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Despite Boost In Social Security, Rising Medicare Part B Costs Leave Seniors In Bind
 About Insight Insight provides an in-depth look at health care issues in and affecting California. Have a story suggestion? Let us know.

Millions of seniors will soon be notified that Medicare premiums for physicians’ services are rising and likely to consume most of the cost-of-living adjustment they’ll receive next year from Social Security.

Higher 2018 premiums for Medicare Part B will hit older adults who’ve been shielded from significant cost increases for several years, including large numbers of low-income individuals who struggle to make ends meet.

“In effect, this means that increases in Social Security benefits will be minimal, for a third year, for many people, putting them in a bind,” said Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy consultant at the Senior Citizens League. In a new study, her organization estimates that seniors have lost one-third of their buying power since 2000 as Social Security cost-of-living adjustments have flattened and health care and housing costs have soared.

Another, much smaller group of high-income older adults will also face higher Medicare Part B premiums next year because of changes enacted in 2015 federal legislation.

Here’s a look at what’s going on and who’s affected:

The Basics

Medicare Part B is insurance that covers physicians’ services, outpatient care in hospitals and other settings, durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs or oxygen machines, laboratory tests, and some home health care services, among other items. Coverage is optional, but 91 percent of Medicare enrollees — including millions of people with serious disabilities — sign up for the program. (Those who don’t sign up are responsible for charges for these services on their own.)

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Premiums, which change annually, represent about 25 percent of Medicare Part B’s expected per-beneficiary program spending. The government pays the remainder.

NAVIGATING AGING Navigating Aging focuses on medical issues and advice associated with aging and end-of-life care, helping America’s 45 million seniors and their families navigate the health care system.To contact Judith with a question or comment, click here. For more KHN coverage of aging, click here.

In fiscal 2017, federal spending for Medicare Part B came to $193 billion. From 2017 to 2024, Part B premiums are projected to rise an average 5.4 percent each year, faster than other parts of Medicare.

‘Hold Harmless’ Provisions. To protect seniors living on fixed incomes, a “hold harmless” provision in federal law prohibits Medicare from raising Part B premiums if doing so would end up reducing an individual’s Social Security benefits.

This provision applies to about 70 percent of people enrolled in Part B. Included are seniors who’ve been enrolled in Medicare for most of the past year and whose Part B premiums are automatically deducted from their Social Security checks.

Excluded are seniors who are newly enrolled in Medicare or those dually enrolled in Medicaid or enrolled in Medicare Savings Programs. (Under this circumstance, Medicaid, a joint federal-state program, pays Part B premiums.) Also excluded are older adults with high incomes who pay more for Part B because of Income-Related Monthly Adjustments (see more on this below).

Recent Experience

Since there was no cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security in 2016, Part B monthly premiums didn’t go up that year for seniors covered by hold harmless provisions. Instead, premiums for this group remained flat at $104.90 — where they’ve been for the previous three years.

Last year, Social Security gave recipients a tiny 0.3 percent cost-of-living increase. As a result, average 2017 Part B month premiums rose slightly, to $109, for seniors in the hold harmless group. The 2017 monthly premium average, paid by those who weren’t in this group and who therefore pay full freight, was $134.

Current Situation

Social Security is due to announce cost-of-living adjustments for 2018 in mid-October. Based on the best information available, it appears to be considering an adjustment of about 2.2 percent, according to Juliette Cubanski, associate director of the program on Medicare policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is another, independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.)

Apply a 2.2 percent adjustment to the average $1,360 monthly check received by Social Security recipients and they’d get an extra $29.92 in monthly payments.

For their part, the board of trustees of Medicare have indicated that Part B monthly premiums are likely to remain stable at about $134 a month next year. (Actual premium amounts should be disclosed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services within the next four to six weeks.)

Medicare has the right to impose that charge, so long as the amount that seniors receive from Social Security isn’t reduced in the process. So, the program is expected to ask older adults who paid $109 this year to pay $134 for Part B coverage next year — an increase of $25 a month.

Subtract that extra $25 charge for Part B premiums from seniors’ average $29.92 monthly Social Security increase and all that be left would be an extra $4.92 each month for expenses such as food, housing, medication and transportation.

“Many seniors are going to be disappointed,” said Lisa Swirsky, a policy adviser at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Higher Income Brackets

Under the principle that those who have more can afford to pay more, Part B premium surcharges for higher-income Medicare beneficiaries have been in place since 2007. These Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amounts (IMRAA) surcharges vary, depending on the income bracket that individuals and married couples are in. Nearly 3 million Medicare members paid the surcharges in 2015.

For the past decade this is how surcharges have worked:

Bracket One: Individuals with incomes of $85,001 to $107,000 were charged 35 percent of Part B per-beneficiary costs, resulting in 2017 premiums of $187.50.

Bracket Two: Incomes of $107,001 to $160,000 were charged 50 percent, resulting in 2017 premiums of $267.90.

Bracket Three: Incomes of $160,001 to $214,000 were charged 65 percent, resulting in 2017 premiums of $348.30

Bracket Four: Incomes of more than $214,000 were charged 80 percent, resulting in 2017 premiums of $428.60.

(Information for married couples who file jointly can be found here.)

Now, under legislation passed in 2015, brackets two, three and four are adopting lower income thresholds, a move that could raise premiums for hundreds of thousands of seniors. Bracket two will now consist of individuals with incomes of $107,001 to $133,500; bracket three will consist of individuals making $133,501 to 160,000; and bracket four will include individuals making more than $160,000. (Thresholds for couples have been altered as well.)

As John Grobe, president of Federal Career Experts, a consulting firm, noted in a blog post, this change “will add another layer of complexity” to higher-income individuals’ decisions regarding “electing Part B.”

If you’ve retired recently, moved to part-time status, divorced or otherwise undergone life changes that affect your income, you can ask Social Security for a new IRMAA determination, said Casey Schwarz, senior counsel at the Medicare Rights Center. Tips on what to do can be found at that organization’s site for consumers, Medicare Interactive.

We’re eager to hear from readers about questions you’d like answered, problems you’ve been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips.

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Output: Millions of seniors will soon be notified that Medicare premiums for physicians’ services are rising and likely to consume most of the cost-of-living adjustment they’ll receive next year from Social Security.


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On-demand insurer Slice raises $11.6m in round led by XL Catlin
 US on-demand insurtech start-up Slice Labs has obtained $11.6m (£8.8m) in a Series A investment led by XL Catlin’s venture arm XL Innovate.

Slice offers an on-demand insurance platform and currently provides coverage to homesharers such as AirBnb hosts. It is testing a new on-demand rideshare product.

Speaking at Insurtech London Conference in September, a confident Slice chief executive Tim Attia revealed that the company’s biggest issue had moved from how best to innovate to how to boost distribution and grow its reach, saying “We think we were able to pull off the innovation side.” Attia continued, ”Now we’re worried about scale.”

The insurtech company currently operates in 26 states across the US, with ambitions to conquer 50. It has now revealed that it intends to scale up by offering its platform to other insurers across the globe.

At the Insurtech London Conference Attia also spoke about cutting costs from the value chain through digitisation, claiming that Slice’s aim was to save 30 to 40 cents ( 20 to 30 pence) per transaction. Sustainability, Attia said, would come from creating a “digital insurer”.

Slice earlier raised $3.9m (£3m) in the first half of 2016 from backers XL Catlin, Munich Re and Horizons Ventures. It was part of the Silicon Valley Plug and Play accelerator.

Since debuting in October 2016, Slice evidently impressed investors XL Innovate with its double-digit monthly revenue growth.

XL Innovate managing partner Tom Hutton commented ““We are proud to stand behind Slice and lead their latest fundraising round. Slice is truly one of the most exciting companies in insurance technology that we’ve seen to date.”

“We believe the on-demand platform and technology offered by Slice has immense potential to completely disrupt how insurance is bought and sold, not just within the sharing economy, but globally and across the board.”

Speaking about the recent secured funding, Attia said: “We couldn’t be more eager to accelerate our go-to-market strategy with the support of such a strong group of investors bringing their strategic and financial expertise to the table.”

He continued “This is critical as we move to the next phase in the development of the company, which will be to scale and show traction both in the direct market and through strategic partnerships.”

Output: Slice Labs, an on-demand insurance provider, has raised $11.6m in a funding round led by XL Catlin. The insurtech firm, which operates in 26 US states, intends to use the capital to expand across the country. Slice provides on-demand insurance for property sharers, like hosts on Airbnb-style platforms. It is also working on a car-sharing product. The firm plans to scale up its operation further by offering its platform to a variety of international insurers.


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ECOWAS Commission to invest $35bn in Nigerian power sector
 President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza, has urged international communities, investors and experts in energy sector to give priority to investing in Nigeria’s power sector, as this would certainly contribute to improving access to electricity in the entire sub-region.

This is even as he disclosed that the Commission plans an investment of $35 billion in electricity, including grid, solar and other renewable energy sources and infrastructure projects from now till 2025.

The President made this appeal at the opening session of the ongoing sixth annual Powering Africa: Nigeria 2017 conference with the theme “Power Sector Recovery Programme: Recapitalising Nigeria’s Energy Sector.”

He said that despite the challenges being encountered in the power sector, Nigeria is expected to meet 50 per cent energy needs in Niger and Benin Republics, adding that Nigeria is the major provider of natural gas to other countries of the region through the West African gas pipeline.

De Souza who was represented by the Commissioner for Energy and Mines, ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Morlaye Bangoura, urged participants to focus on the Nigeria power sector, understand the challenges and proffer solution in line with the expectations of Nigeria and ECOWAS in the area of energy.He maintained that resolving the energy challenges of Nigeria will stimulate economic recovery effort.

Stressing that investing in Nigeria power sector not only provides access to the vast huge ECOWAS electricity market but also amount to investing in the lives of over 350 million people of the region.

In his keynote address, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, noted that the objective of the summit was consistent with the efforts of the Federal Government towards achieving incremental power because the nation does not have enough.

He expressed hope that the administration is working towards achieving steady power where many people have access to power and eventually have uninterrupted power. The minister applauded the conference saying that it has already contributed to incremental power because no amount of power is too small so far it adds to the existing unit.

He thanked the Managing Director of EnergyNet Limited, Simon Gosling for the N36 million Cheque donation to Pan Africa Solar Limited currently involved in implementation solar projects in rural communities in Katsina State. He noted that it has provided incremental power for the country.

He called for adequate data of the total number of mini grids and solar homes systems in the country so that the country would be able to know the actual mega watts of power being generated at the moment.

In a presentation on “Nigeria Energy Database (NED) Initiative”, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Damilola Ogunbiyi, explained that the off grid electrification strategy meant to provide access to electricity being executed include stand alone system, mini grids, energizing education, energizing economies and Nigeria energy database.The conference was hosted by the ECOWAS Commission and organized by the EnergyNet Limited.

Output: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission is set to invest $35bn in creating solar and other renewable energy sources as well as infrastructure projects in Nigeria over the next eight years. The announcement from ECOWAS President Marcel de Souza at the annual Powering Africa: Nigeria 2017 conference came as he and other participants called on delegates to find and invest in solutions to the country's energy needs, saying such projects would stimulate the Nigerian economy.


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Turo partners with locals to overcome car-rental insurance hurdle
 Turo Canada expands, partners with car rental entrepreneurs to fuel travellers’ adventures

Vancouver, BC (Oct. 3, 2017) – Turo announced today that its car sharing marketplace is now officially available in British Columbia, expanding to a new Canadian province for the first time since its launch in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec in April 2016. A pioneer of the sharing economy and travel industry, Turo connects local car owners with a bustling community of local and international travelers looking for the perfect vehicle for their next adventure. Turo has over four million members across the world, including 220,000 in Canada alone. The launch of Turo in British Columbia marks an important step in realizing Turo’s mission to put Canada’s 23 million cars to better use and to capture a growing share of the Canadian travel market.

“British Columbia is one of the top travel destinations in Canada and around the world. With its great outdoor culture, high penetration of car sharing and high levels of cross-border travel, it is a natural market for Turo,” said Cedric Mathieu, Director of Turo Canada. “This province has been active in our community since we launched the company, and over 7% of Turo community members are residents of B.C. who use the platform in other provinces and for travel to the US. We are proud to announce that they can now use it in their home province.”

To address the unique insurance regulations of BC, Turo has structured this first stage of its expansion to British Columbia by partnering with local, independent car rental entrepreneurs who will make their unique fleets of cars available to the Turo community and will be providing their own commercial rental insurance to travellers.

“We’re very excited to bring Turo to the people of British Columbia and provide them with a local, convenient, more personal alternative to big car rental companies through our local network of amazing car rental entrepreneurs,” said Cedric Mathieu. “Independent car rental companies are natural partners for Turo; most are family-run small businesses who offer great service, and great cars, at great prices. Using the Turo platform, they can easily reach our fast growing community of trusted travelers and be able to more effectively compete with the larger car rental chains. We’re thrilled to empower car entrepreneurs across beautiful British Columbia.”

A number of preferred partners such as hotels, independent car rental companies and individual car entrepreneurs have already listed their vehicles on the Turo platform. Some unique cars already available include makes and models like Tesla Model S, Mercedes-Benz CLA and Porsche Panamera, with many more to come in the coming weeks. All partners are required to carry adequate commercial rental insurance as well as provide best in class service in order to participate.

“We’re proud to chart a new path in the travel industry through our expansion to British Columbia. Thanks to Turo, international travelers can get a Tesla delivered to the Vancouver airport; tourists in Victoria can discover and rent cars directly from The DoubleTree by Hilton Victoria; these are two of many examples of how our platform makes car rental more accessible than ever, unlocking unique travel experiences and new economic opportunities for entrepreneurs and travel operators in B.C.,” said Mathieu.

Starting today, Turo is actively marketing towards travellers and suppliers across the province to raise awareness of the Turo brand in preparation of the future launch of its full peer-to-peer service.

“We remain committed to launching our peer-to-peer marketplace in the near future, and will be working with insurance regulators and legislators to bring Turo to all individual car owners in B.C. soon,” said Mathieu.

The news follows a funding announcement earlier this month, where Turo raised $92 million from top tier investors including Mercedes-Benz manufacturer, Daimler, bringing the company’s total funding to $193 million. Turo plans to invest the capital to enhance the customer experience on both sides of the marketplace, boost customer acquisition, and grow the Turo brand globally.

About Turo

Turo is a car sharing marketplace where local car owners provide travelers with the perfect vehicle for their next adventure. Travelers from around the world choose from a unique selection of cars and car owners earn extra money while helping fuel their adventures. A pioneer of the sharing economy and travel industry, Turo is a safe, supportive community where the car you rent is part of a story, not a fleet. Whether it’s an F-150 truck to help out on moving day, a Tesla for a luxurious weekend away, or a classic Mercedes-Benz for a picture-perfect road trip, travelers rent the car and own the adventure. Discover Turo at turo.com.

Source: Turo

Tags: British Columbia (BC)

Output: Car-sharing start-up Turo has partnered with local independent car rental companies in British Columbia, Canada, to help provide insurance for its service as it expands in the region. The independent car companies will provide their own renter's insurance policies rather than Turo providing a central policy for all its clients. Turo says it's necessary to partner with such firms due to British Columbia insurance regulations.


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Group Nine Media creates content studio for social networks
 Group Nine Media, a Discovery-backed holding company that oversees digital publishers NowThis, Thrillist, The Dodo and Seeker, is creating a new content team focused exclusively on making shows for social platforms.

The new unit, called Group Nine Social Studios, will operate as a sub-section of Group Nine’s a 20-person production and development division that supports the content teams across its media brands. Based in Los Angeles, Social Studios will be led by head of development Hayley Lozitsky and senior director of development Jeffrey Wisenbaugh. Suzanne Kolb, chief brand officer for Group Nine Media, said the company is still hiring for Social Studios, which will consist of video producers, editors and content-development specialists, but she would not provide a hard number on how big the team will eventually be. The goal of the team is to create original content for external partners and platforms.

“Platforms like [Facebook’s] Watch and Snapchat are now set up in a way that gives us this opportunity to create shows and franchises,” said Kolb. “It’s the right time to try it. But we need a dedicated team to support this type of content if we want to make it successful; otherwise, we would be adding on to too many other day jobs.”

While the obvious places for Group Nine to sell shows to are Facebook and Snapchat, Social Studios will also look at other distribution partners, including Google Stamp, YouTube and Twitter, Kolb added.

Group Nine Media is already committed to making social shows. It’s producing 24 original shows for Facebook’s Watch, including NowThis’ “Apocalypse NowThis,” Thrillist’s “Thrillist Investigates,” The Dodo’s “Comeback Kids: Animal Edition” and Seeker’s “Wild Sex.” During a New York Advertising Week event last week, Group Nine CEO Ben Lerer said the 24 Watch shows had combined to reach more than 100 million views and 100 million minutes in watch time.

A big part of the Social Studios team’s mandate is to also work with investor Discovery, which last year put $100 million into Group Nine Media when forming the holding company. Specifically, Social Studios will work with an original series team inside Discovery Digital to produce shows for social platforms and Discovery’s TV Everywhere apps. These shows would be “companion” pieces to existing popular TV series and other programming on Discovery.

The idea for creating Social Studios came from an August partnership between Group Nine Studios and Discovery on a Snapchat show for “Shark Week.” The three-episode series tackled topics such as shark biology, how sharks had survived multiple extinction-level events and weird-looking sharks. The three episodes, each running for roughly four minutes, combined to reach 12 million unique viewers, 18 million views and a 40 percent completion rate, according to Fred Graver, svp of digital content and social for Discovery.

“You have to make a bet on the fact that your brands must live on different platforms and devices and in different formats than the one Discovery already dominates on,” said Graver.

With Social Studios’ mandate to both create original shows and companion pieces to existing Discovery programming, the relationship between the Social Studios team and Discovery’s digital originals team will remain fluid, Graver said. Depending on the type of project, either Social Studios or Discovery Digital will take the creative lead.

The creation of Social Studios comes as other big distributed-media publishers are setting up divisions to create entertainment content. BuzzFeed, Bleacher Report, Mashable and Refinery29 have all built studio divisions with production and development people to create shows for social and streaming platforms — especially as these platforms are willing to fund the creation of such content.

There’s also value in creating “intellectual property” that has a longer shelf life and the potential for multiple revenue streams compared to quick-hit social clips.

“In the end, people don’t need more perishable stuff,” said Kolb. “There’s a need right now to build things that have an IP value, even if you don’t know all the ways that you’ll be able to exploit that IP in the future.”

Output: Discovery-backed holding company Group Nine Media is launching Group Nine Social Studios, a dedicated unit producing content for social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as companion pieces to existing Discovery programming. Group Nine Social Studios enters a market that includes BuzzFeed, Mashable, Refinery29 and Bleacher Report, which have all created in-house studio divisions. "There’s a need right now to build things that have an IP value, even if you don’t know all the ways that you’ll be able to exploit that IP in the future," said Suzanne Kolb, chief brand officer for Group Nine Media.


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Utilities must join smart energy revolution or be left behind
 Utilities find themselves under increasing pressure from technology pioneers such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Tesla, who are introducing their technology into the home and increasingly offering smart energy solutions. Other emerging technology companies are also coming up with innovative and disruptive technologies in the smart energy sector in competition to what utilities are offering.

This is part of our series analysing the challenges and opportunities ahead for companies embracing smart energy technologies. For more, sign up to receive an exclusive Pinsent Masons research paper on smart energy technology, supply, storage and investment.

This may not quite be the utilities' 'iPhone moment', but presents a serious and fundamental challenge to their business as the success of the pioneering Apple smartphone was to the mobile telecoms business 10 years ago.

Utilities are responding by trying to diversify away from their traditional sources of revenue of generating and distributing power towards delivering smart energy solutions and energy services. However, utilities have traditionally been at a disadvantage compared to technology companies when it comes to innovating.

Utilities tend to be large multinationals that can have very complex and sometimes slow decision-making processes. This stands in contrast to technology companies that have in the past moved quickly to develop solutions where a gap in the market arises.

You just have to look at the way that Google came into the smart home market with Nest. It did this very quickly, very efficiently, before any of the utilities did, taking advantage of the fact that it understood how it could make the most of data and give consumers greater control of their energy usage.

However, there are clear opportunities for utilities to develop new technologies in partnership with smaller, more flexible technology companies through joint ventures, minority stake investments and even full acquisitions.

However, some of utility companies are not set up to make investments or acquisitions in the technology space in the way that the large tech companies are. In addition, they face competition from venture capital and private equity houses who are bidding for the same emerging tech businesses. The challenge for utilities is therefore to come up with efficient ways of identifying technologies and executing on the acquisition of, or investment in, technology companies so they can be competitive in the market.

As a result, we see utility companies setting up their own venture capital divisions to efficiently assess the viability of tech start-ups as a potential investment or acquisition target.

Often, venture capital divisions will make initial small stake investments into small technology start-ups and use that investment to assess the technology that the start-up has developed and see how it can fit in into its overall corporate technology strategy. From there, it can decide whether to increase its shareholding to a majority stake or make an outright acquisition, or indeed exit the investment at a later stage and realise the value that it has generated through it.

The challenge for corporates is to devise a clear strategy of how they want to use their venture capital divisions. They need to work out whether they want to use it as a stage to make investments with a view to making profits, or to use it as a platform to test technology and to later build up the stake and make a full-on acquisition.

Beyond making investments or acquisitions, partnering with technology companies can benefit utilities by helping them to better understand how to use data in a way that consumers can engage with or in a way that can help them develop new products.

There are advantages too for the tech community. They have new ideas but as small companies they lack a way to reach a significant number of people quickly. This is exactly what utilities have – large existing client bases, supply chains and delivery infrastructure that can help a good idea get fast, wide-ranging implementation. This can make a utility a more attractive investor proposition than a VC or private equity house.

Through the joint venture or partnership with the utility company, the tech start-up can test its equipment or ideas in a live environment and take advantage of the utility company's existing connections and infrastructure.

The way that small, flexible businesses like start-ups work is very different to that of long-established, more traditional utilities. There will be culture clashes, but that is just a risk that utilities will have to take to get the benefit of start-ups' ideas and innovation.

The fact that technology moves so quickly is also a risk. Not all technologies get through Gartner's 'trough of disillusionment', so utilities are taking a risk when investing in an emerging company and an innovative product.

However, that is a normal business risk which is not unique to the smart energy sector. When companies are looking at investing in new technologies they are always taking the risk that the technology will not be adopted in the market, that it will not be successful, that they will not beat the competition, and that the technology will not be useable by people going forward.

Finally, the pioneers of the technology companies are looking at the home in a holistic way. They are not looking at smart energy in isolation – they are looking at security and technology in the kitchen amongst other examples, and their technology will be aimed at bringing all these elements together.

The question is how utilities respond to this challenge. It will be interesting to see whether the energy companies respond stick to smart energy solutions or branch out to other technologies relevant to the home.

Thilo Schneider is an expert in corporate transactions in the technology sector at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.

Output: Utilities are facing a two-pronged attack on their business models, both from companies such as Google and Apple, and also from emerging technology energy firms, according to Thilo Schneider of Pinsent Masons. He said while utilities have been slow to respond to changes within their industry, making clever acquisitions could help them compete, as their large customer base and established supply chain and delivery infrastructure could make them more attractive as investors than their venture capital and private equity rivals. Such joint ventures or partnerships would benefit utilities by giving them access to the technological innovations developed by start-ups.


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Off Grid Electric empowers poor, remote Africa with solar energy
 Dale Word stands in front of the Chico headquarters of Solutions Cubed, where he works with their design team troubleshooting engineering projects for Off Grid Electric.

Clean-energy outcomes: Off Grid Electric’s data in Tanzania and EDF’s data in South Africa show that households using the solar services have reduced emissions from kerosene and black carbon by 1.45 kg per year.

When former Chico State faculty member Dale Word took a job with Off Grid Electric, a solar-power provider, about a year ago, he wanted to get his hands dirty. But he never imagined he’d be jumping into a 4x4 truck and driving down dirt paths in Sub-Saharan Africa to help deliver the ways and means of electricity to those living—yes—off the grid.

“When I left Chico State after 15 years, all I wanted to do was get my hands on real engineering,” said Word, previously an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. “I had no idea I would come across this opportunity.”

Word, 55, lives in Chico and is now a computer engineer with Off Grid Electric, a venture-capital-backed firm providing small-scale solar-power units for lease to some of the poorest places in Africa. The company has expanded vastly on the continent and grown its workforce immensely since Chico State grad Joshua Pierce co-founded it in 2013.

Pierce planted the company’s roots here early on. He since has moved its U.S. headquarters to the Bay Area, along with relocating his family there. However, the Chico footprint remains firm—and Word is a large part of that.

“It’s been where a lot of the hands-on technical work has happened,” Word said.

From a small office in downtown Chico, Word works with a team of designers at Solutions Cubed, a subcontractor of Off Grid Electric that also does independent projects. The office is filled with circuit boxes connected to various electronic devices, such as fans, to help test the units. Solar panels also are strewn about the space on East First Street.

Word spends three days a week in the small design studio and two days at the headquarters in San Francisco. He codes the circuits inside small boxes that are meant to be the brains and battery pack of the system, connecting solar power to a small light. The systems are alternatives to archaic power supplies including kerosene lanterns, which can emit unhealthy fumes, or heavily polluting diesel generators. They are meant to provide light in places without electricity.

Off Grid Electric leases the small systems to each customer individually for less than $7 a month for the base option. The regional economy primarily functions on mobile currency. Users have a similar account to PayPal and deposit money; they then receive a code to type into the small box that connects solar power to the lights.

The company reached about 500 customers in its first year. That number jumped to about 21,000 the next. It now provides power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses across Tanzania, Rwanda and the Ivory Coast.

“Off Grid Electric has expanded from East Africa into West Africa, and we have plans to continue growing,” Pierce said. “Africa and distributed energy are ripe with potential, and we’re proud to be creating value in every new community we enter.”

Pierce’s company has secured $100 million in total funding and has more than 800 employees in the U.S., Tanzania, Rwanda, the Ivory Coast, the Netherlands, Russia and Nigeria.

Across its swath of Africa, Off Grid Electric is distributing thousands of new systems every month. Word sees his work as not just providing light in places where that commodity is hard to come by—it’s providing a metaphorical light for those looking to better their economic situation.

“This is our chance to get this continent right,” Word said.

Lights in the solar systems make it possible for children to do homework. They allow adults to read.

“Our goal is to empower folks,” he said. “It’s really exciting to see how proud people are to have these boxes.”

He has experienced this first-hand. On a trip to see the African operations, he went out on service calls with local technicians. His intent “was to go to some of the more remote customers,” he said.

Word recalls riding in a four-wheel-drive pickup down a gravel road in Tanzania when someone in his convoy tapped on the window from the back of the truck, telling the driver to turn left.

“There was nothing [to the] left, other than a path and some trees,” he said. “We had to figure out how to get it down the path.”

After navigating the truck, the group arrived at a clearing with a collection of round huts made out of sticks and mud, most with solar panels installed on the roof.

“It was great to see that connection between traditional lifestyle and using our products,” he said.

The future looks bright for the solar-power provider. The company recently started leasing small television sets that run similarly off the solar-power battery packs.

Word also is developing circuits that communicate wirelessly with Off Grid Electric, eliminating the process of entering a code after a payment to make the units work. With the new systems, Off Grid Electric could activate the units remotely and access them to perform diagnostic checks.

Additionally, the company formed a partnership with the EDF Group, a low-carbon-energy company, and launched a pilot expansion last year into the Ivory Coast.

Off Grid Electric is looking at developing new products as well.

“We’ve done a lot of really wonderful work on some things I can’t talk about yet,” Word said with a smile.

Output: US solar power firm Off Grid Electric is providing renewable energy to some of Africa's poorest and most remote locations. Its small-scale power units, which cost less than $7 per month to rent, have brought electricity to more than 100,000 homes and businesses across the Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Rwanda. Co-founder Joshua Pierce said the company, which has raised $100m in funding, plans to expand deeper into West Africa. Off Grid Electric is also developing TVs that run on solar battery packs and a method for customers to pay wirelessly.


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Chinese business at standstill due to public holiday and congress
 Chinese business has come to a standstill as half the population travels over a one-week public holiday. But that quietude is expected to last several more weeks.

Although the Chinese will head back to work and school on Monday, their country is expected to remain in a holding pattern ahead of a pivotal Communist Party Congress set to start later this month.

"Commentators and markets rightly assume that the authorities are consumed by this transition and that all other policy matters are on the back-burner or in lock-down until after the Congress," Freya Beamish, Pantheon Macroeconomics' chief Asia economist, wrote in a recent note.

The once-in-five-years meeting will usher in leadership changes that are likely to see incumbent President Xi Jinping extend his term and consolidate power. The coming years of Xi rule will be critical for the world's second-largest economy as it grapples with the fallout from three decades of unbridled growth.

As Xi — the most powerful Chinese leader in decades — embarks on a new era, the meeting will review "faulty" outcomes from the economic reforms and review if China needs a new direction, said independent economist, Andy Xie.

China undertook a series of market reforms in the last three decades that propelled the Communist country to the spot of the world's second largest economy.

Market watchers, however, are concerned about the nation's debt-fueled growth, industrial overcapacity and capital outflows that may potentially spur a global economic crisis.

The Communist Party has been working to curtail its companies' international deal making over the last year, but major initiatives have slowed ahead of the Congress. That push is likely to pick up again in the fourth quarter, said Chunshek Chan, Dealogic's global M&A research head.

No matter the macroeconomic concerns, the only thing on Beijing's mind at this time is consolidating power in the country, Xie said: "It's much more important now to strengthen the control of the Communist Party than anything else."

"The key is to have the Communist Party as a coherent organization to control everything in the society — that seems to be the case. The people at the top worry about the stability. Stability is always number one in China," added Xie.

Output: China is now in lock-down mode as it prepares for its annual one-week public holiday, however, this vacation is predicted to last even longer, as it then gets ready for the all-important, once-in-five-years Communist Party Congress on 18 October. "Commentators and markets rightly assume that the authorities are consumed by this transition and that all other policy matters are on the back-burner or in lock-down until after the Congress," says Freya Beamish of Pantheon Macroeconomics. As we have been highlighting, the Beijing government has been tightening security on all fronts in the run-up to the meeting that will involve a leadership reshuffle.


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China Eastern, Delta each take 10% stake in Air France-KLM
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Output: A number of airlines have completed a series of transactions aimed at strengthening strategic partnerships. China Eastern and Delta are each taking a 10% stake in Air France-KLM, which will in turn buy 31% of the UK's Virgin Atlantic. “This operation is an integral part of the Trust Together project, allowing Air France-KLM to regain the offensive, to reinforce its commercial integration with its principal partners and to continue improving its financial structure,” says Air France-KLM.


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Google adds to voice-assisted Home smart-speaker range
 Confirming one of the industry’s worst-kept secrets, Google announced today that it finally has a cost-reduced version of its Google Home smart speaker. The $49 Google Home Mini, available for preorder now, will go head to head with the Echo Dot that Amazon introduced way back in March 2016.

Like the original Google Home, the Mini will feature fabric over its speaker grill. But Google assures us this is no ordinary fabric. Google’s lead designer for home hardware, Isabelle Olsson, said the company invented its own yarn for the Mini—going through 157 iterations to find just the right colors: chalk, charcoal, and coral.

“The first thing you notice,” Olsson said, “is the striking simplicity. The yarn is designed to allow sound and light to pass through it. Touch the fabric to pause the music or talk to the assistant.” Olsson said the speaker projects sound 360 degrees, or you can connect it to a Chromecast speaker.

Google The ability to stream video from a Nest Cam to a Chromecast shows the enviable synergy between Google and Nest Labs.

Industrial design aside, the biggest threat that Google presents to Amazon—at least on the smart home front—is Google Home’s voice-recognition capabilities. Google was first to recognize and respond to different people’s voices, and it’s still superior when it comes to linking one voice command to the next. Google VP Rishi Chandra introduced another new feature called Family Link accounts, which fine-tune the Google Assistant to respond to the voices of children under age 13.

With Family Link, Google Assistant can read children’s stories, play games like freeze tag, and respond to the types of questions that kids ask. Google has also partnered with Disney to bring characters from Disney properties ranging from Mickey Mouse to Star Wars to Google Home. Chandra said Warner Bros. and other studios would follow.

Output: Google has unveiled the next iterations of its smart speakers along with a suite of new gadgets. Google Home Mini will sell in the US for $49 from 19 October while the larger Google Home Max will be released in December for $399. The devices will feature upgraded voice-recognition software, which can differentiate between voices and has a more natural dialogue flow. The company also announced the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones, the Pixelbook laptop, the Clips artificial intelligence camera and Pixel buds, headphones that can translate languages in real-time.


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Wind projects help global clean energy investment to $66.9bn in Q3
 Global new investment in clean energy by region, by quarter, USD billion. Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Global clean energy investment in the third quarter (Q3) of 2017 increased to USD 66.9 billion (EUR 57.22bn), prompting suggestions that the 2017 total may exceed 2016 levels, show figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) released Thursday.

Investment in July-September rose by 40% in annual terms and 3.1% quarter-on-quarter, driven by seven large wind power projects worth between USD 600 million and USD 4.5 billion. According to BNEF, the Q3 total suggests that clean energy investment for 2017 may be close to or slightly higher than the result of USD 287.5 billion in 2016.

INVESTMENT CATEGORY

The largest category of clean energy investment in Q3 2017 was asset finance of utility-scale renewable energy projects. At USD 54.3 billion, it jumped by 72% in annual terms. All of the biggest projects were in the wind sector, with offshore wind taking the lead.

The most notable transaction in the third quarter was American Electric Power Co Inc’s (NYSE:AEP) USD-4.5-billion investment in Invenergy Renewables LLC’s 2,000-MW Wind Catcher wind farm in Oklahoma. Construction of the 800-turbine complex is already underway and is slated for completion by 2020.

The other top asset finance deal came from Denmark-based Dong Energy's (CPH:DENERG) final investment decision on the 1,386-MW Hornsea Project Two offshore wind farm in the UK, estimated at USD 3.7 billion by its completion in 2022-2023. The third largest clean energy investment in the period was the financing of Canada’s Northland Power Inc (TSE:NPI) of the 252-MW Deutsche Bucht (DeBu) offshore wind project in the German North Sea, worth USD 1.6 billion.

The largest financing deal in the solar sector amounted to USD 460 million and was for First Solar Inc’s (NASDAQ:FSLR) 381-MW California Flats solar project.

Investment in small-scale solar projects of less than 1 MW stood at USD 10.8 billion, up 9% year-on-year.

Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funding of clean energy companies slumped by 79% on the year to USD 662 million, marking the weakest quarterly figures since 2005. The biggest deal in this category was a USD-109-million private equity expansion capital round for Indian solar project developer Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions.

Public markets investment plunged by 63% on an annual basis to USD 1.4 billion. “The weak third quarter figure for public markets investment came ironically despite a strong performance from clean energy stocks [..],” said Abraham Louw, analyst, clean energy economics at BNEF.

GEOGRAPHY

According to BNEF’s statistics, Q3 2017 clean energy investment surpassed the 100% annual growth mark in several countries, including Chile, Argentina, Australia and France. Investment in the US and China also increased, while figures for Germany, Japan and India marked a decrease as compared to Q3 2016.

The table below shows clean energy investments (in USD) in major markets, as given by BNEF.

Market Q3 2017 investment (in USD) Y/Y change Q/Q change China 23.8 billion +35% -8% US 14.8 billion +45% +8% Europe 11.6 billion +43% +45% Germany 2.4 billion -5% -26% Japan 2.2 billion -32% -17% India 1.1 billion -49% -60% Brazil 1.7 billion +32% -4% Mexico 2.8 billion - +84% Australia 1.8 billion +388% -10% Turkey 796 million - +312% France 631 million +109% -21% S Korea 593 million +143% +85% Argentina 1.2 billion - +151% UK 4.6 billion +57% - Chile 1 billion +134% +306%

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.855)

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Output: Major wind projects helped boost global investment in clean energy to $66.9bn in Q3 2017, a 40% increase in annual terms, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). In investment categories, asset financing of utility-scale renewable energy projects saw the largest rise, up 72% YoY to $54.3bn. In contrast, venture capital and private equity funding fell 79% on the year to $662m and public market investment dropped 63% to $1.4bn. Based on total Q3 figures, BNEF suggested this year's clean energy investment could exceed the 2016 figure of $287.5bn.


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Auto supply chains struggle to keep up with US post-storm buying
 Dive Brief:

Major storms have boosted the need for vehicle replacements, allowing U.S. vehicle manufacturers to enjoy a sales increase of up to 12% over 2016 sales, according to an Evolution Time Critical press release. Annual sales rates for light commercial vehicles also jumped to more than 18.5 million.

However, the automotive supply chain is also dealing with fallout and damages from storms Harvey and Irma, and is struggling to keep up.

Accordingly, further pressures will challenge automakers. An additional sales increase could hinder suppliers’ agility and speed, two factors that are now considered indispensable for maintaining healthy production standards.

Dive Insight:

Anticipating risk within the supply chain is a necessary part of planning since disruption can strike at any time in any form.

The types of risks affecting the supply chain run the gamut from labor strikes resulting from an overstressed production team to technological risks posed by cybercrime. Strategies to combat risk include everything from a shorter, quicker supply chain to achieving full visibility. And while the auto supply chain is generally highly resilient and redundant due to its just-in-time nature, excess demand appears to be the problem now.

"The issue is that, following natural disasters such as the recent hurricanes, the extent of possible disruption to vehicle manufacturers’ supply chains takes time to become certain," said Evolution Time Critical Managing Director Brad Brennan.

"Modern automotive supply chains are vast, highly complex operations and it is impossible to quickly and precisely glance at affected ports, airports and road networks to establish the extent of possible disruption — careful analysis can provide a crucial headstart, but even that is not infallible," he said. "It is only when the impact on Tier 3 or 4 suppliers — or beyond — emerges that the potential effect to vehicle manufacturers becomes apparent."

Thanks to heavy back stock, the industry has thus far been able to keep pace with need, but should any other disruption occur, automakers must be ready.

"The implementation of suitable contingency plans can protect otherwise fragile supply chains and help sustain automotive production at times of uncertainty," said Brennan. Of course, with every new disruption there is a silver lining. "This experience makes the automotive industry one of the more robust when it comes to protecting its supply chain and recovering swiftly from natural disasters.”

Output: US auto sales have surged by 12% YoY, according to Evolution Time Critical, primarily due to the recent tropical storms, which have led to cars needing to be replaced. However, the damage caused by the storms has also hampered vehicle supply chains, which are failing to keep up. With excess demand cited as the current problem, it is suggested that suitable contingency plans are needed for car manufacturers to protect supply chains if other disruptions occur.


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Google launches 'babel fish' earbuds, translating even Chinese
 ‘If it works like that in the real world, that is a wow-we-are-living-in-the-future moment’

Output: Google has launched a set of ear buds capable of real-time translation of spoken conversations in 40 languages. The technology has been compared by some to the fictional 'babel fish' in Douglas Adams' sci-fi comedy 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', which provides similarly instant translation. Google unveiled the device with a demonstration involving a conversation between two people, one speaking English and the other Swedish. The Pixel Buds will be available in the US from the start of November, priced at $159.


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Nanomaterial enables more effective electrofuel production
 Sea-Fuel

There exists a wide range of renewable energy sources support our increasingly energy-intensive lives as fossil fuels are ultimately phased out. One of these new potential sources of energy is as promising as it is strange. University of Central Florida (UCF) researcher and assistant professor Yang Yang has developed a breakthrough hybrid nanomaterial that uses the power of an existing green energy source, solar energy, to turn seawater into hydrogen fuel.

A faculty member of both the NanoScience Technology Center and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UCF, Yang's breakthrough has been 10 years in the making. Current materials being used to create hydrogen fuel are fairly costly and not all that efficient — a sharp contrast to Yang's new method.

The success is exciting: solar hydrogen splitting is something that many researchers, including Yang, have been working tirelessly towards for years. "We've opened a new window to splitting real water, not just purified water in a lab," Yang said. "This really works well in seawater."

To create hydrogen fuel, however, you need a photocatalyst — a material that triggers a chemical reaction when exposed to light. But considering the corrosive and difficult nature of seawater, Yang needed a photocatalyst that was uniquely durable, which is where the hybrid nanomaterial came in.

The nanomaterial began with an ultrathin sheet of titanium dioxide (the most common photocatalyst), into which nanocavities were carved. Nanoflakes of molybdenum disulfide, a 2D material as thick as a single atom, then coated these cavities. This material is nearly twice as effective as most other photocatalysts because instead of converting a limited range of light into energy, it can turn ultraviolet-visible to near-infrared light wavelengths into energy — a much wider range.

Artist's interpretation of the hybrid nanomaterial photocatalyst. Image Credit: University of Central Florida

Creative Energy

Hydrogen fuel, like everything, has its pros and cons. On the positive side, it's only emissions are water vapor, a drastic difference from what is produced by fossil fuels. In terms of vehicles, hydrogen fuel cells have about double the fuel economy of traditional gasoline. Additionally — and most obviously — hydrogen fuel is renewable and can be created in abundance.

However, until now the process to create hydrogen fuel has been considerably expensive, and there is a lack of existing infrastructure to support its use. The main issue with hydrogen fuel is that current methods for creating it are not only inefficient and costly, they often use nonrenewable natural gas. But this process has the potential to eliminate many of the issues presented by the use of hydrogen fuel.

If this nanomaterial is used on a larger-scale, the process could help generate a substantial amount of green energy, replacing fossil fuels and pushing us forward in the fight against climate change. In the immediate, it could also help bolster Florida's economy: with abundant sea water and the state's current efforts to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Irma, such a boost would no doubt be welcomed.

Output: Scientists in Florida have developed a way to produce hydrogen from seawater using solar energy. The technique uses a new hybrid nanomaterial, created by inserting tiny flakes of molybdenum disulphide into a sheet of titanium dioxide, and is nearly twice as effective as other photocatalysts. While other processes require purified water, this system works effectively in seawater. The breakthrough makes the production of hydrogen from seawater much more efficient and affordable, and could lead to the widespread adoption of the renewable gas as an alternative to fossil fuels, for example, in hydrogen fuel cell cars.


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Oracle rolls out cloud-based blockchain-as-a-service offering
 On the first day of the OpenWorld conference, Oracle is rolling out Blockchain Cloud Service, helping the tech giant catch up with competitors like Microsoft and IBM.

A blockchain, the technology behind the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is a shared, distributed ledger that can store complete transaction histories. It has a variety of use cases for enterprises that want to rely on tamper-proof transactions to create new revenue streams or improve business operations.

Once a customer subscribes to Oracle's Blockchain Cloud Service, which is part of the Oracle Cloud Platform, they can use the platform to build a blockchain network and then let Oracle manage the network infrastructure. Customers can then build their own smart contracts and applications on top of the network.

Oracle is promising "most comprehensive and enterprise grade blockchain service platform," Frank Xiong, Group VP of Blockchain Cloud Service, said to ZDNet, meaning it should be highly scalable, highly secure, and easy to integrate with existing applications.

Microsoft has been offering blockchain-as-a-service since 2015 and more recently introduced Enterprise Smart Contracts to make it easier for customers to use. Oracle maintains its blockchain cloud service will stand out in part by offering customers a way to seamlessly adopt it. Blockchain adoption will not happen overnight, Xiong said.

"We believe there will be a transition period of time... blockchain will be integrated with existing applications, whether in cloud or on premise," he said. "You don't need to switch everything overnight, but can move to this new disruptive technology gradually."

Oracle is also stressing the ability for enterprises to use the Blockchain Cloud Service to move operations beyond their own internal ecosystem by sharing data and monitoring transactions within and outside of the Oracle Cloud. Using REST APIs and Oracle's API management service, customers can invoke blockchain services directly or with pre-built integrations from Oracle Cloud. Oracle also recently joined Hyperledger, enabling customers to add value on top of the open source effort.

Output: California-based software firm Oracle has launched a cloud-based blockchain service. Oracle, which recently joined the Hyperledger project, will enable subscribers to build their own blockchain projects on the platform while leaving the company to manage the network infrastructure. Microsoft launched its own blockchain-as-a-service in 2015.


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Blockchain projects unite to provide transparency on ICOs
 Sixteen Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term projects today announced the launch of Project Transparency at the Vienna ICO-Summit. The voluntary initiative aims to encourage disclosure of wallets controlled by a project and provide a voluntary explanation of any expenditure greater than 0.5% of the funds collected.

Learn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!

The industry players behind the initiative are worth over $650 million by market cap. They are Santiment, Aragon, Cofound.it, District0x, Encrypgen, Etherisc, Hcash, Iconomi, Indorse, Lykke, Dappbase, GATCOIN, IconiqLab, Virgil Capital, Musiconomi and Maecenas.

They explain that the long term ambition is to provide potential investors and the community with greater transparency and accountability regarding funds raised, as the ICO space sees greater regulatory scrutiny in many markets and even legal restrictions in China and South Korea.

Maksim Balashevich, CEO and founder of Santiment, said: "With the rapid rise of digital currencies and proliferation of ICOs, investors increasingly want security regarding their funds and transparency on how they are administered. Santiment was developed to provide insight and transparency to investors looking to enter illiquid and highly volatile markets, Project Transparency affirms our commitment to improving governance in the Blockchain sector."

Balashevich recently took part in the Finance Magnates Blockchain Podcast:

Santiment has confirmed that it will provide funding for Project Transparency’s web page and for manpower to process applications and keep the initiative staffed. Any Blockchain project can join the initiative, the only criteria is to disclose the wallets controlled, funds held and explain any expenditures over 0.5% of the funds raised.

Taiyang Zhang, CEO of pre-ICO project Dappbase, and GATCOIN’s Simon Cheong, explained that their support for Project Transparency stems from their imminent funding goals and investor interest: "Transparency drives better, sustainable business. And that's what we want."

Output: A group of 16 blockchain projects have partnered to launch Project Transparency, an initiative aimed at improving transparency and accountability of funds raised as regulations tighten around initial coin offerings. Santiment, Lykke, District0x, IconiqLab, Maecenas and Etherisc are among the projects behind the voluntary scheme. Projects wishing to join must disclose the wallets they control and the funds they hold as well as explain any expenditure that exceeds 0.5% of the funds raised.


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Animal feed crops for meat industry threatening biodiversity: WWF
 The ongoing global appetite for meat is having a devastating impact on the environment driven by the production of crop-based feed for animals, a new report has warned.

The vast scale of growing crops such as soy to rear chickens, pigs and other animals puts an enormous strain on natural resources leading to the wide-scale loss of land and species, according to the study from the conservation charity WWF.

Intensive and industrial animal farming also results in less nutritious food, it reveals, highlighting that six intensively reared chickens today have the same amount of omega-3 as found in just one chicken in the 1970s.

The study entitled Appetite for Destruction launches on Thursday at the 2017 Extinction and Livestock Conference in London, in conjunction with Compassion in World Farming (CIFW), and warns of the vast amount of land needed to grow the crops used for animal feed and cites some of the world’s most vulnerable areas such as the Amazon, Congo Basin and the Himalayas.

The report and conference come against a backdrop of alarming revelations of industrial farming. Last week a Guardian/ITV investigation showed chicken factory staff in the UK changing crucial food safety information.

Protein-rich soy is now produced in such huge quantities that the average European consumes approximately 61kg each year, largely indirectly by eating animal products such as chicken, pork, salmon, cheese, milk and eggs.

In 2010, the British livestock industry needed an area the size of Yorkshire to produce the soy used in feed. But if global demand for meat grows as expected, the report says, soy production would need to increase by nearly 80% by 2050.

“The world is consuming more animal protein than it needs and this is having a devastating effect on wildlife,” said Duncan Williamson, WWF food policy manager. “A staggering 60% of global biodiversity loss is down to the food we eat. We know a lot of people are aware that a meat-based diet has an impact on water and land, as well as causing greenhouse gas emissions, but few know the biggest issue of all comes from the crop-based feed the animals eat.”

With 23bn chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and guinea fowl on the planet – more than three per person – the biggest user of crop-based feed globally is poultry. The second largest, with 30% of the world’s feed in 2009, is the pig industry.

In the UK, pork is the second favourite meat after chicken, with each person eating on average 25kg a year in 2015 – nearly the whole recommended yearly intake for all meats. UK nutritional guidelines recommend 45-55g of protein per day, but the average UK consumption is 64-88g, of which 37% is meat and meat products.

Output: Crops, such as soy, grown for animal feed as a result of increased global demand for meat are causing wide-scale loss of land and species, according to a report by the WWF. Some of the world’s most vulnerable regions, including the Amazon, Congo Basin and Himalayas, are particularly affected. The study also found that intensive and industrial animal farming makes food less nutritious, with a single chicken in the 1970s containing the same amount of essential fatty acid omega-3 as six intensively reared chickens today. Approximately 60% of global biodiversity loss now results from human food consumption.


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MassiveU raises $1.6m for asynchronous mobile learning
 According to a recent SEC filing, MassiveU has raised $1.6 million in financing from an undisclosed investor.

MassiveU is a mobile learning solution for educators, learners and marketers. The company uses mobile apps to deliver asynchronous learning content from recognized subject matter experts to virtually any mobile phone, tablet or online screen. The platform’s purpose is to help students build critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills for college and career readiness. It also supports competency-based learning that aligns to state standards.

Output: Florida-based mobile learning solutions provider MassiveU has secured $1.6m in funding from an unknown investor, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. MassiveU creates mobile apps which encourage students to develop critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.


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Bengali language support widens Google ad reach by 200 million
 Google has learned to speak Bengali and found an extra 200 million people to advertise to along the way.

Bengali is the world's sixth-most-prevalent language, is the official tongue of Bangladesh and is widely spoken in some India states. Yet the language's 200 million speakers have been cruelly denied the bounty that is Google's AdWords and Ad Sense search monetisation programs, the foundation of the company's revenue base.

Google therefore suggests that adding Bengali to its list of supported languages will mean great things for local publishers and advertisers, as its now possible to target 200 million extra people in their native tongues.

The company's announcement suggests it has plans to address more regional languages, too.

Ex-IBMer sues Google for $10bn – after his web ad for 'divine honey cancer cure' was pulled READ MORE

Shalini Girish, Google India's marketing solutions director said “we expect another 300 million Indian language users to come online in the next four years.” Advertising in Bengali is therefore “keeping up with with the needs of an evolving Internet audience” rather than tapping a hitherto-unaddressed market.

“Over the coming months, we will share more about our efforts to further build on this,” Girish adds.

Google recently added eight new Indian languages to voice search, with Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Urdu joining Hindi.

The Register expects AdWords will therefore soon reach Telugu and Marathi as they are the 15th and 16th most-spoken languages in the world according o the language prevalence list Google's offered to quantify the size of the Bengali-speaking world. The list says Telugu has 74.2m speakers and Marathi 71.8m, for 146m more lovely sets of read-for-ads eyeballs. If Google also adds Urdu and Lahnda, two languages widely-used in Pakistan, AdWords will reach another 198m people.

Doing so may not, however, turn into rivers of Gold as Google learned when Indians balked at paying even US$0.75 for apps, necessitating a reduction in the floor price to 10 rupees or just US$0.10. Bengali advertisers may need similarly low price options, but Google's auction system should take care of that. ®

Output: Google has added Bengali to the list of supported languages for its AdWords and AdSense programmes, giving advertisers the ability to target 200 million more people in their native tongue. The company is making efforts to tap into growing markets in India and neighbouring countries, with another 300 million people speaking Indian languages expected to come online in the next four years. The addition of Bengali increases the number of the region's languages supported by the platform to eight and suggests there is potential to expand to more.


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Yoco enhances POS platform for small businesses in South Africa
 Payments service provider Yoco has launched an enhanced Point of Sale (POS) solution, which according to the company is South Africa's first 100% locally made, free point of sale app. It has been purpose-designed to give small and emerging businesses the tools they need to better run their businesses and grow.

Packaged as a bundled offering with the company’s card readers, the integrated POS solution will allow businesses to organise stock, ring up sales, do cash ups, recons and monitor their sales performance in real-time. The payments startup is upgrading its 14,000 current merchants to the Yoco Point of Sale at no cost, and is also making it available for free to any business that purchases a Yoco card reader, as of today.

In development for a year, Yoco says the new cloud-based solution was developed hand in hand with its existing merchants to ensure it meets their needs.

“We’ve been developing our new point of sale for over 18 months,” says Yoco CTO Lungisa Matshoba. “During the beta phase, we saw 55 merchants process over 200,000 transactions on the Yoco Point of Sale. The experience highlighted to us the impact Yoco Point of Sale can have on the growth potential of thousands of other small businesses, from hairdressers to restaurants to clothing stores, across the country. The more these businesses grow, the more South Africa grows with it.”

Says Yoco CEO Katlego Maphai: “We have made accepting payments easy for SMEs - our next natural step was to focus on making running a business easier. Our ultimate goal is to allow entrepreneurs to focus their attention on growth and customer engagement, and not the day-to-day tasks which can be streamlined through technology and data.”

The Yoco Store

Yoco Point of Sale was unveiled at the company’s recently launched retail store, the Yoco Store, in Parkhurst, Johannesburg.

The Yoco Store is where current and potential Yoco customers can explore and get expert advice on Yoco’s products and solutions, as well as those of its partner ecosystem, which includes cloud accounting service Xero and cloud point of sale solutions TabletPOS (powered by iKentoo) and Vend. The store is one of the first in the world for a point of sale payments company, is completely cashless and is powered by the company’s point of sale offering.

Yoco Point of Sale has started rolling out across the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. It will be available to all new and existing Yoco customers.

Output: South African payments tech start-up Yoco has launched an enhanced point of sale (POS) system for small businesses in the country. The cloud-based solution is being marketed as a package with the company's existing card readers, and enables retailers to organise stock as well as record and monitor sales in real time. Yoco is upgrading 14,000 business users to the system for free and providing the app to any new users who buy their card readers. It's also available through the Apple App Store and Google Play.


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Amazon’s server-to-server wrapper wins favour in ad industry
 Header bidding grew out of publishers’ desire to break the stranglehold Google has on programmatic advertising. Now, Google rival Amazon has established a leading position with the presumed successor to header bidding, server-side bidding.

Amazon’s Transparent Ad Marketplace is the most popular server-to-server wrapper in the ad industry, according to a study that ServerBid released on Oct. 4. Publishers are adopting this product because it brings in unique demand, is easy to integrate, matches users across different platforms and provides competition to Google, which already wields a lot of control over publishers and their tech stacks. While much of ad tech plumbing is interchangeable, Amazon has something new to bring to the party: proprietary commerce and behavioral data.

Since Amazon’s ad marketplace has unique demand, its wrapper is an attractive option for publishers trying to boost their programmatic CPMs, said Erik Requidan, vp of sales and programmatic strategy at Intermarkets.

Another benefit of Amazon’s wrapper is that it’s easy for publishers to set up and make adjustments to, said Emry Downinghall, vp of advertising at Chegg. For example, the wrapper lets publishers easily add or drop supply-side platforms. It also makes it easy for publishers to shift bidders between on-page and server-side.

A downside of server-to-server connections is that it is tougher for the SSPs and demand-side platforms to match their user IDs. With on-page header bidding, each SSP has access to the user’s browser, which means they gather and use their own matching data to sync with the DSP’s matching data.

But with server-to-server wrappers — where one vendor aggregates the bids from all the other vendors in a cloud-based product — only the vendor collecting the bids has access to the user’s browser, which means the other vendors have to sync their data to the aggregator’s data. This additional step can reduce match rates, and it is one reason why publishers are hesitant to adopt server-side bidding.

Unlike other tech vendors that have to make inferences from third-party data in order to build a large user database, Amazon continually obtains data directly from millions of people who use its various products. Because Amazon gathers lots of information on a large pool of users, it can avoid one of the pitfalls of server-side bidding by successfully matching user data across the various vendors in its wrapper, said Chip Schenck, vp of data and programmatic at Meredith Corporation.

The popularity of Amazon’s wrapper is just the latest example of the company sinking its hooks into the ad industry. Amazon is also growing its sales team, opening up self-service programmatic ad products, courting video publishers, getting frequently mentioned during quarterly earnings calls and hiring 2,000 people to work in its new office in New York City. Amazon declined an interview request for this story.

Given that the rise of header bidding was prompted by publishers’ frustrations about how Google’s ad server favored its own exchange, it isn’t surprising that some publishers want to hedge against the search giant’s dominance.

One of the reasons why publishers are adopting Amazon’s server-side wrapper is because they see it as a counterweight to Google, said Purch CTO John Potter.

“It’s a pretty straightforward concern of everyone from publishers to SSPs,” he said. “Nobody wants Google to have more power in advertising.”

But if there is anyone that can overtake Amazon in server-side bidding, it’s Google. Google’s server-side product, which it calls exchange bidding, is still in pilot, but the number of publishers using it has grown from 100 to 185 since May, according to a Google spokesperson. Google’s exchange bidding will become available in early 2018 to all publishers that use Google’s ad server DoubleClick for Publishers, the spokesperson said.

It’s worth recognizing that server-to-server bidding is still in its infancy. Amazon was an early adopter of this technology, but its wrapper isn’t even a year old.

Schenck said Amazon’s high adoption rate early on “gives them a little bit of a head start, but it doesn’t determine who wins the server-to-server war.”

Output: Amazon's Transparent Ad Marketplace is the most popular server-to-server wrapper in the ad industry, according to ServerBid. Advertisers like the product’s ease of use and the access it provides to proprietary behavioural data, plus it counters Google’s dominance. Amazon’s extensive database resolves the server-to-server problem of matching supply- and demand-side IDs encountered by tech vendors using third-party data. The firm is growing its presence in advertising, with a range of initiatives and 2,000 staff hires. However, Google could still win in the nascent area when its “exchange bidding” offering comes out of pilot.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Time to Change the Way We Price Drugs
 WASHINGTON -- The U.S. should develop a different system of pricing drugs, Peter Bach, MD, said at a forum here on high prescription drug prices hosted by The Atlantic.

"Every other country uses a formal technology assessment to figure out how much to pay for drugs -- we don't," Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said at the forum on Tuesday, which was sponsored by Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) firm. "And this is the only sector where the monopolist sets the price."

Value-based pricing would be a good start, said Michael Pishvaian, MD, director of the phase I clinical trial program at the Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center here. "We think a lot of approvals should be linked to cost [and] value -- [that includes] extension of life plus what it means to the patient in their stage of cancer, plus the side effects that come with that -- that whole concept should be evaluated."

By that score, the newer hepatitis C drugs such as sofosbuvir (Solvaldi) "have great value because this is a disease that was leading to liver cancer for many patients and now, all of a sudden, patients are being cured of this virus," he said.

The $475,000 Treatment

One drug much discussed at the event was tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah), a CAR-T therapy approved recently approved to treat pediatric leukemia in patients who fail to respond to other treatments. The drug, which is given in a single dose, will be priced at $475,000.

The price of Kymriah "has broken the trend line," said Bach. "Price inflation on cancer drugs over last 50 years is up 100-fold, adjusting for inflation and a standardized [period of] therapy ... We're in the $100,000-$150,000 range for typical duration treatment course for a cancer drug, so this has completely broken the mold."

These drugs may be breaking the cost barrier, "but you're talking about potential cure, and in an advanced incurable cancer you're talking about drugs that would let a patient lead an otherwise normal life," said Pishvaian. "How do you price that? It's really hard to put a limit on that life."

One reason drugs are so expensive is that consumers are also paying for all of the drugs that never made it to market, said Lori Reilly, executive vice president of policy and research at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). "Ninety percent of what we do fails," she said. "How can we make investment of $3 billion [on a drug] that fails if we can't recoup cost not just of those who make it to market, but the ones that never make it to market?"

The U.S. also is making up for the low prices charged in other countries that have the ability to negotiate, said Matt Eyles, executive vice president of policy and regulatory affairs at America's Health Insurance Plans. "We are funding the rest of the world; there's no doubt about it," he said. "That trend is not changing, especially as other countries clamp down on pricing in a way we are not ... We need basic transparency to understand how these prices are being arrived at, what the inputs are, and what makes sense."

Supply Chain Markup

Another issue is the markups that are charged all along the supply chain, said Reilly. "A recent study ... found that for every dollar of the list price of a prescription drug that is sold, the brand-name manufacturer gets about 62 cents of it. The rest goes to other people in the supply chain."

For instance, "a big chunk of it goes to discounts and rebates to health insurance companies, mandated government rebates, and costs to pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacies, and wholesalers," she continued. "We'd like to see transparency ... across the entire supply chain, including the hospital setting where drugs are commonly marked up as much as 600% over the price charged. So transparency is great, presuming it applies to everyone."

Value-based pricing -- paying based on the outcome of a treatment -- is often touted as a solution to the pricing problem, but there is a lot of skepticism about whether that will lead to lower prices, said Eyles. "The jury is definitely out about how those [programs] will impact pricing," he said. "The insidious problem we have is that there is year-over-year inflation of 9%, 10%, 20% ... when the rest of the healthcare system is much much lower. That's not great corporate behavior, and when that's rampant across the branded industry [we wonder] what's going on here."

It's true that initially there maybe apparent costs to value-based pricing, said Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.). But the overall goal is to look down the road and see what the costs are to non-adherence and the unavailability of breakthrough drugs which can change outcomes."

"If we can find ways to deliver drugs that work on individuals ... that's going to hold down overall costs to the system in addition to patient suffering," he continued. But there are impediments to implementing such pricing programs, "like the [anti-]kickback laws that I'm working to get around."

Increasing Competition

Increasing competition is another solution to look at said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). She cited the large price increases instituted by the manufacturer of the EpiPen epinephrine auto-injector as an example of what can happen when there is no competition for a drug. "If we believe in capitalism, we have to have competition; otherwise this is never going to work."

Klobuchar is co-sponsoring a bill with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that would put an end to one type of anti-competitive move: so-called "pay for delay" deals in which a brand-name manufacturer of a particular drug pays a generic drug firm to delay entering the market for that drug with its generic version.

"I think it will [get traction]," she said of her bill. "If we have a vote, I can't see people, like lemmings, voting with the pharmacuetical companies -- when you have to explain to constituents that you're going to allow a practice that allows pharmaceutical companies to keep drugs off the market."

Allowing importation of cheaper drugs from foreign countries is another option, said Klobuchar. This could be done in one of three ways: "you could straight out allow it, or allow it [from] certain countries -- like the bill I have with Sen. [John] McCain (R-Ariz.) to allow importation from Canada -- or you could do it like the bill Sen. [Mike] Lee (R-Utah) and I have with a trigger -- that is, for a drug with no competition or limited competition, you could allow a safe drug to be imported from another country."

Negotiating drug prices is another possibility, said Meehan, although he added that he didn't think the government should do it. "This is probably best left to those that are in a position to negotiate effectively," like PBMs, he said. "They can work on volume, and they can work on other kinds of incentives."

And there's one other idea: slowing the volume of direct-to-consumer advertising, said Michael Sapienza, CEO of the Colon Cancer Alliance. "Let's say any drug that comes to market, [the drug company] is spending about $250 million on direct-to-consumer ads... [but] you're not targeting that specialty population," he said. By working with patient advocacy groups and other patient forums, "you could take $2-3 million and target a specific patient population -- I would think you'd get much better bang for your buck."

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Output: The U.S. should develop a different system of pricing drugs, Peter Bach, MD, said at a forum here on high prescription drug prices hosted by The Atlantic.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Congress missed deadlines, billions at stake for California low-income health programs
 Congress missed its Sept. 30 deadline to renew funding for two health programs for low-income people, despite bipartisan support, and now California is waiting to learn the fate of billions of dollars it needs to keep those programs going.

Lawmakers did not renew funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, and the Community Health Investment, Modernization and Excellence Act, called the CHIME Act, which would reauthorize assistance for community health centers.

In the case of CHIP, California stands to get $2.7 billion annually; under the CHIME Act, community health centers receive more than $600 million a year in direct grants.

The state and local health clinics won't need to cut back on services just yet. State officials said there's enough CHIP funding on hand to last until the end of the year. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which provides federal grants to community health centers, said it expects current funding will also last through December.

Supporters hope Congress will vote on bills to renew both programs in the next couple of weeks.

"States can’t fund children’s health coverage on promises. They need the funding to come through and they need it now," said Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health policy for the advocacy group Children Now.

In California, the Department of Health Care Services uses CHIP funding to expand Medi-Cal coverage to two million kids in the state whose parents make about two-and-one-half times the federal poverty level, which is too high to qualify for Medi-Cal. The program also covers pregnant women.

"To the extent Congress fails to extend CHIP funding, the Administration would work with the state Legislature and [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] on contingency options, based upon federal guidance and direction," Health Care Services said in a written statement.

A loss of CHIP funding would mean a cut to provider reimbursement rates, predicted Lara Khouri, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

"If that was substantial enough, we’d be in a situation where we’d have to look at our programs," she said.

Community health centers say they would also have to make cuts to their staffing and programs. The nonprofit clinics serve mostly Medi-Cal and homeless patients and the uninsured, including those in the U.S. illegally.

Andie Patterson, the director of government affairs for CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates, said it would be hard for clinics to recover from a loss of any funding, since they run on tight budget margins. Community clinics employ more than 30,000 people in the state, she said.

"It makes no sense to create all these delays and uncertainty in the health care industry, but also in local economies and in local health care settings," she said.

Some health advocates blame the last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare for steering lawmakers' attention away from the CHIP and CHIME deadlines.

"We had a line of sight to bipartisan support for CHIP before the Graham-Cassidy bill got put on the table," said Khouri. "And unfortunately, we feel that folks were distracted from something that was a clear and shared imperative."

Output: Congress missed its Sept. 30 deadline to renew funding for two health programs for low-income people, despite bipartisan support, and now California is waiting to learn the fate of billions of dollars it needs to keep those programs going.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases
 Add 20 more cases and 22 more hospitalizations to San Diego County’s ever-growing hepatitis A outbreak.

Tuesday afternoon the county Health and Human Services Agency raised the number of the outbreak’s confirmed cases to 481 from 461 and hospitalizations to 337 from 315. The death count associated with the outbreak, which started in November 2016, remained at 17 for a second straight week.

For the last two weeks, the health department has reported having more than 40 cases under investigation awaiting confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they suspect are caused by the same unique strains associated with other outbreak cases.

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No information on the number of cases under investigation was available Tuesday. All of those who have died during the outbreak have had underlying medical conditions such as liver disease. Most were also homeless and/or drug users.

Vaccination events continue throughout the city as public health officials focus on those at the highest risk of infection such as health and safety workers and those who work with homeless outreach organizations and food service workers.

Hepatitis A infection is seldom fatal unless other complications, such as liver disease or an autoimmune disorder, are already present.

The hepatitis A virus is shed in human feces and transmitted when a person accidentally comes in contact with fecal matter. Proper hygiene — hand-washing with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds after using the bathroom — is sufficient to kill the virus, though alcohol-based hand sanitizer may not be effective. Hepatitis A symptoms include jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes), abdominal pain, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

Sisson writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Output: Add 20 more cases and 22 more hospitalizations to San Diego County’s ever-growing hepatitis A outbreak.  Tuesday afternoon the county Health and Human Services Agency raised the number of the outbreak’s confirmed cases to 481 from 461 and hospitalizations to 337 from 315.