title
stringlengths 4
205
| summary
stringlengths 102
4.94k
| url
stringlengths 41
634
| date
stringlengths 19
26
⌀ | article_content
stringlengths 10
100k
⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Poundland used jobless for unpaid work through government scheme
|
Poundland, the UK discount store, has been accused of employing unpaid jobseekers for up to two months under the government’s Jobcentre Plus initiative. The scheme was designed to provide work experience, but participants told The Guardian that they spent up to 30 hours a week stacking shelves. All participants interviewed by the paper claimed they had been told they needed to complete work experience by a jobcentre “work coach”. In 2013, graduate Cait Reilly won a case against the government arguing that it was unlawful to force her to work without pay at Poundland in order to claim jobseeker’s allowance.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/aug/30/poundland-work-free-government-scheme-dwp
|
2017-08-30 11:13:29.033000
|
Poundland has been criticised for employing jobseekers, without pay, for up to two months under a deal with the government.
Several of those who have worked on the scheme told the Guardian they had worked up to 30 hours a week for at least three weeks stacking shelves in Poundland. They were told that the work experience was voluntary but one said: “I had no say in it really.”
It’s not clear how many jobseekers have been used by Poundland under the scheme as the government said it did not collect information centrally and the work experience was managed locally by jobcentres across the country. However, one store in Bolton has taken on 21 placements since last August, according to information provided in response to a freedom of information request by the Boycott Workfare pressure group.
“Considering it is supposed to be work experience you’d think they would teach you how to work the till. But we have just been stacking shelves all day,” one person on the scheme told the Guardian.
More than one work experience participant in Bolton said that their local jobcentre had provided a bus pass to cover travel expenses and suitable clothing – of black trousers and a polo shirt. Poundland paid no wages and made no other contribution. Participants said they were not provided with any paperwork to record the time they had spent in a store.
All the participants contacted by the Guardian said they had been told they needed to do work experience by a “work coach” at their local jobcentre. The coach selected Poundland from a list of potential employers.
Poundland said it had signed a deal in January with the Department for Work and Pensions, which oversees the Jobcentre Plus work experience programme, to take jobseekers on work experience on condition that this was voluntary and not part of any benefit assessment.
It said the programme was designed to “help provide a taste of the world of work” largely for 18- to 24-year-olds with placements lasting between two and eight weeks and for between 25 to 30 hours a week. Those taking part continue to receive their benefits and store managers had been explicitly briefed that volunteers could not replace any paid employment.
“This is not work experience, this is work – and Poundland should pay for it,” said Tanya de Grunwald of the Graduate Fog website, which first revealed the existence of the Poundland work experience scheme.
A spokesman for the retailer said Poundland did not participate in work programmes such as workfare that could lead to benefits being withheld from participants. It said a number of work experience workers had been given a permanent job, but could not say exactly how many.
In 2013, the chain was at the centre of a legal action against the government by Cait Reilly, a geology graduate, who won a case arguing that it was unlawful to force her to work for free at the budget chain as a condition of her claiming jobseeker’s allowance.
A spokesman for Poundland said: “We’re sorry some of the people you spoke to felt their time with us wasn’t worthwhile. Our stores try hard to make it a positive experience and we know it has been for many. We’re always open to being told directly how to make it better.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “It’s important that all opportunities – including those in the retail sector – are made available to jobseekers to help them move towards permanent work. Work experience is entirely voluntary and gives people the chance to increase their skills and gain vital on-the-job experience, something that businesses really value.”
It said that, ideally, claimants should complete only one work experience opportunity, although it is not clear whether this happens in practice.
|
Bahrain refinery uses GE system to desalinate sea water
|
In order to reduce the amount of water used in the production of oil, and to reduce the need to deliver water to the facility, Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has adopted GE's mobile water solutions. Bapco had previously delivered fresh water using tanker trucks as its in-house distillate water production was too slow. GE’s mobile water technology produces 136 m3/h of water for the facility, allowing "Bapco to desalinate the water on-site and immediately use it for oil refining”, according to Kevin Cassidy, global leader of engineered systems at GE Water & Process Technologies.
|
https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/30082017/bapco-refinery-uses-ges-mobile-water-solutions/
|
2017-08-30 11:08:18.613000
|
To save as much water as possible in the production of oil and eliminate the need to deliver water via tanker truck, the Bahrain Petroleum Company B.S.C. (Bapco) is using GE's advanced mobile water technology to convert seawater into usable, highly pure source water at the Awali refinery.
Bapco refines more than 260 000 bpd of crude oil, which is then exported throughout the Middle East, India, the Far East, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Using GE Water & Process Technologies’ mobile water technology gives Bapco a cost-effective solution for on-site desalination.
Yousif Ahmed, Acting Manager, Power and Utilities, Bapco, said: “GE’s mobile water solutions enabled Bapco to convert seawater into high-purity boiler feedwater for refinery use […] Availing mobile water solutions ensure a continual water supply instead of relying on tank truck deliveries.”
Previously, the limited in-house distillate water production from the desalination units prompted Bapco to import water using tank trucks to fill up the shortage. This mode of delivery would cause gridlock on refinery roads, and there were associated risks involved in having unusual numbers of tankers inside the refinery operating area.
GE Water & Process Technologies provided a turnkey operations and maintenance solution for this project, with a total of 13 mobile water units including six mobile seawater multimedia filter containers, five mobile seawater reverse osmosis containers, two mobile brackish water reverse osmosis containers and four diesel-operated electrical generators. GE also supplied all mobile pumping skids, tanks and interconnecting piping and cabling. The mobile water fleet started its operation in May 2017 and will continue to produce Bapco’s desalinated water requirements for one year.
Kevin Cassidy, Global Leader, Engineered Systems — GE Water & Process Technologies, said: “For the Bapco refinery, GE’s mobile water technology produces 136 m3/h of water, which meets the refinery’s high-quality standards […] Our mobile solutions allow Bapco to desalinate the water on-site and immediately use it for oil refining.”
|
USA Today tests personalised design based on user habits
|
USA Today is introducing more personalised web pages, which give users different content depending on the frequency of their visits, location and viewing habits. The new layout has been launched on its mobile web services, and is being rolled out over the next six months across all its desktop and mobile platforms, including its local newspaper affiliates. In trials earlier this year, the new design, created using Google's Javascript library Polymer, led to increased visit durations, with an average of 45 seconds per article, compared to 25 seconds on the previous layout.
|
https://digiday.com/media/usa-todays-facebook-like-mobile-site-increased-time-spent-per-article-75-percent/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=daily&utm_content=170830
|
2017-08-30 11:04:13.667000
|
The USA Today Network is taking a page out of Facebook’s playbook by reformatting its digital properties to give users more personalized webpages.
Since April, USA Today has tested a personalized design on its mobile website that serves users different content depending on whether they regularly visit the site or not, landed on an article organically or via search, their location and their viewing habits. Last week, all of USA Today’s mobile web users received the new layout after it was initially only available to 25 percent of users.
Users who got the new site design spent about 45 seconds on each article they read, while users with a traditional design spent about 25 seconds on each article, said Jason Jedlinski, USA Today Network’s head of digital product. Users with the new design were also more likely to scroll completely through an article, which led them to click through its internal circulation widget at the bottom of its articles about 5 percent more often than users with the old design, according to the publisher. USA Today wouldn’t provide raw numbers and said it doesn’t track visit duration.
As people continue to flock to social media for their news and information, USA Today wanted to adopt what works on social platforms by serving content in a way that is “sort of tailored and gets smarter the more you interact with it,” Jedlinski said.
USA Today’s attempt to boost engagement through personalized webpages comes at a time when social platforms are taking up people’s attention. Users spend more than 35 minutes per day on both Facebook and YouTube, according to influencer agency Mediakix. Meanwhile, most publishers are happy when users spend five or six minutes in their app per day.
Session length is also becoming increasingly important for publishers as high time spent on-site has become associated with premium offerings. To keep users glued to their properties, publishers are experimenting with various tactics. Bleacher Report got people to spend more than five minutes per day in its app by introducing a tab for Vine-like video loops. The Outline increased time spent per session by 30 percent by embedding 3-D objects into articles. Forbes increased its average session length by nearly 40 percent by redesigning its mobile site to include Snapchat-like cards.
One example of how USA Today’s new webpages work is that users who rarely visit the site and are referred to it from search have their homepage organized by trending topics like North Korea’s missile test and Hurricane Harvey, while users who regularly visit the site receive a more traditional layout organized around topics like news, sports and money. Another example: A user who regularly reads articles about the same sports team will see articles about that particular team on the homepage more often.
The new layout was created using the open-source JavaScript library Polymer, which was built by Google developers. Polymer allowed USA Today’s tech team to code elements of its webpages as separate components so that they can be reconfigured on the fly in endless combinations to suit a specific user’s tastes. For about 90 days, a team of 10 developers and engineers spent 60-80 percent of their time working on the launch of this product, Jedlinski said. That same team then spent another four months testing and monitoring the product’s features.
In the next six months, the company plans to roll out the product to all users across desktop and mobile for not just USA Today but also its local newspaper affiliates like the Detroit Free Press and The Des Moines Register.
“Our goal is really to build a foundation for experimentation and for an adaptive experience that isn’t one-size-fits-all,” Jedlinski said.
|
Financial institutions' de-risking puts 700 million at risk
|
Financial institutions’ de-risking to reduce risk of exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing is depriving market segments and even countries of financial services, including remittances, which around 700 million people rely on globally as a source of income to provide food, healthcare, housing and education. A total 46% of remittance firms have received notifications from their banks about the closure of their accounts since the Financial Action Task Force's introduction of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws in 2010, a World Bank study found.
|
http://www.brinknews.com/de-risking-phenomenon-puts-700-million-globally-at-risk/?utm_source=BRINK+Subscribers&utm_campaign=d0a5e4362a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c3639d7c98-d0a5e4362a-110036825
|
2017-08-30 10:50:31.837000
|
Photo: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images
The current era of political unrest and uncertainty, coupled with the rise of terror and cyberattacks, means that financial institutions have had to adhere to increasingly strict policies to minimize their risk of being involved in money laundering or funding terrorism.
The regulations and legislation in place work to prevent the cross-border flow of money to criminal groups, creating a more secure financial sector. However, the consequence of these policies can have a far-reaching costly effect on people in poor countries and has given rise to an inadvertent practice known as “de-risking.”
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental policymaking organization aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing, defines de-risking as “the phenomenon of financial institutions terminating or restricting business relationships with clients or categories of clients to avoid, rather than manage, risk in line with the FATF’s risk-based approach.”
Since 2008, banks and businesses working within the finance sector have been required to use a risk-based approach to financial crime; we should be vigilant at identifying and assessing the risks that we are presented with and then developing ways to manage them.
De-risking is the act of removing banking services from customers who are deemed “high risk” under the Anti-Money laundering (AML) and Terrorist Financing (TF) legislation. Since these policies were introduced, an increasing number of money transfer operators (MTOs), also known as remittance firms, have closed.
A World Bank study, undertaken at the request of the G20, in 2015 on the de-risking issue noted that “[t]he number of accounts being closed appears to be increasing; both MTOs and banks report an increased trend of closed and/or restricted number of accounts between 2010 and 2014; 46 percent of MTO respondents have received notifications from their banks about the upcoming closure of their accounts.”
A 2016 Dow Jones survey of 812 financial services found that 40 percent of the respondents acknowledged that their companies were de-risking, having closed down a full business line or segment in the past year due to regulatory risk. Another third of the respondents said they were planning or investigating exiting a business line or segment within the next year. “The main reasons for leaving involve [that] the organization is no longer willing to assume the segment risk and the cost of compliance making the segment unprofitable,” the survey says.
The FATF notes that the de-risking issue is a complex one, driven by factors such as “profitability; reputational risk; lower risk appetites of banks; and regulatory burdens related to the implementation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) requirements, the increasing number of sanctions regimes, and regulatory requirements in [the] financial sector.”
The UK government’s Anti-Money Laundering Action Plan acknowledges that the total cost of financial core compliance is 5 billion pounds ($5.86 billion) a year.
De-risking isn’t just affecting small firms. A growing trend has been noticed whereby large global banks are not only limiting, but terminating their relationships with correspondent banks. Between 2014 and 2015, 50 percent of local banks reported a decline in correspondent banking relationships, and 75 percent of international banks admitted that they were scaling back their banking operations. The new conservative approach has seen not only firms, but entire market segments and countries being deprived of financial services; rather than judging each client or case on its individual merit, a broad approach is being taken.
“De-risking that leads to the loss of correspondent banking services is bad news for all of us. It could: undermine financial system resilience; hinder competition; create obstacles to trade; cause financial exclusion; and promote underground financial channels which will be misused by criminals or terrorists,” said FATF Executive Secretary Mr. David Lewis.
Vulnerable Individuals
While it’s easy to understand why de-risking is being largely executed, it’s also just as easy to forget that there are segments of a global society that will directly experience the negative impact of the strategy.
In its study of the de-risking issue, the World Bank said: “Remittances contribute to sustaining the welfare of about 700 million people globally and they often represent the only source of income to provide food, healthcare, housing, and education to migrants’ families.”
My previous article touched on the enormous figure of remittances sent home by migrants, what the number meant with regards to GDP, and the difference between living and surviving.
Those living in post-disaster situations and relying on humanitarian assistance from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and charities are also being affected. NGOs and charities have reported that they, too, have experienced difficulties in being able to provide financial assistance due to de-risking efforts that resulted in their accounts being closed, because it has been deemed that they fall outside of the firm’s increasingly narrow risk appetite. Fourteen percent of respondents in the Dow Jones survey said they were considering exiting their business relationships with NGOs and charities.
SMEs in Small or Developing Countries
Firms in small and developing nations rely on their local banks having connections with international financial institutions to supply them with credit to drive their businesses forward.
These institutions are withdrawing services from local banks in such countries; it’s been previously reported that Caribbean countries have been severely affected by de-risking. These small nations and their industries, such as tourism and agriculture, are export-orientated and rely on correspondent services to serve as channels for revenue generated in other countries, as international money transfers also contribute to the payments these businesses receive—a decline would in turn lead to increased borrowing. However, the Central Bank of Barbados reported that their accounts had been closed by banks in the EU, United States and Canada; Belize and Jamaica have also reported similar circumstances.
As a result of these account terminations, local firms are unable to pay for services or invest in foreign projects, severely hindering economic development.
Law Enforcement
In my previous article, I also touched on the fact that a vast amount of remittance is being sent through unofficial channels, and that it is hard to provide the accurate amount that is sent each year. De-risking is only adding to the problem.
MTOs are being forced to use less transparent methods and avenues, such as bulk exchanges—this threatens economic stability. “This is a serious concern … to the extent that de-risking may drive financial transactions into less/non-regulated channels, reducing transparency of financial flows and creating financial exclusion, thereby increasing exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks,” according to the FATF.
The financial industry must pay closer attention to methods of expanding the use of digital technology such as blockchain, the secure public ledgers that distribute funds in a decentralized way almost instantly, provide transparency and are low cost. These ledgers store sender details securely and have built-in facilities for smart contracts and fundraising for businesses.
Strengthening the risk-based approach with technology, coupled with increased sharing of information, would enable financial businesses and banks to facilitate low-cost and more secure customer identification and due diligence checks.
“We believe a solution to this issue requires dialogue between countries, regulators and banks, and increased information exchange. This can help clarify regulatory expectations, build trust, facilitate capacity building and highlight best practices,” said Mr. Tao Zhang, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF notes that some banks are setting the pace for tackling the de-risking issue:
Standard Chartered, a UK bank with a large presence in Asia, established a correspondent banking training program to help its clients, local banks, and the clients’ clients comply with anti-money-laundering and terrorism financing rules. The program is active in 23 countries. Mexico, a major emerging market economy also affected by the loss of correspondent banking relations, has been active on several fronts. In some countries, privacy laws forbid subsidiaries of the same global bank to exchange information about clients’ risk profiles. So Mexico amended its legal framework to facilitate this cross-border information sharing. It also established a domestic U.S. dollar payment system and uses the central bank’s correspondent banking relations to facilitate transfers.
Clear risk rewards are needed, along with a focus on developing innovative solutions that ensure firms are compliant and that individuals in need of financial support, in whichever capacity that may be, are provided with it.
|
Researchers create renewable catalyst from palladium and bacteria
|
Scientists in Illinois have developed a renewable fuels catalyst made from the metal palladium and common bacteria. The materials can be recovered from waste sources such as discarded electronics, catalytic converters and processed sewerage, and in tests the catalyst was used to refine bio-oil made from algae. The new method uses the bacteria as a 'biologic scaffolding' for the palladium catalyst in place of commercially-produced carbon particles, which are more expensive. The findings open the possibility of a cheaper and more sustainable process for refining renewable and other fuels.
|
http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2017/08/29/university-of-illinois-researchers-look-at-biofuel-processing-catalyst-made-from-palladium-metal-and-bacteria/
|
2017-08-30 10:03:40.007000
|
In Illinois, fuels that are produced from nonpetroleum-based biological sources may become greener and more affordable, thanks to research performed at the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute that examines the use of a processing catalyst made from palladium metal and bacteria. Published in the journal Fuel, their findings point to a cheaper, more environmentally friendly and renewable catalyst for processing that uses common bacteria and the metal palladium, which can be recovered from waste sources such as discarded electronics, catalytic converters, street sweeper dust and processed sewage.
The bio-oil produced in the lab from algae contains impurities like nitrogen and oxygen, but treating it with palladium as a catalyst during processing helps remove those impurities to meet clean-air requirements, Sharma said.
For the palladium to do its job, the bio-oil needs to flow past it during processing. Previous studies have shown that allowing the oil flow through porous carbon particles infused with palladium is an effective method, but those carbon particles are not cheap
|
Researchers create renewable catalyst from palladium and bacteria
|
Scientists in Illinois have developed a renewable fuels catalyst made from the metal palladium and common bacteria. The materials can be recovered from waste sources such as discarded electronics, catalytic converters and processed sewerage, and in tests the catalyst was used to refine bio-oil made from algae. The new method uses the bacteria as a 'biologic scaffolding' for the palladium catalyst in place of commercially-produced carbon particles, which are more expensive. The findings open the possibility of a cheaper and more sustainable process for refining renewable and other fuels.
|
https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/547759
|
2017-08-30 10:03:40.007000
|
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Fuels that are produced from nonpetroleum-based biological sources may become greener and more affordable, thanks to research performed at the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute that examines the use of a processing catalyst made from palladium metal and bacteria.
Biofuels are made from renewable materials such as plants or algae, and offer an alternative to petroleum-based sources. However, many biofuels are costly to produce because the precursor product, bio-oil, must be processed before it is sent to the refinery to be turned into liquid fuel. Illinois Sustainability Technology Center researcher B.K. Sharma and his co-authors have identified and tested a new processing method.
“Bio-oil forms from the same chemical reaction that forms petroleum,” Sharma said. “But what takes millions of years naturally in the ground takes only minutes in the lab using a process that is very similar to pressure cooking.”
Published in the journal Fuel, their findings point to a cheaper, more environmentally friendly and renewable catalyst for processing that uses common bacteria and the metal palladium, which can be recovered from waste sources such as discarded electronics, catalytic converters, street sweeper dust and processed sewage.
The bio-oil produced in the lab from algae contains impurities like nitrogen and oxygen, but treating it with palladium as a catalyst during processing helps remove those impurities to meet clean-air requirements, Sharma said.
For the palladium to do its job, the bio-oil needs to flow past it during processing. Previous studies have shown that allowing the oil flow through porous carbon particles infused with palladium is an effective method, but those carbon particles are not cheap, Sharma said.
“Instead of using commercially produced carbon particles, we can use bacteria cell masses as a sort of biologic scaffolding for the palladium to hold on to,” Sharma said. “The oil can flow through the palladium-decorated bacteria masses as it does through the carbon particles.”
To test the effectiveness of the new method, Sharma and his co-authors performed a variety of chemical and physical analyses to determine if their new processing treatment produced a liquid fuel that is comparable in quality to one made using the commercially produced catalyst.
“We found our product to be as good or even slightly better,” Sharma said. “We were able to remove the oxygen and nitrogen impurities at a comparable rate, and yielded the same volume of product using our cheaper, greener catalyst as is observed using the more expensive commercial catalyst.”
The more costly commercial catalyst has the added benefit that it can be used over and over without extensive processing, whereas the Sharma group’s palladium-on-bacteria catalyst will need to undergo processing to be reused.
“It is a minor caveat,” Sharma said. “The fact that we have shown the potential of making refinery-ready crude oil from algae bio-oil using a catalyst that can be prepared from low-grade recycled metals and green and economical bacterial biomass proves that this is a very promising advancement. In addition, this bio-catalyst would work equally well in petrochemical processing.”
The work was conducted in collaboration with professors Joe Wood and Lynne Macaskie from the University of Birmingham, funded through the Birmingham-Illinois Partnership for Discovery, Engagement and Education program. The Natural Environment Research Council, UK also supported this research.
|
AI-powered chatbot developed for student satisfaction review
|
An AI-driven chatbot called “Hubert” has been developed by a Stockholm-based start-up that aims to give educators deeper insights into course feedback by starting conversations with students. Hubert uses machine learning to interpret student feedback and offer categorised results to administrators. The aim is to transform traditional teacher-surveys and provide more qualitative feedback without creating extra work for instructors.
|
https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/08/29/ai-chatbot-hubert-talks-to-students-to-collect-course-feedback.aspx?admgarea=news
|
2017-08-30 09:47:27.427000
|
Artificial Intelligence
AI Chatbot Hubert Talks to Students to Collect Course Feedback
A new AI-driven chatbot is looking to give educators deeper insights from course feedback by starting conversations with students.
Hubert uses machine learning to interpret student feedback on courses and instructors, and offer ready-categorized results to administrators, according to information from the Stockholm-based startup company.
Educators can create an account for free to use the chatbot in beta. Once logged in, they will be able to access a dashboard and launch a course evaluation that stays open for seven days. Hubert corresponds with students via e-mail throughout that time. The chatbot is capable of holding conversations with students that surround the following questions:
What could the teacher start doing that would improve the course?
Is there something that should stop because it’s not working well?
What is working well and should continue in the same way?
The core goal of Hubert is to reform traditional teacher-surveys and provide more qualitative feedback on a course without creating extra work for instructors. Each time an evaluation is completed, the instructor is notified and receives a unique evaluation link that can be shared with the student. Hubert sends students in the course automatic reminders and chats, compiling a report for the instructor. They can choose to read every response separately as well by downloading them in a detailed CSV-file.
In the future, Hubert will include more tailored conversations and clarifying questions. There will also be more comprehensive forms of questions.
|
Bitcoin Foundation resists increase in state regulation
|
The Bitcoin Foundation has appointed lawyers to fight attempts at greater regulation of the cryptocurrency by US state and federal authorities. The move comes ahead of the expected introduction of a bill to the US Congress aimed at bringing bitcoin into the scope of American money-laundering enforcement agencies. Increased regulation will stifle the use of virtual currencies and create hurdles to innovation, said Executive Director Llew Claasen. He added that while some regulation could be appropriate in future, it is now 'too early', and that governments must understand the nature of a decentralised currency.
|
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bitcoin-foundation-legal-protection-us-currency-regulation-llew-claasen-cryptocurrency-bitlicence-a7919401.html
|
2017-08-30 09:20:05.727000
|
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
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}
Llew Claasen, Executive Director of The Bitcoin Foundation, has announced that the organisation has retained legal counsel to advise in its effort to fight against increasing federal and state regulation in the US. The foundation believes that increases in regulation are attempts to “control and stifle the adoption and use of so-called ‘virtual currencies’ such as Bitcoin.”
In a press release, Claasen claimed that the organisation’s first priority is to attempt to build a “more open and diverse dialogue with the US Congress”. The effort is a response to the planned introduction of a bill that aims to bring Bitcoin into the scope of US money-laundering enforcement agencies.
Bitcoin is a virtual currency or "cryptocurrency" that was created by an unknown programmer (or group of programmers) under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in October 2008. Unlike traditional forms of currency, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies use encryption techniques to regulate the generation of currency and the transfer of funds. This means that the currency is decentralised – so no single institution controls the Bitcoin network. At the time of writing, one Bitcoin is approximately worth £3,365.27.
Recommended Bitcoin surges up as it targets people without internet access
Because of encryption, the use of Bitcoin can remain anonymous. Though receipts of transactions are stored in "blockchains", users of the currency do not have their names, address, or other forms of personal information attached to their Bitcoin profiles. While some high street shops and bars accept the currency, many people associate the use of Bitcoin with the buying and selling of illicit services on the dark web.
Just last month two of the dark web’s largest markets "Alphabay" and "Hansa" were seized in a joint effort from European police, Interpol, the FBI and the DEA. The website’s users bought and sold drugs and chemicals from one another using Bitcoin to protect their identities.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in response that, “This is likely one of the most important criminal investigations of the year.” He also claimed that “The dark net is not a place to hide. We will find you.”
The Bitcoin Foundation is, however, more optimistic about the future and use of the virtual currency. Their vision is to turn Bitcoin into a globally accepted method of exchanging and storing value which will operate without the need for third parties like banks.
In the release, Claasen said that, “the increased regulatory push by federal and state authorities, if it continues, is sure to threaten the existence of the fintech [financial technology] industry nationwide.”
Mr Claasen added: “Just as the fintech industry’s use of cryptocurrency was stifled in New York by the adoption of the so-called Bitlicence, it is highly likely that increased regulatory and legislative burdens [placed upon Bitcoin] will have a similar negative impact.”
The Bitcoin Foundation was founded as a non-profit in September 2012. The body's mission statement is to ensure that every human has the right to privacy in transactions that involve no harm to others and the right to economic participation without a bank account or credit history.
In their efforts to defend Bitcoin, The Bitcoin Foundation has retained the Ciric Law Firm, PLLC for counsel. The firm is currently challenging the US Department of Financial Services’ “Virtual Currency” regulation (Part 200 of Chapter 1 of Title 23 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations), which was promulgated in 2015 and is also known as the New York "Bitlicence".
Speaking to The Independent, Mr Claasen said, “state and federal legislation creates hurdles for innovation, well in advance of knowing what the impact of the technology is going to be – or what it enables.
“[The Bitcoin Foundation’s] view is that it is not yet clear what bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are. But by regulating the technology prematurely, you put it into a box it might not fit into later on. It’s not that we don’t believe there’s a time and place to regulate Bitcoin, we’re just saying that it’s too early and that regulation will just do harm to very innovative businesses and technologies.”
When questioned on Bitcoin’s potential to be used for fraud, money laundering and the buying and selling of illicit goods, Mr Claasen said, “Reports by the European commission in June specifically found that there is very little of that activity, particularly there is very little terrorist funding and money laundering.”
Claasen added: “Bitcoin is too hard for criminals to use at the moment. It’s easier for a criminal to use the United States dollar.”
Alongside being the foundation's Executive Director, Mr Claasen is a member of the international marketing advisory boards the CMO Council Advisory Board for Africa, the Customer Experience Board and The Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience. He is also the co-founder of Clicks2Customers, a digital marketing agency with annual billings of over £80 billion.
Claasen made it clear that Bitcoin Foundation, “doesn’t want to break the system, but it is concerned that the system is already broken.
“Bitcoin has the potential to be a store of value that’s outside the control of central banks. In the future, we would like to see more adoption of Bitcoin. It’s not going to be the only currency, and it won’t replace the current system, but among other options it’s a useful case for the future.”
The venture capitalist from Cape Town claims that Bitcoin is not currently at a stage where there are concerns that it will interfere with global monetary policy.
“It’s immature technology,” he claims. “There is a perception that it allows unlimited transfer of value, but it can only do three or four transfers a second. The network cannot handle larger transactions. “
A key reason Claasen opposes regulation is because, “it is not possible for governments to take the view they want to regulate Bitcoin. It’s important to understand that a decentralised currency means one which is not under control by anybody.”
Bitcoin: Is the virtual currency the new gold standard? Show all 2 1 / 2 Bitcoin: Is the virtual currency the new gold standard? Bitcoin: Is the virtual currency the new gold standard? pg-38-bitcoin-1-alamy.jpg Alamy Bitcoin: Is the virtual currency the new gold standard? pg-38-bitcoin-2-getty.jpg Getty Images
“I understand that regulators need to protect the currency and people from risk. [In the future] regulators will probably regulate at the end points of the cryptocurrency network. I get that, it’s inevitable. Around the world the view is the same. But governments and financial services are already struggling, as in Venezuela, and people need an alternative way.”
Llew Claasen concluded that, “Aside from other things, [Bitcoin] is a positive technology. It is not one that seeks to destroy or disrupt. It’s a pity when regulators view it as something that is dangerous.”
|
Botnet of 300 apps gave hackers access to 120,000 IP addresses
|
Hackers are exploiting the vast number of insecure web-connected devices to create botnets, spread by malicious apps, to attack websites and services. In one instance, 300 such apps were spread across the Google Play app store, to create a botnet called WireX. When installed, the apps took control of the linked devices to send enormous amounts of spoof traffic to websites, forcing some services offline. In the attack, hackers were at one point able to control over 120,000 IP addresses in 100 countries. It has now been disabled, and the apps removed from Google Play.
|
https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/608760/beware-the-botnet-of-apps/
|
2017-08-30 09:12:03.947000
|
The proliferation of smart devices being corralled to take down the Web now has some competition, in the shape of swarms of malicious apps installed on thousands of smartphones.
Over the past year, the humble botnet—a collection of devices hacked to work with one another to send debilitating surges of data known as DDoS attacks to servers—underwent a renaissance. The huge number of insecure devices, such as video cameras and printers, that now connect to the Internet provides a hacker’s paradise, and they’ve been increasingly commandeered to take down websites and services. We even made Botnets of Things one of our 10 breakthrough technologies of 2017.
But nefarious types pulled off a similar trick by spreading 300 malicious apps across the Google Play app store. Ars Technica reports that, once installed, those apps commandeered the device on which they sat to send huge quantities of spoof traffic to websites, ultimately forcing some services offline. According to security researchers at Cloudflare, who helped an industrywide effort to understand the botnet that’s now called WireX, the hackers were at one point able to control over 120,000 IP addresses in 100 countries.
The botnet, which the researchers call "one of the first, and certainly one of the biggest, Android-based DDoS botnets," has been disabled, and the offending apps removed from the Play Store. But the news does highlight how any large collection of Internet-connected devices can be used as a botnet if hackers have the wherewithal to make it happen.
|
DCCC Launches Health Care Facebook Ads in Targeted Districts
|
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a new Facebook ad campaign aimed at nearly all of its 80 GOP targets that highlights the Republican health care bill.
|
http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/democratic-congressional-campaign-committee-ads
|
2017-08-30 09:11:02.467000
|
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a new Facebook ad campaign aimed at nearly all of its 80 GOP targets that highlights the Republican health care bill.
The ads are targeted at Republicans who voted for the bill — and even Republicans who voted against it. The committee is delaying launching the ads in the three Texas districts it is targeting in light of the Hurricane Harvey’s devastation. But they will eventually run in those districts.
The ads, provided first to Roll Call, highlight higher costs for seniors under the GOP plan, known as the American Health Care Act. They will run for one week. A DCCC spokesman declined to comment on how much the committee was spending on the Facebook ads.
The sponsored post on Facebook shows a picture of two seniors in a hospital room with the text, “The Republicans’ health care bill would add an age tax to older Americans, allowing them to be charged five times more than younger people. And [lawmaker’s name] supported it.”
The last sentence will not appear in districts where the GOP House member voted against the health care bill, or in districts with open seat races.
|
Telehealth: A Priority For Advancing Quality Health Care
|
Even with the prospect of Obamacare repeal and replace on the back burner for now, the focus on health care is not yet over. Following August recess, Congress will have less than four weeks to work through must-pass legislation that would fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Currently, federal funding for the program — which covers nearly 8.5 million low- and moderate-income children — is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2017.
|
https://www.law360.com/publicpolicy/articles/958396?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section
|
2017-08-30 09:04:51.523000
|
By Michael Adelberg, Libby Baney, Julie Letwat, Steve Lokensgard and Matthew Rubin (August 29, 2017, 12:34 PM EDT) -- Even with the prospect of Obamacare repeal and replace on the back burner for now, the focus on health care is not yet over. Following August recess, Congress will have less than four weeks to work through must-pass legislation that would fund the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Currently, federal funding for the program — which covers nearly 8.5 million low- and moderate-income children — is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2017....
Stay ahead of the curve
In the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know what’s happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.
Access to case data within articles (numbers, filings, courts, nature of suit, and more.)
Access to attached documents such as briefs, petitions, complaints, decisions, motions, etc.
Create custom alerts for specific article and case topics and so much more!
TRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS
|
Should we be moving towards offering free telemedicine consults?
|
Should telemedicine consultations be given away for free? After all, at $40 a visit, remotely diagnosing and treating patients using technology could drastically lower healthcare costs by replacing a $1,200 emergency room visit for routine care. The cost difference is a compelling argument for free telemedicine.
|
http://medcitynews.com/2017/08/moving-towards-offering-free-telemedicine-consults/
|
2017-08-30 09:03:43.070000
|
Should telemedicine consultations be given away for free? After all, at $40 a visit, remotely diagnosing and treating patients using technology could drastically lower healthcare costs by replacing a $1,200 emergency room visit for routine care. The cost difference is a compelling argument for free telemedicine.
A 2014 analysis by Willis Towers Watson indicates that telemedicine could save U.S. employers $6 billion per year.
Would free telemedicine visits for health plan members flood the healthcare system with unnecessary consultations that would actually drive costs up? Would the convenience of a telemedicine visit when compared to driving to a physical location result in overuse by patients? Or would it fulfill its promise of saving money by drastically reducing the number of unnecessary visits to emergency rooms at $1,200, urgent care centers at $190, doctor’s offices at $125, and walk-in clinics at pharmacies at $85?
The fact is telemedicine can replace visits for a laundry list of ailments such as coughs, colds, fever, abdominal cramps, acid reflux, arthritis, joint pain, eye infections, respiratory infections such as laryngitis, bronchitis, sinusitis, or skin problems triggering dermatology visits. It is also being used for psychiatry and other virtual behavioral health visits.
Unanswerable questions about use and misuse make offering and promoting telemedicine by plans and employers a balancing act.
Telemedicine is nearly ubiquitous, but consumer interest is low
Nevertheless, employers are adopting telemedicine in high numbers. Telemedicine will be offered by 96 percent of large employers by 2018, according to a survey by the National Business Group on Health. This is corroborated by the 22nd annual Willis Towers Watson Best Practices Survey showing that 94 percent of employers already offer their employees telemedicine or are planning to or considering it by 2019.
At the same time, consumers are showing little interest. Teladoc reported that employee utilization rates are at just 6.1 percent.
Pros and cons
Dr. Allan Khoury, a senior health management consultant with Willis Towers Watson, wrote that employers should consider giving away telemedicine for free. It could be a cost-effective catalyst to increase use.
Plus, telemedicine is becoming even more useful as apps and accessories for smartphones turn them into remote diagnostic tools. For example, companies such as CliniCloud are creating devices that make it possible to check vital signs, hear heart and lung sounds, and perform other routine diagnostic tests remotely and get results immediately.
The cautionary note that telemedicine could lead to overuse of telemedicine comes from Rand study in which researchers examined 300,000 claims from 2011 to 2013 for 300,000 beneficiaries of California pension fund and health benefits manager CalPERS. Focusing on acute care such as respiratory infections, the study examined the records of those who received care from telehealth providers, as well as those who received care from a physician’s office or a hospital emergency department.
The study’s findings revealed that telehealth services were about 50 percent lower in cost than a physician office visit, and less than 5 percent the cost of a visit to an emergency room. However, increased annual spending by $45 per telehealth user outweighed the savings from telemedicine instead of traditional care.
A press release announcing the Rand study noted, “While direct-toconsumer telemedicine services do increase patients’ access to convenient health care, researchers say new strategies such as higher co-pays or targeted marketing may be needed if telehealth is to fulfill its potential as a cost-saving strategy.”
It is noteworthy that Anthem just announced it will stop covering emergency room visits in Indiana in cases for which the insurer deems are non-emergencies. Expect that more plans will impose rules and incentives to better manage the use of acute care choices. As part of that effort, they may remind their members that telemedicine is an option.
Still, if we follow the Rand study implications, hypochondriacs could call telehealth professionals endlessly and drive up costs. On the other hand, judicious use by plan members could cut a lot of fat out of health care costs for mundane health care visits.
One thing is clear. Telemedicine is not yet fully integrated into our health care system. Consumers need incentives to try it. And, plan sponsors need the proper claims management to assure its use is necessary.
Welcome to the Ying and Yang of telemedicine.
Photo: Ian Hooton, Getty Images
|
Streamlined Tool Speeds Appraisal of Seniors' Postop Risks
|
A pared-down, easily administered version of the Vulnerable Elders Surgical Pathways and Outcomes Assessment (VESPA) tool reliably estimates the risk for geriatric and surgical complications in elderly patients, according to a new study published online August 2 in JAMA Surgery.
|
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/884918
|
2017-08-30 09:02:51.957000
|
A pared-down, easily administered version of the Vulnerable Elders Surgical Pathways and Outcomes Assessment (VESPA) tool reliably estimates the risk for geriatric and surgical complications in elderly patients, according to a new study published online August 2 in JAMA Surgery.
The prospective study drew on a cohort of 770 patients (384 women) with a mean age of 77.7 years, all of whom were scheduled to undergo elective surgery in the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, between July 2008 and January 2011. The most common surgery categories were otolaryngology/oral maxillofacial, plastic, and gastrointestinal.
The standard VESPA tool includes 14 items. For the current study, the team used an abbreviated version for preoperative assessment of functional status across the five activities of daily living proposed by the American College of Surgeons and the American Geriatrics Society: bathing, transferring, dressing, shopping, and meals. They also inquired about history of falling or gait impairment, as well as depressive symptoms, using the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire-2. In addition, they administered a 3-minute cognitive examination (Mini-Cog) plus a gait/balance assessment (Timed Up and Go test).
A total of 736 patients underwent a preoperative assessment via the abbreviated VESPA, which was administered by physician assistants in 10 minutes or less.
Adding a novel question on self-care, the researchers also asked participants whether they thought they could manage for themselves on their own after discharge. "To our knowledge, this is the first study incorporating patients' self-assessed inability to manage themselves after an operation," write Lillian Min, MD, MSHS, from the Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues.
During evaluation, 105 patients (14.3%) had reported having at least one difficulty with the five activities of daily living, while 270 (38.2%) of 707 patients had self-assessed as being unable to manage postdischarge self-care alone.
After surgery, 187 of 740 patients (25.3%) turned out to have either geriatric or surgical complications, with 131 (17.7%) having geriatric complications and 114 (15.4%) having surgical complications. Men were almost twice as likely as women to have geriatric complications (odds ratio [OR], 1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3 - 2.8) in an unadjusted analysis.
"Without screening, we would have missed one-fourth of patients with a preoperative functional deficit and 38% with a novel risk factor: those who judged themselves as not being able to manage themselves alone after discharge," the investigators write. These two variables both correlated significantly with postoperative complications, a finding that parallels other research on the effect of frailty on surgical outcomes and highlights the advisability of system-wide screening efforts.
The study combined variables into three composite outcomes: any postsurgical occurrence, including acute renal failure, pneumonia, surgical site infection, unplanned intubation, sepsis, or urinary tract infection; death, or unplanned readmission within 30 days; any geriatric complication such as delirium, pressure ulcer, fall, or malnutrition; and any complication, whether surgical or geriatric.
On multivariable analysis, the number of reported difficulties with daily activities (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0 - 1.6), predicted difficulty with postoperative self-care (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.0 - 2.2). Apart from male sex, other independent predictors of postoperative complications were a Charlson Comorbidity score of 2 or more (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0 - 2.3) and highly complex primary surgery (OR, 7.4; 95% CI, 4.6 - 11.9).
Using a cutoff score of 9 or higher, the investigators found the shorter VESPA scale had an acceptable specificity for postoperative complications of 76% and a sensitivity of 68%. The evaluation rate, however, steadily declined, from 42.3% of eligible patients during the first 6 months to 10.9% by the end of the study.
The 10-minute VESPA is in the process of being implemented in the University of Michigan's preoperative clinics. "We believe it will ease screening and be as effective [as the longer version]," coauthor Kathy M. Diehl, MD, from the Department of Surgery, told Medscape Medical News. "Thus far, the reaction from clinicians has been favorable."
"We expect that this more efficient version of the VESPA tool will facilitate sustainability of assessment rates in the future," the authors write, adding that further validation is warranted.
This research was supported by a grant from the University of Michigan Older Americans Independence Act Claude D. Pepper Center. Dr Min also received support from a Pepper Center Research Career Development Core grant and the Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence. The funding sources had no role in any aspect of the study. One author reports holding shares in Ooney Inc. The remaining authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
JAMA Surg. Published online August 2, 2017. Abstract
For more news, join us on Facebook and Twitter
|
Spambot server with data on 711 million email accounts detected
|
A giant spambot that contained 711 million email accounts has been discovered in the Netherlands, thanks to a Paris-based security researcher, known as Benkow. The spambot, which is called "Onliner", is used to send the Ursnif banking malware into inboxes and has infected more than 100,000 computers all over the world. The Ursnif malware steals personal data such as credit card information, passwords and login details. The sophisticated software is able to narrow down its attacks to only those accounts that are vulnerable and sends spam through legitimate servers, making it harder to stop.
|
http://www.zdnet.com/article/onliner-spambot-largest-ever-malware-campaign-millions/
|
2017-08-30 08:59:51.907000
|
(Image: file photo)
A huge spambot ensnaring 711 million email accounts has been uncovered.
A Paris-based security researcher, who goes by the pseudonymous handle Benkow, discovered an open and accessible web server hosted in the Netherlands, which stores dozens of text files containing a huge batch of email addresses, passwords, and email servers used to send spam.
Those credentials are crucial for the spammer's large-scale malware operation to bypass spam filters by sending email through legitimate email servers.
The spambot, dubbed "Onliner," is used to deliver the Ursnif banking malware into inboxes all over the world. To date, it's resulted in more than 100,000 unique infections across the world, Benkow told ZDNet.
Troy Hunt, who runs breach notification site Have I Been Pwned, said it was a "mind-boggling amount of data."
Hunt, who analyzed the data and details his findings in a blog post, called it the "largest" batch of data to enter the breach notification site in its history.
Benkow, who also wrote up his findings in a blog post, has spent months digging into the Ursnif malware, a data-stealing trojan used to grab personal information such as login details, passwords, and credit card data, researchers have said. Typically, a spammer would send a "dropper" file as a normal-looking email attachment. When the attachment is opened, the malware downloads from a server and infects the machine.
But while spamming is still an effective malware delivery method, email filters are getting smarter and many domains found to have sent spam have been blacklisted.
The spammer's Onliner campaign, however, uses a sophisticated setup to bypass those spam filters.
"To send spam, the attacker needs a huge list of SMTP credentials," said Benkow in his blog post. Those credentials authenticate the spammer in order to send what appears to be legitimate email.
"The more SMTP servers he can find, the more he can distribute the campaign," he said.
Those credentials, he explained, have been scraped and collated from other data breaches, such as the LinkedIn hack and the Badoo hack, as well also other unknown sources. The list has about 80 million accounts, he said, with each line containing the email address and password, along with the SMTP server and the port used to send the email. The spammer tests each entry by connecting to the server to ensure that the credentials are valid and that spam can be sent. The accounts that don't work are ignored.
These 80 million email servers are then used to send the remaining 630 million targets emails, designed to scope out the victim, or so-called "fingerprinting" emails.
These emails appear innocuous enough, but they contain a hidden pixel-sized image. When the email is open, the pixel image sends back the IP address and user-agent information, used to identify the type of computer, operating system, and other device information. That helps the attacker know who to target with the Ursnif malware, by specifically targeting Windows computers, rather than sending malicious files to iPhone or Android users, which aren't affected by the malware.
Benkow said that narrowing down of would-be victims is key to ensuring the success of the malware campaign.
"There is a risk that the campaign can become too noisy, like Dridex, for example," he told ZDNet. "If your campaign is too noisy, law enforcement will look for you."
Benkow explained that the attacker can send out a million "fingerprinting" spam emails and get a fraction of emails back, but still have enough responses to send out a second batch of a few thousand targeted emails with malware.
Those emails often come days or even weeks later, masquerading as invoices from delivery services, hotels, or insurance companies, with a malicious JavaScript file attached.
"It's pretty smart," Benkow admitted.
According to Hunt, who processed the data, 27 percent of email addresses in the data are already in Have I Been Pwned. But he noted a caveat: Because the data has been scraped from the web, some of the data is malformed. He said that while the 711 million figure is "technically accurate," the number of humans involved will be somewhat less.
Hunt has made the data now searchable in Have I Been Pwned.
|
Natural gas power plant promises to capture carbon at no cost
|
Net Power, a new power station in La Porte, Texas, aims to capture the CO2 it produces at no extra cost. The $140m plant uses the so-called Allam Cycle, which instead of heating water to create steam and power the turbines, feeds pure oxygen, carbon dioxide, and natural gas into a combustor, which ignites the gas. The supercritical CO2 created in the process drives the adjacent turbine then goes through a series of compressors, pumps and heat exchangers to recuperate as much of the heat as possible and return the carbon dioxide to the beginning of the cycle. Net Power, due to start operation by December is a collaboration between North Carolina-based technology investor 8 Rivers Capital, plant operator Exelon Generation and energy construction firm CB&I.
|
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608755/potential-carbon-capture-game-changer-nears-completion/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=5d3fd3be8d-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-5d3fd3be8d-154402861
|
2017-08-30 08:55:58.790000
|
Eight Rivers was cofounded by a pair of MIT alumni: Bill Brown, who was previously a managing director at Morgan Stanley, and Miles Palmer, who worked in aerospace technology at SAIC, a massive defense contractor. As Wall Street banks stood on the verge of collapse in 2008, Brown pitched Palmer on setting up 8 Rivers, saying by his recollection: "Why don't we get together and do good for a change?"
They initially focused on developing clean coal technologies, hoping to tap into some of the energy funds in the 2009 federal stimulus package. But they found companies simply wouldn't buy anything that added costs to the process. They were eventually introduced to Allam, who had been thinking about the potential of using supercritical CO₂ to integrate carbon capture into a power plant. He was eventually hired by 8 Rivers and, with other members of its team, he set to work developing the technology necessary to make the process compete with standard, combined cycle natural gas plants.
To truly do so, the company will have to get pretty close to the capital expenditure construction costs of such plants, which stood at $1,056 per kilowatt of capacity in 2014, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The company expects its first commercial plant to cost around $1,600 per kilowatt, in part due to higher capital expenses, warranties, and other costs associated with a first project of its kind. But they believe they can get costs down to around $1,000 by the time they’ve built five to seven full-scale plants.
Eventually, Net Power expects to produce electricity for around $42 per megawatt-hour, on par with combined cycle natural gas without carbon capture. But on top of all that, the company can also sell several by-products to the market, including carbon dioxide. Taken together, those could effectively push energy production costs down to around $20 per megawatt-hour (theoretically even as low as $9 per megawatt-hour).
Local, state, or federal clean-energy policies—such as carbon taxes, cap and trade systems, and emissions standards—could all improve the economics even further.
Net Power initially intends to act as a licensing company, rather than a developer or operator, selling the technology to utilities, oil and gas companies, and others. The company has already begun conversations and explored potential sites for its first commercial plant, which it hopes will come online as early as 2021.
“There’s always gremlins and you figure them out as you move along,” says Brock Forrest, senior research and development engineer at 8 Rivers. “But from an engineering and technical perspective, we are confident we will be able to show that supercritical CO₂ will be able to generate electricity.”
There are a few additional caveats to consider: the main market for the captured carbon dioxide would be for use in enhanced oil recovery, where energy companies inject it into aging wells to help free up remaining oil. That suggests the captured gas would continue to contribute at least indirectly to the collection and burning of fossil fuels. Crucially, the extraction of natural gas itself carries environmental consequences as well, including leakage of greenhouse gases, contamination of water tables, and earthquakes triggered by subsequent wastewater disposal.
But to the degree that Net Power technology could reduce the use of coal, and prevent the release of untold tons of carbon dioxide from natural gas, it very likely adds up to a net environmental benefit — at least compared to other fossil-fuel power plants.
This story was updated to correct estimated construction costs.
|
Mind Music Labs dreams of making instruments 'smart'
|
Mind Music Labs, the Swedish start-up that created a guitar that connects to the internet, has developed an internet of things system that can make any musical instrument "smart", said CEO Michele Benincaso. The company's Sensus Smart Guitar allows users to add modulations and effects to their music without accessories, computers or speakers. Connected instruments can provide music learners with data on how they play instruments, rather than just the sound produced, Benincaso said.
|
http://musically.com/2017/08/30/mind-music-labs-instrument-smart/
|
2017-08-30 08:54:39.347000
|
“What we’re working on is not just the performance. What we believe is that the next revolution is to have every instrument smart and connected…”
Michele Benincaso is the CEO of Mind Music Labs, the Sweden-based startup behind the Sensus Smart Guitar.
You may know it from the guitar’s unveiling at the Web Summit conference in November 2015; from its success in the Midemlab and Sonar+D startup contests in 2016; or from the instrument’s first stage performance at the Slush conference that November.
Having raised $220k of seed funding in January this year – following a previous round for the same amount – Mind Music Labs is one of a number of companies trying to bring tech smarts to the guitar and other music instruments. See also: Jammy, Magic Instruments, Jamstik+ and FretX.
That said, Benincaso hopes his company stands out, partly because the Sensus is a proper standalone guitar – “it’s not just a controller for your computer!” – and partly because Mind Music Labs has wider ambitions.
“The smart guitar is the first instrument that is using our technology. But what we have actually developed is a system that can make every music instrument smart. It’s a full embedded system designed for ultra low-latency audio performance,” says Benincaso.
That provides potential for Mind Music Labs’ technology to be used for a range of instruments and electronic-music devices: not just guitar, and not just instruments made by the company. For now, the company is keeping any plans on this front close to its chest.
Benincaso is happy to talk about the potential that connected instruments have for music education, however.
“Music education is a huge market. The last figures we saw were that it’s $9bn in the US alone, although that includes a lot of music lessons. But people are wanting to learn in a completely new way too,” he says.
A lot of this comes down to data, he continues, noting that a human teacher giving a lesson in-person can watch a student play, and then give them real-time feedback on what they are doing wrong, and how to fix it.
“But when it comes to digital learning, you don’t have much data. Apps like Yousician and Uberchord – which I think are doing great work – use the microphone of the phone to get the audio coming from the guitar, it’s true, but the app doesn’t know where I am putting my fingers, and if I am holding the guitar right or wrong,” he says.
This is where Mind Music Labs believes that connected instruments can help music learners: their sensors and connectivity could provide music-learning apps and services with more (and more-useful) data on how they’re being played, rather than just the sound that they’re making.
“It will open up a completely new world when it comes to education. The instrument will be able to send over wirelessly not only the audio, but all the data that an app like Yousician needs to give the user feedback and a much more complete experience,” says Benincaso.
“That’s the biggest challenge today when it comes to music education: we don’t have enough data on how people play. If we have a connected instrument, we can have access to that data.”
He also sees the potential for smart instruments to be used together with other devices. For example, smart speakers like Amazon’s Echo and its Alexa voice assistant.
“Think about your Amazon Echo, and Alexa telling you that you need to move the guitar another way and move that finger. That’s very complex to do today,” says Benincaso.
“The only way to get information from the instrument is via the microphone and the audio coming from the instrument. But so much other data is lost. When we change that, music education technology will have a big jump.”
For now, Mind Music Labs is continuing to work on the Sensus and the platform that underpins it, while considering what kind of partnerships could take the latter forward. Benincaso is confident about the potential.
“In 10-15 years from now, every new musical instrument will have its own system and be connected to each other. And it will be like the mobile app world, with SDKs and APIs for people to write all kinds of applications on top of these systems, and will give access to the musicians to interact with all the newest technology like VR, wearable devices and the whole Internet of Things world,” he says.
That could fuel everything from educational apps to games and virtual-reality experiences, where the audio and associated data from smart instruments is available to developers.
Benincaso draws a parallel with a previous shift in instruments, when acoustic guitars went electric, with amps and other technologies.
“When you went from the acoustic to the electric guitar, you went from 30 people in the room to thousands of people. Or even Woodstock, where you had just a bunch of guitar players on stage and 400,000 people getting crazy!” he says.
“Musicians’ needs are a new way of expression using sound, and also the need to engage people and to reach more people. And today, if you want to reach more people, you can’t just get a bigger amplifier. You need to be connected.”
|
Arc-net and PwC fight food fraud with 'breakthrough solution'
|
Irish tech firm Arc-net will work with PwC on a blockchain-based technology solution for battling food fraud in the Netherlands. The project will improve food traceability by using blockchain to trace food products’ passage through the production and supply ecosystem, with information verified frequently to avoid fraudulent activity. PwC has said that food fraud costs the global economy $40bn annually.
|
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-firm-arcnet-to-fight-food-fraud-with-pwc-in-the-netherlands-36082117.html
|
2017-08-30 08:24:59.090000
|
A Northern Ireland tech company specialising in food traceability is to work with PwC in the Netherlands on a new project.
Arc-net, which was founded by former butcher Kieran Kelly, said the venture would create "a new model for food integrity, supply chain security and compliance".
The firm uses blockchain technology to monitor stages in the food production process and guard against food fraud.
Business advisors PwC have claimed that food fraud costs the global economy over $40bn every year.
Scandals affecting the food chain have ranged from the horsemeat controversy of 2013, to the use of slaughterhouse waste in oil in China in 2014.
Mr Kelly, chief executive of arc-net, said collaborating with PwC in the Netherlands would help food brand owners deliver on product and brand security.
He added: "PwC has a rich track record in providing leading edge expertise and insights to manage change, navigate complexity and unlock value for their customers.
"We are extremely confident that this partnership will allow both the arc-net platform and PwC to deliver on our joint commitment to enhance the security and integrity of the food we eat."
Hans Schoolderman, PwC partner in sustainability and food integrity, said: "Where many start-ups and others discuss and research the power of new technologies, the arc-net platform offers a proven solution based on the power of blockchain that gives ultimate transparency on safety, quality and integrity of food.
"The partnership allows us to bring arc-net's breakthrough solution to our clients helping them solve the important challenge of bringing high quality, safe and transparent products to the market and improve the trust we have in the food we eat."
Mr Kelly has said blockchain technology lends itself well to food traceability. "It creates trust among ecosystem members, who can validate the information and assets as they transfer," he said.
|
German alliances challenge Facebook-Google duopoly
|
German media entities are forming cross-industry alliances to safeguard consumer data and challenge the Facebook-Google duopoly on news. One consortium includes financier Deutsche Bank, automotive firm Daimler, insurance giant Allianz, airline Lufthansa, newspaper owner Axel Springer, telecoms agency Deutsche Telekom and IT security firm Bundesdruckerei. The companies aim to provide a single "master key" login across all sites to ensure compliance with the new General Data Protection Regulation from May 2018. The Verimi system is designed to provide a European alternative to sign-in options through Google and Facebook.
|
https://digiday.com/media/german-publishers-joining-forces-duopoly/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170830
|
2017-08-30 08:14:05.657000
|
The hottest trend in German media: cross-industry alliances that prioritize consumer data privacy and aim to compete with the Facebook-Google duopoly.
Axel Springer, owner of titles like national newspapers Bild and Die Welt, is part of one of Germany’s two high-profile alliances, which also includes auto manufacturer Daimler, insurance juggernaut Allianz and Deutsche Bank. German airline Lufthansa, telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom and IT security company Bundesdruckerei signed on this week, bringing the total number of members to nine.
The alliance’s goal: to provide a single login for customers across all partner sites that complies with the new data privacy regulations (General Data Protection Regulation), which will be enforced starting next May. Once users have created personal accounts, they can use the same security settings and passwords across member sites. The partners are calling the login the “master key,” which is what the login will be referred to when it is marketed to consumers.
The sign-in platform will be marketed to consumers as “Verimi” — a mix of the English words “verify” and “me.” A dedicated website explaining the service and how to use it is starting to familiarize people with the initiative before the product’s launch.
Verimi’s prime purpose is to remove lengthy online account management across numerous sites — a process that will become more complex after the rollout of the GDPR and ePrivacy directive. People can manage the data that businesses have on them this way. Once people register, they’re asked to give “express consent” to data being passed on to the alliance’s partner companies, as well as what data they’re OK with passing on. That information will also help ensure any personalized ad targeting that member companies run is GDPR-compliant — useful insight for media companies and advertisers that want to make sure they don’t target advertising to people who’ve stated they don’t want it.
By teaming with non-media companies, Axel Springer has taken a different route than a typical media alliance. This way, it can skirt any disagreements that can arise between competitors and stunt progress, which has hindered other media alliances. But Verimi is open-standard, so although Axel Springer is currently the only media group involved, others can join. The goal is to expand the service to other European markets, starting with those in which the founding partners are already present.
The pledge is to have a working product in market by year-end or the beginning of 2018 at the latest — just over six months since the initial announcement about it in May. Verimi will run as an independent unit, staffed by 30 people with backgrounds ranging from social media and marketing to data privacy. The companies have hired the team from the open market, rather than sharing existing resources.
The alliance’s purpose is similar to the other major cross-industry universal login alliance, which German broadcasters RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1 and internet services provider United Internet lead. Although both alliances have formed to provide a European alternative to the U.S. tech platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon, attaining mass reach will be the objective for both groups. That will naturally pit them against each other. But the universal login will be the first of many products the Verimi alliance plans to release, though future product details are scant.
“Digitalization is based on simplicity and trust,” said Timotheus Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. “Our aim with Verimi is to offer a practical and ultra-safe online master key. We will ensure that our clients’ digital identities remain within EU jurisdiction and enjoy the security afforded by German data protection rules.”
|
Specialist insurer Beazley unveils environmental product in Canada
|
Specialist environmental liability insurer Beazley has taken on a new underwriter to develop the company's environmental services in Canada. Nick Bidwell, who previously worked for Zurich and held a number of environmental consulting roles, will be based in Beazley's Toronto office. The company provides coverage for a range of environmental risks including polluting of third party premises, protection for ongoing fixed site operations and brownfield site remediation. They target services at manufacturing, industrial, real estate, health and education sectors and have specialist subsidiaries across the world.
|
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/07/18/1047827/0/en/Beazley-launches-environmental-coverage-in-Canada.html
|
2017-08-30 08:11:20.233000
|
New York, July 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beazley, a leading provider of specialist environmental liability insurance, has launched its local environmental coverage in Canada.
Nick Bidwell, an experienced underwriter of environmental risks, has joined Beazley to develop business in Canada, focusing on fixed site and operational liability risks. Prior to joining Beazley, Mr Bidwell was the Canadian national underwriting lead for site liability at Zurich. Before that, he held environmental consulting positions at Conestoga-Rovers & Associates/GHD in Canada and WSP Environmental in the UK. He is based in Beazley’s Toronto office.
Beazley covers a wide range of environmental risks including operational coverage for businesses that may face claims for polluting the premises of third parties; professional liability coverage for environmental consultants; protection for ongoing fixed site operations; contractors’ pollution liability; and brownfield site remediation. Key target industries are the manufacturing, industrial, real estate, hospital and educational sectors.
Jayne Cunningham, Beazley’s environmental focus group leader, said: “We’re excited to expand Beazley’s specialist environmental coverage to the Canadian market and look forward to developing creative solutions for local clients. Nick is extremely knowledgeable about the environmental risks faced by local organizations and will help Beazley build local distribution for risks that don’t typically reach the London market.”
BZPR_7_12_17
Note to editors:
Beazley plc (BEZ) is the parent company of specialist insurance businesses with operations
in Europe, the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Beazley manages six Lloyd’s syndicates and, in 2016, underwrote gross premiums worldwide of $2,195.6 million. All Lloyd’s syndicates are rated A by A.M. Best.
Beazley’s underwriters in the United States focus on writing a range of specialist insurance products. In the admitted market, coverage is provided by Beazley Insurance Company, Inc., an A.M. Best A rated carrier licensed in all 50 states. In the surplus lines market, coverage is provided by the Beazley syndicates at Lloyd’s.
Beazley is a market leader in many of its chosen lines, which include professional indemnity, property, marine, reinsurance, accident and life, and political risks and contingency business.
For more information please go to: www.beazley.com
|
US on-demand life insurance start-up Bestow raises $2.5m
|
Dallas-based Bestow has raised $2.5m in seed funding to finalise its on-demand life insurance platform before its launch in the autumn. Bestow's life insurance policies use analytics to allow users to buy and manage coverage as they need it. This removes the need for meetings with agents and medical exams. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Core Innovation Capital, Morpheus Ventures and 8VC.
|
http://www.finsmes.com/2017/08/bestow-raises-2-5m-in-seed-funding.html
|
2017-08-30 07:50:25.623000
|
Bestow, a Dallas, TX-based developer of an on-demand life insurance platform, raised $2.5m in seed funding.
The round was led by New Enterprise Associates with participation from Core Innovation Capital, Morpheus Ventures and 8VC.
The company, which has raised $3.1m in venture capital, intends to use the funds to finalize the platform for launch this fall.
Founded by entrepreneurs Melbourne O’Banion and Jonathan Abelmann, Bestow is advancing a consumer-first life insurance solution, which, driven by analytics and technology, enables users to learn, apply, buy and manage coverage needs on-demand by removing the need for face-to-face interaction, including agent and medical exam requirements.
FinSMEs
29/08/2017
|
TicHome Mini to make Google Assistant 'take anywhere'
|
The portable TicHome Mini from Chinese AI firm Mobvoi is expected to make Google Assistant a take anywhere smart home device when it rolls out this winter. The battery-powered device, which is set to retail for under $100, was designed to be an inexpensive way to introduce AI into daily life; it is activated the same way as Google Home and supports third party services such as Nest and Spotify, with the listed expected to grow as Google adds functionality to its assistant.
|
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/tichome-mini-google-assistant/
|
2017-08-30 07:28:09.083000
|
TicHome Mini: SMART SPEAKER. MEET WIRELESS FREEDOM.
The compact and highly portable disk-like design appears to integrate relatively well into any home decor and just about any setting. Battery-powered and capable of functioning without being plugged in, the TicHome Mini also comes with an interchangeable strap that makes for easy carrying or hanging around the house. Plus, it boasts a splash-proof rating of IPX6, which means that you can use the Mini in your bathroom or by the pool. While you will have to act fast, it won’t necessarily be the end of days if the device gets a little rainwater.
Recommended Videos
Like Google Home, you can activate this smart home device by saying “OK Google” and you will be able to ask about the weather, set alarms, or, if you are in the mood, ask the Mini to tell a joke. If you are looking for more practical applications, Google Assistant can help you schedule events on Google Calendar, manage your to-do list, and more.
As Google adds more functionality to its A.I. assistant, so too will the TicHome Mini. You can already access a number of third-party content providers, including Spotify, iHeartRadio, Nest, and If This Then That, and the list is only expected to continue growing.
“The partnership between Google and Mobvoi has opened up opportunities to combine Google’s industry-leading Google Assistant with Mobvoi’s vision for a portable home assistant form factor,” Zhifei Li, CEO and founder of Mobvoi, said in a statement. “With TicHome Mini we aim to push the boundaries of how and where A.I. impacts our daily lives.”
After making its debut at this year’s IFA, the TicHome Mini is now available for pre-sale. Prices begin at $79, or 20 percent off the retail price of $99. The Mini is available in a wide range of colors, including black, white, red, and green.
“We are excited to make TicHome Mini available to ship for the holidays, so that you can enjoy the best of a portable speaker and the Google Assistant at home while bonding with your family,” Li added. “Through the TicHome Mini, we bring to you a portable A.I. device which seamlessly integrates into your life.”
Update: The TicHome Mini is now available for pre-sale.
Editors' Recommendations
|
Amazon Echo rolls out new multi-room music feature
|
Amazon Echo users can now synchronise music playback across multiple devices, in multiple rooms, thanks to the roll-out of its multi-room music feature. Users can now stream music from Amazon Music, TuneIn, Pandora and iHeartRadio across different devices by grouping them together on the Alexa app. Support for Spotify and SiriusXM will be available shortly, according to the company. “Soon, users will be able to play their favorite song, alter the volume, or change an input in any room where our connected products are placed, simply by asking Alexa to do so”, said Kevin Duffy, CEO and president at Sound United.
|
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/amazon-echo-multi-room-music-30-08-2017/
|
2017-08-30 07:22:22.053000
|
Amazon has this week announced the roll-out of a new multi-room music feature to its Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show devices. Enabling users to now synchronise their music playback across multiple Echo devices.
Streaming music from Amazon Music, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and Pandora, with support for Spotify and SiriusXM available shortly says Amazon. Using the Amazon Alexa App simply create groups of Echo devices and then simply ask Alexa to play on those devices.
For instance if you create a group of Echoes called “downstairs” you can then ask Alexa play your favourite playlist “downstairs”. Amazon is also rolling out new tools to enable AVS device makers to integrate with Amazon Alexa Multi-Room Music, which are expected to be available early next year. Amazon explains more :
These new tools enable device makers with connected audio systems to control music playback using Alexa. A customer can then use any Alexa-enabled device – for example an Echo Dot – to play music throughout their home on their connected audio systems. Amazon is excited to be working with leading brands on this offering, including Sonos, Bose, Sound United, and Samsung. “Alexa set the standard for voice in smart homes, so working with Amazon to bring voice control to Sonos for the first time was an obvious choice,” said Antoine Leblond, VP of Software, Sonos. “This has been a close collaboration from the beginning as we’ve worked together to combine the magic of Alexa with the seamless multi-room audio capabilities that Sonos pioneered. We’re proud of the work we’ve done together as Amazon’s first multi-room partner – all you’ll need is an Alexa-enabled device and playing music out loud on Sonos will be as easy as saying ‘Alexa, play music in the living room.’” “Sound United is constantly striving to provide consumers with the best possible user experience. With AI voice services simplifying how we control our home environments and products, we’re excited Denon, Marantz, and HEOS customers will be some of the first to experience Alexa multi-room audio compatibility and the power of voice control,” said Kevin Duffy, CEO and president, Sound United. “Soon, users will be able to play their favorite song, alter the volume, or change an input in any room where our connected products are placed, simply by asking Alexa to do so.”
Source: Amazon
Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals
Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy
|
Treebo Hotels secures $34m in series C funding
|
India's Treebo Hotels has raised $34m in series C funding for its online budget hotel aggregator. The Bangalore-based firm, which has about 300 franchisees using its brand in about 50 cities, will use the funding to improve customer experience, boost its technology team and expand its business. The investment round was led by Hong Kong-based investment firms Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital. Existing investors also participated.
|
https://www.medianama.com/2017/08/223-treebo-series-c-funding/
|
2017-08-30 07:21:14.510000
|
Treebo Hotels, a Bangalore-based online budget hotel aggregator has raised $34 Million (Rs 220 crore) in its Series C funding round led by Hong Kong-based investment firms Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital. Existing investors, SAIF Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Bertelsmann India Investments also participated in the round. Treebo said in a statement that it will invest the fresh funds into enhancing customer experience, building a stronger brand, strengthening its technology team, and expanding its footprint in existing and new cities. The platform currently has close to 300 franchisees operating under its brand across in about 50 cities. Treebo’s previous funding With this round the company has raised a total of $57M in three rounds from multiple investors: Series B: -In July last year, Treebo secured funding of Rs 112 crore (~$16.7M) and said that it will use the funding for expand to more than 60 cities and increasing its inventory 12,000 rooms. It said that it plans to launch a product extension including mid scale and leisure rooms, expanding from its current portfolio of budget rooms. Series A: In June 2015, Treebo raised around $6 million in funding from SAIF and Matrix. The company was started in the same year by former Myntra executives Siddharth Gupta and Rahul Chaudhary, along with Kadam Jeet Jain. Competition Treebo competes with numerous place in budget hotel space, which include OYO Rooms, FabHotels, MakeMyTrip-GoIbibo, Paytm, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Yatra, Airbnb- to name a few. Last month, Gurgaon-based online budget hotel aggregator FabHotels…
Please subscribe login to read the full story.
|
Toyota teams with ride-hail company Grab in southeast Asia
|
Toyota has joined up with ride-hailing firm Grab to extend its Toyota Mobility Service Platform (MSPF) across southeast Asia. MSPF provides services such as leasing, telematics insurance, vehicle data analysis and fleet management. Grab will offer MSPF services to its drivers.
|
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/30/toyota-partners-with-grab-expand-its-mobility-service-platform
|
2017-08-30 07:20:10.413000
|
Toyota has joined forces with ride-hailing company Grab to provide its services throughout Southeast Asia and expand its Toyota Mobility Service Platform (MSPF).
Toyota Motor Corporation partners with Grab to expand its Mobility Service Platform
Shigeki Tomoyama, senior managing officer of Toyota and president of the Connected Company said: "Through this collaboration with Grab, we would like to explore new ways of delivering secure, convenient and attractive mobility services to our fleet customers in Southeast Asia."
|
Successful MTI pilot brings blockchain to maritime logistics
|
Marine Transport International (MTI) has successfully tested a blockchain-based logistics programme that could improve security and efficiency. Working alongside IT infrastructure provider Agility Sciences, MTI has used the Container Streams system to streamline a supply chain, connecting shippers, customs, suppliers, terminals and loading point on a shared ledger. The system enables total interoperability of data from all sources, even from legacy systems.
|
http://shipmanagementinternational.com/blockchain-system-successfully-deployed-to-revolutionise-the-logistics-industry/
|
2017-08-30 07:18:16.950000
|
A successful pilot programme delivered by logistics technology company Marine Transport International (MTI) demonstrates that the logistics industry will see improved connectivity, efficiency and security thanks to blockchain.
MTI, in conjunction with Agility Sciences, have today released a whitepaper detailing the deployment of their Container Streams system in a supply chain environment. The results of the pilot have been verified by scientists at the University of Copenhagen and maritime technology leads at Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration (BLOC).
The project, which has connected supplier, shipper, load point, customs and terminal on a shared blockchain ledger, has far reaching consequences for the logistics industry as it seeks new ways to improve security and profitability. All parties involved in the supply chain benefit from automated data flows as the system allows complete interoperability of data sources, even including legacy systems.
Jody Cleworth, CEO of Marine Transport International, said: “The results of this successful pilot demonstrate the strengths of blockchain technology when deployed to link the various actors in the supply chain. We are confident that firms throughout the logistics industry will see a broad spectrum of benefits stemming from blockchain deployment.
“The blockchain has proven to be an excellent way of connecting the different parties involved in any supply chain environment due to the transparency and security-by-design of the technology. In recent months the shipping industry has fallen victim to industrial-scale cyber-attacks which have left large shipping lines, such as Maersk, completely paralyzed and unable to serve clients.
“A blockchain-enabled supply chain is highly resilient to cyber-attack – a copy of the essential shipping data is stored on each node on a decentralised network, meaning that even if one node is compromised, the data is safe nevertheless.
“The business case for connecting supply chains using blockchain is very strong. As the interface is easily adaptable to existing systems there is a very low barrier to entry. Any type of supply chain business, be it marine-, air-, or land-based, can take advantage of such a system – the cost savings that we envisage are as high as 90%, as a result of substantially streamlined processes.”
Karim Jabbar, from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen, added: “This pilot demonstrates the great potential for distributed ledger technologies to be used in improving supply chain processes. The Container Streams system is unique in the fact that it does not require the complete replacement of existing systems – instead, MTI’s solution allows complete interoperability with existing legacy infrastructure. The logistics industry as a whole can expect better visibility, connectivity and cost savings as a result of distributed ledger adoption.”
Deanna MacDonald, CEO of Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration said: “We have documented the first phase of this use case, its implications for the maritime industry and the resulting development of a turn-key application ecosystem for global supply chain logistics. However, the future potential of this ecosystem platform will rest upon collaboration from the different actors in these supply chains in order to clearly identify the problems and co-create applications that solve for the collective challenges they are facing today.”
|
Chinese farmland to be used to build homes for rent
|
A pilot scheme has been announced by the ministry of land and resources and the ministry of housing and urban-rural development in China that will allow collectively owned agricultural land to be developed into residential properties for lease. The scheme will be introduced to 13 large Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, and aims to stabilise property prices, boost the rental market and ease the pressure on infrastructure and accommodation caused by massive populations of migrant workers living in inner city slums. China has estimated 100 million migrant workers will move to the cities to take up jobs by 2020.
|
http://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2108845/china-allows-rural-land-rental-housing-stabilise-property
|
2017-08-30 07:13:26.767000
|
China is opening up rural land for residential property development in 13 cities that will provide rental housing to ease the pressure on urban accommodation brought about millions of workers that move to the cities. Photo: Justin Jin
|
Proptech Cozy enters rental insurance space with Assurant tie-up
|
Online property management company Cozy has teamed up with insurance carrier Assurant to offer insurance for renters. Cozy CEO Gino Zahnd said the goal is to educate people on why rental insurance is so important, citing traditionally "abysmally low" take-up rates. Cozy was founded in 2012 and currently has half a million people signed up through its site from across the US.
|
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/08/22/462039.htm
|
2017-08-30 06:53:32.563000
|
The renters insurance market has been a hard nut to crack for the industry, but an insurance carrier and online rental service platform hope their partnership may be the secret to breaking through.
Cozy, an online property management site for landlords, property managers and renters, has partnered with insurance carrier Assurant to offer renter’s insurance through Cozy’s online property management platform.
“We started looking at how many people in our market — the smaller, independent rental owners — have tenants who carry renters insurance and based on our evidence, it is abysmally low,” said Gino Zahnd, CEO and founder of Portland, Ore.-based Cozy. “We saw an opportunity to come into the market and educate people why it is important.”
The Cozy online property management platform handles the entire rental process for landlords — from online listings, to tenant applications and screenings, to receiving rental payments. And now, it sells renters insurance, too.
The company was founded in 2012 and currently has 500,000 people signed up for properties through its site in more than 15,000 zip codes across the U.S., according to Zahnd. Cozy’s “bread and butter,” Zahnd said, are individuals who manage or own 20 or less properties, but it does have customers with up to 200-250 units as well.
With the new partnership with Assurant, tenants of landlords that require renters insurance can obtain Cozy Renters Insurance. Through Cozy’s platform, landlords who want to require renters insurance on a lease check a box in the Cozy system and renters will be offered the Cozy product during their rental agreement transaction. The landlord will be notified when coverage is obtained and sent proof of insurance.
When coverage is not required, renters can still opt to see an insurance quote and purchase coverage through Cozy. Renters can pay for their coverage every month when making their rental payment.
Cozy Renters Insurance is a baseline policy that covers renters from the unexpected loss of property in case of theft or other damage. The coverage also protects against a renter accidentally damaging the rental or someone else’s property, and covers the cost of repairing damages or replacing belongings.
It includes $100,000 in liability coverage and $15,000 in personal property, with a $250 deductible. The cost of policies varies from state to state, but averages around $10 to $20 a month. Additional coverage options are available for renters by working directly with Assurant.
Zahnd said until now, it has been difficult for landlords and tenants to navigate the renters insurance market and know where to go to get coverage. He says Cozy is at a big advantage because it has a captive audience right there on its platform.
“No matter how cool or amazing a standalone renters product is — it’s still not solving the fundamental product for renters and landlords — the process is still so fragmented,” he said. “Neither party with Cozy has to go out and look for something else.”
According to Brian Ellin, vice president of Product for Cozy, the company wanted a simple policy for its rental and landlord users. And because Cozy already has facilitated the relationship between the landlord and the tenant and verified a person’s identity, the basic underwriting information needed to quote and offer a policy is readily available.
“A lot of the questions have already been answered and the renter can get an instant quote,” Ellin said.
Zahnd said the idea for Cozy to offer renter insurance came early in the formation of the company, but Cozy only began actively working on bringing that idea to life about 18 months ago when it began approaching insurance carriers.
Zahnd said they were met with an openness by the industry, “generally speaking,” but that they did have to do a good bit of convincing on why it was a good idea.
“Explaining how this could work to companies that have been around for 100 years or more was a bit of a challenge, but most carriers have a fairly robust technology group,” Zahnd said.
Simplicity and speed on the insurance side were essential to Cozy, so part of its carrier vetting was to understand how quickly the product could be built and how flexible the carrier would be in meeting Cozy’s experience requirements.
“By no means was it easy,” Zahnd said. “When you bite something off like this you have to be stubborn.”
Ellin said they found insurance companies were excited by the idea of gaining access to a market that has been traditionally difficult for the insurance industry to tap into once they understood how the product could work.
“The way that Cozy has taken ownership of that part of the market gives them access that they didn’t have before,” he said.
In March, Cozy began its partnership with Assurant, which was also looking to further develop its digital capabilities and serve a market segment that has been ignored, said Steven Hein, senior vice president for Assurant, and oversees the company’s Multi-family Housing business.
“We have been looking in that space for someone to emerge that has the capability and focus,” Hein said. “It felt like a natural fit between our two organizations.”
Assurant currently offers 1.5 million renter policies nationwide, but Hein said it is a segment that hasn’t had a lot of access or been marketed to. He added only a small minority of residents purchase coverage at all, and that leaves property owners or landlords exposed.
“Our goal is to bring affordable access to coverage and to serve the client’s needs, which is ultimately the landlord,” he said.
He said the hallmark of the product is the speed with which the coverage can be purchased and that ensures users are not disrupted. “Offering the policy in minutes is something that is essential to the transaction,” Hein said.
Zahnd and Ellin said the company’s main priority is to offer a simple policy to get renters covered and ease the burden and exposure for landlords. For now, Cozy doesn’t have any plans to offer additional coverages or expand into other markets, but, Zahnd says, “never say never.”
Topics Carriers Trends Market Property
|
Samsung expands range of consumer IoT devices
|
Samsung hopes the internet of things (IoT) will become “the new normal” as it increases the range of home appliances it offers with enhanced connectivity. The South Korean tech company has launched a 43-inch TV that is shaped like a frame around a work of art and called The Frame For Europe, which can display classic works of art and other related content. The company has also launched an AI-powered washing machine, QuickDrive, that can recommend washing plans and automatically reorder detergent. Samsung also offers a range of sport-orientated wearables.
|
http://www.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20170830000877
|
2017-08-30 06:47:59.620000
|
[THE INVESTOR] Aiming to continue leading in technological prowess, Samsung Electronics said on Aug. 30 that its presentation theme at Europe’s largest tradeshow for home appliances will be lifestyles with enhanced connectivity and convenience.
Two days before the IFA 2017 kicks off Friday, Samsung Electronics unveiled new flagship consumer electronic products and services for the second half of the year at a series of press conferences.
An outdoor advertisement shows Samsung’s proposal for lifestyles with enhanced connectivity and convenience at City Cube Berlin, a venue for the IFA 2017 that kicks off on Aug. 30. Samsung Electronics.
Calling it the “new normal,” David Lowes, chief marking officer of Samsung’s Europe business, said, “To become meaningful, technological innovation should naturally meld into the daily lives of consumers and be able to change their lives.”
“Samsung is making best efforts to introduce innovative products and services that are going to become a new normal for the lives of consumers around the world.”
The Korean tech titan debuted its 43-inch art frame-like TV The Frame for Europe, the first market where it is being launched. The model will be introduced later to Russian and US markets.
The release follows the successful launch of bigger Frame TVs -- 55 inch and 65 inch -- in the region in May.
The Samsung Frame TV has also become a new platform for the distribution of artworks, providing consumers with content related to the arts through partnerships with renowned art galleries including Prado in Spain.
Samsung plans to secure up to 1,000 pieces of artwork for its Art Store platform, through which users can purchase art pieces via their TVs by the end of the year.
As for technological partnerships, Samsung announced a new alliance for its High Dynamic Range 10 Plus, the company’s visual display technology, with Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox and Japan’s Panasonic to expand application of the technology for visual content on different devices.
Another first for the company is the new artificial intelligence-powered washing machine QuickDrive, which cuts washing time by half. Its exclusive Q-Drum consists of a large main drum and a plate in the back that rotates independently.
Unlike conventional washers that move clothes repeatedly up and down over the course of a cycle, the latest washer moves clothes from top to bottom in the drum, while the plate in the back of the drum introduces a back and forth movement, the company said.
QuickDrive’s smart AI feature, dubbed “Q-rator,” has a function called Laundry Planner through which the washer recommends an appropriate course when users set a finish time. Another function, Laundry Recipe, recommends the best course according to the amount of clothes. An automatic detergent refill function allows users to order more detergent through Amazon when it runs out.
“QuickDrive will make significant changes to lives by returning the time spent on household chores back to consumers as spare time,” said Daniel Harvie, head of marketing of household appliances in Europe.
Samsung also introduced its first cordless stand-type vacuum machine Power Stick with 150-watt vacuuming power, the industry’s most powerful. It has a handle that folds in at up to 50 degrees when reaching under beds or the top surfaces of closets.
In addition, the world’s biggest handset manufacturer showed the new wearable devices Gear Sport and Gear Fit2 Pro with enhanced functions for sports, and the cord-free ear set Gear IconX 2018.
The smart watch Gear Sport and sports band Gear Fit2 Pro both won the 5ATM water resistance grade. They can be worn while swimming.
The Gear IconX 2018 not only enables music streaming, but also provides fitness coaching and health data. If a user owns a Bixby-based Samsung smartphone, the ear set can be linked to the device’s voice-activated AI program, allowing the user to operate the smartphone by issuing verbal commands via the ear set.
At the core of Samsung’s new normal for home appliances lies “clever connectivity,” which aims to connect all kinds of devices and appliances, “championing impossibility,” the company highlighted.
“Samsung and about 390 other companies around the world are working to set standards for Internet of Things technologies to connect a countless number of devices in order to maximize user experience,” said Matthew Perry, head of the Open Connectivity Foundation, a global organization for IoT.
By Song Su-hyun/The Korea Herald ([email protected])
|
South Korean robo-advisers lag far behind benchmark Kospi index
|
Robot adviser-managed funds have underperformed South Korea's benchmark Kospi index. The country's Financial Services Commission permitted local finance firms to offer their clients advice from artificial intelligence (AI) programmes earlier this year. Fifteen AI-managed funds have been operating over three months with an average rate of return of 1.61%, compared with Kospi's rise of 2.77%. Just three of the 15 managed to outpace the index. When the robo-advisers are measured over the past six months their returns are even further behind.
|
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3037704&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist1
|
2017-08-30 06:43:45.143000
|
Robot brokers aren’t very good
Last March, the Financial Services Commission said it would allow local financial companies to offer their clients investment advice from artificial intelligence programs - instantly dubbed robot advisers. Investors expected a breakthrough in fund management. Higher returns seemed inevitable as artificially intelligent advisers were expected to be using big data analysis and advanced algorithms, the same way that Google’s AlphGo managed to defeat human Go master Lee Se-dol.Months later, the robots don’t seem to be giving their human counterparts much competition. In fact, the returns on their portfolios weren’t even able to keep pace with the recent rise of Korea’s benchmark Kospi index.Currently, there are 30 funds managed by robot advisers at nine asset management companies in Korea, according to KG Zeroin, a fund analysis service, and KB Asset Management. 15 funds have been operating over three months but their average rate of return stood at a measly 1.61 percent. During the same period, the Kospi rose by 2.77 percent.Only three funds out of 15 managed to match or outpace the increase in the index.The gap between the performances gets even wider over the last six months. The average rate of return for 12 funds that have been operating for longer than half a year stood at 4.41 percent. During that period, the Kospi rose by 13.49 percent.Robot-managed funds managed to beat funds managed by mere mortals in only one category, and not by very much.Robot-advisers’ average return over the past six months in investments in local stocks was 14.23 percent while the market average was 13.34 percent. For fund investing in international stocks, robot managers’ six-month average return was 5.61 percent while the market average was nearly double at 11.4 percent.“Although launched as robot-adviser funds, most of the funds are not that much different from regular algorithm-based trading,” said Jung Kyu-bong, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities. “Only a few firms have the technology to pick and choose certain securities to invest in based on an analysis of various type of big data.”According to Kim Il-soo, the chief executive of Wizdomain, which has a robot consulting service called Wizbot that analyzes patents held by companies to decide the level of their technology and ultimately their values, most of the funds managed by robot advisers in Korea allocate assets based on similar algorithms. “Most robot advisers do ‘passive management’ [a type of investment strategy in which managers do not invest aggressively to beat the market index] and focus more on risk management than high returns,” explained Kim. When the Kospi plummeted nearly 4 percent this month due to the tensions between the United States and North Korea, funds by robot-advisers fell by less than one percent, a clear sign of their concentration on risk management.“Two Sigma [an American asset management firm] utilizes technology in which robot managers select securities to invest in by analyzing big data such as satellite photos or product lists on online shopping malls,” explained Hong Yoong-ki, who is in charge of multi-asset solutions at KB Asset Management. “Consumers [in Korea] expected this type of robot-managed funds but the reality in Korea was that we need some improvement in the technology.”Some analysts say that robot fund managers should be approached as a means to save costs in asset management.“The forte of robot managers is that customers can receive detailed services such as portfolio management and notifications on external variables at costs cheaper than if [human] fund managers were doing the work,” said Kim Sang Won, director of the smart finance at Daishin Securities. “Customers interested in [services] by robot advisers should consider this cost-saving element rather than actual returns.”BY CHO HYUN-SOOK [[email protected]]
|
YouTube announce new features as well as a new logo
|
YouTube has announced a range of new features across its platforms and apps, along with a refreshed logo. On its mobile app, users will be able to swipe left and right to move between videos, change the speed of playback, and browse suggested videos whilst watching in full screen mode. Meanwhile, it has unveiled a new desktop design incorporating a dark background theme and a refreshed YouTube logo and icon that is intended to work better across a variety of devices. Most of the changes have been introduced this week, or will be rolled out soon.
|
https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2017/08/a-new-youtube-look-that-works-for-you.html
|
2017-08-30 06:36:15.997000
|
We’ve also introduced apps and services that give you new ways to watch and get even closer to the content and creators you love. Music fans, gamers, and TV lovers each have unique experiences specifically tailored for their favorite content with
To put it simply, YouTube’s evolved … a lot. And we’re not even close to done. Over the last few months we've started releasing updates and will continue to throughout the rest of the year. When all is said and done, we'll bring a new level of functionality and a more consistent look across our desktop and mobile experiences.
Let’s start with the YouTube mobile app, which is getting a bunch of new features: When YouTube launched 12 years ago, it was a single website that supported one video format, 320x240 at 4:3 aspect ratio. Fast forward to today, and YouTube lets you watch any combination of SD, HD, 4K, 360, 3-D, and live video on nearly every device with an internet connection – from desktops to phones, tablets to TVs, game consoles, and even VR headsets.We’ve also introduced apps and services that give you new ways to watch and get even closer to the content and creators you love. Music fans, gamers, and TV lovers each have unique experiences specifically tailored for their favorite content with YouTube Music YouTube Gaming and YouTube TV . For families looking for the best way to watch together, we launched the YouTube Kids app. And for fans who want an uninterrupted, ad-free experience, and exclusive original content from creators, there’s the YouTube Red membership.To put it simply, YouTube’s evolved … a lot. And we’re not even close to done. Over the last few months we've started releasing updates and will continue to throughout the rest of the year. When all is said and done, we'll bring a new level of functionality and a more consistent look across our desktop and mobile experiences.Let’s start with the YouTube mobile app, which is getting a bunch of new features:
Clean new design : We’ve made the header white to let content take the lead and moved the navigation tabs to the bottom of the app so they’re closer to your thumbs. We also added new Library and Account tabs that give you easy access to what you’re looking for.
: We’ve made the header white to let content take the lead and moved the navigation tabs to the bottom of the app so they’re closer to your thumbs. We also added new Library and Account tabs that give you easy access to what you’re looking for. Videos that move with you : One of the things we’re working on is bringing gestures to YouTube. Earlier this year, we introduced a gesture that allows you to double tap on the left or right side of a video to fast forward or rewind 10 seconds. Give it a try! We already see billions of double taps per day. And I wanted to give you a sneak peek at another gesture I am really excited about. In the coming months, we'll experiment with a feature that lets you jump between videos with a simple swipe of your hand: just swipe left to watch a previous video or swipe right to watch the next one.
: One of the things we’re working on is bringing gestures to YouTube. Earlier this year, we introduced a gesture that allows you to double tap on the left or right side of a video to fast forward or rewind 10 seconds. Give it a try! We already see billions of double taps per day. And I wanted to give you a sneak peek at another gesture I am really excited about. In the coming months, we'll experiment with a feature that lets you jump between videos with a simple swipe of your hand: just swipe left to watch a previous video or swipe right to watch the next one. Watch at your own pace : Users love that they are able to speed up and slow down the playback of a video on desktop, and we're excited to bring this feature to the mobile app today, so you can enjoy videos at whatever speed you prefer.
: Users love that they are able to speed up and slow down the playback of a video on desktop, and we're excited to bring this feature to the mobile app today, so you can enjoy videos at whatever speed you prefer. Adapt to any video, beautifully : We've also been experimenting with new ways to display all videos in the best possible way. Soon, the YouTube player will seamlessly change shape to match the video format you’re watching, such as vertical, square or horizontal. That means you’ll always get the best viewing experience automatically – including vertical videos with no black bars on the sides!
: We've also been experimenting with new ways to display all videos in the best possible way. Soon, the YouTube player will seamlessly change shape to match the video format you’re watching, such as vertical, square or horizontal. That means you’ll always get the best viewing experience automatically – including vertical videos with no black bars on the sides! Browse and discover while you watch: We recently added a feature that lets you view a row of suggested videos while you’re watching in full screen. We're also working on transforming the area below the player so you can browse videos in totally new ways.
Looking beyond the YouTube app, we’ve also been
Looking beyond the YouTube app, we’ve also been working on a new desktop design. And thanks to all the positive feedback, we're now excited to make it available to all our users around the globe starting today! Our new look applies Material Design to YouTube and delivers a fresh, simple and intuitive user experience that lets content shine – because there's nothing more important than the creators and videos we all love to watch. My favorite feature of this new desktop design is Dark Theme, which turns the background dark while you watch for a more cinematic look.
The bright red cherry on top of this update sundae is a refreshed
The bright red cherry on top of this update sundae is a refreshed YouTube Logo and YouTube Icon . Designed for our multi-screen world, the updated Logo combines a cleaned up version of the YouTube wordmark and Icon, creating a more flexible design that works better across a variety of devices, even on the tiniest screens. Why’s it more flexible? When room is limited (say on a smartphone) you can use the brightened up Icon as an abbreviated Logo, which will be seen more easily and read more clearly. You’ll see the new Logo and Icon roll out across mobile and desktop today, and across all our other apps and services soon.
|
Alexa and Cortana join forces to improve integration
|
Amazon and Microsoft are teaming up to enhance integration between their digital assistants, Alexa and Cortana, on a range of devices. The benefit for Alexa users will be able that they can now access some unique aspects of Cortana, such as Microsoft Office products. Meanwhile, Cortana users will be able to use Alexa to access exclusives that Microsoft is unable to offer. "Together, their strengths will complement each other and provide customers with a richer and even more helpful experience", said Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.
|
http://gadgetynews.com/alexa-cortana-buddy-microsoft-amazon-partnership/
|
2017-08-30 06:27:29.787000
|
Alexa and Cortana buddy up in Microsoft / Amazon partnership
Amazon and Microsoft are getting together in order to improve integration between their Alexa and Cortana digital assistants.
According to The New York Times, Alexa users will be able to access Cortana, and vice versa, on a range of devices.
The report does state that this integration will be a little bit awkward initially, however.
When using an Alexa device you will have to say “Alexa, open Cortana” to get access to Microsoft’s own digital assistant. If you’re using Cortana you will have to say “Cortana, open Alexa.”
From this alone it looks a lot like all these companies have done is created skills on each others platforms to enable the basic integration.
Why should I care?
The benefit for users is that it will allow Alexa users to get access to some of the more unique aspects of Cortana. Microsoft has built its digital assistant to access Office products.
Microsoft has built its digital assistant to access Office products. This means that Alexa will get that functionality by tapping into Cortana.
Furthermore, while Microsoft is still tempting developers to create their own Cortana skills, existing Cortana users will be able to call up Alexa to get access to the ones that Cortana is missing.
Tech party
This news has certainly come as a surprise to us at GadgetyNews. Especially as Microsoft is preparing to launch a Cortana speaker with Harman Kardon – the Invoke. Not only that, it’s preparing to push its digital assistant into cars, thermostats, and more devices.
Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Google have all built rival digital assistants. As far as users and developers are concerned there, up until now, have all had strict borders. This partnership signals a move to make them work better together.
The New York Times reports that Microsoft and Amazon partnered in May last year. Word is that Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, raised the idea with Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, at Microsoft’s CEO summit.
Makes sense
This Amazon / Microsoft lovefest actually makes perfect sense. Firstly, Microsoft already helps power Alexa queries through its Bing search engine. Secondly, ganging up will certainly pose strong competition against Google’s own assistant.
However, after saying that, Bezos is more than happy to welcome Apple and Google and offers similar integration.
Microsoft and Amazon are planning to fully detail their partnership later today.
Why not grab an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot right now and get familiar with Alexa?
UPDATE – official statement from Amazon
I have just been contacted by Amazon who have confirmed the above.
Their statement says:
Alexa customers will be able to access Cortana’s unique features like booking a meeting or accessing work calendars, reminding you to pick up flowers on your way home, or reading your work email – all using just your voice. Similarly, Cortana customers can ask Alexa to control their smart home devices, shop on Amazon.com, interact with many of the more than 20,000 skills built by third-party developers, and much more.
Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft says
Ensuring Cortana is available for our customers everywhere and across any device is a key priority for us. Bringing Cortana’s knowledge, Office 365 integration, commitments, and reminders to Alexa is a great step toward that goal.”
Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon added
|
Uber appoint former Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi as CEO
|
Uber has chosen former Expedia chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi as its CEO, filling the vacuum left by co-founder Travis Kalanick in June. Khosrowshahi, a 48-year-old Iranian American who led Expedia for 12 years, was a surprise appointment who beat the likes of Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric, and Meg Whitman, the chief executive of HP Enterprise, for the job. Khosrowshahi will be tasked with reforming the company’s workplace culture, recruiting new executives, and dealing with multiple legal battles.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/27/former-general-electric-boss-jeffrey-immelt-rules-himself-out-of-uber-role
|
2017-08-30 05:51:49.990000
|
Uber has chosen Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of travel company Expedia, to be its new boss, ending a contentious search that has been marred by boardroom spats and leaks.
The announcement, made on Sunday, comes as the ride-hailing service fights allegations of sexism and racism that led to the ousting of its founder, Travis Kalanick.
Khosrowshahi, a 48-year-old Iranian American who has led Expedia for 12 years, was a surprise appointment who beat Meg Whitman, the chief executive of HP Enterprise, and Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric, for the job.
The Expedia CEO has been critical of Donald Trump, tweeting in the wake of his Charlottesville remarks: “I keep waiting for the moment when our Prez will rise to the expectations of his office and he fails, repeatedly.”
Earlier on Sunday, Immelt said via Twitter that he had “decided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber”, while expressing “immense respect” for the cab-hailing company and its founders.
I have decided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber. I have immense respect for the company & founders - Travis, Garrett and Ryan. — Jeff Immelt (@JeffImmelt) August 27, 2017
Immelt stepped down as CEO at GE this year after 16 years running the industrial conglomerate. The 61-year-old did not say why he had pulled out, but the New York Times said that he would not likely have received enough votes from the Uber board to edge ahead of rival candidates.
Uber’s eight-member board met over the weekend to decide on a new CEO, the New York Times said. The shortlist of candidates had narrowed to three people – Whitman, Immelt and Khosrowshahi.
Whitman, 61, had previously said she planned to stay at HP and described speculation over her departure from the IT services group as a “distraction”. She tweeted last week: “We have a lot of work still to do at HPE.”
(3/3) We have a lot of work still to do at HPE and I am not going anywhere. Uber's CEO will not be Meg Whitman. — Meg Whitman (@MegWhitman) July 28, 2017
Uber had been searching for an experienced executive to fill the vacuum left at the top by the departure of co-founder Kalanick in June, and to restore confidence in the business following months of chaos.
Khosrowshahi will have to reform the company’s workplace culture following accusations of sexual discrimination and harassment, recruit new executives including a chief financial officer and chief operating officer, and deal with numerous legal wrangles. They include an intellectual property dispute with Waymo, Google’s self-driving car spinoff.
Kalanick resigned in June following pressure from investors, just one week after taking an indefinite leave of absence. That leave of absence was not enough for a group of investors who own more than a quarter of Uber’s stock and account for about 40% of voting shares, giving them enough leverage to force out Kalanick when they demanded that he quite the role.
The San Francisco-based company had asked the former US attorney general Eric Holder to conduct an investigation into the company’s workplace culture. The long list of recommendations for reform included reviewing and reducing Kalanick’s role in the company. Uber is reeling from allegations of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment, revelations of a secret programme to evade law enforcement, lawsuits and other legal challenges brought by drivers, bans on its UberPop service of unlicensed drivers in several countries and a string of departures of high-level executives.
Travis Kalanick resigned as Uber chief executive in June amid mounting shareholder pressure. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA
The pressure on Uber and Kalanick became critical after a former employee published a blog post in February describing a workplace rife with gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
The venture capitalist David Bonderman resigned from Uber’s board of directors in June after making a sexist comment at the all-staff meeting where the Holder report’s recommendations were presented. At least 20 employees were fired over incidents of harassment, retaliation, discrimination and bullying, dozens more were disciplined and a number of complaints remain under investigation by Holder’s law firm, Perkins Coie.
Kalanick came under fire for his leadership style when Bloomberg released a video of him berating an Uber driver after the driver had complained about the difficulty making a living with Uber’s falling pay rates. Kalanick apologised for his behaviour in a statement that conceded he needed “leadership help”, and he announced his intention to hire a chief operating officer to assist him in the management of the company.
A number of senior executives have quit the company recently, including president Jeff Jones, who said he left because working at Uber was incompatible with his values; senior vice-president of engineering Amit Singhal; head of policy and communications Rachel Whetstone, vice-president of product and growth Ed Baker and head of finance Gautam Gupta.
|
Number of UK drivers without insurance soars due to high premiums
|
Compensation claims made against UK drivers without insurance has soared 10%, marking the first increase in a decade, reveals the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB). It fears rising motor insurance premiums, driven by reforms and government tax hikes, is putting drivers off taking out policies. Motor insurance premiums have surged to record levels, with the average premium rising by 11% to £484 in 2016. The MIB, which compensates victims of uninsured drivers and hit and run accidents, is expecting to pay out around £256m this year from fees collected from insurers, which equates to about £15 added to the cost of the average motor insurance policy.
|
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4835164/Crash-claims-against-drivers-without-insurance-soar-10.html
|
2017-08-30 05:47:37.430000
|
The number of compensation claims lodged against uninsured drivers has risen for the first time in a decade.
The rise was revealed yesterday by the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB), which compensates victims of uninsured drivers and hit and run accidents.
It fuels fears that spiralling motor insurance premiums, driven by government tax hikes and controversial reforms to serious personal injury compensation, may be putting off more drivers from taking out insurance.
The MIB said that in the year to July the number of cases submitted to the bureau rose almost 10 per cent from 10,000 to 11,000, having declined from 25,000 in 2004.
It expects to pay out £256million this year from the fees it collects from insurers. This equates to around £15 added to the cost of the average motor insurance policy.
The MIB said that in the year to July the number of cases submitted to the bureau rose almost 10 per cent from 10,000 to 11,000, having declined from 25,000 in 2004 (stock photo)
Seizures of uninsured vehicles are also on the increase, with 145,000 taken off the road in 2016.
Around 58,000 were crushed, or more than 1,000 a week, according to the MIB, which runs the insurance database used by police to check the status of vehicles.
The bureau said it has launched an investigation into why this has happened and has teamed up with the criminology department of the University of Leicester.
Ashton West, chief executive of the MIB, said the latest figures highlight ‘the devastating impact of uninsured driving on communities and families up and down the country’
He added: ’Whilst we recognise there are a number of factors that could be impacting this increase in claims, increasing insurance costs may be tempting people to take the risk of driving without insurance.’
Motor insurance premiums have risen to record levels, with the average premium jumping by 11 per cent to £484 over the last year.
According to official statistics there are around a million uninsured vehicles on the road, compared with around 38million insured vehicles (stock photo)
Younger drivers pay almost £1,000 on average, according to the Association of British Insurers.
The steep increase in insurance bills has been driven in part by successive rises in Insurance Premium Tax, which has doubled from 6 per cent to 12 per cent in two years.
Insurers have passed the costs onto customers by hiking their premiums.
Government reforms to the ‘discount rate’ used to calculate compensation for victims of life changing injuries have also pushed up pay-outs, and caused insurers to increase premiums.
Earlier this month car insurer Admiral said this would cost the average motorist up to £60 more a year – with young drivers facing a £250 increase.
The government is now consulting on the controversial reforms and has come under fierce pressure from the insurance industry to reverse the changes.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: ‘The fear is that this surge is an unintended consequence of recent sharp rises in insurance premium tax which have resulted in big increases in premiums for all motorists, especially the young.
‘If more drivers are trying to dodge soaring costs by not taking out any insurance at all then law-abiding road users will be left to pick up the bill as they see the price of their own policies go up further still.’
There are around a million uninsured vehicles on the road, compared with around 38million insured vehicles.
But there are no figures indicating whether the number of uninsured drivers has gone up or down last year.
The MIB said another potential cause of the rise in claims against uninsured drivers could be the influence of aggressive personal injury claims firms, which encourage victims of motor accidents to pursue compensation.
|
Hong Kong residents to get Google Wi-Fi via telecoms tie up
|
Google has joined forces with Hong Kong telecoms network operator HKT to offer an advanced mesh Wi-Fi home router solution, Google Wi-Fi, to the city’s residents. The system should help to eliminate “dead zones” for dual-band Wi-Fi in customers’ homes, using various Wi-Fi points that can be installed in different rooms to help strengthen the signal. HKT recently launched an ultra-fast broadband system for Hong Kong citizens through its Netvigator service. Google’s Wi-Fi option is also available in Singapore through telecoms firm StarHub.
|
http://www.scmp.com/tech/social-gadgets/article/2109015/google-hkt-launch-advanced-home-wi-fi-system-hong-kong
|
2017-08-30 05:45:44.387000
|
Wide availability of Google Wifi technology expected to help drive adoption of more ‘smart home technologies’ across the city
|
EC demand-response regulations ‘incompatible’ with markets: DNV
|
The European Commission's (EC's) draft proposal on demand response regulations does not abide by market principles, a study from energy consultant DNV GL has found. The directive's aim to stimulate the use of demand response by introducing an aggregator into the electricity value chain could limit financial compensation to suppliers and raise tariffs for customers, DNV GL said. However, by requiring the independent aggregator to compensate the supplier, consumers are more likely to receive the fair benefits of demand supply, said Andreas Schröter, executive VP for Central Europe and the Mediterranean.
|
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2017/08/29/dnv-gl-report-criticizes-eu-demand-response-regulations/
|
2017-08-30 05:28:02.087000
|
In a study commissioned by the EURELECTRIC industry association, DNV GL has found that a financial model proposed by the European Commission could limit the effectiveness of demand response as a way to ensure a reliable and economically stable energy system.
The EU directive aims to stimulate the use of demand response in all member states, by bringing a new player; an aggregator, into the electricity value chain. An aggregator is responsible for combining consumer loads and generated electricity, to be traded on the electricity market.
The criticisms, found in DNV GL’s report Demand Response Activation by Independent Aggregators as Proposed in the Draft Electricity Directive, center on the fact the draft currently prohibits financial compensation to stakeholders who are left at a disadvantage by the independent actions of an aggregator.
The report recommends that EU Member States be allowed to make their own decision regarding demand response compensation, based on their individual market circumstances, and recommends several possible financial models, which DNV GL says would have significant benefits over the current ‘no compensation only’ proposal.
Popular content
The recommended models include requiring the independent aggregator to compensate the supplier – which would prevent inefficient activations of, placing charges on system users to cover compensation to suppliers or requiring flexible consumers to pay for the amount of energy that would have prevented the need for demand response to be activated.
“The EU is right to encourage the establishment of independent aggregators to enable more people to benefit from demand response,” says Andreas Schröter, DNV GL’s Executive Vice President for Central Europe and the Mediterranean. “Yet by disadvantaging players affected by aggregator-triggered demand response actions, the draft directive effectively makes it possible for aggregators to get a free ride at the expense of others. This could mean consumers are faced with higher tariffs for demand response, limiting its attractiveness and uptake.”
|
Long-distance ridesharing app Buckle Up launched in Australia
|
Long-distance ridesharing app Buckle Up is set to launch in Australia next month. The app was founded by entrepreneur Seb Lindner after he failed to find a fellow passenger for a long car journey between Melbourne and the Blue Mountains. It will have a strict verification process and security measures to keep users safe. Lindner first hopes to attract people travelling to festivals and sporting events outside major cities, before expanding to include those travelling interstate.
|
https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/travel/article/buckle-app-seb-lindner
|
2017-08-30 04:03:53.470000
|
You’ve been there. A lengthy solo drive. Four empty car seats. Nothing but your auxiliary cord for company. Entrepreneur Seb Lindner found himself in that situation driving from Melbourne to the Blue Mountains earlier this year. After failed attempts to fill his car with passengers by advertising empty seats on Gumtree and in closed Facebook groups, Linder identified the need for a safe platform to connect drivers and passengers on the road. In September, Linder will launch Buckle Up – a ridesharing app and platform with a mission to ease congestion, while connecting like-minded travellers and festival-goers on the road.
“I wanted to tackle the bigger issue of transport and its inefficiency,” Lindner explains. “With so many spare seats on the road and drivers travelling long distances solo, I wanted to make it easy for people to find drivers or passengers in the one place.”
To begin with, Lindner hopes to attract those travelling to music festivals and sporting events outside major cities, such as Meredith Music Festival, Falls Festival, and Beyond the Valley. Once the app gains momentum, Buckle Up will expand nationally to connect passengers travelling interstate. Lindner underscores that there will be a strict verification process involved, and security measures in place. First, each rider and driver must sign up via Facebook. All users will be required to upload contact details that will be verified with a photo submission of a driver's licence and vehicle registration number. While these security measures might seem to be a lengthy process, each step is integral to keep the network as safe as possible. “In the early stages of the app, each user will be manually verified and approved by the Buckle Up team, so we can keep an eye on each driver or passenger and flag anything of concern,” he said. As an extra safety measure, Buckle Up will insure both passengers and drivers for any liability in case of damage to the car, a crash or an emergency.
|
Whatsapp launches verified business accounts programme
|
Whatsapp has launched a verified business accounts scheme in the latest attempt to monetise the Facebook-owned messaging service. The pilot programme is currently available to a limited number of small- to medium-sized enterprises and will mean users can tell if a business has been verified by a "yellow message inside a chat". Analysis also suggests that the programme will let participants set their business hours and automate responses.
|
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/30/facebook-furthers-whatsapp-monetization-efforts-with-verified-business-pilot
|
2017-08-30 03:46:17.890000
|
Facebook-owned WhatsApp has launched a pilot that will let businesses communicate with the messaging service’s one billion daily users, with reports suggesting it will launch a dedicated app for small-to-medium businesses (SMB).
Facebook is in the early phases of building a 'business ecosystem' around its sister messenger services / WhatsApp
More than three years have passed since Facebook agreed to purchase the messaging service for $19bn, and it has now given the first clear indication about how it intends to monetize WhatsApp, with the launch of a verified business accounts program.
The scheme was announced in a blog post (see below) with the pilot currently limited to a small number of SMBs, although no details related to paid-for opportunities (if any) are currently available at present.
The post also doesn't outline a rollout schedule for the program, but it does explain that WhatsApp users can ascertain if a business has received verification by a “yellow message inside a chat.”
In addition, it states that if a user has already included a business' details in their address book, it will appear under the given name within WhatsApp, otherwise the commercial entity will be identified by a name it has chosen for itself.
WhatsApp users can also block specific businesses from contacting them, but will not be able to delete specific messages within a chat once they have started communicating with them, according to the post.
The post contains little further information, but WaBetaInfo has published an article containing an analysis suggesting the scheme will let participants set their business hours, automate responses, and that a specific Android version of WhatsApp will be available to SMBs.
Further, Business Insider points to a job listing for a technical specialist specifically catering for the SMB offering.
Speaking on Facebook’s most recent earnings call, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told financial analysts that over 250 million people now use WhatsApp Stories daily, and that over a billion use the messaging service each day.
“We're also working to build a business ecosystem around Messenger and WhatsApp. Messenger and WhatsApp both have large communities, and they're growing quickly, with 1 billion people now using WhatsApp daily. It is still early on the monetization side here,” he said according to a Seeking Alpha transcription.
Facebook chief financial officer, David Wehner, later went on to comment on its separate approaches to monetizing Facebook Messenger (which has already started rolling out an advertising offering) and WhatsApp.
“WhatsApp has demonstrated significant engagement with crossing 1 billion daily actives,” he said. “We're focused on growing the user base, first and foremost. And then secondly, it's about building organic connections between businesses and consumers. And then third, it's about how do we build monetization around those relationships.
Wehner added: “And I think there, we're further along with Messenger than we are with WhatsApp. And so, I think you see us rolling out the global beta there with ads. So, I think we'll watch and learn from that. And as we learn things, we can apply them in other areas.”
Earlier this year it was revealed that WhatsApp was in talks with the State Bank of India, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and a number of other financial institutions to integrate payments with the messaging service.
|
Tesla uses polymer paste to stick its solar tiles together
|
Tesla has been granted a patent for a “method for curing conductive paste applied to two adjacent photovoltaic structures”, like Tesla's Solar Roof. Tiled solar panels such as those in SolarCity's design face a significant challenge in getting electricity to flow efficiently from one tile to the next, all the while protecting the solar cell against the elements. Tesla's new patent tackles the issue by using a polymer paste to connect the conducting busbars of one shingle to another, allowing the electricity to flow from cell to cell.
|
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/teslas-patent-for-making-solar-shingles-stick-together-explained
|
2017-08-29 23:00:00
|
One of the biggest questions facing Tesla’s new Solar Roof product is how it will overcome the technical and cost-effectiveness challenges that have prevented other building-integrated photovoltaic contenders from breaking into the rooftop solar market.
This week, Tesla was granted a patent that could help answer some of those questions. The patent, first reported by CB Insights, is for a “method for curing conductive paste applied to two adjacent photovoltaic structures” -- i.e., solar cells arranged in a “cascading” or overlapping structure, just like Tesla’s Solar Roof.
While it’s not clear if Tesla is using the methods described in the patent for its current Solar Roof production, the concept has been kicking around for some time. The patent application was first filed by SolarCity in May 2016, six months before its $2.6 billion acquisition by Tesla.
It’s also a much different approach than the standing-seam metal roof developed by SolarCity's R&D unit, code-named “Steel Pulse,” that Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly called a “piece of shit” when he first saw it last spring. Tesla abandoned that project and switched to overlapping solar tiles, a product that was unveiled to the public in October -- although that demo wasn’t actually wired up to generate electricity.
Tesla started taking orders in May, and announced the first working installations in August, with Musk and Tesla CTO JB Straubel getting the first ones. It also started releasing pricing data, with an average price of $21.85 per square foot, which is cost-competitive with standard tile or slate roofing products, but still more expensive than today’s solar panels on a cost-per-watt basis.
Tiled solar panels also face a core challenge -- getting electricity to flow from one tile to the next efficiently, while protecting against rain, wind, heat and the other rooftop conditions that can erode a system’s performance over time.
“Yield and cost of creating the cell-to-cell contact is one of the challenges of the cascaded, or overlapping, cell design,” MJ Shiao, head of Americas research at GTM Research, noted. “If there's a more efficient and reliable way of doing that, it'll help lower the cost and improve the viability of the design.”
Tesla’s new patent attacks the challenge by using a polymer paste to connect the conducting busbars of one shingle to another. This paste both bonds the two overlapping structures physically, and allows electricity to flow from cell to cell, and is meant to be more flexible and resistant to temperature changes than soldered metal connections between cells.
But its primary innovations center around how it creates this bond between panels, which requires heat ranging from 200 to 600 degrees Celsius, by moving them along a conveyor belt, rather than using a batch or stationary process. It’s what Tesla calls an “exemplary inline thermal curing system,” and according to its patent, it’s better than the two other options available today: convection ovens and heating surfaces.
The problem with convection ovens is that “the heating efficiency of such approaches is typically low, because most of the heat may escape to the environment,” the patent states. What’s more, “air must be circulated to ensure that there is effective and even convection occurring on the strips,” and “an uneven airflow can result in temperature non-uniformity on the strips.”
Heating surfaces provides more uniformity, but because they need to be cool before the solar cells are placed on them, “heating up and cooling down can take a long time, thus reducing the throughput of the fabrication system,” it noted. “In addition, heating and cooling of a large thermal mass can consume a large amount of energy, and can cause large thermal stresses to be applied to the tool.”
Tesla’s patent describes the two main parts of the system -- the carrier of the solar wafers that runs underneath, and the heating element that sits above. The wafer carrier includes polybenzimidazole (PBI) plastic, a kind of plastic with very low thermal conductivity, to “ensure that the heat emitted from the heater is mostly trapped between the heater and the substrate carrier and, thus, can efficiently cure the conductive paste.” It also includes a “number of components separated by air gaps to allow an individual component to expand when heated.”
The heating element that sits above the conveyor belt also has a number of features, including a “radiation block” with “a substantially dark colored coating” to improve its efficiency, that “can include an anodizing coating or a high-emissivity coating,” with a thickness of between 1 and 100 microns.
“A well-designed system that can efficiently heat the strips without damaging the photovoltaic junctions can reduce the time needed for curing the conductive paste to a period between 25 and 60 seconds,” the patent notes.
By the way, Tesla’s tempered glass solar shingles are using a hybrid of technology from Panasonic and Silevo, which SolarCity bought for $200 million in 2014. That is not the same technology as most of the building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products we’ve seen come and go over the past decade or so, which have used lower-efficiency thin-film solar materials that have been unable to compete with polysilicon solar panels.
Energy Conversion Devices went bankrupt chasing the dream of flexible BIPV through its Uni-Solar subsidiary. Even Dow Chemical wasn’t able to make a go with its Powerhouse line of roof shingles with built-in thin-film PV -- it discontinued the product last year.
|
Google accused of pressurising US think tank
|
Google is facing criticism for its influence over US think tank the New America Foundation. The criticism comes following the firing of scholar Barry Lynn, who wrote an article on New America’s website supporting the imposition of a $2.7bn fine on Google by the European Union for anti-trust breaches. The president of New America, Anne-Marie Slaughter, denies this was the reason for Lynn’s sacking.
|
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/opinion/google-influence-think-tanks.html
|
2017-08-29 22:00:00
|
In his book “Zero to One,” the tech investor Peter Thiel writes that companies like Google lie to protect themselves. “They know that bragging about their great monopoly invites being audited, scrutinized and attacked. Since they very much want their profits to continue unmolested, they tend to do whatever they can to conceal their monopoly — usually by exaggerating the power of their (nonexistent) competition,” he explains. There’s evidence that this kind of exaggeration is carried out by numerous scholars and think tanks funded by Google. According to a 2017 Wall Street Journal investigative report, “Over the past decade, Google has helped finance hundreds of research papers to defend against regulatory challenges of its market dominance, paying $5,000 to $400,000 for the work.”
But as the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog discovered in February 2009 when it investigated Google’s handling of consumer privacy, the funding from Google comes with strings attached. As the group noted on its website, Google’s director of policy communications, Bob Boorstin, emailed the Rose Foundation (a major funder of Consumer Watchdog) complaining about Consumer Watchdog and asking the charity to consider “whether there might be better groups in which to place your trust and resources.” Mr. Boorstin later apologized for his attempts to cripple a Google critic, but there is no evidence that the use of this kind of tactic has ended.
The Wall Street Journal’s report found that since 2009, Google had directly funded 100 papers written by academics and 100 papers that came through think tanks funded by Google. These papers make their way to the congressional committees and regulatory agencies that are charged with overseeing Google’s business, like the Federal Trade Commission.
Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” suggested that the company valued transparency. But the extent of its influence is anything but transparent. Occasionally this is revealed to the public, such as when the infamous Google Shill List came out during a lawsuit brought by Oracle. Google was forced to disclose that it provided major funding to important organizations like Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Computer and Communications Industry Association.
So when these supposedly neutral organizations weigh in on issues that involve Google, you should take their advocacy with a grain of salt. In the coming months, privacy legislation put forward by Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and modifications to the Safe Harbor provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act advocated by Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, will come before Congress. Google does not want either of these laws to pass, and you can be sure that papers from major think tanks will be part of the policy discussion.
|
Zero-waste Totnes supermarket to expand to London and Birmingham
|
A zero-waste shop in Totnes in the UK has been so successful that its owners are contemplating opening new shops in Birmingham and London. Earth.Food.Love sells up to 200 pesticide-free, ethical products, as well as sustainable sanitary products, shavers and toothbrushes, and requires customers to bring their own bags and containers for produce. Compostable paper bags are available for first-time visitors. Nicola and Richard Eckersley set up their shop after visiting Unperfekthaus, an anti-waste outlet in Berlin. The couple have now produced a guide to “setting up your own zero waste shop”.
|
http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/30/britains-first-zero-waste-supermarket-has-a-ban-on-packaging-and-stocks-only-ethical-goods-6887086/
|
2017-08-29 22:00:00
|
An eco-friendly-couple say they have launched zero-waste supermarket where all packaging is completely banned.
Big Happiness Interview: From 'clipping' to fika breaks, try these hacks for a good day
28-year-old Richard Eckersley and his wife Nicola, 27, sell a range of up to 200 pesticide-free products in their store, Earth.Food.Love.
You don’t have to worry about 5p carrier bags – as customers are expected to take their own pots, jars and sandwich bags in order to carry anything home.
The shop opened earlier this year in Totnes, Devon, and has been so successful that the green-thinking couple are now planning to open stores in both London and Birmingham to encourage more people to think of the economy.
The couple came up with the idea after they discovered Unperfekthaus – a German anti-waste outlet – while enjoying a trip to Berlin.
Richard said: ‘We walked in and immediately thought, why doesn’t this exist in the UK?
‘We came back to the UK and decided to open our own sustainable store. We wanted to go somewhere that we felt would make a difference to the local community – that’s why we moved to Devon.’
The motto of the shop – which stocks grains, pastas, and even maple syrup – is to deliver goods that are ‘ethical, wholesome and organic’, meaning products such as alcohol and milk are completely off the menu.
Everyday supermarket items such as packets of crisps are also on a strict banned list, as they can have up to seven layers of packaging.
But this doesn’t seem to deter customers – as the shop stocks products that people are absolutely loving.
‘By far our most popular attraction of the shop is the ‘grind-your-own’ nut butter machines,’ explained Richard.
‘Filled with both almonds and peanuts, you can re-use your nut butter jar again and again and again, each time filling it with delicious, sticky goodness that’s been ground right in front of you.’
Alongside nut butter, Earth.Food.Love stocks items that are locally sourced and biked over by local farmers, such as regionally-grown oats.
The store’s Zero Waste Lifestyle collection also includes sanitary products, metal shavers that you just need to swap the blade on, and bamboo toothbrushes that have bristles you can replace.
Shoppers have to take their own containers which they then fill, weigh and label and pay for what they are buying by the gram – though the store keeps a supply of compostable paper bags for first-time customers and people who have turned up without their own containers.
Despite the sales, Richard and Nicola say they didn’t set up the shop to make money.
Richard said: ‘It’s not about price for us. We don’t want to stock items just for the sake of it, it has to be ethical.
‘At the same time, we don’t want to compete with local farms – there are many around here that sell fresh produce already.
‘We’re adding products all of time, but the supplier has to be right for us.’
He continued: ‘We want to live in a world where consuming doesn’t have to cost the earth.
‘We believe returning to these simple ways will benefit not only our health, but the planets too.’
Alongside selling organic, packaging-free products, the shop is also aiding the economy by featuring ethical energy supplied by Gloucestershire-based Ecotricity, who produce clean, renewable gas and electricity.
This as a whole has encouraged more and more customers to enter the shop, not just to search for products, but to experience something wholesome.
Richard said: ‘This week we’ve had an influx of tourists popping in to see what the shop is all about – they’re fascinated.
‘But we have a lot of local residents too – they come in with their own boxes and bags and stock up on what they need.’
Since opening, Richard says the store has inspired many shoppers – and upon realising this, he and Nicola have produced their very own guide to ‘setting up your own zero waste shop’, which covers location, budget, suppliers, how to find dispensers and even advice on what to stock.
‘In setting up a zero waste shop, you are creating such a huge shift in the way people shop that you are directly influencing positive change, and for that, you should be proud,’ said Richard.
‘Remember that it only takes one person to make one change, and the ripple will be felt through the entire ocean.’
MORE : The verdict on vegan halloumi
MORE : A Nirvana-themed vegan café is opening in Glasgow
|
Solar-plus-storage beats standalone PV by 2020: NREL
|
Should solar penetration reach 15% by 2020, DC-coupled photovoltaic (PV) solar-plus-storage with the US Investment Tax Credit is cheaper than standalone PV solar, according to research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). By 2020, with solar penetration at 24%, all types of solar-plus storage beat standalone PV. While the actual economics vary according to location, as the share of variable solar generation increases, so will the value of connected energy storage.
|
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solar-plus-storage-can-beat-standalone-pv-economics-by-2020
|
2017-08-29 21:55:55.720000
|
With so few utility-scale solar-plus-storage projects actually built, we don’t have much data on how their economics work.
Now those companies considering it -- a group that includes all major solar developers -- have a bit more insight, thanks to Paul Denholm and his colleagues at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Their new analysis models the benefit-cost ratio of several solar and storage configurations under present circumstances and projected cases in 2020.
In today’s market, under the assumptions of the model, standalone PV beats any of the hybrid combinations. Fast-forward to 2020 with an assumed 15 percent solar penetration, and DC-coupled PV-plus-storage with the federal Investment Tax Credit takes the lead.
In a 2020 scenario with 24 percent solar penetration, standalone PV plummets in value and all types of solar-plus-storage take the lead.
The real-world economics will change from place to place, but the trend here is clear: As the share of variable solar generation increases, so will the payoff for siting storage in the same place.
That evidence suggests the data is catching up to the aspirations of the storage industry, which Denholm has been tracking for the last 15 years.
“The hype might actually be real,” he said. “If these somewhat conservative projections do come true, then yes, by 2020 solar-plus-storage will be a cost-competitive source of dispatchable energy.”
Not just cost
It’s easy enough to calculate levelized cost of energy for a solar-plus-storage system, and it will always be more expensive than standalone solar. But that metric fails to capture the additional value that can be gained by adding storage.
If the developer needs to deliver power for the evening peak, a storage-assisted PV plant will be significantly more valuable than the alternative.
The authors instead use a benefit-to-cost ratio found by dividing the annualized energy revenue and capacity value of the system by its annualized capital and operating expenses.
The system modeled is located in Southern California and wields 50 megawatts-AC of PV capacity with 30 megawatts of 4-hour duration storage.
The researchers focused specifically on this asset’s value for energy and capacity, essentially pitting it against a gas peaker plant. They excluded other uses for storage, like ancillary services or transmission and distribution deferral, meaning the storage can likely deliver even more value than what was modeled here.
Market distortion
Here’s what the results look like for today’s grid:
Benefit/cost outcomes for PV+storage using 2014 electricity prices and 2016 estimated PV and battery costs. (Image credit: NREL)
The Investment Tax Credit is working some mischief here.
Notice that without the ITC, the “tightly coupled” DC system, which only charges the batteries from the PV array, ranks among the worst paybacks. That configuration sacrifices revenue from arbitraging cheap grid power.
When you add the 30 percent ITC, which is available to storage that only charges from renewable sources, the tight DC system jumps to second best, after standalone PV.
That’s evidence of market distortion at work. Congress has not passed a standalone ITC for storage. The policy on the books drives developers toward charging their storage from solar alone, even when it might make more sense to charge from cheap grid power at night, for instance.
“You’re probably not incentivizing the optimal way of using that resource for the ultimate benefit,” Denholm said.
That raises the chances of stranded assets. What if the industry chases the ITC, only to be stuck with a bunch of arbitrarily limited storage systems when the ITC runs out?
That’s not a concern, Denholm said, because in most cases, it is possible to unlock grid charging with some tweaks to the storage hardware and software.
The future is hybrid
Standalone PV wins out in the current market context (as modeled; there are certainly cases where it already triumphs), which features 6 percent solar penetration. The future holds a different outcome.
There’s a well-established body of literature on the declining marginal value of additional solar power. As the amount of solar generation hitting the grid increases, so does the value of storing that power for use in the evening peak.
The 2020 case with a 30 percent investment tax credit. (Image credit: NREL)
Projecting storage and solar costs in 2020 with 15 percent solar penetration, the authors find standalone solar losing its edge. The nonexclusive DC-coupled solar-plus-storage beats it, and the tight DC-coupled system with the ITC takes first place, with its benefits almost doubling its costs.
At 24 percent solar penetration, standalone PV’s benefit-to-cost ratio sinks below 1, meaning that costs outweigh benefits. In that scenario, any combination of solar and storage beats the standalone solar.
In the same 2020 scenarios run without any ITC, all forms of solar-plus-storage beat standalone solar at 15 and 24 percent penetration.
In those cases, the unrestricted DC-coupled system has the best value proposition, but it’s very close to the tightly coupled system. That’s because in that grid, much of the power charging the storage will be from solar; the value of flexible charging is not as pronounced as it is today.
The study fits into the broader body of work documenting how storage can make itself useful as the grid approaches higher renewable energy penetrations. It also jibes with the market conditions we’ve seen so far: A lot of people are talking about pairing these two resources, but few have done it outside of the island grid context. Large-scale projects going through bidding right now would come on-line around 2020.
In that light, there’s a case to be made for building the hybrid systems before the ITC runs out, knowing that the operational value is only going to grow as solar penetration rises. Once that tax credit is gobbled up, the system can always be changed to operate more flexibly (some might say sensibly) down the road.
Join GTM for a deep dive into the budding domestic energy storage market at the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2017. Utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners will all come together for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive, high-level networking. Learn more here.
|
Ballard’s Q2 shows fuel cell technology could finally be profitable
|
Canada’s Ballard Power Systems recently announced positive adjusted EBITDA over the trailing 12-month period ending on 30 June, suggesting that a publicly listed fuel cell company may eventually post a profitable year. Ballard was founded in 1979 and listed 22 years ago. Its US-listed contemporaries, Plug Power, Hydrogenics and FuelCell Energy, have been public for almost as long. Last year, FuelCell Energy CEO Chip Bottone said the company was "within striking distance" of profitability, but it hasn't reached it yet.
|
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/fuel-cell-summer-update-profitability
|
2017-08-29 21:15:21.880000
|
Publicly listed fuel cell companies have yet to post a profitable year. But Canada’s Ballard Power Systems recently announced the next best thing: positive adjusted EBITDA over the trailing 12-month period ending on June 30.
So, is this another false start for fuel cells, or does it portend profits will soon come to the sector?
Ballard was founded in 1979, making this its 38th year of operations and 22nd as a public company. Its North American-listed compatriots -- Plug Power, Hydrogenics and FuelCell Energy -- have been publicly listed for almost as long. Last year, FuelCell Energy CEO Chip Bottone said the company was "within striking distance" of profitability, but that goal has yet to be realized. Bloom Energy, meanwhile, remains a private company.
Outgoing GTM editor Eric Wesoff recently noted that there has not been a profitable fuel cell company in his lifetime. Wesoff’s Wall has proven as insurmountable as the one in the popular dragon-infused TV series Game of Thrones, preventing fuel cell firms from crossing into profitable territory for centuries -- although not for lack of trying. Could the wall soon be breached?
Ballard Q2 earnings report showed Positive H1 adjusted EBITDA (TTM figures not listed)
Ballard’s trailing 12 months’ (TTM) adjusted EBITDA of $0.6 million was based on revenues of $100 million and gross margins of 34 percent. With net losses in this period below $10 million, revenue growth of one-third would put it on the cusp of profitability. The company’s goals to increase revenues by 50 percent and gross margins by 6 percent over calendar-year 2016 (reiterated in its Q2 report) may be designed with this in mind.
Though it provides technical services to four global auto OEMs, Ballard’s rising fortunes appear largely tied to China’s enthusiasm for hybrid battery/fuel cell platforms for heavy-duty transport (buses, trucks and light rail), which mirrors the country’s interest in batteries for light-duty passenger vehicles. These hybrids supplement battery propulsion with modestly sized fuel cell stacks which serve as zero-emission range extenders.
The company has signed $29 million in contracts to deploy 600 fuel cell engines for Broad-Ocean, a leading Chinese motor manufacturer that has taken a 9.9 percent ownership stake. Ballard has also supplied fuel cells to Yinlong Energy, a battery-electric bus manufacturer (2017 target production: 35,000) that aims for 20 percent of its sales to incorporate fuel cells by 2020. Finally, its joint venture fuel-cell production facility in Guangdong province is contracted to purchase $150 million of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs, a fuel cell subcomponent) from Ballard over a five-year period, on a take-or-pay basis. While these sums would amount to a rounding error for other industries, they are significant for the fuel cell sector.
The transformative potential of the Chinese market is underscored by other fuel cell firms’ announcements. Hydrogenics received a $21 million private placement from Hejili, a Chinese limited partnership, and a $50 million contract with Blue-G, a division of Yixing Electric Auto, covering 1,000 fuel cell stacks. Plug Power, fresh off major transactions with Amazon and Walmart, is also testing fuel cell range extenders in China, and their fuel cell forklifts will likely find a receptive market there as well.
For its part, FuelCell Energy, whose high-temperature molten carbonate fuel cells make it more of a competitor to Bloom Energy, has found its core market in South Korea, where 170 megawatts of its installations have been sited. (From its press releases, privately held Bloom Energy’s installation base appears to have recently topped 200 megawatts.)
Freedom from fossil hydrogen
While FuelCell Energy and Bloom can run their systems on biogas, the proton exchange membrane fuel cells used by Ballard, Hydrogenics and Plug Power require pure hydrogen, which would need to be renewably generated for fuel cells to be a climate solution. And with water electrolysis accounting for only about 1 percent of worldwide hydrogen production -- steam methane reforming with its byproduct carbon dioxide being the dominant process -- the “renewable hydrogen” era remains many, many moons away.
Whether despite or due to this challenge, electrolyzer vendors have innovated to achieve significant cost reductions in recent years. Norway’s Nel Hydrogen has recently claimed that cheap electricity and high electrolyzer utilization (and admittedly, fuel taxes) will allow it to provide hydrogen at a lower cost than gasoline in some jurisdictions (see slide 9 in this Nel presentation).
While this claim may remain untested for some time, given the paucity of fuel-cell vehicle deployments, Nel has signed a framework agreement with SunPower (see slide 22) for renewable hydrogen production, and has moved forward with a framework agreement for a 100-megawatt electrolysis/power-to-gas plant in France, which will inject hydrogen into the natural gas network. The project is valued at 450 million Norwegian kroner, or about $55 million at current exchange rates, with the possibility of eventual expansion to 700 megawatts.
Nel is also developing an intriguing 400-megawatt electrolyzer concept with an unnamed industrial customer to undercut the cost of fossil hydrogen.
Source: Nel Hydrogen, Nel ASA presentation (May 2017), slide 26
While overambitious announcements have continued to characterize the hydrogen and fuel cell sectors, Nel’s competitors have also announced higher-capacity electrolyzer platforms (see here and here) in response to client demand, which suggests the economics may be beginning to show promise.
Of course, even cheaply generated renewable hydrogen would be of limited value unless it could be easily transported, which leads us to Japanese engineering firm Chiyoda and its plan to import hydrogen from Brunei.
The mother of all flow batteries
By 2020 (presumably in time for the Tokyo Olympics), Chiyoda plans to ship toluene to Brunei, where it will be reacted with hydrogen produced from natural gas to generate methylcyclohexane (MCH). The MCH will be shipped back to Japan, where the hydrogen will be removed, leaving toluene, which will be sent back to Brunei.
Call it the mother of all flow batteries.
FIGURE: Development of Large-Scale H2 Storage and Transportation Technology With Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier
Source: Chiyoda
By using the hydrocarbons as a liquid organic hydrogen carrier, or LOHC, Chiyoda aims to circumvent the problems of long-distance hydrogen transport. Though the process may seem something like a Rube Goldberg machine, its overriding advantage is its backward-compatibility with ubiquitous, mature petroleum infrastructure. Given expectations of an eventual peak in liquid fuels demand, LOHC processes could one day offer oil companies a way to stay relevant in a post-petroleum world.
For this pilot project, Chiyoda proposes to transport 210 tons of hydrogen per year to Japan, corresponding to yearly shipments of about 3,500 tons of organic carrier. (By comparison, an oil supertanker can carry upward of 300,000 tons of crude.) A monthly round trip would mean cycling a mere 300 tons of organic carrier between Japan and Brunei, presumably a small enough volume to piggyback off existing shipping flows between the countries.
In terms of energy delivery, 1 kilogram of hydrogen contains about as much chemical energy as a gallon of gasoline, which weighs about 6 pounds (2.75 kilograms). Methylcyclohexane has roughly the same density, and releases about 6 percent hydrogen by weight when converted into toluene. As such, a gallon of methylcyclohexane would yield up 0.17 kilograms of hydrogen, with chemical energy equivalent to one-sixth of a gallon of gasoline. Even factoring in fuel cells’ greater efficiency at converting chemical energy to work, LOHCs might be hard-pressed to deliver one-third as much work-per-tanker as today’s liquid fuels.
Perhaps in part for this reason, funding awards from ARPA-E’s Renewable Energy Fuels Through Utilization of Energy-Dense Liquids (REFUEL) program have focused on ammonia, which consists of 17 percent hydrogen by weight. Ammonia production is a mature industry, with about half a million tons produced each day (global daily oil production amounts to roughly 10 million tons of crude). Unfortunately, ammonia boils at -30 degrees Celsius, has a pungent odor, and is classified in the United States as toxic by inhalation, all of which could impede its success as a widespread hydrogen carrier.
While their time might not come for decades, some form of liquid energy carrier seems likely to play a role in the future: Not all global energy flows can likely be replaced with increased electric transmission capacity. However imperfect the liquid energy carriers of the future may be, their success will probably hinge on compatibility with infrastructure from already globe-spanning industries.
Saluting the supporting cast
Students of the renewables revolution could be forgiven for questioning the relevance of fuel cells, renewable hydrogen and liquid energy carriers, given the ascendance of wind, solar and now battery storage. But emerging technologies deserve attention precisely because they are still emerging and their future is uncertain. The "big three" have enough momentum to saturate their respective markets; their spread and success are largely a given with time.
So while fuel cells, renewable hydrogen, liquid energy carriers, next-generation nuclear and biofuels, efficiency innovations and other technologies may only ever be the supporting cast of the energy transition, their arc is inherently more interesting. The big three may not bring us all the way to a carbon-neutral world on their own, in which case some of these technologies may step into the spotlight, while others remain in the shadows and still more leave the stage.
The twists and turns at the bleeding edge of fuel cell technology make for compelling viewing and engrossing speculation, though for an admittedly smaller audience than the big three enjoy. If and when they breach the wall of profitability, perhaps fuel cells will be taken more seriously.
***
Matthew Klippenstein is a consultant in Vancouver, Canada. He does not own shares or conduct business with any of the companies listed above, but once worked for Ballard Power Systems.
|
Climate change litigation to increase warn environmental lawyers
|
Legal action relating to climate change will escalate and become increasingly successful as scientists become better at attributing extreme weather events to global warming, according to an article in “Nature Geoscience” by UK and US environmental lawyers. Representatives of ClientEarth and Earth & Water Law argue that “the legal duties of those responsible for keeping people, the built environment and the natural world safe” are evolving. Fossil fuel companies are currently being sued by Californian coastal communities in relation to sea-level rises and ExxonMobil is under investigation for misleading shareholders over its exposure to climate change risks.
|
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-sue-governments-companies-legal-action-warning-natural-disasters-clientearth-a7917106.html
|
2017-08-29 21:00:00
|
Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}
A "wave of legal action" over climate change has already begun and cases will become more likely to succeed as the scientists get better at attributing extreme weather events to global warming, activists have warned.
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, lawyers from ClientEarth in London and Earth & Water Law in Washington DC said events previously regarded as “acts of God” could increasingly land humans with a bill for damages.
Companies and their directors, government agencies and others with a duty of care, who fail to disclose relevant information or to plan ahead, could all potentially be in legal trouble.
Several legal cases are already underway in the US with a group of young people suing the US federal government for allegedly creating and enhancing the dangers of climate change; coastal communities in California suing fossil fuel companies over sea-level rise; and the New York attorney general’s office investigating ExxonMobil amid claims the company may have misled shareholders about the financial risk posed by climate change.
The Nature Geoscience article said: “The question is not whether there will be another wave of climate-related litigation — the wave is already in motion.
“The question instead is whether it will be more successful than previous efforts.
“We expect that evidence from attribution science will catalyse future climate change litigation.
“Such cases are likely to involve actors such as local government agencies, built-environment professionals, and companies and their directors alleged to have had duties of care or special knowledge about specific climate-related risk.
“Claims are likely to arise when those actors fail to share or disclose relevant knowledge, or fail to take adaptation actions that would have protected those to whom they owed a duty of care.”
Attributing extreme weather events to climate change is difficult. However, recently researchers have been able to show wildfires and other events were significantly more likely because of the rising temperatures.
And courts in the US and UK, for example, have already accepted evidence based on probability in other cases.
In a statement, the article’s authors, Sophie Marjanac and James Thornton, of ClientEarth, and Lindene Patton, of Earth & Water Law, said: “The science of extreme weather attribution is improving rapidly, and is making important predictions about future weather events.
“This means the legal duties of those responsible for keeping people, the built environment and the natural world safe are changing too.
“Identifying the human influence in events once only understood as ‘acts of god’ will reshape the legal landscape, meaning governments and businesses could be sued if they don’t take action to protect people from floods, heatwaves and other foreseeable climate change risks.”
ClientEarth twice successfully took the UK Government to court over substandard plans to bring air pollution down to within minimum safety limits set by the European Union in a timely fashion.
Following publication of the Government’s third attempt, it has written to Ministers seeking “urgent answers over disturbing holes in court-ordered plans to clean up illegal levels of air pollution”.
In July, chief executives of 92 green organisations voted ClientEarth as the UK’s most effective environmental campaign group.
This article has been corrected to state that the young people suing the US government are doing so on the ground that it helped to cause climate change, rather than failed to take action to address it.
|
Solar-plus-storage cheaper than gas peakers by 2025: WoodMac
|
By 2025, solar-plus-storage and standalone storage will be cheaper than new and existing open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) peaker plants for meeting peak load, according to analysis by Wood Mackenzie, GTM Research and MAKE Consulting. By 2035, renewables and storage will also be cheaper than gas for baseload power, they said. The research was carried out after a state-wide blackout in South Australia led to the purchase of a 100 MW/129 MWh battery from Tesla and a 250 MW OCGT peaker plant.
|
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/south-australia-storage-tesla-gas-peakers-grid
|
2017-08-29 20:44:24.637000
|
A lot can happen in the heat of the moment.
For South Australia, the stress of a statewide blackout last fall prompted two major purchases in the grid-time equivalent of the blink of an eye. The government procured a 100-megawatt/129-megawatt-hour battery from Tesla, which will be the largest in the world, and a 250-megawatt open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) peaker plant.
Those projects show that the government is doing something about grid stability. But Wood Mackenzie, GTM Research and MAKE Consulting wanted to figure out if and when energy storage will start to displace gas peakers for cost-effective peak capacity on sheer economics.
South Australia makes a useful test case for these questions due to the stark changes underway there.
The state closed its last remaining coal plant in May 2016. Wind and solar have risen to 46 percent of generation, and are expected to hit 67 percent by 2025. In September, extreme weather triggered the first statewide blackout since the National Electric Market got started in 1998. This caused a great deal of finger-pointing as to which resources caused the failure.
Another round of blackouts rolled through in February due to load-shedding when high demand coincided with low wind production and limited gas reserves.
In today's market, neither renewables backed by storage nor standalone storage are cost-competitive with OCGTs for peaking power, according to the analysis.
By 2025, solar-plus-storage and standalone storage both beat new and existing OCGTs for meeting peak load. By 2035, renewables and storage will be lower-cost than gas for both baseload and peak power, although some OCGTs may still be needed for emergency backup.
That's heartening news for the storage industry -- and a warning sign for gas.
"A much smaller proportion of gas is used for peaking than for baseload, so it's a much bigger deal for storage and renewables to displace combined cycle gas turbines than peakers," said Shayle Kann, head of GTM Research.
The data suggests a pathway where niche applications like the Tesla project, which is short-duration and intended for grid reliability rather than peak capacity, pave the way for storage to compete with gas peakers more broadly, and even then threaten baseload gas, he added.
Many storage developers today pitch utility-scale batteries as a more flexible alternative to peaker plants, arguing they avoid the risk of stranded assets that comes with purchasing single-use peakers that might not be needed in 10 years. The storage for baseload pitch hasn't really begun, at least not outside of remote or island grids.
Of course, the evolution of grid operations won't be as neat. Overall gas demand is expected to drop more than threefold by 2025, but month-to-month variability will be considerable. The government will also have to weigh how much it wants to pay to maintain some OCGTs as emergency backup power.
"If you got rid of gas entirely, you run a risk of an anomalous scenario where there's very little solar generation or wind and you don't have anything dispatchable to replace it," Kann said.
For regular operations in 2025, the amount of storage needed to displace gas peakers is surprisingly manageable.
The yearly maximum residual demand for gas falls in February, when the wind generation doesn't fully cover the evening peak. By adding 400 megawatts/1,600 megawatt-hours of energy storage, though, the grid could fully displace imports or gas peakers in meeting the evening peak demand, according to the analysis.
The key there is the 4-hour duration. Short-duration batteries like those used in the Tesla project cannot bulk-shift enough power to displace peakers.
That is a lot of megawatt-hours in today's terms. But 100-megawatt projects are becoming more frequent, and won't seem as massive by the mid-2020s. The economics are expected to improve, thanks to declining battery costs and cheaper costs to charge.
South Australia's grid is unique in how much renewable energy it already has, but these trends should bear out in similar markets where the grid transition pushes out coal and leaves renewables, gas and storage.
Then the question won't be whether renewables and storage out-compete gas power, but rather how to ensure cost-effective reliability when those market forces arrive.
Greentech Media’s two-day U.S. Power & Renewables 2017 conference in Austin, Texas this November will bring together the solar expertise of GTM Research, the wind energy analysis of MAKE, and the broader energy and utilities expertise of Wood Mackenzie, for an end-to-end view across the entire energy market value chain.
|
University of Saskatchewan patents syngas-creating catalyst
|
Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan have patented a catalyst for synthesising carbon dioxide and methane. The resulting syngas can be used to synthesise liquid fuels or ammonia. The catalyst is made using cheap materials including nickel, cobalt, magnesium and aluminium. Although currently in a powder form, the researchers intend to make the catalyst sphere-shaped to enable it to handle industrial operations more easily.
|
https://phys.org/news/2017-08-technique-reuse-carbon-dioxide-methane.html
|
2017-08-29 18:00:00
|
CLS scientists Yongfeng Hu and Hui Wang. Credit: University of Saskatchewan
CO2 and methane are the most significant greenhouse gases resulting from human activity, said Hui Wang, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.
Capturing CO2 and methane emissions from industrial sources and reusing them could reduce the threat on the world's ecosystem by slowing climate change, said Wang, the principal researcher of a paper published in Catalyst Today.
CO2 and methane can be triggered to undergo chemical reactions with each other to create synthesis gas or syngas. Syngas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be used to synthesize a variety of liquid fuels or ammonia.
This reaction between CO2 and methane, also called 'dry reforming of methane,' has not been fully scaled-up for commercial use due to lack of an inexpensive and industrially viable catalyst. Catalysts are used to speed up chemical reactions.
Wang's research group has patented a technology to make a highly active, stable dry-reforming catalyst from cheap metals including nickel, cobalt, magnesium and aluminum. The current technology provides for making a catalyst in powder form, but the goal of the project is to make the powder form into a sphere-shaped catalyst, which is easier to handle in industrial operations.
To do this, Wang and his research team used commercially available aluminum-oxide spheres and impregnated them with "layers" of the catalyst metals. Several sets of these catalyst balls were made using different techniques to impregnate them with solutions of salt forms of the metals in order to study which technique gave the best results.
The X-ray absorption spectroscopy facility at CLS enabled the researchers to identify, at the atomic level, which procedures for impregnating the spheres created the best characteristics of an industrial catalyst.
"Without the CLS we couldn't have been able to fully understand this," Wang said.
The work is an important step toward creating a shaped-catalyst for commercializing the CO2 reforming of CH4 technology.
|
Romeo Power raises $30m for world's densest battery packs
|
LA battery provider Romeo Power has raised $30m in seed funding, without any input from venture capitalists. The company claims to manufacture the world’s most energy-dense battery packs, providing 25% more energy than comparable devices. The company, founded in 2016, has $65m worth of orders due to be delivered in 2018, attracting interest from automakers, robotics firms, and forklift and motorcycle manufacturers, amongst others.
|
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/30/l-battery-company-romeo-power-raises-30-million-seed-funding/
|
2017-08-29 18:00:00
|
By Jonny Tiernan
L.A.-based battery company Romeo Power claims to make “the world’s most dense battery packs,” and it’s a claim that has led it to generate $30 million in seed funding, without involving venture capitalists. All of the investment came from the management team, unnamed family officers, and people who have invested in the previous startups CEO Mark Patterson has been involved with. Now that’s a gesture of faith.
The confidence in the company, which only launched in 2016, comes from a number of quarters. First, Patterson has a proven track record of successfully founding and selling companies, including a fraud detection company, InAuth, that was bought by American Express; second, the 190-person team features a wealth of expertise that has experience working for respected giants such as Tesla, Apple, Samsung, and Amazon, so they know what they are doing; and third, the company’s special method of building the lithium-ion batteries yields at least 25% more energy density than a comparable pack.
$65 Million in Orders Placed
While Romeo doesn’t make its own battery cells (it sources them from the likes of Samsung and LG instead), it has its own unique method of packing them that sets them apart. According to cofounder and CTO, Porter Harris, the company selects the best cells for a particular application (in a tablet computer or electric car, for example), and then picks out the right container and materials to house and connect them, and then keep the whole thing cool with its own firmware, software, thermal system, and battery system.
It’s a method that has drawn in a huge level of sales already, with orders totaling $65 million scheduled for delivery in 2018. Its customer list includes motorcycle and forklift manufacturers, robotics companies, automakers, and more. Patterson is aware of the runaway success, as he acknowledged in a statement. “We’ve seen incredible momentum in a short period, and we’re scaling manufacturing as fast as we can to meet demand,” he said. “There’s a massive market opportunity for energy storage technologies.”
Patterson is right about the market opportunity, as even the EV market alone is estimated to reach $32 billion by 2020. With this massively increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries, we can expect Romeo Power to keep charging along.
Sign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps —— grow. So ...
|
Wealth manager Equilibrium unveils one-stop-shop investment app
|
Equilibrium is about to launch a one-stop-shop online dashboard service for its wealthy clients on which they can see all their investments in one place. The Manchester-based wealth manager's MyEQ will be accessible through laptops, phones, desktop computers and tablets, and will allow investors to see a snapshot of their assets' worth and also to calculate property values. Equilibrium manages £700m of assets owned by 850 families.
|
http://www.businesscloud.co.uk/news/online-financial-investment-portal-set-to-launch
|
2017-08-29 14:59:07.453000
|
Wealth management company Equilibrium is on the brink of launching its new one-stop-shop online finance portal MyEQ.
The Wilmslow-based firm manages over £700 million of assets for over 850 families and has developed and trialled the cutting-edge portal for their benefit.
Equilibrium Asset Management clients can access MyEQ through laptops, phones, desktops or tablets – and view their own investment portfolio in one place.
Gaynor Rigby, Equilibrium managing partner, said the multi-functional portal will give users a snapshot into their finances, with the added ability to keep track of investments, see a true picture of their net worth and even calculate property values.
“We are proud to be launching the online portal MyEQ. Equilibrium has been providing expertise on wealth and investment management for more than 20 years to our valued customers – and MyEQ is a natural addition to our offer,” she said.
“We hope that this will provide an even greater level of customer experience by creating a quick and easy way to access everything from data to documents.
“MyEQ is an exciting product and is essentially a modern-day personal digital financial filing cabinet that will enable our clients to monitor their financial lives minute-by-minute and day-by-day should they want to.”
Rigby added: “It’s important to mention that MyEQ is a financial peace of mind in your pocket. The portal makes sure that your data is safeguarded by using bank-level security and 128-bit encryption.
“The online portal also provides secure communications with a client’s adviser and allows clients to get a grip on their calendars, not forgetting important financial dates such as premiums due, income receivable, insurance renewals and policy maturities.”
|
Orange County needs to invest in senior care
|
Orange County seniors are likely to require increased care as federal funding looks likely to be cut and the senior population being due to expand by two-thirds in the next 20 years. The county's Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) could be the solution for older residents, however, with the right support. The program is a Medicare and Medi-Cal system that coordinates primary, preventative, acute and long-term care for seniors, as well as overseeing social and rehabilitative services. It also helps older citizens to live independently and gain community support. PACE offers options aside from nursing home care that can still cover all necessary facets of older living, such as primary care, specialized care, food, prescription drugs, oral care, transportation for care and recreational therapy sessions. However, Orange County is lacking support for PACE and other similar services that could radically improve the lives of seniors. Health care costs for the average 65 year old couple, even with Medicare coverage, is around $276,000, and does not cover long term care costs. Not only that, but older residents also face discrimination based on ethnicity and language capacity, making the provision of adequate services even more vital. Providing the present 622,907 residents aged 60 or over with adequate care is important, but even more necessary is the extension of current services for the aging population of the future.
|
http://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/24/orange-county-needs-to-invest-in-senior-care/
|
2017-08-29 14:12:24.613000
|
Orange County seniors need our support now more than ever. With the impending cuts in health care on the national level, we will see an increase in the number of seniors requiring care. For Orange County, that means we need to see more from our Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE. It is a program that is not currently reaching enough of our senior population, but could provide vital benefits for all participants.
Over the next two decades, California’s senior population is expected to grow by nearly two-thirds. Indeed, by 2035, nearly one in four Californians will be age 60 or older, and today in Orange County, 622,907 of our residents are already there.
In fact, of all 58 counties in California, Orange County has the second-highest number of minority seniors, Medi-Cal-eligible seniors, and non-English-speaking seniors. Therefore, in addition to the vulnerability of old age, many of our seniors face other sources of discrimination and disadvantages due to their ethnicity or language capabilities.
I present these numbers to you because our seniors are a significant portion of our community and population here in Orange County — and the fastest-growing age group in the County — and they are not receiving the care they deserve. It is up to us to respond to the needs of this population.
With health care costs making up the majority of senior expenses, seniors on a fixed income regularly struggle to make ends meet. The average 65-year-old couple with Medicare insurance coverage would still need an average of $276,000 to cover projected medical expenses during the combined remainder of their lives, and that doesn’t even cover most long-term care expenses.
While Medi-Cal and the Affordable Care Act have provided vital safety nets and support for these seniors, our cities and counties need to take further steps to protect this population as seniors face potential changes to their current health care status.
Here in Orange County, we have taken such steps in the form of PACE. PACE is a Medicare and Medi-Cal program designed to coordinate and provide all needed preventative, primary, acute and long-term care; social services and rehabilitative services to seniors through one comprehensive program. Furthermore, it does this while helping seniors to continue to live independently, and with dignity, in their communities.
PACE gives seniors an option outside of nursing home care that still provides everything an aging family member might need, including primary care, specialty services, meals, prescription drugs, dental care, recreational therapy and, most importantly, transportation to and from the facilities.
However, Orange County does not have enough of these facilities, and while I am confident that the handful of seniors who have used the program here have benefited from them, it is simply not enough. The thousands of seniors in our county need help, and PACE can give it to them. We need more such programs in Orange County.
As the CEO of the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, I regularly see the disadvantages that our minorities suffer as they enter old age — a vulnerable time for all of us, even under the best of circumstances. PACE offers all the services that ensure a good quality of life for seniors. It is critical that we develop more of these comprehensive centers in our community to serve the needs of Orange County’s elderly.
As a local business advocate serving the Hispanic community, I ask our community and our county to step up for our seniors and support an expansion of PACE programs in Orange County.
Reuben D. Franco is CEO of the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
|
Trump rejects Chinese offer to cut steel overcapacity
|
US President Donald Trump has rejected the Chinese government's proposal to cut steel overcapacity by 150 million tonnes by 2022, according to sources familiar with the matter. Despite several senior advisers' support of the deal, Trump instead urged advisers to find ways to impose tariffs on imports from China, the sources added. Last week, American steel industry executives urged Trump to impose immediate import restrictions.
|
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2108732/trump-rejected-chinese-offer-cut-steel-overcapacity
|
2017-08-29 13:46:16.847000
|
US President reported to have dismissed offer of 150 million-tonne reduction despite support from some of his senior advisers
|
Germany won't meet 2020 emissions target as coal replaces nuclear
|
Germany is unlikely to achieve its 2020 emission-reduction targets because it is replacing baseload power from nuclear facilities with coal-burning plants, according to analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Germany decided to phase out its dependence on nuclear energy following the Fukushima disaster in 2011, forcing the nation to depend more heavily on coal. As a result, Germany's CO2 emissions won't fall fast enough to meet its obligations under the Paris climate accords, even though it generates almost 50% of its energy from renewable sources.
|
https://about.bnef.com/blog/ending-nuclear-means-germany-likely-miss-emissions-goal/
|
2017-08-29 13:20:59.353000
|
This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.
Decision after Fukushima disaster has helped coal plants
Chance of more government action grows as 2020 target looms
German nuclear, coal generation and emissions
Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Germany’s nuclear phaseout, brought about by Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, has left the country unable to wean itself off of the dirty coal and lignite power produced by the likes of RWE, Uniper and EnBW. With the anticipated nuclear closings through 2023, the country needs to keep the firm capacity provided by coal to guarantee security of supply. As a result, Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects it will not meet its 2020 emissions target, despite nearly 50% of generating capacity being wind and solar. As it becomes more apparent the target will be missed, and given the precedent of the lignite reserve, the risk of further intervention grows.
Clients can access the full report here.
BNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.
|
VCs back immigrant founded start-ups in US
|
Venture capitalists in the US are providing support to start-ups created by immigrants. Such start-ups have been threatened by the Trump administration’s decision to delay a ruling that would have permitted overseas entrepreneurs to remain in the country for five years. Unshackled Ventures, which started to invest in 2015, has supported founders from 16 different countries to obtain visas by working in partnership with an immigration law firm. Immigrants founded or co-founded 50% of US-based “unicorn” start-ups worth at least $1bn, according to a 2016 study.
|
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608710/investors-go-where-trump-wont-to-immigrant-entrepreneurs/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=7ea65602e3-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-7ea65602e3-154403165
|
2017-08-29 12:28:50.233000
|
Though these firms, which include Unshackled Ventures, One Way Ventures, and One VC, were not created in direct response to Trump’s actions, their focus on aiding immigrants is particularly timely and vital now. “As immigration issues pop up, we’re seeing VCs answer the call and offer immigration counsel [to their portfolio companies],” says Jeff Farrah, vice president of government affairs at the National Venture Capital Association, a Washington, D.C., trade group.
Yingzhe “Regi” Fu is one beneficiary of this trend. He approached Unshackled Ventures in early 2016, a few months before he was due to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, with a master’s in mechanical engineering. As a Chinese citizen who wanted to stay in the U.S. and help some school friends launch a home-automation-technology startup, Fu essentially had two choices: he could seek employment with a large American company that would sponsor his visa or he could convince Unshackled Ventures to support his work authorization so he could concentrate on his startup.
After several rounds of pitches, the firm agreed to sponsor Fu and provided his startup with office space, strategic advice, and access to a network of experts in exchange for a small equity stake. Today, Fu is able to work full-time on Togg, which just began deploying its smart-sensor product inside homes. “I’m very grateful for what I have right now,” he says. “I can focus on building my company and not worry about the immigration process too much.”
Since Unshackled Ventures began investing in 2015, it has helped its portfolio company founders, who hail from 16 countries, obtain seven different types of visas through a close partnership with an immigration law firm. Often, the process requires the Palo Alto-based fund to hire its entrepreneurs using H-1B visas, which lets non-Americans who have specialized technology knowledge work in the U.S. for up to six years. In order to provide that service and give its companies hands-on coaching, Unshackled Ventures limits its investments to eight to 10 companies a year, says founding partner Nitin Pachisia. (The firm typically invests up to $300,000 in a company during an angel/pre-seed round and asks for 8 to 15 percent ownership in return.)
One Way Ventures also plans to assist entrepreneurs with immigration issues when it begins investing in companies in October. However, the Boston-based fund will focus on more-established companies that are raising seed and Series A funding, and founding partner Semyon Dukach says he will likely refer people to lawyers rather than sponsor their visas. (San Francisco-based One VC has made several seed-stage investments while raising its first fund, but declined interview requests because it has yet to officially launch.)
Firms that specialize in immigrant-founded startups do so for several reasons. Typically, the VCs are immigrants themselves, know firsthand how tedious and unpredictable the visa process can be, and want to help people in similar situations. One of Unshackled Ventures’s founding partners grew up in India; the other is the son of Indian immigrants. One Way Ventures’s founding partners are from Russia and Brazil; One VC’s managing director is also Brazilian.
Some of these investors think focusing on immigrants gives them a greater sense of mission and deeper connection to their work. They also tend to believe that immigrants make better entrepreneurs. The VCs attribute this to the personal qualities that compel people to emigrate, as well as those they develop while navigating a new country. “We think there’s an overall thread between immigrant founders that’s amazing, whether it’s because of their work ethic, determination, grit, or hunger,” says One Way Ventures founding partner Eveline Buchatskiy.
Naturally, these VCs also have financial incentives. They view immigrant entrepreneurs as smart investments, in part because other VCs consider them risky, leaving them underfunded and undervalued compared to their peers. One Way and Unshackled Ventures also point to statistics that indicate how successful these startups can be, such as a 2016 study by the National Foundation for American Policy that found that immigrants founded or cofounded half of the U.S.-based “unicorn” startups that were then valued at $1 billion or more, including Instacart, Slack, SpaceX, and Uber.
Unshackled Ventures’s portfolio also shows encouraging results, with more than half of the 17 companies it has backed already generating revenue. The firm says its invested capital has doubled in value over the past three years, reaping an internal rate of return twice as high as the national average for similar-aged funds.
The Trump administration’s fixation on immigration may further boost returns. Pachisia says inquiries and referrals to Unshackled Ventures have tripled since the 2016 presidential election. One Way Ventures is still raising capital for its first fund, but has already received a number of e-mails from interested entrepreneurs. “Immigrants’ rights in general are being reduced right now, so this whole issue is getting more attention,” says Dukach.
|
Renewable projects likely to face a squeeze on debt ratios
|
Wind and solar energy project developers are facing more conservative financing, according to BNP Paribas. A new era of unsubsidised projects will mean there is a smaller pool of possible lenders, leading to lower debt ratios, the bank said. BNP Paribas is one of the largest providers of project finance debt for renewable energy schemes and aims to double cumulative lending to €15bn ($18bn) by 2020.
|
https://about.bnef.com/blog/lower-debt-ratios-likely-unsubsidized-green-energy/
|
2017-08-29 12:28:26.417000
|
By Angus McCrone, Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Chief Editor. This article first appeared in BNEF’s ‘New Energy Deals’ publication, available to clients on the web and on the Bloomberg Terminal.
The new era of unsubsidized wind and solar projects will mean developers facing a smaller pool of potential lenders, resulting in “a squeeze” on the debt ratios that they have enjoyed up to now, according to BNP Paribas.
The French bank, which is one of the largest providers of project finance debt for renewable energy plants, with a target to double cumulative lending to 15 billion euros between 2015 and 2020, predicted that projects would be subject to more conservative financing structures in the unsubsidized future. Mark Muldowney, managing director, energy and infrastructure for BNP Paribas, told BNEF in an interview: “There would be a squeeze on the average ratios that the banks have used in the past.” He added: “On the debt-equity ratio, this could fall from 80:20 to two-thirds-one-third, but it would be case by case.”
There would also be implications for the tenors on project finance loans, and for the pricing of that debt, he said. In the last year debt pricing has declined, but this trend could go into reverse as subsidies disappear. Muldowney reported that he is seeing more financing proposals crossing his desk from battery project developers: “To finance a battery project with debt, you would want a contracted revenue stream and you would not want to take much risk on the medium-term value of batteries.”
Read the Q&A below:
Q: What trends are you seeing in clean energy project finance at the moment?
A: This doesn’t feel like 2007 all over again. For instance, there hasn’t been an enormous return of the syndication market, which is what you would expect if things were getting very frothy.
There has not been an obvious move in debt-equity ratios in the last year, but pricing has drifted down gently, by 25 basis points or a little more. This reflects the fact that banks remain liquid and want to be involved in the renewable energy project finance market. The reduction has been across Europe, including the U.K., where we have not yet seen any Brexit issue for financing.
We are doubling our commitment to renewables over the next few years, with a target to increase cumulative exposure for BNP Paribas to 15 billion euros in 2020. There is still a lot of desire on the part of banks to be involved in this market, and interest from institutions to come into it. However, there will of course be new challenges in the unsubsidized era.
Q: How would you expect the project finance lending market to change as we move to an era of no subsidies?
A: If we are moving into a world of merchant deals or PPAs and no subsidies, there is likely to be a smaller pool of equity providers and fewer banks, and lower leverage.
The last time there was a lot of financing on a merchant basis was at the end of the last century, with combined-cycle gas turbine plants. That ended unhappily for a lot of investors and banks, because of a fall in electricity prices. I think there is enough collective memory in the banking market to avoid a rush into a large amount of merchant debt. For some renewable technologies, it should be a bit easier to get project finance on merchant deals than it is for CCGT plants, with their fuel cost uncertainties. If you have a wind or solar project and can fix the costs of production at a rate that is competitive with whatever the market can produce, you should be able to get some debt on a merchant basis, although it will be less than you got in the subsidized era.
For a merchant deal, in principle you would have more equity, and that would need to be coming from people who have a view on future power prices.
There would be a squeeze on the average ratios that the banks have used in the past. There is no shortage of banking capital at the moment, and this is now seen as a mature sector, but unsubsidized deals would be difficult for marginal lenders. On the debt-equity ratio, this could fall from 80:20 to two- thirds-one-third, but it would be case by case.
If you assume a debt service coverage ratio of 1.2 on P90 wind at the moment, then a move to 1.15 on P90 wind would help to sustain high gearing levels. But the history in the U.K. has been that coverage ratios on the merchant revenue elements of deals have actually risen sharply towards 1.7 to 1.8. You will also see an increase in bank margins as merchant risk rises, but for many lenders increased pricing will not be enough to compensate for greater risk. There might also be a move towards shorter tenors. For a wind or solar project that is unsubsidized but underpinned by some sort of PPA, similar considerations would apply. If the PPA was for just a short period, you would expect the banks to insist on much higher ratios for debt service, and some increase in margins also.
Q: One of the issues in terms of financing new projects is that it is difficult to hedge power prices out for more than a few years, so there is a lack of certainty on revenues – unless the developer has managed to negotiate a PPA with a corporate customer or a utility. Is there scope for new players to provide electricity price hedging instruments?
A: There is far less liquidity in the power hedging market than a few years ago. There used to be financial investors and utilities providing medium-term liquidity on power prices for a few years out. These markets are not liquid. Getting cover for more than three years out is very hard.
Utilities are the people who logically could provide the hedging, but the accounting treatment of long-term hedges is difficult. But they could provide floors, and that would be very helpful from a debt perspective. Then you can firm up transactions without taking strong views on the peaks.
Corporate PPAs could provide some of the long-term hedging of electricity prices for developers and their investors and banks. However, so far, corporate PPAs have been much more talked about than done. In the future, hedging is likely to come from a combination of utilities as the intermediating parties, and large electricity users. There is no sign of third parties such as the financial sector coming in to offer hedges on the power price.
Q: Are you seeing potential deals in ‘flexible capacity’ such as battery storage or gas-fired generation?
A: Quite a few battery deals are crossing my desk, but they tend to be quite small, at 20-40 million euros or so. They have gone for all-equity deals so far. To finance a battery project with debt, you would want a contracted revenue stream and you would not want to take much risk on the medium-term value of batteries. It would need a 4-5 year contract with the grid. Otherwise, it would be a speculative project, saying that at the moment it can sell frequency services to the grid. We wouldn’t back it on that basis.
In the U.K., you would expect to see more gas projects. Quite a lot of them have been developed, for instance by Americans interested in the sector, but it is difficult to get a lot of debt into these projects. Bidding in capacity market auctions has not favored new CCGT so far.
Q: There is quite a bit of talk at the moment about pumped hydro, with people proposing new ideas such as seawater pumped hydro or pumped hydro in disused coal mines. Would BNP Paribas be interested in helping to finance a pumped hydro project?
A: Pumped hydro projects were originally built in the U.K. to deal with a big shock such as the Sizewell nuclear plant going down. The idea was that they could provide electricity with just a few seconds’ notice. For us to lend to a pumped hydro project now, the question marks would be over the uncertainty of revenues and the length of time to build. They are like giant battery projects, so you would have to look at returns relative to the likely future costs of batteries. I suspect they would look quite expensive by comparison. If the grid is happy to contract for services from the pumped hydro project, then fine. But I think they would struggle to get finance if it was on a merchant power basis.
|
China Unicom to develop range of IoT services with Ayla Networks
|
State-owned telecoms company China Unicom has partnered with California-based Ayla Networks to develop a range of IoT services. The deal is expected to lead to a range of new consumer and business applications including smart hotels, connected cars, artificial intelligence and intelligent cold chain technology for transporting goods at low temperatures. Ayla received funding from Cisco in 2014 and offers a mobile app platform, an IoT design kit and access to developers and support services. It works with clients including Fujitsu, Hisense and United Technologies. Unicom competitor China Telecom launched its own IoT platform with Ericsson in July.
|
http://www.zdnet.com/article/china-unicom-announces-iot-partnership/
|
2017-08-29 12:22:40.127000
|
China Unicom has announced signing an Internet of Things (IoT) collaboration deal with Ayla Networks that will see the two companies develop various consumer and enterprise solutions.
Plans already in the works for their IoT collaboration include solutions across smart homes, smart hotels, connected cars, artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent cold chain technology.
Building such solutions will "enhance" Ayla's IoT platform ecosystem, Ayla Networks co-founder Phillip Chang said, with China Unicom adding that Ayla is an "ideal partner" for its IoT program due to its global scale.
"Ayla's IoT platform provides comprehensive device, cloud, and mobile app connectivity for any kind of product," China Unicom said.
"The Ayla platform not only speeds manufacturers' time to market for connected products, it also handles the intricacies of IoT security, performance, scalability, and interoperability."
Chang said Ayla Networks and China Unicom's work will see them focus on mobile IoT solutions.
"With China Unicom's comprehensive high-quality information and communications services, we are particularly excited about developing mobile IoT solutions," Chang said.
Ayla Networks, which received a funding boost from global networking giant Cisco back in 2014, spruiks its offering as the industry's only end-to-end complete platform for IoT solutions.
In addition to its Ayla Agile IoT Platform, Ayla also has a mobile app platform; an IoT design kit including hardware, software, access to developers, and support; and an insights offering -- meaning it provides connectivity, security, and analytics solutions.
Also working for customers including Fujitsu, Hisense, and United Technologies, Ayla Networks has helped developed such products as smart air conditioning, heating, and ceiling fans; connected thermostats; smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors; a connected weather station; Wi-Fi door locks; smart lighting; and connected water heaters.
China Unicom in June launched its Global IoT Connectivity Cooperation Initiative, inviting partners to help develop enterprise and consumer IoT solutions.
The Chinese carrier has also been working on improving its mobile network, last week announcing the launch of a commercial gigabit-speed 4G LTE network, which is now live in Beijing, Guangdong, Shandong, and Hainan while trials are ongoing in the Sichuan, Shanxi, Hubei, Jilin, and Jiangsu provinces.
The 979Mbps peak-speed network is enabled through the combination of Ericsson's three LTE-Broadcast (LTE-B)-enabling solutions: Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS); High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC H.265); and MPEG Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG DASH).
"To accelerate the development of China Unicom's video strategy, Ericsson supported China Unicom with eMBMS in the high-speed train scenario so that passengers could enjoy high-definition video without buffering on the network," Ericsson explained.
China Unicom has similarly been working with ZTE on 5G New Radio (NR) field trials, in July attaining rates of up to 2Gbps for single-user equipment.
ZTE made use of its pre-commercial sub-6GHz 5G base station at the 3.5GHz frequency with 100MHz bandwidth alongside Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology during the trial with China Unicom's Guangdong branch.
Competitor provider China Telecom launched its own open IoT platform with Ericsson in July, powered by the networking giant's global Device Connection Platform.
|
US landlords of illegally used properties could become liable
|
City councillors in Huntington, West Virginia are trying to crack down on landlords who rent houses to drug dealers and users and choose to look the other way. In an effort to curb the city’s drug problem, landlords in Huntington may soon face steep fines of between $100 and $500 a day if their properties become havens for drug activity and they fail to evict the problem tenant. Under the proposed drug house ordinance landlords could also be charged with a crime if their property is involved in two felonies in a year.
|
http://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Huntington-looks-to-crack-down-on-landlords-who-rent-to-criminals-440425483.html
|
2017-08-29 12:09:18.170000
|
UPDATE 8/28/17 @ 10 p.m.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The city of Huntington is one step closer to adopting a rule that would crack down on landlords who look the other way when their properties become havens for drug activity.
City Council had the first reading of the drug house ordinance at their meeting Monday night.
Under the proposal, landlords could be charged with a crime if their property is involved in two felonies in the span of a year.
The city would notify landlords and give them the opportunity to evict the problem tenant, but if the landlord or property owner fails to do so, they would face a fine between $100 and $500 per day the nuisance remains in place.
Some property owners have expressed concern that they can't observe or control everything that goes on with the people they rent to, but Chief Joe Ciccarelli emphasized this is meant to be a tool to target a handful of landlords who're just interested in making money and don't care about the problem they're contributing to.
The second reading of the ordinance is expected to take place in a couple weeks.
ORIGINAL STORY
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Landlords and property owners in Huntington may soon have to pay steep fines in an effort to hold them more accountable in the city's drug problem.
The proposed new rule was discussed at Huntington City Hall by the Public Safety Committee Monday.
"There's a small handful, less than a half dozen chronic problem landlords who continue to rent to drug dealers and are interested only in the money," Chief Joe Ciccarelli said.
If the ordinance is adopted, following the second felony offense to occur at a property within the span of a year, the landlord or property owner would be looking at paying a $100 to $500 fine per day that tenant is not removed or the property is not cleaned up.
"These landlords are part of the problem, and to the extent that we can induce compliance with an ordinance like this, I think it would be very helpful," the chief said.
Councilman Charlie McComas is a landlord himself and believes this method could be highly effective.
"This is an excellent way to get the drug dealers out of those houses," McComas said.
Owners of vacant properties would be subject to the same penalty if felonies occur on their locations twice a year.
City council's first reading of that ordinance is expected to take place at their next meeting in two weeks.
City Attorney Scott Damron says a similar ordinance has been on the books in Martinsburg for a couple years and has been effective there.
|
Climate scientists say Storm Harvey offers warning for future
|
Tropical storm Harvey, which has caused severe flooding in Houston, was not caused by climate change, according to scientists. However, researchers warn that it is too early to ascertain whether or not the storm was made worse by global warming and note that rising air and water temperatures are likely to lead to more intense hurricanes in the future. “This storm should serve as warning”, said climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University. Over 15 trillion gallons of rain have fallen in Texas during the storm, with an additional 5 or 6 trillion expected by Wednesday.
|
https://apnews.com/9dee898c96b246e3b18581c251586553/Scientists-say-Harvey-may-be-the-soggy-sign-of-future-storms?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=7ea65602e3-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-7ea65602e3-154403165
|
2017-08-29 11:43:43.787000
|
Scientists say Harvey may be the soggy sign of future storms
Volunteer rescue boats make their way into a flooded subdivision to rescue stranded residents as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in Spring, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Volunteer rescue boats make their way into a flooded subdivision to rescue stranded residents as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in Spring, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
WASHINGTON (AP) — By the time the rain stops, Harvey will have dumped about 1 million gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas — a soggy, record-breaking glimpse of the wet and wild future that global warming could bring, scientists say.
While scientists are quick to say that climate change didn’t cause Harvey and that they haven’t determined yet whether the storm was made worse by global warming, they do note that warmer air and water mean wetter and possibly more intense hurricanes in the future.
“This is the kind of thing we are going to get more of,” said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer. “This storm should serve as warning.”
There’s a scientifically accepted method for determining if some wild weather event has the fingerprints of man-made climate change, and it involves intricate calculations. Those could take weeks or months to complete, and then even longer to pass peer review.
In general, though, climate scientists agree that future storms will dump much more rain than the same size storms did in the past.
That’s because warmer air holds more water. With every degree Fahrenheit, the atmosphere can hold and then dump an additional 4 percent of water (7 percent for every degree Celsius), several scientists say.
Global warming also means warmer seas, and warm water is what fuels hurricanes.
When Harvey moved toward Texas, water in the Gulf of Mexico was nearly 2 degrees (1 degree Celsius) warmer than normal, said Weather Underground meteorology director Jeff Masters. Hurricanes need at least 79 degrees F (26 C) as fuel, and water at least that warm ran more than 300 feet (100 meters) deep in the Gulf, according to University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.
Several studies show that the top 1 percent of the strongest downpours are already happening much more frequently. Also, calculations done Monday by MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel show that the drenching received by Rockport, Texas, used to be maybe a once-in-1,800-years event for that city, but with warmer air holding more water and changes in storm steering currents since 2010, it is now a once-every-300-years event.
There’s a lot of debate among climate scientists over what role, if any, global warming may have played in causing Harvey to stall over Texas, which was a huge factor in the catastrophic flooding. If the hurricane had moved on like a normal storm, it wouldn’t have dumped as much rain in any one spot.
Harvey stalled because it is sandwiched between two high-pressure fronts that push it in opposite directions, and those fronts are stuck.
Oppenheimer and some others theorize that there’s a connection between melting sea ice in the Arctic and changes in the jet stream and the weather patterns that make these “blocking fronts” more common. Others, like Masters, contend it’s too early to say.
University of Washington atmospheric scientist Cliff Mass said that climate change is simply not powerful enough to create off-the-chart events like Harvey’s rainfall.
“You really can’t pin global warming on something this extreme. It has to be natural variability,” Mass said. “It may juice it up slightly but not create this phenomenal anomaly.”
“We’re breaking one record after another with this thing,” Mass said.
Sometime Tuesday or early Wednesday, parts of the Houston region will have broken the nearly 40-year-old U.S. record for the heaviest rainfall from a tropical system — 48 inches, set by Tropical Storm Amelia in 1978 in Texas, several meteorologists say.
Already 15 trillion gallons of rain have fallen on a large area, and an additional 5 trillion or 6 trillion gallons are forecast by the end of Wednesday, meteorologist Ryan Maue of WeatherBell Analytics calculates. That’s enough water to fill all the NFL and Division 1 college football stadiums more than 100 times over.
|
Gilead to pay $11.9bn for Kite Pharma's CAR-T cancer therapy
|
Pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences has agreed to buy Kite Pharma, a company that has developed a gene therapy for treating cancers. Through the deal, Gilead will obtain rights to Kite's CAR-T therapy, a treatment for blood cancers such as lymphoma. The therapy reprogrammes the DNA within individuals' immune cells to attack the disease. Although no official pricing for such therapies has been published, the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has said that $649,000 for a one-off treatment for a young patient with leukaemia is justifiable.
|
https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/608753/a-12-billion-takeover-says-that-gene-therapy-cancer-cures-are-big-business/
|
2017-08-29 10:45:57.793000
|
Pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences has just put up a cool $11.9 billion to acquire Kite Pharma, which has developed a genetic engineering approach for treating cancers.
The investment is a clear sign that gene therapy applied to cancer is a powerful—and commercially attractive—new technology. Kite, which is one of our 50 smartest companies of 2017, has developed a pioneering treatment for use against blood cancers such as lymphoma. It takes some of an individual's immune cells, known at T cells, then reprograms their DNA so that they can attack the disease. The resulting CAR-T therapy, as it’s known, is one of several being developed by the likes of Novartis and Juno Therapeutics to treat cancer, and they all appear to show huge promise for curing the disease.
The move is a clear sign that there’s huge commercial interest in the new form of cancer therapy. But the staggering valuation of Kite also hints at a potential problem for patients wishing to make use of the treatment in the future: cost. Just last week, Kaiser Health News ran a report on the potential pricing of the Novartis version of the therapy, and sources told it that it would "cost a fortune," proving to be "a quantum leap more expensive than other cancer drugs." No official pricing for such therapies has yet been published, but a figure of $649,000 for a one-off treatment has been deemed justifiable for young patients with leukemia by the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
That may change over time, though, especially if the the same technique is successfully used to develop treatments for other forms of cancer. The latter is certainly what Gilead is hoping will happen. “We see it as a nice, sustainable oncology platform for decades to come,” says Gilead CEO, John Milligan, to the Wall Street Journal.
|
Smartphone camera used to self-screen for pancreatic cancer
|
Researchers at the University of Washington have created an app that allows users to screen themselves for pancreatic cancer by taking a photo with their smartphone's camera. Called BiliScreen, the app uses computer vision algorithms and machine learning tools to detect increased bilirubin levels in a person's eye. In tests, BiliScreen identified increased bilirubin in the blood 89.7% of the time. Pancreatic cancer is usually malignant by the time symptoms are visible; however, BillScreen's monthly test will help identify the cancer while treatment can still be effective, said Alex Mariakakis, the study's lead author.
|
https://scienceblog.com/495979/pancreatic-cancer-screening-theres-app/
|
2017-08-29 10:43:44.310000
|
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed an app that could let people self-screen for pancreatic cancer and other diseases via a smartphone selfie. BiliScreen uses a smartphone camera, computer vision algorithms and machine learning tools to detect increased bilirubin levels in a person’s sclera, or the white part of the eye.
Jaundice is an early symptom of pancreatic cancer and other illnesses. Jaundice is a yellowing of the skin and eyes from a buildup of bilirubin in the blood. By spotting the build up before it’s detectable by the naked eye, apps like BiliScreen offer a new avenue for screening program to those at risk. In an initial clinical study of 70 people, the BiliScreen app identified cases of concern 89.7 percent of the time, compared to the blood test currently used.
The app works in conjunction with a 3D printed box that controls the eye’s exposure to light.
Said lead author Alex Mariakakis: “The problem with pancreatic cancer is that by the time you’re symptomatic, it’s frequently too late…. The hope is that if people can do this simple test once a month, in the privacy of their own homes, some might catch the disease early enough to undergo treatment that could save their lives.”
Currently doctors use a blood test to track bilirubin levels. It is seldom given to adults unless there’s outward reason for concern, and administering the test requires a health care professional. That mkes it inconvenient for frequent restesting.
BiliScreen is meant to overcome these challenges, and help determine if a doctor’s visit is in order.
Said senior author Shwetak Patel: “The eyes are a really interesting gateway into the body — tears can tell you how much glucose you have, sclera can tell you how much bilirubin is in your blood…. Our question was: Could we capture some of these changes that might lead to earlier detection with a selfie?”
BiliScreen uses a smartphone’s built-in camera and flash to collect pictures of a person’s eye as they snap a selfie. The team developed a computer vision system to automatically and effectively isolate the white parts of the eye, which is a valuable tool for medical diagnostics. The app then calculates the color information from the sclera — based on the wavelengths of light that are being reflected and absorbed — and correlates it with bilirubin levels using machine learning algorithms.
To account for different lighting conditions, the team tested BiliScreen with two different accessories: paper glasses printed with colored squares to help calibrate color and a 3-D printed box that blocks out ambient lighting. Using the app with the box accessory — reminiscent of a Google Cardboard headset — led to slightly better results.
Said co-author Jim Taylor: “This relatively small initial study shows the technology has promise…. Pancreatic cancer is a terrible disease with no effective screening right now. Our goal is to have more people who are unfortunate enough to get pancreatic cancer to be fortunate enough to catch it in time to have surgery that gives them a better chance of survival.”
|
Amazon gives 1,600 Echo devices to US engineering students
|
Amazon has gifted 1,600 Echo Dots to engineering students at Arizona State University. The tech giant has also set up the Amazon Alexa Fund Fellowship, a one-year programme that will give selected students “funding, access to Alexa devices, and mentoring from an Alexa Science team member to develop an undergraduate or graduate curriculum around one or more of these disciplines”, according to a company blog post. An Amazon spokesperson also suggested that the devices could be used in everyday student life, for “ordering transportation and setting homework reminders”. The university wants students to gain skills in voice technology development.
|
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-08-28-amazon-pushes-echo-smart-speakers-on-campus
|
2017-08-29 10:41:38.927000
|
In Amazon’s latest push into education, the tech giant is encouraging colleges to experiment with its Echo smart speakers and add the devices to their curricula.
The company is working with Arizona State University, for instance, where it gave 1,600 Echo Dots to engineering students living in a new dorm called Tooker House.
“ASU’s main motivation was to develop an opportunity for its engineering students to gain skills in voice technology, an emerging field,” says John German, an ASU spokesperson. The engineering school at ASU has added "a little bit" of voice technology to the curriculum of three existing courses this semester, German said. However, the students who received the Echo Dots will "not at all" be required to take these courses. The dots are "literally a gift," German says.
The Amazon Alexa team “met frequently” with the university, and “offered advice,” says John Rome, ASU’s deputy chief information officer.
The company also recently set up the Amazon Alexa Fund Fellowship, which so far includes four colleges—Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Waterloo, the University of Southern California, and Johns Hopkins University. The year-long program will give selected students “funding, access to Alexa devices, and mentoring from an Alexa Science team member to develop an undergraduate or graduate curriculum around one or more of these disciplines,” according to a company blog post.
And the company is also running a research competition for universities called the Alexa Prize, in which it will dole out $2.5-million in prizes to teams developing new ideas in conversational artificial intelligence.
Amazon officials imagine a world where their devices are woven into student life, used for things like “ordering transportation and setting homework reminders,” says an Amazon spokesperson, who asked not to be named.
The company has been encouraging developers of edtech software to add support for their smart speakers as well. The company brought a giant inflatable Echo to the annual conference of Instructure, which makes the learning-management system Canvas.
Phil Hill, an edtech consultant and blogger for eLiterate, says he believes Amazon is “playing the long game” with its Echo strategy, just as many big tech companies do in education.
Photo Credit: Phil Hill
“Amazon’s strategy is much more about establishing Alexa and the mechanisms and the way that people interact with the virtual world, almost becoming the front end of the next generation of internet access,” Hill says. “They’re looking to say, people won’t be doing this much on the browsers anymore, they’re going to be interacting with natural language and voice, and we want that to go through us.”
Hill says Amazon wants to beat its competitors in the smart-speaker space, Google and Apple, “to the punch” and become the default way people use this type of technology.
Some colleges are experimenting with Echo technology even without direct encouragement or investment from Amazon. At Utah State University, for instance, officials installed an Echo Dot in one classroom that is used by a visually impaired instructor, according to Kevin Reeve, the university’s director of teaching and learning technologies. The devices will connect to hardware in the classroom so instructors can do things like turn on projectors on and lower screens at the front of the room using voice commands.
"So we decided about a year ago that we wanted to see if we could write our own Alexa Skill to control the classroom technology," Reeve says, referring to the ability to add features to the Echo devices. “We had no idea who to contact at Amazon.”
But Rice University’s Dan Wallach, a professor of computer science, says he does not see "anything really substantial" when it comes to using smart speakers to do things that can easily be done manually, like dimming the lights and lowering the audio. "I mostly see these things as gimmicks," Wallach says.
Wallach says he can talk to his phone and wristwatch already, and does that "very infrequently." He adds that he thinks these types of devices will have the most impact in the car, where drivers need to focus on driving as they interact with technology.
He says that he doesn’t see the devices adding “very much to anything” in his classroom unless there’s an engineering project doing design for cars.
Szymon Machajewski, who teaches at Grand Valley State University's School of Computing and Information Systems, feels differently.
He says he wrote a skill for the classroom that focuses on computer flashcards. It has students speaking with Alexa, and quizzing themselves based on the definitions Alexa provides. Students have to say the words that are part of the course’s glossary, Machajewski says.
Machajewski even thinks this type of technology can influence human speech and expand vocabulary.
Hill says when he first heard Amazon was going to be doing demos at conferences with Alexa, he “personally thought it was going to be a gimmick.” But he says once he saw the demos, he started thinking about how the technology could help faculty and students manage “their academic lives much easier.” Getting targeted information without having to sit down in front of a computer is where Hill sees the initial efforts. He says if managing daily life becomes easier for people, they will “start to get hooked on Alexa.”
Devices like the Echo Dot have gotten criticism when it comes to privacy concerns, since the devices are constantly listening in when they are activated.
“It raises the question, ok, you have to say, ‘Alexa, tell me this,’” says Hill, the edtech consultant. “That doesn’t mean the device is not listening at all times. It just means it uses the Alexa keyword to trigger a command. Where does that information go? Does Amazon store it? Does it get thrown away?”
Hill says then it raises the question: “What if a faculty member has one in their office they end up using, and a student comes in to talk to them, but the student doesn’t know that there’s an Alexa device listening?”
German, of ASU, says in the discussions the university has had with students so far, the university is “more concerned than the students are.” He says students are used to mobile technology, and voice devices are not really different from, say, Siri.
German says ASU did give students some advice when it comes to using an Echo Dot in a residence-hall environment. For instance, telling them that using purchasing apps without a pin number is “probably not a good idea,” and telling them how to set their Wake Word so they aren’t interfering with a roommate’s Echo Dot.
Reeve, of USU, says he thinks where the biggest privacy concern could come in is if there’s an educational app built that can reveal students’ information that’s protected under FERPA, without them okaying it.
German says when ASU students received their Echo Dots, they signed an acknowledgment that like with other digital devices, they need to adhere to the student code of conduct and ASU’s acceptable use policies for campus technology.
But Wallach, who also manages Rice's computer-security lab, says companies like Amazon “desperately” try to avoid the problem of their devices “recording something that you didn’t mean.” He adds that Amazon’s devices are supposed to only pay attention when prompted.
“The listening is supposed to happen locally, nothing over the internet, until you say ‘hey Alexa,’” Wallach says.
|
Submarine commerce may open up Arctic trading route
|
Surface shipping in the Arctic has increased dramatically in the past few years, but sub-sea commercial shipping has failed to keep pace. However, newly developed submarine technology could open up the Arctic Ocean’s northern passage to year-round commercial transport. Sub-sea travel is preferable to travelling above water in the region, given sub-zero temperatures, icing problems, ice cap movements and difficulties rescuing ships in distress. Cargo submarines could sail directly across the Arctic Ocean, using less power, making them more economical in terms of fuel usage, and ideal for transporting goods like liquefied natural gas.
|
https://www.marinetechnologynews.com/news/subsea-commerce-arctic-ocean-551880
|
2017-08-29 10:40:54.940000
|
Recent years have seen a rapid increase in surface shipping operations in Arctic regions but nothing has been done for the subsea commercial shipping. New submarine technology to open up the Arctic Ocean's northern passage for year-round commerce is now technically feasible.
The voyage above the ice is extremely difficult exacerbated by extreme low temperatures, short warm season, thick icing of exposed topside equipment, changing ice cap movements, and a lack of suitable rescue search operations.
Faster cargo submarines, using direct routes across the Arctic Ocean would require less power and fuel could provide a greater economic advantage than larger more powerful surface ships.
There is a beautiful, relatively warm ocean just under the thin ice cap that covers the Arctic Ocean that could be used for many types commercial transportation possibilities. Transporting petroleum products such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) would be ideal for this type of shipping.
|
Allianz trio given jail sentence for selling client data
|
Five people, including three Allianz Insurance workers, have been sentenced over taking £7,000 in bribes to pass on customer details. Kayleigh Underhill, Andrew Clarke and Reace Bowen were asked by brothers Sajaad and Shaiad Nawaz to illegally give them data about Allianz customers who had been involved in road crashes. The brothers then sent the information to claims management firms. The group were handed suspended sentences after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
|
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2017/08/29/allianz-insurance-employees-took-7000-of-bribes-to-pass-on-customer-details/
|
2017-08-29 10:23:40.003000
|
Kayleigh Underhill, Andrew Clarke and Reace Bowenwere were approached by brothers Sajaad and Shaiad Nawaz.
The trio were persuaded to illegally hand them information regarding Allianz Insurance customers who been involved in road collisions. The information was then sent by the brothers to claims management companies.
Once passed to claims management companies, the customers were cold called and persuaded to commence a personal injury claim.
In total the trio leaked more than 700 pieces of confidential data.
Underhill, aged 26, of Laxton Grove, Solihull, was given a 12 month jail term suspended for 18 months and told to pay £1,050 compensation to Allianz Insurance.
Clarke, 24, of Elmbridge Drive, Solihull, was given an eight month jail term suspended for 18 months and told to pay £150 compensation to Allianz Insurance.
Bowen, 23, from Birmingham, was also given an eight month jail term suspended for 18 months and told to pay £300 compensation to Allianz Insurance.
All three pleaded guilty to bribery offences in February and were sentenced in April when they were also ordered to pay £540 costs to the court.
Sajaad Nawaz, 36, of Brays Road, Birmingham, pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced last week to four months imprisonment suspended for 15 months.
His brother Shaiad Nawaz, 34, of Eastcote Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, was also sentenced last week following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. He was given a six month jail term suspended for 15 months.
The group’s criminal activity came to light when a report was made to Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, in November 2015.
The report was referred to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) which used information from the report to identify the five offenders.
Detectives were able to gather evidence to show that Underhill, Clarke and Bowen had regular contact with the brothers via WhatsApp. While at work they would they would write customer data on their notepads, take photographs of this, and then pass the information via WhatsApp to both Nawaz brothers.
They would also discuss payment for this information in their WhatsApp conversations.
Underhill, Bowen and Clarke received approximately £250 per week for the information and their engagement with the bribers.
Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, who led the case, said: “It is a criminal offence to leak customer data and any employee who is considering doing this should think twice. Underhill, Clarke and Bowen were all in a position of trust and now have a criminal record and will be unable to work in a range of industries.
“Whilst the Nawaz brothers thought they could make easy money by selling on data, they have now found that it is not that easy and they too have been sentenced as a result of their involvement.
“None of the offenders considered the consequences of selling this customer data and had no thought around the fact that people would end up receiving cold calls from claims management companies. They completely breached the trust of the customers and took advantage of the position they were in."
Graham Gibson, Chief Claims Officer at Allianz Insurance said: “We are extremely disappointed by the actions of these three individuals and we have worked in close co-operation with the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) during their investigations.
“Keeping our customers data safe from rogue Claims Management Companies is a priority for Allianz and we will work closely with the police to help prosecute those involved in this type of activity.
|
US start-up builds tech that lets gamers dial down VR nausea
|
Cambridge, Massachusetts start-up VRemedy Labs is developing a software tool that controls feelings of nausea by enabling virtual reality gamers to dial up or down the levels of motion experienced during activities such as flying around using handheld rocket thrusters. The company is using its own game-in-progress, I Hate Heroes, to refine the technology, with engineers currently controlling the intensity at which the game is played, with a view to users being able to do it themselves. VRemedy Labs is also hoping to work with headset manufacturers or launch a software tool for developers to add to their own games.
|
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608709/now-theres-a-nausea-dial-for-virtual-reality/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=d92c00cb67-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-d92c00cb67-154455665
|
2017-08-29 10:23:02.957000
|
Companies and researchers have been exploring a slew of potential solutions, from beefing up the resolution of the displays in headsets to limiting your field of view when there’s a lot of motion-related activity going on in the virtual world. And a very young startup called VRemedy Labs is working on an interesting fix of its own: a sort of software-based dial that you can turn up or down to raise or decrease the excitement level—and, it hopes, the resulting nausea—within VR games.
The company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is building its own video game to test this out. The game-in-progress, which revolves around rescuing a group of superheroes, includes several kinds of locomotion that tend to make people feel sick in VR, such as flying around with adjustable rocket thrusters in your hands or pulling yourself from one place to another with grappling hooks.
For now, the startup founders are manually controlling the potentially uncomfortable effects that users experience as they try out the prototype. VRemedy Labs cofounder Richard Oates says one of the things they’re doing is starting players at the highest level of intensity and, if they feel sick, slowly dialing it down (over a period of about 10 minutes) to see if that helps. Then they ramp back up in hopes of finding a sweet spot for the player, adjusting things like your field of view and the number of obstacles that rush past when you’re moving. Eventually, they hope, players will be able to make the adjustments themselves.
To come up with different comfort levels, VRemedy labs first built a spectrum of nausea that takes into account existing research as well as best practices at the companies selling headsets, such as Rift maker Oculus and Vive makers Valve and HTC. Nish Bhandari, another cofounder, says they try to make the changes between different levels very subtle.
VRemedy Labs expects the game, which it’s calling I Hate Heroes, to be completed next year. Eventually, Oates says, the startup hopes to work with headset makers or release a software tool that game developers can use so their games can be adjustable as well.
“We want to break the mold of having [VR] experiences that are nauseating and awesome or comfortable and boring,” Oates says. “And instead make games everybody can play and play at their own pace.”
|
Google offers refunds to advertisers affected by fraud
|
Google has offered a refund to agencies and marketers, after DoubleClick Bid Manager ads were hosted on sites with artificially inflated traffic. The tech giant will reimburse between 7% and 10% of the affected parties' total DoubleClick spend. Google is also working on a tech solution to provide a full refund if ad fraud occurs. Around $6.5bn will be lost globally to bot fraud in this year alone, according to website analysts at Bot Baseline.
|
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/28/fake-traffic-forces-google-issue-refunds-advertisers
|
2017-08-29 10:18:33.013000
|
Google is issuing refunds to marketers and ad agency partners who used the company’s DoubleClick Bid Manager, after it found evidence of ads running on websites with fake traffic.
Having informed hundreds of partners about the issue with invalid traffic, Google has offered to reimburse about 7% to 10% of the total purchase an advertiser pays on DoubleClick, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
To counter such issues, the internet giant is asking the 100-plus exchanges, ad networks and publishers that DoubleClick Bid Manager plugs into to display to ad buyers whether they are willing to refund the entire media spend if ad fraud instances occur.
It is also working on technology to ensure advertisers automatically receive a full credit back from Google and its partners if incidents of ad fraud occur.
A Google spokesperson told The Drum: “We can't comment on specific details of ad fraud but the vast majority is filtered in our systems before our advertisers are ever impacted or charged. Maintaining a healthy ads ecosystem and improving transparency in supply chain for our advertisers is an area we continue to invest in significantly."
"Some of those key initiatives include working with the broader industry to make it easier to spot counterfeit ads across the industry through ads.txt. In our own platforms, we’re working with our exchange partners to remove monetary incentives for spammers and increase transparency for buyers.”
According to the Bot Baseline report, economic losses due to bot fraud are estimated to reach $6.5bn globally in 2017. This is down 10% from the $7.2bn reported in last year’s study.
Google earlier warned a thousand online publishers over bad ads and introduced more ad filters to block content with 'violence, nudity and political satire'.
|
China finds large gas field in Shanxi province
|
North China's Shanxi Province has discovered a gas field with estimated reserves of 545.6 billion cubic metres. Shanxi has estimated coal-bed methane and shale gas reserves of 12.7 trillion cubic metres. A large coal field discovered in Shanxi in 2016 has been found to contain about 241.5 billion cubic meters of coal-bed gas and 304.1 billion cubic meters of shale gas. Shanxi, home to China's second-largest coal reserves, is speeding up gas exploration and reducing coal output as China seeks to reduce pollution.
|
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/24/c_136552040.htm
|
2017-08-29 10:14:37.917000
|
Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-24 14:59:39|Editor: Yang Yi
Video Player Close
TAIYUAN, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- North China's Shanxi Province has discovered a large gas field with an estimated reserve of 545.6 billion cubic meters.
Shanxi is a major coal producer and has the country's second-largest known coal reserve. It also has estimated coal-bed gas and shale gas reserves of 12.7 trillion cubic meters.
Authorities discovered a large coal field in the area bordering Yushe, Zuoquan and Wuxiang counties in 2006. Further exploration found it contained high levels of gas.
Since exploration started in 2015, the field has been estimated to contain 241.5 billion cubic meters of coal-bed gas and 304.1 billion cubic meters of shale gas, said Zhou Jipeng, deputy director of the provincial land and resources department.
Shanxi is speeding up gas exploration while reducing coal output as China seeks to power its economy with cleaner energy to reduce pollution.
|
Saudi team uses light to split water and create hydrogen
|
Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have developed water-splitters that use light to cleave water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The metal nanostructures trap solar electrons and convert them into plasmon resonances. In turn, high-speed metal plasmons help transfer electron carrying particles to catalytic sites where they split water particles. However, the process requires extremely pure crystals of titanium dioxide to collect hot electrons. Additionally, the concentration of platinum nanoparticles used to split water molecules must be precisely controlled.
|
https://phys.org/news/2017-08-tripling-efficiency-solar-based-hydrogen-fuel.html
|
2017-08-29 09:57:41.083000
|
A nanostructured metamaterial with a sunflower-like arrangement can be immersed in water to generate hydrogen gas with superb efficiency. Credit: WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co.
Hydrogen gas, an important synthetic feedstock, is poised to play a key role in renewable energy technology; however, its credentials are undermined because most is currently sourced from fossil fuels, such as natural gas. A KAUST team has now found a more sustainable route to hydrogen fuel production using chaotic, light-trapping materials that mimic natural photosynthetic water splitting.
The complex enzymes inside plants are impractical to manufacture, so researchers have developed photocatalysts that employ high-energy, hot electrons to cleave water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gas. Recently, nanostructured metals that convert solar electrons into intense, wave-like plasmon resonances have attracted interest for hydrogen production. The high-speed metal plasmons help transfer carriers to catalytic sites before they relax and reduce catalytic efficiency.
Getting metal nanoparticles to respond to the entire broadband spectrum of visible light is challenging. "Plasmonic systems have specific geometries that trap light only at characteristic frequencies," explains Andrea Fratalocchi, who led the research. "Some approaches try to combine multiple nanostructures to soak up more colors, but these absorptions take place at different spatial locations so the sun's energy is not harvested very efficiently."
Fratalocchi and his team devised a new strategy using metal nanostructures known as epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials that grow with random, fractal needles similar to a tiny pine tree. Inside the cavities formed by the protruding metal branches, the propagation of light slows to a near standstill. This enables the ENZ substance to squeeze all visible light colors to the same nanometer-scale locations.
However, optimizing the ENZ material for hydrogen generation proved a protracted process of months. Not every needle-like structure works the same way, which meant the team had to fine tune all fabrication parameters to find the correct disorder for efficient reactions. Then, choosing semiconducting titanium dioxide as a substrate to collect hot electrons required crystals with extremely high purity. Finally, the concentration and position of platinum nanoparticles used to catalytically split water molecules needed to be precisely controlled, depositions that are difficult with ENZ's complex geometry.
The result was worth the perseverance: experiments revealed the ENZ photocatalyst used broadband light to generate hot carriers within a narrow 10-nm interfacial region for an overall 300% gain in efficiency.
"Due to the possibility of controlling their absorption, the ENZ nanostructures are ideal candidates for solar-energy harvesting," says Fratalocchi. "We recently engineered an industrial prototype with impressive efficiency, which makes us very optimistic about the future possibilities of this technology."
More information: Yi Tian et al. Enhanced Solar-to-Hydrogen Generation with Broadband Epsilon-Near-Zero Nanostructured Photocatalysts, Advanced Materials (2017). DOI: 10.1002/adma.201701165 Journal information: Advanced Materials
|
Russia's BeOne uses blockchain for educational courses
|
Russian edtech start-up BeOne has held an initial coin offering to fund the development of its educational platform, which is backed by distributed ledger technology. The platform, currently in closed alpha testing, aims to keep the needs of students and instructors at its core, enabling online teachers to create and share educational content at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods, while students can cherry-pick what they want to learn from a massive pool of content.
|
https://bitcoinist.com/beone-streamlines-online-education-blockchain-technology-announces-ico/
|
2017-08-29 09:56:25.057000
|
Russian blockchain start-up BeOne is implementing blockchain technology to online education and course delivery through the development of a distributed ledger backed platform. The BeOne platform is created with the intention of offering users with varying educational backgrounds, a range of online courses across a broad spectrum of domains.
The platform, currently undergoing closed alpha testing has announced the launch of its ICO campaign to raise funds necessary for building a comprehensive finished product.
Users of BeOne platform will be able to teach or learn a wide array of skills, including cooking and photography. The platform has been designed with the intention of keeping the needs of students and instructors at its core. The platform aims to simplify the process for online teachers to create and share informative, educational content of various types at a fraction of the cost while receiving higher returns than other similar platforms.
Another benefit is the massive pool of content available to online students at a comparatively small fee. Users of BeOne can participate in the webinars hosted on the platform, receive one-on-one consultations and get an immediate response to their queries. When it comes to courses, they can purchase a particular module of significance based on their needs, rather than being forced to buy an entire course that may not be of any use to them.
BeOne also enables its users to search for like-minded people and join interest groups to learn in teams. For instructors and course creators, BeOne has a broad range of monetization models that currently charge the lowest commission in the industry, with a cap of 10%.
The BeOne ICO is set to go live on August 28, 2017, at 12:00 (MSK). During the month-long crowd sale, investors can purchase the platform’s tokens by depositing BTC, ETH, LTC or DASH. The BeOne tokens serve as the mode of transactions on the platform. The platform has set a maximum cap of 10 million tokens out of which 9 million will be available for purchase during the crowd sale.
BeOne has a bonus option in place for early bird investors, with individuals who invest during the first three hours of the ICO receiving a 50% discount on the token purchase. After the first allotment, investors stand to get a 20% discount for the following 72 hours.
From all the raised ICO funds, BeOne will invest 50% in marketing, 20% for development, 20% for onboarding instructors and the rest 10% for operating expenses.
|
Bitcoin is a commodity not a currency, says Banco de Mexico
|
Digital currencies such as bitcoin should not be considered a currency as they are not supported by a government or central bank, according to Agustín Carstens, the governor of the Banco de Mexico. The comments came during a lecture by Carstens at the Mexican Technical University, in which he also warned cryptocurrencies should be an "issue of cybersecurity" due to their use in cybercrime and the potential for anonymous use. In 2014 the Banco de Mexico declared virtual currencies were not legal tender. Nonetheless, digital currency exchanges in Mexico are thriving, possibly in part due to the country's economic difficulties.
|
https://cointelegraph.com/news/banco-de-mexico-governor-bitcoin-is-commodity-rather-than-currency
|
2017-08-29 09:35:23.610000
|
Banco de Mexico (Bank of Mexico) Governor Agustín Carstens thinks the digital currency Bitcoin should be classified as a commodity rather than as a currency. The bank governor argued that Bitcoin does not meet the existing definition of currency because it is not supported by a government or central bank.
According to the report by local Mexican newspaper El Economista, Carstens argued further that since there is nothing to ensure its accounting in a financial system, the virtual currency should be considered as a commodity.
He also added that the cryptocurrency should be considered as an “issue of cybersecurity” due to its potential in anonymity and use in cybercrime activities.
As a reaction to economic woes affecting Mexico, as well as potential future problems as a result of US policy, alternative currencies like Bitcoin go up.
Digital currency exchanges in Mexico are thriving and ever-increasing trade is being witnessed.
Other arguments and developments over Bitcoin
Carstens presented his comments on Bitcoin during his lecture at the Mexican Technical University ITAM.
In his presentation, he also discussed the efforts by the government to regulate financial technologies (fintech) like digital currencies.
He argued that any technological development in the financial system cannot be the result of innovation alone, but should be implemented in tandem with regulation by the financial regulators.
Previous position by the Mexican government on Bitcoin
The Mexican government, through its central bank, has previously expressed its negative views on digital currencies, particularly Bitcoin. In 2014, the Bank of Mexico has announced that virtual currencies are not legal tender in the country, and therefore, illegal.
The central bank also prohibited the use of the cryptocurrencies by regulated financial institutions in the country due to the inherent risks that are associated with their use. The bank also cited the warnings issued by various central banks around the world on the link between the digital currencies and illegal activities like fraud and money laundering.
|
Maltese insurtech firm raises $2.3m ahead of UK launch
|
Malta-based insurtech start-up Sherpa has raised $2.3m in funding from investors including Mehrdad Piroozram. Sherpa is developing a platform that offers a personalised insurance account for connected consumers covering all personal risks, as well as a solution for personal risk management, set to be released in the UK later this year. The company plans to use the additional funding to expand its team and invest further in proprietary intellectual property.
|
http://www.finsmes.com/2017/08/insurtech-startup-sherpa-raises-2-3m-in-seed-funding.html
|
2017-08-29 09:27:28.233000
|
Sherpa, a Naxxar, Malta-based insurtech startup, raised $2.3m in funding.
Backers included Mehrdad Piroozram, and other unnamed angel investors.
The company intends to use the funds to expand the team and invest further in proprietary IP.
Led by Chris Kaye, CEO, Greg McCafferty, CFO, and Lachlan Gillies, COO, Sherpa is building an interface that offers a single personalized insurance account for connected consumers covering all their personal risks coupled with a solution for personal risk management.
The solution will be launched in the UK later this year.
FinSMEs
28/08/2017
|
Calif. Hits Kaiser With $2.2 Million Fine For Failing To Provide Required Medicaid Data
|
California officials have again slapped health care giant Kaiser Permanente with a multimillion-dollar fine for failing to provide data on patient care to the state’s Medicaid program.
|
http://californiahealthline.org/news/calif-hits-kaiser-with-2-2-million-fine-for-failing-to-provide-required-medicaid-data/
|
2017-08-29 09:08:49.613000
|
About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.
California officials have again slapped health care giant Kaiser Permanente with a multimillion-dollar fine for failing to provide data on patient care to the state’s Medicaid program.
The $2.2 million fine comes just months after a $2.5 million penalty in January against Kaiser, one of the largest nonprofit health plans in the country. The California Department of Health Care Services said these are the first fines it has imposed against a Medicaid managed-care plan since at least 2000.
The state agency uses this data on hospital admissions, doctor visits and prescription drugs to help set rates, ensure adequate care is available and monitor how tax dollars are being spent in the $100 billion program, known as Medi-Cal in California.
Use Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).
Kaiser isn’t appealing the latest fine, and the Oakland-based health plan said it expects to deliver the required information by September. (Kaiser Health News, which produces California Healthline, is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)
The reporting lapses are surprising given that Kaiser is known industrywide for pioneering the use of electronic medical records and developing data-driven treatment guidelines. But Kaiser has said its systems and technology were not designed to collect information in the format required by the state. The company said the sanctions were in no way related to the quality of patient care.
“We have recently made significant investments in new technology to help us comply with the new administrative data reporting requirements,” Nathaniel Oubre, Kaiser Permanente’s vice president for Medi-Cal, said in a statement. “We are committed to full compliance.”
Jennifer Kent, Department of Health Care Services director, notified Kaiser of the latest fine in a May 25 letter. She wrote that the insurer was making efforts to resolve the deficiencies, but it still had not complied with state deadlines. One of her deputy directors, Sarah Brooks, said the agency has been trying to get Kaiser to comply with the rules since 2014.
The state “takes very seriously its commitment to ensure contract compliance from Medi-Cal managed-care health plans so members can get the care they need,” Brooks said.
Brooks said additional fines may be imposed depending in part on whether Kaiser’s violations put Medi-Cal out of compliance with federal rules. That could force the state to repay money to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which funds the Medi-Cal program jointly with the state.
Kaiser is among 22 health plans that participate in the Medi-Cal program. About 80 percent, or 10.8 million, of Medi-Cal’s 13.5 million enrollees are in managed-care plans. Kaiser serves about 700,000 Medi-Cal enrollees.
In addition to being an insurer, Kaiser runs 39 hospitals across the country and hundreds of clinics. Kaiser operates in eight states and the District of Columbia, but about 70 percent of its 11.8 million members are in California. For 2016, the company had net income of $3.1 billion on revenue of $64.6 billion.
A consumer advocate said it’s disturbing that Kaiser has defied state rules for so long.
“We’ve seen Kaiser use their unique model as an excuse for putting themselves outside the law in the past,” said Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica advocacy group. “This demonstrates their hubris.”
In Medi-Cal managed care, the state pays insurers a fixed amount per enrollee to provide comprehensive care. That’s different from the traditional fee-for-service system, in which the state pays medical providers directly for services rendered.
Kaiser has faced other fines from California regulators. In 2013, the California Department of Managed Health Care fined the insurer $4 million for problems with patient access to mental health treatment. In June, the managed-care agency criticized Kaiser again for failing to address long delays in treatment, and it said additional fines were possible.
|
Lastminute.com launches Travel Insights to allow targeted ads
|
Lastminute.com is introducing Travel Insights, which will allow brands to target users via market research surveys. These will appear within display ad formats on third party sites as well as Lastminute.com. It represents an investment into the company's own media business, protecting against the likes of digital leaders Google and Facebook. The new venture offers competitive pricing based on metrics and response data.
|
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/29/lastminutecom-helping-advertisers-do-market-research-programmatically
|
2017-08-29 09:03:15.753000
|
Lastminute.com has launched a new tool called Travel Insights that promises to help brands target people with market research surveys within display ad formats that will be served on both its own site and those of third-parties.
It’s part of the brand’s wider investment into its in-house media business, which opened up to the market last summer under the steerage of Alessandra Di Lorenzo, chief commercial officer of media and partnerships, as a way to protect its revenues against the threat of the digital giants, namely Google but increasingly Facebook.
Dubbed The Travel People, it’s effectively an ad tech offering that services both the sell-side businesses of the Lastminute.com group as well as the buy-side for advertisers (its clients).
Revenues for that division are up 30% year-on-year, with some 1500 campaigns from over 300 different advertisers now under its belt.
“It’s going really well,” Di Lorenzo told The Drum. “What we’re doing now is building out different things that play on our data strength because at the end of the day, as a publisher, our biggest asset is data. So, we’re taking that and rolling out the Travel Insights product.”
The Insights tool was born from the group’s acquisition of social travel network WAYN, which used similar technology to gather over 25 million user-generated ideas to enhance its own content offering.
In this iteration, it will use the Lasminute.com group’s rich first-party data on its 43 million monthly users as well as partnerships with key third-party data providers to provide brands with what it claimed is “unique and valuable insights about their customers.”
Where Facebook and Google can deliver data against relatively broad categories, Di Lorenzo said that her big pitch to potential clients is “boutique travel data” that can’t be found on the mass market (especially on the hard to reach young, affluent audience).
A “gamified survey” in the form of an ad, hosted in standard IAB formats, will deliver feedback from a cross section of this audience. Participation is encouraged through incentives like automatic entry into a 'Win a Holiday' prize draw or discounts on a trip.
“If you think about a classic market research study what [a marketer] would do is go out, find people to sign up and [respondents] would give you answers to questions. But we’re using cookie technology [to find the right people] and creating display advertising units with engaging creative and questions which we run on our site or third-party sites. And we do the profiling based on programmatic technology. Which means we have infinite scale,” she explained.
“Asking questions is the most humble and mature way to run a business and every business should be humble enough to ask the right questions. If a marketer thinks they know everything about their customers… that’s a bit worrying.”
Depending on the client, Lasminute.com anticipates that it will receive between 800 and 2000 responses that are “statistically relevant” over an average two-week campaign.
The “cool factor,” Di Lorenzo said, is the competitive pricing which will be priced based on advertising metrics such as number of responses.
“I work closely with the chief marketing officer on planning and buying. So, we buy media for our own brand as well as on behalf of clients. That comes back to the pricing, which is based on response, but the underlying cost for us is the CPM.”
In the first months of launch it is aiming to sign up tourism bodies, which Di Lorenzo said are lagging when it comes to how they can use digital for consumer insight.
Travel Portland – the marketing organisation for the city of Portland, Oregon, which has recently received a bump in its marketing budget – is one of the first organisations to pilot the Insights tool.
It’s using a survey to provide greater insight into the demographic of potential UK travellers to Portland and to inform its future strategy to increase the number of Brits who visited the city in 2016.
“But this product could be interesting to any brand that’s trying to sell products or services to travellers," she continued.
"It’s just a different way of actioning and using the data we have at hand. It’s helping brands get information rather than sitting in an office and assuming things."
|
Why Medicare and Medicaid Can Outmatch Private Plans on Cost
|
In recent days, Democrats have stepped into the health policy vacuum created by the Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Proposals making the rounds include allowing Americans to buy into Medicare at age 55 or to buy into Medicaid.
|
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/upshot/why-medicare-and-medicaid-can-outmatch-private-plans-on-cost.html
|
2017-08-29 09:01:57.467000
|
“What kind of insurance you have does affect your access to health care,” said Carrie Colla, associate professor of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice and the lead author of the study. “But once you’re in front of the doctor, by and large you’re treated the same way as any other patient.”
One apparent exception found in the study involved the seventh service it examined: cardiac testing before low-risk, noncardiac surgery. This service was provided to 46 percent of Medicare beneficiaries and 26 percent of privately insured patients. The large difference could reflect the fact that cardiac problems are more prevalent among older people. So a doctor with equal concern for all her patients might test Medicare patients at a higher rate for that reason. Nonetheless, such testing is considered low value even for the Medicare population.
Another recent study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, also found little relationship between insurance status and low-value care. The study found no difference in the rates at which seven of nine low-value services were provided to patients on Medicaid versus those with private coverage. Six were also provided at the same rates for uninsured and privately insured patients.
Moreover, the study found that physicians who see a higher proportion of patients on Medicaid provide the same rate of low- and high-value services for all their patients as other physicians do. This is an important finding because Medicaid pays doctors less than private plans do, raising concerns that higher-quality doctors would tend not to participate in the program.
“Despite concerns to the contrary, Medicaid patients don’t appear to be seeing lower-quality doctors,” said Dr. Michael Barnett, lead author of the study, a physician with the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Though raising the prices Medicaid pays doctors may increase physician participation, enhancing enrollees’ access to care, it isn’t likely to change the quality of care patients receive once they are in the doctor’s office.”
|
Majority of Voters Support Medicaid Work Requirements
|
A majority of voters back the idea of tying Medicaid eligibility to employment status as the Trump administration weighs whether to give more states the power to impose work requirements on the government health program.
|
https://morningconsult.com/2017/08/28/majority-voters-support-medicaid-work-requirements/
|
2017-08-29 09:01:24.693000
|
A majority of voters back the idea of tying Medicaid eligibility to employment status as the Trump administration weighs whether to give more states the power to impose work requirements on the government health program.
In an Aug. 10-14 Morning Consult/POLITICO poll, 1,997 registered voters were asked whether they generally support requiring individuals to have a job in order to be eligible for the program. Fifty-one percent of voters said they support that proposal, while 37 percent said they oppose it. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Republicans in Congress have long sought to reform welfare programs with policies that encourage beneficiaries to be employed. Including welfare-to-work policies in other federal assistance programs, such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, has had bipartisan support — but many Democrats oppose adding a work requirement to Medicaid because it is a health care program.
No state Medicaid program currently has work requirements on the books, as the policy is illegal under federal law. But the Trump administration is reviewing applications from four states to waive federal law to adopt work requirement programs.
Drew Altman, who, as noted in a 1987 New York Times story, spearheaded groundbreaking work incentive reforms as commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Human Services in the 1980s, said Americans generally back policies that encourage people to work. The split is over whether they should apply to Medicaid, said Altman, who is now the chief executive officer and president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Liberals and Democrats tend to view Medicaid as a government insurance program and conservatives and Republicans view it as a welfare program, and as a welfare benefit for which there should be a reciprocal obligation,” he said in a Friday interview.
Voters’ views on Medicaid work requirements reflected the ideological divide among policymakers. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans surveyed said they support requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to have a job, while 52 percent of Democrats opposed the idea. A plurality of independents (46 percent) backed work requirements and 36 percent opposed them.
Altman was quick to note that the work requirement programs under consideration are much broader than simply requiring Medicaid enrollees to be employed. Programs requested in the four states — Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania — would require enrollees to work a certain number of hours per week, or be enrolled in other activities, such as an educational, job training or employment search program.
“It could be working, it could be looking for a job, it could be training for a job, it could be getting a GED, and there are also a long list of exemptions from those work requirements,” Altman said.
The actual impact of adding work requirements would be small, Altman suggests, because they would only apply to a small number of Medicaid enrollees. A Kaiser Family Foundation study published in February said 78 percent of beneficiaries belong to families with at least one worker, and 59 percent of enrollees are employed themselves. Most Medicaid enrollees who do not work would be exempt from the requirements because they have a disability or care for a family member.
“It’s actually a very small number of people who would be affected by work requirements, so this is more an ideological debate than it is something that will have a significant effect on the program,” Altman said.
|
Robot caregivers for the elderly could be just 10 years away
|
Despite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.
|
http://uk.businessinsider.com/robot-caregivers-for-the-elderly-10-years-away-2017-8?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=referral&r=US&IR=T
|
2017-08-29 08:59:24.163000
|
The anthropomorphic robot named hitchBOT sits on the shoulder of Highway 102 to begin its 6000 kilometer cross country journey outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 27, 2014. REUTERS/Paul Darrow
Despite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.
Friends and relatives often can't do all the work. Growing evidence indicates it's neither sustainable nor healthy for seniors or their loved ones. Yet demand for professional caregivers already far outstrips supply, and experts say this workforce shortage will only get worse.
So how will our society bridge this elder-care gap? In a word, robots.
Just as automation has begun to do jobs previously seen as uniquely suited for humans, like retrieving goods from warehouses, robots will assist your elderly relatives. As a robotics researcher, I believe artificial intelligence has the potential not only to care for our elders but to do so in a way that increases their independence and reduces their social isolation.
Personal robots
In the 2004 movie "I, Robot," the robot-hating protagonist Del Spooner (played by Will Smith) is shocked to discover a robot in his grandmother's house, baking a pie. You may have similar mental images: When many people imagine robots in the home, they envision mechanized domestic workers doing tasks in human-like ways.
In reality, many of the robots that will provide support for older adults who "age in place" — staying at home when they might otherwise be forced to relocate to assisted living or nursing homes — won't look like people.
Instead, they will be specialized systems, akin to the Roomba, iRobot's robotic vacuum cleaner and the first commercially successful consumer robot. Small, specific devices are not only easier to design and deploy, they allow for incremental adoption as requirements evolve over time.
Seniors, like everyone else, need different things. Many need help with the mechanics of eating, bathing, dressing, and standing up — tasks known as "activities of daily living." Along with daily help with cooking and managing their medications, they can benefit from a robotic hand with more intermittent things such as doing the laundry and getting to the doctor's office.
A robot hands medicine to a worker at the Interactive Robotics and Language Lab, at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. University of Maryland Baltimore County
That may sound far-fetched, but in addition to vacuuming robots can already mop our floors and mow our lawns. Experimental robots help lift people into and out of chairs and beds, follow recipes, fold towels, and dispense pills. Soon, autonomous (self-driving) cars will ferry people to appointments and gatherings.
The kinds of robots already available include models that drive, provide pet-like social companionship, and greet customers. Some of these technologies are already in limited trials in nursing homes, and seniors of course can already rely on their own Roombas.
Meanwhile, robot companions may soon help relieve loneliness and nudge forgetful elders to eat on a regular schedule.
Scientists and other inventors are building robots that will do these jobs and many others.
Pepper
Round-the-clock care
While some tasks remain out of reach of today's robots, such as inserting IVs or trimming toenails, mechanical caregivers can offer clear advantages over their human counterparts.
The most obvious one is their capacity to work around the clock. Machines, unlike people, are available 24/7. When used in the home, they can support aging in place.
Another plus: Relying on technology to meet day-to-day needs like mopping the floor can improve the quality of time elders spend with family and friends. Delegating mundane chores to robots also leaves more time for seniors to socialize with the people who care about them, and not just for them.
And since using devices isn't the same as asking someone for help, relying on caregiving robots may lead seniors to perceive less lost autonomy than when they depend on human helpers.
Interacting with robots
This brave new world of robot caregivers won't take shape unless we make them user-friendly and intuitive, and that means interaction styles matter. In my lab, we work on how robots can interact with people by talking with them. Fortunately, recent research by the Pew Research Center shows that older adults are embracing technology more and more, just like everyone else.
Now that we are beginning to see robots that can competently perform some tasks, researchers like Jenay Beer, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Carolina, are trying to figure out which activities seniors need the most help with and what kinds of robots they might be most willing to use in the near term.
To that end, researchers are asking questions like:
Do robots need to understand and convey emotion to be accepted?
How can robots provide social support?
Is it best when machines simulate eye contact with us?
Does it help if they can converse?
But the fact is we don't need all the answers before robots begin to help elders age in place.
Looking ahead
After all, there's no time to lose.
The Census Bureau estimated that 15% of Americans — nearly one in six — were aged 65 or older in 2016, up from 12% in 2000. Demographers anticipate that by 2060 almost one in four will be in that age group. That means there will be some 48 million more elderly people in the US than there are now.
I believe robots will perform many elder-care tasks within a decade. Some activities will still require human caregivers, and there are people for whom robotic assistance will never be the answer. But you can bet that robots will help seniors age in place, even if they won't look like butlers or pastry chefs.
Cynthia Matuszek is an assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
|
Elder Abuse: ERs Learn How To Protect A Vulnerable Population
|
Abuse often leads to depression and medical problems in older patients — even death within a year of an abusive incident. Yet, those subjected to emotional, physical or financial abuse too often remain silent. Identifying victims and intervening poses challenges for doctors and nurses.
|
http://khn.org/news/elder-abuse-ers-learn-how-to-protect-a-vulnerable-population/
|
2017-08-29 08:57:34.647000
|
Abuse often leads to depression and medical problems in older patients — even death within a year of an abusive incident.
Yet, those subjected to emotional, physical or financial abuse too often remain silent. Identifying victims and intervening poses challenges for doctors and nurses.
Because visits to the emergency room may be the only time an older adult leaves the house, staff in the ER can be a first line of defense, said Tony Rosen, founder and lead investigator of the Vulnerable Elder Protection Team (VEPT), a program launched in April at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center ER.
The most common kinds of elder abuse are emotional and financial, Rosen said, and usually when one form of abuse exists, so do others. According to a New York study, as few as 1 in 24 cases of abuse against residents age 60 and older were reported to authorities.
The VEPT program — initially funded by a small grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation (a Kaiser Health News funder) and now fully funded by the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation — includes Presbyterian Hospital emergency physicians Tony Rosen, Mary Mulcare and Michael Stern. These three doctors and two social workers take turns being on call to respond to signs of elder abuse. Also available when needed are psychiatrists, legal and ethical advisers, radiologists, geriatricians and security and patient-services personnel.
This KHN story also ran in USA Today . It can be republished for free ( details ).
“We work at making awareness of elder abuse part of the culture in our emergency room by training the entire staff in how to recognize it,” said Rosen. It’s easy for the ER staff to alert the VEPT team and begin an investigation, he said.
A doctor interviews the patient and conducts a head-to-toe physical exam looking for bruises, lacerations, abrasions, areas of pain and tenderness. Additional testing is ordered if the doctor suspects abuse.
“Unlike with child abuse victims, where there is a standard protocol in place for screening, there is no equivalent for the elderly, but we have designed and are evaluating one,” said Rosen.
The team looks for specific injuries. For example, radiographic images show old and new fractures, which suggest a pattern of multiple traumatic events. Specific types of fractures may indicate abuse, such as midshaft fractures in the ulna, a forearm bone that can break when an older adult holds his arm in front of his face to protect himself.
When signs of abuse are found but the elder is not interested in cooperating with finding a safe place or getting help, a psychiatrist is asked to determine if that elder has decision-making capacity. The team offers resources but can do little more if the patient isn’t interested. They would have to allow the patient to return to the potentially unsafe situation.
Patients who are in immediate danger and want help or are found not to have capacity may be admitted to the hospital and placed in the care of a geriatrician until a solution can be found. Unlike with children and Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services won’t become involved until a patient has been discharged, so hospitalization can play an important role in keeping older adults safe.
During the first three months of the program, more than 35 elders showed signs of abuse, and a large percentage of them were later confirmed to be victims. Changes in housing or living situations were made for several of them.
“It’s difficult to identify and measure appropriate outcomes for elder abuse victims, because each patient may have different care goals,” said Rosen, “but we are working on making a case that detection of elder abuse and intervention in the ER will improve the patients’ lives. We also hope to show that it will save money, because when an elder is in a safe place, expensive, frequent trips to the ER may no longer be needed.”
The team’s ultimate goal is to optimize acute care for these vulnerable victims and ensure their safety. They plan to work at continually tweaking VEPT to improve the program and to connect to emergency medical, law enforcement and criminal justice services. Eventually, they hope to help other emergency departments set up similar programs.
KHN’s coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation.
KFF Health News' coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by The SCAN Foundation.
|
Safer Cars Help Keep Older Drivers on the Road
|
More than three decades ago, I fell in love with the first minivan I spotted parked in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Though I was never a “soccer mom,” I travel as if there were no stores at my destination, and here was a car that could carry half a household. And I loved sitting up high, able to see beyond the car in front of me.
|
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/well/safer-cars-help-keep-older-drivers-on-the-road.html
|
2017-08-29 08:55:15.793000
|
For example, as someone with arthritic hands (among other body parts), I’m aided by power seats that can be preset two ways: one for my best driving position and the other to ease entry and exit from the car. Other useful features include power windows and mirrors, a thicker steering wheel that is easier to grip, keyless entry, an automatic tailgate closer and a push-button to start (and stop) the engine.
However, Mr. Nelson warned drivers of all ages about one feature now in most new cars: the backup camera. While great for older adults with flexibility issues and short people like me who can’t see objects directly behind the car, it won’t detect anything in the blind spot. That is, it cannot see people, vehicles or bicycles approaching the car from the side. The camera is meant to supplement, not replace, a driver’s visual checks. You must still check your mirrors, turn your head if possible and proceed with caution.
The AAA has created a very useful computerized site to help older drivers identify the makes and models of vehicles within various price ranges that may best suit their particular issues. At SeniorDriving.AAA.com/SmartFeatures, drivers can use drop-down menus to choose among categories like diminished vision, limited upper body range of motion, short stature or overweight, and decreased leg strength.
For those with various vision problems common among the elderly, for example, features like a high-contrast instrument panel with large number and letter displays, an auto-dimming rearview mirror and glare-reducing side mirrors can enhance driver safety.
Sometimes features that auto engineers consider helpful are annoying or distracting for some drivers. Several of the visual or audible warnings in my new car can be turned on or off by the driver.
Ms. Schold Davis urged people to “plan to spend time choosing a car and select the latest built-in safety features you can afford.” Noting that “not all safety features are alike car-to-car,” she said choosing the right car should be individualized according to each driver’s needs. The ultimate goal: “Decrease the likelihood of a crash and cushion against serious injury should a crash occur,” she said.
With the exception of dementia or certain conditions like serious visual impairment, “the diagnosis of a medical condition should not determine whether it’s safe for someone to drive,” Mr. Nelson said. “What does matter is how you manage your condition — whether, for example, you have diabetes and keep your blood sugar under control to prevent a blackout.” Manage your health issue properly, and chances are there is a car available that is safe for you to drive.
|
AI-based app picks emojis based on your facial expression
|
Polygram has launched an app that uses artificial intelligence to analyse users' facial expressions and transform them into emojis in a matter of milliseconds. The app is currently only available for free on iPhone. Users can monitor the reactions to each photo, as well as details of who looked at the post, the duration of the view and location of the viewer. Polygram said the app could be used in telemedicine, and is considering opening it up to third parties.
|
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608748/the-next-generation-of-emoji-will-be-based-on-your-facial-expressions/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=7ea65602e3-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-7ea65602e3-154455665
|
2017-08-29 08:51:26.083000
|
Marcin Kmiec, one of Polygram’s cofounders, says the app’s AI works by capturing your face with the front-facing camera on the phone and analyzing sequences of images as quickly as possible, rather than just looking at specific points on the face like your pupils and nose. This is done directly on the phone, using the iPhone’s graphics processing unit, he says.
When you look at a post in the app (for now the posts seem to consist of a suspicious amount of luxury vacation spots, fancy cars, and women in tight clothing), you see a small yellow emoji on the bottom of the display, its expression changing along with your real one. There’s a slight delay—20 milliseconds, which is just barely noticeable—between what you’re expressing on your face and what shows up in the app. The app records your response (or responses, if your expression changes a few times) in a little log of emoji on the side of the screen, along with those of others who’ve already looked at the same post.
The app is clearly meant to appeal to those who really care about how they’re perceived on social media: users can see a tally of the emoji reactions to each photo or video they post to the app, as well as details about who looked at the post, how long they looked at it, and where they’re located. This might be helpful for some mega-users, but could turn off those who are more wary about how their activity is tracked, even when it’s anonymized.
And, as many app makers know, it’s hard to succeed in social media; for every Instagram or Snapchat there are countless ones that fail to catch on. (Remember Secret? Or Path? Or Yik Yak? Or Google+?) Polygram’s founders say they’re concentrating on using the technology in their own app for now, but they also think it could be useful in other kinds of apps, like telemedicine, where it could be used to gauge a patient’s reaction to a doctor or nurse, for instance. Eventually, they say, they may release software tools that let other developers come up with their own applications for the technology.
|
Intel's new Myrius X vision chip incorporates deep learning
|
Intel has announced the Movidius Myriad X vision processing unit (VPU), a low-power system-on-chip designed for use by systems like drones and AR/VR-headsets that require AI-enhanced visual performance. The chip incorporates what Intel calls a "neural compute engine", an accelerator that can speed up the deep neural network capabilities of the Myriad X to over one trillion operations a second, all in a footprint of 8.1mm x 8.9mm, with a power consumption of around 1 watt.
|
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11771/intel-announces-movidius-myriad-x-vpu
|
2017-08-29 08:33:41.447000
|
Today, Intel subsidiary Movidius is announcing the Movidius Myriad X vision processing unit (VPU), a low-power system-on-chip (SoC) intended for deep learning and AI acceleration in vision-based devices such as drones, smart cameras, and VR/AR headsets. This follows up on last month’s launch of the Myriad 2 powered Movidius Neural Compute Stick. As for the Myriad 2, the Myriad X will coexist alongside its predecessor, which was first announced in 2014. Movidius states that the Myriad X will offer ten times the performance of the Myriad 2 in deep neural network (DNN) inferencing within the same power envelope, while the Myriad 2 will remain a lower performance option.
Under the hood, the Myriad X SoC features what Movidius is calling a Neural Compute Engine, an on-chip DNN accelerator. With it, Movidius states that the Myriad X can achieve over one trillion operations per second (TOPS) of peak DNN inferencing throughput, in the backdrop of the Myriad X’s theoretical 4+ TOPS compute capability.
In addition, the Myriad X has four more C-programmable 128-bit VLIW vector processors and configurable MIPI lanes from the Myriad 2, as well as expanded 2.5 MB on-chip memory and more fixed-function imaging/vision accelerators. Like the ones found in the Myriad 2, the Myriad X’s vector units are proprietary SHAVE (Streaming Hybrid Architecture Vector Engine) processors optimized for computer vision workloads. The Myriad X also supports the latest LPDDR4, with the MA2085 variant equipped with only interfaces to external memory. In an accompanying launch video, Movidius locates the Myriad X functions on a stylized dieshot.
Another new function in the Myriad X is 4K hardware encoding, with 4K at 30 Hz (H.264/H.265) and 60 Hz (M/JPEG) supported. Interface-wise, the Myriad X brings USB 3.1 and PCIe 3.0 support, both new to the Myriad VPU family. All this is done within the same <2W power envelope as the Myriad 2, cited more specifically as within 1W.
Movidius Myriad Family VPUs Myriad 2 Myriad X Compute Capacity >1 TOPS >4 TOPS Vector Processors 12x SHAVE Processors 16x SHAVE Processors CPUs 2x LEON4 cores
(RISC; SPARC V8) 2x LEON4 cores
(RISC; SPARC V8) On-chip Accelerators ~20 image/vision processing accelerators 20+ image/vision processing accelerators
Neural Compute Engine (DNN accelerator) Neural Network Capability 1st Gen DNN Support
(Up to 100 GFLOPS) Neural Compute Engine
(Up to 1 TOPS) On-chip Memory and Bandwidth 2 MB
(400GB/sec) 2.5 MB
(450GB/sec) DRAM Support Max: 8Gb
LPDDR2 (533MHz, 32-bit)
LPDDR3 (933MHz, 32-bit) Max: 16Gb
LPDDR4 (1600MHz, 32-bit) DRAM Configurations 1Gbit LPDDR2 (MA215X)
4Gbit LPDDR3 (MA245X) No in-package memory (MA2085)
4Gbit LPDDR4 (MA2485) Encoder/Codec VGA, 720p, 1080p, H.264 (software encoder) M/JPEG 4K at 60Hz encoder
H.264/H.265 4K at 30Hz encoder Key Interfaces 12x MIPI lanes (DPHY 1.1)
USB 3
SPI
I2S
SD
1GbE 16x MIPI lanes (PHY 1.2)
USB 3.1
Quad SPI
I2S
2x SD
10GbE
PCIe 3.0 Process 28nm HPC+/HPC/HPM (TSMC) 16nm FFC (TSMC) Package 6.5mm x 6.5 mm (MA215X)
8mm x 9.5 mm (MA245X) 8.1mm x 8.8mm (MA2085, MA2485)
At a glance, much of the Myriad X’s extra performance at the same Myriad 2 power appears to come from its new 16nm FFC TSMC process node. In shrinking from a 28nm planar process to 16nm FinFET, Movidius was able to invest the power savings into higher performance as well as more SHAVE processors, accelerators, interfaces, and memory, all in a relatively similar package size. While Intel indeed has its own fabs, Movidius stated that the Myriad X was in development well before Intel acquired Movidius in 2016, and thus 16nm FFC was the technology of choice. This 16nm FFC iteration comes after the Myriad 2’s incarnations on three of TSMC's 28nm process variants: HPM, HPC, and HPC+.
While specifics were not disclosed, the Myriad X VPU comes with an SDK that includes a neural network compiler and “a specialized FLIC framework with a plug-in approach to developing application pipelines.” In any case, like the Myriad 2, the Myriad X will be programmable via the Myriad Development Kit (MDK). At this time, there were no details about the reference kit hardware.
As mentioned earlier, the Myriad 2 will not be replaced by the Myriad X. Last January, the Myriad 2 was described as costing under $10; based on the higher cost FinFET process and additional hardware features, the Myriad X will likely command a higher price for the higher performance.
Update (8/28/17): An Intel representative has given an update stating that 8.1mm x 8.8mm are the correct dimensions for the Myriad X VPUs. The original specifications (8.5mm x 8.7mm) that were given out were incorrect. The press kit photo has been updated.
|
Facebook bans advertisers who spread fake news
|
Facebook will ban advertisers who regularly spread false news stories on its site. Users of Facebook Pages, the company's ad platform, will be banned from advertising if they are found to be regularly sharing content flagged as false by third-party fact-checkers. Facebook brought the fact-checkers on board as part of its efforts to combat the spread of 'fake news' on the site. The social network is seeking to reduce economic incentives for the creation of false stories, with measures including shutting down bot networks which defraud advertisers, and suppressing links from websites with bad records.
|
http://mashable.com/2017/08/28/facebook-fake-news-advertising-crackdown/#3HtzTTfCgaq3
|
2017-08-29 08:33:19.013000
|
Facebook is continuing its crackdown on fake news.
The social network Monday announced Facebook Pages will no longer be able to advertise on the site if they repeatedly share news articles that are marked as false by third-party fact-checking organizations. Page owners can win back the ability to run ads if they later choose to act responsibly.
The move would limit one of the big ways that fake news spreads, since paying to boost posts is a big way for publishers to get stories in front of more people.
"We want people to stay informed on friends, family, and topics they care about on Facebook, and false news damages trust," said Rob Leathern(opens in a new tab), product manager at Facebook. "This is mostly about removing incentivizes for the creation of false news."
This update limits a user's ability to growth hack a Facebook Page, as in gain followers (or Facebook "likes") by sharing fake (but highly-engaging) news articles. Paying for Facebook ads allowed these fake news articles to appear in users' News Feeds.
Facebook introduced a partnership with third-party fact-checkers, months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg belittled the impact of fake news on the 2016 presidential election. Shortly after the election, Zuckerberg wrote(opens in a new tab) "more than 99% of what people see is authentic. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes."
Since that claim, Facebook has taken several steps to lessen the abundance of fake news on the network. Other moves include shutting down the bot networks used to defraud advertisers and suppressing links from websites with bad ad experiences.
Facebook has broken up its fight against fake news into three buckets: disrupting economic incentives, building new products, and helping people make informed decisions.
The most recent change falls into the first category. Still, Facebook remains steadfast against being an arbiter of truth. Pages can regain the ability to advertise and are not banned.
"It is possible that someone could inadvertently share something, so we want to make sure that it is a repeated behavior," Leathern said. "We want there to be an incentive: good maintenance. If they no longer are sharing [fake] stories, they can regain the ability. A repeated pattern of this occurring has a consequence."
Facebook declined to share an exact estimate of the financial impact. The company earned $9.32 billion in the second quarter of 2017, the majority of which comes from mobile advertising
"I think overall the order of magnitude of the size of this is relatively small," Leathern said.
|
BuzzFeed shifts towards banner ads and away from native content
|
Buzzfeed has changed its digital advertising policy and is introducing banner adverts to its homepage and above stories on the site and mobile app. This represents a shift away from its reliance on promoted posts and came despite banner ads being more vulnerable to ad blocking software. Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti said the quality of programmatic ads has increased and loading times are shorter, and the move would help monetise global audiences. Buzzfeed reached more than 75 million unique users as of July and is expected to go public with an IPO next year.
|
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/29/banner-ads-back-buzzfeed-reduce-reliance-native-content-production
|
2017-08-29 08:27:30.743000
|
Since 2013, BuzzFeed has sidestepped the much-maligned banner ad in favour of native content however, the company is now bringing the format back onto the site to more effectively monetise audiences.
Buzzfeed native ads
Business Insider reports that banner ads will now run atop the story and home pages online and in the dedicated app. These will be served up globally through the Google DoubleClick Ad Exchange and Facebook Audience Network.
|
TerraPay and Instant Cash launch cross-border payments in Africa
|
TerraPay and Instant Cash have launched cross-border cash transfers to mobile wallets in parts of Africa. In its initial rollout, TerraPay lets Instant Cash customers send payments to mobile wallets in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. In Nigeria, users can also send money to any mobile number while in Tanzania, customers can transfer funds to directly to Vodacom M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Tigo Pesa and Zantel Ezy Pesa wallets. Ugandan customers can receive cash in MTN and Airtel Money wallets. The companies hope to expand the service to other African countries.
|
https://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/news/terrapay-instant-cash-partner-to-launch-global-cross-border-money-transfers-to-mobile-wallets/
|
2017-08-29 08:25:01.330000
|
TerraPay and Instant Cash are teaming up to enable real-time cross-border money transfers to mobile wallets, according to a press release.
Powered by TerraPay's global clearing and settlement service for mobile wallets, the partnership will make cross-border money transfer faster and convenient for migrants.
Instant Cash's global agent network expanded their services by offering cross-border transfers to mobile wallets, according to the release.
In the initial rollout, TerraPay has enabled Instant Cash customers to send remittances to mobile wallets in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.
In Nigeria, migrants can send money to any mobile number as well as bank accounts.
In Tanzania, migrants will be able to send remittances directly to Vodacom M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money and Zantel Ezy Pesa wallets.
In Uganda, the friends and families of the migrants can receive money in their MTN and Airtel Money wallets.
The service is expected to expand shortly in other countries in Africa which have a significant adoption of mobile money, according to the release.
"Our strategic partnership will bring the convenience of mobile wallets to the global customer base of Instant Cash, making cross-border remittances faster, accessible and cheaper for the consumers," Ambar Sur, founder and CEO of TerraPay, said in the release.
|
Chicago firm offers payments made with a wave of the hand
|
Mobile payment company Keyo has developed a palm scanning point-of-sale terminal that enables users to make a purchase by waving their hand. By connecting their palm print to their credit or debit card, customers are able to authenticate transactions without their wallet or smartphone. If a user's account isn't used in a year, the palm scan is deleted to reduce the chance of account fraud. Several Chicago-based firms have adopted the technology.
|
https://paymentweek.com/2017-8-28-keyo-simplifies-mobile-payments-hand-wave/
|
2017-08-29 08:21:39.867000
|
Keyo Simplifies Mobile Payments to a Hand Wave
August 28, 2017 By: Steven Anderson
I think we can all agree that mobile payments in their current form aren’t exactly complex. Pull out your phone, tap a few commands, maybe even just tap a device against a point-of-sale terminal. A new Chicago firm, as related to the Chicago Tribune, details how mobile payments can be effectively reduced to the wave of a hand.
The firm behind this advance is Keyo, and it works using biometrics to connect to a credit or debit card. The user’s palm print is the primary focus here, so users can scan their hand and have the card in question charged. Since there’s no personal payment information transmitted to the stores, a potential point of failure in security is removed from the equation, and that makes the process safer. Perhaps most interesting of all, the palm scan is deleted if the account isn’t used in a year, so that helps reduce the chances of inactive account fraud.
The whole concept started, reports noted, when the company’s CEO Jaxon Klein and his wife went shopping one day, but forgot their wallet. They had a huge list but had to come home empty handed, which led Klein to the notion of an unforgettable wallet. Biometrics made the perfect alternative.
It’s not out of line to suggest that this would work. After all, you can forget to bring your wallet, you can forget your smartphone, but good luck forgetting your hand. The best part is that this can be just an option, an add-on to a mobile app or the like that makes it an easy backup for those times when you forget your wallet or phone.
There’s a lot of potential in a platform like this. While biometric payments suffer from a bit of a PR problem thanks to the whole “mark of the beast” concept, as long as these are just an option in a field that includes mobile payments, cash, checks and everything else, it’s just one more advancement like the internal combustion engine or the internet itself.
Keyo has a noteworthy idea here, and it’s already started showing up in some Chicago-area firms. It may well catch on before too much longer, and making payments may be as easy as a wave of the hand.
|
The latest Alexa killer - a robotic tablet called Temi
|
Israeli start-up Roboteam has developed a device for the home that uses facial recognition technology to track and follow human owners, according to CEO Yosi Wolf. The company, which also makes robots for military use, initially created Temi, which has a tablet interface, to be a video chat and music machine. It uses Google's artificial intelligence tools but Wolf said the company eventually plans to open the technology up to third parties. The current small beta test will be scaled up to 1,000 participants with a view to launching late next year.
|
https://www.wired.com/story/temi-robot-roommate/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=d92c00cb67-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-d92c00cb67-154455665
|
2017-08-29 08:21:09.987000
|
Yossi Wolf, the CEO of robot-maker Roboteam, almost didn't want to call his newest product a robot. When people think of robots, he says, they expect the stuff of science fiction—machines with faces and personalities indistinguishable from humans. Temi, the rolling robot Wolf hopes you'll soon have in your home, looks more like a tablet on wheels.
Wolf knows a thing or two about robots, though. For years, his company has built them for the military—the kind of all-terrain bots that can maneuver into sensitive areas, climb through sand and over rocks, help safely defuse explosives. Now, he hopes to bring that expertise into your living room with Temi.
The easiest way to describe Temi is as a moveable version of Amazon's Echo Show. Summon Temi from across the house and it'll find its way to you, using the same path-planning tech Roboteam built for the Air Force. It uses facial recognition to identify and track you, and plugs into Google's artificial intelligence tools to mimic Google Assistant's functionality. Temi also gives you a hands-free way to video chat, watch TV, or listen to music while you amble around the house.
Roboteam
Wolf's not trying to build an artificial best friend or a robo-sidekick; instead, Temi was designed to be a video chat and music machine. Let's say you want to video chat with your grandma. Temi uses voice recognition to make sure it rings your grandmother, facial recognition to keep your face in frame, and a microphone array to make sure you're heard. Right now, Temi mostly works like one of those telepresence robots. But long-term, Roboteam will open up Temi's Android-based software to developers, who can build all sorts of crazy things into the machine.
The actual robot, Temi, stands 3 feet tall and rolls on four small wheels. It has a 10-inch tablet for a head and a thin, curved body on top of a base that looks like an industrial vacuum. It can roll around for eight hours on battery power, and connects over Wi-Fi, LTE, and Bluetooth. It doesn't have eyes or look human, like Pepper and Kuri and other robots. Temi looks more like a portable massage station, or one of those rolling standing desks.
"We tried hard not to provide Temi a face," Wolf says. When you talk to Temi, your words show up on the screen with a typed response below. That's it. "Many of the robots, they’re not so much in focus," he says. "They try to be companions, friends, eyes, and hands, and whatever. And I don’t believe the technology is mature enough to replace humans."
For now, Temi is still very much a work in progress. Roboteam's running a small beta test, with plans to expand to 1,000 users this fall and become widely available in late 2018. When it does launch, Wolf says he's committed to selling Temi for less than $1,500. That sounds steep for a tablet on wheels (one that doesn't even vacuum for you!) but Wolf believes Temi can help provide people a better relationship with their technology.
"We are working so hard, and we are spending so much time looking into a smartphone, we forget to spend time with our family and important people," he says. "I knew that only a robotic device will be able to put you at the center. Only a moving device will really be able to serve you, to come when called." Robots may be invading your home, but you're still in charge.
|
Airbnb relaxes restrictions to gain access to Singapore market
|
Airbnb may extend its 'friendly buildings programme' to Singapore as it seeks ways to accommodate the country's strict home-sharing rules, according to co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk. Speaking to The Business Times, he said the Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority's concerns could be alleviated with the programme, which offers more visibility regarding arrivals and departures, and hinted the company may share some commission with building management.
|
https://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2017/august/airbnb-offers-more-openness-to-gain-access-to-singapore-market/
|
2017-08-29 07:58:41.790000
|
Private homeowners in Singapore are currently not allowed to rent out their properties for less than three consecutive months. Before 30 June the minimum lease period was six months, but this was changed to give more choices to visiting academics and students.
"The revised minimum stay duration will provide these groups with more accommodation options. It will also provide more rental opportunities for property owners seeking to rent out their properties. Hotels and serviced apartments will continue to cater to visitors on shorter stays," Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said at the time.
However, the URA is also reviewing its guidelines to allow short-term rentals, and Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk is keen to encourage this.
Blecharczyk told The Business Times that the giving more access to management bodies would help to make neighbours and residents feel comfortable with who was in their building.
Some of the URA's concerns could be alleviated by Airbnb's "friendly buildings programme", he told the Business Times.
"This enables building management to be given visibility into the Airbnb system to see when guests are arriving and departing from that building, what kind of vetting has been done in relation to their backgrounds, as well as set some basic restrictions on how long people can stay and other criteria that the building (management) might care about - so it allows for some customisation," he said.
Airbnb may also share the commission on rentals with building management, The Business Times reported.
"The building (management) can define a service fee that gets collected on each transaction. That money can be set aside to help everybody in the building," Blecharczyk told the newspaper.
Landlords who have tenants that want to be Airbnb hosts would benefit, as tenants would need to sign a "lease addendum" on hosting terms including how much commission the landlord will earn on the hosts' profit. Landlords would be informed about guest check-in and check-out dates, the number of guests and host earnings.
The programme has been used in the US and Australia, and is being extended around the world. "I think it's very relevant to Singapore," said Blecharczyk.
|
Chinese edtech MagicEars raises $6m for English tutoring
|
MagicEars, the Beijing-based English language tutoring start-up, has raised $6m in first round funding from the Bob Xu ZhenEdu Fund and online tutoring company Yuanfudao. MagicEars will use the funds to develop its teaching and research platform. Launched last March MagicEars teaches English to Chinese students aged five to 12 via virtual classes. Reflecting the growing demand for online English learning the deal came a few days after Chinese tutoring start-up Vipkid secured a $200m series D round of funding, valuing the company at nearly $1.5bn.
|
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-08-28-china-based-english-tutoring-startup-raises-6m
|
2017-08-29 07:54:04.930000
|
MAGICEARS, a Beijing-based English learning startup, has raised its first investment: $6 million from the Bob Xu ZhenEdu Fund and online tutoring company Yuanfudao. According to a press announcement, MagicEars will use the funds to further develop the company’s teaching and research platform.
The deal comes only a few days after Chinese online tutoring startup VIPKID nabbed a $200 million Series D round, valuing the company at nearly $1.5 billion. “The demand of online English learning for children has been very clear, and the market size is scaling up,” Jiang Min, vice president of ZhenEdu Fund said in a prepared statement.
Instructors can upload their own teaching videos to the VIPKID platform, where users can pick out who they want to learn from. Meanwhile teachers on MargicEars, who “have a professional English teaching certification” lead virtual classes with about four students at a time. Launched in March 2017, MagicEars aims to reach Chinese students ages 5 to 12, and tuition ranges from around $600 to $1,050 USD.
|
ZingBox to work with VMware to improve IoT security
|
ZingBox is partnering with VMware to enhance security on internet of things (IoT) devices. IoT security provider ZingBox said that security software for traditional IT assets such as laptops does not apply as well to IoT. The collaboration with cloud computing provider VMware is intended to improve reliability and secure IoT infrastructure across devices, applications and networks, with the emphasis on a consolidated solution that works both for IT and IoT.
|
http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/CRM-Featured-Articles/ZingBox-Announces-Collaboration-with-VMware-120183.aspx
|
2017-08-29 07:53:37.857000
|
ZingBox Announces Collaboration with VMware
IoT security solution provider ZingBox recently announced that it will collaborate with VMware, a provider of cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services. Together, the two companies aim to bring enhanced security to enterprise IoT implementations.
"One of the primary goals, and really the only goal [for ZingBox] is to secure IoT devices. What we recognize is that the security infrastructure, the security solutions that have been developed along with the typical IT assets like the laptops and the PCs of the world don’t apply very well to IoT," says John Yun, head of marketing at ZingBox. "We took a fresh look at what the requirements [of IoT] are and developed a security solution specifically for IoT. Our solution is agentless, you don't put any agents on the devices at all, and there's no disruption of communication or any type of performance degradation for these IoT devices.
"We like to think of it as, we took a totally fresh and revolutionary approach to IoT security. [It's] not something that we're trying to extend from the traditional IT side of the world in the hopes that it applies to IoT."
The collaboration will see Zingbox's agentless solution for IoT security team up with VMware’s Pulse IoT Center solution. According to VMware's website, the Pulse IoT Center solution is "an end-to-end infrastructure management solution that enables OT and IT organizations to on-board, manage, monitor, and secure their IoT use cases." More specifically, according to the website, the solution aims to:
Simplify IoT complexity by enabling easy management across a diverse set of things.
Improve reliability by providing accurate, real-time visibility of thing "health."
Accelerate ROI by streamlining and accelerating how the IoT gets deployed and scaled.
Provide peace of mind by securing IoT infrastructure across things, networks, and applications.
"VMware [has] a strong focus on IoT, being able to secure those devices as well as manage them and be able to put security in place. The reason that our synergies lined up really well is that we both have a focus towards having a consolidated solution, meaning that you shouldn’t have a separate solution for IT assets and a totally separate solution for IoT assets," Yun says. "You would almost need to have two separate organizations to manage that and somehow hope that they would talk to each other. We very much have a common vision that this is a problem that needs to be solved for the entire organization, not just one department versus another."
|
Hotel-style properties catch on in London's build-to-rent boom
|
The UK's build-to-rent boom has led to an increase in boutique accommodation that includes communal living spaces, gyms, pools and car-sharing facilities, according to a report by estate agent Knight Frank. It revealed half the 60,000 buy-to-rent properties in the pipeline are in London, with demand in the capital expected to reach two million people. In addition, the study found more than half of renters in the capital are spending at least 40% of their income on rent. The build-to-rent sector is worth about £25bn, a figure that is expected to rise to £70bn over the next five years.
|
http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/londons-buildtorent-boom-is-bringing-thousands-of-new-homes-with-communal-living-spaces-and-a-hotel-a111266.html
|
2017-08-29 07:38:51.013000
|
N ew homes are being built especially for renters, as reports estimate that nearly a quarter of households are expected to be renting by 2021.
The build-to-rent sector is worth an estimated £25 billion, according to Knight Frank, and is expected to rise to £70 billion within the next five years as renters continue to be priced out of the housing market.
London accounts for half of the 60,000 build-to-rent homes under construction or in the pipeline across Britain, but this serves only a fraction of the expected demand from two million renters in the capital.
The boom in the capital's build-to-rent sector is resulting in thousands of boutique new homes becoming available.
Good transport links for an easy commute is said to be the top priority for Londoners looking for rental accommodation, even more so than staying within budget.
Prices at the developments we've spoken to start from about £250 per week, but can swiftly rise depending on location and level of services offered, which can include fully furnished flats with free wi-fi, 24-hour concierge and hotel-style reception.
The rise of build-to-rent
The letting market is dominated by buy-to-let investors, with at least three quarters of tenants living in homes managed by private landlords.
However, this could all be set to change as build-to-rent developments owned by large-scale corporate landlords are on the rise.
Build-to-rent is said to offer more variety of homes for renters to choose from and, possibly, more security because tenancy contracts of up to three years are on offer.
Essential Living’s first build-to-rent development, Vantage Point in Islington is set above Archway Tube station and opened in September 2016. Residents have access to a duplex lounge and dining space.
Such developments will also offer benefits including communal living spaces, gyms, pools and car-sharing facilities, as well as fully furnished accommodation.
The Knight Frank report reveals that in London more than half of renters are spending more than 40 per cent of their incomes on rent, rising to 62 per cent across the UK.
However, the reason for the soaring number of renters is highlighted by separate research from Hamptons International which suggests that it would take more than 18 years for a typical single Londoner to save a 15 per cent deposit to buy a home. Even a couple saving together would take more than 11 years.
|
San Diego battles deadliest hepatitis A outbreak in decades
|
San Diego has been hit by the deadliest outbreak of hepatitis A in decades, causing 14 known deaths so far in the area. Since the start of the outbreak last November, around 264 people have been hospitalised; around 70% of whom were homeless. Hepatitis A has a long incubation period of up to 28 days, hence people can spread the disease before they are aware they have been infected. The virus is primarily spread via food or water contaminated by faecal matter. The best prevention, besides vaccination, is thorough hand-washing, however, good hygiene is difficult for the homeless, particularly when public restrooms are rare and few are open 24 hours.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/28/hepatitis-a-san-diego-deaths
|
2017-08-29 07:38:16.597000
|
Fourteen people have died from an outbreak of hepatitis A in San Diego, and experts believe it to be the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the US in decades, the Guardian has learned.
In large part, the victims were homeless people who have had to contend with a lack of 24-hour public restrooms, even though hand-washing is one of the best defenses against infection.
The number of cases has exceeded other large outbreaks, said a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) spokesperson, and is “likely the most deaths in an outbreak in the US in the past 20 years”, the period in which the CDC has operated its electronic reporting system. In 2003, three people died and at least 124 were hospitalized after eating contaminated salsa at a Pennsylvania restaurant. In 2013, 69 people across 10 states were hospitalized after eating contaminated pomegranate seeds.
Yet in San Diego, 264 people have been hospitalized, roughly 70% of them homeless, in an outbreak that began last November, according to local health officials. Nine of the 14 deaths have occurred since mid-July.
The virus, which impairs liver function, causing jaundice, fatigue, joint pain and, in the most serious cases, death, is largely spread through food or water contaminated by fecal matter. Hepatitis A has a long incubation period – up to 28 days – which means people can spread the disease before they’re aware they’re infected.
A county spokesperson said epidemiologists have yet to determine the cause of the outbreak. Contaminated food is often the source of an outbreak, and Dr Rohit Loomba, director of hepatology at the University of California at San Diego, wondered if the source could have been food that groups distribute to homeless residents.
“My gut feeling is it was a common source where somebody might have given food to a group of homeless individuals,” he said. From there, the virus spread via personal contact. “They don’t have a clean water supply to wash their hands, and once they have hepatitis A, then they become a source for another person.”
Someone whose health is already compromised – by alcoholism, drug use or other illnesses – faces a higher risk of death from hepatitis A, Loomba said. He recommends that anyone who is homeless should get vaccinated.
Experts say that besides vaccination, thorough hand-washing is the best way to prevent the spread of the illness. But good hygiene is difficult for someone who is homeless, when public restrooms are scarce and few are open 24 hours. This is true of many cities with large homeless populations across the western US – there are only nine toilets for 1,800 people at night on Los Angeles’ Skid Row – and not least in downtown San Diego, where the only 24-hour restroom is many blocks from the largest encampments.
Char Beglou eats her breakfast after spending the night in the park. Photograph: Dan Tuffs/The Guardian
On a recent Friday morning, Eric Arundel and Mike, who declined to give his last name, sat under a shade structure on the edge of Fault Line Park, where homeless people spend time next to high-end condos and bars. A pair of restrooms in the park has remained locked for months, despite the city paying the park’s developer $1.6m to keep them open – and clean.
Mike, who was wearing a baseball cap, tilted his head up to show a reporter his eyes, the whites tinged yellow; he had been told by workers at a clinic to stay hydrated and call 911 if his body aches and fatigue got any worse, and was due to return Monday to hear the results of a blood draw.
The men listed off names of homeless people who frequented the park and had fallen ill. Some remain hospitalized. One woman’s parents took her home to northern California. No one is sure what happened to a man named Dave, who was taken to the hospital a couple months ago.
Debbie Smith, sitting in a chair near Mike and Arundel, said said she got vaccinated after seeing several people fall ill, and fought with two acquaintances to get treatment. “As soon as they woke up and their eyes were yellow, I told them, ‘You better get to the hospital.’”
After media reports about the locked restrooms, city officials intervened, telling the developer to keep the restrooms open from 6am-9pm. But several homeless people told the Guardian on Friday that the restrooms were sporadically locked. In an email Friday evening, a city spokesperson said a park official would ensure the restrooms remained opened during posted hours.
The speed of San Diego’s response has also come under scrutiny.
County spokesperson Tom Christiansen said local public health officials are working with the the CDC and California department of public health to try to bring the outbreak under control. Outreach workers are letting people know where to go for free vaccinations and educating people on how to avoid spreading hepatitis A.
And the county is in the process of securing a permit from the city to set up hand-washing stations downtown, a process that should be completed this week.
But homeless advocate Michael McConnell is incredulous that the hand-washing stations weren’t set up months ago, as soon as officials realized there was an outbreak.
“I’m no expert on proper responses to public health crises or viral outbreaks, but what I do see a pattern of is a lack of urgency when it involves homeless people, and this really seems to be no different,” he said.
“How hard is it to make sure there’s additional hand-washing stations?”
Three blocks east of Fault Line Park, where tents and makeshift shelters line the Interstate 5 onramp, a 26-year-old with curly hair and freckles named Sinead Law said that IV drug users were the ones falling ill.
While Law was talking, a woman pedaled up on a bike, asking for food. She said she’d just recovered from hepatitis A. “Dirty drugs,” she said, when asked how she got it.
A sturdy man named Crash, who said he weathered hepatitis A several weeks ago without needing medical help, thinks that it’s been the last two or three months that the virus has really taken hold.
“Now they can’t get rid of it,” he said.
Do you have an experience of homelessness to share with the Guardian? Get in touch
|
Facebook Audience Network faces criticism over Breitbart ads
|
Facebook Audience Network (FAN) has been heavily criticised for placing ads on Breitbart. An ad buyer spotted that FAN, which uses Facebook data to sell ads outside the social network, placed its ads on the controversial site; the buyer is now advising clients to avoid FAN. Facebook said that FAN advertisers can control where their ads appear by blocking sites they do not want them to run on, but the buyer contended that FAN was unclear about the fact that Breitbart was included in the package to begin with.
|
https://digiday.com/marketing/ad-buyers-blast-facebook-audience-network-placing-ads-breitbart/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170829
|
2017-08-29 07:24:18.767000
|
The volatile political environment has led many programmatic buying platforms to shun Breitbart, but the Facebook Audience Network is still placing ads on the controversial publisher’s website.
One ad buyer recently discovered that FAN, which uses Facebook data to sell ads on apps and websites outside the social network, placed its client’s ads on Breitbart. The buyer knew it was through FAN because the creative was unique to the ad that ran through the network. The buyer then saw a screenshot taken by the ad activist account Sleeping Giants of this specific ad on Breitbart. After this snafu, the buyer said it’s advising its clients to avoid FAN altogether.
Facebook may not want to appear as if it’s censoring political opinion. But the ad buyer said FAN’s policies give advertisers the impression that websites like Breitbart aren’t included in the network. An email that a Facebook rep sent to the ad buyer states: “We verify that every publisher follows our Audience Network policies. This includes adherence to the Facebook Community Standards.” And FAN’s policies state that sites in the network must not discriminate against “personal attributes such as race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, disability, medical or genetic condition.”
Meanwhile, Breitbart headlines have claimed that women in tech “just suck at interviews,” female stars of the “Ghostbusters” reboot are “teenage boys with tits” and young Muslims in America are “a ticking time bomb.”
Other tech giants like Amazon and Google regularly serve ads on Breitbart, but those platforms provide more thorough reporting for ad buyers to check where their ads appear. The other qualm that this buyer had with FAN was that, without a list of the URLs where the campaign’s ads ran, the buyer couldn’t confirm its ads were on Breitbart until it started getting called out by activists.
While Facebook announced in June that it started testing out giving advertisers publisher placement lists, this ad-buying agency said those reports haven’t been made available to them yet. A Facebook spokesperson said the reports will be rolled out to advertisers within the next three weeks.
“[Facebook’s] black box ad net is touted as a way to use Facebook data to reach premium publishers off their platform, but they don’t release who those publishers are, and they refuse to give reports about where their ads run,” said the ad buyer said while requesting anonymity out of fear of getting on Facebook’s bad side. “Additionally, you have to trust Facebook’s categories without understanding at a URL level what domains might be included.”
A Facebook spokesperson said that advertisers on FAN can control what publishers their ads appear on because they have the option to block sites they don’t want to run on. The statement also read: “In addition, we will soon begin reviewing all publishers in the Audience Network on a placement by placement basis. If we find specific placements that are in violation of our policies, we will stop ads from running on those specific URLs.”
The video below shows a Breitbart banner ad being served by FAN. Above a headline that surrounds Trump adviser Gary Cohn’s name with globe emojis — the trope of calling Jews “globalists” or “cosmopolitan” dates back to Nazi Germany and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” — is an ad for fintech company CNote. Clicking on the ad brings up a page explaining that FAN served the ad. Breitbart did not reply to messages about this story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wMUrOMvY-E
Kieley Taylor, head of paid social at GroupM, said FAN’s placement of ads on Breitbart “just reinforces that we’ve made the right call in avoiding buying open web inventory via FAN.” Compared to other buying platforms, FAN lacks transparency and attribution reporting, she said. FAN also lacks an impression tracker to show exactly where ads run, said a rep from ad agency CTP Boston.
David Lee, programmatic lead at ad agency The Richards Group, said that given all the hubbub over ads on YouTube appearing against extremist content, continuing to limit reporting while placing ads on a controversial site like Breitbart gives ad buyers the impression that Facebook “didn’t learn anything from the recent brand-safety issues.”
|
228 high-rise buildings fail post-Grenfell fire tests
|
Almost 230 buildings clad in aluminium systems similar to those used in Grenfell Tower have failed large-scale fire tests, according to research carried out by the British Research Establishment. The private company has complained of the difficulty of dealing with high-rise building fires, saying in a 2016 report that they were "visually impressive, high-profile and attracted media attention". The tests followed the fire at Grenfell Tower in London on 14 June, in which 80 people died.
|
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/08/29/buil-a29.html
|
2017-08-29 07:22:07.917000
|
Tests on the fire resistance of aluminium cladding systems in England currently suggest that at least 228 high-rise buildings, over 18 metres in height, are potential death traps.
The tests, carried out on behalf of the British government by the British Research Establishment (BRE), are the latest in a hastily arranged series following the catastrophic June 14 fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, London, which killed at least 80 people.
The tests involved a large-scale test fire on an aluminium composite material (ACM) filled with retardant polyethylene installed with phenolic foam board insulation. Twenty-two buildings are known to use this specific type of cladding, adding to the 206 buildings clad with ACM using differing types of filler and insulation. So far, of systems installed, only those with fire retardant ACM and mineral wool insulation have passed the tests.
No complete list of the buildings involved has been publicly provided, but all are likely residential tower blocks, each housing hundreds of working people and run either by housing associations or local authorities. The government is reported as having informed the buildings’ owners and recommended remedial measures. If the experience of evacuated residents in London’s Chalcots Estate is a guide, emergency measures amounted to improving fire doors and installing fire stopping measures between flats and floors, and unblocking stairwell ventilation. An unknown number of low-rise and private sector buildings may use the same dangerous combinations of materials.
The current set of tests is the second conducted on ACM cladding. In the days following the disaster, Conservative Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid offered free testing of ACM samples to landlords. Initially as many as 530 buildings were thought to have ACM cladding, but early investigations reduced the number to 259, including 240 public sector residential blocks. Landlords were encouraged to submit two 250 x 250 mm ACM samples for testing by the BRE. Of samples eventually submitted, all failed. The test that generated the extraordinary 100 percent failure rate was authenticated as sound by the Sweden Research Institute.
In July, Javid told Parliament that thus far only the core of the ACM panel was being tested. In response, housing authorities and fire safety commentators demanded supposedly more representative test methods in which a mock-up of a full cladding installation, including the ACM panel, the insulation and fire stopping, should be used. Concerns were raised that potentially safe systems were in danger of being removed from buildings.
Hoping, no doubt, for a meaningful reduction in the number of dangerous buildings, Javid called for the new tests, of which six of seven have now been completed by the BRE. But only 13 of 241 buildings covered by the more realistic test have passed, arguably a more devastating outcome than the initial tests, and exposing a regulatory collapse of unprecedented proportions.
Every single one of the cladding systems now being exposed as deadly had previously been signed off as safe. How can this be?
Responsibility lies with all the major political parties, and successive governments, who over the last three decades have embraced deregulation and privatisation and the subordination of public health and safety to private profit. There are many aspects of this revealed by Grenfell.
In England now, following years of erosion, there is no unified regime of building inspection run by local authorities retaining any degree of independence from the building companies. Nor is there an arm of government tasked with overseeing building standards.
Rather, building contractors themselves can hire an “Approved Inspector,” whose job is not to ensure adherence to a strict set of “prescriptive” standards but to follow looser “functional” guidelines assumed to be needed for building safety. A host of private and semi-private organisations, such as the Building Control Alliance (BCA), have sprung up to exploit the regulatory vagueness and loopholes regarding the materials that can be used in any given set of circumstances.
The BCA advised on three mechanisms whereby a cladding system could be approved, in line with building regulations which stated that external insulation should be of “limited combustibility,” defined as “A2.” Option 1 stipulated that all the component materials could simply be of A2 combustibility resistance or better. Option 2 proposed a fire test be set up, that could include inferior products, but if the fire test was deemed safe all was well. Option 3, clearly the easiest, involved a “desktop” study where cladding materials could be deemed safe without any tests and without any specified combustibility standards merely on the basis of considering similar scenarios. No records of these studies were required to be kept.
Even more reckless were guidelines issued, now withdrawn, by the National House Building Council (NHBC), another private body, closely tied to the building industry, which issues insurance to house builders and offers building inspection advice. According to the BBC, the NHBC simply decided that sub-A2 materials were acceptable based on a review of a “significant quantity of data from a range of tests and desktop assessments.”
Perhaps most seriously, the BRE, the organisation most directly responsible for fire testing and providing fire safety advice, has itself been compromised. The BRE was established in 1921 as an arm of the civil service tasked with improving house quality. Over the years, the organisation established itself as a reputable, state-funded source of building and fire safety advice, with a degree of independence from the building materials and construction companies. Privatised in 1997, the BRE has subsequently sought to establish itself as a global brand for sale of fire safety advice, drawing in revenue from the very organisations whose products and operations it should be policing.
In 2016, the BRE issued a report, “External Fire Spread,” following studies commissioned by Javid’s Department of Communities and Local Government into the dangers of cladding fires.
The report, clearly intended to silence growing alarm, is cynical and complacent. The authors complained that high-rise flat fires are “visually impressive, high-profile and attract media attention.” To avoid the fuss, unsuitable cladding materials should be dealt with “as part of the fire safety risk assessment carried out under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 [12] ...”
This order, passed under the Labour government of Tony Blair, removed fire safety responsibly from the Fire Service and allowed anyone to set themselves up as a fire risk assessor, regardless of skills, experience or qualifications. In 2010, fire assessor Carl Stokes won the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chealsea fire assessment contract, including Grenfell Tower, by undercutting rivals Salvus Consulting. Stokes was praised at the time for his willingness to “challenge the Fire Brigade … if he considered their requirements to be excessive.”
Part one of the BRE report concludes with the assertion: “With the exception of one or two unfortunate but rare cases, there is currently no evidence from these investigations to suggest that the current recommendations, to limit vertical fire spread up the exterior of high-rise buildings, are failing in their purpose.”
|
Japan council buys insurance to cover wandering dementia patients
|
The municipal government of Yamato in Japan has entered an insurance plan using public funds that provides compensation for accidents stemming from elderly dementia patients wandering onto railway crossings. The move follows a 2007 case involving Central Japan Railway that sued the family of a 91-year-old man with dementia who was killed after being hit by a train, on the grounds that the collision caused train delays. The family lost the case in the district and high courts and was ordered to pay out in a case that attracted national attention.
|
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170828/p2a/00m/0na/009000c
|
2017-08-29 07:21:09.667000
|
YAMATO, Kanagawa -- The municipal government here has decided to enter an insurance plan that provides compensation in cases such as accidents stemming from elderly dementia patients wandering onto railway crossings, it has been learned.
The local authority plans to include the insurance plan idea in its supplementary budget proposal to be submitted to a municipal assembly session that convenes on Aug. 30, claiming that this is the first case in Japan of a municipal government entering this type of insurance plan using public funds. It is expected that the maximum compensation payout under the plan will be 300 million yen.
In a related case involving Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Central), the railway firm sued the family of a 91-year-old man with dementia who was killed after being hit by a Tokaido Line train in Obu, Aichi Prefecture, in 2007 -- on the grounds that the collision caused train delays. JR Central demanded about 7.2 million yen from the family. The family lost the case in the district and high courts and was ordered to pay out, in what became an issue that gained attention across society.
However, in March 2016, the Supreme Court dismissed the liability of the victim's family. Nevertheless, the Yamato Municipal Government has found itself being consulted by concerned families of elderly dementia patients in the city asking, "If there is an accident, who holds responsibility, and to what extent?"
As a result, the municipal government decided to enter an insurance scheme using public funds that covers compensation for such accidents.
There are 32 railway crossings as well as eight train stations across the city belonging to three railway firms that operate lines such as the Odakyu Line and the Sagami Railway Line. The city will also enter an insurance scheme covering traffic accidents.
Elderly people with dementia who are at risk of wandering onto places such as railway tracks, and who have registered with the city's "wandering senior citizens SOS network" are expected to be covered under the plan. As of late July 2017, 237 people have registered with this network.
It is expected that the local authority will include about 3.2 million yen for this plan in its supplementary budget proposal, and will select an insurance company after a bidding process.
|
Stock trades timestamped with blockchain that uses atomic clock
|
A team of researchers from the National Physical Laboratory, the Toronto Stock Exchange and UK-based consultancy Z/Yen have developed an "atomic ledger" based on blockchain technology, which can timestamp stock trades to within nanoseconds. The move was prompted by European Union regulations that come into force in January, requiring accurate, traceable and transparent timestamps. The atomic ledger was tested successfully on the Toronto stock exchange, recording and stamping 20 million transactions.
|
https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-tech-used-for-nanosecond-timestamp-stock-trades
|
2017-08-29 07:10:51.063000
|
Current EU regulations for time stamping of stock trades require that all trading venues and market participants coordinate their clocks to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) and that transactions be stamped in milliseconds.
However, regulations set to come into effect as of Jan. 3, 2018 require timestamps to be more accurate, traceable and transparent for greater consumer protection.
This regulation has been met with some concern over what technology can implement the requirements.
However, the National Physical Laboratory, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TMX), and UK-based consultancy Z/Yen have come together to bring atomic clock timestamp precision to trades over a Blockchain database.
The database, called ‘Atomic Ledger’ timestamps trades within nanoseconds and is completely transparent. It also records time on the atomic clock, providing highly accurate time stamping.
The group tested the new technology on the Toronto exchange with great success. Having recorded and stamped 20 mln transactions, the results will be analyzed this week.
Professor Michael Mainelli, executive chairman, Z/Yen Group, says:
|
Amazon grows advertising business with self-service platform
|
Amazon is seeking to grow its advertising business with the introduction of self-service platforms for marketing clients. The new developments from Amazon Media Group, the company's advertising arm, will give agencies more control over campaigns, cutting out Amazon's own manager services. The company has launched a number of new services and platforms, including audience-matching and opening up headline search ads to brand owners. Amazon's advertising revenue was estimated at between $1bn and $2.5bn in 2016, with some predicting it will reach $7bn by 2020 as brands ramp up their use of the platform.
|
https://digiday.com/marketing/amazon-grows-programmatic-ad-business/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170829
|
2017-08-29 06:49:17.427000
|
Amazon is growing its ad business, most recently making two big moves that will bring it more revenue.
Agency execs say Amazon is opening up and evolving self-service for Amazon Media Group, its advertising arm that works similarly to programmatic advertising to serve ads to people off Amazon.com. “What they’re doing now is opening as a self-service platform to agencies, letting us manage those campaigns,” said one exec, where previously agencies had to go through Amazon’s own manager services.
The executive said Amazon first approached him about the tool in the third quarter of last year, saying it was in beta. The company told this executive in July that the tool was now open to more brands and agencies, and it was a work in progress with some branding changes coming to it.
Another agency executive said Amazon has made major advancements this year that make it easier to bid on the platform and report for both first-party and third-party users.
The second executive also said the company has made widely available an application programming interface for sponsored product ads, increasing the efficiency of bids on the platform, and that similar developments are expected for the AMS platform in the near future.
An Amazon spokeswoman said that advertising is still a newer part of the business, but the goal for the company is to constantly evolve and update tools available for advertisers — and the ultimate goal is to make all tools available in self-service.
Amazon’s public page describing its programmatic ad platform says the platform will dynamically deliver ads across Amazon.com and IMDb, as well as other owned and operated sites and apps, on publishers’ sites and through exchanges. The offering, called Amazon Advertising Platform, or AAP, is the company’s proprietary demand-side platform and can use everything from product images from Amazon.com to product review information that can be used for creative.
In June, Amazon also launched Advertiser Audiences, a self-serve platform that lets brands access audience matching, similar in a few ways to Facebook and Google. The tool allows brands to build audience segments based on data from Amazon.
The growth of self-serve is a clear move to give more levers and control to marketers and their agencies. Self-serve means more ads, and more ads means more revenue. It’s attractive to agencies because it lets agencies impose their own margins or markups. That inevitably reduces friction and also means more ad options and, therefore, more revenue. “I have heard from reps that this is a major part of their effort to boost advertising,” said one agency executive with knowledge of the matter.
The second change Amazon made that caused ripples in the seller community was opening up headline search ads to sellers as long as they are brand owners. Headline search ads are largely the most powerful Amazon advertising tool — second only to sponsored product ads. They appear above the search results when customers search for a particular item, similar to Google Search.
“This high-performing slot can be a huge difference for brands working to announce and launch new products or defend critical or strategic brand terms,” said one executive. (The third ad type available is product display ads, formerly known as e-commerce ads, which are only open to those who are vendors, that is, sell directly to Amazon)
Some sellers who spoke to Digiday under the condition of anonymity said they are getting $99 coupons and incentives to spend on Amazon Marketing Services, a common tactic for platforms as they grow ad options.
Kristin Rae, an entrepreneur and founder of Inspire Travel Luggage, who sells as a third-party seller on the platform, said she doesn’t remember getting credits, but does see headline search ads (part of AMS) advertised to her occasionally. “This lets me dominate keywords,” she said. “I know I spend the same amount within Amazon and get more targeted return than anywhere else.”
Until now, third-party sellers, who sell in Amazon’s marketplace, not to Amazon directly, had a number of hacks for accessing AMS. Those in the seller community had a low-performing product — essentially a sacrificial lamb — sold via Vendor Central, which would give them a door into AMS. (AMS options like product display ads are only available to vendors.)
“While [Amazon is] still years behind monetizing the platform as Google has, the new changes, such as opening up new ad slots, allowing for automated campaign reporting, complex keyword attribution and use have greatly increased efficiency of the channel and allowed strategic brands to steal share from those still struggling with the platform,” said one executive.
Amazon has a growing ad business, although its size is still up for debate. WPP chief Martin Sorrell, who has been one of the loudest voices in the industry on Amazon, estimated last week that the company made $2.5 billion from digital advertising in 2016, while eMarketer put Amazon’s 2016 ad revenue at $1 billion. Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak estimates that Amazon’s advertising business will reach $7 billion in revenue by 2020. Brands are also increasingly using Amazon’s ad platform, especially as the company ramps up its pitch to them.
Analysts in the industry believe rapid growth on the ad side is probably a priority for Amazon, since that can help ease its other growth issues, especially in its lucrative Amazon Web Services arm. And advertising has a profit margin of 20-30 percent versus the 5 percent that is common for retail, according to analyst Steven Mallas.
|
Amazon's Alexa SDK delivers voice interaction to more devices
|
Amazon is seeking to expand its Alexa voice interaction platform into more devices with the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Device software development kit. The kit includes C++ code libraries to allow developers to connect their device to AVS quickly and easily. Amazon has already tested the software with more than 50 firms in a beta programme, including Technicolor and smart home start-up Senic.
|
https://findbiometrics.com/amazons-latest-alexa-sdk-new-devices-408285/
|
2017-08-29 06:49:14.857000
|
Amazon is trying to help developers bring its Alexa voice interaction technology into more devices with a new offering called AVS Device SDK. It’s a software development kit including C++ code libraries meant to help developers easily connect their devices to the Alexa Voice Service, Amazon’s cloud-hosted voice interaction platform.
In a blog post announcing AVS Device SDK, Alexa Voice Service Senior Product Marketing Manager Satish Iyer said Amazon has already been working with over 50 companies in a beta program, including Technicolor and smart home startup Senic. Commenting on his company’s experience, Technicolor SVP Alan Mottram lauded the flexibility of AVS Device SDK, saying, “we’ve been able to quickly and easily integrate Alexa into our software platform.”
It’s the latest step in Amazon’s effort to extend the reach of its Alexa platform as voice-based interaction becomes increasingly important for consumer devices, with the company having launched the Alexa Skills Kit in 2015 and its Amazon Lex program earlier this year, after a trial program in 2016. Now, even as rival device makers are starting to integrate Alexa into their own offerings, Amazon appears intent on bringing its platform to even more products and services.
Source: Alexa Blogs
—
(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)
|
MedGenome offers cheap genomic diagnosis to Indians
|
Medical diagnostic company MedGenome is using new investment financing to advance its affordable diagnostic tests in India. The company recently received $30m from a consortium led by Sequoia India, along with Sofina, Zodius Capital and others, and now plans to improve its DNA-based testing to cover infectious diseases. Investors believe the expansion of MedGenome's services will have a positive impact on healthcare delivery in India, where over a million babies are born each year with genetic disorders.
|
http://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/medgenome-secures-30-million-series-c-funding/60273460
|
2017-08-29 06:48:31.680000
|
Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis. Enter Email Download ETHealthworld App Get Realtime updates
Save your favourite articles Scan to download App
Bengaluru: MedGenome , a genomics research and diagnostics company, announced completion of $30 million in Series C financing led by Sequoia India and Sofina s.a., with participation by Zodius Capital; Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and former CEO of Infosys; and Lakshmi Narayanan , former CEO of Cognizant.The Series C funding will accelerate development of the company’s affordable diagnostics tests and expand the market penetration by increasing customer awareness on the importance of genetic tests. Additionally, the funding will also be used to broaden biomarker discovery programs. Precision medicine is the ultimate goal of clinicians and patients alike which can be enabled through extensive biomarker discovery. We have established leadership in genetic diagnostics for inherited diseases in India. We will now expand DNA based testing to cover infectious diseases like tuberculosis,” said Sam Santhosh, Founder and Chairman of MedGenome, which also has Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) lab in South East Asia, and a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited sequencing lab in Foster City, CA.The investor partners see this partnership as an exciting opportunity in the development of precision medicine . “We are excited to continue this partnership that will strengthen its proposition to consumers and doctors in these markets,” Abhay Pandey, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors.“This will broaden the use of genomics-based diagnostics in the Indian healthcare sector, and tap into the value of Indian genetic data for research. We believe MedGenome's efforts will have a definitive impact on healthcare delivery in India and around the world,” said Xiao-Tian Loi, Investment Manager at Sofina.With over a million babies born each year with genetic disorders, India carries a huge genetic disorder burden.
|
Chinese authorities consider ICO ban
|
Chinese regulators and officials from the country's central bank are considering ways to limit the risks associated with initial coin offerings (ICOs), from strengthening information disclosure to temporary and even permanent bans, according to reports. Chinese investors bought more than CNY2.6bn ($385m) of virtual currency during H1 2017, but a lack of regulation in the sector has sparked fears of potential default. Issuers argue digital currencies are not the same as stocks or bonds and should not be treated as such.
|
http://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-08-28/101136922.html
|
2017-08-29 06:46:58.703000
|
In China, investors snapped up 2.6 billion yuan ($385 million) worth of new virtual currencies through initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the first six months this year, according to a recent government-backed study. Photo: Visual China
As Chinese regulators mull ways to curb risks associated with fundraising through new virtual currencies, an outright ban is an option on the table, several regulatory officials told Caixin.
Sources said regulators including the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) are pondering oversight measures on initial coin offerings (ICOs), an increasingly popular means to raise cash or other virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum by issuing a new cryptocurrency.
Over 100,000 Investors in China snapped up 2.6 billion yuan ($385 million) worth of new virtual currencies through ICOs during the first six months this year, according to a recent government-backed study. But as ICOs fall outside existing regulations, the risk of default and of fraud has grown, while raising concerns about a potential bubble.
Currently, any company can carry out an ICO if they publish a statement of intent and have an exchange to sell the new virtual currency on. Exchanges are usually happy to host a new coin as they earn service fees and may even get an allocation of the new currency before the ICO. In some regions in China, the issuer does not even need to have a registered company or computer program for the cryptocurrency, a bitcoin investor told Caixin.
Many ICO issuers are registered as charity foundations in Switzerland or provinces in China with preferential tax policies, the bitcoin investor told Caixin. In these cases, investors are considered donors.
In early July, central bank adviser Sheng Songcheng told China Business News that the biggest problem with ICOs was the lack of information disclosure, which can lead speculators to take advantage of investors.
At a meeting on August 18, officials from China’s central bank and the banking and securities regulators discussed controlling the size of ICOs, strengthening information disclosure, requiring risk warning documents and even a temporary ban, Tencent Finance reported.
But ICO issuers argue that the new virtual currencies do not give investors equity rights, nor do they promise any future profit. They simply give holders the right to use the product. Because these virtual currencies do not represent the same promises as a stock or bond, they should not be regulated via securities law, the issuers argue.
Other governments have started to regulate ICOs. In the U.S., ICOs fall under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Earlier this week, Canada’s securities watchdog also said it plans to treat some cryptocurrencies offered through ICOs as securities. “ICO is a liquidity illusion. As long as a product can continuously trade, its value will increase from its previous level,” the bitcoin investor told Caixin.
Contact reporter Liu Xiao ([email protected])
|
Newcastle, Australia adopts smart city plan
|
The Australian city of Newcastle has unveiled a four-year smart city strategy aimed at improving standards of living, environmental impact, and the region's economy. The project also intends to bolster the city's international profile, encourage local innovation and attract talent and inward investment. The strategy will focus on six areas of interest: economy, governance, people, living, mobility and environment.
|
https://www.iothub.com.au/news/newcastles-four-year-smart-city-plan-unveiled-471960
|
2017-08-29 06:45:01.677000
|
By Stuart Corner on
The NSW city of Newcastle has adopted a smart city strategy, describing it as a roadmap for creating a smarter and more innovative Newcastle and Hunter Region to maximise opportunities in technology, advanced manufacturing, the digital economy and the creative industries.
The Newcastle City Council Smart City Strategy 2017-2021 was formerly adopted by the City of Newcastle Council in August following a consultation process that included release of a draft strategy in May. It produced more than 70 submissions, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, according to the council.
The council says the strategy will leverage the smart city movement to improve liveability, sustainability and economic diversity, develop local innovation, build international profile and attract talent and inward investment to Newcastle. It will also “help ensure our future city has effective and integrated public transport, nurtures a creative and vibrant community and features best-practice energy and water efficiency.”
The council’s smart city coordinator Nathaniel Bavinton said the four-year strategy was one element of the broader Newcastle 2030 Community Strategic Plan that aims to create a smart, liveable and sustainable city.
“[The smart city plan] outlines the key priorities and actions to be delivered by council in its commitment to leading Newcastle’s transition to a smart and innovative city,” Bavinton said.
“Like the long-term strategy, the smart city strategy draws on input from – and the cooperation of – all levels of government, the community, educational and research providers and business and industry sectors.”
The strategy says its successful implementation will: improve operational efficiency; achieve higher levels of sustainability; better service local community needs; stimulate economic development activity; increase community inclusion and participation; and position Newcastle as a smart city internationally.
The strategy is structured around six major focus areas, depicted as what it calls the “Smart City Mandala.” The six focus areas are smart governance, smart environment, smart living, smart mobility, smart people and smart economy. For each of these, the strategy document lists specific initiatives and timeframes to achievement within the four-year timeframe of the overall strategy.
The strategy document says each focus area within the Mandala is underpinned by a number of supporting sub-strategies that have been “developed through internal and external stakeholder engagement and according to international best practice.”
The document says the plan is based on the framework of Boyd Cohen, the international urban strategist helping communities, cities and companies adopt smart, innovative and low carbon economies. He is the co-author of Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change, published in 2011, and director of innovation and professor of entrepreneurship, sustainability and smart cities at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile.
|
Westfield combats Amazon by upgrading digital ads
|
Shopping centre operator Westfield is planning to spend $1bn on digital upgrades over the next five years, as it seeks to counter the threat from Amazon and other e-commerce providers. The company is replacing older ad formats with digital media screens at 17 of its 33 malls in the US. The screens will use cameras and sensors to track visitors and collect real-time demographic data to tailor appropriate advertising messages to consumers. Westfield also plans to incorporate mobile platforms into the digital strategy by delivering ads to consumers' phones near the screens.
|
https://digiday.com/marketing/westfield-combatting-amazon-threat-digital-upgrades-malls/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=daily&utm_content=170828
|
2017-08-29 06:43:20.397000
|
Not all malls are floundering in the face of Amazon and e-commerce. Westfield is trying to adapt with plans to spend $1 billion on digital upgrades over the next five years.
“We want to upgrade our properties in ways that better speak to the way that consumers want to experience a mall environment,” said Charley Delana, Westfield’s head of brand ventures.
Westfield has replaced older ad formats such as ads on escalators with 450 eye-level digital media screens at 17 of its 33 malls across the U.S. meant to show shoppers relevant messages.
The screens will use cameras and sensors to track how many people pass by and collect real-time demographic data, such as the gender and age, within 20 feet. Westfield is also quantifying how consumers receive the screens’ ads by measuring consumers’ emotional responses and how long they spend in front of the screens. Using this and other web-based data such as weather reports, the screens can adjust the ad content to target individuals to make the ads more efficient.
“[Advertisers] can now see that we’re serving them the right audience, but they can also understand which creative is right at certain times of the day,” said Delana. “We’re only encumbered, if you will, by the amount of creative that they’re willing to provide us.”
For instance, if a group of men walk up to the screen and it’s a rainy day, the network can choose to show them one of five Burberry ads that promotes outerwear.
Brands can also choose to live stream from any of the screens and then stream that content to every Westfield property. Next month, Ford plans to roll out a new car at Westfield World Trade Center, Westfield’s newest location, this way.
At a time when people are glued to their smartphones, the screens aim to grab their attention while in the malls. However, in the future, Westfield plans on incorporating mobile into the strategy by serving ads to consumers’ phones when they are in proximity to the screens.
Westfield is also looking for retailers that are willing to innovate. At Westfield World Trade Center, for instance, it selected retailers that could provide mobile and in-store digital services.
A Credit Suisse study out in June predicted that 25 percent of malls will close in the next five years as Amazon and other e-commerce sites grab market share. Amazon was mentioned in at least 100 earnings calls in the past month. Westfield has 33 properties, down from 67 in 2005.
Westfield isn’t exactly shunning Amazon, though. Westfield has already placed Amazon bookstores in several of its properties and is considering incorporating Amazon Lockers, too.
“We embrace — embrace may be too strong of a word — but we certainly welcome a conversation with Amazon, and we have welcomed Amazon into our centers,” said Delana. “I don’t think we’re afraid of them so much as we’re looking to them as an opportunity to figure out how to partner.”
Image courtesy of Westfield
|
Healthcare IoT cybersecurity targeted by ZingBox and VMware
|
Internet of things (IoT) security provider ZingBox will partner with cloud computing company VMware to simplify the security and management of IoT infrastructure, said Mimi Spicer, VP of IoT at VMware. As part of the collaboration, ZingBox's IoT security software will integrate with VMware Pulse IoT Center, an IoT infrastructure management system. ZingBox will establish trust between IoT devices and open-source code by analysing the security of individual devices and enforcing acceptable behaviour based on fixed rules, the vendors explained.
|
http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/zingbox-vmware-partnership-hopes-enhance-healthcare-iot-cybersecurity
|
2017-08-29 06:36:49.773000
|
ZingBox, a vendor of Internet of Things security systems, will collaborate with VMware, which markets an IoT infrastructure management system, to deliver enhanced security to enterprise Internet of Things implementations.
According to Gartner, by 2020, more than 25 percent of identified attacks in enterprises will involve the IoT. The Mirai attack last year was a wake-up call that demonstrated the real-world impact of attacks targeting IoT devices. And the recent WannaCry ransomware and NotPetya ransomworm incidents confirmed that the cybersecurity landscape is changing.
ZingBox and VMware said they clearly recognize this cybersecurity trend and seek to properly safeguard an IoT environment that requires adding security at every level of the architecture: software, hardware, network and user.
“Our collaboration will enable IT and OT leaders to increase overall vendor/solution credibility, particularly in manufacturing, retail and healthcare,” said Xu Zou, co-founder and CEO of ZingBox.
The process of provisioning, managing and securing IoT devices remains a significant challenge for many organizations, said Mimi Spier, vice president, IoT, at VMware. “We are excited to team up with ZingBox to greatly simplify the security and management of IoT infrastructure,” she added.
The two companies said they will strengthen IoT security by integrating ZingBox’s IoT personality-based approach with VMware Pulse IoT Center, an IoT infrastructure management system. ZingBox will introduce the element of trust between IoT devices and a vendor-neutral open source SDK by discerning each device’s unique personality and enforcing acceptable behavior based on rules created within VMware Pulse IoT Center, the vendors explained.
“ZingBox focuses on IoT security and the need to tighten it at all levels – software, hardware, network and user access,” said May Wang, co-founder and CTO at ZingBox. “Part of our mission is to educate the healthcare industry about the need for IoT operational analytics and its benefits. This partnership focuses on the benefits of our pre-integrated and pre-validated solution and how it reduces time to value for the end customer.”
This partnership announcement comes on the heels of ZingBox’s recent announcement of receiving $22 million in its B-series from Dell Venture Capital and Triventures.
|
Airtel's online debit card attracts two million users in India
|
India's Airtel Payments Bank's online debit and prepaid card, backed by Mastercard, has notched up an impressive two million users within five months of launch, according to Airtel CEO Shashi Arora. The digital payments solution enables the bank's customers to make payments at more than 100,000 e-commerce websites and other online portals, while the online card can be accessed via the My Airtel app.
|
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/airtel-payments-bankmastercard-powered-online-card-crosses-two-million-users/article9834629.ece?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication
|
2017-08-29 06:32:58.157000
|
The Airtel Payments Bank-Mastercard powered online debit and prepaid card has clocked a milestone, crossing two million users in India within five months of its launch.
This digital payments solution enables Airtel Payments Bank customers to make secure and convenient digital payments at over 100,000 e-commerce websites and other online portals.
The online card can be accessed by all Airtel Payments Bank customers via the My Airtel app in the bank section.
Commenting on the development, Shashi Arora, MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank said, “We are delighted with the customer response to our online debit and prepaid cards that further validates the growing acceptance of our digital payments platform in India".
Porush Singh, Country Corporate Officer, India and Division President, South Asia, Mastercard said, “It is heartening to see that cards issued by Airtel Payments Bank have clocked such an impressive growth".
This achievement comes close on the heels of the recently launched Digital Evolution Index, an exclusive report that was recently commissioned by Mastercard and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. It places India among the Break-Out economies, pointing to the country’s potential to emerge as a full-fledged digital economy.
[email protected]
|
Cricket insurance costs surge as rain stops play in India
|
Inclement weather during cricket matches in India has seen the cost of insuring against cancellation rise from INR1.5 crore ($1.6m) in 2017 to INR4 crore in 2018. The success of the Indian Premier League means policies are often taken out by multiple organisations, from broadcasters to franchise owners, with subsequent claims spelling huge losses to insurers. "When the insurance company stands to lose INR6 lakh ($9,400) per over, there is less room to be flexible about rates", said Amit Agarwal of JLT Insurance Brokers.
|
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/rain-plays-spoilsport-for-cricket-insurers/articleshow/60250409.cms
|
2017-08-29 06:04:03.353000
|
Mumbai: The cost of insuring cricket matches , which accounts for a bulk of the Rs 200-crore sports insurance market in India, has gone up substantially in the last three-four years. Stakes in the country’s most popular game have risen and insurance companies are discovering that a little bit of rain can result in having to pay out large claims.A corporate sponsor of the Indian team has seen its insurance premium bill jump from Rs 1.5 crore in FY17 to Rs 4 crore in FY18 following a large claim in the previous year. Sponsors are only one of the stakeholders in a cricket match — the others being the association broadcasters and franchisee owners “Hardening cricket insurance rates are predominantly driven by loss ratios as most of the policies are bleeding,” said Amit Agarwal of JLT Insurance Brokers at JLT Independent , an insurance broking firm. “For the same match, there are multiple stakeholders who buy insurance cover. Often claims from multiple insurance policies hit the same insurer or reinsurers simultaneously. Given the multiple stake, a bad spell of rain could cause large losses to the insurer,” said Agarwal.The growth of league matches for a television audience with sponsors has increased the money involved in other sports such as football ( Indian Super League ) and Pro Kabaddi League . Badminton is another sport which is picking up. However, cricket continues to account for 85-90% of the total sports premium in the country.The sports insurance market, less than two decades old, had got a big boost with the launch of the Indian Premier League 10 years ago. The business, which started as a largely reinsurance-driven one, is now led by the country’s largest domestic insurer New India Assurance followed by Oriental Insurance National Insurance and HDFC Ergo .In early days of cricket insurance, non-life companies were cautious, charging high rates and providing limited cover. Companies issued policies like the one-ball bowled cover, where the insurance policy would cease to operate if even a single ball was bowled. In subsequent years, as domestic companies learned the game, more companies participated in sports insurance, which brought prices down.The entry of IPL resulted in the game becoming big business and different stakeholders buying cover to protect their interests. “When the insurance company stands to lose Rs 6 lakh per over, there is less room to be flexible about rates.”Interestingly, headline-grabbing events in cricket have not resulted in claims. For instance, the scrapping of the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals did not result in claims to the insured as the actions of the franchise owners were judged to be illegal. Rather, it is inclement weather that results in losses
|
Redrow Promotions for two Redrow managers in Lancashire division
|
Stuart Bullough and Shaun Phoenix have been promoted to more senior roles in Redrow's Lancashire division. Former area construction manager Bullough is now construction manager and will eventually oversee more than 20 of the division's developments. Meanwhile, Phoenix has been promoted to area construction manager, in charge of sites in the Merseyside area, having previously worked as a senior project manager at the housebuilder.
|
https://businesslancashire.co.uk/2017/08/25/new-construction-roles-two-redrows-award-winning-managers/
|
2017-08-29 05:56:35.917000
|
Two of Redrow’s construction team have taken on new roles within the company’s expanding Lancashire division.
Stuart Bullough and Shaun Phoenix, both awarding-winning members of the Redrow team, have been promoted to construction manager and area construction manager respectively.
For Stuart Bullough, 44, from Poulton-le-Fylde, it was the second upward move this year, after officially becoming area construction manager in January (although it was a role he has been doing informally already).
The dad-of-three, who started with Redrow as an assistant site manager in 2003, said he never envisaged getting so far in such a short time: “Of course I am delighted, ecstatic even. But I don’t ever want to stand back and think I’ve done well, or get complacent.”
Stuart will continue to oversee eight sites within Redrow’s Chorley-based Lancashire division, gradually increasing to cover its 20-plus developments, as well spending more time in the office and getting involved in board reports, etc.
“I will also deputise for the construction director, and act increasingly as a link between the sites, the area managers and the construction director,” he added.
It’s a major move for Stuart, who has won a wealth of industry awards including two NHBC ‘Pride in the Job’ Seals of Excellence when he was site manager at Harbour Village in Fleetwood and Whitehill Meadows in Blackpool.
Shaun Phoenix, 39, from Leigh, is now area construction manager for Redrow, taking charge of a number of sites in the Merseyside area, including Summerhill Park’s apartments and houses in Liverpool’s Broadgreen area; Regency Gardens and Regency Manor in West Derby and the refurbishment of three listed buildings on the old Holly Lodge school site; plus Redbridge Park in Fazakerley and a forthcoming new site in Maghull.
It is the latest move for the father-of-two, who started his career with the homebuilder when he left school at 16 as an apprentice joiner.
The dad-of-two has progressed steadily up the ranks to site manager, project manager and senior project manager before being appointed to his latest role.
He said: “It’s my role to act as the glue between a host of different departments, dealing with the site managers, area sales team and on-site sales staff, as well as helping to resolve technical issues. I’m basically a link between the office and the site.”
Keith Collard, construction director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire), said both promotions were well deserved and fitted with Redrow’s commitment to home-grow talent.
“Redrow enjoys nurturing the talent it has and supporting its people, whether that’s apprentices, graduates, other trainees or people at various stages of their career looking to expand their qualifications and experience,” Keith explained.
“It’s one of the reasons Redrow was the first housebuilder to receive the British Institute for Learning and Development (BiLD) ‘Quality Mark’ in 2016, recognising the calibre of our approach to training and professional development programmes; and it’s also helped us become a Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer for the last four years.”
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.