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Phillips 66 and Square Robot develop storage tank inspection robot
 Autonomous robot would enable petroleum storage tanks to remain in service for tank floor inspections

BOSTON & HOUSTON --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), an energy manufacturing and logistics company, and Square Robot, Inc. are advancing into the unmanned robotics inspection market through the joint development of an autonomous robot that would have the capability to inspect petroleum product storage tank floors while product remains in the tank. The untethered robot is being designed and will be certified for use in a wide range of petroleum products. The robot is expected to enter service in mid-2018.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005775/en/

Aboveground storage tanks are routinely removed from service to be drained, opened and cleaned at great expense in order to evaluate tank bottoms. The new robot is being developed to automatically survey and map obstacles within a tank -- while the tank remains in static service -- creating a specific route map allowing maximum coverage of the tank floor. Using the non-destructive testing (NDT) data gathered, a certified inspector will produce a floor thickness map allowing for a more accurate prediction of a tank floor’s remaining life.

“Our collaboration with Phillips 66 provides access to a significant team of experts in NDT inspection, safety, procedures and operations,” said Eric Levitt , Square Robot co-founder. “As a start-up, we would not have access to these tremendous resources outside of our core business of developing autonomous robots for confined spaces.”

“Ensuring the integrity of our equipment is one of our top priorities and we are always looking for innovative new technologies to help us achieve this,” said Todd Denton , general manager, Midstream Operations, Phillips 66. “Our collaboration with Square Robot presents a unique opportunity to develop technology that will enable us to maintain our equipment and minimize disruption to our customers.”

About Square Robot, Inc.

Square Robot was started by three Subsea Robotics professionals in May 2016 , specifically to address the growing need for swimming autonomous robots for Oil and Gas applications. Aside from terrestrial tanks, the same autonomous hovering technology will have broad ranging applications for subsea infrastructure inspection. The rapidly growing Boston based start-up has recently completed a first round of fundraising and currently employs 12 engineers. The company intends to launch a tank floor inspection service business in Houston during the summer of 2018.

About Phillips 66

Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Phillips 66 Partners , the company’s master limited partnership, is an integral asset in the portfolio. Headquartered in Houston , the company has 14,600 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Phillips 66 had $52 billion of assets as of June 30, 2017 . For more information, visit www.phillips66.com or follow us on Twitter @Phillips66Co.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE “SAFE HARBOR” PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or outcomes and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements herein include statements regarding Square Robot’s efforts to develop and commercialize the technology with the capabilities, and Phillips 66’s ability to use the technology, as described in this press release. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, technical or legal issues that may arise in the development, protection or commercialization of the technology, as well as the possible introduction by others of competitive technology. These factors could, among other things, delay or prevent the development of the technology and Phillips 66’s expected benefits therefrom. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as of the date of this press release and neither Square Robot nor Phillips 66 undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005775/en/

Output: Phillips 66 and Boston-based start-up Square Robot have teamed up to develop an autonomous robot that can inspect petroleum product storage tanks. The untethered robot will be certified for use in a range of products, including inspecting storage tank floors while the tanks are in use so that tanks would not need to be drained and cleaned before inspections. The robot is expected to enter service in the middle of next year and offer significant cost savings by being able to operate while tanks are in use.


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Stanford, EDF seek mobile methane-leak monitoring solutions
 It takes only 3 days for an LNG carrier or oil tanker to reach India from East Africa where Tanzania is destined to become an LNG exporter together with its neighbor Mozambique and a transit point for Ugandan oil exports.

Output: Stanford University and the Environmental Defense Fund have launched the Mobile Monitoring Challenge (MMC), inviting scientists and engineers to send in their ideas for mobile technology to detect methane leaks by 31 October. The move follows the success of the Methane Detectors Challenge, which led to the pilot testing of a static device developed by Quanta3. The MMC aims to spotlight ideas for "low-cost, reliable, and valid" technologies that can be used on the move and off-site. ExxonMobil is among the advisers to the MMC project.


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China buys assets in Australia to cater to its middle class
 Chinese investors are buying up assets in Australia from housing to ports to agriculture. One area where that trend is particular noticeable: Chinese investment in Australia's agricultural sector went from $300 million to more than $1 billion over the past year. Part of what's driving that trend is Chinese investors looking to Australia as fertile ground to produce goods that they'll sell back in China. There's heavy demand from China's booming middle class for Australian-produced fruits, meats, wine, dairy and minerals. In fact, those shoppers have grown to trust "Made in Australia" on the whole. After outbreaks in China from tainted infant formula, Australian-produced formula has been a market winner for Chinese consumers.

China's wealthy impact Australian housing

Home prices in Sydney are up 98 percent since the global financial crisis, and in Melbourne they're up 84 percent, according CoreLogic, a data, information, analytics and services provider in Australia. Concurrent with rising prices is increased Chinese activity in the market. Last year, was the biggest year for Chinese investment in Australian residential real estate, according to Juwai.com, an international property website. In New South Wales, the Australian state in which Sydney is located, foreign buyers (87 percent of whom were Chinese) acquired a quarter of new property supply, according to a recent report by Credit Suisse.

Not everyone is happy about the trend

Output: Chinese investors have massively upped the amounts of Australian assets they are purchasing, with investment in agriculture more than tripling in volume to $1bn over the past year. China looks to Australia to produce goods like fruit, meat, wine, dairy and minerals, to cater to its booming middle class. Despite lowered incentives for overseas buyers to protect Australia's assets, Credit Suisse believes demand from China will remain high.


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Facebook unveils tool to help publishers sell subscriptions
 Facebook is rolling out a new solution for news publishers that will give mobile app users access to a limited number of articles every month, and then provide them with the option to subscribe via the publishers' own websites.

The solution was announced with 10 publishers signed up, including the Washington Post, The Economist, Bild and The Telegraph, but lacked some major names including the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the New York Times.

According to Reuters, the Wall Street Journal objected to Facebook's one-size-fits-all approach, while the Financial Times wanted a registration process in place so that it could access reader data directly in exchange for providing free articles.

The new solution marks a departure for Facebook, which has previously used platform like Instant Articles as a method of keeping users within its own ecosystem. However, in the wake of the fake news scandal which has plagued the social network, it makes sense that the company would try to restore trust and respectability by partnering with established news organisations.

"We're listening to news publishers all over the world to better understand their needs and goals, and collaborating more closely on the development of new products from the beginning of the process," said Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships at Facebook.

"Over time, we'll continue investing in new ways to enable publishers' subscription businesses - including working with publishers to remove friction from the conversion flow to subscribe, leveraging data to better target content and offers to likely and existing subscribers, and improving our marketing tools to make them better suited for publishers' needs. We're looking forward to working with our partners to help support an important business model for the news industry."

The full list of partners and news titles also includes The Boston Globe, Hearst (The Houston Chronicle and The San Francisco Chronicle), La Repubblica, Le Parisien, Spiegel, and tronc (The Baltimore Sun, The Los Angeles Times, and The San Diego Union-Tribune). The platform will initially only be available on Android, and Facebook plans to test different variations using factors like how many free articles are available before subscribing.

Join us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.

Output: Facebook is partnering with 10 global publishers to launch a new feature aimed at selling online subscriptions to mobile app users. A limited number of free articles will be offered from titles such as Washington Post and Bild, with the option for readers to sign up for more via a link to the publisher's website. While the likes of Le Parisien and The Telegraph have also signed up, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Financial Times are among major publishers who declined.


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Australia insurtech lobby wants more access to regulatory sandbox
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Output: An Australian industry lobby, focusing specifically on insurtech, is asking for an extension on the regulatory framework allowing certain companies to use a "sandbox" to test their products without running afoul of restrictions. The newly-formed Insurtech Australia group is urging the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to adjust regulations around the sandboxes to fit insurtech characteristics; in particular, the body is requesting that the regulator increase the limits of personal lines.


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Amazon wins patent for always-on home monitor for video chats
 The video would be blurred and voices muffled but the idea is for people to be able to guess whether friends and family are available in order to hop on spontaneous video calls.

Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email

In a patent granted to Amazon today, the tech giant proposes connecting households via video screens that would monitor the users’ rooms continuously, and let their friends or family tune in to access blurred visuals and muffled audio to determine when might be a good time for a video chat.

For example, when you arrive home from work your mother (if you granted her access) could start to hear muffled audio coming from your kitchen and would then know you’re home and could request an immediate video chat. If you verbally accept, the screen will automatically clear to enable the chat.

Amazon says it hopes this technology can help in “replicating the spontaneous face-to-face conversations that arise from living in the same place.” It also, of course, would capture huge amounts of data on consumers’ living spaces, social connections, communication habits, and even facial recognition.

Get the PDF: The Amazon Strategy Teardown Download our 63-page deep dive into the acquisition, investment, and research strategy of Amazon. Email

Using this sort of always-on visual and audio tracking, the patent lays out a long list of data sets Amazon could capture, including facial expressions, “smile detection,” body movement and gestures, biometric analysis such as pulse detection, eye movement, and more.

The patent also says that the technology could identify furniture and other objects in your home, and compare them to “reference databases” that could help it figure out which brands you’ve bought and how much you’ve paid for them.

To further ease ordering, the device could even potentially visually identify specific products and add them to your cart. You could hold up an empty box of cereal, for example, and the device could note the brand and size and automatically order a refill.

More generally, visual monitoring could help Amazon better understand users’ brand preferences, disposable income, daily habits, and more.

For example, Amazon was previously granted a patent for using drones to observe consumers’ houses from the outside, and offer product suggestions and home improvement tips based on its visual data capture.

Further down the line, we know Amazon may be interested in healthcare services — technology to track users’ pulses and other biometric data in the home through countertop devices, as mentioned in this patent, would open up new possibilities.

Amazon’s Echo Show, which debuted in May 2017, could provide a prototype for the technology in this patent.

The Show, a video touchscreen with Alexa voice control, gained attention for its “Drop In” feature, which would let designated users launch a video call with you at any time. The capabilities described in today’s patent seem like the next step in the development of an Echo Show-type device.

By adding always-on, continual visual and auditory monitoring, however, it would deepen users’ connections to each other and also to Amazon.

Beyond the blurring and unblurring video chat capabilities, the device in this patent could display “active” content (requested by the user) or “passive” content (content it would pull up automatically, making assumptions about what’s most relevant for the user it “sees” in the room).

Amazon says the device could display calendar information, weather, reminders, email, recipes, videos, home automation information, delivery tracking information, and more. Users could interact with voice, touch, and even gestures — for example, swiping through calendar appointments with a wave of the hand, as shown below.

Gathering new offline data streams — especially in shoppers’ homes — could have huge implications for Amazon. Supply chain and logistics, including drone delivery tools, are another high-momentum area for Amazon patents, which we’ve previously discussed here.

If you aren’t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.

Output: Amazon has been awarded a patent to connect households via video screens that continually monitor homes to offer signals when a contact might be free for a video chat. Users would be able to see into each others' premises through scrambled visuals and audio that would clear only when a video chat is initiated. Amazon wants to duplicate "spontaneous face-to-face conversations", but to do so would also allow it access to significant data on users’ homes, social groups, communication methods, and potentially facial recognition, pulse detection and more.


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WHO tries to contain untreatable Marburg virus in Uganda
 The World Health Organization has said it is working to contain an outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) that has appeared in eastern Uganda on the border with Kenya.

At least one person is confirmed to have died of MVD and several hundred people may have been exposed to the virus at health facilities and at traditional burial ceremonies in Kween District, a mountainous area 300 kilometres northeast of Kampala.

The first case was detected by the Ministry of Health on 17 October, a 50-year-old woman who died at a health centre of fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea on 11 October. Laboratory testing at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) confirmed the cause of death as MVD.

We are working with health authorities to rapidly implement response measures.Uganda has previously managed Ebola and Marburg outbreaks but international support is urgently required to scale up the response as the overall risk of national and regional spread of this epidemic-prone disease is high.

The woman’s brother had also died of similar symptoms three weeks earlier and was buried at a traditional funeral. He worked as a game hunter and lived near a cave inhabited by Rousettus bats, which are natural hosts of the Marburg virus.

One suspected and one probable case are being investigated and provided with medical care. An active search for people who may have been exposed to or infected by the virus is underway.

The Ministry of Health has sent a rapid response team to the area supported by staff from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFNET).

WHO is providing medical supplies, guidance on safe and dignified burials, and has released US$500,000 from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to finance immediate response activities.

“We are working with health authorities to rapidly implement response measures,” said Ibrahima-Soce Fall, WHO Regional Emergency Director for the Africa region. “Uganda has previously managed Ebola and Marburg outbreaks but international support is urgently required to scale up the response as the overall risk of national and regional spread of this epidemic-prone disease is high.”

Marburg virus disease is a rare disease with a high mortality rate for which there is no specific treatment.

Output: The rare Marburg virus, which has a high mortality rate and for which there is no specific treatment, has been found in Uganda. One person has died and several hundred more may have been exposed to the virus. The ministry of health has sent a rapid response team, supported by the World Health Organisation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the African Field Epidemiology Network. "Uganda has previously managed Ebola and Marburg outbreaks but international support is urgently required to scale up the response as the overall risk of national and regional spread of this epidemic-prone disease is high," warned WHO's Ibrahima-Soce Fall.


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Los Angeles Times podcasts boost sign-ups to email newsletter
 It turns out hit podcasts can help drive newsletter sign-ups. The Los Angeles Times used interest in “Dirty John,” a podcast and editorial series that the Tronc-owned title produced in partnership with Wondery, to get an additional 21,000 email subscribers to Essential California, five times the total it has accumulated in the months leading up to the launch of “Dirty John.”

While the podcast hasn’t yet accounted for a noticeable surge in paid subscriptions to the Times, its marketing and audience-acquisition operation used a simple offer — subscribe to the newsletter to find out when new episodes of the show are posted — to grow sign-ups.

“It was kind of marketing 101,” said Mark Campbell, Tronc svp of digital acquisition. “I’ll take opportunities like these all day.”

While many people think of “Dirty John,” a story of a grifter who meets a victim in Southern California, as a podcast principally, it had a written component, too, with a series of pieces that ran in the print and digital editions of the Times.

Two weeks prior to the series’ debut at the beginning of October, the Times ran teasers for the series across its print issues, along with digital house ads, telling readers they should download the Essential California newsletter to find out when new episodes of the show would be available. Anybody that visited “Dirty John’s” written components on the Times’ site also got a Bounce Exchange notification calling for people to sign up for the newsletter.

The campaign generated over 21,000 new sign-ups, more than five times the total that the newsletter had attracted since the beginning of 2017 when it launched. The podcast itself was also a big success — its episodes have amassed over 5 million listens in less than a month.

At the start of every episode, the show’s host, Christopher Goffard, read an ad offering readers the chance to sign up for a subscription to the Times, too. That didn’t drive many immediate subscriptions, with Campbell calling the overall subscriptions during that period “fairly average.” But Campbell is confident there will be chances to convert them later; email, Campbell said, is a top-three subscription channel for Tronc, which reported 220,000 digital subscriptions across its titles in its most recent earnings report. Essential California has gathered over 250,000 signups since 2014.

Output: The Los Angeles Times's podcast and editorial series Dirty John, which launched at the start of the month, has resulted in a fivefold increase in subscriptions to its newsletter, Essential California, according to Mark Campbell, the senior vice-president of digital acquisition at Tronc, the owner of the LA Times. The Times published teasers for the series in its print and digital editions, and carried future broadcast information for the podcast in the newsletters. Although it hasn't seen an uptick in subscriptions for the Times, Dirty John has amassed more than five million listens in a month.


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BMW headquarters searched by EU amid collusion allegations
 BMW said Friday that European Commission staff conducted an "inspection" at company offices in Munich earlier this week in connection with news media allegations that German carmakers colluded on technology including diesel emission controls.

BMW said it was assisting the European Union's executive arm in its work and that the inspection did not mean a formal antitrust investigation had been opened.

Der Spiegel magazine has reported that German car companies cooperated on issues including limiting the size of tanks holding fluid intended to reduce diesel emissions. The issue is getting attention because testing has shown that many diesel cars exceed pollution test standards in everyday driving.

BMW says its cars' exhaust emissions were never manipulated and that it has complied with all legal requirements.

The Commission said in a statement that it had conducted an "unannounced inspection" at a German automaker. Both the Commission and BMW statement avoided use of the word "search." The EU has said it is evaluating the media reports about collusion as a preliminary step to the possible opening of a full-fledged anti-trust probe.

The Commission said the inspection, which took place Monday, was "related to commission concerns that several German car manufacturers may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices."

© 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Output: Car manufacturer BMW said its headquarters in Munich had been searched by European Union antitrust officials as part of a probe into allegations it and other German manufacturers colluded on technology. The investigation was launched after Daimler reported a possible cartel, taking advantage of EU whistleblowing protections to do so. Competition officials are investigating if cooperation between Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler, Audi and Porsche is being mistaken for illegal activity. EU antitrust regulations ban cartels and restrictive business practices.


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TalkTalk Which? finds 53% of UK households dissatisfied with broadband
 Half of all broadband users in the UK are getting a raw deal from their supplier, with slow speeds, rising prices and router failures exasperating customers, according to a damning assessment of Britain’s internet services.

Consumer group Which? found that 53% of households have had difficulties with their broadband, with customers of Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Sky and BT the most likely to experience an issue.

As few as one in 10 households receive the super-fast broadband speeds promised in adverts, said Which?. One third of TalkTalk’s customers complained about “very slow” broadband speeds, as did 22% of BT internet users.

Connection drop-outs were a frequent problem for 17% of broadband users, with 8% of households reporting that they suffered from no connection at all for hours or days at a time.

Price hikes for landline rentals have spurred widespread customer dissatisfaction. BT introduced its third price rise in 18 months at the start of the year, forcing it to deny that it was squeezing customers after paying £1.2bn for Champions League football rights.

Virgin customers’ top complaint was about price increases, said Which?, with 38% of users angry over increased line rental costs.

Which? surveyed 1,709 telecoms customers between June and July. Alex Neill of Which? said: “Far too many people get a poor deal from their broadband provider, with problems ranging from very slow speeds to going days without any connection at all, which just isn’t good enough.

“The regulator must now deliver on its plans to improve the information that customers get about speeds when they sign up to a provider, and allow them to easily exit a contract if they’re not getting what they’ve been promised.”

Ofcom, which regulates broadband suppliers, said: “We completely agree that broadband providers must up their game.”

It recently ordered suppliers to give more realistic information about speeds, and later this year will introduce a new compensation deal for households that suffer delayed repairs, late installations and missed engineer appointments.

The UK lags behind countries including the US, the Netherlands and Japan for 4G and broadband speeds, according to a report last week by the National Infrastructure Commision.

Andrew Adonis, chairman of the commission, said: “Today’s findings [from Which?] demonstrate the scale of the problems customers are having with the current level of broadband service, but also the challenge we face if we are to have the best possible connections in future.

“The UK risks falling behind our international competitors if we don’t invest in the latest ultrafast and fibre technology – broadband providers must also step up to the plate and improve the services they currently deliver to our homes and businesses,” added Lord Adonis.

A study published this month by the Social Market Foundation thinktank found that landline rental and broadband is among the least competitive of all consumer markets in the UK.

“The lack of competitive pressures in the landline-only space means there have been few incentives for companies to compete on price … while wholesale costs of providing a landline service fell by 26% in real terms in recent years, line rental charges faced by consumers increased by 25-49%.”

TalkTalk said it was disappointed by the Which? findings and that recent investment had led to fewer faults and quicker repair times. Virgin Media said it was one of the least-complained about broadband providers and the majority of customers got their advertised speed.

There was support for the broadband suppliers from comparison site cable.co.uk. Its telecoms expert Dan Howdle said: “It’s easy to complain about broadband in the UK, but on international comparisons we are not doing that badly. We are 31st in the world out of 200 countries on speeds and in the cheapest third when it comes to the cost of broadband.”

Output: Consumer group Which? has discovered that 53% of UK households have had issues with their broadband service. Customers of Virgin Media, Sky, BT and TalkTalk came out as the most likely to have difficulties with their service. Only one in 10 households receive the broadband speeds providers promise in advertising, the watchdog found, with one-third of TalkTalk's customers stating that they had "very slow" connectivity. TalkTalk stated its disappointment in the findings and said recent investment has reduced faults and hastened repair times.


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Tesla to build wholly owned China factory in landmark deal
 Tesla has made an arrangement with Shanghai’s government to built a manufacturing plant in the city’s free-trade zone, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites reports from people briefed on the company’s plans.

The WSJ reports that Tesla will own the factory, rather than partner with a local manufacturer, as it typically the case. Chinese officials have recently begun to consider relaxing some of the more stringent rules concerning local partners, as a way to encourage electric vehicle manufacturers. The arrangement would be the “first of its kind for a foreign auto maker,” but will likely not allow Tesla to avoid a 25 percent import tariff.

In June, Tesla confirmed that it was in talks to build a factory in Shanghai, ending months of speculation about the company’s plans. At the time, a spokesperson explained that while the company anticipated keeping most of its production in the US, it did “need to establish local factories to ensure affordability for the markets they serve.”

The world’s largest market for automobiles, China has recently worked to encourage the development of a robust market for EVs. In September, Xin Guobin, the country’s vice minister of industry and information technology, noted at a forum that the country is beginning to phase out sales of fossil fuel vehicles as it works to cut its carbon emissions, and that existing manufacturers will need to begin building more EVs in the coming years. As such, establishing a factory in China will be a major deal for Tesla as it works to ramp up its production around the world.

Output: Tesla is to build a wholly owned factory in Shanghai's free-trade zone, marking a landmark deal in a nation where overseas automakers are normally required to work with a local partner. While this will allow for lower production costs, the US company is also likely to face a hefty 25% import tariff. China has recently shifted policy to encourage development of its electric vehicle market as it looks to phase out fossil fuels to reduce its carbon emissions.


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Tesla offers discounted car insurance for self-driving vehicles
 Tesla has created a customized insurance package, InsureMyTesla, that is cheaper than traditional plans because it factors in the vehicles' Autopilot safety features and maintenance costs.

InsureMyTesla has been available in 20 countries, but Tesla just recently partnered with Liberty Mutual to make the plan available in the US.

InsureMyTesla shows how the insurance industry is bound for disruption as cars get safer with self-driving tech.

Tesla struck a deal with Liberty Mutual to create a customized insurance package — and the move shows how the electric automaker is intent on disrupting the insurance industry.

The new plan is called InsureMyTesla and was designed specifically for Tesla vehicles. Its benefits include replacing Teslas damaged beyond repair within one year. Tesla launched the package on October 13 in the US in all 50 states, but it already exists in 20 other countries, a company representative confirmed.

Electrek first reported on the news.

Tesla started quietly rolling out the InsureMyTesla program in February in Hong Kong and Australia. The electric car maker partners with different insurance companies across the globe to offer InsureMyTesla, which lowers overall insurance costs by factoring in the vehicles' Autopilot safety features and maintenance costs.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that insurance agencies should adjust their prices for Tesla vehicles because the cars come with Autopilot, the company's advanced driver-assistance feature.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that crash rates for Tesla vehicles have plummeted 40% since Autopilot was first installed. Electric vehicles also generally require less maintenance then traditional, gas-powered vehicles.

"If we find that the insurance providers are not matching the insurance proportionate to the risk of the car then if we need to we will in-source it," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in February.

Tesla's partnership with Liberty Mutual marks the first time the InsureMyTesla package has been available in the US. The US launch comes a few months after AAA said it would raise rates for Tesla owners after seeing a high frequency of claims among Model S and Model X owners.

AAA based its decision based on data provided by the Highway Loss Data Institute, an analysis that a Tesla spokesperson said was "severely flawed" at the time.

The deal with Liberty Mutual shows how US agencies are starting to realize that they must adjust their prices as cars get safer with advents in self-driving tech.

Insurers like Cincinnati Financial, Mercury General, and Travelers have noted in SEC filings that driverless cars could threaten their business models, according to a 2015 Bank of America and Merrill Lynch report.

The personal auto insurance sector could shrink to 40% of its current size within 25 years as cars become safer with autonomous tech, according to a report by the global accounting firm KPMG.

Tesla hopes to one day bundle the price of insurance and maintenance into the price of future vehicles.

"It takes into account not only the Autopilot safety features but also the maintenance cost of the car," Jon McNeill, Tesla's vice president of sales and services, has said of InsureMyTesla. "It’s our vision in the future we could offer a single price for the car, maintenance, and insurance."

Output: Tesla has launched an insurance package, called InsureMyTesla, in the US. InsureMyTesla offers cheaper rates than typical car insurance, thanks to the vehicles' autonomous capabilities. The package has already been rolled out in other countries, beginning with Australia and Hong Kong in February 2017. Tesla partnered with Liberty Mutual to bring the package to the US. Accidents involving Tesla vehicles fell 40% following the implementation of the company's self-driving technology, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.


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MicroSeismic develops real-time evaluation asset-modelling tech
 MicroSeismic Inc. has announced the release of real-time completions evaluation – on-the-spot fracture modelling, dynamic SRV estimation, end of stage EUR and drainage estimation, and rapid stress analysis.

These new real-time advances in microseismic monitoring will now give operators the opportunity to increase production rates and recovery factors.

“MicroSeismic’s Completions Evaluation workflow is rapidly gaining traction in the industry as our clients realise the benefits of this analysis. Bringing this analysis into the realm of real-time allows a more comprehensive picture of the frac and expected well performance while the treatment is underway. This kind of insight at the time of completion means better decisions, earlier, and that goes to our client’s bottom line,” said Dr. Michael Thornton, Chief Technology Officer, MicroSeismic, Inc.

Using Automatic Moment Tensor Inversion (Auto-MTI), the dynamics of the rock failure are captured in real-time as the fracture events are detected. The moment tensors provide a rich source of information about the geometry of fractures and the stresses that produced them. Combining the microseismic information with the real-time pump information enables a number of analyses:

Real-Time Fracture Modelling helps determine fracture size and orientation as data are acquired, allowing for a realistic real-time visualisation of the fracture treatment.

Real-Time Dynamic SRV Estimation models fracture intensity and induced permeability to allow for real-time analysis of SRV and Productive-SRV.

Real-Time End-of-stage EUR and Drainage Estimation generates permeability models and type curves for rapid assessment of induced drainage area and overall productivity.

Real-Time Rapid Stress Analysis allows for more detailed moment tensor data for rapid analysis of the interaction of the stress regime and the treatment.

Real-time microseismic monitoring has allowed operators to make better and more economic decisions as they see the impact of hydraulic stimulation on the reservoir in real time from anywhere in the world. Up until now, this analysis was limited to the location of the fracture, i.e. the microseismic event, leaving other factors such as the fracture orientation and size, location of proppant, and stage productivity to additional analysis after the job was completed. With Real-time Completions Evaluation operators now have the ability to change completions activities faster and with more confidence than ever before.

Output: Completions evaluation provider MicroSeismic has released a real-time evaluation system, providing fracture models, dynamic SRV estimates, end of stage EUR and drainage estimates, and rapid stress analytics. The system will allow for quicker recovery and better rates of production. Real-time monitoring will improve operators' decision-making by tracking hydraulic stimulation effects on reservoirs in real time from any location.


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Soaring obesity puts India on track to top world diabetes list
 India, notorious for malnutrition, is now a land of obesity

— In the bedroom Gagan Juneja shares with his twin sister, a small unit above the window blasts chilled air with storm force. Outside, the temperature on this day in Delhi has soared to 108.

These days, middle-class families in India can afford air conditioning. It wasn't that way when I was growing up; much of the time, we didn't even have electricity when demand outpaced supply.

Our house was dark and hot, and as soon as the sun began its descent, I ran outside to play with the neighborhood girls. I liked kabbadi, a team sport that is physically exhausting.

Gagan tells me kids don't do that anymore. Why would they, he asks, when they have the comfort of AC and a variety of electronic entertainment at hand? Besides, it's too polluted -- Delhi generally vies with Beijing for top billing as the world's most polluted city.

"Everyone has a scooty," Gagan says, referring to a popular electric bike. "There is no walking at all. No outdoor activity at all."

Though they are twins, Gagan and his sister Muskan don't look alike except in one way: They are both overweight. They are part of a disturbing trend in my homeland: India is getting fatter by the day.

Like many of their peers, the 17-year-old Juneja twins have been struggling with body fat. Not only are their lives sedentary, but they also love to eat. And their mother, who by all accounts is a tremendous cook, loves to oblige.

They also eat out with their friends -- something I never did in my youth. Back then, snacking meant buying cheap Indian street food, which usually came in small portions and was made fresh.

I ask the Juneja siblings about their favorite restaurant foods. Gagan likes the rich Indian preparation of butter chicken and McDonald's chicken burgers. Muskan prefers Domino's cheese burst pizza. I think about a half page ad I saw on the front page of the Hindustan Times: Dunkin' Donuts touting its "Big Joy" burger.

"They are fattening foods," Muskan says, laughing. "That's why I love them."

The idea that my homeland has a weight problem is difficult for me to digest. India, after all, is notorious for its high malnutrition rates -- higher than even sub-Saharan Africa. But lately, it's also a place where obesity has skyrocketed into a national crisis.

I had noticed India's growing girth on recent trips home and wanted to know more. That's what brought me to the Juneja twins. And why I sought out one of India's leading experts in drastic weight-loss measures.

Dr. Pradeep Chowbey performs bariatric procedures on obese patients as young as 13.

From famine to obesity

Dr. Pradeep Chowbey's office, in a hospital not far from the Juneja home, is decorated with photographs of the Dalai Lama. One of his specialties is gall bladder surgery, and he performed it successfully on His Holiness a while ago. But that's not what keeps him occupied these days.

Chowbey stays busy because of India's obesity crisis.

Like some of India's other problems, obesity partly stems from the country leapfrogging generations in industrial development. American industrialization took more than a century; India is trying to catch up within a few decades.

I read a research paper in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism that says: "For developing countries like India, morbid obesity has not yet become a public health priority."

"Why is this so?" the researchers ask. "Well, the reasons are still far from clear. Probably, India is, in our own eyes, still a country of poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Yet, statistics suggest otherwise."

Chowbey tells me about a "disturbing" survey of 10th, 11th and 12th graders in public schools that found 33% of them were obese. Another study of 4,000 children in Delhi found 22% were overweight and 6% qualified as obese.

This, in a country where more than 40% of children are underweight, many to the point that their futures are compromised.

This peculiar problem affecting both ends of the nutritional spectrum is one reflection of India today, a nation that experienced rapid growth and with it, massive socioeconomic and cultural changes.

Fast food has become a staple at malls and shopping centers in Indian cities.

On the one hand, India remains the developing nation of my childhood still struggling to end poverty, illiteracy and disease.

On the other hand, India today is a fast-rising global power that's home to vast amounts of new wealth.

Childhood obesity is mainly a problem of modern India, teeming with American-style malls, fast food outlets and newfound luxuries like cars and air conditioning that have dramatically changed the lifestyles of families with money to spare.

Kids are far more sedentary than they used to be -- the pressure to study and do well in school is more intense than ever -- and whatever little spare time they have is spent these days on video games, mobile phones or Facebook.

The problem is so prevalent that there's even an Obesity Foundation of India -- which also blames the prevalence of television commercials promoting unhealthy foods and poor eating habits. It estimates children's consumption of sugary sodas has increased by 300% in the last two decades.

But obesity is not just affecting the urban well-to-do. Indian researchers have found it's also an issue in India's villages, where 3 out of 4 Indians still live.

Increased automation, better transportation and improved standards of living have resulted in less active lifestyles and access to processed foods. A study in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism says the percentage of rural Indians who were overweight grew from 2% in 1989 to 17.1% in 2012.

More and more young people are putting on the pounds, and as a result, gyms and fitness centers are doing booming business, as are more radical paths to weight loss. Chowbey performs gastric bypasses and other bariatric procedures on desperate patients as young as 13.

In 2001, India had four or five bariatric surgery cases, Chowbey tells me. Last year, that number rose to 30,000.

Obesity has led to a host of other health woes growing at an alarming rate in India, including hypertension and diabetes. India is on track to own the unenviable title of diabetic capital of the world as soon as 2025 with more than 65 million Indians already suffering from the disease. Sadly, "diabesity" has become a common term in the Indian vocabulary.

Chowbey says he was shocked when he first discovered how widespread obesity had become, especially among young people. He warns that India will soon end up as not only the world's most populous nation but also its fattest.

"Obesity," he says, "is the mother and gives birth to so many children who are sinister for longevity. We have gone from under-nutrition to over-nutrition."

Twins Gagan and Muskan Juneja say their lifestyles have left them struggling with their weight.

Study, study, study

Back at the Juneja twins' home, Muskan walks into their bedroom carrying a tray full of aloo parathas, a type of flatbread stuffed with potatoes. Except today's meal is made with olive oil instead of ghee, the highly caloric, clarified butter used in many Punjabi dishes. It's part of a family effort to get fit.

Muskan went on a diet that allows her salads, soups and boiled eggs. Gagan, who is 5 feet 8, shot up to 222 pounds and began working out at a nearby gym. He normally works out around 9 p.m. but tells me he has not gone lately because of upcoming exams.

He guesses 80% of his friends are overweight.

By the time they get back from school on their scooty, eat lunch, take a siesta in the hottest part of the day, do their homework and study with tutors, it's almost 9 at night. Most of their day has been without physical activity.

I hear that a lot from Indian youth: There's intense pressure to "study, study, study." India lacks enough good schools for its massive population, and so from a very young age, kids are conditioned to study and excel in class. It was that way in my youth as well, except it's even more intense now.

Madhulika Sen, the principal of Tagore International School in Delhi, concedes Indian kids have an enormous amount of pressure on them. But she also blames parents and even the kids themselves for not recognizing the importance of physical health.

"There cannot be so much academic pressure that they can't take out half an hour, one hour, for exercise," she says. "The parents also find it very convenient -- when they see their child sitting with books ... or that the child is on the computer, because then they're less troubled by the child."

I leave Gagan and Muskan's house to visit Monika Mahna, a 39-year-old Delhi mom who decided she had to get proactive about her family's health.

She tells me they were all overweight until she decided to take charge of her life and hooked up with a personal trainer. She lost about 45 pounds, her husband traded his jelly belly for washboard abs and her eldest son, Sparsh, is 20 pounds lighter.

Sparsh, 17, says his parents inspired him to get fit. Monika's younger son, Mudit, 14, is still overweight.

"I am obese," he readily volunteers. "I eat a lot and play video games a lot."

He attends a well-known private school in Delhi where physical exercise is limited to only one hour a week.

Monika chimes in and says soon she will get after Mudit to lose weight.

"Indian mothers -- we love to stuff our kids. It's as though if you don't keep feeding your children, you don't love them. That's our culture."

I think back to my childhood. Our main social activity was lunch or dinner at a friend or relative's house. Food was a way to shower love. Women were judged by how well they fed their guests. And there was no saying "no" to seconds or thirds or leaving food on our plates -- not when so many people could not afford to eat in India.

But we also didn't have processed, high-fat foods in our diets. There was no McDonald's or KFC in India back then. We didn't even have television in my hometown of Kolkata until 1975.

Sparsh tells me KFC is his fast food of choice but that he only eats it now on his "cheat day." Otherwise, he watches what he puts in his mouth. Then, as his mother gets dinner ready, he goes off to study. His physics tutor has arrived.

Fitness expert Chirag Sethi describes India's weight problem as a dangerous epidemic.

Uniquely Indian

I met the Juneja and Mahna families through Chirag Sethi, a nutritionist and fitness expert who manages gyms and fitness programs in Delhi. He describes India's weight problem as a dangerous epidemic.

Sethi says kids like Gagan and Muskan just don't move enough. Middle class Indians live more sedentary lives than Americans and average only 4,000 steps a day. That's 6,000 fewer steps than my daily count here in Atlanta.

It saddens me to hear that Sethi often sees mothers encouraging their children to take elevators instead of stairs or grabbing a taxi or tuk-tuk to travel just half a mile.

And then there is an added problem of genetics. South Asians are more prone than others to convert excess food into body fat, says Chowbey, the bariatric surgeon. He calls it a "thrifty gene" that was helpful when food shortages and poverty meant starvation in India. But now, it's an enemy.

In the last few years, Sethi has seen an explosion of gyms and fitness centers in the Delhi area but he wanted to do more. He realized there was a dearth of fitness education and founded Classic Fitness Academy, which offers classes for trainers and nutritionists.

At one of his south Delhi gyms, I notice quite a few kids huffing and puffing on treadmills and stationary bikes. It was rare to see obese children when I attended school in India.

The few chubby children I knew were called "healthy." In my circles, being thin was considered "common" or lower class -- understandably so in a country that was then still reeling from famine.

Things are different in a poor nation. Having meat on your bones has always been a sign of status and prosperity in my homeland. It means you are rich enough to eat well.

That's what is uniquely Indian about the country's weight problem, Sethi tells me.

If things keep going the way they are, one day soon there might be more obese people in India than anywhere else on the planet.

"The attitudes and habits of the people need to change," Sethi says.

It's as though India is where America was three decades ago, before people started to count calories and get into fitness regimens, before nutritional information was mandatory on food labels and a collective consciousness formed around being healthy.

But even after all that, more than one-third of Americans are obese. So what does that bode for India and it's 1.2 billion people?

Sethi and I ponder that question as we sit down for lunch at a popular south Delhi restaurant known for parathas, the buttery Indian bread the Juneja twins love.

I look big-eyed at the plates of aromatic preparations and think: Good thing the gym is nearby.

Output: India is on track to become the world's most diabetic country by 2025 as obesity soars. Despite being a nation where 40% of its children are underweight, rapid economic growth, cultural changes, huge socioeconomic shifts and a surge in new wealth has resulted in sedentary lifestyles and wider availability of processed foods. Increased obesity has been accompanied by an alarming rise in diabetes and hypertension cases.


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Snap plans to inject more programmatic ads within Snapchat shows
 Snap has told Snapchat shows partners that it plans to bring in more programmatic ads after struggling to fill space inside the programming.

According to three sources, including two media executives who have aired shows on Snapchat Discover and one ad buyer who has knowledge of Snap’s plans, Snap plans to inject more programmatic ads within Snapchat shows. Advertisers can already buy Snap Ads programmatically through the company’s ad manager, which gives advertisers the option to run ads inside Snapchat shows. However, during the first round of Snapchat shows, Snap was hesitant to run ads bought in the auction, according to the two media executives. This “depressed revenue dramatically,” said one source, which has led Snap to promise to open up the programmatic doors even more.

Currently, advertisers can make programmatic buys on Snap Ads — 10-second vertical video units — across the app’s public user stories, Snapchat-curated live stories and Discover publisher channels and Snapchat shows. Advertisers can make make these buys through Snap’s ads application programming interface partners such as 4C, Kenshoo and Videology. Advertisers can also use Snap’s self-serve platform, which the company launched in the summer.

For Snapchat shows, Snap has mostly sold the inventory directly. In some cases, Snap has worked with major media giants, including NBCUniversal and Viacom, to co-sell advertising within shows produced by those companies.

So far, these efforts have yielded mixed results. For instance, a review of the six shows available on Snapchat on the afternoon of Oct. 20 found that three of the six shows — CNN’s “The Update,” NBA’s “Versus” and E! News’ “The Rundown” — featured no commercials. Of the three shows that did — NBC’s “Stay Tuned,” Barstool Sports’ “5th Year” and B17 Entertainment’s “Nail the Look” — sponsors included Wendy’s, TD Bank and Tresemmé.

A new show from E!, “Face Forward,” premiered on Oct. 21 with Abercrombie & Fitch as a sponsor. (It’s E!’s third show on Snapchat, following “The Rundown” and “Ask Kylie.”)

Snapchat shows typically have three to four ad breaks within each episode.

One Snapchat shows partner said Snap, which was responsible for selling advertising within its program, had a difficult time filling inventory. The show was popular, too, with total views far exceeding 50 million, he said. For future editions of the show, the media partner is taking the lead on selling advertising, with Snap promising to use programmatic ads to fill any remaining space.

Another media executive said Snap has struggled to fill ad inventory because of two reasons: inexperience with selling this type of content and a lack of data to show advertisers how successful the program was.

When reached for comment, a Snap spokesperson did not provide additional details on Snap’s plans for programmatic advertising within Snapchat shows.

One of the issues media companies face in producing shows for Snapchat is that Snap is not fronting them any cash to make the content. The media partner is responsible for funding the show, after which they can make their money back through advertising — with Snap taking a 50 percent cut of all ad revenue.

That could be easier to justify to some of the bigger media companies, which can treat Snapchat as a marketing experiment, but might be a tougher for digital publishers that don’t have the same level of resources as an NBC, Turner or Viacom. But even one TV network executive said their network won’t make more shows for Snapchat if it “can’t make any money.”

Getting more revenue from Snapchat shows is a growing priority for Snap, which is also searching for a head of brand integration who can sell brand and product placements inside the programming.

One issue has been pricing. As Digiday previously reported, Snapchat has high price tags for series sponsorships. A second ad buyer told Digiday the price for a 33 percent share of voice on one show was $350,000. The price then dropped to less than $200,000 for a sponsorship of just one episode.

Like with Snap’s other advertising products, the company is struggling to find the sweet spot for pricing its premium products, especially considering how cheap the media can be in the auction, ad buyers said.

“It’s inevitable that they open up programmatic,” said the first ad buyer. “The shows don’t have enough scale to begin with. Programmatic definitely makes Snapchat a buy that advertisers can just plug in for their existing campaigns.”

Shareen Pathak contributed reporting.

Output: Snap's attempts to sell ads during shows made by media partners are coming up short, prompting the owner of Snapchat to turn to programmatic ads to fill the gaps, according to several sources. One unnamed executive said Snap's inexperience at selling in-show ads combined with a lack of viewing figures to show how successful shows were, contributed to the company's difficulties. In addition, the social media site has struggled to find an appealing pricing structure for its ads. Snap is currently searching for a head of brand integration.


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Redrow Annie Williams appointed head of sales, Chris Rorstad head of land
 South West Business Stephen Farrell

A round-up of appointments from across the South West. This week: Brewin Dolphin, Francis Clark Financial Planning, Grant Associates and more.

Wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin has promoted experienced financial planner Tom Miller to head of its office in Bristol. Miller has been with the firm since 2012 and has more than 11 years' experience in financial services, focusing on understanding individual client needs and helping to manage their wealth. He is a chartered financial planner and fellow of the personal finance society.

Francis Clark Financial Planning has added to its team with two key appointments at its Exeter office. Chartered Financial Planner Andy Hammond has joined the senior management team from Nottingham-based solicitors Nelsons, where he was head of investment management. Matt Tonkin, a para planner who previously worked with the Tilney Group, has also joined the Exeter office, boosting the firm's technical services capability.

Andrew Grant, founder and director of Bath-based landscape architects' practice Grant Associates, has been appointed chair of Bathscape Landscape Partnership. Grant will help shape the future strategy of the partnership, which aims to benefit Bath's unique landscape for people, communities and heritage.

House builder Redrow has made two appointments to the senior team of its West Country division. Annie Williams has been appointed head of sales having previously worked as area sales manager at Redrow. Previously senior land manager at Redrow, Chris Rorstad has been promoted to head of land.

Commercial property consultancy CBRE has completed a series of appointment at its Bristol office. The asset services team has been boosted with the arrival of surveyors Natasha Kitson and Emma Stanbridge, plus senior surveyor Tom Stanley and associate director Peter Dawe. Also joining in Bristol are Bruce Stone, senior building services engineer in the building consultancy, and James Graham, director, UK Development, who has joined from CBRE's Canary Wharf office. Liam Garwood joins as an estate manager in the portfolio services team.

Marlborough-headquartered cyber security firm Foregenix has recruited nine new staff, bringing its headcount to 94. In the UK, the new hires include Giuliano Fasto who takes up the role of penetration tester, information security consultant Maya Majed, sales executive Mike Parker, marketing assistant Jake Dennys, management accountant Patsy Lee, incident response source analysts Alex Constantinou and Jade Hopkins. Raymond Simpson is heading up the new Australian office as regional director and Reinhard Behrens has joined the South African office as an information security consultant.

Plymouth-based brand communications agency Fuel has appointed an affiliate marketing expert. Severiano Catindig-Stagg has joined the agency with four years' experience in the affiliate channel and was named 'Rising Star' at the 2016 Performance Marketing Awards for his work with brands such as La Redoute, Moo and Snapfish across multiple networks and territories.

Output: House builder Redrow has appointed Annie Williams and Chris Rorstad to the senior team at its west country office. Williams is now head of sales, being promoted from area sales manager at Redrow. Rorstad has been promoted to head of land from his prior position as senior land manager at the company.


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Land Registry turns to tech startups for incubator partnerships
 The Land Registry’s tapping tech startups to make property more digital with artificial intelligence and chatbots

The government department in charge of the country's property and land records is turning to startups for technological innovation.

Land Registry will work with three property technology, or proptech, startups as part of a new programme aimed at improving property transactions

A startup using artificial intelligence to help conveyancers asses risk, Orbital Witness, and another with a chatbot powered by machine learning to improve facilities management, AskPorter, will join the year-long Geovation incubator.

Read more: Licence to innovate: Nine new startups chosen for GCHQ's accelerator

GetRentr, a property management platform, will also join the scheme, first launched in 2015 by the country's mapping agency Ordnance Survey and this year expanding to proptech with Land Registry for the first time.

"Building more affordable homes is central to the government’s commitment to creating an economy that works for everyone and the partnership between Land Registry and Ordnance Survey is a new and exciting chapter of this," said business minister Lord Prior.

"The Geovation programme encourages and supports the growing number of new startups driving innovation in the housing sector. Geovation is now supporting six new proptech and geotech companies to develop new technologies to propel the UK towards becoming a global leader in the land and property market."

A further three startups will join the latest cohort on the mapping technology, or geotech, side: FlowX, a congestion prediction tool, Safe & the City, an app which identifies the safest routes home, and Explaain, a media tool working on contextual alerts and reminder based on location.

Land Registry set out plans over the summer to make itself more digital, including exploring the used of blockchain and artificial intelligence technology

Read more: UK fintech startups are on track for a record-breaking year of investment

"Digitisation will allow us to provide our customers – citizens, firms, government, lawyers and conveyancers, and financial institutions – with information and data which are renowned for their accuracy and usefulness," said the body's chair Michael Mire in its annual report.

"Land Registry’s strategy is to make its part in developing, buying and selling land and property, and collateralising mortgages and loans to provide finance, almost totally frictionless."

By the end of the year it's aiming to get a new tool up and running that will allow mortgages deeds to be signed online.

Output: The UK Land Registry will partner with three proptech start-ups as part of its year-long Geovation incubator, aimed at improving property transactions. The partnership includes Orbital Witness, which uses artificial intelligence to help assess risk at the conveyancing stage; AskPorter, whose facilities management chatbot is powered by machine learning; and property management platform GetRentr. They will work alongside three geotech firms - Explaain, Safe & the City, and FlowX - to develop new technologies that will help position the UK as a land and property market world leader.


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UK seeks to expedite home-buying process with ban on outbidding
 Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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Ministers will launch a probe into unscrupulous home-buying practices where people who have already put down an offer on a property can be outbid by rival buyers.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has called for views on the custom – known as gazumping – as part of wider plans to make buying and selling a home “cheaper, faster and less stressful”.

The consultation will also consider boosting confidence in the housing chain through "lock-in agreements" to prevent purchases falling through, as official figures show a quarter of sales collapse each year.

Recommended More than a million London housebuyers gazumped

It comes amid growing speculation that housing will form a key plank of next month’s Budget as Philip Hammond has been urged by Tory colleagues to make a bold offer to voters.

The Chancellor is said to be considering moves to tackle the housing crisis by allowing the Government to free up public land and directly commissioning housebuilders, according to The Sun.

Mr Javid has been an outspoken critic of his party’s record on housebuilding, telling the Tory conference that its “failure on housing” had opened the door for Jeremy Corbyn.

Outlining the plans, he said: “We want to help everyone have a good quality home they can afford, and improving the process of buying and selling is part of delivering that.

The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Show all 10 1 / 10 The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Outer Hebrides The happiest places to live in Britain according to the latest well-being analysis released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Rex/Patrick Dieudonne / Robert Harding The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Mid and East Antrim The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Newark and Sherwood The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Purbeck The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Orkney Islands Chmee2/Creative Commons The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Winchester Wikipedia The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Fylde The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Antrim and Newtownabbey The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Lichfield The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Fermanagh Rex

“Buying a home is one of life’s largest investments, so if it goes wrong it can be costly. That’s why we’re determined to take action to make the process cheaper, faster and less stressful.

“This can help save people money and time so they can focus on what matters – finding their dream home.”

Under the plans, ministers will also examine how digital solutions could speed up the process, and encourage buyers and sellers to gather more information in advance so homes are “sale ready”.

A new survey showed 69 per cent of sellers and 62 per cent of buyers report stress and worry due to delays in the process, while half of sellers were concerned about buyers changing their minds after making an offer.

Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey condemned the “feeble proposals” and insisted that ministers do not understand the scale of the problems facing buyers.

“This smacks of a political diversion from the hard facts of the Tories’ housing record,” he said.

Mr Healey added: “Home ownership is at a 30-year low and the number of younger homeowners is in freefall, but ministers can only come up with a ‘call for evidence’ on improving the home-buying process.

“This is a government out of touch and out of ideas. Conservatives know housing was a big part of why they did so badly at the election, but after seven years of failure, ministers still have no plan to fix the housing crisis.”

Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said: “The current home buying process is outdated and flawed.

“The Government must put consumers first, ensuring that estate agents deliver a better service for both home-buyers and sellers and that the conveyancing process is simplified.”

Output: The UK government will attempt to expedite the home-buying process by banning underhanded practices such as "gazumping", where rival buyers can outbid people who have already placed an offer on a property. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid plans to make the property process “cheaper, faster and less stressful”. The government is also contemplating offering "lock-in agreements" to stop purchases falling through, a problem that afflicts 25% of all sales.


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Input:
US lowers social cost of carbon from $51 to $1

Please try again or contact us at We're sorry, but we have encountered an error fulfilling your request.Please try again or contact us at support.MI@spglobal.com if the problem persists.

Output: The social cost of carbon dioxide, a measure of the environmental impact of one tonne of CO2 emissions in terms of future financial costs, has been lowered by the US Environmental Protection Agency from $51 to $1. The pricing is used by federal agencies to assess the climate impact of regulation. The downgrade comes as part of the agency’s attempt to repeal President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Some critics have claimed the new value overlooks the cost to future generations and restricts the scope of damages assessed. Other analysts have argued the previous estimate was too high.


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UK regulators demand end of child-targeted online gambling ads
 Regulators have launched a crackdown on child gambling by demanding online gambling sites remove “unacceptable” adverts featuring cartoon characters likely to appeal to children.

The Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority are among the signatories to a letter sent to online gambling operators that orders them to remove games promoted with characters with names such as Fluffy Favourites and Pirate Princess. Some of the games are free to play, which experts say presents a risk of children developing a gambling habit.

The letter, which was sent to more than 450 operators including William Hill and Bet365 on Friday, states: “We are writing to advise you to amend or remove immediately any ads on your website or in third party media that are likely to appeal particularly to people aged 17 or younger … and generally available to view.

“This relates particularly to freely accessible ads for play-for-free and play-for-money games and includes all graphics and images displayed on a website or in third party media.

“The use of particular colours, cartoons and comic book images, animals, child and youth-orientated references and names of games such as Piggy Payout, Fluffy Favourites, Pirate Princess and Jack and the Beanstalk are likely, alone or in combination, to enhance appeal to under-18s.”

The regulators said such adverts were unacceptable. The letter, also signed by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Remote Gambling Association, said sanctions were possible if sites failed to comply with the CAP code, which requires marketing communications for gambling to be socially responsible.

Around 450,000 children are thought to gamble in England and Wales every week.

The CAP code states that marketing communications should protect children, young people and others vulnerable to gambling from being harmed or exploited. It forbids marketing for gambling “likely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture”.

Simon Blackburn, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: “Councils have previously called for greater restrictions on gambling advertising to protect children and we are pleased to see the steps taken by the Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority... It is vital our children and young people are kept safe and protected from the problems gambling can cause.”

Output: Online gambling operators have been told to remove games featuring characters designed to appeal to children, in a letter signed by UK regulators the Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority. Experts have warned that the games, some of which are free, could result in children developing a gambling habit. The letter, sent on Friday to over 450 operators including Bet365 and William Hill, warned that sanctions were possible if companies failed to comply with the Committee of Advertising Practice’s social responsibility code. Approximately 450,000 children are believed to gamble each week in England and Wales.


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Solar securitisations to pass $1bn for first time this year
 UPDATE: On October 30, Mosaic announced the close of its second term securitization of residential solar loans -- which officially breaks the $1 billion milestone for asset-backed securitizations this year. With $307.5 million in bonds sold across four tranches, this marks the largest solar securitization to date.

The company reports the transaction was met with strong investor demand, generating more than $1.7 billion in investor orders. The deal was ultimately placed with 29 institutional investors based in the U.S. and Europe.

Solar loans are gaining market share as more consumers look to own, rather than lease, their solar systems. Mosaic has funded more than $1.3 billion in solar loans since the company launched in 2012, and expects to be a frequent issuer in the securitization market going forward.

"We are thrilled with the tremendous interest in this deal and what it means for the solar industry," said Billy Parish, co-founder and CEO of Mosaic.

This story has been updated to reflect the latest news.

***

2017 has set a record for solar securitizations, after several new players entered the field.

The combined asset-backed securitizations (ABS) for solar loans, leases and power-purchase agreements (PPAs) broke the $1 billion mark this year, following the close of a record-setting offering from Mosaic in late October. Solar financiers are demonstrating new levels of market interest in these products, which free up capital for new solar loans and leases.

This level of solar ABS activity surpasses all previous years, and there's reason to believe the numbers will continue to grow next year, said GTM Research solar analyst Allison Mond.

"The first ABS has a lot of procedural hurdles to overcome, so it can be a really time-intensive process," she said. "It’s a more streamlined process to securitize for a second or third time. Once a company has invested in doing it once, it makes sense for them to continue securitizing different assets as a way to raise capital."

Here's the year's tally so far:

SolarCity: $185 million (loans) in January

Mosaic: $139 million (loans) in February

Sunnova $255 million (leases and PPAs) in April

Dividend Finance: $129 (loans) in October

Mosaic: $308 million (loans) in October

This list doesn't include property-assessed clean energy securitizations that contain solar along with other types of assets.

SolarCity kicked off solar securitization with a $54 million lease and PPA offering in 2013 (note how the average deal size has increased since then). It conducted the first solar loan securitization in 2016. SolarCity no longer offers its own loans, so this year's securitization may be the company's last foray into this market, but it still offers leases.

Loan provider Mosaic has had an active year. Its $139 million securitization in February, comprising nearly 6,500 installations, was oversubscribed, indicating ample market demand. The company followed up with an agreement in September to sell $300 million of loans to Goldman Sachs, and closed a second oversubscribed securitization this month.

$308 million is now the number to beat for the title of largest solar loan securitization.

Residential financier Sunnova completed its first ABS in April, as part of a larger $615 million funding raise.

Dividend Finance focuses on servicing the long-tail installers, including newer and less established companies, Mond said. The company provides rigorous training to ensure quality among its installer partners. The October deal marked its first securitization.

Dividend saw growth in market share and loan volume this year. It captured 9 percent of solar loan market share, ranking fourth in that segment for the first half of 2017, according to GTM Research data. Mosaic takes the top spot, with 45 percent market share.

The increase in solar loan securitizations reflects the growing share of customer-owned systems relative to third-party owned. After a period of third-party-owned dominance in the market, the tables turned in Q4 2016, and now more customers buy their own systems.

Loans became more attainable as system prices fell and active loan providers proliferated. As financiers complete more loans, they gain a pool of assets they can sell to increase their liquidity and offer even more loans.

"It's too much paperwork to do a securitization for just a couple of megawatts," Mond said. "Now that solar lending is as popular as it is, it's possible to do this sort of financing."

Both the trend toward customer ownership and the growth of the solar lending community show little sign of stopping. That means that next year could be another big one for solar securitizations.

Output: The value of securitisations of US solar loans, leases and power-purchase agreements will pass $1bn this year for the first time if a $308m deal closes as expected this month. The numbers are growing each year because it gets easier for companies to carry out the transactions once the first one has been completed, according to GTM Research analyst Allison Mond. There are more loans available for securitisation because, as prices have fallen, more customers have been buying their solar systems, and third-party ownership has declined.


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Researchers should 'worry' about automation: Shell insights chief
 UK – Market research professionals should be worried about automation, according to Shell’s global customer insights head.

Speaking on a panel at Foresight Factory’s Trending 2018 conference in London on Thursday ( 19 October), James Johnstone, head of global customer insights at the energy company, said market researchers ought to be concerned by automation.

“If I’m honest I think some people should be really worried about it [automation] in consumer insights. People who sit in the more traditional market research piece – I think they should be very worried.”

He added that Shell is making steps in the area and that automating some processes is “empowering” for the insights division, enabling it to play a greater strategic role within the company.

“What we’re finding is we’re spending less of our time doing traditional project management and data provision, etc. We’re freeing up more of our time to do the strategic thinking piece that adds value within the business and elevates the insights function from a data provider to actually giving strategic direction.”

Johnstone also discussed Shell’s approach to the challenge of drawing insights from “a massive amount of data”, saying that the brand is changing its offer around the services available in petrol stations, such as new food and beverage options, as a result of consumers spending more time there.

“We’re doing a lot of investment in consumer needs beyond refuelling. People will always keep moving – how they do that might be different. Gone are the days when it’s a distress purchase of a sandwich and a sugary drink in a petrol station."

He added: "It’s about looking at how you can fill those consumer needs, beyond the last 100 years when you’ve traditionally only been able to offer one thing. Now we need to broaden that appeal of what we’re offering, and that’s an opportunity for us. People talk about electric cars, and it’s great, but the fastest recharge takes 20 minutes, so you are going to spend 20 minutes somewhere to do that. So what else can you have there? It’s about that consumer need and demand on their time and how you can fulfil that.”

Output: Market researchers should worry about the rise of automation in their industry, according to the head of global customer insights at Shell. James Johnson said those in traditional market research roles should be "very worried", but highlighted how the trend could be "empowering" if handled correctly. He described how at Shell his team is using the time freed up by automation to move from merely providing data to doing more strategic thinking.


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US thin film solar manufacturer Stion to close
 In addition to the 26 module makers which the U.S. International Trade Commission reports quit U.S. manufacturing over the last five years, you can add one more name: Stion.

To be clear, Stion was a bit of a maverick to begin with. The company began commercial-scale production of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar PV modules in late 2012, at a time when most thin film companies were being wiped out by low-cost crystalline silicon. And with most manufacturing moving to Asia, Stion’s presence as a solar manufacturer in the Deep South was also unusual.

However, this has all come to an end. Stion is now planning to sell off its Mississippi manufacturing facility and discontinue operations, only months before the potential implementation of trade action which could raise prices in the U.S. module market. It is unknown if the company will succeed in selling the factory as a turnkey facility, as it plans to, or whether it will have to sell its tools individually. Either way the $226 million in funding which it has raised may be largely up in smoke.

It is also unclear when the company’s estimated 200 workers will be laid off.

This news comes only two years after Stion placed a tool order which would have doubled the capacity at its Mississippi factory, which is estimated between 60 and 75 MW. Stion blames the collapse in module prices which began last summer for its inability to continue, citing “intense, non-market competition from foreign solar panel manufacturers, especially those based in China and proxy countries.”

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However, others have different takes. SolarWakeup’s Yann Brandt notes that many thin film makers got into the business when polysilicon prices were high, but that the fall in silicon prices, including in late 2011, made most thin film products uncompetitive.

There is indeed a graveyard of former thin film makers. Outside of companies that manufacture and sell primarily within China, First Solar and Solar Frontier the only companies which can produce more than 1 gigawatt of thin film PV modules annually.

And while the trade actions proposed by petitioners in the Section 201 case would definitely raise prices in the U.S. market, thin film solar is outside the scope of the case. This means that Stion would still have to compete globally with thin film makers like First Solar, which has long been one of the lowest-cost producers and in recent years has increased efficiencies dramatically.

Output: US manufacturer Stion, which produced thin-film solar PV modules, is to close its production facility in Mississippi. The company began production of the modules in 2012 using copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), and two years ago placed an order for tools to double capacity at the plant. However, a fall in the price of silicon has made most thin-film products uncompetitive, with global competition from Asian manufacturers adding to pressure on US firms. Stion is seeking a buyer for the plant, with the fate of its 200 workers unclear.


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Florence researchers say graphene can boost perovskite cells
 A research team from the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Italy’s University of Florence has published a study on the international scientific review Advanced Energy Materials, that points out graphene oxide as a material that could significantly improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.

The researchers have shown, in particular, how the introduction of graphene and graphene oxide doped with lithium atoms (GO-Li) into a perovskite-based cell may increase its conversion efficiency, as both the carrier recombination dynamics and the defect density of the perovskite are considerably improved.

“Other research”, said the research coordinator Francesco Biccari, “had already used graphene oxide on perovskite cells, but we were the first that adopted optical measurements to investigate the positive effects of this use. The result is important not only for the increased efficiency achieved but also because the same technique can be experienced in other materials. Until now experiments have been carried out on perovskites consisting of an organic-inorganic hybrid compound, the organic part of which unfortunately degrades very rapidly in the presence of moisture. The upcoming future scenario is the use of graphene and graphene oxide on completely inorganic perovskite cells: this will allow new improvements and these new technologies will be closer to commercial production.”

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The scientists used graphene doped mesoporous TiO 2 (G+mTiO 2 ) with the addition of a lithium-neutralized graphene oxide (GO-Li) interlayer as ETL. They found that the carrier collection efficiency is increased by about a factor two with respect to standard mTiO 2 .

“Taking advantage of the absorption coefficient dispersion, the sensitized methylammonium lead iodide (MAPI) layer morphology is probed, along the thickness, finding that the MAPI embedded in the ETL composed by G+mTiO 2 plus GO-Li brings to a very good crystalline quality of the MAPI layer with a trap density about one order of magnitude lower than that found with the other ETLs,” the researchers said.

Output: Italian scientists have published research suggesting that introducing graphene to perovskite solar cells could significantly improve their performance. Previous research had used graphene oxide on the cells, but the team from the University of Florence claim to be the first to have adopted optical measurements to investigate the positive effects. They found the introduction of graphene oxide doped with lithium atoms significantly improved the conversion efficiency of the cells.


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Saudi team researches silicon alternatives in heterojunction cells
 Researchers at KAUST have published research into new heterojunction based configurations involving graphene, tungsten diselenide (WSe2) and Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2).

The team worked on alternatives to vertical stacking configurations, which while allowing for the creation of ultra-thin PV devices, also require highly complex steps and are hampered by defects and contamination in the processes.

“Devices obtained using these [vertical stacking] transfer techniques are usually unstable and vary from sample to sample,” says lead researcher Meng-Lin Tsai. Tsai added that contaminants during the transfer process can affect device qualiry, and that electronic properties prove difficult to control using vertical stacking techniques.

Aiming to solve these issues, Tsai’s team developed a lateral heterojunction monolayer of WSe2-MoS2, by consecutively depositing each material onto a sapphire substrate, and then transferring onto a silicon based surface to fabricate a PV device.

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Under a high-resolution microscope, the p-n junction showed clear separation between the two materials, with no discernible height difference. “Our structures are cleaner and more ideal than vertically stacked assemblies, explains Tsai, “because we didn’t need the multi-step transfer procedure.”

Research published in the journal Advanced Materials states that the devices achieved conversion efficiencies of 2.56% under simulated sunlight, and that this efficiency was reduced just 5% with angles of incidence up to 75°. Without offering further information, KAUST states that these efficiencies are greater than those of equivalent devices using a vertically stacked configuration.

Tsai and his team are convinced of the benefit of lateral heterojunction configurations in solar cells, and plans to continue research in this area. “We are trying to understand the underlying kinetics and thermodynamics of these heterojunctions,” says Tsai, “to design more efficient cells.”

Output: Scientists in Saudi Arabia have published research into alternatives to silicon for producing heterojunction solar cells. The team from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has been investigating ways to avoid using vertical stacking configurations, which are complex to produce and risk contamination and defects. The lateral process they developed produced devices with conversion ratios greater than equivalent devices when exposed to simulated sunlight.


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Virtual net metering in Greece under threat from EU rules
 While virtual net metering installations in Europe have made only a minor contribution to the overall growth of distributed generation (DG) solar, a couple of schemes in Greece have had a very positive impact on the communities that have been able to benefit from them.

However, a new challenge by the European Council to EU rules that currently allow virtual net metering threatens to outlaw it, putting in jeopardy a couple of Greenpeace-backed schemes that have helped a women’s and children’s hospital claim net metering credits.

Established earlier this year, Greece’s flagship virtual net metering project was a 10 kW rooftop array in Thessaloniki – funded by Greenpeace Greece – that was installed at a school in the city. However, while the solar power generated was fed as normal into the grid, the amount of electricity metered was claimed by the hostel. The scheme was the culmination of virtual net metering provisions that allow farmers and specific legal entities that undertake work of public value (such as schools, hospitals, councils etc) to install PV arrays far from the point(s) of electrical consumption.

Following this pilot scheme is a second project by Greenpeace Greece in Larissa. Scheduled for completion in November, a 15 kW solar system will be installed at a Larissa secondary school, with the saving distributed throughout the community and credited to a building that houses a day-care center for small children.

However, such projects could soon fall foul of proposed alterations to self-consumption laws laid out by the European Commission (EC). In documents passed to pv magazine by Greenpeace, it is argued by the German representative to the European Council that the definition of a self-generator should change, and can only be applicable for the production of electricity generated in the “direct vicinity of the place of consumption”.

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The European Commission’s proposals for reform to the EU energy system gives general support to individuals, communities and cooperatives keen on generating their own renewable energy. The problem is that there are no specific rules supporting virtual net metering, meaning that such a loophole could well be closed if the European Council enacts the proposal put forward by Germany.

The latest European Council literature on this now defines a renewable self-consumer as those that “consume or sell renewable electricity which is generated within the same site where it was consumed or sold” – an amendment to the previous wording, and a direct nod to the proposals outlined by the German representative.

According to Greenpeace, these proposals would scrap virtual net metering just as it is getting off the ground. “All Europeans should be able to produce their own renewable energy and be rewarded with a fair price,” said Greenpeace EU energy campaigner Sebastian Mang. “To resist the innovative inclusion of citizens in the energy system, for the benefit of dirty energy corporations, is shameful. EU rules on energy must put renewable energy in the hands of the many, not dirty energy in the hands of the few.

“These municipalities in Greece have shown that renewables can support vulnerable citizens and alleviate energy poverty. For the EU to pull the rug out from under these disadvantaged communities would be a disgrace.”

Output: Greece's fledgling virtual net metering market could be halted by a proposal by the German representative to the European Council that changes the definition of a self-generator so that it only applies to electricity generated in the “direct vicinity of the place of consumption”. A Greenpeace-backed 10 kW rooftop solar installation on the roof of a school in Thessaloniki sells electricity into the grid but the credits are claimed by a hostel for victims of domestic violence that is located far from the school. A similar scheme including a 15 kW solar project in Larissa is scheduled for completion in November.


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Engie acquires US lease-to-own solar company Fenix International
 ENGIE and Fenix International have agreed a transaction for ENGIE to acquire 100% of the latter, which specializes in selling small, off-grid rooftop systems to customers in East African nations, primarily in Uganda.

Financial terms of the transaction have not been revealed. According to ENGIE, Fenix has 350 employees, and more than 140,000 customers for its ReadyPay platform, which allows users to gradually build towards ownership of their rooftop system whilst paying for the power generated and building up a credit score.

“Fenix will be the agile growth engine for ENGIE’S SHS business in Africa and enable us to become a leading profitable off-grid energy services company on the continent, reaching millions of customers by 2020, stated Bruno Bensasson, CEO of ENGIE Africa. “We do believe that universal access is now reachable in a foreseeable future by the combination of national grid extensions, local microgrids and solar home systems.”

Across the African Continent, more than 600 million still lack access to electricity. However, new technologies and business models such as the one operated by Fenix make rooftop solar a viable option for many.

“To date, Fenix has delivered solar power to over 900,000 people in East Africa. By joining forces with ENGIE we will greatly accelerate the path to our vision,” said Lyndsay Handler, Fenix International CEO. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue an exceptional customer experience in all we do, and together we will make universal access to modern energy a reality.”

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The acquisition transaction now awaits approval from the relevant regulatory bodies.

One of the world’s largest energy companies traditionally active in the nuclear and natural gas sectors, ENGIE now has a stated aim to become the ‘leader of this new energy world’, and has made some big moves into the renewables sector in recent years. This takeover of Fenix International is the latest in a series of solar acquistions including The European business of bankrupt U.S. rooftop PV company Sungevity and a stake in Chinese PV developer Unisun.

Reports from earlier this year also stated that ENGIE is looking to acquire German renewable energy company Innogy, though no deal has yet been announced.

Output: Engie is to acquire California-based small-scale rooftop solar firm Fenix International for an undisclosed sum. Fenix has brought solar power to more than 900,000 people in East Africa, and has 140,000 customers for its ReadyPay platform, enabling them to pay for their rooftop systems in instalments. More than 600 million people lack electricity across Africa. The deal follows Engie's acquisition of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) firm Sungevity and a share of Chinese PV developer Unisun.