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Few publishers on the path to monetising virtual reality ads
 When it comes to virtual reality, few publishers are as committed as The New York Times, with its dedicated VR app and Daily 360 feature, helped by funding from tech giants Samsung and Google. All told, the Times produces one six- to 10-minute VR film a month and one one- to two-minute 360 video per day, showcasing curiosities like the inside of a fireworks factory and far-flung places. It’s finding people are watching the longer videos to the end. “We’re beyond testing and learning,” said Varun Shetty, executive director of strategy and business development at the Times.

Another early mover, USA Today, is entering its second season of its weekly VR show, “VRtually There,” which has explored extreme sports and nature, after racking up 10 million views in season one last fall, on no fewer than seven platforms. “We are absolutely still moving full steam ahead,” said Kelly Andresen, the head of USA Today’s branded content studio, Get Creative.

But outside those two publishers and a handful of others, there’s less to crow about. VR is still test-and-learn territory for most publishers. It’s a great way for publishers to inspire their newsrooms, many of which have been demoralized by budget cuts; capture the attention of jaded audiences in their crowded news feeds; and show advertisers just how innovative publishers can still be.

“Building ‘VRtually There’ has really changed the perception of our brand,” Andresen said. “If it ends up they buy high-impact Gravity ads instead, that’s OK.”

But the headsets are expensive and not used widely, and brands are unsure how to advertise on the medium, which also makes VR extremely difficult to scale from production, technology and distribution standpoints, said Mike Dossett, associate director for digital strategy at RPA, who closely follows VR and its variants.

Publishers can get more audience scale by doing 360 video, VR’s lower-tech cousin that doesn’t take a special headset to view. But 360 is less captivating, both because of its less immersive nature and because the newsroom skills haven’t caught up. That risks diluting the experience and letting down viewers who are still new to the tech.

Dossett said he’s not seeing publishers scale back, but at the same time, he’s not seeing new ones jump into the fray. “We’re not getting a new flush of activity,” he said. “VR is still in the late stages of experimentation.”

Publishers doing VR are still relying on branded content, and for a lucky few, tech company funding. But there’s no guarantee the tech dollars will last. Shetty acknowledged the VR ecosystem would be more modest if not for the tech dollars feeding it. “They play a pretty big role,” he said. When the Times’ Samsung partnership ends after a year, the publisher will likely still do 360 video, but may do them less frequently, depending on the newsroom’s other priorities.

And advertising on VR is still just the domain of a few blue-chip advertisers; USA Today’s VR advertisers have included Macy’s, Nest and Honda.

Most advertisers are so new to the medium and don’t have VR-ready ads, and most publishers are new to making VR ad content themselves, so the path to monetization is far from clear. “For brands looking to wildly stand out, we’re not relying on publishers,” Dossett said. To ease advertisers along, USA Today has offered them the ability to do simpler sponsorships, Andresen said. “People don’t have the language or knowledge of how to buy it,” she said.

Other publishers strike a more conservative tone when it comes to VR. The Wall Street Journal sees VR/360 video as a “great storytelling tool,” said Joanna Stern, deputy head of video. “We, however, only use it when it is the best way to bring the story to life.” Similar, the Financial Times said it considers VR/360 something to do only when it truly enhances a story, and has no plans to do any in the immediate future.

Some publishers are focusing on 360 or augmented reality video instead. The Washington Post is prioritizing AR this year because it’s less expensive than VR, doesn’t require a headset and advertiser demand already exists. Slate took a half step into VR by initially creating its new weekly talk show in 2-D so it could be watched on any screen and designed it to be low-cost, so its continuation wouldn’t depend on ad support.

The Economist produced three VR films by the end of last year, but its future slate of VR production depends on whether it gets the ad sponsorship to pay for it, much like the rest of its films, said David Alter, director of programs at the publisher’s Economist Films unit. “Would we make VR films on our own dollar? We don’t have any plans to do that,” he said.

That doesn’t mean The Economist isn’t halfhearted about VR, though, as an investment in March in a VR startup, Parable, suggests. “It’s still early days for us,” Alter said. “We’ve scratched the surface of what it can do.”

Output: Most publishers and advertisers are still learning about the possibilities for virtual reality (VR), with the cost of hardware and a limited pool of skills when it comes to creating ads for the medium among the obstacles to wider adoption. While the New York Times and USA Today both employ VR, attracting brands including Macy’s, Nest and Honda, thanks to funding from tech giants Samsung and Google, smaller publishers have turned to the cheaper, but less immersive technology of 360 or augmented reality video.


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Driver withdraws claim that Tesla Autopilot caused crash
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A Tesla owner who blamed his car's autopilot feature for "suddenly accelerating" and flipping his vehicle has said that it was actually him.

The crash occurred west of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, and David Clark claimed he had engaged the semi-autonomous driving feature in his Tesla electric car on a country road.

According to the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's office, Mr Clark's Tesla was found overturned in a marsh but the injuries were "minor".

But Mr Clark has since said it was actually his own mistake.

“To the best of my recollection I had engaged the autopilot system but then I had disengaged it by stepping on accelerator," an email sent by Mr Clark to the sheriff's department read. "I then remember looking up and seeing the sharp left turn which I was accelerating into.

"I believe we started to make the turn but then felt the car give way and lose its footing like we hit loose gravel. That was the feeling that I was trying to describe to you that I had lost control of the vehicle. The next thing I know tall grass is whipping past the windshield and we were traveling at an odd angle in the ditch and then flipped over the right side and ended up on the roof.”

The "cruise control" option in Teslas use cameras, radars, and an on-board computers to detect lanes, other vehicles, and objects in the road, steering as needed.

Tesla said in a statement following the accident that it has "no reason to believe [the autopilot feature] worked other than as designed."

The company has not yet responded to the request for information on if drivers and purchasers of Tesla vehicles receive some sort of training to use the feature. The Washington Post reported that Tesla does require drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel even while the feature is engaged, however.

This is the second time the Palo Alto, California-based company's autopilot feature has been blamed for an accident.

In Gainsville, Florida, in May 2016, a driver was killed when his Tesla, going 70 miles per hour, crashed into a truck. It was the first known crash of a partly autonomous vehicle.

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After the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a full report on the crash and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) decided not to issue a recall of that model of Tesla cars, finding no safety defect.

Though there was a subsequent debate about the safety of such a feature, it was reported that the driver ignored six audio and seven visual warnings issued by the car's system to keep his hands on the steering wheel.

Safety fears after Tesla driver dies in autopilot crash

Tesla has also implemented an automatic "off" feature for autopilot. If drivers continuously ignore safety warnings now, the car will disable autopilot until the next time the car is started.

Mr Clark nor the police have confirmed whether he got any warnings from his Tesla prior to the accident.

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, recently said at the National Governor's Association semi-annual meeting that "Probably in 10 years, more than a half of new vehicle production is electric in the US...I think almost all cars produced will be autonomous."

"There will not be a steering wheel in 20 years...it will be like having a horse" Mr Musk said.

For the time being, a Tesla owner in California filed a federal lawsuit against Tesla for the same "sudden acceleration" problem. His SUV was parked in his garage when it unexpectedly crashed into his living room, injuring him and destroying walls.

A request for class-action status has been filed as well in an attempt to add seven other Tesla drivers with complaints in other states that were listed in the NHTSA database.

Output: A Tesla owner who blamed his car's autopilot feature for flipping his vehicle has admitted it was actually him. David Clark initially said he had engaged the semi-autonomous feature which "suddenly accelerated" before the crash on a country road west of Minneapolis. But Clark, who suffered minor injuries in crash, later said it was his own mistake and that he had disengaged the Autopilot by stepping on the accelerator before seeing the sharp left turn where the car flipped.


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Brits more likely to buy an electric vehicle, survey finds
 Consumer awareness of EVs in the UK has grown significantly over the past few years. A 2014 government survey found little interest in going electric: 56 percent of those questioned hadn’t thought about buying an EV, 14 percent said they had decided against it, and 23 percent said nothing could ever convince them to buy an electric vehicle.

Charging provider NewMotion, which operates over 50,000 charge points throughout Europe, has released a new report that shows a considerably higher level of interest. Of 3,000 consumers surveyed, 69 percent said they would consider switching to an EV in the future.

NewMotion attributes the shift to changes in technology and governmental policies. The UK government has enacted a number of pro-EV measures, and even Her Majesty the Queen mentioned EVs in her annual speech this year.

However, NewMotion’s survey did find a lack of knowledge about current electrified options. Over 76% of the consumers surveyed did not know what EV stands for, and a majority guessed that the average EV has a range of only 63 miles. Many had no idea how charging works – almost 20% of respondents seemed to believe that one charged an EV from some sort of “portable battery pack.”

“At the moment general consumer awareness of EVs is pretty low in the UK,” said NewMotion UK Country Manager Sander van der Veen. “However, this is going to have to change pretty quickly as the world around us adapts to a new normal. It’s the responsibility of governments, car manufacturers and companies like NewMotion, who support the charging infrastructure, to help raise awareness and educate the next generation of car users.”

“There’s definitely an appetite from consumers to move away from the traditional petrol/diesel model of transport;” Mr. van der Veen continued. “Yet it isn’t as simple as just changing to an EV, we need to help provide a better understanding of how they work and what changes drivers need to make to allow EVs to work for them.”

Source: NewMotion

Image by Nicolas Raymond

Output: Some 69% of Brits would consider buying an electric vehicle (EV), a recent survey from charging provider NewMotion has found. In 2014, a government survey found 56% of Brits hadn't thought about buying an EV and 23% said they would never buy one. However, NewMotion's survey identified a lack of knowledge about electrified options. More than 76% of respondents did not know what EV stood for and most guessed that the average electric vehicle has a range of just 63 miles.


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FedEx, without cyber coverage, signals Petya will hurt earnings
 Express firm FedEx said today that its financial results will be affected by the Petya cyber attack that hit subsidiary TNT. The company continues to be affected by the virus.

In a stock exchange announcement, the express giant said it was still evaluating the financial impact of the attack, but it is likely it will have a material effect on its results as revenues have taken a hit.

"We do not have cyber or other insurance in place that covers this attack," FedEx said. "Although we cannot currently quantify the amounts, we have experienced loss of revenue due to decreased volumes at TNT and incremental costs associated with the implementation of contingency plans and the remediation of affected systems."

TNT services are available, but customers are still experiencing widespread service and invoicing delays, and manual processes are being used to facilitate a "significant portion" of TNT operations and customer service functions.

FedEx said it could not estimate when services would be fully restored but contingency plans that make use of both FedEx and TNT networks remain in place to minimise the impact to customers.

The company said its IT teams have been focused on the recovery of critical systems and continue to make progress in resuming full services.

"We are currently focused on restoring remaining operational systems, along with finance, back-office and secondary business systems," FedEx said.

"We cannot yet estimate how long it will take to restore the systems that were impacted, and it is reasonably possible that TNT will be unable to fully restore all of the affected systems and recover all of the critical business data that was encrypted by the virus.

The Petya cyber-attack, using ransomware, has caused disruption around the world and infected companies in 64 countries, including banks in Ukraine, Russian oil giant Rosneft, British advertising company WPP, Maersk and US law firm DLA Piper.

Victims of the attack are asked to pay for the release of business data that has been encrypted and frozen by the hackers on company computer systems.

Read more express news

Share this story

Output: FedEx announced that the Petya ransomware attack that hit its subsidiary, TNT, will materially impact its financial results, as revenues have suffered. The firm said it had no insurance in place that covers the attack and could not estimate when, or even if, all services will be fully restored. Revenues have been impacted by decreased volumes at TNT, the cost of implementing contingency plans and efforts to get the affected systems back on track. Currently, while its services are available, widespread delays continue to plague TNT, which is said to be manually processing much of its operations and customer service functions.


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China Merchants builds 50 MW panda-shaped solar farm
 China Merchants New Energy Group is one of the largest clean energy companies in China. It is deep into a solar power project that will eventually cover more than 1,500 acres with solar panels. The first phase of construction was completed on June 30 — a 248 acre solar farm that looks like a a giant panda from the air. When complete, several panda-shaped areas will populate the Chinese countryside.

The first phase is a 50 megawatt solar installation that will produce 3.2 billion kilowatt-hours of solar energy over the next 25 years, according to the company. Generating that much electricity from sunshine will mean one million tons of coal won’t be burned, reducing carbon emissions by 2.74 million tons. Construction on a second panda-shaped solar farm is scheduled to begin later this year.

What difference does it make what the new solar power plant looks like from the air? Symbolism is very important to Chinese culture. The project is part of a larger effort to raise awareness among young people in China about clean energy. China Merchants New Energy Group worked with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to make the Panda Power Plant a reality. It hopes to work with the Group to create more panda power facilities across the landscape in the coming years.

China is racing ahead with its plans to convert its electrical energy system to renewables as quickly as possible — putting the US to shame while doing so. While US senators throw snowballs at each other to “prove” that climate change is a myth spread by the Chinese to steal jobs from Americans, China is talking the talk and walking the walk when it comes to clean energy.

Recently, the largest floating solar farm in the world came online near the city of Huainan in the Anhui province. The 40 megawatt facility not only produces electricity with no emissions, it takes advantage of the surface area of a large lake in a place where space for a solar farm is limited by the proximity of a large urban community. China is also forecast to install 403 gigawatts of wind power over the next decade. While the US is dithering, China is busy doing.

Image by UNDP

Sign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps —— grow. So ...

Output: China Merchants New Energy Group has built a panda-shaped 248 acre solar power farm. The 50 MW installation will produce 3.2 billin kWh of solar energy over 25 years. The plant will reduce carbon emissions by 2.74 million tons by generating enough energy to replace that which would have been made from burning one million tons of coal. Construction on a second panda-shaped solar farm is due to start later this year.


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Older oil fields use up to 10 times more energy to extract resources
 Mohammad Masnadi and Adam Brandt used decades-long time-series data from twenty-five globally significant oil fields (>1 billion barrels ultimate recovery) to model greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oil production as a function of time.Depletion requires increased energy expenditures in drilling, oil recovery, and oil processing. They found that volumetric oil production declines with depletion, but that this depletion is accompanied by significant growth—in some cases more than tenfold—in per-MJ GHG emissions.

A new study finds that as some of the world’s largest oilfields age, the energy required to keep them operating can rise dramatically even as the amount of petroleum they produce drops. Failing to take the changing energy requirements of oilfields into account can cause oilfield managers or policymakers to underestimate the true climate impacts, Stanford scientists warn.

Using probabilistic simulation, they derived a relationship for estimating GHG increases over time, showing an expected doubling in average emissions over 25 years. The new findings, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, have implications for long-term emissions and climate modeling, as well as climate policy.

Current climate and energy system models typically don’t explore the impacts of oil reservoir depletion in any detail. As oilfields run low, emissions per unit of oil increase. This should be accounted for in future modeling efforts. —Adam Brandt

Time-series trends in normalized upstream GHG intensities of twenty-five global oil fields (offshore and onshore) with dfferent extraction practices (water injection/flooding, gas injection/flooding/lifting, or steam flooding) over the course of production in the period of 1949–2015. a, Heavy oils. b, Medium oils. c, Light oils. Filled and hollow markers represent offshore and onshore fields, respectively. Masnadi & Brandt (2017). Click to enlarge.

Conventional greenhouse gas estimates calculate emissions through a kind of economic reverse engineering, whereby an economic index is used to convert the monetary value of an oilfield’s final products—whether it be processed oil, natural gas or petroleum-based products—into greenhouse gas emissions. This top-down approach for converting economic values into environmental and energetic costs misses a lot of underlying information, Masnadi said.

Further, many studies look at data from only a single point in time, and as a result capture only a snapshot of an oilfield’s greenhouse gas emissions. But the Stanford scientists argue that in order to paint the most accurate picture of an oilfield’s true climate impacts—and also have the best chance of reducing those impacts—it’s necessary to assess the energy costs associated with every stage of the petroleum production process, and to do so for the oilfield’s entire lifetime.

Developed in Brandt’s lab at Stanford, a software tool called the Oil Production Greenhouse gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE) is designed to do just that. For any given oilfield, OPGEE performs a lifecycle assessment, analyzing each phase of the oil production process—extraction, refinement and transportation. It then uses computer models to calculate how much energy is consumed during each step. From this, scientists can calculate how much greenhouse gas each oilfield emits.

This bottom-up type of analysis hasn’t been done before because it’s difficult. For this study, we needed over 50 different pieces of data for each oilfield for each year. When you’re trying to analyze an oilfield across decades, that’s a lot of data. —Mohammad Masnadi

Most oil companies are reluctant to release this type of temporal data about their oilfields. The Stanford researchers developed two workarounds to this problem. First, they gathered data from places where transparency laws require oil production data be made publicly available. These included Canada, Norway and the UK, and the state of California in the US. Secondly, the pair conducted a deep data mine of the scientific literature to seek out clues about oilfield production levels in published studies.

One way to reduce the increase in emissions is through tougher government regulations that force companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or risk having to lower production. This has been shown to work at two Canadian offshore fields, Hibernia and Terra Nova, where regulations have sharply lowered greenhouse gas emissions by limiting oil production in fields where gas is wasted through flaring and venting.

Better regulation is certainly part of the answer, but a more progressive solution is to encourage energy companies to draw the energy they need to operate their aging oilfields from renewable sources such as solar, wind or geothermal. —Mohammad Masnadi

Masnadi cites the example of the California-based company GlassPoint Solar, which uses solar-powered steam generators to reduce the gas consumption and carbon emissions of its oilfields by up to 80%.

Done right, such solutions could end up being a win-win for industry and the environment, the Stanford scientists said, by helping oil companies drive down energy costs while simultaneously reducing their climate impacts.

The OPGEE tool Brandt’s team developed has already been adopted by the California Air Resources Board to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport fuels, but Brandt thinks it could also prove useful to industry.

Funding for the study was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Ford Motor Co.

Resources

Output: The energy needed to keep super-giant oilfields operating can increase as much as 10-fold as the amount of oil they produce falls, according to a Stanford University study. Not taking into account the changing energy needs of oilfields could lead to the true climate impacts being underestimated, the scientists said.


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Palestine seeks Chinese support in state visit
 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Beijing on Monday for a four-day visit in search of political and economic support.Abbas is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, according to Wafa, the official PA news agency. Abbas last visited China in May 2013.Abbas Zaki, a Fatah official in charge of managing relations between China and the Palestinians, told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas’s visit comes at a “crucial” time, as the 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress is set to take place this fall. The Chinese Communist Party is the ruling power in China and its congress is held every five years.“The party congress will set Chinese policy regarding the Palestinian issue for the coming years,” Zaki said in a phone interview. “It is important for President Abbas to convey our positions to him [Xi] before it convenes.”According to Zaki, Abbas will ask Xi to continue to support the Palestinians in international forums and increase its investment in the Palestinian territories.“There are a number of projects the two presidents will discuss including investing in an industrial zone in Tarqumiya and electricity infrastructure,” Zaki said.China has a long history of backing the Palestinians. Former chairman Mao Zedong supplied then PLO leader Yasser Arafat with weapons and cash in the 1960s. More recently, China has stood behind Palestinian initiatives in international forums, voting in favor of making Palestine a UN non-member observer in 2012.Zaki also dismissed that Israel and China are significantly improving their ties without major advancements in the peace process.“We know that China has interests in Israel, but it also has values and will not turn its back on Palestinian rights,” Zaki said. “It does not only operate according to economic interests – China is a gift of God.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited China in March, where he and his accompanying delegations signed a dozen bilateral agreements with Chinese leaders to enhance cooperation on technology and innovation.“I believe this is a marriage made in heaven,” Netanyahu said of Chinese-Israeli relations during his visit to Beijing.In addition to meeting Xi, Abbas will deliver a speech on Wednesday and meet with the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and other Chinese officials.

Output: Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority President, is visiting Beijing in search of Chinese political support and investment. Abbas was set to meet China's President, Xi Jinping, on 18 July to strengthen diplomatic ties and sign agreements. The meetings take place shortly before the Chinese Communist Party Congress, which will likely determine China’s stance on the current Palestinian situation. China has a history of backing Palestine on the international stage, having supplied weaponry and money to the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1960s and supported the Palestinian bid in 2012 to become a UN non-member observer.


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Bâloise backs on-demand insurance start-up Trov
 Baloise is investing in a U.S.-based insurtech firm specialized in on-demand insurance policies for personal items. The company has already launched its offering in the U.K. and Australia and will roll out the service in the U.S. later this year.

Trov, a startup founded 2012 in California, has launched the first on-demand insurance platform for single items, allowing people to buy policies for things they care most about, Baloise said in a statement today.

«Trov is a start-up with the potential to create disruption in the insurance industry and in several markets it has already done just that,» said Gert De Winter, CEO of Baloise.

The Trov application is helping people to collect information about all their goods, identifying those things they care so much about that they want to buy an insurance policy for.

Result of Anthemis Cooperation

The investment in Trov is the first transaction in connection with Baloise’s collaboration with the investment and advisory firm Anthemis.

«On the one hand, this investment promises additional returns for Baloise if Trov is successful,» said Thomas Sieber, head of corporate center at Baloise. «But on the other hand, the know-how transfer also creates strategic benefits for our own core business.»

Baloise’s investment is part of the Series D financing secured by Trov in April 2017.

Impetus for Digitization Process

At its investors’ day at the end of 2016, Baloise had announced that it would team up with Anthemis to invest in growth. Baloise is making 50 million Swiss francs available for equity investments in continental European, U.K.-based and U.S.-based start-ups that offer the potential to drive forward the process of digitization at Baloise.

These investments are intended to give Baloise a slice of the financial rewards from the success of insurtech companies. At the same time, Baloise will be able to gather experience that it can apply to its own core business and the implementation of the company's digitization strategy. Baloise plans to make as many as ten investment transactions by 2021.

Output: Swiss insurance company Bâloise has invested an undisclosed amount in Trov, a US-based insurtech firm that enables users to take out insurance policies for individual items. Trov's expertise will help Bâloise develop its own digital strategy, said Thomas Sieber, head of corporate center at Bâloise. The insurance company has dedicated a total of CHF50m ($52.3m) to invest in insurtech start-ups that can drive digitisation at Bâloise.


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Security robot drowns itself in a fountain in Washington DC
 The machine uprising has been dealt a serious blow after a robot cop was found face down in a fountain.

Built to autonomously patrol offices and shopping malls, the Knightscope K5 security robot is meant to be able to navigate environments and keep unruly humans in check. Instead, after being deployed to a Washington DC office block, it was found drowned in a watery grave. Much like a Dalek, it appears to have been defeated by stairs.

Our D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself.

We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots. pic.twitter.com/rGLTAWZMjn — Bilal Farooqui (@bilalfarooqui) July 17, 2017

The bizarro egg-shaped robot’s premature demise is not thought to be suspicious. It is believed the robot fell down the steps of its own fecklessness.

Stacy Dean Stephens, vice president of marketing and sales at Knightscope, told Cnet that it was an “isolated incident” for the K5 unit and that “no people were harmed or involved in any way”, although apparently humans in wellies were required to fish out the defunct robot.

Steps are our best defense against the Robopocalypse

(Security robot down at Georgetown harbor) pic.twitter.com/eVf7YUJX1j — Peter W. Singer (@peterwsinger) July 17, 2017

Since taking the streets in limited numbers, the K5 patrol bot, which is apparently packed with sensors to be the smart eyes and ears for its human law enforcement colleagues, has had its fair share of incidents. In April, a K5 patrolling the mean streets of Google-home-town Mountain View, California was allegedly involved in a carpark altercation with a 41-year-old man, while in July 2016 another K5 unit was accused of running over a 16-month-old child in a Stanford shopping centre.

Output: An autonomous security robot, designed to patrol shopping centres and look out for unruly behaviour, was found in a Washington DC office block's fountain, after the machine apparently fell down some stairs. The Knightscope K5 robot's demise is said to be an "isolated event", according to Stacy Dean Stephens, VP of marketing and sales at Knightscope. Other K5 robots have hit the headlines following an altercation in a California car park, and an incident in which a 16-month-old child was allegedly run over by a K5 in a Stanford shopping centre.


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Demand for traditional medicine drives Chinese donkey shortage
 Hannah Gardner

Special for USA TODAY

BEIJING — Chinese farmer Ma Yufa grows vegetables on steep terraces in the mountains north of here — the type of terrain better suited for a donkey instead of a tractor.

But Ma, 80, who lives much the way his ancestors did, said his last donkey died in 2014, and he couldn't replace her. “There aren’t any donkeys left,” Ma said sadly. “We’ve killed them all.”

China is in the grip of a massive donkey shortage caused by soaring demand for e’jiao — a traditional medicine made by boiling donkey skin. Demand for e’jiao has doubled since 2010, hitting nearly 15 million pounds a year in 2015, according to the national e’jiao association.

The substance was once affordable only by royalty, because one donkey yields 2.2 pounds of e'jiao.

Only 30 years ago, China had 11 million donkeys — the largest herd in the world — but the number has dwindled to between 3 million and 5 million, despite intensive breeding programs.

“The e’jiao trade is unsustainable in its current form,” said Alex Mayers, with the British-based Donkey Sanctuary animal charity.

In late June, Botswana became the latest country to ban the export of donkey skins in response to reports of hundreds of animals being killed every week.

E’jiao makers, mostly based in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, deny their product is causing the donkey shortage. They claim they are creating a new role for the animal in the modern world. They also say farmers in China and around the world can get rich by breeding donkeys for them.

“E’jiao is one of traditional Chinese medicine's three great treasures, along with deer horn and ginseng,” said Liu Guangyuan, vice chairman of China’s largest e’jiao producers, Dong’e E’jiao.

E’jiao's history is traced to at least the second century B.C. By the 19th century, a royal concubine named Ci Xi used the medicine to prevent her from miscarrying, and her son became emperor of China.

Today the smelly, brown gelatin is marketed as a cure for dementia, infertility and respiratory problems, among other ailments. And the high price doesn’t stop people from buying it. One block made in 2007 was valued at $47 a gram, more expensive than gold.

China has a long tradition of using rare and expensive animal parts in food and medicine: wine from tiger bones, soup from shark’s fin and medicine from pangolin scales. China is also home to the world's largest ivory market, though the government has promised to close all carving factories and shops by the end of the year.

“Why do the Chinese believe all the world's resources are theirs to ravage and destroy?” asked Marjorie Farabee, of the Texas-based Wild Horse Freedom Federation. Her organization said American wild burros are illegally shipped to Mexico for slaughter and then sold to China.

Some countries see opportunity in China’s growing demand. Government officials from the Pakistani province where Osama bin Laden was killed recently visited Beijing to export donkeys along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — part of China's plan for a revived Silk Road.

Although Pakistan is one of nine countries that banned the export of donkey skins for religious reasons, the province is offering to export about 80,000 live donkeys a year, said Asul Khan, deputy director of livestock and dairy development for the province.

“With investment in breeding centers, we could export more,” he added.

Pakistan implemented the ban on donkey skins because the mostly Muslim population feared the remaining meat could be passed off as beef and sold in markets. Donkey meat is forbidden in most Muslim cultures.

There is another reason for the donkey shortage besides the high demand: They aren't very fertile.

Donkeys are pregnant for up to 14 months, females tend to give birth to one foal at a time, and most are needed for work, so owners don’t let them breed. That's why there are only 44 million donkeys worldwide.

China may be consuming donkeys faster than they can be replaced.

When Tanzania banned donkey slaughters in May, the minister of agriculture, livestock and fisheries, Charles Tizeba, told parliament the animal was facing “extinction” without action.

Ethiopia introduced a ban this year and is currently battling to shut down two Chinese-owned slaughterhouses after local protests. In Niger, one of five other African nations with bans in place, the price of a donkey rose four-fold to $145, as Chinese buyers moved in.

In China, donkeys are being stolen from farmers like Ma. Many of China’s 300 million farmers still rely on animal labor to plow fields, carry crops to market or grind maize, especially in poor or mountainous areas. As a result, donkeys are often considered like a member of the family.

“The value of keeping a donkey far outweighs the temporary benefit of selling one for its skin,” said Mayers of Donkey Sanctuary.

Output: Demand for e'jiao, a traditional medicine made by boiling donkey skin, has caused a shortage of donkeys in China. Sales of e'jiao doubled within five years to reach 15 million pounds a year in 2010, according to China's e'jiao association. Following this rise in demand, the number of donkeys in the country has fallen to between three and five million, compared with the 11 million it had 30 years ago. Makers of e’jiao deny responsibility for the shortage, claiming instead to provide the animal with a place in modern society.


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Amazon incentivises creators to use its video platform
 Amazon wants video publishers and creators to distribute their work on its streaming platform. And it’s providing free marketing and technical support — and in some cases, financial incentives — to make that happen.

Video publishers and creators have two primary ways to self-distribute on Amazon Prime: the Amazon Video Direct program, which allows publishers of all sizes to upload videos to the Prime subscription platform (as well as sell it directly through the Prime video store); and the Amazon Channels program, which allows media companies to sell their subscription services as add-on channels. Both are proving to be early revenue drivers for participants.

In addition to new revenue, Amazon is also providing internal support for its partners. The company has teams dedicated to both programs, with reps assigned to assisting publishing partners. (Amazon declined to specify the size of these teams.)

Within the Amazon Channels program, Amazon is taking on a lot of the marketing and infrastructure costs that go into building and maintaining a streaming video channel. Publishers can advertise their channels, but Amazon will regularly promote different subscription channels or video titles across its platform, including Amazon.com and IMDb.

“It starts as a distribution relationship, but out of that it evolves as we develop and define different marketing and strategic partnerships,” said Mark Garner, svp of distribution and digital content licensing for A+E Networks.

Amazon also integrates the channels that Prime customers have subscribed to within the Prime user interface. For instance, if a Prime customer has subscribed to Cinedigm’s Docurama — which focuses on documentary films and nonfiction shows — they will see titles from the channel right underneath featured films and shows, new releases and Amazon’s own original series.

“It puts the channels right in the midst of when someone is browsing through Prime,” said Erick Opeka, evp of digital networks for Cinedigm, which sells three subscription channels on Prime. “It’s not like you’re subscribed to a channel and unless you go into the app, you forget about it. Amazon’s designed it so that you’re constantly reminded that you’re a subscriber.”

For streaming channel partners, Amazon is also removing the burden of billing and the tech and infrastructure costs that go into building and maintaining dozens (or hundreds) of apps for different streaming TV devices.

“Currently, when customers want to watch a show, they must navigate through multiple apps or subscribe to large cable TV packages, requiring multiple accounts and extra work to find what they want,” said Rich Au, head of content acquisition for the Amazon Channels program, in a statement. “Specific to our partners, Amazon Channels is unique in that we’re handling all of the billing and customer service for them, as well as managing compatibility across hundreds of devices.”

For its work, Amazon takes a cut of subscription dollars generated through its program. As sources have previously told Digiday, the deals vary, with Amazon typically taking 30-40 percent of subscription channel revenue.

“Because they’re leveraging their existing customer base, we don’t have any operational costs of running and maintaining an app,” said Opeka. “The one downside is that you do lose that direct relationship with the customer, but the revenue potential and the ease with which you can access new customers outweigh the risks, especially in the early stages when you’re trying to grow subscribers.”

The Video Direct self-distribution program is a big initiative for Amazon as it looks to recruit more digital publishers and video creators to distribute through Prime. And any time a platform is out with a big initiative, it goes on a charm offensive — just look at how Amazon is working with publishers on Amazon Echo.

Within Video Direct, publishing partners have landing pages for all of their uploaded videos. Individual titles and themed collections are also regularly featured within the regular Prime browsing experience — amped up by an algorithm that delivers suggestions based on the user’s preferences and viewing history. This can help older videos find new life: A 10-episode short-form series comedy studio Jash produced with actress Jenny Slate in 2013 was uploaded to Amazon last summer and became one of the top-performing digital series on Prime — right around the time “The Secret Life of Pets” (starring Slate) was in theaters.

For Video Direct partners, Amazon also makes additional money available through a $1 million monthly bonus pool, which pays out to media partners based on the top-performing titles during that month.

“Revenue per view, especially if you’re a bonus performer, can be much higher and above and beyond what you’re making on YouTube,” said one longtime YouTube creator.

One area Amazon can improve is in providing deeper analytics. For both the Amazon Channels and Video Direct programs, Amazon provides a dashboard with reports on subscribers, number of minutes streamed per title and projected revenue.

“It’s not nearly as robust as YouTube in visualizing analytics and being able to get more granular with the data,” said the YouTube creator. “You also can’t do comparative analysis [against other Video Direct partners or platform-wide benchmarks] at this point.”

Still, Video Direct partners describe channel reps as being more responsive and supportive than some other platforms.

“They will send regular updates with tips to improve performance; they’ll include us in their initiatives and look to prop us up by inviting us to go speak on panels with them at Sundance,” said Mickey Meyer, co-founder of the Sarah Silverman-backed Jash. “They have been, more so than YouTube and some others, out to help us.”

Output: Amazon is calling on all its resources to encourage marketers to advertise on its Amazon Prime streaming platforms, Video Direct and Channels. It will shoulder the infrastructure costs of creating and maintaining a video channel, as well as offering a monetary reward to the top-performing titles, while taking a 30-40% cut of subscription revenue. "The one downside is that you do lose that direct relationship with the customer, but the revenue potential and the ease with which you can access new customers outweigh the risks", said Erick Opeka, EVP of digital networks for Cinedigm.


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Tesla to build two or three more US Gigafactories
 Tesla will open '2 or 3' more Gigafactories in the US It has to keep up with electric car demand on its home turf.

It's no secret that Tesla wants to open Gigafactories around the world to keep up with demand for electric cars and storage batteries, but how many of those will open in the US? Now we know: Elon Musk has confirmed that "2 or 3" additional factories will open in the US over the "next few years." He's not offering a firm timetable, to no one's surprise (the first factory isn't even finished yet), but the news makes it clearer than ever that Tesla expects plenty of demand.

Musk was definitely strategic with the announcement. He was speaking in front of the National Governors Association, which is full of politicians looking for economic opportunities -- he's no doubt hoping that governors will jockey for a Gigafactory (and offer incentives) in their state. At the same time, though, it may be a realistic forecast. Musk expects most new cars in the US to be EVs within 10 years, and to virtually dominate the market in 20. If Tesla doesn't have enough factories in place, it risks losing business as electric transportation hits the mainstream.

The talk also saw Musk weigh in on a few other topics. He's not opposed to self-driving car regulations, but he believes they should expire as technology evolves. Also, he believes that car security is a high priority. He notes that Tesla cars already have "special encryption" that protects vital systems like the powertrain and brakes, and he's entertaining the idea of a kill switch (of sorts) that no hacker could touch. Don't count on governors heeding his regulatory advice, but it won't be surprising if future Teslas are better-equipped to deal with online threats.

Output: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he will open "two or three" Gigafactories in the US over the next few years, but refused to be drawn on details. Musk anticipates most new cars in the US to be electric vehicles (EVs) within a decade, and EVs to virtually dominate the market in 20 years, prompting the need for a network of global Gigafactories to keep up with demand for batteries.


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MIT develops shuttlecock robot for pipe maintenance
 The expansive webs of pipeline that sprawl beneath many of the world's urban areas serve as a literal lifeline for thirsty inhabitants, but we don't often think about how much is going to waste. According to MIT, an average of 20 percent of the water flowing through today's distribution systems is lost to holes along its journey, so researchers are developing a small robot that can be deposited through a fire hydrant to hunt out the leaks.

The robot is called PipeGuard and resembles a large shuttlecock. Attached to the robot's rubber body, where the feathers would be, is a soft rubber skirt that expands to fill the diameter of a pipe. This then detects variations in pressure caused by a leak, by continually sensing the degree of pull at its edges.

This robot can be inserted into the pipe system through any fire hydrant, where the flow of water carries it along its merry way as it logs its position in the pipe and detects small variations in pressure, thanks to its sensitive rubber skirt. Then at the end of its journey, it can be retrieved with a net through another fire hydrant and its data can be retrieved.

MIT's pipe-inspecting robot is called PipeGuard

The team carried out field tests in Saudi Arabia earlier this yet, using a mile-long (1.6 km) piece of two-inch thick (5 cm) rusty pipe. The researchers created an artificial leak for the robot to find as its made its way through bends, T-joints and connections. The team reports that the robot was able to detect the leak successfully, and was able to tell it apart from false alarms resulting from changes in the pipe size, orientation or other pressure variations.

"We put the robot in from one joint, and took it out from the other," says MIT graduate student You Wu, who helped developed the robot. "We tried it 14 times over three days, and it completed the inspection every time. What's more, it found a leak that was about one gallon per minute, which is one-tenth the minimum size that conventional detection methods can find on average, and a third as large as those systems can find under even the best of conditions."

We have seen a number of robotic solutions to this problem of leaky pipes over the years. One example is a Japanese sinuous robot that livestreams video from inside, while another articulated version uses propellors to move through the pipes. But MIT's solution does appear to have a very useful advantage (further to its passive design), in that its rubber skirt has the ability to expand to pipes of various sizes, like an umbrella.

This would involve developing a new collapsible version, so the robot can easily transition to wider and narrower settings. This could prove particularly useful in Boston, the team notes, where the water distribution system is made up of a mix of pipes measuring six, eight and 12 inches wide (15, 20 and 30 cm).

But first, the team will carry out further field tests in Mexico this year, where PipeGuard will navigate 12-inch concrete water pipes beneath Monterrey. This city loses an estimated 40 percent of its water supply to leaks each year, according to MIT, which amounts to around US$80 million in lost revenue.

Further down the track, the team says the robot could be adapted to service gas pipes as well, and even be improved upon to not just detect small leaks, but carry out repairs on the spot.

Source: MIT

Output: Researchers at MIT have developed a robot named PipeGuard that resembles a large shuttlecock, and is used to discover leaks in pipes. Using the "skirt" at the bottom of the robot's body, the robot is able to sense variations in pressure in pipes caused by leaks. It is expected that that robot could be adapted to service gas pipes, and carry out repairs.


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US remains top of wish list for China’s emigrating millionaires
 Half of Chinese millionaires are considering moving overseas, and the U.S. remains their favorite destination, according to a new survey.

Among Chinese millionaires with a net worth of more than $1.5 million, half either plan to or are considering moving abroad, according to a survey from Hurun Report in association with Visas Consulting Group. The survey suggests that the flow of wealthy Chinese and Chinese fortunes into U.S. homes and buildings is likely to continue, helping demand and prices in certain real estate markets — especially in the U.S.

The U.S. remains the most popular destination for wealthy Chinese moving their families and fortunes abroad, according to the report. Canada ranks second, overtaking the U.K., which had ranked second but now ranks third. Australia comes in at fourth.

The favorite city for wealthy Chinese moving to the U.S. is Los Angeles, while Seattle ranks second followed by San Francisco. New York ranked fourth.

When asked for their main reasons for moving abroad, education was the top reason, followed by the "living environment."

"Education and pollution are driving China's rich to emigrate," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report. "If China can solve these issues, then the primary incentive to emigrate will have been taken away."

Yet the fear of a falling Chinese currency is also driving many rich Chinese — and their money — abroad. Fully 84 percent of Chinese millionaires are concerned about the devaluation of the yuan, up from 50 percent last year. Half are worried about the exchange rate of the dollar, foreign exchange controls and property bubbles in China.

So far, the Trump administration's restrictions on immigration have not touched the EB-5 program, a favorite of wealthy Chinese that allows them a path to citizenship in the U.S. in exchange for an investment in property of $500,000. Yet 27 percent of wealthy Chinese said waiting times are the biggest hindrance to overseas immigration.

Over 60 percent of wealthy Chinese are "optimistic" about China's economic development, but only 22 percent said that China's "high-speed development will continue and 44 percent said it will slow down.

Output: Half of China's millionaires with a net worth over $1.5m are considering moving overseas, according to a survey from the Huron Report in association with Visa. The US is particularly attractive, with Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and New York at the top of the wish list, followed by Canada, the UK and Australia. This suggests that the Chinese and their money may continue to support demand and prices in those real estate markets. Education, pollution, concerns over yuan depreciation, and increased regulation are said to be primary drivers behind China's rich looking to emigrate, said the report.


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Regus [2]: Two MiamiCentral to have Regus as a tenant when it opens this fall
 The parent company of All Aboard Florida (AAF) this summer will open the first of two office buildings at MiamiCentral, an 11-acre mixed-use development that will include a train station for AAF’s Brightline rail service.

Florida East Coast Industries is developing a standalone office building called Three MiamiCentral and another office building called Two MiamiCentral that will be connected to the train station.

Three MiamiCentral, expected to open by the end of summer, will have 100,000 square feet of office space, including 18,000 square feet that the Brightline rail service will occupy.

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Two MiamiCentral, expected to open in fall, will have 190,000 square feet of office space and a group of tenants including Ernst & Young and Regus, a provider of shared office space.

The Cisneros media company will occupy the two top floors of the 10-story Two MiamiCentral office building, and general contractor Moss & Associates will lease space on the seventh floor. Venevision International Enterprises, Fortress Investment Group and Florida East Coast Industries will occupy offices in the building, too.

Rental rates are $33 to $35 per square foot, triple net, at Two MiamiCentral and $29 per square foot at Three MiamiCentral. [Daily Business Review] – Mike Seemuth

Output: The 190,000 sq ft of office space in Florida East Coast Industries' 10-storey Two MiamiCentral building is expected to open this fall with tenants including Regus, Ernst & Young, Florida East Coast Industries itself an others. The building will be connected to a train station, which is part of the 11-acre mixed-use development and will be served by All Aboard Florida's (a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries) Brightline rail service. The separate Three MiamiCentral is expected to open earlier. Rental rates for Two MiamiCentral are $33 to $35 per square foot, triple net.


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Biggest US pharma lobby keeps healthcare reform views to itself
 Stephen Ubl of PhRMA took no formal position on the Republican health care bill making its way through Congress — in contrast to other major players in the health industry, like the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the AARP.

PBS NewsHour Anchor Judy Woodruff interviewed Ubl on Friday at the 2017 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.

One of the nation’s most powerful lobbying organizations, PhRMA advocates for major pharmaceutical research companies on Capitol Hill. Ubl’s predecessor, John Castellani, retired in 2015 after leading the company for five years.

PhRMA has taken no formal position on the Senate’s version of the American Health Care Act that was released this week and awaits analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. Ubl said the organization remains “very engaged” in developing the legislation. But he did say the Senate bill from Republicans gives “more autonomy for states to shape their insurance market” and added he wants to “make sure that patients have treatment and access to major cures our industry is developing.”

The organization’s members include Purdue Pharma and Allergan. Two decades ago, Purdue launched oxycontin, the prescription opioid that proved highly addictive. In May 2017, the state of Ohio sued these companies, alleging that they continued to sell these drugs even after evidence emerged that opioids were powerfully addictive and linked to a rising number of overdose deaths. This week, Missouri launched a similar lawsuit that included Purdue Pharma.

Speaking on behalf of himself and the industry, Ubl said “no one trivializes the crisis that we’re facing in this country around opioids.”

“It’s a multifactorial problem and all stakeholders really need to be engaged in the solution,” Ubl said. We have a role to play, and we’ll be engaged with other stakeholders towards that end.”

Amid debate about the nation’s rising drug prices, Ubl acknowledged that prescription drug prices spiked in recent years due to “anomalous factors,” such as Medicaid expansion, FDA approval of a record number of drugs and the introduction of a new Hepatitis C cure. Pointing to estimates that drug spending will go up between 4 and 6 percent over the next two decades, Ubl suggested that the worst in escalating drug prices may be behind us: “The python sort of digested the tennis ball.”

PhRMA still stands by the position that the law should not be changed to allow the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices.

“It’s much better to move in the direction of negotiations in the private sector between our members and plans,” Ubl said.

As an example, he pointed to the United Kingdom’s health care system, saying ultimately, “What you find is that patients have less access to novel therapies, and we think that would be a movement in the wrong direction.”

PhRMA has pushed back against efforts to control rising drug prices. In 2015, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposed limits to escalating prescription drug costs. In response, the lobbying group warned that if her plan was implemented, people would lose their jobs, and innovation in prescription therapies for Alzheimer’s, and cancer would spiral downward.

Output: PhRMA took no formal position on the Senate's American Health Care Act that was released this week. However, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the AARP have condemned the bill. PhRMA is very engaged in developing the legislation, said the pharmaceutical lobby's CEO, Stephen Ubl. By repealing Obamacare, the Senate gives states more control of their insurance market, he added. PhRMA maintains that the law should not be changed to allow the government to negotiate the price for Medicare drugs.


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Insurers slam Ted Cruz health insurance proposal
 Big players in the insurance industry, which has mostly held back public criticism of the GOP’s Obamacare repeal push, eviscerated a Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)-sponsored provision that was included in the latest version of the Senate legislation.

“It is simply unworkable in any form and would undermine protections for those with pre-existing medical conditions, increase premiums and lead to widespread terminations of coverage for people currently enrolled in the individual market,” Blue Cross Blue Shield and America’s Health Insurance Plans said Friday in a rare joint letter to Senate leaders.

The Cruz proposal, known as the “Consumer Freedom Option,” would allow insurers to sell plans that would be free of many Affordable Care Act mandates if they were also selling Obamacare-compliant plans.

Insurers and outside health experts had already been raising their concerns with the idea when it was being discussed in the abstract, warning the it segment the market between healthy people choosing the non-compliant plans and sick people the comprehensive ACA ones. The insurers upped their complaints in the letter Friday.

“This would allow the new plans to ‘cherry pick’ only healthy people from the existing market making coverage unaffordable for the millions of people who need or want comprehensive coverage, including, for example, coverage for prescription drugs and mental health services,” the insurers said.

It had been an open question whether Senate GOP leaders would include the amendment in the base legislation they unveiled Thursday, with Cruz promising he would vote against it if it was not.

The Cruz language in the latest bill was placed in brackets to signify that it was still a work in progress, Senate aides said.

The insurers also bashed the details of the proposal that became clear after it was unveiled, including an apparent attempt of have the non-compliant plans and the ACA plans share a single risk pool.

“That is not the case. The Consumer Freedom Option establishes a ‘single risk pool’ in name only. In fact, it creates two systems of insurance for healthy and sick people,” the insurers said.

They said that the $70 billion added to the new draft to offset premium increases for the sick “is insufficient and additional funding will not make the provision workable for consumers or taxpayers.”

They went on to predict that the proposal “will lead to far fewer, if any, coverage options for consumers who purchase their plan in the individual market.”

“As a result, millions of more individuals will become uninsured,” the letter said.

One more GOP defection from the legislation, which already has two Senate Republican opponents, would kill it even before the Senate could advance it procedurally, in a vote slated for this coming week.

After the initial vote is taken to advance legislation, there will be an amendments process where the Cruz proposal could be struck, as insurers are urging. The parliamentarian may also find it violates Senate rules concerning the process the GOP is using to push the legislation.

Read the full Blue Cross Blue Shield/AHIP letter below:

Output: US health insurance giants Blue Cross Blue Shield and America’s Health Insurance Plans have poured scorn on a provision, sponsored by Republican senator Ted Cruz, for the party's beleaguered health bill. The provision, known as the Consumer Freedom Option, would allow insurers to sell plans that did not carry the Affordable Care Act mandates, as long as they carried Obamacare-compliant plans too. In a rare joint letter to Senate leaders, the insurers said Cruz's proposal "creates two systems of insurance for healthy and sick people", and called it "simply unworkable in any form".


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Insurers struggle to estimate exposure to cyber-related losses
 LONDON (Reuters) - A major, global cyber attack could trigger an average of US$53 billion (S$72.6 billion) of economic losses, a figure on par with a catastrophic natural disaster such as US Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Lloyd's of London said in a report on Monday (July 17).

The report, co-written with risk-modeling firm Cyence, examined potential economic losses from the hypothetical hacking of a cloud service provider and cyber attacks on computer operating systems run by businesses worldwide.

Insurers are struggling to estimate their potential exposure to cyber-related losses amid mounting cyber risks and interest in cyber insurance. A lack of historical data on which insurers can base assumptions is a key challenge.

"Because cyber is virtual, it is such a difficult task to understand how it will accumulate in a big event," Lloyd's of London Chief Executive Inga Beale told Reuters.

Economic costs in the hypothetical cloud provider attack dwarf the US$8 billion global cost of the "WannaCry" ransomware attack in May, which spread to more than 100 countries, according to Cyence.

Economic costs typically include business interruptions and computer repairs.

The Lloyd's report follows a US government warning to industrial firms about a hacking campaign targeting the nuclear and energy sectors.

In June, an attack of a virus dubbed "NotPetya" spread from infections in Ukraine to businesses around the globe. It encrypted data on infected machines, rendering them inoperable and disrupted activity at ports, law firms and factories.

"NotPetya" caused US$850 million in economic costs, Cyence said.

In the hypothetical cloud service attack in the Lloyd's-Cyence scenario, hackers inserted malicious code into a cloud provider's software that was designed to trigger system crashes among users a year later.

By then, the malware would have spread among the provider's customers, from financial services companies to hotels, causing all to lose income and incur other expenses.

Average economic losses caused by such a disruption could range from $4.6 billion to $53 billion for large to extreme events. But actual losses could be as high as $121 billion, the report said.

As much as US$45 billion of that sum may not be covered by cyber policies due to companies underinsuring, the report said.

Average losses for a scenario involving a hacking of operating systems ranged from US$9.7 billion to US$28.7 billion.

Lloyd's has a 20 per cent to 25 per cent share of the US$2.5 billion cyber insurance market, Beale said in June.

Output: While interest in cyber-insurance grows along with cyber risks, lack of historical data is making it difficult for insurers to estimate exposure to cyber-related losses. A large-scale cyber-attack could result in an average economic loss of $53bn, equivalent to the cost of a natural catastrophe, according to a report from Lloyd's of London and risk-modelling firm Cyence. However, actual losses from a major event, like a hypothetical cloud service attack used in a Lloyd's-Cyence scenario, could be much higher - up to $121bn, $45bn of which might not be covered by cyber policies of under-insured companies.


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Largest US doctors' lobby criticises latest healthcare plan
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the health care bill in the Senate (all times local):

Mitch McConnell. Alex Wong/Getty Images

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's largest doctors' group says the new Republican health care bill falls short on coverage and access, particularly for low-income people on Medicaid.

The American Medical Association says in a statement that the Senate bill "does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients."

The group says Medicaid cuts and what it calls "inadequate subsidies" will lead to "millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage."

The AMA says GOP leaders took a "positive step" by adding $45 billion for treatment to help victims of the opioid epidemic. But the AMA says people dealing with addiction also need regular health insurance, and many would lose it if Republicans succeed in rolling back Medicaid financing.

The group is calling for bipartisan cooperation, starting with action to shore up shaky insurance markets.

President Donald Trump is urging fellow Republicans to approve a health care plan in the Senate.

It "must happen," he says in a Trump while in Paris.

He says Republican senators are working hard to "get their failed ObamaCare replacement approved" and says he'll "be at my desk, pen in hand!"

The president says it's important for Republicans under Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to pass the legislation and "come through as they have promised." He's crediting Vice President Mike Pence for working to get GOP senators "to do what is right for the people."

A woman protests against the Republican healthcare bill in Utah on June 27. Rick Bowmer/AP

Trump's pressure comes as McConnell's revised plan faces opposition from some in his own party.

Republican leaders have revised their health care bill in an increasingly desperate effort to deliver on seven years of promises to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health law.

They immediately lost two key votes, leaving none to spare as the party's own divisions put its top campaign pledge in serious jeopardy.

President Donald Trump has said that failure would make him "very angry" and that he'd blame Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The reworked bill McConnell presented to fellow Republicans on Thursday aims to win conservatives' support by letting insurers sell low-cost, skimpy policies.

He's seeking to placate hesitant moderates by adding billions to combat opioid abuse and help consumers with skyrocketing insurance costs.

But it's not clear whether McConnell has achieved the delicate balance he needs.

Output: The American Medical Association (AMA), the country's largest doctors' group, has said that the reworked Republican health bill "does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients", and will lead to "millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage." The AMA did have praise for the $45m for treatment of opioid addiction, and called for bipartisan cooperation to shore up the "shaky insurance markets". Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has come under pressure to deliver a vote on the bill, and President Donald Trump said he would blame McConnell if the legislation failed again.


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PeopleGrove raises $1.8m for student mentorship platform
 PEOPLEGROVE, a San Francisco-based startup behind an online mentorship platform for students and working professionals, has raised $1.8 million in a seed round led by Reach Capital. Other investors include Bisk Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Floodgate, GSV, Launch Capital, RiverPark Ventures and University Ventures. PeopleGrove has now raised $2.5 million total.

Founded in 2015, PeopleGrove aims to help connect students with coaches and advisors for career advice and expand their professional networks. The platform offers a directory of mentors along with scheduling, reporting and video chat tools. According to its fundraise announcement, the company claims users in large public higher-ed institutions including Kansas State University, Penn State University, and University of Michigan.

Disclosure: Reach Capital and GSV are investors in EdSurge

Output: San Francisco-based start-up PeopleGrove has raised $1.8m in a seed round led by Reach Capital and featuring participation from Bisk Ventures, Floodgate, Collaborative Fund and GSV, among others. PeopleGrove's site helps bring together students and coaches and advisers for career advice and to expand their professional networks, and has a user base at Kansas State University, Penn State University and the University of Michigan.


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UK think tank urges rail firms to ensure good disabled access
 The protection of human rights has been a defining and fundamental part of British society for centuries. However, among a significant proportion of the population, human rights currently have a bad reputation, especially among Conservative voters, decision makers, and opinion formers.

Bright Blue’s human rights project, so far, has explored how conservatives can think about human rights in a positive way that draws on conservative traditions of individual freedom and empowerment

But, crucial to the modern debate about human rights, is also the issue of tackling discrimination. Discrimination is, like the abuse of human rights, an unjustified barrier to individual freedom. Our project has therefore given significant attention to measures designed to tackle discrimination.

Tackling discrimination should be comfortable territory for Conservatives; unfair barriers that prevent humans from flourishing should be removed. Indeed, tackling discrimination has been a significant focus for the current Conservative Government, with the Prime Minister highlighting the “burning injustices” that prevent people from certain social groups succeeding.

Output: Rail operators that fail to make their services accessible to customers with disabilities should be divested of franchises, according to a report from Conservative think tank Bright Blue. The report includes approximately 70 recommendations relating to human rights and discrimination after Brexit. Other suggestions include the classification of offences resulting from misogyny as hate crimes, increased police diversity and the sacking of chief police officers if stop and search numbers are not reduced. The report also recommends gender-blind recruitment for the civil service and the scrapping of employers national insurance contributions for disabled workers earning less than £850 per week.


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Input:
UK think tank urges rail firms to ensure good disabled access
 Rail operators should be stripped of franchises if they fail to meet standards for making their services accessible for disabled people, a Conservative thinktank has argued in a report outlining a vision for human rights after Brexit.

It is among about 70 recommendations connected to discrimination and rights in a publication by Bright Blue, an influential voice for liberal Tory ideas, which argues the UK should not neglect such policies once it leaves the EU.

Bright Blue also suggests all police services should classify offences instigated by misogyny as hate crimes; they should be forced to take positive action so that their workforce “mirrors the ethnic makeup of their communities they serve”; it should be a criminal offence to breach a domestic violence protection order; and the Home Office should sack chief police officers if their force fails to reduce the number of stop and searches.

The year-long inquiry, which also argues Britain should remain in the European court of human rights (ECHR) after Brexit, was advised by a five-strong panel, including three former Tory ministers, Maria Miller, Dominic Grieve and Caroline Spelman.

The authors argue that as Theresa May has repeatedly stated her commitment to social reform, it is important for her government to take a lead on such issues as Brexit approaches.

“Britain is the home of human rights and a global force for good,” said Ryan Shorthouse, the director of Bright Blue and one of the report’s two authors. “After Brexit, Britain should not just be a global leader in free trade, but in human rights, too.”

The recommendations cover general human rights and areas of discrimination including gender, race, sexuality and disability.

The report says the government should create a set of minimum requirements for access at railway stations and on board trains, including step-free access, staff at stations, audio announcements and visual display boards.

These should be written into future rail operator agreements, Bright Blue says, suggesting companies who failed to meet them could risk losing their franchises.

The report says all companies should be given an incentive to employ people with disabilities by the scrapping of employers national insurance contributions for such workers if they earn less than about £850 a week.

Shortly after she took power, May announced what she called an audit on how people from minority ethnic groups interact with public services, including the police, but it emerged last week this would be delayed until the autumn.

The Bright Blue report urges a series of measures to improve police relations with minority ethnic communities, including government-mandated “positive action in the recruitment of police officers”, overseen by a police diversity champion.

It wants ministers to give the Home Office powers to oblige police forces to show annual declines in the numbers of stop and search operations. “The Home Office should have the power to remove the relevant chief police officer if certain targets are not met,” the report says.

On gender issues, the author recommend a complete ban on the detention of pregnant women, the classification of misogyny-based offences as hate crimes and imposing “gender-blind recruitment procedures” on all civil service jobs.

It says staff should have the right to request flexible working as soon as they begin a job, instead of having to wait six months, and argues that expectant mothers should be given the right to paid leave for antenatal appointments.

On improving equality for LGBT people, the thinktank says all schools should have anonymous online systems to report bullying and the government should set up a new kitemark scheme for employers rating their work in LGBT rights.

A final section that covers championing human rights overseas recommends that, in a post-Brexit world, the Department for International Trade should ensure that any new trade deals include “obligations to improve human rights in the partner countries” where possible.

Such ideas should be key to government thinking in a future for the UK outside the European Union, the report says, noting that some of the Conservative scepticism towards human rights issues is down to “frustrations over the supremacy and interference” of the ECHR.

“Britain is the home of human rights. However, among a significant proportion of the population, human rights currently have a bad reputation, especially among Conservative voters,” the report says. “Nonetheless, human rights are and should be a vital part of the thinking of British conservatives, especially when authoritarianism is gaining in popularity across the western world.”

The Tory MP panel members, who, the report stresses, do not necessarily endorse every suggestion, said it was time for a serious discussion about such issues.

Grieve said: “At a time when we are moving towards Brexit, it is of particular importance that the UK should be at the forefront of promoting human rights, an area where we are seen to have already made a major contribution that has benefitted all humanity.”

Commenting on the gender equality element, Miller said recent workplace changes “have not always translated into improvements for British mums”.

She said: “Over the past 10 years, levels of maternity related discrimination have doubled and some pregnant working women now don’t even have the right to paid leave to attend antenatal medical appointments to safeguard their baby’s health.

“These recommendations from Bright Blue could help reshape attitudes toward pregnant women at work and create a long overdue culture change which better reflects this country’s laws, values and beliefs.”

Output: Rail operators that fail to make their services accessible to customers with disabilities should be divested of franchises, according to a report from Conservative think tank Bright Blue. The report includes approximately 70 recommendations relating to human rights and discrimination after Brexit. Other suggestions include the classification of offences resulting from misogyny as hate crimes, increased police diversity and the sacking of chief police officers if stop and search numbers are not reduced. The report also recommends gender-blind recruitment for the civil service and the scrapping of employers national insurance contributions for disabled workers earning less than £850 per week.


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Researchers use genome therapy for blood disorder treatment
 Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Genome therapy with beneficial natural mutation could lead to new treatment for life-threatening blood disorders

By introducing a beneficial natural mutation into blood cells using the gene-editing technique CRISPR, a UNSW Sydney-led team of scientists has been able to switch on production of foetal haemoglobin - an advance that could eventually lead to a cure for sickle cell anaemia and other blood disorders.

People with thalassaemia or sickle cell anaemia have damaged adult haemoglobin - the vital molecule that picks up oxygen in the lungs and transports it around the body - and they require life-long treatment with blood transfusions and medication.

However, people with these diseases who also carry the beneficial natural mutation - known as British-198 - have reduced symptoms, because the mutation switches on the foetal haemoglobin gene that is normally turned off after birth.

The extra foetal haemoglobin in their blood, which has a very strong affinity for oxygen, does the work of the defective adult haemoglobin.

"With CRISPR gene-editing we can now precisely cut and alter single genes within our vast genome," says study senior author and UNSW molecular biologist Professor Merlin Crossley.

"Our laboratory has shown that introducing the beneficial mutation British-198 into blood cells using this technology substantially boosts their production of foetal haemoglobin.

"Because this mutation already exists in nature and is benign, this 'organic gene therapy' approach should be effective and safe to use to treat, and possibly cure, serious blood disorders. However, more research is still needed before it can be tested in people," he says.

The study by scientists from UNSW, the Japanese Red Cross Society and the RIKEN BioResource Centre in Japan, is published in the journal Blood.

The beneficial British-198 mutation, which was first identified in a large British family in 1974, involves a change in just a single letter of the genetic code.

Carriers of this mutation have foetal haemoglobins levels as high as 20 per cent of total haemoglobin, while most people's foetal haemoglobin levels fall to about 1 per cent of total haemoglobin after birth.

The researchers also discovered how this British-198 mutation works. They found it creates a new binding site for a protein called KLF1 that turns blood genes on.

Mutations affecting adult haemoglobin production are among the most common of all genetic variations, with about 5 per cent of the world's population carrying a defective gene.

"To turn the new gene editing approach into a therapy for blood disorders, the British-198 mutation would have to be introduced into blood-forming stem cells from the patient," says Professor Crossley.

"A large number of stem cells would have to be edited in order to repopulate the patients' blood with genetically enhanced cells."

More information: Beeke Wienert et al, KLF1 drives the expression of fetal hemoglobin in British HPFH, Blood (2017). DOI: 10.1182/blood-2017-02-767400 Journal information: Blood

Output: A team of scientists at the University of New South Wales has discovered a gene therapy that could cure fatal blood disorders. Using Crispr, a recent breakthrough in gene editing techniques, the team was able to stimulate the release of foetal haemoglobin in blood cells that replaced defective adult haemoglobin. Crispr allows scientists to accurately cut the human genome, thereby creating specific desired effects in the human body. If the technique could be used to incite a large number of stem cells to create foetal haemoglobin, an effective therapy for conditions such as sickle cell anaemia could be formulated.