of UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa. "So perhaps telehealth is one of those things you have an opportunity to do in a risk-sharing environment -- an [alternative payment model] that involves risk, or Medicare Advantage, or an ACO that has upside and downside risk."
"I think we'd have an easier time recruiting providers into behavioral health modalities and family practice modalities if we could talk about how this creates a lifestyle that's pretty attractive," she said. "Telehealth is a piece of the puzzle that offers all kinds of opportunity."
The commission heard a presentation on how telehealth services are being paid for under Medicare. Staff members Zach Gaumer and Amy Phillips defined telehealth as falling into six categories:
Basic care and consultations for patients and their doctors who are connecting to another doctor
Basic care and consultations for patients connecting to a doctor from their home
Basic care and consultations for doctors connecting to one another without the patient present
Remote monitoring of patients in the hospital
Remote monitoring of patients at home
Storing and forwarding data -- including images and scans -- to a remote clinician for evaluation
Currently, under Medicare's fee-for-service system, a healthcare facility that originates a telehealth visit is paid a flat fee of $25 by Medicare, while the remote site at which the consulting physician works is paid 100% of the fee-for-service facility rate. Patients have a cost-sharing responsibility of 20% for the telehealth visit. This method encourages the healthcare system to increase the volume of telehealth services provided, the presenters noted.
Substitute or Supplement?
Two schools of thought exist on telehealth, they noted: some say it can be cost-effective by substituting for in-person visits, while others say it adds costs because it is used as a supplement to in-person visits and patients still see the doctor in person anyway.
Commissioner Craig Samitt, of the Anthem health insurance company, in Indianapolis, came down on the side of cost-effectiveness. "We're currently covering and paying for a large number of low-value services, and [here] I feel we are resistant to paying for what I think is a high-value service," he said. "We seem to think telehealth is not equivalent to in-person health. But telehealth ... is in fact a substitute. It enables people to give care through an alternative modality."
"The potential value in telehealth is reduction in total cost of care," Samitt continued. "This is not a replacement or supplemental visit; this is a way to avoid multiple downstream [costs] that we would otherwise not capture in the absence of it. I would love to jump into the debate about the way telehealth is factored into the Medicare Advantage package. This should be included in the benefit package as opposed to being a supplemental benefit."
Pharmacy Services Discussed
The commission also heard a presentation on the structure of pharmacy services, including pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies. Staff member Rachel Schmidt noted that in addition to negotiating drug prices on behalf of health plans, most large PBMs have their own specialty pharmacies -- a relationship that may present financial conflicts, since the PBMs are supposed to lower drug expenditures for their customers, but they have an incentive in their pharmacies to increase revenue as much as possible.
But commissioner Amy Bricker, RPh, of the Express Scripts PBM, in St. Louis, disagreed with that idea, adding that it is not true that PBMs will often require customers to use the PBM's pharmacy: "To suggest there's some leverage over the client isn't the case, because of the competitiveness of the industry," she said. "If you're not lowering the cost for the plan sponsor and not servicing patients appropriately, you're going to be fired."
Commissioner Jack Hoadley, PhD, of Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, was not so sanguine. "I'm not as comforted as Amy by the notion of competition in this market," he said. "It's really unclear where the system saves money and where it adds cost. There is evidence of both, and that's what we need to try to untangle."
For example, in the Part D drug benefit world, there are cases of competing drugs -- such as etanercept (Embrel) and adlimumab (Humira), which are both prescribed for arthritis and psoriasis, "and we've seen those prices [for both] go up pretty constantly over time. We have not seen a lot of formulary competition; it's the opposite of what you'd normally expect."
Sharing the savings that come from drug rebates is a good issue for MedPAC to examine, Hoadley added. "We could think about ways to share the benefit, such as putting caps on coinsurance so beneficiaries aren't as affected by [drug price increases]."
"It's hard not to be struck by how complex this is," said commissioner Rita Redberg, MD, of the University of California San Francisco. "I feel like there are a lot of moving parts, a lot of secrecy, a lot of fees, and the whole rebate thing that's secret makes me very uncomfortable, and the whole designation of specialty drugs basically means that if you raise your prices high enough you're a specialty drug. This does not seem like a very efficient system.
"It does seem more complicated to me to have drugs covered under Part B and Part D ... I wonder if it's worth considering if there should be just one drug benefit and not to separate it like this," she said.
Rural Hospitals and Physician Supervision
On Friday morning, commissioners briefly discussed the issue of physician supervision at critical access and rural hospitals. Medicare regulations have mandated that certain procedures -- such as chemotherapy and cardiac rehabilitation -- have physicians available to supervise, even if they are not necessarily in the room. After concerns were raised by hospitals that these rules might make it more difficult for them to operate, Congress suspended enforcement of the rules from 2010 to 2016, and has proposed doing so again in 2018 and 2019.
MedPAC staff members interviewed staff from several critical access hospitals and found they were not having any trouble complying with the rules. The hospitals "are using the emergency department or family physicians in the same building or nearby to address physician supervision requirements," said MedPAC staff member Ledia Tabor. She noted that in a MedPAC report issued in 2012, the commission had said that "expectations for quality of care in rural and urban areas should be equal for nonemergency services rural providers choose to deliver."
Commissioners seemed satisfied with the idea of sticking to that wording, but possibly providing a little additional guidance as well: "It's important to take a strong position that the standard of care, whether urban or rural, must be consistent," said Thompson. "Yet we did hear from those [hospitals] leaders a plea for clarity," such as knowing how quickly a supervising physician would need to respond: "I do believe a call for clarity would be quite welcome from these organizations."
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Accenture unveils analytics, business platform for asset managers | Management consultancy Accenture has launched a new business analytics service to provide subject expertise and industry research to asset managers. The company has taken on British benchmarking provider Investit and its chief executive Catherine Doherty to run the new service, and will focus on key business issues including big data, cyber security and other tech issues. The move is the latest move by Accenture to expand its consulting capabilities for asset management clients to help them adapt to emerging digital innovations and technology. | https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/70622/accenture-launches-business-analytics-service-for-asset-managers | 2017-09-12 14:53:54.200000 | Source: Accenture
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has launched a new business analytics service for investment management institutions to help them benchmark, analyze and improve the performance of their business processes and technology.
The service will provide year-round industry research and subject matter expertise to the asset management sector. It will address key business issues including client and product management, intelligent automation, cloud, big data, cyber security and analytics for portfolio management, distribution and operations. Investit chief executive Catherine Doherty and her team of industry specialists have joined Accenture’s asset management practice to form the new service.
“The top 35 investment management firms in the UK alone spend about five billion dollars annually on technology and operations, but in the new wave of digital innovation many will need to rethink their strategies,” said Owen Jelf, senior managing director and head of Accenture’s global capital markets practice. “Under heavy regulatory and market pressures, the health and performance of business processes and technology will be a growing factor in the competitive landscape. By bringing leading benchmarking experts and capabilities to Accenture’s capital markets practice, we can help our clients compete in a fast evolving sector.”
“Our team has worked with many of the world’s largest investment firms, providing insights to help them make key business decisions,” said Doherty, who will be head of the service. “As part of Accenture we can scale up to provide world leading insights for asset managers across Europe, North America and Asia.”
This launch marks Accenture’s most recent initiative to expand its asset management consulting and technology capabilities to help global investment managers, institutional investors and asset servicers use emerging digital innovations and technology to improve competitiveness and profitability. Earlier this year, Accenture completed its acquisition of InvestTech Systems Consulting, a North American technology consultancy, and in 2015 Accenture acquired Beacon Consulting Group a management consulting firm whose clients include five of the top 10 North American investment management firms. |
Huawei fitting out 'demo' smart city in Weifang | Chinese tech giant Huawei is looking to demonstrate its narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) capabilities by transforming Weifang into a "smart city". Huawei can already monitor and adjust the brightness of street lamps across the city, saving 80% of traditional energy expenditure. "Huawei is focused on improving connectivity capabilities within cities, and is creating the nervous system of better-connected cities through an IoT platform, achieving better awareness [and] connectivity among smart devices", said Zheng Zhibin, Huawei Enterprise Business Group GM of Global Smart City Solution Department.
| http://www.zdnet.com/article/huawei-launches-demo-smart-city/ | 2017-09-12 12:35:08.440000 | Huawei has announced the launch of a "demo city" in Weifang, China, to showcase its narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) smart city applications and OceanConnect IoT platform.
Announced during its annual Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai, Weifang will use Huawei's city-level IoT platform to access, manage, and collect data from sensory equipment spread across the city in real-time.
Huawei said it has already enabled smart lighting applications across Weifang, using it to monitor the status of street lamps, automatically adjust brightness, and detect faults, with the system designed to save 80 percent of traditional electricity usage and 90 percent of previous maintenance costs.
The Chinese networking giant has also integrated eight services with its NB-IoT network, including a remote-control system, Wi-Fi hotspots, video surveillance, environment monitoring, and statistics.
Huawei said its goal is to develop the "nervous system" of smart cities, with the company having deployed its smart city solutions throughout 40 countries in over 100 cities across the world.
"ICT advancement is accelerating the growth of the digital economy, which is a driving force of global economic development and transforming cities across many areas including governance, transport, living, social interactions, and employment, promoting the sustainable development of cities," said Huawei Enterprise Business Group GM of Global Smart City Solution Department Zheng Zhibin.
"The underlying connectivity in these smart cities will be critical to unlock the potential of the digital economy. Huawei is focused on improving connectivity capabilities within cities, and is creating the nervous system of better-connected cities through an IoT platform, achieving better awareness [and] connectivity among smart devices."
Huawei and the Government of Weifang City have also established the Huawei-Weifang IoT Innovation R&D Centre and the Huawei-Weifang Smart City IoT Industry Alliance.
China's Longgang District Government is similarly working with Huawei on developing a smart region, including through the government's own digital transformation to speed up approvals and other applications.
"The transformation also achieves integrated online and offline approval services, allowing Longgang citizens to submit applications or reports to the government through online business halls, mobile apps, WeChat, and other channels," Huawei said.
Huawei has this week also announced that it will partner with Accenture to establish a consolidated information management platform powered by the former's FusionCloud solution for Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG).
The Huawei-Accenture agreement will see Huawei provide its hyperconverged infrastructure FusionCube, OpenStack-based cloud operating system FusionSphere, integration server, software-defined storage, and network hardware; while Accenture will design and implement SIPG's new management platform.
SIPG, which works across port handling, stevedoring services, warehousing, logistics, and real estate development services, will use this to "streamline" its operations, as well as to implement new engineering, human resources, master data management, and business intelligence systems, Huawei said.
"The integration of Huawei's FusionCloud with OpenStack ensures the openness of the cloud platform. This will enable SIPG to establish and manage the private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud, resulting in the provision of more innovative and valuable services," president of Huawei's IT Cloud Computing and Big Data Platform Product Line Matt Ma said.
Huawei is similarly leading the digital transformation of Hamad International Airport in Qatar in an effort to improve security, customer experience, and efficiency via the creation of prototypes and solutions for IoT and autonomous machines throughout the airport.
Huawei and SoftBank partner on 5G
Huawei has also announced partnering with Japanese carrier SoftBank to demonstrate 5G networking use cases for business customers.
The four use cases demonstrated by Huawei and SoftBank were real-time ultra high-definition (UHD) video transmission, immersive video, remote control of a robotic arm with ultra-low latency, and remote rendering by a GPU server.
The first demo involved a UHD camera capturing outdoor scenery of the Odaiba Tokyo Bay area, compressing the data, and then transmitting it through a 5G network with throughput of over 800Mbps to a UHD monitor. According to the companies, such technology could be used for telehealth and remote education.
The immersive video demonstration then captured scenery with a 180-degree camera with four lenses, broadcasting this footage in real-time to smartphones and tablets over 5G, which it said could be used for AR and VR.
In their third use case, Huawei and SoftBank played a game of air hockey using a remote-controlled robot arm -- technology which they said could eventually be used in factory automation, as it attained latency of under 2ms.
"A camera installed on top of the air hockey table detected the puck's position to calculate its trajectory. The calculated result was then forwarded to the robotic arm control server to control the robotic arm," they explained.
"In this demonstration, the robotic arm was able to strike back the puck shot by the human player on various trajectories."
Lastly, remote rendering by a GPU server saw the two use edge computing to execute HD computer games and HD computer-aided design (CADs) playable on tablets and smartphones.
"A GPU server located near a 5G base station performed rendering, and the image generated by the GPU server was sent to the tablet over the ultra-high throughput and ultra-low latency 5G network," they said.
"This technology can be applied to check the CAD data at a construction site with a tablet or to enjoy a HD game application on a smartphone."
SoftBank, which recently bought robotics company Boston Dynamics from Google parent Alphabet, is also working with Chinese telecommunications technology solutions provider ZTE to trial 5G over sub-6GHz spectrum at 4.5GHz across Tokyo.
ZTE and SoftBank have been collaborating on pre-5G technology research and development including Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (Massive MIMO) technology and 5G New Radio (NR). |
Future of gene therapy treatments burdened by vast medical costs | The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first commercially available gene therapy in the US, giving Novartis clearance to offer the leukemia treatment to patients for $475,000. The decision could clear the way for the introduction of immensely expensive gene therapy treatment options. The cost has led to criticism from doctors towards drug manufacturers, who maintain that the value of the drug should reflect the value of the treatment for the patient, as well as covering the cost of making such specific therapies. | https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/health/cost-gene-therapy-drugs.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth | 2017-09-12 12:30:40.397000 | The first gene therapy treatment in the United States was approved recently by the Food and Drug Administration, heralding a new era in medicine that is coming faster than most realize — and that perhaps few can afford.
The treatment, Kymriah, made by Novartis, is spectacularly effective against a rare form of leukemia, bringing remissions when all conventional options have failed. It will cost $475,000.
With gene therapy, scientists seek to treat or prevent disease by modifying cellular DNA. Many such treatments are in the wings: There are 34 in the final stages of testing necessary for F.D.A. approval, and another 470 in initial clinical trials, according to the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, an advocacy group.
The therapies are aimed at extremely rare diseases with few patients; most are meant to cure with a single injection or procedure. But the costs, like that of Kymriah, are expected to be astronomical, alarming medical researchers and economists. |
Graphene batteries may give wearables more functionality | New graphene supercapacitors, which can be printed onto clothes and provide an alternative power source to traditional batteries, could revolutionise the wearable technology industry. Researchers at the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester have developed a system which stores energy on the surface of the flexible graphene supercapacitor by static charge. It can be charged in a matter of seconds, rather than the minutes or hours required by batteries, and does not lose its storage capability despite repeated charging or washing of the material. | http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/flexible-batteries-may-soon-be-printed-right-your-clothes-180964683/?_lrsc=27138ac7-7a49-4b39-9e4b-817ddedfe6ce | 2017-09-12 12:21:21.327000 | Imagine you’re hiking in the mountains when a blizzard hits. Despite your warm coat, your body temperature begins to drop. But fear not. Temperature sensors in the coat feel you getting colder, activating heating elements embedded in the fabric. Perfectly toasty, you continue your hike.
Sounds like a smart idea, right? Why is it not a reality? In a word, batteries. Battery technology has not advanced as quickly as wearable technology, meaning wearables—smartwatches, fitness trackers, clothing-embedded medical sensors—must either be equipped with bulky batteries or plugged in to charge at frequent intervals.
Now, researchers in the UK have a new development that could lead to a solution: a flexible, battery-like device made of graphene that can be printed directly on almost anything.
“You can print the batteries on a flexible substrate like textiles,” says Mohammad Nazmul Karim, a fellow at the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester. “And it can be charged very rapidly.”
The devices, recently described in the journal 2D Materials, are technically not batteries but supercapacitors, which store energy on their surfaces by static charge. They can be charged extremely quickly compared to batteries—in seconds, rather than minutes or hours—and don’t lose their energy storage capabilities over time, even after millions and millions of charges.
The supercapacitors developed by Karim and his team are made from graphene, a two-dimensional lattice of carbon only one atom thick. The researchers used a basic screen printing technique to print a flexible supercapacitor of graphene-oxide ink onto cotton fabric. The fabric can be worn, stretched and even thrown in the wash without destroying the supercapacitor’s charging capabilities.
“If you have a piece of fabric and you apply graphene on that fabric, it doesn’t only make it conductive, it also makes it stronger,” Karim says.
Graphene can be stretched up to 20 percent larger than its original size without breaking. This is one of the reasons it’s considered so promising for wearables, which need to move with the body.
The team’s initial goal is to use the graphene supercapacitors for medical sensors: wearable heart monitors, temperature sensors and EEG sensors to monitor sleep and other brain activities. This could happen in as little as two or three years, Karim estimates. Other uses—clothes the charge your cell phone, wearable computers, even the temperature-stabilizing jacket I described—would be significantly further down the road.
Wearable technology—everything from smartwatches to fitness trackers to wearable cameras to clothing-embedded medical sensors—is big business. A recent analysis by CCS Insight suggests the industry will be worth some $34 billion by 2020. But charging has been a constant problem for wearables developers. Nobody wants to take their wristband off to charge in the middle of the day. So the search for better batteries and alternative charging solutions has been going on for years. Many companies have banked on wireless charging as the wave of the future for wearables—you could simply walk into your kitchen, and have your device charged by a wireless charger on the wall while you cook dinner, without even taking it off. But the technology is still very much under development, and consumers have been slow to warm to the relatively slow and expensive wireless chargers on the market so far.
Karim cautions that graphene is no silver bullet either.
“There’s lots of hype around graphene, and we need to be careful,” he says.
One major challenge is making large quantities of high quality graphene. It’s cheap and easy to make lower quality graphene, which is fine for some applications. But the best quality of graphene is still expensive and laborious to produce, a problem researchers are working on.
“Maintaining the high quality of graphene in a scalable quantity is a huge challenge,” Karim says.
Another drawback to graphene is that it doesn’t conduct electricity as well as metals. So while graphene-based supercapacitors are strong and flexible, as well as relatively environmentally friendly, silver or copper supercapacitors are more conductive. Depending on the use, one or the other might be preferable.
So watch this space. In a decade or two, we might be describing the new, graphene supercapacitor-powered winter jacket, perfect for your next trip to the Himalayas.
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Ripple Asia and DAYLI Group partner for international payments | SBI Ripple Asia, a conglomerate of blockchain-based payment network Ripple and financial services group SBI Holdings, will join forces with DAYLI Intelligence, an AI and blockchain focused arm of DAYLI Financial Group. Together, the firms will offer blockchain-based cross-border payments between customers in Japan and South Korea, alongside a handful of other global markets.
| https://www.cryptoninjas.net/2017/09/12/sbi-ripple-asia-partners-dayli-financial-group-bring-ripple-xrp-korea/ | 2017-09-12 11:55:52.797000 | SBI Ripple Asia, the company fused of Japan’s SBI Holdings and global payment network Ripple announced today a signed partnership agreement with DAYLI Intelligence, a subsidiary of DAYLI Financial Group, to bring Ripple’s enterprise blockchain solutions for cross-border payments to the South Korean market.
DAYLI Intelligence provides blockchain solutions and AI-based technology infrastructure for financial institutions and will work with SBI Ripple Asia to enable instant cross-border payments between customers in Japan and South Korea, as well as other global markets.
Commenting on the partnership, Takashi Okita, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, said:
“South Korea is one of the most active markets worldwide when it comes to blockchain innovation and trading of digital assets. With trade flows into and out of the country totaling $960 billion every year, we also see a high and growing demand for Ripple’s frictionless payments solution in the country.” “DAYLI Intelligence – a leading fintech firm – will help us to better serve our customers there.”
SBI Ripple Asia was formed in January 2016 with an engineering and sales force across Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and ASEAN countries to sell and install Ripple’s enterprise solutions for cross-border payments at banks across the region.
The company also currently manages a consortium of more than 60 Japanese banks who leverage Ripple’s enterprise blockchain technology for instant payments and settlement.
DAYLI, a leading Korean FinTech Player
Founded in 2015, DAYLI Financial Group is made up of specialized companies with specialized services and technologies in digital finance. One of those specialized services is based upon blockchain and cryptographic transactions such digital asset exchange and remittance services.
Clients: |
Pandora to offer free music trial to Dunkin' Donuts customers | Music streaming service provider Pandora is offering a free 90-day trial of its premium product to Dunkin' Donuts customers. Access codes to the service will be sent by email as part of the doughnut chain's DD Perks programme. “The partnership allows us to align with our customers' everyday, on-the-go rituals and behaviours on a mass scale," said Nick Dunham, director of media at Dunkin’ Brands.
| http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/pandora-premium-trials-dunkin-donuts-dd-perks | 2017-09-12 11:28:59.947000 | Music streaming service Pandora has teamed up with doughnut company Dunkin’ Donuts to offer free 90-day Pandora Premium trials to Dunkin’ fans.
Starting today (11 September), when someone signs up to DD Perks – Dunkin’s rewards program – with the code ‘Pandora’ they will be sent a 90-day trial code via email.
“We’re excited to offer DD fans enrolling in Perks this exclusive offer to try Pandora Premium free for 90 days upon enrolment,” said Nick Dunham, director of media at Dunkin’ Brands. “The partnership allows us to align with our customers every day, on-the-go rituals and behaviours on a mass scale.”
The campaign to promote the offer will involve an email to people not yet signed up to DD Perks, online ads and audio ads.
“We are thrilled to partner with an iconic brand like Dunkin’ Donuts to gift 90-day Pandora Premium trials,” said Steven Kritzman, SVP of sales at Pandora. “We are always looking for new ways to help our advertisers effectively reach and resonate with their target audiences through the power of music. This campaign will allow Dunkin’ Donuts to surprise and delight our listeners with the opportunity to try out Pandora’s new on-demand Premium service in exchange for taking action and signing up for the DD Perks Loyalty program. It’s a win-win.” |
Sky Sports signs deal with EFL to livestream 80 games | A deal signed between Sky Sports and the English Football League (EFL) will see the broadcaster livestream 80 midweek games throughout the season across digital platforms, in addition to its main television coverage of matches. The exact platforms have yet to be finally decided, but are likely to include Sky's red button service and website. The focus on digital is being seen as a reaction to the increasing prevalence of Amazon and other tech platforms in sports coverage. The EFL welcomed the five-year deal and said that the potential for streaming matches was 'revolutionary'.
| http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/12/sky-sports-secures-revolutionary-deal-live-stream-midweek-efl-fixtures | 2017-09-12 11:03:41.473000 | Sky Sports has signed a new deal with the English Football League in a transformative agreement defined by its objective livestream 80 games.
From the 2019/20 season until 2024, the broadcaster will air some 183 matches live annually across the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One, Sky Bet League Two, Carabao Cup and Checkatrade Trophy tournaments – this stands as a 26% increase on its current deal with the sports body.
However, Sky Sports will also livestream 80 midweek Championship fixtures throughout the season across “interactive and digital platforms”. A Sky Sports spokesman confirmed that the platforms where the games will be available are yet to be set in stone, although any strategy likely feature the red button service and website.
The games will likely only be available to subscribers although certain content could run on social media. Further to that, the games will also be available on the EFL's streaming service iFollow.
The desire to distribute matches across online and digital reflects the changing needs of the consumer, Adrian Pettett, chief executive of Cake, the Havas sport and entertainment agency, expands on this, he said: “This is a directional deal in terms of the way Sky is integrating streaming in to its offer. The broadcaster needs football, both in terms of breadth and depth. It has a Premier League vertical and this is about building its content for the Sky Football channel, which - as obvious as its sounds - needs a great deal of football. Streaming allows viewers to watch when and where they want.
“Amazon and other tech platforms are moving in to sport. This shows how serious Sky takes the issue of protecting its position as the leading football media brand.”
Sky Sports recently restructured its offering to reflect fan demand for select sports, Barney Francis, Sky Sports managing director, the deal would help build out its Football channel. “This is great news for EFL fans and our viewers, with more live games than ever before and more opportunities for fans to watch their teams live. With a new dedicated football channel, newly enhanced digital platforms, adding more games means Sky Sports is getting even better for football fans.”
Shaun Harvey, EFL chief executive, dubbed Sky Sports a “hugely important” partner and touted the financial security from securing a half decade deal.
He touted the benefits of live-streaming: “The new opportunity for EFL Clubs to live-stream their matches through a direct to consumer service in the UK is a revolutionary and exciting step forward for football broadcasting rights in the UK and we will monitor its progress closely to determine how this model can be considered for future EFL rights cycles.”
It appears to have been a competitive brokering process. He concluded: “I would like to thank all those who submitted bids.” One of those rivals was predictably BT Sport. |
ProctorU unveils AI for online exam proctoring | Proctoring firm ProctorU has released an AI-driven service that identifies suspicious online test-taking behaviour in real time. The software uses machine learning to adapt to students' behaviour, uses facial recognition and auditory analysis to identify when a student might be cheating, and offers multi-factor authentication to verify students' identities. Additionally, a live video stream enables examiners to observe students taking exams as if they were in the classroom.
| https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/09/11/proctoru-intros-ai-based-online-proctoring.aspx?admgarea=news | 2017-09-12 11:01:51.327000 | Online Proctoring
ProctorU Intros AI-Based Online Proctoring
Online proctoring and identity management company ProctorU today launched ProctorU Auto, an automated online proctoring solution that uses artificial intelligence to flag suspicious test-taking behavior in real time.
Features of the product include:
Machine learning allows ProctorU Auto to adapt to student behavior, improving its analysis with each exam;
Facial recognition, eye movement tracking and auditory analysis identify suspicious behavior;
Incident reports and session activity data are generated at the end of an exam;
With real-time exam view, faculty can observe students taking exams as if they were in the classroom;
Multi-factor authentication — ID and photo capture, facial recognition and keystroke analysis — verifies student identities;
The platform is available on-demand with no scheduling required;
Integration with Blackboard and Canvas via LTI; and
Live support is available to students and faculty 24/7.
In addition, ProctorU Auto is available with two added service levels:
ProctorU Auto with Professional Review, which "provides trained and certified professional proctors to review flagged behaviors from the testing session and confirm breaches of academic integrity," and
ProctorU Auto with Live Launch and Professional Review, which "includes test-taker identification verified by a live proctor prior to the start of the testing session and then the same level of professional review for the recorded session," according to a company statement.
For more information, visit the ProctorU site. |
3D-printed device developed to diagnose sport-related concussions | University of Washington researchers have created a 3D-printed device that allows smartphones to accurately scan patients for signs of concussion or other traumatic brain injuries. The 3D-printed device, called PupilScreen, blocks out ambient light, allowing the accompanying app to scan a person's eye using a smartphone video camera and flash before analysing the footage. A pilot study showed early success, with the system able to correctly differentiate between patients with injuries and those without.
| http://www.3ders.org/articles/20170911-pupilscreen-3d-printed-smartphone-tool-could-help-football-coaches-diagnose-concussions.html | 2017-09-12 10:58:38.207000 | Sep 11, 2017 | By Benedict
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a 3D printed deep learning device called “PupilScreen” that can determine whether a person requires medical attention for concussion or other traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).
Although diagnosed as a “minor” brain injury, concussions are an extremely serious topic in the world of sports and elsewhere. Even with protective headgear, athletes like American footballers and rugby players are extremely susceptible to concussion, a kind of injury that causes a temporary loss of brain function, headaches, and a general feeling of fogginess.
But those are just the short-term effects. What’s really under scrutiny these days is the long-term effects of concussion, especially the effects of multiple concussions over a period of time. Studies suggest that those who have suffered such injuries numerous times are more likely to develop clinical depression and even memory loss conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.
Preventing concussion is therefore incredibly important, and that’s why the development of high-level protective headgear for athletes—but also soldiers, workers, and other people at risk of brain trauma—is so crucial. (3D scanning has been used by helmet specialist Riddell on some of its recent models, while new 3D printed materials could also improve protective headgear.)
You can’t always prevent concussion, though, and the next best solution to the problem is being able to spot the signs of TBIs as soon as possible. Doctors and physiotherapists have the skills to do this, but most of us don’t.
That’s why PupilScreen, a new smartphone app and 3D printed device developed at the University of Washington, could be so useful.
“The vision we’re shooting for is having someone simply hold the phone up and use the flash,” explains researcher Alex Mariakakis. “We want every parent, coach, caregiver or emergency medical technician who is concerned about a brain injury to be able to use it on the spot without needing extra hardware.”
According to the researchers, PupilScreen uses a smartphone’s video camera and deep learning software to see how a person’s eyes are responding to light—a potential indicator of whether or not that person may have concussion.
Using the smartphone’s camera flash, PupilScreen can stimulate the eye, before recording an eight-second video of the pupil’s response. Neural networks then process the video footage, tracking the pupil diameter over the course of those eight seconds and delivering useful numbers—constriction velocity, magnitude of diameter change, etc.—that can be used for diagnosis.
That’s how the smartphone bit works, but the 3D printed attachment is also incredibly important. The simple box-like structure works to block out ambient light, enabling standardization and maximizing the effect of the camera flash. The 3D printed part also keeps the smartphone at a precise distance from the eye.
The researchers say the trickiest part of developing PupilScreen was training the software to distinguish between pupil and iris. Around 4,000 images of eyes had to be annotated by hand in order to “teach” the system which part was which. Now, however, the machine may be smarter than the people that built it, since a computer can quantify subtle changes in the pupillary light reflex that are imperceivable with our own eyes.
Early testing suggests that the 3D printed smartphone system is doing its job. A pilot study involving six patients with TBIs resulted in PupilScreen correctly differentiating healthy patients from injured ones every time. A bigger study involving coaches, emergency medical technicians, and doctors is planned for this fall.
A commercial version of PupilScreen could be available within two years, but the researchers still have some way to go before the device is ready. At present, the system is best at identifying serious TBIs, but struggles at identifying very mild concussion. However, the University of Washington team expects the upcoming fall trials to yield big improvements.
“Having an objective measure that a coach or parent or anyone on the sidelines of a game could use to screen for concussion would truly be a game-changer,” says Professor Shwetak Patel of the University of Washington. “Right now the best screening protocols we have are still subjective, and a player who really wants to get back on the field can find ways to game the system.”
PupilScreen could therefore be the first device to offer a conclusive diagnosis of concussion in non-medical environments.
“PupilScreen…[gives] us the first capability to measure an objective biomarker of concussion in the field,” says Dr Lynn McGrath of the university’s College of Medicine. “After further testing, we think this device will empower everyone from Little League coaches to NFL doctors to emergency department physicians to rapidly detect and triage head injury.”
The PupilScreen team is currently seeking further partners for its next round of testing, which will begin in October.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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NFL star to host 10-week Bleacher Report show for Facebook Watch | Facebook's streaming service, Facebook Watch, will exclusively run a 10-episode video series from sports media company Bleacher Report called No Script. The TV programme will follow Marshawn Lynch, an American football player, as he interviews celebrity guests and tries activities such as virtual reality. Facebook has funded the programme as part of efforts to take on YouTube. The social media company will offer hundreds more short and long-form shows on Watch within the next few months, it said.
| https://digiday.com/media/bleacher-report-is-doing-a-show-for-facebooks-watch-with-marshawn-lynch/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170912 | 2017-09-12 10:52:19.807000 | Bleacher Report and Marshawn Lynch are coming to Facebook’s Watch.
Later in September, Bleacher Report will debut a 10-episode video series called “No Script,” in which Bleacher Report’s cameras will follow the Oakland Raiders running back as he interviews celebrity guests and tries activities such as riding military tanks and testing virtual reality. Produced for Facebook by Bleacher Report’s B/R Entertainment division and Lynch’s own Beast Mode Productions, the show will air weekly on Facebook’s Watch over 10 weeks this fall. Each episode of the midform show runs for 10 minutes or longer.
“No Script” is Bleacher Report’s first live-action video show. While the Turner-owned sports lifestyle publisher creates recurring video segments and formats such as college-commitment videos, this is the first time Bleacher Report has produced a full live-action video series with a consistent cast and crew working on the project from start to finish. Between Bleacher Report and Beast Mode Productions, Brown said as many as 20 people spent “a lot of time” on “No Script.”
Currently, this is the only show that Bleacher Report is producing for Facebook’s Watch, a new section on Facebook dedicated to professionally produced video shows. Facebook is willing to spend as much as $1 billion on original content through 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal, as the platform gets more serious about taking on YouTube. In the coming months, Facebook expects to offer hundreds of short- and long-form shows on Watch.
Bleacher Report retains the content rights to “No Script,” which means the publisher is free to distribute episodes on other platforms after a period of exclusivity on Facebook.
“Watch is not a proven product yet, but out of fairness to Facebook, we’re optimistic about it due to the level of investment they’re putting into this initiative,” said Rory Brown, president of Bleacher Report. “It does not hurt when there is a licensing fee attached to this as well, but Facebook has made this less of a blind guess and more something where we’re able to weigh the short-term, mid-term and long-term potential of the show.”
While “No Script” is made for and funded by Facebook, the idea for the show came out of a desire to work with Lynch, who is one of the more popular pro athletes among Bleacher Report’s younger, mostly male audience, according to Brown. Videos and Facebook posts about Lynch regularly outperform other content Bleacher Report creates and shares, he added.
“No Script” comes at a time when Bleacher Report is investing in doing more entertainment-style content. The 12-person B/R Entertainment team that veteran TV and comedy writer Neil Punsalan (who serves as an executive producer on “No Script”) leads is spearheading the effort, with more than a dozen projects in production or development. Last week, Bleacher Report also moved into bigger offices in New York, in part to support the production of more entertainment-style content, Brown said.
It’s easy to envision a scenario where Bleacher Report works with all sorts of athletes on shows like “No Script” or even future episodes of “No Script” that center on different athletes. But that’s not how Bleacher Report plans to approach live-action and athlete-driven original programming, Brown said.
“One thing we’re not doing is trying to do shows with 50 different athletes,” Brown said. “It’s more valuable to have premium content versus throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, which is what a lot of other publishers are doing. We’re definitely doing something with a handful of athletes, but we’re not going to run the Marshawn Lynch playbook with someone else.”
Image courtesy of Bleacher Report |
Rolls-Royce shows off autonomous naval vessel concept | Rolls-Royce has unveiled designs for an autonomous naval vessel, which could sail for upwards of 100 days over 3,500 nautical miles. The vessel would be powered by gas and diesel engines, and driven by an electric propulsion system designed to run reliably for long periods of operation without maintenance. The concept also incorporates an additional 3,000 KWh of energy storage, and solar panels to generate power when on standby. The company says it expects mixed manned and unmanned naval fleets to develop over the next decade. | http://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/design-engineering-news/rolls-royce-reveals-autonomous-naval-vessel-design/160626/ | 2017-09-12 10:50:52.117000 | Rolls-Royce has revealed plans for a 60m long, 700 tonne autonomous naval vessel with a range of 3500 nautical miles. The vessel concept is said to be capable of operating at sea for over 100 days, performing a range of single role missions, for example, patrol & surveillance, mine detection or fleet screening.
At the heart of the vessel is a ‘power dense propulsion system’ combining both gas turbines and diesel engines with electric propulsion, energy storage and propulsors.
According to Benjamin Thorp, Rolls-Royce, general manager naval electrics, automation and control: “Rolls-Royce is seeing interest from major navies in autonomous, rather than remote controlled, ships. Such ships offer a way to deliver increased operational capability, reduce the risk to crew and cut both operating and build costs.
“Over the next 10 years or so, Rolls-Royce expects to see the introduction of medium sized unmanned platforms, particularly in leading navies, as the concept of mixed manned and unmanned fleets develops.”
The initial design features a full electric propulsion system which is claimed to require fewer auxiliary systems (lubrication, cooling system etc.) and offer better reliability levels than mechanical counterparts. It features two Rolls-Royce MTU 4000 Series gensets providing around 4MW electrical power to a 1.5MW propulsion drive. Rolls-Royce says that small gas turbines could offer an alternative to diesel engines, further improving the system’s reliability and reducing onboard maintenance. Permanent Magnet Azipull thrusters together with a bow mounted tunnel thruster will make the vessel more manoeuvrable.
To reduce fuel consumption and extend operational range, an additional 3000 kWh of energy storage will facilitate low speed loiter operations and the vessel will also be fitted with solar panels to generate power when the vessel is on standby.
The absence of crew increases the need for reliable power and propulsion systems. Rolls-Royce plans to cost-effectively blend advanced Intelligent Asset Management and system redundancy to avoid sacrificing the cost and volume savings achieved by removing the crew. A suite of autonomous support tools, developed by Rolls-Royce, such as Energy Management, Equipment Health Monitoring and predictive and remote maintenance, will ensure the availability of unmanned vessels.
Many of the technologies needed to make autonomous ships a reality already exist. Rolls-Royce has created what it believes to be the world’s first Intelligent Awareness System combining multiple sensors with Artificial Intelligence, to help commercial vessels operate more safely and efficiently. Significant analysis of potential cyber risks is also being undertaken to ensure end-to-end security.
Rolls-Royce says that autonomous technology presents an opportunity to automate certain parts of the ship’s operations, and the partial removal of sailors reduces operating costs and improves safety by limiting the number of people exposed to hazards. |
'Nano-drills' developed that can kill cancer cells one by one | Microscopic "nano-drills" that can target and destroy individual cancer cells have been developed by US scientists. Researchers from Rice, Durham and North Carolina state universities used light to activate "nanomachines" that can drill into individual cells. Once the nanomachines pierce a cell, they release cancer-killing drugs or attack cell membranes, leading to the cell dying off through necrosis. The development could prove a major step forward for non-invasive cancer treatment.
| https://www.cbinsights.com/research/cancer-killing-nanomachines-drill-cells/?utm_source=CB+Insights+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e3df23bf48-Top_Research_Briefs_9_9_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9dc0513989-e3df23bf48-88289137 | 2017-09-12 10:49:49.837000 | Microscopic "molecular drills" could deliver drugs to, or destroy, diseased cells – potentially forging a new path to targeted cancer treatment.
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For cancer patients, aggressive treatment options like chemotherapy and radiation can come with severe side effects, including extreme nausea, compromised immune systems, and long-term organ damage. This is largely because some of the most common and effective cancer treatment regimens attack cancerous and non-cancerous cells indiscriminately.
Researchers have long sought alternative treatments capable of killing cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. Now, a team of scientists from Rice, Durham, and North Carolina State Universities may have uncovered one: A new innovation uses light to activate microscopic “nanomachines” that can drill into individual cancer cells. Once these nanomachines pierce a cell, they can release cancer-killing drugs or attack the cell membranes, inducing the cell to die by a process known as necrosis.
The research could represent a huge step forward for non-invasive cancer treatment, delivered in an extremely small package: The nanomachines are so tiny, you could park 50,000 of them end-to-end across the diameter of a human hair.
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Nanomachines themselves are a fairly new development. Just last year, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the researchers who created the first nanomachines – essentially tiny electric drills a few thousand times thinner than the strand of a single hair and made out of molecules.
Drs. James Tour of Rice, Robert Pal of Durham, and Gufeng Wang of North Carolina State – who collectively led the new nanomachines research – all hail from the chemistry field as well. Their team based its work on the Nobel-winning designs, but at an even more microscopic scale.
The cancer-killing technology leverages nanomachines (or “motorized molecules”) and engineers them to selectively target cancerous cells based on a sensitivity to certain proteins of the compromised cells. Even before UV light is applied, the motorized molecules can adhere themselves to diseased cells through “adsorption.”
The nanomachines remain affixed to the surface of the diseased cells until the light activation makes the cell permeable. Once activated by ultraviolet light, the nanomachines burrow through cell linings using a system of rotors and stators.
The nanomachines can then drill through the cell membranes at a speed of up to 3 million times per second. (This high a speed is required to outpace “Brownian motion,” which is the erratic movement that takes place among microscopic particles suspended in fluid.)
From there, the cancer cells can be killed in one of two ways: The nanomachines can inject chemical agents to destroy it, or they can repeatedly pierce the cell to blast open tumorous membranes until the cell dies by necrosis.
In one test, it took just 60 seconds for a nanomachine to pierce the outer shell of a prostate cancer cell with dozens of tiny holes; overall, it took 1-3 minutes to destroy the cell by necrosis.
“Once developed, this approach could provide a potential step change in non-invasive cancer treatment and greatly improve survival rates and patient welfare globally,” says Dr. Robert Pal of Durham University.
The cancer-killing nanomachine research remains far from clinical application, but has so far been successful in lab tests on human and animal cells. (Further testing on microbes, small fish, mice, and rats would precede any human trials.)
The researchers’ ambition is to ultimately use light-activated nanomachines to target common cancer cells – such as those in breast tumors and skin melanomas – as well as cells that are more resistant to chemotherapy.
Much further down the road, nanomachines could potentially be utilized in other areas of healthcare and treatment; for example, some scientists say the technology could be used to heal or repair cells that don’t naturally heal or are difficult to repair (such as nerve cells or heart cells).
Nanomachines will also have applications well beyond medicine. For example, molecular machines could be used to create “smart materials” that can store energy or expand and contract like muscles: In first-generation tests, 3D printing and nanomachines created smart materials capable of lifting a dime weighing 2.268g. The coin, which was 15 times the weight of the smart material that lifted it, was raised 1.6 millimeters; that scale is equivalent to a human being lifting a car. This futuristic scenario could have potentially broad implications for heavy industry and manufacturing.
To learn more about the molecular motor research discussed in this piece, check out the video below.
The original research ‘Molecular machines open cell membranes’ was published in the scientific journal Nature. Full information is available here.
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Vine-monitoring robot trials well in Portuguese vineyard | A robot designed to monitor vines has been hailed a success following trials in Portugal's Douro Valley. The VineScout is being developed by Spanish universities in conjunction with port and Douro wine producer Symington Family Estates, using technology from French and British companies. The EU is funding €1.7m ($2.04m) of the €2m project, which is aimed at both improving viticulture and addressing labour shortage issues. | http://imbibe.com/news-articles/wines/port/symingtons-vineyard-robot-trial-declared-a-success/ | 2017-09-12 10:49:16.423000 | Imbibe Live unites the entire drinks industry to grow their businesses. Whether you’re sourcing and buying, or producing and selling, we invite you to share new products, stories and build lasting relationships. Be where the future of the UK industry is determined. |
Rootstock to release smart contracts platform after SegWit2x | Rootstock will launch its open-source smart contract platform between mid-November and mid-December after the possible hard fork caused by the introduction of SegWit2x rules on block size. The technology is in place to launch, however, the hard fork could cause complications, CEO Diego Gutierrez said. In the case of a hard fork, Rootstock will support the blockchain that hosts the most transactions, he added.
| https://cointelegraph.com/news/rootstock-ceo-confirms-launch-by-december-after-segwit2x-hard-fork | 2017-09-12 10:41:42.177000 | Rootstock (RSK) CEO Diego Gutierrez has confirmed it will finally launch “between mid-November and mid-December” after the possible SegWit2x hard fork.
In a Twitter exchange Monday, Gutierrez said the timing of the initial release was deliberate to avoid complications from a hard fork occurring afterwards.
RSK is an open source smart contracts platform pegged to Bitcoin, the first such implementation for the network which will see significantly more capacity and faster payments.
When asked what stage the project’s technology was at, Gutierrez added the only reason for “waiting” was the SegWit2x hard fork issue.
“...On our side, all the tech is in place, and the reason why we're waiting is because of the potential fork which might happen after mid (November),” he wrote.
Well on our side all the tech is in place and the reason why we're waiting is because of the potential fork which might happen after mid Nov — Diego Gutierrez-Z (@dieguito) September 11, 2017
On the subject of which chain RSK would support if a hard fork did occur, Gutierrez said that any willing to integrate smart contracts, but that “limited resources” meant the chain with most transactions would get “priority.”
China setback
SegWit2x has taken a back seat in the Bitcoin industry debate this month as regulatory upheaval in China becomes a decisive factor regulating price and volatility.
Community consensus has recently drifted towards discrediting the forking proposal, which came out of Barry Silbert’s so-called New York Agreement (NYA) in May.
The advent of Bitcoin Cash, Blockstream CEO Adam Back said as an example, made SegWit2x seem “moot.”
yes! tho some may argue segwit2x helped activate segwit not just 148 and 91 initiatives. anyway given BCH segwit2x seems moot. https://t.co/R0Ta59HMkR — Adam Back (@adam3us) September 11, 2017
Catallaxy co-founder Francis Pouliot yesterday meanwhile added to the opinion that such hard forks were ultimately malicious acts, echoing Chain engineer Oleg Andreev last month, who described them as “FUD projects.” |
Apple tests cardiac diagnosis potential of Apple Watch | Apple is reported to be working with researchers at Stanford University on clinical applications for the heart rate monitor on its Apple Watch. The tests will examine whether the watch can be used to detect abnormal cardiac activity, or arrhythmia, and potentially serious conditions such as atrial fibrillation, which carries the risk of blood clots, strokes and other complications. Tech company American Well, which specialises in connecting patients with doctors via secure video, is also thought to be involved with the trial.
| https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/11/apple-watch-caridac-arrhythmia-tests-stanford-american-well.html | 2017-09-12 10:35:22.120000 | Apple is working with partners to test whether its smartwatch can be used to detect common heart conditions, an effort that would make its device a "must have" for millions of people worldwide.
The company is partnering up with a group of clinicians at Stanford, as well as telemedicine vendor American Well, to test whether Apple Watch's heart rate sensor can detect abnormal heart rhythms in a cohort of patients, according to two people familiar. The people requested anonymity as these plans have not yet been made public.
Apple confirmed the test and Stanford's participation at its event on Tuesday, where it unveiled a new version of the Apple Watch with wireless connectivity.
Arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms, aren't always problematic. But in some people, a condition known as atrial fibrillation can show no external symptoms while carrying a risk of blood clots, strokes and other complications.
For that reason, an Apple Watch could be a useful screening tool for high-risk patients -- if its heart rate monitor proves to be sufficiently sensitive and accurate.
"Atrial fibrillation is a common rhythm disorder and knowing someone has it is medically useful because those people might need specific treatments," said Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.
American Well declined to comment on its involvement with Apple. But the company's CEO Roy Schoenberg did say that telemedicine companies are working closely with wearable makers. If a problem is detected, he said, "the best route forward is to put a health care professional out in front."
Companies like American Well already provide apps for the iPhone so that anyone with an Internet connection can reach a doctor in a matter of minutes.
Apple Watch has also been used in studies to screen for heart rhythm abnormalities. A start-up called Cardiogram released the results of its research in May, in partnership with clinicians at UCSF.
Greg Marcus, a cardiac electrophysiologist at UCSF who was involved with the Cardiogram study, said Apple benefits from the real-time access to raw data from its heart rate sensor. "That's potentially more powerful," he said, than the signals that third-party developers can access through Apple Watch.
The clinical study is slated to kick off later this year, one of the people said.
Apple's Tim Cook hinted at the company's interest in heart health applications in an interview with Fortune published on Monday.
"We started working on the Apple Watch several years ago," he said, and one goal was "performing some measurements of your health that people were not measuring, at least continually. Like your heart. Very few people wore heart monitors. We're extremely interested in this area. And yes it is a business opportunity."
Cook went on to describe the medical health activity market as the "largest or second largest component" of the economy.
In June, CNBC reported that Apple hired Sumbul Desai, a rising star on Stanford's digital health team who was working on projects related to Apple Watch. CNBC also reported that month that Apple has been in talks with developers, hospitals and other industry groups about bringing clinical data, such as detailed lab results and allergy lists, to its devices.
Apple declined to comment. Stanford did not return a request for comment.
Related video: Apple and Aetna hold secret meetings to bring the Apple Watch to Aetna customers |
New listings for August down 6% on last year across the UK | New property listings in the UK in August fell nearly 6% compared to August 2016, according to new figures from the website Home. Transactions in the second quarter of 2017 fell by 12% on an annual basis across England and Wales, and totals for the year have fallen to the lowest since 2009/10, with just 844,380. The figure for August showed a 13.1% fall from July, with Coventry, Winchester and Salford recording the sharpest falls. London listings were down by 22.3%. The figures have raised fresh concerns about housing supply.
| http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/new-instructions-drop-almost-6-across-uk-year-on-year/ | 2017-09-12 10:33:33.593000 | Post navigation
New listings were down last month by almost 6% on August the year before, and down 13.1% on a monthly basis.
Analysis of new listings on website Home has shown that in 100 UK towns and cities, supply dropped on a monthly basis in two thirds of places.
The biggest falls were in Coventry (down 33%), Winchester (31%), Salford (28.5%) and Oxford (25.6%).
In London, supply was down 22.3%, with the highest monthly fall in Richmond at 42%.
The analysis was done by HouseSimple, whose CEO Alex Gosling said: “Few people will be concerned by the drop-off in new listings between July and August.
“More of a concern is the 5.9% drop-off when comparing last month with the corresponding month in 2016. Supply continues to be a major issue.
“The property market needs a strong September after a subdued period since the general election.”
The Land Registry has said that transactions in the second quarter of this year fell 12% on an annual basis across England and Wales. In the 12 months to the end of the quarter, there were 844,380 transactions – the lowest since the same period in 2009/10. |
Outsourced property viewing industry gathering pace | Outsourced property viewing providers are on the rise, with the UK industry having rapidly established itself. Leicester-based Access2View recently announced its 50,000th accompanied viewing in just under five years and expects to reach 100,000 viewings by the end of 2018. Meanwhile, Viewber has already reported 6,500 viewings and more than 500 customers in its first year. Ed Mead, co-founder of Viewber, said such services were increasingly useful to agents and other industry players who faced increased competition and squeezed margins. | http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/outsourced-viewings-industry-looks-set-to-stay-and-grow/ | 2017-09-12 10:30:25.990000 | Post navigation
The outsourced viewings industry looks to have established itself beyond doubt.
One provider, Access2View, has announced its 50,000th accompanied viewing in just under five years.
Ed Mead’s high-profile Viewber, now one year old, has already notched up 6,500 viewings.
Jim Johnston, managing director of Access2View, said: “We’re proud to have hit this milestone. We’re an independent business with no outside investment. We’re completely focused on quality of service and have reinvested all our profits into creating a system that integrates with our customers’ IT platforms.
“Based on the last few months, we expect to hit 100,000 viewings by the end of next year.”
He said customers include letting agents, traditional estate agents, housing associations and landlords, as well as online agents.
Mead said that in the first three months of Viewber going live, there were just 50 viewings undertaken for a handful of clients.
The businesss now has over 500 customers, including lettings, sales and auction businesses, plus property and asset managers.
There are now over 2,200 ‘Viewbers’, with the number growing at around 20 a day.
Highlights of the last year include a request for 188 block viewings in one go; the 30 minutes that was the shortest time between a requested and actual viewing; and the 5.45am request for a viewing at 8.30am the same day, which was duly carried out.
Mead said: “I always knew this service was part of the future and increasingly useful to busy agents and other industry players who face squeezed margins and increased competition.
“Agents, buyers and tenants can now expect service on demand, which is often late, at short notice or at weekends.
“Viewber can help support a business, freeing up teams to spend more time putting deals together and less out on the road.
“It has been a phenomenal year and it’s hard to believe we’ve achieved so much in such a short space of time.”
Below, the two co-founders of Viewber, Marcus de Ferranti, left, and Ed Mead |
Cryptocurrency/fiat ATMs to go into service in Argentina | Fintech company Odyssey will introduce 250 automated teller machines (ATMs) in Argentina which are able to issue and receive cryptocurrencies alongside fiat transactions. Upon installation, the ATMs will use Odyssey's Octagon platform to process bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin. Odyssey plans to launch its bi-directional crypto ATMs across Latin America, Europe and Asia, said CEO Sebastian Ponceliz.
| https://criptonoticias.com/cajeros-automaticos/argentina-contara-200-cajeros-bidireccionales-criptomonedas-fiat-octubre/#axzz4sSTcYU1r | 2017-09-12 09:55:26.600000 | La comunidad blockchain de Argentina y de toda Latinoamérica tiene un gran motivo de celebración. A partir del mes de octubre, en el territorio argentino se instalarán 250 cajeros automáticos que permitirán realizar operaciones tanto con dinero fiat, como con criptoactivos.
El sistema bidireccional se refiere a que estos cajeros pueden dar y recibir billetes de curso legal en Argentina, como también dar y recibir criptoactivos. Sebastián Ponceliz, CEO y fundador de Odyssey Group, la empresa que está desarrollando esta iniciativa, declaró a CriptoNoticias que realizarán operaciones con las principales criptomonedas del mercado: desde el momento de su instalación comenzarán a operar con Bitcoin, Ethereum y Litecoin y se irán añadiendo más criptomonedas según su relevancia.
Asimismo, indicó: “Nuestra empresa transfiere tecnología por fuera de los Estados Unidos. La plataforma Octagon, permite comunicar con el puerto transaccional de cada país y de esa manera, administrar los ATM bidireccionales. Octagon, permite al usuario de los ATM, obtener efectivo, intercambiar criptomonedas, obtener microcréditos, realizar transferencias de dinero y muchas otras funciones más a través de carteras electrónicas”.
Con respecto a la plataforma Octagon, Ponceliz indicó que se trata de una plataforma de administración transaccional con un nodo de distribución de criptomonedas integrado, lo que permitirá llevar a cabo dichas funciones. “Octagon es la primera plataforma mundial integradora de soluciones fintech, criptomonedas y efectivo, de contacto directo con el ser humano, facilitando el movimiento de divisas, el comercio y la reducción de los costos transaccionales”, apuntó.
Surge a partir de comprender que está cambiando el orden monetario mundial. Existe lo que yo denomino, una convergencia monetaria que hace que utilicemos diferentes tipos de medios de pago y monedas de cambio (efectivo, crypto, e-wallets, puntos de fidelidad, etc) y el punto de contacto humano para eso, es un ATM que pueda transaccionar multiples monedas, convirtiendo dinero digital en fisico y a la inversa. Octagon es la primera plataforma mundial integradora de soluciones fintech, criptomonedas y efectivo, de contacto directo con el ser humano, facilitando el movimiento de divisas, el comercio y la reducción de los costos transaccionales. Sebastian Ponceliz
CEO
También, manifestó que las primeras 250 máquinas serán instaladas en las provincias de Buenos Aires, Córdoba y Jujuy. Ponceliz indicó que también proyectarán hacia toda Latinoamérica y también en Europa y Asia.
Por lo que se refiere a las alianzas con instituciones, Ponceliz dijo que están trabajando de cerca con los bancos centrales de Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia y México. En relación con la regulación en territorio argentino, Ponceliz agregó que desde el mes de mayo del presente año, la legislación argentina cambió, permitiendo a empresarios particulares poder llevar a cabo operaciones de instalación de cajeros automáticos por fuera del sistema bancario tradicional, siendo ellos, Octagon, en conjunto con el Banco Central, los promotores de ese cambio.
Esta iniciativa de Odyssey Group, según su CEO y fundador, responde al cambio que las criptomonedas están generando en el orden monetario mundial. Según el sitio web de la compañía, buscan ser un factor de disrupción tecnológico y un proveedor de servicios de alta eficiencia de cajeros automáticos, máquinas expendedoras y de seguridad informática e Internet de las Cosas. La empresa tiene diversas oficinas, en México, Florida, Nueva York, Perú, Chile, Uruguay y Argentina y es un importante agente del sector.
Ya son varios los países en donde se han instalado cajeros automáticos para criptoactivos como Bitcoin, Litecoin y Ethereum, siendo los dos primeros los que llevan la batuta en este sentido. Entre los países en donde hay cajeros para criptoactivos se pueden mencionar Kosovo (para Bitcoin), Colombia (para Bitcoin, Ethereum y Litecoin), Canadá (para Ethereum, Litecoin y Bitcoin), República Dominicana (para Bitcoin), República Checa (para Bitcoin), Estados Unidos (para Bitcoin), Israel (para Bitcoin), España (para Bitcoin), entre otros.
Cabe destacar que Argentina ha sido sede de numerosos eventos vinculados a las plataformas blockchain y los criptoactivos, como por ejemplo, eventos educativos como el BitcoinDay Argentina, celebrado en julio pasado, y “Bitcoin y Blockchain, un mundo de oportunidades”, que se llevó a cabo el pasado 4 de agosto en la provincia de Buenos Aires, por parte de la ONG Bitcoin Argentina. Sin duda alguna, el país suramericano se perfila como un ambiente bastante amigable hacia los criptoactivos.
Corrección: Este artículo fue modificado para aclarar que Argentina no posee la primicia en la adopción de cajeros bidireccionales con criptoactivos a nivel mundial. |
California Assembly passes drug price transparency bill | The California State Assembly on Monday overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 17, controversial legislation that could soon become the nation’s most comprehensive law aimed at shining a light on prescription drug prices.
| http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/11/california-assembly-passes-drug-price-transparency-bill/ | 2017-09-12 09:34:05.097000 | The California State Assembly on Monday overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 17, controversial legislation that could soon become the nation’s most comprehensive law aimed at shining a light on prescription drug prices.
The 66-9 vote easily overcame the 41 votes needed to pass, though an earlier vote late Monday afternoon had come up short at 31-6. At that point, the bill was put on call and the voting roll was kept open for less than an hour until the final vote was called.
SB 17, authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina and co-authored by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, aims to make drug prices for both public and private health plans more transparent.
It would enable health insurers to negotiate lower prices for drugs or, in many cases, replace those drugs with cheaper alternatives, according to its supporters.
“Public anger at rising drug prices has been growing for some time, and Californians expect their government to do something about it,” said Hernandez in a statement afterwards.
“Drug companies threw everything they had at this bill, but the Assembly stood up for consumers. The reason Big Pharma hates this bill so much is that it’s going to work.”
The bill is strongly opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, which deployed legions of lobbyists and paid for full-page newspaper ads leading up to the Legislature’s final votes on the measure, partially out of fear that SB 17 could become a national model and the first major step toward price controls.
On Monday night, Priscilla VanderVeer, spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement that “SB 17 can’t deliver on its empty promises.
“It won’t help Californians access needed medicine or make their costs at the pharmacy counter any lower,” she said. “It won’t even paint a complete picture of prescription drug spending since it only calls for information on list
prices rather than the final cost after discounts and rebates.”
SB 17 would require pharmaceutical companies to notify health insurers and government health plans like Medi-Cal at least 60 days before scheduled prescription drug price hikes that would exceed 16 percent over a two-year period. It would also force drug companies to explain the reasons behind those increases.
“After two years of setbacks, I’m thrilled to see SB 17 pass the Assembly,” said Chiu in a statement. “We’re one step closer to lifting the veil on soaring drug prices and identifying meaningful strategies to ensure access to life-saving treatments.”
The bill passed the Senate 28-10 in May, but has since been amended and will need to return to the Senate for a full vote sometime this week. If it passes there, it will be forwarded to Gov. Jerry Brown, who will decide if it will become law. |
What Does It Cost to Create a Cancer Drug? Less Than You’d Think | What does it really cost to bring a drug to market? The question is central to the debate over rising health care costs and appropriate drug pricing. President Trump campaigned on promises to lower the costs of drugs.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/health/cancer-drug-costs.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth | 2017-09-12 09:31:44.420000 | What does it really cost to bring a drug to market?
The question is central to the debate over rising health care costs and appropriate drug pricing. President Trump campaigned on promises to lower the costs of drugs.
But numbers have been hard to come by. For years, the standard figure has been supplied by researchers at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development: $2.7 billion each, in 2017 dollars.
Yet a new study looking at 10 cancer medications, among the most expensive of new drugs, has arrived at a much lower figure: a median cost of $757 million per drug. (Half cost less, and half more.)
Following approval, the 10 drugs together brought in $67 billion, the researchers also concluded — a more than sevenfold return on investment. Nine out of 10 companies made money, but revenues varied enormously. One drug had not yet earned back its development costs. |
UC cancer collaboration seeks combined clout | UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is among five University of California sites participating in a new collaborative effort that aims to increase access to clinical trials, share research data and hone preventive efforts across the state.
| http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/sd-me-uc-cancer-20170911-story.html | 2017-09-12 09:29:43.197000 | UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is among five University of California sites participating in a new collaborative effort that aims to increase access to clinical trials, share research data and hone preventive efforts across the state.
The proposal would formalize and deepen connections between the UC’s National Cancer Institute designated centers, said Dr. Scott Lippman, Moores director,
Taken together, the UC centers care for more than 16 percent of Californians diagnosed with a disease projected to kill nearly 60,000 Californians this year, according to the American Cancer Society.
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While that number is daunting, there is more hope these days than there has been perhaps at any time since President Richard Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971. In recent years, breakthroughs in immunotherapies — drugs that activate or piggyback on components of the body’s immune system — have brought significant increases in survivability and seen to generate new headline-worthy advances every single week.
Lippman said the pace of innovation in cancer therapy is so fast, that the best care available is often obtained by joining a trial run by a drug company headed for market. Becoming the home of one of these trials is not easy even if your operation is among the 69 government-designated centers in the nation, he said.
“There is tremendous competition for getting these trials. They’re investigational, in a certain sense, but they’re also the best cancer therapy that a person can get,” Lippman said.
While the collaboration announced in San Francisco Monday morning is about much more than clinical trial access, Lippman said that the added clout that can be gained by joining together will likely have the most immediately-visible impact for diagnosed patients.
In fact, he noted, it already has. The five centers have already built collaborative efforts around head and neck cancers and blood cancers that have brought trials systemwide that might not have appeared if only one cancer center was involved, he siad.
Dr. Ezra Cohen, a Moores head and neck specialist, was due to present an abstract of results of a promising trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology on Monday. That trial uses the immunotherapy drug Durvalumab, made by global medicine giant AstraZeneca, in conjunction with another drug called a STAT3 inhibitor.
Though the trial is still ongoing, early results are exciting, Cohen said in an email from Barcelona.
“We would expect to see a response rate of 10 percent to 15 percent with Durvalumab alone with few complete responses. We are seeing a doubling to tripling of the response rate with the addition of a STAT3 inhibitor,” Cohen said.
Getting that trial, Cohen and Lippman said, had a lot to do with the existing cross-collaboration between head and neck oncologists at various UC cancer centers. All had agreed to abide by the recommendations of Moores scientific review committee and institutional review board which must approve all clinical trials before they can proceed.
The ability to go through just one approval and have access to as many as five major cancer centers, Lippman said, definitely helped secure a trial in a competitive environment.
“We think this is obviously a major advantage,” Lippman said.
Dr. Alan Ashworth, president of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, agreed that the AstraZeneca trial is a good example of “one-off” collaborations that have occurred between different UC cancer centers in the past. The executive, who will direct the collaborative in its first year, said formalizing the relationship will hopefully make such joint effort the rule rather than the exception.
“What we want to happen down the road is that, when one center is considering applying for a trial it’s the standard practice to say ‘Hey guys, we’re setting this trial up, which of you guys is in?’” Ashworth said.
But he added that the collaboration is about much more than connecting more efficiently for trials.
Cancer research is increasingly moving away from categorizing cancers based on where they occur in the body. The new defining characteristic at the center of research is the disease’s specific genetic signature.
But spotting genetic mutations is the relatively easy part. Once those differences are delineated, researchers must use sophisticated data analysis tools to determine which are driving the disease and present an actionable target that can be exploited by a drug.
This analysis is aided by what computer scientists call “big data”: By looking across the clinical and genetic information of thousands of patients, cleverly designed computer algorithms can pick up on patterns that would not be apparent by looking at one patient at a time.
Here, Ashworth said, collaborating more closely, and sharing data sets, can help researchers make the next wave of discoveries more quickly.
“We’re not big enough on our own, sometimes, for this kind of work, but together we’re going to see the big picture of cancer in ways we never have before,” Ashworth said.
He said that there is also room for collaboration on cancer prevention programs whether it’s finding the best way to get people to stop smoking or to get those over age 50 to undergo the routine colonoscopies that are proven to reduce the chances of colon cancer.
Looking across institutions at what is effective in one place versus another, he said, should enable new insights about what truly motivates and what just gets ignored.
“We can now start to use the data from our electronic medical records to look at similarities and difference in outcomes and treatment and also around cost,” Ashworth said.
In addition to Moores, the organizations that make up the consortium are: UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UC Irvine Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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Congress Rejects Trump Proposals to Cut Health Research Funds | Back in March, when President Trump released the first draft of his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, he asked lawmakers for deep cuts to one of their favorite institutions, the National Institutes of Health — part of a broad reordering of priorities, away from science and social spending, toward defense and border security.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/us/politics/national-institutes-of-health-budget-trump.html | 2017-09-12 09:27:36.863000 | In identical language, the House and Senate bills explicitly prohibit the Trump administration from changing the formula used for decades to calculate and pay indirect costs.
“The administration’s proposal would radically change the nature of the federal government’s relationship with the research community, abandoning the government’s long-established responsibility for underwriting much of the nation’s research infrastructure, and jeopardizing biomedical research nationwide,” the Senate Appropriations Committee said in a report on its bill. The proposed cuts, it said, could not be made “without throwing research programs across the country into disarray.”
Just to make sure the message got through to the administration, Congress included the same prohibition in a stopgap spending bill that provides money to run the government through Dec. 8. President Trump on Friday signed the bill, which also suspends the debt limit and includes aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey and other disasters.
Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services, had argued for the proposed cuts, saying they would not harm research. “About 30 percent of the grant money that goes out is used for indirect expenses, which, as you know, means that that money goes for something other than the research that’s being done,” Mr. Price told the House Appropriations Committee in March.
But he won few converts.
“Indirect costs are very real costs,” said Dr. Landon S. King, the executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and “there is not another source to pay for them.” |
Feeling Older? Here’s How to Embrace It | The realization that you are getting older can come in waves. You watch movies and point to the actors, saying: “She’s dead. Oh, he’s dead, too.” Your parents move to a retirement community they call God’s waiting room. You hear more snap, crackle and pop in your joints than in your breakfast cereal.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/smarter-living/aging-well.html | 2017-09-12 09:19:59.240000 | The realization that you are getting older can come in waves.
You watch movies and point to the actors, saying: “She’s dead. Oh, he’s dead, too.”
Your parents move to a retirement community they call God’s waiting room.
You hear more snap, crackle and pop in your joints than in your breakfast cereal.
In society, youthfulness is glorified and getting older is cast as something to avoid, but as your age increases, your quality of life does not necessarily have to decrease, experts said.
Here’s what you should know:
What is ‘old’?
Most people wouldn’t say that a 38-year-old qualifies, but once you pass the median age of 37.8, you may statistically be considered “old,” said Tom Ludwig, emeritus professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Mich. |
US researchers create biofuel from potato waste | Researchers at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have developed a method of converting potato waste into the biofuel ethanol, which is more cost effective than current methods and achieves a slightly greater yield. Using potato waste from Pennsylvania crisp factories, the team triggered the simultaneous processes of saccharification and fermentation, while mould and yeast were added as catalysts to the bioreactor.
| http://news.psu.edu/story/478083/2017/08/17/research/potato-waste-processing-may-be-road-enhanced-food-waste-conversion | 2017-09-12 09:11:34.097000 | Researchers evaluated the effects of temperature, pH and aeration rates in biofilm reactors, and the optimal conditions were found to be 95 degrees Fahrenheit and a pH of 5.8 with no aeration. After 72 hours, the researchers achieved the maximum ethanol concentration of 37.93 grams per liter. The yield was 0.41 grams or ethanol per gram of starch.
"These results are promising, because the co-culture biofilm reactor provided similar ethanol production — 37.93 grams per leader — compared to the conventional ethanol production — 37.05 grams per liter — which required pre-treatment with added commercial enzymes at a higher temperature," Demirci explained. "Therefore, eliminating the externally added enzyme and energy costs will certainly reduce the cost of bioethanol production."
Researchers also evaluated biofilm formation of co-culture on the plastic composite supports using a scanning electron microscope, said researcher Gulten Izmirlioglu, a doctoral student in agricultural and biological engineering when the study was conducted. "Scanning electron microscope images revealed that when mold and yeast are allowed to form a biofilm, hyphae (filaments) of the mold provide surface area for the yeasts' attachment," she said. "That's a good thing."
The research findings, which demonstrated that plastic composite supports can be used for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation processes in biofilm reactors with co-cultures when producing ethanol, were published in Fuel. Izmirlioglu believes the results are significant for industry.
"Overall, bioethanol production from starchy industrial wastes can be improved with application of biofilm reactors, while the production cost is reduced with integrations of the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process and co-culturing," she said.
More efficient bioethanol production is needed to meet the demand for renewable energy and reduce the negative environmental impacts of petroleum fuel, Demirci noted. To make ethanol production cost-competitive, inexpensive, and easily available, feedstocks such as potato mash are needed, as well as improved processing technologies with higher productivities.
"This research is of great interest to Keystone Potato Products in Hegins, Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of Sterman Masser Inc.," said Demirci. "The company is paying attention to this project, hoping this novel approach may help it add more value to its waste potato mash. Industrial food wastes are potentially a great substrate in production of value-added products to reduce the cost, while managing the waste economically and environmentally."
Also contributing to the research was John Cantolina in the Microscopy and Cytometry Facility at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Penn State.
The Turkish Ministry of Education, by providing a scholarship to Izmirlioglu and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station supported this work. |
US researchers create biofuel from potato waste | Researchers at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have developed a method of converting potato waste into the biofuel ethanol, which is more cost effective than current methods and achieves a slightly greater yield. Using potato waste from Pennsylvania crisp factories, the team triggered the simultaneous processes of saccharification and fermentation, while mould and yeast were added as catalysts to the bioreactor.
| http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2017/09/11/penn-state-researchers-develop-new-way-to-produce-ethanol-from-potato-waste/ | 2017-09-12 09:11:34.097000 | In Pennsylvania, with more than two-dozen companies in Pennsylvania manufacturing potato chips, it is no wonder that researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have developed a novel approach to more efficiently convert potato waste into ethanol. This process may lead to reduced production costs for biofuel in the future and add extra value for chip makers.
Using potato mash made from the peelings and potato residuals from a Pennsylvania food-processor, researchers triggered simultaneous saccharification — the process of breaking down the complex carbohydrate starch into simple sugars — and fermentation — the process in which sugars are converted to ethanol by yeasts or other microorganisms in bioreactors.
The bioreactor had plastic composite supports to encourage and enhance biofilm formation and to increase the microbial population. Biofilms are a natural way of immobilizing microbial cells on a solid support material. In a biofilm environment, microbial cells are abundant and more resistant to environmental stress causing higher productivities. In this application, these benefits were especially important because mold enzyme activity required higher temperature and the yeast had to tolerate this. |
Zillow buys construction listings start-up New Home Feed | Zillow has acquired construction listings management start-up New Home Feed. Seattle-based Zillow, which controls a range of online real estate and home-related brands including Trulia and StreetEasy, said New Home Feed's expertise are a "natural extension" of its digital services. The purchase marks a step towards Zillow's goal of helping builders market their homes to consumers, said Tony Small, Zillow group vice president of emerging marketplaces.
| http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zillow-group-acquires-new-home-feed-300516187.html | 2017-09-12 08:34:15.550000 | SEATTLE, Sept. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG), which houses a portfolio of the largest and most vibrant real estate and home-related brands on mobile and the web, today announced it has acquired New Home Feed, a streamlined listing management technology that allows builders to input, manage and syndicate their listings across the web.
"As the leader in new construction data management and a tool many of our builder customers currently use, New Home Feed felt like a natural extension of our current services," said Tony Small, group vice president of emerging marketplaces at Zillow Group. "By incorporating New Home Feed's tool set into our offering, it will be easier for partners to send their listings to Zillow Group and will improve the quality and accuracy of our new construction listings. This acquisition is another step toward our ultimate goal for new construction at Zillow Group, which is to help builders market their homes to consumers with a great return-on-investment."
"We are excited to be joining Zillow Group," said Rick Phillips, general manager of New Home Feed. "Many of our customers already use Zillow and Trulia to market their new construction homes. New Home Feed allows them to easily input, manage, and syndicate listings, and view intuitive reports in one dashboard. We are thrilled to start working with the Zillow Group team to integrate our technology directly with the platform to meet the rapidly growing needs of the new home industry."
Zillow Group will discuss the acquisition further at the Zillow Group New Construction Forum, September 14, 2017, in Austin, Texas.
About Zillow Group
Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) (NASDAQ:ZG) houses a portfolio of the largest real estate and home-related brands on mobile and the web. The company's brands focus on all stages of the home lifecycle: renting, buying, selling and financing. Zillow Group is committed to empowering consumers with unparalleled data, inspiration and knowledge around homes, and connecting them with the right local professionals to help. The Zillow Group portfolio of consumer brands includes real estate and rental marketplaces Zillow®, Trulia®, StreetEasy®, HotPads®, Naked Apartments® and RealEstate.com. In addition, Zillow Group develops a comprehensive suite of marketing software and technology solutions to help real estate, rental and mortgage professionals maximize business opportunities and connect with millions of consumers. The company operates a number of business brands for real estate, rental and mortgage professionals, including Mortech®, dotloop® and Bridge Interactive™. The company is headquartered in Seattle.
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SOURCE Zillow Group |
Robotics guru Rodney Brooks debunks AI myths | Rodney Brooks, former MIT professor and co-founder of iRobot and Rethink Robots, has written a blog post criticising many of what he sees as the exaggerated claims around the current and future capabilities of artificial intelligence. He identifies the "seven deadly sins" of AI hype: underestimating the rates of technological development, magical thinking, the over-extension of competence, misuse of terms, over application of exponential extrapolation, over application of ideas from Hollywood films, and a poor understanding of the marginal costs and speed of deployment of hardware. | http://rodneybrooks.com/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-predicting-the-future-of-ai/ | 2017-09-12 08:19:34.300000 | [An essay in my series on the Future of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.]
We are surrounded by hysteria about the future of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. There is hysteria about how powerful they will become how quickly, and there is hysteria about what they will do to jobs.
As I write these words on September 2nd, 2017, I note just two news stories from the last 48 hours.
Yesterday, in the New York Times, Oren Etzioni, chief executive of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, wrote an opinion piece titled How to Regulate Artificial Intelligence where he does a good job of arguing against the hysteria that Artificial Intelligence is an existential threat to humanity. He proposes rather sensible ways of thinking about regulations for Artificial Intelligence deployment, rather than the chicken little “the sky is falling” calls for regulation of research and knowledge that we have seen from people who really, really, should know a little better.
Today, there is a story in Market Watch that robots will take half of today’s jobs in 10 to 20 years. It even has a graphic to prove the numbers.
The claims are ludicrous. [I try to maintain professional language, but sometimes…] For instance, it appears to say that we will go from 1 million grounds and maintenance workers in the US to only 50,000 in 10 to 20 years, because robots will take over those jobs. How many robots are currently operational in those jobs? ZERO. How many realistic demonstrations have there been of robots working in this arena? ZERO. Similar stories apply to all the other job categories in this diagram where it is suggested that there will be massive disruptions of 90%, and even as much as 97%, in jobs that currently require physical presence at some particular job site.
Mistaken predictions lead to fear of things that are not going to happen. Why are people making mistakes in predictions about Artificial Intelligence and robotics, so that Oren Etzioni, I, and others, need to spend time pushing back on them?
Below I outline seven ways of thinking that lead to mistaken predictions about robotics and Artificial Intelligence. We find instances of these ways of thinking in many of the predictions about our AI future. I am going to first list the four such general topic areas of predictions that I notice, along with a brief assessment of where I think they currently stand.
A. Artificial General Intelligence. Research on AGI is an attempt to distinguish a thinking entity from current day AI technology such as Machine Learning. Here the idea is that we will build autonomous agents that operate much like beings in the world. This has always been my own motivation for working in robotics and AI, but the recent successes of AI are not at all like this.
Some people think that all AI is an instance of AGI, but as the word “general” would imply, AGI aspires to be much more general than current AI. Interpreting current AI as an instance of AGI makes it seem much more advanced and all encompassing that it really is.
Modern day AGI research is not doing at all well on being either general or getting to an independent entity with an ongoing existence. It mostly seems stuck on the same issues in reasoning and common sense that AI has had problems with for at least fifty years. Alternate areas such as Artificial Life, and Simulation of Adaptive Behavior did make some progress in getting full creatures in the eighties and nineties (these two areas and communities were where I spent my time during those years), but they have stalled.
My own opinion is that of course this is possible in principle. I would never have started working on Artificial Intelligence if I did not believe that. However perhaps we humans are just not smart enough to figure out how to do this–see my remarks on humility in my post on the current state of Artificial Intelligence suitable for deployment in robotics. Even if it is possible I personally think we are far, far further away from understanding how to build AGI than many other pundits might say.
[Some people refer to “an AI”, as though all AI is about being an autonomous agent. I think that is confusing, and just as the natives of San Francisco do not refer to their city as “Frisco”, no serious researchers in AI refer to “an AI”.]
B. The Singularity. This refers to the idea that eventually an AI based intelligent entity, with goals and purposes, will be better at AI research than us humans are. Then, with an unending Moore’s law mixed in making computers faster and faster, Artificial Intelligence will take off by itself, and, as in speculative physics going through the singularity of a black hole, we have no idea what things will be like on the other side.
People who “believe” in the Singularity are happy to give post-Singularity AI incredible power, as what will happen afterwards is quite unpredictable. I put the word believe in scare quotes as belief in the singularity can often seem like a religious belief. For some it comes with an additional benefit of being able to upload their minds to an intelligent computer, and so get eternal life without the inconvenience of having to believe in a standard sort of supernatural God. The ever powerful technologically based AI is the new God for them. Techno religion!
Some people have very specific ideas about when the day of salvation will come–followers of one particular Singularity prophet believe that it will happen in the year 2029, as it has been written.
This particular error of prediction is very much driven by exponentialism, and I will address that as one of the seven common mistakes that people make.
Even if there is a lot of computer power around it does not mean we are close to having programs that can do research in Artificial Intelligence, and rewrite their own code to get better and better.
Here is where we are on programs that can understand computer code. We currently have no programs that can understand a one page program as well as a new student in computer science can understand such a program after just one month of taking their very first class in programming. That is a long way from AI systems being better at writing AI systems than humans are.
Here is where we are on simulating brains at the neural level, the other methodology that Singularity worshipers often refer to. For about thirty years we have known the full “wiring diagram” of the 302 neurons in the worm C. elegans, along with the 7,000 connections between them. This has been incredibly useful for understanding how behavior and neurons are linked. But it has been a thirty years study with hundreds of people involved, all trying to understand just 302 neurons. And according to the OpenWorm project trying to simulate C. elegans bottom up, they are not yet half way there. To simulate a human brain with 100 billion neurons and a vast number of connections is quite a way off. So if you are going to rely on the Singularity to upload yourself to a brain simulation I would try to hold off on dying for another couple of centuries.
Just in case I have not made my own position on the Singularity clear, I refer you to my comments in a regularly scheduled look at the event by the magazine IEEE Spectrum. Here is the the 2008 version, and in particular a chart of where the players stand and what they say. Here is the 2017 version, and in particular a set of boxes of where the players stand and what they say. And yes, I do admit to being a little snarky in 2017…
C. Misaligned Values. The third case is that the Artificial Intelligence based machines get really good at execution of tasks, so much so that they are super human at getting things done in a complex world. And they do not share human values and this leads to all sorts of problems.
I think there could be versions of this that are true–if I have recently bought an airline ticket to some city, suddenly all the web pages I browse that rely on advertisements for revenue start displaying ads for airline tickets to the same city. This is clearly dumb, but I don’t think it is a sign of super capable intelligence, rather it is a case of poorly designed evaluation functions in the algorithms that place advertisements.
But here is a quote from one of the proponents of this view (I will let him remain anonymous, as an act of generosity):
The well-known example of paper clips is a case in point: if the machine’s only goal is maximizing the number of paper clips, it may invent incredible technologies as it sets about converting all available mass in the reachable universe into paper clips; but its decisions are still just plain dumb.
Well, no. We would never get to a situation in any version of the real world where such a program could exist. One smart enough that it would be able to invent ways to subvert human society to achieve goals set for it by humans, without understanding the ways in which it was causing problems for those same humans. Thinking that technology might evolve this way is just plain dumb (nice turn of phrase…), and relies on making multiple errors among the seven that I discuss below.
This same author repeatedly (including in the piece from which I took this quote, but also at the big International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) that was held just a couple of weeks ago in Melbourne, Australia) argues that we need research to come up with ways to mathematically prove that Artificial Intelligence systems have their goals aligned with humans.
I think this case C comes from researchers seeing an intellectually interesting research problem, and then throwing their well known voices promoting it as an urgent research question. Then AI hangers-on take it, run with it, and turn it into an existential problem for mankind.
By the way, I think mathematical provability is a vain hope. With multi-year large team efforts we can not prove that a 1,000 line program can not be breached by external hackers, so we certainly won’t be able to prove very much at all about large AI systems. The good news is that us humans were able to successfully co-exist with, and even use for our own purposes, horses, themselves autonomous agents with on going existences, desires, and super-human physical strength, for thousands of years. And we had not a single theorem about horses. Still don’t!
D. Really evil horrible nasty human-destroying Artificially Intelligent entities. The last category is like case C, but here the supposed Artificial Intelligence powered machines will take an active dislike to humans and decide to destroy them and get them out of the way.
This has been a popular fantasy in Hollywood since at least the late 1960’s with movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, but set in 2001), where the machine-wreaked havoc was confined to a single space ship, and Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970, and set in those times) where the havoc was at a planetary scale. The theme has continued over the years, and more recently with I, Robot (2004, set in 2035) where the evil AI computer VIKI takes over the world through the instrument of the new NS-5 humanoid robots. [By the way, that movie continues the bizarre convention from other science fiction movies that large complex machines are built with spaces that have multi hundred feet heights around them so that there can be great physical peril for the human heroes as they fight the good fight against the machines gone bad…]
This is even wronger than case C. I think it must make people feel tingly thinking about these terrible, terrible dangers…
In this blog, I am not going to address the issue of military killer robots–this often gets confused in the press with issue D above, and worse it often gets mashed together by people busy fear mongering about issue D. They are very separate issues. Furthermore I think that many of the arguments about such military robots are misguided. But it is a very different issue and will have to wait for another blog post.
Now, the seven mistakes I think people are making. All seven of them influence the assessments about timescales for and likelihood of each of scenarios A, B, C, and D, coming about. But some are more important I believe in the mis-estimations than others. I have labeled in the section headers for each of these seven errors where I think they do the most damage. The first one does some damage everywhere!
1. [A,B,C,D] Over and under estimating
Roy Amara was a futurist and the co-founder and President of the Institute For The Future in Palo Alto, home of Stanford University, countless venture capitalists, and the intellectual heart of Silicon Valley. He is best known for his adage, now referred to as Amara’s law:
We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.
There is actually a lot wrapped up in these 21 words which can easily fit into a tweet and allow room for attribution. An optimist can read it one way, and a pessimist can read it another. It should make the optimist somewhat pessimistic, and the pessimist somewhat optimistic, for a while at least, before each reverting to their norm.
A great example1 of the two sides of Amara’s law that we have seen unfold over the last thirty years concerns the US Global Positioning System. Starting in 1978 a constellation of 24 satellites (30 including spares) were placed in orbit. A ground station that can see 4 of them at once can compute the the latitude, longitude, and height above a version of sea level. An operations center at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado constantly monitors the precise orbits of the satellites and the accuracy of their onboard atomic clocks and uploads minor and continuous adjustments to them. If those updates were to stop GPS would fail to have you on the correct road as you drive around town after only a week or two, and would have you in the wrong town after a couple of months.
The goal of GPS was to allow precise placement of bombs by the US military. That was the expectation for it. The first operational use in that regard was in 1991 during Desert Storm, and it was promising. But during the nineties there was still much distrust of GPS as it was not delivering on its early promise, and it was not until the early 2000’s that its utility was generally accepted in the US military. It had a hard time delivering on its early expectations and the whole program was nearly cancelled again and again.
Today GPS is in the long term, and the ways it is used were unimagined when it was first placed in orbit. My Series 2 Apple Watch uses GPS while I am out running to record my location accurately enough to see which side of the street I ran along. The tiny size and tiny price of the receiver would have been incomprehensible to the early GPS engineers. GPS is now used for so many things that the designers never considered. It synchronizes physics experiments across the globe and is now an intimate component of synchronizing the US electrical grid and keeping it running, and it even allows the high frequency traders who really control the stock market to mostly not fall into disastrous timing errors. It is used by all our airplanes, large and small to navigate, it is used to track people out of jail on parole, and it determines which seed variant will be planted in which part of many fields across the globe. It tracks our fleets of trucks and reports on driver performance, and the bouncing signals on the ground are used to determine how much moisture there is in the ground, and so determine irrigation schedules.
GPS started out with one goal but it was a hard slog to get it working as well as was originally expected. Now it has seeped into so many aspects of our lives that we would not just be lost if it went away, but we would be cold, hungry, and quite possibly dead.
We see a similar pattern with other technologies over the last thirty years. A big promise up front, disappointment, and then slowly growing confidence, beyond where the original expectations were aimed. This is true of the blockchain (Bitcoin was the first application), sequencing individual human genomes, solar power, wind power, and even home delivery of groceries.
Perhaps the most blatant example is that of computation itself. When the first commercial computers were deployed in the 1950’s there was widespread fear that they would take over all jobs (see the movie Desk Set from 1957). But for the next 30 years computers were something that had little direct impact on people’s lives and even in 1987 there were hardly any microprocessors in consumer devices. That has all changed in the second wave over the subsequent 30 years and now we all walk around with our bodies adorned with computers, our cars full of them, and they are all over our houses.
To see how the long term influence of computers has consistently been underestimated one need just go back and look at portrayals of them in old science fiction movies or TV shows about the future. The three hundred year hence space ship computer in the 1966 Star Trek (TOS) was laughable just thirty years later, let alone three centuries later. And in Star Trek The Next Generation, and Star Trek Deep Space Nine, whose production spanned 1986 to 1999, large files still needed to be carried by hand around the far future space ship or space station as they could not be sent over the network (like an AOL network of the time). And the databases available for people to search were completely anemic with their future interfaces which were pre-Web in design.
Most technologies are overestimated in the short term. They are the shiny new thing. Artificial Intelligence has the distinction of having been the shiny new thing and being overestimated again and again, in the 1960’s, in the 1980’s, and I believe again now. (Some of the marketing messages from large companies on their AI offerings are truly delusional, and may have very bad blowback for them in the not too distant future.)
Not all technologies get underestimated in the long term, but that is most likely the case for AI. The question is how long is the long term. The next six errors that I talk about help explain how the timing for the long term is being grossly underestimated for the future of AI.
2. [B,C,D] Imagining Magic
When I was a teenager, Arthur C. Clarke was one of the “big three” science fiction writers along with Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. But Clarke was more than just a science fiction writer. He was also an inventor, a science writer, and a futurist.
In February 1945 he wrote a letter2 to Wireless World about the idea of geostationary satellites for research, and in October of that year he published a paper3 outlining how they could be used to provide world-wide radio coverage. In 1948 he wrote a short story The Sentinel which provided the kernel idea for Stanley Kubrick’s epic AI movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, with Clarke authoring a book of the same name as the film was being made, explaining much that had left the movie audience somewhat lost.
In the period from 1962 to 1973 Clarke formulated three adages, which have come to be known as Clarke’s three laws (he said that Newton only had three, so three were enough for him too):
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Personally I should probably be wary of the second sentence in his first law, as I am much more conservative than some others about how quickly AI will be ascendant. But for now I want to expound on Clarke’s third law.
Imagine we had a time machine (powerful magic in itself…) and we could transport Issac Newton from the late 17th century to Trinity College Chapel in Cambridge University. That chapel was already 100 years old when he was there so perhaps it would not be too much of an immediate shock to find himself in it, not realizing the current date.
Now show Newton an Apple. Pull out an iPhone from your pocket, and turn it on so that the screen is glowing and full of icons and hand it to him. The person who revealed how white light is made from components of different colored light by pulling apart sunlight with a prism and then putting it back together again would no doubt be surprised at such a small object producing such vivid colors in the darkness of the chapel. Now play a movie of an English country scene, perhaps with some animals with which he would be familiar–nothing indicating the future in the content. Then play some church music with which he would be familiar. And then show him a web page with the 500 plus pages of his personally annotated copy of his masterpiece Principia, teaching him how to use the pinch gestures to zoom in on details.
Could Newton begin to explain how this small device did all that? Although he invented calculus and explained both optics and gravity, Newton was never able to sort out chemistry and alchemy. So I think he would be flummoxed, and unable to come up with even the barest coherent outline of what this device was. It would be no different to him than an embodiment of the occult–something which was of great interest to him when he was alive. For him it would be indistinguishable from magic. And remember, Newton was a really smart dude.
If something is magic it is hard to know the limitations it has. Suppose we further show Newton how it can illuminate the dark, how it can take photos and movies and record sound, how it can be used as a magnifying glass, and as a mirror. Then we show him how it can be used to carry out arithmetical computations at incredible speed and to many decimal places. And we show it counting his steps has he carries it.
What else might Newton conjecture that the device in front of him could do? Would he conjecture that he could use it to talk to people anywhere in the world immediately from right there in the chapel? Prisms work forever. Would he conjecture that the iPhone would work forever just as it is, neglecting to understand that it needed to be recharged (and recall that we nabbed him from a time 100 years before the birth of Michael Faraday, so the concept of electricity was not quite around)? If it can be a source of light without fire could it perhaps also transmute lead to gold?
This is a problem we all have with imagined future technology. If it is far enough away from the technology we have and understand today, then we do not know its limitations. It becomes indistinguishable from magic.
When a technology passes that magic line anything one says about it is no longer falsifiable, because it is magic.
This is a problem I regularly encounter when trying to debate with people about whether we should fear just plain AGI, let alone cases C or D from above. I am told that I do not understand how powerful it will be. That is not an argument. We have no idea whether it can even exist. All the evidence that I see says that we have no real idea yet how to build one. So its properties are completely unknown, so rhetorically it quickly becomes magical and super powerful. Without limit.
Nothing in the Universe is without limit. Not even magical future AI.
Watch out for arguments about future technology which is magical. It can never be refuted. It is a faith-based argument, not a scientific argument.
3. [A,B,C] Performance versus competence
One of the social skills that we all develop is an ability to estimate the capabilities of individual people with whom we interact. It is true that sometimes “out of tribe” issues tend to overwhelm and confuse our estimates, and such is the root of the perfidy of racism, sexism, classism, etc. In general, however, we use cues from how a person performs some particular task to estimate how well they might perform some different task. We are able to generalize from observing performance at one task to a guess at competence over a much bigger set of tasks. We understand intuitively how to generalize from the performance level of the person to their competence in related areas.
When in a foreign city we ask a stranger on the street for directions and they reply in the language we spoke to them with confidence and with directions that seem to make sense, we think it worth pushing our luck and asking them about what is the local system for paying when you want to take a bus somewhere in that city.
If our teenage child is able to configure their new game machine to talk to the household wifi we suspect that if sufficiently motivated they will be able to help us get our new tablet computer on to the same network.
If we notice that someone is able to drive a manual transmission car, we will be pretty confident that they will be able to drive one with an automatic transmission too. Though if the person is North American we might not expect it to work for the converse case.
If we ask an employee in a large hardware store where to find a particular item, a home electrical fitting say, that we are looking for and they send us to an aisle of garden tools, we will probably not go back and ask that very same person where to find a particular bathroom fixture. We will estimate that not only do they not know where the electrical fittings are, but that they really do not know the layout of goods within the store, and we will look for a different person to ask with our second question.
Now consider a case that is closer to some performances we see for some of today’s AI systems.
Suppose a person tells us that a particular photo is of people playing Frisbee in the park, then we naturally assume that they can answer questions like “what is the shape of a Frisbee?”, “roughly how far can a person throw a Frisbee?”, “can a person eat a Frisbee?”, “roughly how many people play Frisbee at once?”, “can a 3 month old person play Frisbee?”, “is today’s weather suitable for playing Frisbee?”; in contrast we would not expect a person from another culture who says they have no idea what is happening in the picture to be able to answer all those questions. Today’s image labelling systems that routinely give correct labels, like “people playing Frisbee in a park” to online photos, have no chance of answering those questions. Besides the fact that all they can do is label more images and can not answer questions at all, they have no idea what a person is, that parks are usually outside, that people have ages, that weather is anything more than how it makes a photo look, etc., etc.
This does not mean that these systems are useless however. They are of great value to search engine companies. Simply labelling images well lets the search engine bridge the gap from search for words to searching for images. Note too that search engines usually provide multiple answers to any query and let the person using the engine review the top few and decide which ones are actually relevant. Search engine companies strive to get the performance of their systems to get the best possible answer as one of the top five or so. But they rely on the cognitive abilities of the human user so that they do not have to get the best answer first, every time. If they only gave one answer, whether to a search for “great hotels in Paris”, or at an e-commerce site only gave one image selection for a “funky neck tie”, they would not be as useful as they are.
Here is what goes wrong. People hear that some robot or some AI system has performed some task. They then take the generalization from that performance to a general competence that a person performing that same task could be expected to have. And they apply that generalization to the robot or AI system.
Today’s robots and AI systems are incredibly narrow in what they can do. Human style generalizations just do not apply. People who do make these generalizations get things very, very wrong.
4. [A,B] Suitcase words
I spoke briefly about suitcase words (Marvin Minsky’s term4) in my post explaining how machine learning works. There I was discussing how the word learning can mean so many different types of learning when applied to humans. And as I said there, surely there are different mechanisms that humans use for different sorts of learning. Learning to use chopsticks is a very different experience from learning the tune of a new song. And learning to write code is a very different experience from learning your way around a particular city.
When people hear that Machine Learning is making great strides and they think about a machine learning in some new domain, they tend to use as a mental model the way in which a person would learn that new domain. However, Machine Learning is very brittle, and it requires lots of human preparation by researchers or engineers, special purpose coding for processing input data, special purpose sets of training data, and a custom learning structure for each new problem domain. Today’s Machine Learning by computers is not at all the sponge like learning that humans engage in, making rapid progress in a new domain without having to be surgically altered or purpose built.
Likewise when people hear that computers can now beat the world chess champion (in 1997) or the world Go champion (in 2016) they tend to think that it is “playing” the game just like a human would. Of course in reality those programs had no idea what a game actually was (again, see my post on machine learning), nor that they are playing. And as pointed out in this article in The Atlantic during the recent Go challenge the human player, Lee Sedol, was supported by 12 ounces of coffee, whereas the AI program, AlphaGo, was running on a whole bevy of machines as a distributed application, and was supported by a team of more than 100 scientists.
When a human plays a game a small change in rules does not throw them off–a good player can adapt. Not so for AlphaGo or Deep Blue, the program that beat Garry Kasparov back in 1997.
Suitcase words lead people astray in understanding how well machines are doing at tasks that people can do. AI researchers, on the other hand, and worse their institutional press offices, are eager to claim progress in their research in being an instance of what a suitcase word applies to for humans. The important phrase here is “an instance”. No matter how careful the researchers are, and unfortunately not all of them are so very careful, as soon as word of the research result gets to the press office and then out into the unwashed press, that detail soon gets lost. Headlines trumpet the suitcase word, and mis-set the general understanding of where AI is, and how close it is to accomplishing more.
And, we haven’t even gotten to saying many of Minsky’s suitcase words about AI systems; consciousness, experience, or thinking. For us humans it is hard to think about playing chess without being conscious, or having the experience of playing, or thinking about a move. So far, none of our AI systems have risen to an even elementary level where one of the many ways in which we use those words about humans apply. When we do, and I tend to think that we will, get to a point where we will start using some of those words about particular AI systems, the press, and most people, will over generalize again.
Even with a very narrow single aspect demonstration of one slice of these words I am afraid people will over generalize and think that machines are on the very door step of human-like capabilities in these aspects of being intelligent.
Words matter, but whenever we use a word to describe something about an AI system, where that can also be applied to humans, we find people overestimating what it means. So far most words that apply to humans when used for machines, are only a microscopically narrow conceit of what the word means when applied to humans.
Here are some of the verbs that have been applied to machines, and for which machines are totally unlike humans in their capabilities:
anticipate, beat, classify, describe, estimate, explain, hallucinate, hear, imagine, intend, learn, model, plan, play, recognize, read, reason, reflect, see, understand, walk, write
For all these words there have been research papers describing a narrow sliver of the rich meanings that these words imply when applied to humans. Unfortunately the use of these words suggests that there is much more there there than is there.
This leads people to misinterpret and then overestimate the capabilities of today’s Artificial Intelligence.
5. [A,B,B,B,…] Exponentials
Many people are suffering from a severe case of “exponentialism”.
Everyone has some idea about Moore’s Law, at least as much to sort of know that computers get better and better on a clockwork like schedule.
What Gordon Moore actually said was that the number of components that could fit on a microchip would double every year. I published a blog post in February about this and how it is finally coming to an end after a solid fifty year run. Moore had made his predictions in 1965 with only four data points using this graph:
He only extrapolated for 10 years, but instead it has lasted 50 years, although the time constant for doubling has gradually lengthened from one year to over two years, and now it is finally coming to an end.
Double the components on a chip has lead to computers that keep getting twice as fast. And it has lead to memory chips that have four times as much memory every two years. It has also led to digital cameras which have had more and more resolution, and LCD screens with exponentially more pixels.
The reason Moore’s law worked is that it applied to a digital abstraction of true or false. Was there an electrical charge or voltage there or not? And the answer to that yes/no question is the same when the number of electrons is halved, and halved again, and halved again. The answer remains consistent through all those halvings until we get down to so few electrons that quantum effects start to dominate, and that is where we are now with our silicon based chip technology.
Moore’s law, and exponential laws like Moore’s law can fail for three different reasons:
It gets down to a physical limit where the process of halving/doubling no longer works. The market demand pull gets saturated so there is no longer an economic driver for the law to continue. It may not have been an exponential process in the first place.
When people are suffering from exponentialism they may gloss over any of these three reasons and think that the exponentials that they use to justify an argument are going to continue apace.
Moore’s Law is now faltering under case (a), but it has been the presence of Moore’s Law for fifty years that has powered the relentless innovation of the technology industry and the rise of Silicon Valley, and Venture Capital, and the ride of the geeks to be amongst the richest people in the world, that has led too many people to think that everything in technology, including AI, is exponential.
It is well understood that many cases of exponential processes are really part of an “S-curve”, where at some point the hyper growth flattens out. Exponential growth of the number of users of a social platform such as Facebook or Twitter must turn into an S-curve eventually as there are only a finite number of humans alive to be new users, and so exponential growth can not continue forever. This is an example of case (b) above.
But there is more to this. Sometimes just the demand from individual users can look like an exponential pull for a while, but then it gets saturated.
Back in the first part of this century when I was running a very large laboratory at M.I.T. (CSAIL) and needed to help raise research money for over 90 different research groups, I tried to show sponsors how things were continuing to change very rapidly through the memory increase on iPods. Unlike Gordon Moore I had five data points! The data was how much storage one got for one’s music in an iPod for about $400. I noted the dates of new models and for five years in a row, somewhere in the June to September time frame a new model would appear. Here are the data:
Year GigaBytes 2003 10 2004 20 2005 40 2006 80 2007 160
The data came out perfectly (Gregor Mendel would have been proud…) as an exponential. Then I would extrapolate a few years out and ask what we would do with all that memory in our pockets.
Extrapolating through to today we would expect a $400 iPod to have 160,000 GigaBytes of memory (or 160 TeraBytes). But the top of the line iPhone of today (which costs more than $400) only has 256 GigaBytes of memory, less than double the 2007 iPod, while the top of the line iPod (touch) has only 128 GigaBytes which ten years later is a decrease from the 2007 model.
This particular exponential collapsed very suddenly once the amount of memory got to the point where it was big enough to hold any reasonable person’s complete music library, in their hand. Exponentials can stop when the customers stop demanding.
Moving on, we have seen a sudden increase in performance of AI systems due to the success of deep learning, a form of Machine Learning. Many people seem to think that means that we will continue to have increases in AI performance of equal multiplying effect on a regular basis. But the deep learning success was thirty years in the making, and no one was able to predict it, nor saw it coming. It was an isolated event.
That does not mean that there will not be more isolated events, where backwaters of AI research suddenly fuel a rapid step increase in performance of many AI applications. But there is no “law” that says how often they will happen. There is no physical process, like halving the mass of material as in Moore’s Law, fueling the process of AI innovation. This is an example of case (c) from above.
So when you see exponential arguments as justification for what will happen with AI remember that not all so called exponentials are really exponentials in the first place, and those that are can collapse suddenly when a physical limit is hit, or there is no more economic impact to continue them.
6. [C,D] Hollywood scenarios
The plot for many Hollywood science fiction movies is that the world is just as it is today, except for one new twist. Certainly that is true for movies about aliens arriving on Earth. Everything is going along as usual, but then one day the aliens unexpectedly show up.
That sort of single change to the world makes logical sense for aliens but what about for a new technology? In real life lots of new technologies are always happening at the same time, more or less.
Sometimes there is a rational, within Hollywood reality, explanation for why there is a singular disruption of the fabric of humanity’s technological universe. The Terminator movies, for instance, had the super technology come from the future via time travel, so there was no need to have a build up to the super robot played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But in other movies it can seem a little silly.
In Bicentennial Man, Richard Martin, played by Sam Neill, sits down to breakfast being waited upon by a walking talking humanoid robot, played by Robin Williams. He picks up a newspaper to read over breakfast. A newspaper! Printed on paper. Not a tablet computer, not a podcast coming from an Amazon Echo like device, not a direct neural connection to the Internet.
In Blade Runner, as Tim Harford recently pointed out, detective Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, wants to contact the robot Rachael, played by Sean Young. In the plot Rachael is essentially indistinguishable from a human being. How does Deckard connect to her? With a pay phone. With coins that you feed in to it. A technology that many of the readers of this blog may never had seen. (By the way, in that same post, Harford remarks: “Forecasting the future of technology has always been an entertaining but fruitless game.” A sensible insight.)
So there are two examples of Hollywood movies where the writers, directors, and producers, imagine a humanoid robot, able to see, hear, converse, and act in the world as a human–pretty much an AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Never mind all the marvelous materials and mechanisms involved. But those creative people lack the imagination, or will, to consider how else the world may have changed as that amazing package of technology has been developed.
It turns out that many AI researchers and AI pundits, especially those pessimists who indulge in predictions C and D, are similarly imagination challenged.
Apart from the time scale for many C and D predictions being wrong, they ignore the fact that if we are able to eventually build such smart devices the world will have changed significantly from where we are. We will not suddenly be surprised by the existence of such super intelligences. They will evolve technologically over time, and our world will be different, populated by many other intelligences, and we will have lots of experience already.
For instance, in the case of D (evil super intelligences who want to get rid of us) long before we see such machines arising there will be the somewhat less intelligent and belligerent machines. Before that there will be the really grumpy machines. Before that the quite annoying machines. And before them the arrogant unpleasant machines.
We will change our world along the way, adjusting both the environment for new technologies and the new technologies themselves. I am not saying there may not be challenges. I am saying that they will not be as suddenly unexpected as many people think. Free running imagination about shock situations are not helpful–they will never be right, or even close.
“Hollywood scenarios” are a great rhetorical device for arguments, but they usually do not have any connection to future reality.
7. [B,C,D] SPEED OF Deployment
As the world has turned to software the deployment frequency of new versions has become very high in some industries. New features for platforms like Facebook are deployed almost hourly. For many new features, as long as they have passed integration testing, there is very little economic downside if a problem shows up in the field and the version needs to be pulled back–often I find that features I use on such platforms suddenly fail to work for an hour or so (this morning it was the pull down menu for Facebook notifications that was failing) and I assume these are deployment fails. For revenue producing components, like advertisement placement, more care is taken and changes may happen only on the scale of weeks.
This is a tempo that Silicon Valley and Web software developers have gotten used to. It works because the marginal cost of newly deploying code is very very close to zero.
Hardware on the other hand has significant marginal cost to deploy. We know that from our own lives. Many of the cars we are buying today, which are not self driving, and mostly are not software enabled, will likely still be on the road in the year 2040. This puts an inherent limit on how soon all our cars will be self driving. If we build a new home today, we can expect that it might be around for over 100 years. The building I live in was built in 1904 and it is not nearly the oldest building in my neighborhood.
Capital costs keep physical hardware around for a long time, even when there are high tech aspects to it, and even when it has an existential mission to play.
The US Air Force still flies the B-52H variant of the B-52 bomber. This version was introduced in 1961, making it 56 years old. The last one was built in 1963, a mere 54 years ago. Currently these planes are expected to keep flying until at least 2040, and perhaps longer–there is talk of extending their life out to 100 years. (cf. The Millennium Falcon!)
The US land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force is all Minuteman-III variants, introduced in 1970. There are 450 of them. The launch system relies on eight inch floppy disk drives, and some of the digital communication for the launch procedure is carried out over analog wired phone lines.
I regularly see decades old equipment in factories around the world. I even see PCs running Windows 3.0 in factories–a software version released in 1990. The thinking is that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Those PCs and their software have been running the same application doing the same task reliably for over two decades.
The principal control mechanisms in factories, including brand new ones in the US, Europe, Japan, Korea, and China, is based on Programmable Logic Controllers, or PLCs. These were introduced in 1968 to replace electromechanical relays. The “coil” is still the principal abstraction unit used today, and the way PLCs are programmed is as though they were a network of 24 volt electromechanical relays. Still. Some of the direct wires have been replaced by Ethernet cables. They emulate older networks (themselves a big step up) based on the RS485 eight bit serial character protocol, which themselves carry information emulating 24 volt DC current switching. And the Ethernet cables are not part of an open network, but instead individual cables are run point to point physically embodying the control flow in these brand new ancient automation controllers. When you want to change information flow, or control flow, in most factories around the world it takes weeks of consultants figuring out what is there, designing new reconfigurations, and then teams of tradespeople rewiring and reconfiguring hardware. One of the major manufacturers of this equipment recently told me that they aim for three software upgrades every twenty years.
In principle it could be done differently. In practice it is not. And I am not talking about just in technological backwaters. I just this minute looked on a jobs list and even today, this very day, Tesla is trying to hire full time PLC technicians at their Fremont factory. Electromagnetic relay emulation to automate the production of the most AI-software advanced automobile that exists.
A lot of AI researchers and pundits imagine that the world is already digital, and that simply introducing new AI systems will immediately trickle down to operational changes in the field, in the supply chain, on the factory floor, in the design of products.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The impedance to reconfiguration in automation is shockingly mind-blowingly impervious to flexibility.
You can not give away a good idea in this field. It is really slow to change. The example of the AI system making paper clips deciding to co-opt all sorts of resources to manufacture more and more paper clips at the cost of other human needs is indeed a nutty fantasy. There will be people in the loop worrying about physical wiring for decades to come.
Almost all innovations in Robotics and AI take far, far, longer to get to be really widely deployed than people in the field and outside the field imagine. Self driving cars are an example. Suddenly everyone is aware of them and thinks they will soon be deployed. But it takes longer than imagined. It takes decades, not years. And if you think that is pessimistic you should be aware that it is already provably three decades from first on road demonstrations and we have no deployment. In 1987 Ernst Dickmanns and his team at the Bundeswehr University in Munich had their autonomous van drive at 90 kilometers per hour (56mph) for 20 kilometers (12 miles) on a public freeway. In July 1995 the first no hands on steering wheel, no feet on pedals, minivan from CMU’s team lead by Chuck Thorpe and Takeo Kanade drove coast to coast across the United States on public roads. Google/Waymo has been working on self driving cars for eight years and there is still no path identified for large scale deployment. It could well be four or five or six decades from 1987 before we have real deployment of self driving cars.
New ideas in robotics and AI take a long long time to become real and deployed.
Epilog
When you see pundits warn about the forthcoming wonders or terrors of robotics and Artificial Intelligence I recommend carefully evaluating their arguments against these seven pitfalls. In my experience one can always find two or three or four of these problems with their arguments.
Predicting the future is really hard, especially ahead of time.
1 Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds, Greg Milner, W. W. Norton, 2016.
2 “V2s for Ionosphere Research?”, A. C. Clarke, Wireless World, p. 45, February, 1945.
3 “Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage”, Arthur C. Clarke, Wireless World, 305–308, October, 1945.
4 The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind, Marvin Minsky, Simon and Schuster, 2006. |
ICOs are 'very high risk', warns UK financial regulator | UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning on its website about the "very high" risks of investing in initial coin offerings (ICOs). It said only experienced investors who are confident in the ICO project should get involved, and highlighted the risks to inexperienced investors, including a lack of regulation, no access to UK regulatory support and the possibility of funds raised being used for nefarious purposes. The guidelines also called on digital currency exchanges to consider whether FCA authorisation was required for the exchange of some tokens.
| https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/initial-coin-offerings | 2017-09-12 08:14:24.443000 | What are ICOs?
The term ICO refers to a digital way of raising funds from the public using a virtual currency, also known as cryptocurrency. An ICO can also be known as ‘token sale’ or ‘coin sale’.
ICOs vary widely in design. The digital token issued may represent a share in a firm, a prepayment voucher for future services or in some cases offer no discernible value at all. Often ICO projects are in a very early stage of development.
ICOs are very high-risk, speculative investments.
You should be conscious of the risks involved (highlighted below) and fully research the specific project if you are thinking about buying digital tokens. You should only invest in an ICO project if you are an experienced investor, confident in the quality of the ICO project itself (e.g. business plan, technology, people involved) and prepared to lose your entire stake.
What are the risks?
Unregulated space : Most ICOs are not regulated by the FCA and many are based overseas.
: Most ICOs are not regulated by the FCA and many are based overseas. No investor protection : You are extremely unlikely to have access to UK regulatory protections like the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service.
: You are extremely unlikely to have access to UK regulatory protections like the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service. Price volatility : Like cryptocurrencies in general, the value of a token may be extremely volatile – vulnerable to dramatic changes.
: Like cryptocurrencies in general, the value of a token may be extremely volatile – vulnerable to dramatic changes. Potential for fraud: Some issuers might not have the intention to use the funds raised in the way set out when the project was marketed.
Some issuers might not have the intention to use the funds raised in the way set out when the project was marketed. Inadequate documentation: Instead of a regulated prospectus, ICOs usually only provide a ‘white paper’. An ICO white paper might be unbalanced, incomplete or misleading. A sophisticated technical understanding is needed to fully understand the tokens’ characteristics and risks.
Instead of a regulated prospectus, ICOs usually only provide a ‘white paper’. An ICO white paper might be unbalanced, incomplete or misleading. A sophisticated technical understanding is needed to fully understand the tokens’ characteristics and risks. Early stage projects: Typically ICO projects are in a very early stage of development and their business models are experimental. There is a good chance of losing your whole stake.
Are ICOs regulated by the FCA?
Whether an ICO falls within the FCA’s regulatory boundaries or not can only be decided case by case.
Many ICOs will fall outside the regulated space. However, depending on how they are structured, some ICOs may involve regulated investments and firms involved in an ICO may be conducting regulated activities.
Some ICOs feature parallels with Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), private placement of securities, crowdfunding or even collective investment schemes. Some tokens may also constitute transferable securities and therefore may fall within the prospectus regime.
Businesses involved in an ICO should carefully consider if their activities could mean they are arranging, dealing or advising on regulated financial investments. Each promoter needs to consider whether their activities amount to regulated activities under the relevant law. In addition, digital currency exchanges that facilitate the exchange of certain tokens should consider if they need to be authorised by the FCA to be able to deliver their services.
Should I report ICOs to the FCA?
If you suspect that an ICO is a scam, report it to the FCA via our online form.
To learn more about general warning signs of scams, visit our ScamSmart pages.
Further Links
To learn more about potential benefits and challenges of the underlying technology that facilitates ICOs, please refer to the FCA’s Discussion Paper DP17/3 on distributed ledger technology (DLT) from April 2017. We are currently reviewing responses to this discussion paper and are looking to publish our findings at the end of this year.
Certain other national regulators have issued bulletins or statements on ICOs, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Canadian Securities Administrators, the People’s Bank of China and the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong. |
EMoov said to be sounding out investment banks about IPO | Online estate agent eMoov is understood to have been in talks with investment banks about an initial public offering (IPO) later this year. This could be a conventional IPO or eMoov could reverse its business into an existing listed vehicle. EMoov has forecast record earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of nearly £2m next year, with £3.6m of losses predicted this year, according to sources.
| http://news.sky.com/story/online-estate-agent-emoov-in-talks-to-join-ranks-of-listed-rivals-11030659 | 2017-09-12 07:59:32.087000 | The online estate agent eMoov is drawing up plans to join the ranks of quoted rivals spurred by the soaring valuation of Purplebricks, the market leader.
Sky News has learnt that eMoov has approached a number of investment banks in recent weeks to discuss a potential stock market listing before the end of the year.
Insiders said on Monday that eMoov's plans could involve a conventional initial public offering or reversing its business into an existing listed vehicle.
A listing of eMoov would underline continued investor interest in the online estate agency sector as OnTheMarket, a portal which competes with Zoopla and Rightmove, also prepares to go public.
It would also, however, highlight the extraordinary lead that Purplebricks has built up in the sector, with a market valuation that stood at just over £1bn during Monday's trading session.
Announcing a £9m fundraising last month which valued eMoov at £40m, its founder and chief executive, Russell Quirk, said: "The estate agency space is changing drastically and we have always been at the forefront of that change since we launched in 2009.
"We've been more considered than some in our methodology and therefore, we will emerge and remain as one of the few estate agency disruptors that are actually sustainable."
eMoov believes its hybrid model, which promise homeowners cost-savings from marketing their property online while also offering other related services, gives it an advantage in a sector projected to grow to £5bn in annual revenues by 2020.
The company has told prospective investors that its cost of service is falling sharply, and is forecast to decline from £484 per listing last year to £408 in 2018.
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It also expects to increase its listing price point from £795 this year to £995 next year.
Sources said that eMoov was forecasting that it would record earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of nearly £2m in 2018, with £3.6m of losses predicted this year.
Other rivals in the sector include HouseSimple and Yopa, which recently unveiled a £25m fundraising backed by the publisher of the Daily Mail and LSL Property, the Newcastle-based owner of YourMove.
Mr Quirk declined to comment on the plan for eMoov to list on the stock market. |
HSBC drops valuation fees on mortgages | HSBC UK has removed valuation fees from its mortgages, meaning customers taking out home loans between £150,001 ($199,175) and £200,000 will save £173. Tracie Pearce, head of retail products at HSBC UK, said the bank was looking to improve the house-buying process, and the removal of valuation fees would make it easier for both remortgagors and those buying a home.
| https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/hsbc-scraps-valuation-fees/ | 2017-09-12 07:57:36.783000 | HSBC is removing valuation fees on its mortgages from today, the bank announced today.
The move means customers will taking out mortgages between £150,001 and £200,000 would save £173.
HSBC UK head of retail products Tracie Pearce says: “We are working to improve the home-buying process and this is a significant move, making it simpler for both remortgagors and those purchasing a home.
“Buying a house is a major financial investment, particularly for first time buyers, so by removing valuation fees and potentially saving them hundreds of pounds we are helping them to keep initial costs down and improving their cashflow, giving them a bit more spending power when they move in.” |
LSL Property Services and GVA partner for build-to-rent services | PRSim, a consultancy and management service for the build-to-rent (BTR) sector, will partner with commercial property operators GVA to offer an end-to-end service to the institutional private rental sector. The initiative will cover everything from finding viable sites to project management and agency transactions. PRSim was launched last month by UK estate agency LSL Property Services.
| https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/9/lsl-unveils-partnership-to-strengthen-build-to-rent-activities?source=othernews | 2017-09-12 07:50:41.653000 | LSL Property Services’ new consultancy and management service for the Build To Rent sector - PRSim - has teamed up with commercial property operators GVA to provide what they call ‘end to end service’ for the institutional rental sector.
LSL unveiled PRSim last month, and now with GVA it says the combined offer to Build To Rent operators will cover operational residential management business, investment strategies, funding, valuations, planning, project management and agency transactions.
The combined offer will include expertise from finding viable sites and development opportunities, through to ongoing management.
“As one of the UK’s leading property companies with a rich heritage in residential property lettings, LSL has made a commitment to deliver superior services to the institutional private rental sector sector with the launch of PRSim. By adopting a strategic partnership with GVA, we believe this will further deliver unrivalled services to the sector that until now has simply not been available” says David Bond head of Build To Rent at PRSim.
“The UK residential industry is seeing a revolution. Market demand and demographic changes are driving the growth of institutionally funded BTR schemes” claims GVA spokesman Alastair Carmichael. |
Supply chains increasingly hampered by terrorist attacks | Supply chains are being increasingly affected by terrorist attacks, according to supply chain intelligence provider BSI. The number of such attacks has increased 8.5% on last year, its report said. Meanwhile, the year-on-year rise in the proportion of terror attacks on supply chains versus all attacks also increased, by 19%. Supply chains in 58 countries have been attacked over the past decade, with the most common sector likely to be targeted being the oil and gas industry, BSI added.
| https://spendmatters.com/2017/09/11/terrorist-attacks-pose-growing-problem-supply-chains-worldwide/ | 2017-09-12 07:00:49.343000 | specnaz7/Adobe Stock
Terrorist attacks on supply chains are on the upswing, according to a recent report from BSI, a provider of supply chain intelligence.
The number of such attacks have increased 8.5% from last year, and the year-over-year increase in the proportion of terrorist attacks on supply chains versus all attacks has also risen, by 19%.
“The rate of direct attacks by terrorist organizations on the supply chain has been about three per week globally, when we look at the data over a 10-year period,” says Jim Yarbrough, BSI’s global intelligence program manager. “[In] the last two years, however, that rate has jumped to about six attacks per week.”
While terrorist attacks tend to saturate news headlines, they’ve in fact decreased in frequency worldwide for the second year in a row. This is not the case for supply chain- and trade-related attacks.
According to BSI analysis, supply chains in 58 countries have experienced terrorist attacks in the past decade. The range of industries targeted is also widening. “The oil and gas sector is most common sector to suffer from terrorist attacks,” says Yarbrough. “However, in recent years, we have seen dramatic increases in attacks on the agricultural and food sector and the industrial manufacturing sector.”
The biggest perpetrators of terrorist attacks on supply chains include the Baloch Republican Army in Pakistan, ISIS, the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia and the New People’s Army in the Philippines. Together, they account for nearly a quarter of attacks over the past five years.
Supply chain terrorist attacks in Iraq and Turkey have recently been happening more frequently, while rates have dropped for the Philippines, India and Colombia. Nigeria, in particular, has seen a staggering increase starting in early 2016, when the militant group Niger Delta Avengers began to attack oil facilities.
As Reuters reported, in February militants had used divers to carry out an underwater attack on Shell's Forcados pipeline. Subsequent attacks have caused Nigeria's daily crude oil production to drop by around 700,000 barrels, and it wasn't until this summer that the Forcados terminal finally resumed operations.
In this case, it was a direct disruption of the supply chain, motivated by the impoverishment and oil pollution that characterizes the Delta. Its inhabitants have not been able to partake in the oil wealth, and the Avengers sought to bring a larger share of the proceeds to the region.
According to BSI analysis, these “physical attacks against the supply chain, such as arsons, bombings and armed assaults, often result in the destruction of transported cargo.” The report cites the continued threats of terrorism associated with shipping through the Suez Canal, which accounts for 7% of global seaborne trade.
It’s difficult to determine the total supply chain costs that can be attributed to terrorist attacks. “We do know that, among the top 10 countries where these attacks occurred, there is over $770 billion worth of goods exported from those countries,” Yarbrough explains.
Companies should also keep in mind the indirect costs associated with terrorism threats. Increased security can mean more inspections and delays. Companies may also need to reroute, potentially increasing costs.
There’s no best way to eliminate these risk, but vigilance never hurts. “Threats to the supply chain are constantly evolving,” Yarbrough says, “Criminals and terrorists are always adapting to defeat the latest countermeasures. Organizations need to respond by constantly revisiting their security policies and procedures, and they should continuously perform risk assessments with their business partners and suppliers.” |
Build-to-rent project for London 'micro-flats' unveiled by U+I | London-based developer U+I has unveiled plans for "micro-flats" or "town-flats" in central London, which could help thousands of people priced out of living in the UK capital. The micro-flats, which have a floor area of either 19 or 24 sq m, would be built in nine inner city boroughs. The flats would be rental only and would have communal areas. Research suggested that building just five blocks of such homes in each of the boroughs could offer 4,700 extra homes in the city centre. U+I is seeking a landowner to partner with on the developments. | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/developer-launches-cheaper-zone-1-micro-flats-for-londoners-to-be-able-to-live-in-capital-a3632186.html | 2017-09-12 06:41:28.597000 | T housands of people who have been priced out of living in the capital because of sky-high rents could move to central London in new, cheaper “micro-flats”.
A housing regeneration developer based in the city is attempting to combat the chronic unaffordability of London homes with a new “compact living” scheme designed to lure young professionals back into Zone One with reasonable rents.
The mini flats, which would have a floor size of either 19 or 24 metres squared, will be built in blocks with shared communal areas in nine inner London boroughs.
The homes, called Town Flats, would be rental only – meaning they cannot be bought and sold on.
The developers is looking for sites in nine inner London boroughs. (U+I) / U+i
Developer U+I has already created two test apartments in their offices in Victoria, designed by Manser Practice and architect Ab Rogers.
Research suggests building just five blocks of the mini flats in each of the nine London boroughs could provide 4,770 extra homes in the centre.
“For too long and for too many people London has been hollowing itself out, diluting the rich blend which has made it the global capital,” said U+I deputy chief executive Richard Upton.
It is hoped the flats will allow middle-income earners to rent in the centre once again. (U+I) / U+i
“The centre is now only affordable to either the very wealthy, only occasionally present, or those living in what social housing remains.
“For a new generation of workers in the middle, often working centrally, living in the middle of London has long been a dream.”
Mr Upton added: “We want to develop something that not only re-fills hollow London, but also brings communities back to life and delivers real social and economic benefits.
Two test flats have already been created. (U+I) / U+i
“Ideally we would like to develop these sites in association with public sector bodies who have unused land. This could bring additional social benefit to the public sector by generating much needed revenue from the rental income, while retaining ownership of their assets.”
The project was backed by a report by Development Economics which said it was “the type of innovation in housing delivery that London will need if the enormous challenge of meeting future housing demand in the capital is to be met.".
All flats would be able to live in at the London Living Rent, a scheme designed to help Londoners pay rent while saving to buy their own home.
The homes will be available at the London Living Rent. (U+I) / U+i
Author of the Development Economics report, Stephen Lucas, said: “With greater numbers of people than ever choosing location over space when deciding where to live, building sufficient quantities of high-quality, centrally-located housing will be essential for London’s future economic, social and cultural growth.
“Our findings show that delivering professionally-managed compact living developments along the lines of those proposed by U+I would lead to an increase in the number of young, working people living in the city centre, significantly boosting the local economy of the surrounding area”.
The flats are officially being launched on Wednesday. The next stage is for U+I to find a landowner to partner with.
But last month, analysis by Which? consumer magazine found so-called “rabbit hutch” flats might not be a good investment, as the growth rate is smaller for flats below the official minimum of 37 square metres of floor space.
Earlier this year London Mayor Sadiq Khan was asked to consider prefab housing could be one possibility to close the gap between supply and demand. |
China's Sunlon and CITIC buy British Peking duck supplier | Two Chinese companies have acquired the British poultry firm that supplies the breed of duck used to make Peking roast duck. Sunion (Beijing Capital Agribusiness) and CITIC Agriculture have acquired Cherry Valley Farm for an undisclosed sum, in a deal that includes the firm's breeding technologies and patents. The British company entered the Chinese market in the 1990s and has become the country's main duck breeder, with a market share of 80%. The acquisition could reportedly help break the West's monopoly on duck breeding.
| http://chinaplus.cri.cn/news/business/12/20170912/26030.html | 2017-09-12 06:40:54.803000 | Photo of Cherry Valley duck. [Photo: tupian.baike.com]
Two Chinese companies have acquired a top British poultry firm which supplies the breed used to make the famed Peking roast duck.
Beijing Capital Agribusiness, or Sunlon, and CITIC Agriculture announced the acquisition of Cherry Valley Farm.
The deal includes the British firm's breeding technologies and patents. The value of the deal has not been announced.
Signing ceremony of the acquisition of Cherry Valley Farm by Beijing Capital Agribusiness, or Sunlon, and CITIC Agriculture is held on September 11, 2017. [Photo: Beijing Capital Agribusines]
Observers suggest that the acquisition may break the West's monopoly in duck breeding, while supporting import substitution programs.
Sources with Sunlon said Cherry Valley Farm entered the Chinese market in the 1990s, and has grown to become the country's major duck breeder with a market share of 80 percent.
Currently, China is reportedly home to over 2.5 billion Cherry Valley ducks. |
China's Country Garden seeks stake in Indian homes project | China-based Country Garden Holdings wants to buy a controlling stake in a suburban-Mumbai residential project run by India's Wadhwa Group. Country Garden, China's third largest builder by sales, is looking to purchase the stake in the 450-acre development at Panvel in Navi Mumbai. The companies have reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding and term sheet for the transaction. If the deal goes through, it will be Country Garden's first investment in India.
| http://www.livemint.com/Companies/L9zX5Jx8lh5104izLWf5aP/Country-Garden-in-talks-to-buy-controlling-stake-in-Wadhwa-G.html | 2017-09-12 06:36:51.127000 | Mumbai: Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd, China’s third largest builder by sales, is in talks with Mumbai-based Wadhwa Group to buy a majority stake in its upcoming 450-acre residential township at Panvel in Navi Mumbai, two people aware of the development said.
If signed, this would be the Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed company’s first Indian investment.
According to the first of the two people cited above, the two companies have held several rounds of talks in the past few months and signed a memorandum of understanding and term sheet for the transaction. Due diligence could take two more months, this person said on condition of anonymity.
While the value of the deal could not be ascertained, Wadhwa Group has already invested over Rs600 crore to buy the land and has been looking to raise an additional Rs500 crore to start building the first phase of the planned township.
Country Garden did not reply to emails sent on Friday seeking confirmation. A Wadhwa Group spokesperson confirmed by email that the company is talking to Country Garden but said it is still “early stages of discussions" and declined to give details.
Located at Panvel in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai, the township is planned to be built in various phases. The first phase would be spread across 145 acres and is expected to have around 2,500-3,000 apartments costing Rs21 lakh to over Rs50 lakh per unit, the company had earlier said.
“Among the Chinese firms looking to invest in India, Country Garden has been one of the most aggressive, having already set up offices, built operational teams and hired people to the tune of hundreds including lawyers, architects and consultants," said the second person, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
Earlier this year, the South China Morning Post reported that Country Garden is looking for investment opportunities in India and plans to acquire at least one residential land parcel by the end of 2017.
Last year, the Chinese developer set up its first India office at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai and hired around 175 people to handle operations in western and southern India. It has also set up separate offices for the eastern and northern parts of the country.
“Different Chinese companies have taken different routes and strategies to enter India. Country Garden has taken a more regional route where they’ve got a lot of people trying to tap the local market," the person said.
In western India, the firm is also in talks with developers including Kolte-Patil Developers Ltd for a strategic partnership, according to a person in the know. Kolte-Patil’s group chief executive officer Gopal Sarda declined to comment.
The Guangdong-based firm, which clocked sales of RMB 309 billion (around Rs3.02 trillion) last year, operated 728 projects under different stages of construction in China, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia as of 31 December 2016, according to its annual report.
Other prominent Chinese developers planning investments in India include China Fortune Land Development (CFLD) and Dallian Wanda Group Co Ltd.
“India’s country dynamics are very similar to China’s. To that extent, Chinese builders understand India far better than Western developers. They understand it’s a regional play and have the experience of working in a large country which could have multiple levels of bureaucracy, state governments and central government," said Shashank Jain, partner, transaction services, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India.
The government’s Housing for All 2020 initiative and regulatory reforms in the past year have raised interest among foreign developers and private equity investors. Despite a slump in the residential market, India’s growing economy and housing needs have continued to attract opportunities for large scale residential developments both in tier I and tier II cities.
“The government’s stated intention of affordable housing has set the stage for significant scope for large scale development and expansion. The Chinese developers have proven their development and construction capability for massive large scale projects in China. Secondly, with the Chinese economy slowing and an ongoing overcapacity around housing in China, India offers an opportunity to expand their business," Jain said. |
Tesla granted free battery upgrade to drivers fleeing Irma | Owners of Tesla Model S and Model X electric vehicles in Florida, who were trying to evacuate before Hurricane Irma hit, were given an extra 30 miles of range for free, thanks to an over-the-air update from the carmaker. The move was in response to one owner's request to unlock his car's battery, taking it from 60 kWh to 75kWh, to ensure his escape from the storm, an upgrade which usually costs between between $4,500 and $9,000. Tesla confirmed it carried out the update but said it will be reversed on 16 September.
| https://electrek.co/2017/09/09/tesla-extends-range-vehicles-for-free-in-florida-escape-hurricane-irma/ | 2017-09-12 06:26:25.567000 | Millions of people are currently affected by the evacuation of Florida as Hurricane Irma starts reaching the state and creates some difficult traffic situation when escaping north. There are reports of traffic jams and gas stations running out gas.
There are a lot Tesla owners in Florida and they are also escaping north using the Supercharger network.
Now Tesla has even facilitated travels for some of them as the automaker remotely unlocked the full battery pack capacity of Model S/X 60/60D vehicles with 75 kWh battery packs.
That’s due to Tesla using an unforeseen feature of their over-the-air software update system.
Tesla used to offer the option to buy a Model S or Model X with a 75 kWh battery pack software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. The option would result in a less expensive vehicle with a shorter range, but the option to pay to remotely enable the longer range at a later stage.
Some of those owners reported this morning having more range than usual in their vehicles.
A Tesla Model S 60 owner in Florida reached out to us with almost 40 more miles than in his usual full charge and a new ’75’ badge in his car software.
While he didn’t ask for it nor knew why it changed, Tesla had temporarily unlocked the remaining 15 kWh of the car’s software-limited battery pack option to facilitate the owner’s evacuation.
We reached to Tesla and a representative confirmed that the company has put in place the emergency measure to temporarily extend the range of the vehicles of Tesla owners in the path of Hurricane Irma.
The company says that a Tesla owner in a mandatory evacuation zone required another ~30 more miles of range to optimize his evacuation route in the traffic and they reached out to Tesla who agreed to a temporary access to the full 75 kWh of energy in the battery pack, an upgrade that has cost between $4,500 and $9,000 depending on the model and time of upgrade.
Considering the 15 kWh (30 to 40 additional miles) could also be useful to other owners affected by Irma, Tesla decided to also temporarily unlock other vehicles with the same software-lock battery packs in the region.
Tesla’s Supercharger network is fairly extensive in Florida and most owners should be able to get by even with a Model S 60 (the shortest range option), but sometimes that 30 more miles of range can make a big difference.
Most Supercharger stations in Florida are still online:
The station in the Florida Keys is offline and one in Myers is currently listed as “reduced service”:
Otherwise, the other Superchargers are reportedly online and accessible on the way north. Stay safe out there everyone. |
Tesla granted free battery upgrade to drivers fleeing Irma | Owners of Tesla Model S and Model X electric vehicles in Florida, who were trying to evacuate before Hurricane Irma hit, were given an extra 30 miles of range for free, thanks to an over-the-air update from the carmaker. The move was in response to one owner's request to unlock his car's battery, taking it from 60 kWh to 75kWh, to ensure his escape from the storm, an upgrade which usually costs between between $4,500 and $9,000. Tesla confirmed it carried out the update but said it will be reversed on 16 September.
| https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2017/sep/11/tesla-hurricane-irma-battery-capacity | 2017-09-12 06:26:25.567000 | Tesla drivers who fled Hurricane Irma last weekend received an unexpected lesson in modern consumer economics along the way. As they sat on choked highways, some of the electric-car giant’s more keenly priced models suddenly gained an extra 30 or so miles in range thanks to a silent free upgrade.
The move, confirmed by Tesla, followed the request of one Florida driver for a limit on his car’s battery to be lifted. Tesla’s cheaper models, introduced last year, have the same 75KwH battery as its more costly cars, but software limits it to 80% of range. Owners can otherwise buy an upgrade for several thousands of dollars. And because Tesla’s software updates are online, the company can make the changes with the flick of a virtual switch.
It is, points out economist Alex Tabarrok, an example of price discrimination – in this case, the art of selling superficially worse versions of the same or similar product for less. And it is nothing new. “The only thing that has changed is that companies can now change the offering during the life cycle of the product,” says Dr Georg Tacke, a consumer pricing expert and the chief executive of global consultancy Simon Kucher. “As more software gets into our hardware, the more we are going to see this.”
In Damaged Goods, a paper on the subject published by MIT in 1996, economists Raymond Deneckere and Preston McAfee showed how limiting products to make them cheaper can even cost a company more in the short term. In 1990, IBM launched LaserPrinter E, a cheaper version of its LaserPrinter. The only difference? A chip modification that slowed the printing speed to five rather than 10 pages per minute.
But, as Tacke explains, manufacturing two genuinely different versions of a product costs a lot more. The challenge is to predict the willingness to pay of customers while making them feel as if they have benefited from value – or better features. “If you have one product and the price is too high, people don’t buy it. But if it’s too low, you don’t exploit some customers’ willingness to pay,” he says. “So you differentiate and, yes, that means damaging the product in some way.”
This is why there is now also a market for “remapping” modern cars: tweaking their software to unleash hidden performance – like a video game cheat – without touching the engines. Mobile phone and household appliance makers use similar marketing ploys to differentiate products – and sell more overall.
But should we feel cheated by this sleight of hand? “Get used to it,” says Tacke. The key to pulling it off, he adds, is to manage expectations and to do the research to get the prices right. Tesla customers driving the cheaper cars knew what the payoff was. And the company had the last laugh; it no longer offers cheaper cars with the “damaged” battery, because most people bought the upgrade anyway. |
Airbnb releases first UK insight report | US-based holiday home letting company Airbnb has published a report on its UK operation, showing UK users of the platform had made £657m ($872m) from letting out their homes in the year to July. British hosts earned an average of £3,000 ($3,981) per year, with 5.9 million of their guests from overseas, and a growing proportion coming from elsewhere in the UK. The growth of the platform has led to concerns about the impact on the housing market, while the company claims local spending by Airbnb guests has contributed £3.46bn ($4.59bn) to the UK economy.
| https://www.aol.co.uk/money/2017/09/11/uks-airbnb-hosts-make-a-657m-by-renting-out-homes/ | 2017-09-12 06:20:56.423000 | Airbnb hosts in the UK pocketed £657 million in the year to July as the number of inbound guests using the home-sharing platform surged 81%.
A report by the US-based company showed that UK hosts welcomed around 5.9 million guests from outside the UK between July 2016 and July 2017, helping the typical host earn around £3,000 per year.
But a growing number of guests are from within the country, thanks to the rising popularity of so-called staycations after the pound's collapse, which has made foreign trips more expensive for UK travellers.
Airbnb said 53% of its UK customers travelled domestically in the year to July, taking advantage of 168,000 listings across the country.
Around 76% of hosts are renting out their primary home, with the average age around 43. Women made up about 62% of UK hosts.
About 55% of hosts rent out their entire homes, while 44% offer a private room and 1% list a shared room for visitors, suggesting hosts may be looking to make use of a spare room "without committing to a full-time lodger".
Airbnb said the site is an "easy and flexible source of income" for UK homeowners, but the report also found that around 4% are using the site to avoid eviction or foreclosure on their home.
Critics point to the negative effects the short-term rental company has had on some neighbourhoods, driving up house prices and exacerbating housing crunches in major cities like London, Paris, New York and Vancouver as landlords opt for more lucrative Airbnb lettings over long-term tenants.
It has even caused authorities to consider new regulations, including London which now has a 90-day annual limit for short-term lettings, with extensions requiring special permits.
Airbnb has tried to shift focus to the economic benefits of the platform. The company said spending in local communities by Airbnb guests has contributed £3.46 billion to the UK economy in the year to July.
It found that the average Airbnb guest spends about £147 in the UK each day of their stay, with 43% in the local neighbourhood on the likes of groceries, shopping, food and transport.
The report also highlighted regional success stories including Scotland, where hosts earned £86 million over the past year, and Yorkshire and the Humber with £14 million, as tourists contributed £85 million to the economy.
Hosts in the East Midlands earned £8 million, and the figure in Wales was £19 million.
James McClure, Airbnb's general manager for northern Europe, said: "The UK continues to break records on Airbnb - both as a world-leading destination, and for the benefits that hosting generates for local families and their communities.
"Hosts are ambassadors for their neighbourhoods and we look forward to seeing guests discover more unique, diverse and welcoming communities across the UK." |
Facebook fined €1.2m by Spain’s data privacy regulator | Spain's Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has fined Facebook €1.2m ($1.43m) after finding the social media giant guilty of "two serious infringements and one very serious breach of data protection law". The AEPD said Facebook had collected data on Spanish users without obtaining their consent, and had retained that data for later use, contrary to Spanish law. The company lost a similar case in France earlier this year, and said it "respectfully disagreed" with and would appeal both verdicts. | https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/11/facebook_fined_12m_by_spain/ | 2017-09-12 06:04:22.757000 | Facebook has been fined €1.2m ($1.43m) by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) for violating privacy laws.
The agency found [PDF, Spanish] that the company has collected information on its millions of Spanish users and then used that for advertising purposes without informing users how that information would be used, or seeking their consent.
It also determined that Facebook did not delete data that it was obliged to remove under Spanish law, but "retains and reuses it later associated to the same user." Facebook retains user data for up to 17 months, the AEPD noted, even if those users deleted their accounts and actively removed personal information from the service.
The ruling is just the latest in a battle that Europe's data protection agencies are collectively waging against the social media giant, which has a long history of abusing the data it gathers from users to make money and has been renowned for constantly changing its "privacy settings."
"The data on ideology, sex, religious beliefs, personal tastes or navigation are collected directly, through interaction with their services or from third-party pages without clearly informing the user about their use and purpose," the AEPD said in a statement.
"Facebook does not obtain unequivocal, specific and informed consent from users to treat their data," it concluded, leading to it finding Facebook guilty of "two serious infringements and one very serious breach of data protection law."
The AEPD slams Facebook for its use of cookies that track users even when they are not on Facebook, and even when they are not logged into the service. "Unregistered Internet users are unaware that the social network collects their browsing data," it notes. And it complains about the "generic and unclear terms" in Facebook's privacy policy, adding that is too hard to find the policy, requiring multiple clicks to locate.
Campaign
The ruling follows a long investigation by data protection agencies in Spain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands who have worked together and shared information in an effort to discover what Facebook does with the data it gathers.
That approach has had some successes and some failures. Last year, the Belgium Privacy Commission lost its effort to force Facebook to stop tracking non-users when an appeals court ruled it was acting outside its jurisdiction.
Previously the social network had been ordered by a Belgian court to kill tracking cookies within 48 hours for anyone who was not signed up to or logged into its service, or face a daily fine of €250,000.
Facebook appealed the decision, claiming that because it only retains data for 10 days it was not breaking local laws. But ultimately it was the fact that Facebook's European headquarters is based in Ireland that led to the decision being overturned. "Belgian courts don't have international jurisdiction over Facebook Ireland, where the data concerning Europe is processed," the court said in its ruling.
However, other data protection agencies are continuing to push, with the French data protection authority fining Facebook its maximum allowable fine of €150,000 ($179,300) back in May for the same violations that the Spanish authorities are now claiming.
"Facebook proceeded to a massive compilation of personal data of internet users in order to display targeted advertising," complained the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés. "It collected data on the browsing activity of internet users on third-party websites, via the 'datr' cookie, without their knowledge."
Done owt wrong
And the UK's Information Commissioner is also digging into how Facebook is using personal data from the WhatsApp chat app that it bought for $19bn in 2014. "Some might consider it'll give them a better service, others may be concerned by the lack of control," Elizabeth Denham noted.
UK privacy watchdog sends poison pen letter to Zuckerberg et al READ MORE
Of course in both the French and Spanish cases, Facebook claims it has done no wrong.
On the French decision, Facebook said that it "respectfully disagreed" with the decision and would appeal it, and made the familiar claim that Facebook was "putting people in control of their privacy" by offering a wide range of privacy settings.
Facebook used pretty much the exact same language with this new AEPD fine, noting that it "respectfully disagrees" with it and would appeal the decision, and arguing that "users choose which information they want to add to their profile and share with others, such as their religion."
Importantly, it claims that it does not use that data for advertising. "We do not use this information to target adverts to people," it said in a statement that is likely very precisely worded.
Just for context, the €1.2m fine represents 0.005 per cent of Facebook's annual revenue for 2016. Or two days worth of income. Zuckerberg must be quaking in his hoodie. ® |
Water risks in supply chain are being ignored by food companies | The majority of major food companies are failing to account for the risks to their supply chain from water-rated issues, according to research published by sustainability organisation Ceres. The non-profit found that of 42 large food companies they evaluated, only six - Coca-Cola, Kellogg, Nestlé, Unilever, General Mills and PepsiCo - had set water sourcing goals across key areas of their business. Around $459bn of revenue is at risk from water scarcity, according to separate research by analysts MSCI, and 85% of the companies scored in the Ceres report cite water as a material risk in their financial reports. | https://www.edie.net/news/4/Water-hungry-food-companies-ignoring-supply-chain-risks--report-finds/ | 2017-09-12 05:58:48.717000 | Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content
Ceres published its latest Feeding Ourselves Thirsty report today (11 September), which evaluates 42 of the largest food companies on water risks across packaged foods, beverages, agricultural products and meat. The latest report found that while the number of companies that were assessing water risks had increased by 30% since 2015, just six has set sourcing goals across key areas of the business.
The report noted that Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kellogg, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever were the only companies that had set these goals, with 50% of the evaluated firms were yet to show evidence that their boards of directors were “exercising oversight” on water-related issues.
Recent MSCI analysis of food companies in its All Country World Index (ACWI) found that $459bn in revenue is at risk from water scarcity for irrigation and animal consumption. Ceres also estimates that by 2050, water demands will increase by 55% and food demand by 60%.
Climate change looks set to impact how companies interact with water supplies, with hotter temperatures set to create the biggest risk to the $5trn industry’s bottom line. Fortunately, 85% of the companies scored in the report cite water as a material risk in financial filings. Although this represents a 30% increase on 2015, supply chain risks remain under-explored with just over half of the companies conducting regular assessments of their supply chains.
Kraft-Heinz and Monster Beverage finished bottom of the rankings in their respective sectors, with the latter scoring 0 out of 100, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestlé and Diageo were amongst the highest-scoring brands.
The report also highlighted that the number of companies linking executive compensation to water savings had increased by 150%, although only 12 companies currently use water as a criteria for executive pay.
Anglian for change
It’s not just businesses that are attempting to reduce water usage. Anglian Water has teamed with brand purpose consultancy Given London to help Newmarket residents reduce annual water usage by 30%.
Given London has carried out insight work with residents to gain an understanding of behaviours and habits, and will launch a behaviour change drive and test new technologies from Anglian Water.
“We are really excited to deliver positive, real change for Anglian Water around consumer water usage,” Given London’s managing partner Ben Hayman said.
“It is an important challenge and key to its success will be better connecting consumers’ water usage to both their household bills and the environment. Our approach is insight based, as we work closely with Anglian Water and the local community, to deliver results which can then be replicated at scale across the UK.”
Refill scheme
While it is important for businesses to track water use, another key environmental issue is emerging regarding the use of plastic bottles. The UK use 7.7bn single-use plastic bottles every year for water and drinks. An estimated 800 plastic bottles a minute are either ending up in landfill or as litter in waterways and new campaigns are attempting to reverse this trend.
Once such campaign is Refill, which aims to reduce the use of plastic bottles by getting businesses to offer free tap water refills. Last week, Banbury and Bicester became the tenth and eleventh towns in England to sign up to the scheme.
Around 20 local businesses have joined the initiative across the towns. Participating businesses register with an app and place a sticker in their window to alert passers-by that they are a Refill site. People using the scheme do not have to be customers of that business.
Matt Mace |
US' $5bn waste export business at risk after ban by China | About a fifth of the US' annual $5bn Chinese waste disposal business is at risk, according to the US Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). Beijing told the World Trade Organisation in July that it would stop imports of 24 varieties of waste, including types of plastic and paper often sent from the US, because of concerns about hazardous materials mixed in with the waste. The ban, due to start this month, has made US recyclers nervous, as there was little time for transition, said Adina Adler at the ISRI. Scrap and waste is the sixth biggest export to China. | http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/11/news/china-scrap-ban-us-recycling/index.html | 2017-09-12 05:34:08.923000 | For decades, shipping containers have been loaded with American scrap and waste and dispatched to China for recycling.
It's a $5 billion annual business that is now in danger of sinking.
Beijing notified the World Trade Organization in July that it plans to ban the import of 24 varieties of solid waste, including types of plastic and unsorted paper commonly sent from the U.S.
China said that the ban would take effect from September, giving American companies little time to prepare. ISRI estimates that roughly a fifth of the trade is at risk.
The announcement has made U.S. recyclers that trade with China very nervous.
"In the short term we're going to see a significant drop of exports from the U.S. into China, and there is a little bit of panic in the market," said Adina Adler, an official at the U.S. Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).
"We respect what the Chinese government is trying to do ... and we want to be helpful, but they gave us practically no time for any kind of transition," said Adler.
Trade deficit
Scrap and waste is the sixth largest U.S. export to China.
The trade works like this: A huge number of container ships laden with consumer goods sail each year from China to American ports.
But the U.S. runs a massive trade deficit with China, and there is little demand for space on the return leg, or "backhaul." As a result, shipping companies offer major discounts on return runs to China.
The dynamic has been a boon for the U.S. recycling industry, which has an abundance of the scrap metal, paper, plastic, rubber and electronics that Chinese recyclers crave.
Adam Minter, a journalist, explains in the book "Junkyard Planet" that it can be much cheaper to ship scrap from the U.S. to China than to send it by rail from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Exports at risk
Beijing says it's now banning some of the scrap categories out of concern for the environment.
The government told the WTO that it had found large amounts of dirty and hazardous material mixed with solid waste, leading to serious environmental pollution.
China's State Council said in a statement that it hoped to "reform ... the management system of solid waste imports, promote the recycling use of domestic solid wastes, protect the ecological environment and people's health."
Minter, however, has argued that the ban could exacerbate environmental problems.
He wrote in July that imported recyclables are cleaner than their Chinese counterparts, and banning them will force many Chinese recyclers to shut down -- meaning more waste will be incinerated or end up in landfills.
Related: China wants to ban gas and diesel cars
The policy shift has sparked confusion in the industry, with American producers uncertain about when it will be implemented.
"The confusion it causes does as much damage to our markets as the policies themselves," said Kevin Duncombe, president of independent recycler Western Pacific Pulp and Paper.
Adler said the ban has already impacted trade with China.
"Chinese buyers are canceling orders, or not placing new ones, and in some cases they're just not picking up shipments at the port," she said.
Related: GM is selling a $5,000 electric car in China
The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection did not respond to requests for additional details.
ISRI said it intends to fight the ban.
"China has an environmental crisis on their hands and they need to do something about it, but we don't agree on imposing an outright ban," said Adler. "That's not the answer." |
Leader of $9bn Chinese Ponzi scheme given life sentence | The man behind one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in modern China has been sentenced to life imprisonment, with his brother and 24 other accomplices also jailed. Ding Ning operated Anhui Yucheng Holdings Group and launched the fraudulent Ezubao scheme in 2014, which collapsed last year after collecting $9.14bn from more than 900,000 investors. The company fabricated projects to raise money, while Ding spent CNY1.5bn ($230m) of its proceeds on himself. The case has led to a regulatory crackdown on China's online financial services market, including peer-to-peer lending, where monthly volumes are now above $50bn. | http://indianexpress.com/article/world/leader-of-chinas-9-billion-dollar-ezubao-online-scam-gets-life-26-jailed-4839693/ | 2017-09-12 05:32:23.280000 | A Beijing court on Tuesday sentenced the architect of the $9 billion Ezubao online financial scam to life imprisonment. (Representational Image) A Beijing court on Tuesday sentenced the architect of the $9 billion Ezubao online financial scam to life imprisonment. (Representational Image)
A Beijing court on Tuesday sentenced the architect of the $9 billion Ezubao online financial scam to life imprisonment, and handed down jail time to 26 others, marking the close to one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in modern Chinese history. The ruling comes at a time when the government is stepping up efforts to crack down on risky and illicit behaviour in the country’s financial sector, including the unruly peer-to-peer industry that continues to attract high volumes.
Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Ding Ning – chairman of Anhui Yucheng Holdings Group that launched Ezubao in 2014 – to life in prison and fined him 100 million yuan ($15.29 million) for crimes including illegal fundraising, illegal gun possession and smuggling precious metals.
Ding Dian, the chairman’s brother, was also sentenced to life, while Zhang Min, Yucheng’s president, and 24 others were sentenced to imprisonment for 3 to 15 years, according to an article on the Beijing Courts social media account. |
France goes on strike over Macron's labour reforms | France is going on strike with the CGT announcing 180 protests and 4,000 strikes across the country to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's proposed labour reforms. Over 20,000 Ryanair passengers had their flights cancelled due to the strike with many other travellers also affected by the action. The strikes are expected to last the week. In addition to his labour reforms, decisions such as planned cuts to housing assistance for those on low incomes and backtracking on defence spending have caused Macron's popularity to plummet in the polls. | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/macron-france-protests-strikes-labour-law-code-a7936761.html | 2017-09-12 05:29:06.703000 | For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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
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This week is expected to see mass protests and strikes against the French government and the country’s president Emmanuel Macron. Here’s everything you need to know about them
Why are people protesting and going on strike?
Primarily, the protests are about Emmanuel Macron’s plans to reform French labour laws, which are extremely controversial.
Under the plans, it would become easier for medium and small businesses to sack workers. Trade union collective bargaining will also be watered down and firms with fewer than 20 staff will be able to negotiate directly with individual employees, instead of a union branch. The Government also wants a cap on pay-outs from industrial tribunals.
Didn’t Macron just win an election?
Yes, but his popularity has fallen like a stone – across the board pollsters have shown him less popular in this stage of his premiership than both Nicholas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande. Both of those presidents were unpopular.
As a candidate Macron also refused to go into specifics about what labour reforms he would make.
Macron was also elected on an extremely low share of the first preference vote – just 24 per cent. He won an overwhelming victory in the second round, though his only opponent there was far-right National Front’s Marine Le Pen.
Why does Macron want to reform the Labour code?
French liberals (and those abroad) have long argued that the country’s regulated and collectively organised labour market is inefficient and holds the country back economically.
Macron, for his part, says France will be “turning the page on three decades of inefficiency” by introducing his changes.
It is not uncommon for the French government to provoke the ire of the French labour movement. In 2007 and 2010 the country was crippled by general strikes over cuts to pensions and the raising of the retirement age. In 1995 general strikes brought the country to a standstill to stop welfare cutbacks.
Who is calling the protests?
The CGT, or Confédération générale du travail, France’s biggest and most assertive major trade union federation has call the strike.
Other federations, including the less militant CFDT and FO, have said they will stay away from the day of action.
The CGT was previously communist-backed but has recently taken a more moderate stance. Its battalions will be accompanied by other elements of the organised French left.
Are there other reasons people are annoyed?
The labour law reforms are just the latest of a series of unpopular things Macron has done in office. He has already taken a hit over planned cuts to housing assistance for people on low incomes, and there was push-back over plans to make his wife the official first lady, potentially with a salary. Other ways the president has upset people include backtracking on a pledge to shore-up defence spending, which led to a very public row with the head of the army. |
France goes on strike over Macron's labour reforms | France is going on strike with the CGT announcing 180 protests and 4,000 strikes across the country to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's proposed labour reforms. Over 20,000 Ryanair passengers had their flights cancelled due to the strike with many other travellers also affected by the action. The strikes are expected to last the week. In addition to his labour reforms, decisions such as planned cuts to housing assistance for those on low incomes and backtracking on defence spending have caused Macron's popularity to plummet in the polls. | http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/ryanair-cancellations-france-strikes-flights-delays-latest-a7941591.html | 2017-09-12 05:29:06.703000 | Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel 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
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More than 20,000 Ryanair passengers have had their flights on Tuesday cancelled due to a strike by French air-traffic controllers. Many other travellers are being affected by the action by members of the USAC-CGT union.
They are stopping work as part of a nationwide walk-out which constitutes the first major challenge to President Macron's sweeping labour reforms. The union says the proposed law “promises to be dangerous for employees and their representatives”.
Eurocontrol is warning of "very high delays" in the Marseille sector, covering a swathe of southern France.
Ryanair has cancelled at least 110 flights. Passengers hoping to fly from Ryanair’s main UK base, Stansted, to Barcelona, Bergerac, Blagnac, Bordeaux, Limoges, Madrid, Marseille, Palma and Perpignan, or on the return legs, are now trying to find seats on alternative services.
Recommended Ryanair cuts number of bags passengers can take on board flights
Other casualties of the strike are Luton-Nimes, Manchester-Ibiza, Leeds/Bradford-Palma and East Midlands-Barcelona.
Ryanair warns “further flight delays and cancellations are likely”. Its marketing director, Kenny Jacobs, said: “Enough is enough. If the French Government is serious about changing France, they should start by tackling these air traffic control unions, and together with the European Commission, should take immediate action to prevent thousands of European consumers from having their travel plans disrupted by a tiny group of ATC unions going on strike once again.
“They cannot stand idly by as more disruption and travel misery is inflicted upon Europe’s consumers and airlines."
British Airways has cancelled 16 flights as a result of air-traffic control restrictions over France: four services linking London with Barcelona and with Nice have been grounded, along with round-trips from Heathrow to Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Zurich.
Ryanair boss demands airports drop passport checks for departing passengers
The airline says: “Other short-haul flights may also experience some disruption, given how many flights from numerous European airlines would normally use French airspace each day.”
BA is offering passengers flying on any French route, as well as Barcelona, the option of shifting the flight to Wednesday or Thursday. It says: “We will be using larger aircraft, where possible, to help affected customers and are doing all we can to reduce the levels of disruption.”
Its rival, easyJet, says: “Like all airlines, our flights to and from French airports, as well as those flying in French airspace, could be affected.
“We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the strike on our customers, and we advise that you allow plenty of extra time to get to the airport and consider alternative transport options where possible, as public transport services may be affected by the strike.”
Air France is warning passengers of "limited disruptions" on domestic flights, and that "last-minute delays and cancellations can be expected too".
Passengers whose flights are cancelled should be re-booked for travel as soon as possible, even if it is on a rival airline. They are also entitled to a duty of care, with the cancelling airline responsible for meals and accommodation until they can reach their destination.
The Foreign Office is warning of “disruption and delays to transport services, including rail networks and some maritime ports”.
In Germany, dozens of Air Berlin flights have been cancelled because of "sickness-related absences" by flight crew. The airline has filed for insolvency but is being propped up by a German government loan. Air Berlin says it is "currently seeing an exceptional high number of sickness reports of their pilots".
"For this reason a number of flights will have to be cancelled today." |
China to evacuate up to 500,000 people from path of Typhoon Talim | Up to 500,000 people could be evacuated from the southeastern coast of China as the region braces itself for super typhoon Talim, which is set to make landfall on Thursday or Friday this week, according to China’s National Meteorological Centre. Some buildings in the typhoon's path will be unable to withstand the high winds, while other areas are prone to flooding or mudslides. The storm system, set to become the equivalent of a US category four or five hurricane, is also expected to hit north and north-east parts of Taiwan on Wednesday.
| http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/up-to-half-a-million-people-to-be-evacuated-as-giant-typhoon-approaches-southeastern | 2017-09-12 04:29:09.857000 | BEIJING - Up to half a million people were expected to be evacuated from their homes in south-eastern China on Tuesday (Sept 12) as the region braced itself for a "giant" typhoon that is expected to make landfall later in the week.
Typhoon Talim was forecast to hit several cities along the central and northern sections of the Fujian coastline, including Fuzhou and Ningde, reported The South China Morning Post, citing the chief engineer at the province's meteorological bureau, Ms Liu Aiming.
Ms Liu said as many as 500,000 people would receive evacuation notices, though the exact figure was subject to change as the situation was evolving.
Most of the people lived in properties that were unlikely to withstand the high winds, or in areas that were prone to flooding and mudslides, or were close to construction sites where they could be hit by flying debris. Ms Liu said that school buildings and sports stadiums were likely to be used as temporary shelters.
Talim formed east of the Philippines on Saturday. It has been steadily gaining strength and was likely to pass through Taiwan. It was expected to have grown into a super typhoon by the time it made landfall, the highest level in China's rating system and comparable to a category 4 or 5 hurricane in the US.
The meteorological agency issued a blue alert, the lowest in a four-tier colour-coded system for severe weather, reported Reuters.
On Tuesday morning, the eye of Talim was 1,040km south-east of Taiwan's Yilan county, packing winds of up to 33 metres a second.
Talim is expected to hit north and north-east parts of Taiwan the hardest on Wednesday and into Thursday with heavy rains and strong gusts.
The storm will then move north-west at a speed of 25km to 30km an hour towards the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian, making landfall late on Thursday or early Friday, according to China's National Meteorological Centre.
From Tuesday to Wednesday, Talim will bring gales to the southern East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and waters east of Taiwan, as well as parts of the South China Sea.
The Fujian government initiated a Grade IV emergency response on Monday night, the lowest of a four-grade emergency response system.
Relevant government agencies were told to monitor Typhoon Talim and take emergency measures in a timely manner, according to a statement on the official website of Fujian province.
State-owned China News Service reported on Tuesday that Zhejiang province had also initiated a Grade IV response.
If anything unusual was detected, government agencies should issue warnings and organise evacuations, the news report said.
The National Meteorological Centre also warned of a tropical depression 205km east of Manila in the Philippines, saying it could gather strength and become a typhoon in the next 12 hours.
Floods caused by tropical storm Maring submerged many streets and highways in the Philippines on Tuesday, prompting the government to close schools and suspend work in Metro Manila and the affected provinces.
Late last month, Typhoon Hato pummelled Macau with winds of more than 200kmh and wreaked havoc in the nearby financial hub of Hong Kong.
"Talim is a giant. It will dwarf any of the others (typhoons) we've seen this year," Ms Liu told The South China Morning Post.
People who resisted orders to evacuate would be forced to do so by inspection teams, she said.
"It's routine practice. (If they were not told to evacuate) most people would just stay in their homes. Nobody hits the highway," she said, adding that she was a "bit surprised at what happened in the US".
She was referring to the mass exodus by 5 million residents from Florida last week as Hurricane Irma raced towards the coast, which caused huge jams on motorways and saw many service stations run out of fuel.
Professor Huang Peng, who teaches architecture and wind engineering at Tongji University in Shanghai and used to work at the International Hurricane Research Centre in Florida, said the different approaches adopted by China and the US to keep people safe were understandable.
"(In Florida) Most of the people live in timber properties on low-lying ground and that makes them vulnerable to high winds," he said. "And because they are spread over such a wide area, it would have been difficult to get aid and support to them in the aftermath of the hurricane," he said.
"In China, mass evacuations are usually not considered an option, but for those living in poorly built properties or at-risk locations it is better if they are relocated," he explained, adding that the population density was the reason why mass evacuations were not as popular in China.
Mr Wang Kanghong, a researcher at the meteorological disaster laboratory under the Ministry of Education in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said the Chinese government was very selective when it came to ordering evacuations, only issuing orders if the data suggested a building was vulnerable to a typhoon.
"(However) the climate is changing. It is possible we will one day be faced with a mega-typhoon that few buildings would be able to withstand," he said.
Officials in every city had plans to deal with such a "doomsday scenario", he added.
These included the evacuation of entire cities, but there were no guarantees such a plan would work, Mr Wang told The South China Morning Post.
"There has never been a drill. Many things can go wrong." |
AI-powered camera can spot distracted drivers | Researchers at Canada's University of Waterloo have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system which uses cameras to determine whether drivers are distracted. Through the camera. the AI identifies non-standard hand movements in drivers and appraises how much of a threat they represent. The AI system will form part of a larger project on driver behaviour recognition for the design of self-driving vehicles, said Fakhri Karray, a professor at the university.
| https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/ai-texting-and-driving/ | 2017-09-11 21:02:17.760000 | Texting while driving is an incredibly irresponsible, potentially dangerous thing to engage in. However, despite any number of laws, police initiatives and public service announcements, too many still do it. That is a problem that engineering researchers from Canada’s University of Waterloo think they have come up with a solution to — with the development of a system which uses a combination of cameras and artificial intelligence to determine when drivers are texting, or otherwise engaged in distracting activities.
“Distracted driving is one of the major causes of car crashes around the world and North America in particular,” Fakhri Karray, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Waterloo, told Digital Trends. “In this work, an artificial intelligence-based system is investigated for driver distraction detection. A full prototype [with both] software and hardware has been designed, implemented and tested, based on the latest tools of deep learning AI and computer vision. The work is motivated by its performance in designing next generation self-driving cars, and by alerting in real time a driver of the imminent danger of his or her action when undergoing text messaging, drinking, reaching objects at the back or side seats, calling on the phone, or operating a radio, [air conditioning unit], or other devices on the dashboard.”
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The smart camera setup detects hand movements which deviate from normal driving behavior (i.e. hands on the wheel) and then classifies them according to their potential threat level. In addition to this, it takes into account the length of particular actions and information about the surrounding vehicles — meaning that texting on a busy highway would be ranked considerably higher in the danger stakes than, for example, turning on your air conditioning on a quiet country road. The system can then be used to trigger protective measures, which might range from warning the driver about his or her behavior to, in a car with self-driving features, temporarily taking control of the vehicle.
“ This is an integral part of a larger project on driver behavior recognition and driver action prediction for the design of next generation cognitive Advanced Drivers Assisting Systems,” Karray said. “This should contribute to the design of next generation systems to be implemented in level three or level four self-driving vehicles.”
Given that distracted drivers are reportedly to blame for up to 75 percent of traffic accidents worldwide, technology such as this could be a major benefit — not just for the drivers of these vehicles, but for everyone on the road. It’s not every day that AI could help save lives!
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Amazonian tribe members allegedly killed by gold miners in Brazil | Reports of the murder of up to 10 members of an isolated tribe in the Amazon by illegal gold miners are under investigation by Brazilian authorities. The killings, in Javari Valley, are alleged to have been committed by men working for gold prospectors who carry out criminal dredging in the area’s rivers. Brazil’s indigenous agency, or Funai, has seen a cut of nearly 50% to its budget this year, raising concerns about safety risks. The country’s government has also announced plans to permit mining and development in protected areas. | https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/sep/12/brazil-investigates-reports-of-massacre-among-amazon-tribe-javari-valley | 2017-09-11 21:00:00 | Brazilian authorities are investigating reports of a massacre of up to 10 people from an isolated tribe in the Amazon by illegal gold miners.
The killings, alleged to have taken place in Javari Valley, are claimed to have been carried out by men working for gold prospectors who dredge illegally in the region’s rivers.
If proven, the murders would confirm that severe budget cuts to Brazil’s indigenous agency are having deadly effects. The agency was forced to close two bases in the same region earlier this year. Investigators face a 12-day boat trip just to reach the area.
Pablo Beltrand, the prosecutor from the remote Amazon town of Tabatinga – near the Peruvian border and 700 miles from the Amazonas state capital, Manaus – said his team was first informed about the possible murders in the Javari Valley at the beginning of August. A fifth of Brazil’s uncontacted tribes live in this wild region.
“We received a communication from federal government,” he said. “The ongoing investigation is about the possible death of indigenous people.”
Beltrand said he could not give more information about the inquiry but said that two men arrested recently in a police and army operation into illegal gold prospecting in the area were not connected to the case.
Brazil’s National Indian Foundation, known as Funai, first sent a team of three to the small town of São Paulo de Olivença after receiving reports that men working for gold prospectors had boasted in a bar of killing a group of eight to 10 indigenous people.
Leila Sotto-Maior, coordinator for isolated and recently contacted Indians at Funai, said the men had brandished a paddle and a small bag used for carrying food that they claimed they had taken from their victims.
“They were saying they killed indigenous people and threw them in the river,” Sotto-Maior said. She emphasised that the massacre has yet to be confirmed.
“It is very difficult to investigate something like this after time [has passed]. We don’t have the bases,” she said.
Funai has had its budget almost halved this year by the business-friendly government of President Michel Temer. His government recently proposed to reduce the protected area of Amazon forest and has announced plans to allow mining and development in other protected areas.
Burnt communal houses of uncontacted Indians, pictured in December 2016, could be signs of another attack in the region. Photograph: Courtesy of Funai
Sotto-Maior’s department at Funai has less than £600,000 to spend this year protecting 103 tribes of non-contacted indigenous people across this vast country, as well as recently contacted groups. Around 20 isolated groups are believed to live in the Javari Valley, where around 80 recently contacted indigenous people also live.
“To know we do not have the capacity to stop something like this … it’s very difficult,” Sotto-Maior said.
Cleber Buzatto, executive secretary of the non-profit Indigenous Missionary Council, said cuts to Funai budgets and the closing of bases in areas with isolated tribes increased the risk of attack.
“This is a mechanism of encouragement of invasion of territories and makes attacks against isolated Indians more probable,” he said. In June, UN rights experts denounced a surge of killings related to rural land disputes in Brazil this year.
A spokeswoman for Brazil’s federal police said: “The investigation is still ongoing to ascertain the provenance of the information.”
A spokesman for the Brazilian army said an operation carried out in the same area between 28 August and 3 September had destroyed four illegal gold dredgers. The documents of two others were being analysed. |
UK booksellers pay 11 times as much corporation tax as Amazon | Amazon pays 11 times less in corporation tax than the UK’s bookshops, according to a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The report, released at the Booksellers Association’s annual conference, disclosed that bookshops contribute £540m ($716m) to the country’s economy, and pay approximately £12m in corporation tax. This is equivalent to 91p per £100 of turnover, 11 times the 8p that Amazon contributes. Amazon UK Services has seen corporation tax payments fall from £15.8m to £7.4m year on year, despite rising profits. | https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/12/amazon-pays-11-times-less-corporation-tax-than-traditional-booksellers?CMP=share_btn_tw | 2017-09-11 21:00:00 | The UK’s bookshops pay 11 times what Amazon does in corporation tax, according to a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
The Bookselling Britain report was unveiled at the Booksellers Association’s annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, revealing that bookshops contribute an estimated £540m to the UK economy, and pay an estimated £131m in tax, including £12m in corporation tax. This equates to 91p per £100 of turnover, the report said, which is 11 times the 8p rate that Amazon pays, according to the CEBR. Amazon’s most recent accounts show that Amazon UK Services saw turnover rise to almost £1.5bn in 2016, while corporation tax payments dropped from £15.8m to £7.4m year on year.
The discrepancy was condemned by the Booksellers Association’s Giles Clifton, head of corporate affairs. “The BA has already highlighted the unequal treatment meted out by the business-rates system to British booksellers, the staggering 17 times differential between what the Waterstones on Bedford High Street pays in comparison with the Amazon business unit a short distance away,” said Clifton.
“However, this report helps the BA take this to the next level and to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt [that] an enormous financial gap exists between what UK booksellers put into the UK, and what Amazon does. At a time when the UK needs to be making the most of her own talents, and utilising all her resources, both cultural, economic, and other, why on earth are we persisting with a policy that is an act of gross self-harm? This stupidity must end.”
The association’s chief executive Tim Godfray added that bookshops were “making an incredible contribution to the UK despite the many obstacles that they currently, and increasingly, face”. But the contribution was “not sustainable unless decisive action is taken by the government to protect them from closure”, he said.
Godfray added: “Bookshops are currently closing at a rate of 3% per year, and 275 towns across the UK can expect to lose their bookshop completely due to changes to business rates if nothing is done. We hope that CEBR’s report encourages our government to act to protect the nation’s bookshops, and enable them to flourish.”
Figures from the BA show that there are currently 867 independent booksellers in the UK, almost half the number that existed 11 years ago. According to the CEBR report, bookshops support 24,400 jobs in the UK, and pay £416m in wages. But they are facing an “increasingly challenging trading environment”, said the report, citing Amazon’s market power and advantages, business rates and corporate taxation as issues that threaten the very existence of Britain’s local and national booksellers.
Speaking at the BA conference, CEBR director Oliver Hogan said that bricks-and-mortar bookshops had a range of advantages that Amazon did not offer, from involvement “with more reluctant readers, helping them to find books they might enjoy”, to the events they put on and the “physical interface” that “can trigger different and unpredictable exploration of themes and topics beyond what was intended”.
Hogan continued: “The Bookselling Britain report highlights the significant direct and multiplier impacts that bookshops have on the UK economy, despite facing numerous challenges. But the benefits to UK communities of local booksellers stretch beyond these monetary impacts, encompassing education, literacy and the provision of an informational and cultural conduit to society at large. All of this feeds technological progress and innovation, the key ingredients in achieving long-term economic growth.”
Clifton added: “It is high time the policymakers in this country woke up and smelt the coffee.” |
Google Oxford University researchers teach an AI to read lips | Researchers have developed an algorithm that uses artificial intelligence to lip-read sentences more accurately than human experts. The team from Oxford University and Google used thousands of hours of subtitled BBC television footage to train the system, which used Google's Deep Mind neural network. The footage showed a broad range of people in different poses, activities and lighting conditions, replicating conditions "in the wild," as the team described it. The digital model was able to decipher around half of the spoken works from the footage, significantly better than a professional lip-reader, who managed less than a quarter. | http://www.zdnet.com/article/lip-reading-bots-in-the-wild/ | 2017-09-11 20:50:07.440000 | Video: Humans prefer faulty robots over perfect ones
In the movie "2001" I found the scariest moment was when astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole met in the EVA pod to discuss the artificially intelligent HAL 9000 computer's behavior -- and HAL reads their lips. Science fiction? Not anymore!
In the paper Lip Reading Sentences in the Wild, researchers Joon Son Chung, of Oxford University, Andrew Senior, Oriol Vinyals, and Andrew Zisserman, of Google, tested an algorithm that bested professional human lip readers. Soon, surveillance videos may not only show your actions, but the content of your speech.
Google's DeepMind
The researchers used Google's Deep Mind neural network and trained it using thousands of hours of subtitled BBC television videos. The videos showed a broad spectrum of people speaking in a wide variety of poses, activities, and lighting -- thus the "in the wild" designation.
Lip reading is an active area of AI research, and this team is not the first to work on it. But by using thousands of hours of BBC videos, their algorithm achieved the best results yet.
Their 'Watch, Listen, Attend and Spell' (WLAS) neural network learned to transcribe videos of mouth motion to characters, using over 100,000 sentences from the videos. By translating mouth movements to individual characters, the neural net spelled out words.
In training the AI, one of the team's innovations was to start out with single words, and gradually increase the length of samples to reach complete sentences. That sped up training and dramatically improved test performance.
The videos were 120x120 pixel images, showing only the lips, sampled every 40 milliseconds.
Results
They found that a professional lip reader is able to correctly decipher less than one-quarter of the spoken words. Their WAS model (lips only) was able to decipher half of the spoken words, significantly better than professional lip readers.
The Storage Bits take
There are many practical uses for machine lip reading, such as transcription in noisy contexts, dubbing and/or transcribing silent films, resolving multi-speaker concurrent speech, and improving automated speech recognition.
But let's let our imaginations run wild. With chatbots inventing their own languages, and AI surpassing human intelligence someday this century, it's clear that humans will have to cover their mouths -- as David and Frank should have -- in order to have secure verbal communication during the coming war with our AI overlords.
Or maybe we'll all just have to mumble.
Courteous comments welcome, of course.
Previous and related coverage |
IBM makes a 10-year commit to fund AI research with MIT | IBM and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will build on a decade of collaboration in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) with the establishment of the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. IBM will invest $240m over 10 years, as the lab develops AI algorithms, hardware and software, and seeks "innovations to tackle increasingly difficult real-world problems to improve our work and lives," according to John Kelly III, IBM senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and Research. The lab has already called for joint research proposals for a series of AI-related projects. | https://www.therobotreport.com/ibm-mit-partner-ai-research-lab/ | 2017-09-11 20:03:27.847000 | IBM and the Mass. Institute of Technology plan to expand their ongoing partnership to create the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab to perform research on artificial intelligence. IBM is making a 10-year, $240 million investment to establish the Cambridge, Mass. center.
The lab will harness the work of 100 scientists, professors and students to develop AI hardware, software and algorithms; increase AI’s role in industries; and consider economic and ethical considerations associated with AI.
“The field of artificial intelligence has experienced incredible growth and progress over the past decade. Yet today’s AI systems, as remarkable as they are, will require new innovations to tackle increasingly difficult real-world problems to improve our work and lives,” said John Kelly III, IBM senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and Research. “The extremely broad and deep technical capabilities and talent at MIT and IBM are unmatched, and will lead the field of AI for at least the next decade.”
Another goal of the partnership is to help MIT staff and students create companies to commercialize and sell AI technologies and innovations developed in the lab.
“I am delighted by this new collaboration,” MIT President L. Rafael Reif said. “True breakthroughs are often the result of fresh thinking inspired by new kinds of research teams. The combined MIT and IBM talent dedicated to this new effort will bring formidable power to a field with staggering potential to advance knowledge and help solve important challenges.”
The two parties have worked together for a decade on research in areas related to AI, including machine vision and unsupervised data processing. The combined effort will further both their work in the AI field. The lab is calling for joint research proposals in AI algorithms, physics of AI, application of AI to industries and advancing shared prosperity through AI. |
Third of global land severely degraded due to intensive farming | A third of the earth’s land is now severely degraded, with 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil lost each year, according to a study backed by the United Nations that argues for the rejection of destructive, intensive agriculture. The decline in fertile soil is anticipated to continue due to rising demand for food and is also expected to increase the risk of conflict similar to that seen in Chad and Sudan. The Global Land Outlook report analyses the impacts of factors including climate change, erosion, forest loss and urbanisation, but concludes that industrial farming is the most damaging of all. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/12/third-of-earths-soil-acutely-degraded-due-to-agriculture-study | 2017-09-11 20:00:00 | A third of the planet’s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24bn tonnes a year, according to a new United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture.
The alarming decline, which is forecast to continue as demand for food and productive land increases, will add to the risks of conflicts such as those seen in Sudan and Chad unless remedial actions are implemented, warns the institution behind the report.
“As the ready supply of healthy and productive land dries up and the population grows, competition is intensifying for land within countries and globally,” said Monique Barbut, executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at the launch of the Global Land Outlook.
“To minimise the losses, the outlook suggests it is in all our interests to step back and rethink how we are managing the pressures and the competition.”
The Global Land Outlook is billed as the most comprehensive study of its type, mapping the interlinked impacts of urbanisation, climate change, erosion and forest loss. But the biggest factor is the expansion of industrial farming.
Heavy tilling, multiple harvests and abundant use of agrochemicals have increased yields at the expense of long-term sustainability. In the past 20 years, agricultural production has increased threefold and the amount of irrigated land has doubled, notes a paper in the outlook by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European commission. Over time, however, this diminishes fertility and can lead to abandonment of land and ultimately desertification.
The JRC noted that decreasing productivity can be observed on 20% of the world’s cropland, 16% of forest land, 19% of grassland, and 27% of rangeland.
“Industrial agriculture is good at feeding populations but it is not sustainable. It’s like an extractive industry, said Louise Baker, external relations head of the UN body. She said the fact that a third of land is now degraded should prompt more urgent action to address the problem.
“It’s quite a scary number when you consider rates of population growth, but this is not the end of the line. If governments make smart choices the situation can improve,” Baker said, noting the positive progress made by countries like Ethiopia, which has rehabilitated 7m hectares (17m acres).
The impacts vary enormously from region to region. Worst affected is sub-Saharan Africa, but poor land management in Europe also accounts for an estimated 970m tonnes of soil loss from erosion each year with impacts not just on food production but biodiversity, carbon loss and disaster resilience. High levels of food consumption in wealthy countries such as the UK are also a major driver of soil degradation overseas.
The paper was launched at a meeting of the UNCCD in Ordos, China, where signatory nations are submitting voluntary targets to try to reduce degradation and rehabilitate more land. On Monday, Brazil and India were the latest countries to outline their plan to reach “land degradation neutrality”.
However, the study notes that pressures will continue to grow. In a series of forecasts on land use for 2050, the authors note that sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, the Middle East and north Africa will face the greatest challenges unless the world sees lower levels of meat consumption, better land regulation and improved farming efficiency. |
China's big banks ban new North Korean accounts | China's largest banks have put a ban on allowing North Korean's to open new bank accounts, along with freezing remittances to North Korea, thereby blocking significant amounts of cash for the regime. It is believed this tough stance is due to North Korean's nuclear test on 3 September.
| http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/09/11/2017091100794.html | 2017-09-11 18:44:38.163000 | "Previously, the banks were happy to open accounts for North Koreans living in China for personal reasons (mostly visiting relatives), provided they present their personal identity documents," the website Daily NK reported. "This practice has ended as well."
This blocks cash flow to the regime to a significant extent, while the volume of oil shipments from China to North Korea has also dwindled, Kyodo News reported Saturday. Affected are not only North Korean diplomats and officials in China but also laborers and traders with North Korean passports.
China's large state banks have stopped opening new accounts for North Koreans and frozen remittances to North Korea.
The Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China have gradually stopped services for North Koreans in the border regions since last year, but the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China appears to be continuing them.
Chinese bank officials told Kyodo that this is a result of international sanctions against the North.
The Chinese government has also reportedly ordered commercial banks to stop services for North Koreans. It appears that the banks stopped dealing with the North voluntarily to avoid U.S. sanctions amid warnings of a secondary boycott from Washington.
With oil imports dwindling as a result, gasoline prices have reportedly soared in the North.
There is speculation that Beijing is taking tougher measure because of the regime's nuclear test on Sept. 3.
|
Higher risk of tropical storms in UK due to Atlantic hurricanes | The UK is at greater risk of being hit by hurricane-based storms this Autumn, warns AccuWeather, as it faces the tail-end of up to three hurricanes or tropical storms - including Hurricane Irma - over the next two months. While battered homes, flooding, and blocked rail lines and roads are a possibility during the season, the Met Office, which predicted possible winds of up to 70 mph this week, reiterated that the UK will not be battered as severely as the Caribbean and Florida. | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4870256/Britain-set-hit-three-tropical-storms.html | 2017-09-11 17:33:44.860000 | Advertisement
Britain is due to be hit by the tail-end of up to three hurricanes or tropical storms in the next two months, said AccuWeather, one of the world's biggest weather forecasters.
Hurricane Irma is hammering Florida today after devastating Caribbean islands, leaving at least three people dead as the storm slams into Key West.
Britain more at risk this autumn – with this forecast to be the worst hurricane season for seven years, the US Government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.
Battered homes are a possibility, as well as trees and floods blocking road and rail lines.
This satellite image obtained from NASA's Earth Observatory shows Hurricane Irma (centre), Hurricane Jose (right), and Hurricane Katia (left)
Ominous-looking storm clouds gather over Poole harbour, in Dorset, which stunned locals as it passed overhead earlier on today. Britain is due to be hit by the tail end of up to three hurricanes or tropical storms in the next two months
Darkening clouds gather over pool: The Met Office has downplayed fears Britain is set to be battered by hurricane-strength weather churning across from the US
Locals gather on a pier as foreboding clouds collected above them in Poole, Dorset. Forecaster Helen Roberts told MailOnline: 'We have often got the remnants of hurricanes coming across the Atlantic to the UK
Britain has already been hit by a hurricane this season – Hurricane Gert — which swept across the Atlantic to deluge the North on August 20.
Previous hurricane-based storms which crossed the Atlantic to hammer Britain include Hurricane Bertha in August 2014, which hit with gusts up to 94mph, six inches' rain and floods.
September's 2012's 'Child of Hurricane Nadine' tempest killed one and caused floods, and September 2011's Hurricane Katia caused one death amid gusts up to 98mph, with floods and widespread travel chaos.
The Met Office said Britain won't be battered by weather as severe as that which is slamming the US and Caribbean, but could face winds of up to 70mph this week.
Forecaster Helen Roberts told MailOnline: 'We have often got the remnants of hurricanes coming across the Atlantic to the UK.
'But when they reach us they are very different beasts.'
Britons can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the ferocity of storms that have battered the Caribbean and Florida will not be replicated in the UK
Britain has already been hit by a hurricane this season – Hurricane Gert — which swept across the Atlantic to deluge the North on August 20
This is the ridiculous moment the driver of a convertible Vauxhall Tigra uses an umbrella to stay dry – rather than closing the roof on the M4 near Brentford, London
A yellow weather warning has been issued for southern parts of Wales and and the south-west of England from 12am tonight through to 11am tomorrow morning
It means Britons can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the ferocity of storms that have battered the Caribbean and Florida won't be replayed in the UK.
Over the course of today and night, the forecaster said the UK is set for more unsettled weather.
'For the rest of today a weather front is pushing west to east across the county, bringing spells of rain for many.
'The rain won't really reach the south east until later in the day — followed by further blustery showers.'
The forecaster added there is a risk of hail in parts and 'really blustery' showers should be expected.
Revellers at Bestival have been faced with rains and high winds this weekend.
Today the festival, which is taking place in Dorset for the first time this year, was forced to close its main area due to poor conditions.
Organisers tweeted: 'Due to current high winds and safety of all our festival-goers The Castle Stage and Ambient Forest are both temporarily closed.
'We'll reopen the stages and areas as soon as possible. Due to high winds & for everyone's safety the main arena is temporarily closed. Please make your way to the campsites until we reopen gates.'
The stages have now reopened but festival-goers have had to battle huge swamped areas and rain storms throughout the weekend.
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A yellow weather warning has been issued for southern parts of Wales and and the south-west of England from 12am tonight through to 11am tomorrow morning.
Strong winds will continue across much of Wales tomorrow morning, indicating a 'tricky rush' for commuters.
Most of the UK will experience sunshine a showers throughout much of Monday.
Ms Roberts added: 'Tuesday is probably one of the better days of the week, more in the way of sunny spells, but there still be some showers in between.'
Temperatures are expected to reach highs of 62.6°F (17°C) on Tuesday, and remain in the mid to high teens throughout much of next week.
But a lower pressure system arriving on the night could bring stormier and colder-feeling weather along with it, with wind gusts reaching up to 70mph in parts of northern England and northern Wales.
Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst predicted an 'unsettled autumn day' across the country throughout the day.
A second area of low pressure coming in from the Atlantic is expected to bring more strong winds on Tuesday night, lasting into Wednesday morning.
He said: 'It is likely to bring winds across many parts of England and Wales on Tuesday and Wednesday of between 50mph and 60mph, with isolated gusts reaching 70mph.
'It could cause disruption to Wednesday morning rush hour and there could be some heavy rain associated with it as well.' |
UK software firm CDL opens insurtech incubator | Insurtech software provider CDL has established the CDL Incubator to support start-ups in the sector. The Stockport-based firm hopes to inspire investment into research and development as it expands its capabilities. CDL recently launched a chatbot option for customers to create tailored car and home insurance quotes with their mobiles.
| https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/technology/3136891/insurtech-futures-cdl-launches-insurtech-incubator?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IA.Daily_RL.EU.A.U&utm_source=IA.DCM.Editors_Updates | 2017-09-11 16:37:03.803000 | Software house says incubator will support start-up ideas and accelerate time to market for new technology developments.
CDL has launched the CDL Incubator, a provision to support start-up ideas and accelerate the development of innovative new technologies for the insurance sector and beyond.
The software specialists stated that the move is one of a number of new initiatives to increase investment in research and development as the company continues to build its portfolio of InsurTech solutions and capabilities.
According to CDL, the new incubator creates a framework for continuous innovation which will |
Licensing laws limiting London's ability to be 24-hour city | Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s plans to make London a 24-hour city are being hampered by councils rejecting applications for 24-hour licences for venues. The introduction of the night tube service could help to attract investment to the £26.3bn ($35bn) night-time economy, but the lack of venues is halting growth. The 24-hour approach could also alleviate pressure on the police to manage post-closing time crowds. Investment could rejuvenate museums, restaurants and more, but the change has to be supported by local councils and businesses.
| http://www.citymetric.com/business/could-london-really-be-24-hour-city-3314 | 2017-09-11 14:52:28.203000 | In 2016, concerned about drug-related deaths at clubs in London, councillors for the borough of Islington and the local police force revoked London super club and cultural institution Fabric’s license.
The debate attracted attention, partly because it was a microcosm of simmering tensions within cities between governments and the people whose lives they regulated, and partly because of the widespread public outcry from clubbers and DJs. At the time, in leaked emails obtained by Mixmag, Justine Simons, Sadiq Khan’s deputy mayor for culture, said that the row showed that London needed “a new positive vision around nightlife”.
In July of this year, Khan responded by launching a plan to make London a 24 hour city. The plan – created with the Night Time Commission, a body designed to examine the growth of the night time economy – promised to help London “compete with the likes of Berlin, Tokyo, and New York”. It laid out 10 principles such as promoting night time activities other than clubs, and attracting investment and tourism to an industry already worth £26.3bn.
An all-night London is not as farfetched as it sounds – the 2003 Licensing Act has already given local councils the ability to approve 24 hour licenses for venue.
But barely any councils in London have approved those requests. A 2013 review of the licencing act then found that 7,672 such licenses had been granted to venues around the UK. Only 12 per cent of those licenses were to pubs and clubs: 45 per cent of them had been granted to hotel bars, most of which were only open to guests.
And as recently as 2015, Hackney council designated the vibrant area of Dalston as a “Special Policy Area” (despite opposition from 84 per cent of residents) where no new bars or clubs will have late licenses approved, and already existing venues may have to starting closing at midnight on weekends. While Fabric eventually reopened its doors (with far stricter door protocol), local cuts, increasing disapproval from local councils and rising rents might stifle Khan’s vision of a 24 hour city.
The introduction of the Night Tube at weekends was definitely a step in the right direction: it meant fewer nights out in central London finished at 11.30pm, as people rushed to get the last tube home. But as is increasingly obvious, there might not be much point in having a 24 hour tube if there’s nowhere open after 2am.
Khan and the Night Time Commission are obviously hoping that London will soon be able to stay up all night – but what would it look like in practice? In a feature with Resident Advisor in 2016, Alan Miller, who set up the groundbreaking Night Time Industries Association, pointed out that much of the conversation in Britain treats the night time economy as negative. He contrasted this with the way it’s discussed in other cultural capitals around the world, as “a benefit with revenue, employment and culture”.
In Amsterdam, night life venues are given 24-hour licenses to enable them to be restaurants, installation spaces and cafes by day. Such spaces are treated like a valuable commodity, as opposed to a strain on the city’s resources. In Berlin, clubs stay open for the whole weekend and licensing laws let you have a meal whenever you want, leading people to bring backpacks of clothes, a toothbrush and phone chargers on their nights out: many start with a beer at 6 pm and stay out all night, often for days at a time.
In London, venues like the Bussey Building / CLF Art Cafe could play a similar role – but these aren’t treated with the same value as their counterparts in other European cities, instead seen as a place for young people to indulge in hedonism and then leave.
But there are a whole host of practical reasons why 24 hour licensing might be a blessing. It might even make life easier for local police if there are staggered closing times for your local: part of the reason why the 2003 Licensing Act was introduced was in order to minimise public disruption, as drunk patrons all left pubs around the ripe old hour of 11pm.
More late licences might also mean an end to those days of wandering from a nice quiet pub down the high street until you find a bar that’s open later (generally one with a light up dance floor, a DJ spinning Katy Perry so loud you can’t hear, and a half an hour wait to get a pint).
Restaurants around London could benefit too; late night refreshment comes under the late license policy. Alan Miller pointed out in an article with Eater London that other cities around the world enable kitchens to stay open as late as 4 am.
Given the current state of London’s night time food, it’s almost painful to picture the possibilities if restaurants could stay open later – like good greasy pizza slices after you’ve had your last pint, or even vegan and vegetarian options that don’t amount to paying £4 for a pile of greasy chips because that’s all most places seem to have after a night out.
It could also mean that cultural events such as museum lates run by the Tate, which have seen a great uptick in interest, could run more frequently and for longer, making it possible to leave work or university, head to a Late with a friend, grab some food and then head out to go clubbing or grab a drink, without worrying about pubs closing or missing last entry.
Currently, Late events of that sort tend to run for a couple of hours after the normal working day, to stay within their local council’s late license regulations. July’s Art Night, run across different art spaces throughout one day and night this past July, was a successful example, and could be replicated across the city in the future.
As shown by the furore over Fabric’s license, local police and regulators are often quick to pin the blame of individual instances onto the nightlife scene as a whole – the local police even had an undercover operation, known as Lenor, a reference to the fabric softener, which they used evidence from to argue that the club should be shut down. When the Act was enacted in 2005, many thought it would lead to increases in binge drinking, crime and disorderly behaviour – Miller pointed out that many of those feared outcomes actually didn’t happen.
This kind of overhaul is going to take more than just police forces, local councils and businesses learning to work together. There’s going to have to be a cultural shift too. “We have to break this late-night taboo that we have in London,” Dalston club owner Dan Beaumont told Resident Advisor. “We have to learn how to be permissive, because I think we’ve forgotten how to do it. And these cultural reserves are going to dry up if we don’t invest in them.” |
High street agent declare themselves open to bitcoin | UK property firm Property Plus will allow agency fees and deposits to be made in bitcoins along with standard fiat currency. Rent will still be collected in pound sterling. Co-living specialist developer, The Collective, has also said it will accept the cryptocurrency for deposits, and plans to make rents payable in bitcoin from later in 2017. | http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/another-agent-gets-set-to-offer-bitcoin-payments/ | 2017-09-11 14:07:16.957000 | Post navigation
A high street lettings agent is the latest to be converted to Bitcoins.
David Allen, of Worcestershire-based Property Plus, said he would allow agency fees and deposits to be paid in Bitcoins, as well as sterling.
Rent will still need to be paid in pounds.
He said: “I would not expect a great demand to start with but I would encourage as many businesses as possible to get involved with the currency because I like the idea of ‘sound money’ and don’t like this debt based system that we currently have.”
London developer The Collective said it would start accepting Bitcoin for deposits this week and rents later this year.
Bitcoin is a decentralised virtual currency or cryptocurrency that has emerged in recent years. They are created or “mined” using a complicated code devised by mysterious founder Satoshi Nakomoto.
Proponents of the currency argue it is safer than traditional or fiat money as it can’t be interfered with by Governments or banks. Transactions are instant, don’t require a payment system such as VISA or MasterCard and can be tracked using each coin’s unique code on a central ledger known as the blockchain.
It works based on supply and demand but can be extremely volatile and subject to wild swings if regulators restrict its use or a platform fails. It has been particularly popular in China when limits have been placed on how much local currency can leave the country. |
NHS seeking to digitise patient access to its services | UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce plans for granting NHS patients digital access to their medical records, as well as enabling the booking of GP appointments via an app, by the end of next year. Hunt plans to roll out an integrated app that will facilitate repeat prescription requests and access to non-emergency line NHS 111. The scheme has already been piloted as part of the £4.2bn budget for personalised health. | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/11/jeremy-hunt-to-unveil-plans-for-digital-led-nhs-treatment-by-2018 | 2017-09-11 13:42:39.990000 | Jeremy Hunt is to pledge that every patient in England should be able to access their medical records and book an appointment with a GP via an app by the end of 2018.
The health secretary will use his speech at an NHS conference on Tuesday to promise the national rollout of an integrated app, which patients will also be able to use for ordering repeat prescriptions and accessing NHS 111 – the non-emergency medical helpline.
Speaking at the Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester, he is expected to unveil the key expectations he wants to see rolled out across the NHS by the end of its 70th birthday year in 2018.
Hunt will also refer to the next 10 years as “the decade of patient power”.
He is expected to say: “People should be able to access their own medical records 24/7, show their full medical history to anyone they choose and book basic services like GP appointments or repeat prescriptions online.
“I do not underestimate the challenge of getting there – but if we do it will be the best possible 70th birthday present from the NHS to its patients.”
Pilot schemes, which are a part of the £4.2bn personalised health and care 2020 programme announced by the health secretary last year, are already under way.
In south-east London, patients can access NHS 111, book GP appointments, order repeat prescriptions and receive online consultations with their GP all via a smartphone.
Evaluation of the pilots is ongoing and, if they are successful, there will be a national rollout of the programmes in the coming months.
There has also been success with online trials supporting those with long-term conditions – such as the app MyCOPD, which is intended to help patients manage their condition independently and give them more freedom and less reliance on GP and hospital appointments. The ambition is that this level of digitally led treatment should be available universally.
Imelda Redmond, national director of Healthwatch England, welcomed the plans, saying the vision “directly addresses” what the public wants from a modern NHS.
She added: “It is a huge step forward in ensuring all of us get the sort of integrated service we have come to expect in many other areas of life.” |
The solar industry shows off its high-performance products | Solar Power International 2017 in Las Vegas has showcased a significant number of businesses in the solar industry that offer cutting-edge technology. The world's largest manufacturer of monocrystalline solar cells and modules, LONGi Solar, has shown off its 300 W+ solar module series, which will enable solar systems to provide electricity generation at a competitive cost. In addition, Solaria launched its PowerVision-150, which enables building owners to turn a physical structure into an electricity-generating asset.
| https://www.pv-tech.org/news/spi-2017-solar-modules-pushing-the-bar-on-performance | 2017-09-11 13:27:24.253000 | LONGi Solar’s all mono 3.0 era modules provides mainstream benchmark
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Solar, and the world’s largest manufacturer of monocrystalline solar cells & modules, will introduce its 300W+ solar module series, based on 60-cell standard modules with over 300W nominal power and 72-cell modules exceeding 360W at Solar Power International. This marks the entry into the PV 3.0 era, which is based on solar modules with nominal power ratings above 300W that are becoming available in large quantities this year, as the pioneers in production of high efficiency, high quality solar cells, such as mono PERC, are reaching GW-size production levels. “PV 3.0 means that we are entering a phase that enables solar investors to use high efficiency, high quality and high energy yield crystalline modules of over 300 W nominal power for their solar installations,” said Mr. Zhengguo Li, President and Founder of LONGi Group. The PV 3.0 era follows on PV 2.0 and PV 1.0, which in simple terms are defined as periods when modules had power ratings between 100 W and 300 W (PV 2.0), and solar panel power was below 100 W (PV 1.0). The nominal power rating has been the key differentiator of solar modules since their introduction in the 1950s – and that’s what module customers pay for. High efficiency, high quality and high energy yield solar modules with power ratings above 300W will enable sustainable solar system designs that provide competitive levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) generation. These technologies are not limited to the monofacial P-type PERC cells (Hi-MO1), but also the innovative bifacial P-type PERC in the form of its Hi-MO2 modules.
Hanwha Q CELLS launches Q.PEAK DUO with half-cut PERC cell technology
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS, and the largest producer of PERC cell technology has saved a world premiere for SPI attendees with the launch of its Q.PEAK DUO module series, which combines half-cut cell technology, six-bus-bars and the company’s proprietary ‘Q.ANTUM’ PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) technology. As a result, the monocrystalline modules reach efficiencies of close to 20% and power outputs of up to 330Wp from 120 half-cells and up to 395Wp from 144 half-cells. “Hanwha Q CELLS will be setting another benchmark in terms of high-end performance and reliability of crystalline solar modules under real-life conditions”, said Seong Woo Nam, Chairman and CEO of Hanwha Q CELLS. “US customers and investors are looking for the highest possible yields and reliability from a bankable partner.”
Lumeta Solar touts lowest installed cost hi-performance modules
California-based PV module manufacturer Lumeta Solar LLC is launching its ‘Lumeta Lynx’ line of solar modules that eliminate racking resulting in faster installation, zero roof penetrations, and improved aesthetics at SPI this year. The low-profile, black-on-black, frameless monocrystalline modules adhere directly to the roof, dramatically reducing module installation time on tile, shingle, and commercial roofs. “Lumeta Lynx offers the lowest installed cost and is more attractive than traditional rack-mounted solar modules,” said CEO and founder Timothy Davey. “Our product grew from customer demands for solar without roof penetrations, and has been redesigned to meet the needs of residential and commercial solar professionals.” The Lumeta Lynx 60 is a high-peformance 300W 18.1% efficient module that is designed for both tile roofs, where it is installed using inserts that create a level surface, and composition shingle roofs. The Lumeta Lynx 72 is a 360W 18.3% efficient module designed for installation on almost all commercial roof systems. Lumeta Lynx will begin shipping to select partners in Q4 2017 and be available throughout the United States in Q1 2018. The Lumeta Lynx module series is said to weigh less than half of glass-fronted modules with racking, and their construction uses Dupont's ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) that replaces the glass front sheet and enables heat dissipation and a FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) semi-rigid back sheet protects the cells.
CertainTeed Solar highlighting 60 and 72-cell solar modules with max 365W
CertainTeed Solar has several upgraded products and an enhanced installer programs being showcased at SPI. The company is highlighting its US Series 60 and 72-cell solar modules, which have a maximum power output of 305W, while 72 cell modules reach up to 365W.
All US Series modules are American-made using domestic and foreign components, and rank among the most efficient solar modules manufactured in the United States. The modules are available individually or as part of CertainTeed's Solstice system, which includes the components necessary for rooftop installation.
Mission Solar Energy has eyes on AC and heterojunction modules
Mission Solar Energy is displaying three new products at SPI, including AC and heterojunction (HJ) modules. The heterojunction and AC technologies are anticipated to attract attention for their higher panel power, increased lifetimes, and more stringent fire ratings.
“Our line of AC and heterojunction modules feature the very best of solar technology. We are gauging customer interest in these products, and based on market response, mass-production could begin as early as Q1 2018,” said Jae Yang, President of Mission Solar Energy. In the 72-cell format, Mission Solar’s MSE HJT 72 Elite series module featuring Heterojunction technology produces 460W of power with a bifacial boost. The Elite consists of strong dual glass construction, not only durable but also aesthetically pleasing. This module has the ability to withstand high wind load, has a Class A fire rating, and a low thermal co-efficient. The MSE PERC 60 AC module has an integrated micro inverter, which shortens installation time, simplifies inventory management, and maximizes system production in shady conditions.
Panel-level performance monitoring is another key advantage of the PERC AC. This module is tested and certified against a >210mph wind load, making it ideal for all locations.
Solaria launches ‘PowerVision’-150 to transform building structures
Solaria Corporation is introducing its ‘PowerVision’-150 product to the electrical and solar distributor markets, which is said to be endorsed by leading glass and fabrication companies including Pilkington, AGC, and Walters & Wolf. “By reimagining commercial and residential building structures, Solaria has devised its PowerVision glass in inventive new ways so that nearly every aspect of a building envelope —beyond the rooftop— can generate electricity,” said Nick Bagatelos, President of Bagatelos Architectural Glass Systems, Inc. “PowerVision builds on the success of PowerXT to enable building owners and developers to turn skylights, windows and building facades into electricity-generating assets.” Solaria’s unique solar cell process technology has allowed the company to develop vision glass that can be used in locations not typically associated with solar panels; these include skylights, patios, and window openings, providing a see-through surface that generates electricity.
JinkoSolar brings half-cut cell and bifacial technology to US |
Chubb, App in the Air lead partnership on flight delay product | Global insurance company Chubb has teamed up with App in the Air, Swiss Re and FlightStats to launch Flight Delay Insurance, which aims to deliver swift compensation to App in the Air users for cancelled, diverted or delayed flights and additional costs incurred. The product proposes to pay out ahead of rival policies, as claims are validated in real time using FlightStats' data with no need to provide proof of the incident, and paid directly to customers' bank or PayPal account. Flight Delay Insurance can also be applied to flights outside the European Union.
| http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/chubb-and-app-in-the-air-launch-fully-automated-and-real-time-flight-delay-insurance-in-partnership-643209183.html | 2017-09-11 13:22:29.353000 | LONDON, Sept. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb and App in the Air today announced the launch of Flight Delay Insurance, an innovative new insurance cover for airline travellers. Underwritten by Chubb European Group in partnership with Swiss Re and FlightStats, the proposition will be offered to UK App in the Air users through their personal travel assistant app.
Flight Delay Insurance covers the additional costs and inconvenience travellers may face when their flight is cancelled, diverted or delayed and will pay out sooner than they might typically expect to receive compensation from their airline carrier. For example, under current EU legislation, passengers travelling from within the EU must be delayed by at least three hours before they are eligible for any compensation and this only applies if you are travelling with an EU-based carrier. Flight Delay Insurance will pay out sooner, applies to flights outside the EU, and is intended to cover unexpected costs incurred, for example a taxi, fees for a lounge, snacks, meals, refreshments, books, magazines, or any other expenses.
App in the Air users will be offered Flight Delay Insurance for each eligible flight shown on their itinerary. Customers receive £100 compensation if they are delayed by more than an hour and in some instances as little as 30 or 45 minutes. Flight cancellations and diversions automatically trigger £100 payment.
Claims are validated in real time using data from FlightStats, a leading provider of real-time global flight data to consumers and the travel industry, and paid directly into the customer's PayPal or bank account, or credited to their debit or credit card, typically within an hour, but at the latest within 72 hours of arriving at their destination.
Commenting on the launch, Alex Blake, Senior Vice-President and Global Head of Travel Insurance at Chubb, said:
"This exciting new proposition, launched in partnership with Swiss Re, FlightStats and App in the Air, marks an important step in our strategy to develop new and innovative ways to reach more customers with very tailored and relevant insurance offers. It also addresses a previously unmet customer need, having been designed specifically to pay out when they may not otherwise be eligible for compensation from their airline carrier.
"Being able to assess claims automatically in real time, without any action on the side of the customer - such as obtaining proof of the incident - and then pay the claim directly to their PayPal or nominated bank account, debit or credit card, we think will be an appealing feature and provide the level of service we all now expect in our ever-increasing online, digital lives."
Bayram Annakov, CEO of App in the Air said:
"Working in conjunction with Chubb and Swiss Re has enabled us to develop a proposition that addresses a real and increasing customer need. This is exactly the kind of positive experience we want to provide to App in the Air users."
About Chubb
Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: chubb.com/uk
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160121/324916LOGO
Related Links
http://www.acegroup.com/eu-en
SOURCE Chubb |
QuantHouse platform seeks to boost open API use by quants | Trading systems firm QuantHouse is trying to stimulate fintech usage in the quant trading industry with a push to increase adoption of open application programming interfaces (APIs), the mechanisms that allow various platforms and other digital services to integrate with each other. Its QuantHouse qh API Ecosystem is being touted as an answer to streamlining fintech adoption and use. "In the same way that other companies have successfully connected human traders in the 1990s through instant messaging systems, we are bringing together the next generation of automated quant traders through APIs," said chief revenue officer Stephane Leroy.
| https://www.thetradenews.com/Technology/QuantHouse-launches-API-initiative/?elqTrackId=3a78e8d0b2a24f49ac7e82cdab153d6d&elq=28974e91e413459dbc2ce708c5d08764&elqaid=2193&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=1772 | 2017-09-11 11:59:53.937000 | Trading systems provider QuantHouse has launched an initiative to improve industry uptake of open API systems to add value to the trading process.
The ‘qh API Ecosystem’, launched today, is designed to accelerate adoption of multi-asset class API solutions. The initiative wants to assist fintech providers to turn their software and hardware products into global, on-demand solutions via open APIs (application programming interface).
QuantHouse said current industry models with per-customer implementation are slow, costly and place a significant burden on firms. With an API, vendors can deploy their products to clients rapidly through the Internet.
Stephane Leroy, co-founder and chief revenue officer at QuantHouse, said: “The concept of the QuantHouse API Ecosystem is simple; in the same way that other companies have successfully connected human traders in the 90’s through instant messaging systems, we are bringing together the next generation of automated quant traders through API’s. Providers of API based innovative solutions will benefit from enhanced business opportunities through our established global community of clients and prospects.”
The API Ecosystem currently features over 500 market participants and hopes to enable them to gain access to multiple trading venues, technologies and applications and reduce the time to market for new services. |
Majority of US adults use VPNs | Some 65% of working adults in the US have used corporate or personal virtual private networks (VPNs), according to a report from Wombat Security. In the UK, 44% had used a VPN and 33% did not know what a VPN was at all. In contrast, just 16% of US respondents were unaware of what a VPN was. The disparity between UK and US usage of VPNs could be because a higher proportion (71%) of US respondents use a personal device to work from home; among UK respondents, the figure was just 39%.
| https://www.vpncompare.co.uk/british-and-american-vpn-use-on-the-rise/ | 2017-09-11 11:58:49.893000 | Anyone who has used or taken a look at VyrVPN…
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