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UK sees largest gender pay gap increase in EU
 Britain saw the biggest increase in its gender pay gap of all the main economies in Europe, according to new figures from the European Commission.

The UK's pay gap increased from 19.7% in 2014 to 20.8% in 2015, performing fifth worst.

The EU-wide gap is the equivalent of women working for free for two months of the year, according to the Commission.

LONDON — Britain saw the biggest increase in its gender pay gap in 2015 of all the main European economies, according to new statistics from the European Commission.

The UK's gender pay gap — the difference in how much men and women are paid hourly on average — rose from 19.7% in 2014 to 20.8% in 2015, the biggest increase of any Europe's main economies.

The latest figures show the UK's gap was bigger than the EU's average pay gap, which stood at 16.3%, and the UK performed fifth worst for gender pay equality of all the major European economies. Germany was third worst, at 22% in 2015, while the Czech Republic's gap was about 23% and Estonia's was about 26%.

According to EU figures, the gap is equivalent to women continuing to work for the remainder of the year but not being paid after early November.

"It is an unacceptable and shocking injustice that women in 21st century Europe work two months a year for free," Vera Jourova, EU commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, told the Financial Times.

"This gender pay gap has remained the same for many years — it is still very similar to in 1995," she said.

The EU's gender pay gap was about 25% in 1995. Although it has improved since this, progress has been slow in many countries, and men continue to dominate highly-paid and senior roles.

When the measurement takes additional elements into account, such as hours worked and career breaks for women, the EU-wide gap stands at 39.6%, and the UK's gap stands at 45%. According to European Commission figures, only 6% of chief executives in the EU are women.

From April next year UK companies with more than 250 employees will be required to publish their gender pay gap, including details of hourly wages and bonuses.

Output: The gender pay gap increased more quickly in the UK in 2015 than in any other country in the European Union (EU), according to figures from the European Commission. The data reveals that men in the country earned 20.8% more than women in that year, compared to 19.7% in 2014. The average pay gap in the EU was 16.3%. Overall, the UK was ranked fifth worst out of the 28 member states. Germany had the highest pay gap, at 22%, with the country ranked third worst in Europe overall.


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Nanoparticles developed for precise cancer thermotherapies
 Scientists from the University of Surrey have developed 'intelligent' nanoparticles which heat up to a temperature high enough to kill cancerous cells - but which then self-regulate and lose heat before they get hot enough to harm healthy tissue.

The self-stopping nanoparticles could soon be used as part of hyperthermic-thermotherapy to treat patients with cancer, according to an exciting new study reported in Nanoscale.

Thermotherapy has long been used as a treatment method for cancer, but it is difficult to treat patients without damaging healthy cells. However, tumour cells can be weakened or killed without affecting normal tissue if temperatures can be controlled accurately within a range of 42°C to 45°C.

Scientists from Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute have worked with colleagues from the Dalian University of Technology in China to create nanoparticles which, when implanted and used in a thermotherapy session, can induce temperatures of up to 45°C.

The Zn-Co-Cr ferrite nanoparticles produced for this study are self-regulating, meaning that they self-stop heating when they reach temperatures over 45°C. Importantly, the nanoparticles are also low in toxicity and are unlikely to cause permanent damage to the body.

Professor Ravi Silva, Head of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, said: "This could potentially be a game changer in the way we treat people who have cancer . If we can keep cancer treatment sat at a temperature level high enough to kill the cancer, while low enough to stop harming healthy tissue, it will prevent some of the serious side effects of vital treatment.

"It's a very exciting development which, once again, shows that the University of Surrey research is at the forefront of nanotechnologies - whether in the field of energy materials or, in this case, healthcare."

Dr. Wei Zhang, Associate Professor from Dalian University of Technology said: "Magnetic induced hyperthermia is a traditional route of treating malignant tumours. However, the difficulties in temperature control has significantly restricted its usage If we can modulate the magnetic properties of the nanoparticles, the therapeutic temperature can be self-regulated, eliminating the use of clumsy temperature monitoring and controlling systems.

"By making magnetic materials with the Curie temperature falling in the range of hyperthermia temperatures, the self-regulation of therapeutics can be achieved. For the most magnetic materials, however, the Curie temperature is much higher than the human body can endure. By adjusting the components as we have, we have synthesized the nanoparticles with the Curie temperature as low as 34oC. This is a major nanomaterials breakthrough."

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Output: Scientists have synthesised self-regulating nanoparticles which could be used to kill cancer cells without destroying healthy tissue, according to a report in the journal Nanoscale. Teams from the University of Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute and the Dalian University of Technology in China developed Zn-Co-Cr ferrite nanoparticles which heat up to 45°C, which is within the temperature range required to weaken or kill cancer cells. Crucially, the low-toxicity nanoparticles then cool down, reducing the risk to healthy cells. The results have been described as an "exciting development".


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Shell saves $200m by replacing field trips with virtual learning
 Royal Dutch Shell, the British-Dutch oil and gas multinational, has cut the cost of some of its most expensive learning programmes by 90% by developing interactive learning platforms for staff.

Virtual lessons, which feature interactive videos and graphics, are replacing expensive field trips and geology primers, as well as being used to support leadership and behavioural learning.

Shell’s use of virtual, immersive learning – an example of which Shell has made available online – has delivered dramatic savings already, with more in the pipeline. To date, it has delivered more than 12,000 virtual lessons, saving the business $200m after development costs.

Jorrit van der Togt, executive vice-president of human resources (HR) strategy for Shell, said the company’s investment in virtual learning is part of a 15-year digital transformation journey for the business, embarked on in 2002, that has delivered benefits quickly, with the promise of more to come.

“We started by looking at the potential to move field learning into a virtual environment, but in fact virtual, immersive learning is a bigger play even than that,” said van der Togt.

“It is faster, cheaper, more challenging and more fun than other types of learning – and it is also deeper. Where e-learning in the recent past was persuasive because it was cheaper to deliver, today’s immersive learning is compelling because it is better.”

Van der Togt, speaking at an industry conference, said virtual learning has proved revolutionary because it mimics the work environment but delivers faster feedback with greater intensity and is more fun.

“We benefit from the way it facilitates a community of practice, too,” added van der Togt. “For each learner, there is the knowledge that you are not on your own. You are part of an intelligence network – and you are in it together,” he said at HR Tech World (Unleash) in Amsterdam.

Read more about human resources technology Automobile glass repair company Carglass France is using knowledge-sharing technology to distribute expertise among 3,000 employees.

Digital technology is changing the way companies manage their workforce at an accelerating rate.

Airbus has created a digital learning library that is helping more than 100,000 staff in 35 countries keep their skills updated.

For Shell’s leadership, van der Togt said virtual learning offers the space to put new ideas into practice, and is underpinned by personalised feedback and recommendations for employees.

“What the learning environment delivers is true engagement, not just for management but for all our workers – and it is a key driver of performance. Engagement is the x-factor that results in real change and real improvements,” he said.

Output: Oil and gas multinational Shell has turned to virtual, immersive teaching tools to train its staff, rather than expensive field trips, creating savings of $200m net of development costs. The move is part of a 15-year drive to digitise the business. Shell has already deployed more than 12,000 lessons, complemented by personalised feedback and recommendations. Jorrit van der Togt, head of human resources strategy for Shell, said modern e-learning had improved to the point where it "delivers true engagement", adding that it was "faster, cheaper, more challenging and more fun than other types of learning – and deeper".


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Edtech Wonder Workshop raises further $41m for DIY robots
 Silicon Valley-based education robots developer Wonder Workshop has raised a US$41 million series C round from a number of investors including Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., SoftBank Group’s unit SoftBank Korea.

Output: US edtech firm Wonder Workshop has raised $41m in a series C funding round featuring Tencent and Softbank Korea. The Silicon Valley-based firm has developed programmable robots called Dot and Dash, which teach children basic coding and problem-solving skills. They are used in more than 10,000 classrooms worldwide, while more than four million programmes have been written by children using them. The company previously raised $20m in a series B round last year.


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UK adspend rose to £10.8bn during the first half of 2017
 UK ad expenditure grew to £10.8bn during the first half of 2017 – an increase of 3.7 per cent – to represent the largest total for the first six months of any year since monitoring began in 1982.

Overall market growth is being driven by increased spend on digital advertising, according to the latest Advertising Association/WARC expenditure report. Digital ad spend accounted for 54 per cent, or £5.8bn, of all spend in the first half of 2016.

As a result of the growth in ad expenditure, the forecasted growth for the whole of 2017 has been upgraded to 3.1 per cent, which will mean an annual spend of more than £22bn.

“Spend on advertising is showing strong resilience, at a time of real uncertainty for UK business,” said Stephen Woodford, chief executive at the Advertising Association. “We know advertising has a positive effect on the economy, with every pound spent generating six pounds of GDP, so it is good to see steady, sustained growth. The upgrade of our 2017 forecast by a further one percent, the equivalent of an additional investment of £190M, should be seen as a cautious indicator for continued growth in the UK economy.”

First half growth was boosted by a four per cent year-on-year rise during Q2 2017, the 16th consecutive quarter of market growth and the strongest rate of growth since Q4 2017.

Mobile saw substantial growth of 36.1 per cent, and was the main contributor to a 13 per cent rise in internet ad spend during the second quarter of 2017.

“The latest data highlight the importance of mobile to advertisers in the UK – spend on mobile ads accounted for the entirety of internet growth during the second quarter of 2017 and 97 per cent over the first six months of the year,” said James McDonald, senior data analyst at WARC. “As mobile usage and credit-fuelled consumer spending continue to rise, investment in mobile advertising will track ahead of other platforms this year.”

Other digital formats enjoying growth include digital ad formats for radio at 38.9 per cent, DOOH at 30.4 per cent, TV broadcaster video-on-demand at 10.6 per cent, regional newsbrands at 10.4 per cent, and national newsbrands at 7.9 per cent.

Cinema, up 14.4 per cent, and direct mail, at 0.8 per cent, also recorded growth during the second quarter of 2017.

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

Output: UK advertisers can be cautiously optimistic about the future with figures revealing ad spend hit £10.8bn ($14.1bn) during the first six months of 2017, the biggest H1 total since records began in 1982. According to the Advertising Association/WARC expenditure report, digital ad sales drove growth, accounting for 54% of all ad spend, while spending on mobile ads grew by 36.1%. The positive results prompted an upgrade in the growth forecast for the whole of 2017 to 3.1%.


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CommuterClub secures £2.3m and partners with Revolut
 FinTech startup CommuterClub has raised £2.3m in a round led by Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC), an India-based financial services Group.

The London-based company is also backed by angel investors including Peter Jackson, CEO of Betfair; Gavin Casey, the former CEO of the London Stock Exchange; Chris Adelsbach, head of Barclays Techstars, and British tennis player Andy Murray.

CommuterClub seeks to help consumers save money by offering them commuter tickets as a digital subscription service.

Alongside the funding, the company is also announcing a new partnership with Revolut, which will enable the startup to offer rail ticket financing to its customers.

Petko Plachkov, CommuterClub’s co-founder and managing director, said: “Commuting in London and big cities is exorbitantly expensive and this new fundraising campaign will allow us to grow and offer our simple and transparent instalment plan to consumers in the UK and overseas.

“It made perfect sense to partner with another innovative FinTech in this space, Revolut; together we will be able to reach many more consumers, saving them time and money.

“This industry is ripe for further disruption. It seems unbelievable that 95% of people still buy their season ticket offline. Consumers deserve more.”

Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC) chairman Kapil Wadhawan, commented: “We are excited about our investment in CommuterClub, a UK-based FinTech company which uses technology to enable convenience in the era of fast-age living.

“A disruptor, CommuterClub resonates with our group philosophy of empowerment through better management of finances. By saving commuters time and money, the company has made itself a household name in the UK. We hope to work alongside the team to help scale the business in UK and other parts of the world.

“The investment is in line with our objective of supporting new-age entrepreneurs by enabling them to seize the right opportunities. With three decades of experience in a market as diverse and dynamic as India, we believe that we have the capabilities to leverage such promising ventures with strategic and efficient guidance. At the same time, these associations help the WGC group remain relevant and competitive in the rapidly evolving FinTech space,” he concluded.

The startup was also co-founded by Imran Gulamhuseinwala, who recently received an OBE for his contribution to UK financial technology and is head of FinTech at EY.

Check out our UK tech investment tracker for all the latest industry deals.

Output: London fintech CommuterClub has raised £2.3m ($3m) in a funding round led by Indian firm Wadhawan Global Capital and announced a partnership with digital bank Revolut. CommuterClub offers season tickets to commuters as a subscription service, while the collaboration with Revolut will enable the firm to offer rail ticket financing. CommuterClub co-founder Petko Plachkov said: "It seems unbelievable that 95% of people still buy their season ticket offline. Consumers deserve more." Gavin Casey, a former CEO of the London Stock Exchange, and tennis star Andy Murray are among the start-up's backers.


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Ada Health to expand after self-diagnosis app wins $47m funding
 Ada Health lands €40m from Len Blavatnik, Amazon Alexa creator William Tunstall-Pedoe and Google business chief Philip Schindler’s June Fund

The company behind a healthcare app which can help diagnose symptoms has landed a multi-million pound round of funding from investors, who include a top Google executive, the man who created Amazon's Alexa voice assistant and one of Britain's richest billionaires.

London and Berlin based Ada Health has raised €40m (£35.2m) to grow the business and expand to the US.

The app, which launched in April in the UK, uses artificial intelligence to help users diagnose symptoms, drawing on a wealth of information drawn from clinicians after originally starting out as an app just aimed at doctors.

Read more: Pharrell has taken a stake in a British startup (yes, that Pharrell)

Backers include June Fund, a Berlin-based tech fund founded by Google's chief business officer Philipp Schindler and Roman Rosslenbroich, the man behind German hedge fund Aquila Capital.

William Tunstall-Pedoe, the man who created Amazon's AI assistant Alexa and Len Blavatnik, the Russian-born billionaire who owns Warner Music Group and is the second richest man in Britain are also backing the firm, along with Cumberland VC, a new Berlin-based fund.

“The future of healthcare lies in a much more patient-centric model where individuals have actionable insights at their fingertips, and doctors and artificial intelligence work together to support patients throughout their healthcare journey,” said chief executive and co-founder Daniel Nathrath.

"This is just the beginning, and we’re excited to enable even more people around the world to effectively manage their health.”

Read more: An app taking the hassle out of repeat prescriptions raises £7m

The cash will also go on further developing the app and it plans to hire more engineers, scientists and medical advisers.

“Ada is one of the most exciting companies we’ve seen cutting across health and artificial intelligence,” said vice chairman of Blavatnik's Access Industries Guillaume d’Hauteville.

“They’ve developed a unique and highly effective health management solution driven by a team with deep medical and AI expertise and years of technology development.

Output: London and Berlin-based Ada Health has raised €40m ($47m) from investors including Berlin's June Fund, which was founded by Google's chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, William Tunstall-Pedoe, creator of Amazon's AI assistant, Alexa, and Warner Music Group owner Len Blavatnik. Ada Health plans to use the funds to develop its app, which relies on artificial intelligence and data from clinicians to help users self-diagnose symptoms. The company also plans to expand to the US and hire more engineers and advisers.


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Short website visits may be more valuable than previously thought
 Publishers use all sorts of ploys to get flyby visitors to stick around, based on the belief that these casual readers are low value because they aren’t loyal and don’t view a lot of ads.

New research from digital analytics firm Parsely says that people who bounce, or leave a site, after one article are more valuable than they’re given credit for, though. The findings could call into question the way a lot of publishers approach one-and-done readers, which can account for 60 to 70 percent for the typical news publisher, according to the firm.

Parsely looked at 1.6 billion “bounced” visits to news and entertainment publishers in its network over a six-month period. It found that 32 percent of those visits lasted less than 15 seconds. But of the remaining 68 percent of the bounced visits, 77 percent stayed longer than 30 seconds.

Across all 1.6 billion sessions, the average engaged time spent was 56 seconds, rising to 81 seconds for the 68 percent of “good” visits. (As far as whether video was a factor, for the research, Parsely looked at text pages, which might have had a video embedded, so the presence of a video could have added to the time spent.)

“We get a lot of feedback from customers trying to understand this very nebulous term of engagement,” said Andrew Montalenti, co-founder and CTO of Parsely. “The question we’re trying to answer is, to what degree are people going to news sites and satisfied and to what degree is something else going on. Pageviews don’t tell you much about engagement, just what they’re reading. If a publisher is looking at pageviews and bounce rates, they are definitely measuring it all wrong.”

Montalenti also pointed out that the bounce rate metric is flawed because if a site is paginated, a single article visit can count as multiple pages. Also, a visit to a single article is counted as a bounce if the visitor came from social media but not if the visitor came directly to the publisher’s homepage. Instead of bounce rate, Parsely says publishers should look at people’s active time on site in 15-second increments, regardless of how many pages they looked at.

The reframing of bounced visits could be appealing to publishers who are getting their traffic from social side doors. Some, including Purch and Mic, use engagement metrics instead of pageviews to talk about their audiences.

“Bounce is all about getting that second pageview,” said David Stern, head of product at Slate. “That creates all kinds of perverse incentives to artificially drive up that metric. But that’s ultimately not the most important thing. I’d rather have someone stay two minutes on a single page versus one minute on multiple pages.”

The problem is that all publishers define engaged time differently, and depending on how they measure it, their own tallies can differ from what independent third parties say.

Historically, a high bounce rate was a signal that a publisher wasn’t reaching the right audience, and the pressure from advertisers for quality content is driving the use of engagement metrics, said Ben Kunz, evp of marketing and content at Mediassociates. But there’s a case for short visits. Some sites are utility-based and designed for short stays, so a high bounce rate could also indicate the visitor got what they wanted.

“Marketers and publishers need to realize people are busy for time,” he said. “They should challenge themselves to put as much content on one page and not try to force people to go five layers into your site. The UX is calling for that.”

Output: Users who bounce – leave a website after viewing only one page – could be more valuable than previously thought, according to a six-month study by digital analytics firm Parsely. It found 68% of 1.6 billion bounced visits lasted longer than 15 seconds, with an average engaged time of 81 seconds. The results prompted Parsely to suggest publishers should not see bouncing as a sign of non-engagement with an audience and should instead measure active time on their sites in 15-second increments. "If a publisher is looking at pageviews and bounce rates, they are definitely measuring it all wrong,” said Parsely.


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TalkTalk Talk2Go app lets landline customers make free mobile calls
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Output: A new TalkTalk app lets customers make and receive calls as if at home using their landline. The Talk2Go app runs on 3G or 4G data, or over Wi-Fi, and charges users the same prices as if they were on their landline. This means customers who have an anytime minutes call deal as part of their broadband package can make mobile calls to UK numbers free of charge. The app also includes a Follow Me feature that transfers calls from users' landlines to their mobile phones.


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AI tool identifies suicide risk from brain scans using fMRI
 Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young people between the ages of 15 and 34 in the United States, and clinicians have limited tools to identify those at risk. A new machine-learning technique documented in a paper published today in Nature Human Behaviour (PDF) could help identify those suffering from suicidal thoughts.

Researchers looked at 34 young adults, evenly split between suicidal participants and a control group. Each subject went through a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and were presented with three lists of 10 words. All the words were related to suicide (words like “death,” “distressed,” or “fatal”), positive effects (“carefree,” “kindness,” “innocence”), or negative effects (“boredom,” “evil,” “guilty”). The researchers also used previously mapped neural signatures that show the brain patterns of emotions like “shame” and “anger.”

Five brain locations, along with six of the words, were found to be the best markers to distinguish the suicidal patients from the controls. Using just those locations and words, the researchers trained a machine-learning classifier that was able to correctly identify 15 of the 17 suicidal patients and 16 of 17 control subjects.

The researchers then divided the suicidal patients into two groups, those that had attempted suicide (nine people) and those that had not (eight people), and trained a new classifier that was able to correctly identify 16 of the 17 patients.

The results showed that healthy patients and those with suicidal thoughts showed markedly different reactions to words. For example, when the suicidal participants were shown the word “death,” the “shame” area of their brain lit up more than it did in the control group. Likewise, “trouble” also evoked more activity in the “sadness” area.

This is just the latest effort aimed at bringing AI into psychiatry. Researchers are working on machine-learning projects that span from analyzing MRIs to predict major depressive disorder to picking out PTSD from people’s speech patterns. Earlier this year, Wired wrote about researchers who built a system that can sift through health records to flag someone at risk of committing suicide, with between 80 and 90 percent accuracy. Facebook is using text mining to identify users at risk of suicide or self-harm and then pointing them to mental health resources (see “Big Questions Around Facebook’s Suicide-Prevention Tools”).

Artificial intelligence has already made waves in the medical field at large. There are algorithms so good at detecting tumors and other problems in CT scans that Geoffrey Hinton, one of the foremost researchers in deep learning, told the New Yorker that radiologists will eventually be out of a job. Indeed, he said, “they should stop training radiologists now.”

In this case, the research is more likely to inspire new human-driven therapies than put a whole field’s worth of doctors out of a job. The paper pointed out that identifying different patterns and areas could suggest new regions to target for brain stimulation techniques. Identifying particular emotional responses to suicide-related terms could also be useful to psychotherapists treating their patients.

Output: Researchers have developed a machine-learning classifier capable of identifying patients at risk of suicide using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. The team used fMRI and trigger words to pinpoint locations in the brain that identified potentially suicidal patients, using two groups, a control group and a second one made up of people who had survived suicide attempts. Using those scans, the machine-learning classifier identified patients from the two groups with an 80% to 90% success rate. Suicide is the second most common cause of death among 15 to 34 year-olds in the US.


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Regus Flexible working increases wellbeing, finds survey
 UK 27 October 2017- Offering employees the opportunity to work flexibly plays a key role in increasing their wellbeing. This is according to research commissioned by workspace provider Regus, released to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day on November 1st.

The survey, which canvassed the opinions of 1700 UK professionals, found that half of respondents believed flexible working allowed them to have a better work-life balance. The survey also underlined the benefits of flexible working for the health of a business, with just under three fifths (59%) saying that it meant they were more productive.

In addition, 41% of respondents said that working flexibly allowed them to eat more healthily and 43% said it helped them get more sleep.

These findings chime with previous research commissioned by Regus that showed 56% of respondents believe that flexible workers are more ‘mindful’ and are better able to assess their levels of well-being.

Richard Morris, UK CEO, Regus, comments: “National Stress Awareness Day serves as the perfect reminder to employers that stress management and employee well-being should be a proactive and planned element of business strategy.

“How - and crucially, where - people work is understood to have a significant bearing on workplace wellbeing so the flexible working conversation should play a part in every modern business’s strategy.”

Output: Figures have shown that half of 1,700 UK professionals believe flexible working offered a better work-life balance, while 59% said they were more productive, according to a survey by flexible office space provider Regus. The study also revealed 43% of respondents said access to flexible working helped them sleep better and it allowed 41% to eat more healthily. The results of the survey were released to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day.


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Insurer Swiss Life forges partnership with fintech bexio
 News

Szilvana Spett, SGBA/Café Europe

The Zurich-based insurance firm Swiss Life will become one of the largest shareholders in the fintech company bexio. The strategic partnership will allow bexio to reach out to new customers and enable Swiss Life to provide new products.

bexio intends to invest further into production innovation and growth thanks to the commitment of one of the largest insurance companies in Switzerland. According to a statement, the strategic partnership with Swiss Life will allow small and medium-sized companies to profit from the “seamless and automated integration of personal insurance into the web-based accounting of bexio”.

bexio has developed a corporate software that contains an interface between accounting software and e-banking. The fintech company from the St.GallenBodenseeArea is already working with the biggest Swiss banks, enabling payment orders to be transferred from a company’s software to the banks’ e-banking service “at the touch of a button”.

Beginning in mid-2018, SMEs will profit from a seamless integration of provisions solutions from Swiss Life into the bexio software. Customers can also supplement the offer individually with accident or short-term disability insurance.

“This innovation is unique in all of Europe,” said Markus Leibundgut, CEO of Swiss Life Switzerland. “For customers, the enormous administrative effort for the management of their provisions and personal insurance thus fall away.” Leibundgut will join the board of directors of bexio.

“With Swiss Life we have a strong partner by our side that supports our growth ambitions via additional access to customers,” added Jeremias Meier, co-founder and CEO of bexio.

“This cooperation is a further important step for Swiss Life to be able to provide our customers in the future as well with new and innovative products and services that meet the growing customer requirement for simplicity in an increasingly digitalised work environment.”

Output: Swiss insurer Swiss Life has partnered with fintech firm bexio, offering small businesses access to insurance policies through the start-up's accounting and banking platform. Swiss Life's provisions solutions will become fully available through the platform in 2018. “This innovation is unique in all of Europe. For customers, the enormous administrative effort for the management of their provisions and personal insurance thus fall away”, said Swiss Life CEO Markus Leibundgut.


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ZhongAn hires more data analysts than actuaries
 HONG KONG -- As the hottest initial public offering in Hong Kong so far this year, China's first and largest pure-play online insurer, ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance, is plowing millions of yuan into next-generation technology to ensure it stands tall next to its three shareholders -- Jack Ma Yun's Ant Financial, Tencent Holdings, and Ping An Insurance Group.

The venture, crystallized in the subsidiary known as ZhongAn Technology established in July 2016, will help the company turn a profit and cement its position as China's insurtech leader, according to Chief Operating Officer Wayne Xu Wei. Xu said the project was top priority, along with the expansion of product offerings over the next five years.

Output: ZhongAn has been hiring more data analysts than actuaries as the Chinese online insurer seeks to expand. The company is in the process of hiring more than 100 data analysts, compared with around 20 actuaries, though it claims these personnel will work together. The company claims that its actuaries work on more traditional lines of risk, such as motor and healthcare, while the data analysts will focus on the firm's forward-looking policies, including those covering smartphones and drones.


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Corporate treasurers building cash reserves at a record pace
 Photo: Ali Al-Saadi/AFP/Getty Images

Are you feeling particularly uncertain about the future?

Corporate treasurers certainly are.

Corporate treasurers are so worried about what’s to come from Washington that they are building cash reserves at a record pace, ensuring their organizations have enough liquidity to withstand any disruption or capitalize on any opportunity.

According to the AFP October 2017 Corporate Cash Indicators (CCI) the pace at which organizations have accumulated cash and short-term investments over the past quarter shot to its highest reading since the index debuted in January 2011.

In the latest CCI, a quarterly survey of corporate treasury and finance executives conducted by the Association for Financial Professionals, American businesses accumulated cash and short-term investment holdings at a breakneck pace in the third quarter of 2017. The quarter-over-quarter index jumped 9 points to +25, and the year-over-year indicator increased 2 points to +20.

Here is what is so troubling about the latest CCI: Respondents to the previous CCI had indicated they would accumulate cash in the third quarter of 2017, but they actually did so at a much higher rate than anticipated. In other words, corporate treasurers had little confidence in the economic climate entering the third quarter, and their concerns only grew as events unfolded.

There is more. Fully 40 percent of organizations had greater cash and short-term investment balances at the end of the third quarter than they had one year earlier. Despite two interest rate increases and an expected third to come in December, only 9 percent of organizations were more aggressive with their short-term investments during the third quarter. On top of all this, nearly a third of organizations (31 percent) anticipate expanding cash and short-term investment balances over the next three months.

Why are corporate treasurers so reticent to invest in growing their businesses? One key concern is corporate tax reform, which many favor. As of this writing, passing comprehensive tax reform is no sure thing. In fact, President Donald Trump just dismissed the latest proposal to pay for it.

If corporate tax reform fails, organizations will see little cause for optimism anywhere else in the world—not with growing geopolitical uncertainty in England, North Korea and even along America’s borders as NAFTA renegotiations take place.

Corporate treasurers see all these developments unfolding, and they are tying them back to their primary roles as keepers of short-term cash reserves. There may come a day when the economy is looking up, geopolitical uncertainty is down, and corporate treasurers are willing to take a risk and open their purses.

Today is certainly not that day.

Output: Concerned US corporate treasurers stockpiled cash faster than anticipated during Q3 2017, with the quarter-over-quarter index rising by 9 points to +25, according to data from the Association for Financial Professionals. Its October Corporate Cash Indicator (CCI) revealed that 40% of organisations had more short-term investment balances at the end of Q3 than the same period in the previous year, while almost one-third expected those balances to expand over the coming three years. The CCI cited uncertainty about US tax reform and political unrest in Europe and North Korea as contributing factors.


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Japan's Yamada Denki looks to expand into electric vehicles
 TOKYO -- Consumer electronics retailer Yamada Denki will partner with a startup to sell entry-level compact electric vehicles by 2020, joining the growing ranks of nonautomotive entrants into the sector.

Barriers to entry for building electric vehicles are lower than for gasoline autos. About 40% of the parts in gas-powered vehicles are unnecessary in electrics, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Dyson, a British company known for vacuum cleaners, plans to sell electric vehicles by 2020 as well.

Output: Japanese consumer electronics retailer Yamada Denki is set to invest more than JPY1bn ($8.76m) in a roughly 10% stake in electric vehicle (EV) start-up FOMM. It is developing a four-seat EV for the Japanese market, priced at around JPY1m – half that of Mitsubishi Motors' minicar-sized i-MiEV. FOMM is partnering with a range of firms to bring its EV to market and expects to sell tens of thousands annually. Yamada Denki is the latest in a growing number of non-automotive firms to enter the EV market.


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UK mining firm faces legal action over activist deaths
 A UK-registered mining company, which is now part of Glencore, is facing claims in a London court that it hired security forces to mistreat environmental activists protesting about a copper mine in Peru.

Two demonstrators died and others were left with serious injuries following the confrontations which lasted for several days during May 2012 on a remote hillside in the Andes, the court has been told.

The two-week trial of the mining company, Xstrata, being held at the Rolls Building in central London, where commercial cases are heard, will be determined under Peruvian law. It is taking evidence from leading legal experts.

Two of the protesters, Sergio Huamani and Alberto Huallpa, went to London to attend the hearing, which is being translated into Spanish and English.

Lawyers for Xstrata argue that the claims have been brought too late and should be barred under a statute of limitations which imposes a two-year time limit. But Phillippa Kaufmann QC, for the claimants, maintained the cases were not out of time.

The copper mine in Peru was at the time owned by Xstrata Tintaya, a firm later renamed Companía Minera Antapaccay. Xstrata was alleged to have paid the equivalent of £700,000 for the services of about 1,300 Peruvian national police and provided them with weapons such as rubber bullets and teargas, as well as food and accommodation.

A video created by legal firm Leigh Day on the alleged clashes

It is alleged that the company encouraged the security forces to mistreat the eco-protesters, who had gathered near the Tintaya copper mine near the town of Espinar. Demonstrators were shot and beaten by officers, it was claimed.

The company denies liability, arguing that police protection was necessary since thousands of protesters, many carrying traditional slingshots, were marching towards the mine. Xstrata also said that the Peruvian national police operated independently and it had no control over their behaviour.

At an earlier hearing, in July 2016, emails from Charles Sartain, an Xstrata director, to the senior South America manager, Jose Marun, were disclosed. These proposed that a “direct, proactive and strong approach” be taken to confront community representatives who were referred to as “sons of whores”.

The court has also been told that in the run-up to the protests in 2012 the mining company “covertly monitored” community meetings and employed informants, sharing its intelligence with the police.

During the fighting, it is said, private security officers employed by the mine wielded metal bars and planks of wood. Some protesters allegedly were shot, others beaten on the head or on the soles of their feet. In one clash, the court was told, police fired machine guns and shotguns.

The 22 Peruvians who have brought the claim are represented by Leigh Day, the London law firm which specialises in class action disputes.

Before the hearing, Sergio Huamani, 42, a farmer, said: “I was attacked severely by the police and beaten on my head and nose because I was protesting about the environmental impact of the copper mine. I hope we will find justice here. The mine is still producing copper and has expanded. It is working without social or environmental responsibility.”

Alberto Huallpa, 29, an accountant, said he had been shot in the left thigh by a bullet. “We are opposed to contamination caused by the mine,” he said. The pollution was “getting into water courses and streams”. The damage, he alleged, was caused by heavy metals including cadmium and arsenic. “We turned up for the protest because the company was not listening to us. I am glad to bring my complaint here so that our pain and suffering comes to the court.”

Xstrata was taken over by the minerals and trading conglomerate Glencore in 2013. It denies that the mine is causing pollution and insists that it complies with environmental laws.

The hearing continues.

Output: Xstrata, a UK-registered mining firm that is now part of Anglo-Swiss company Glencore, allegedly hired security forces to harm protesters demonstrating against a Peruvian copper mine. The claims are being heard in a court in London, but will be resolved under Peruvian law. The confrontations, which left two protestors dead and others with serious injuries, took place in May 2012. The 22 claimants are represented by London law firm Leigh Day. Lawyers for Xstrata argue that the claims should be barred under a statute of limitations.


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Comple sequencing of wheat genome could boost staple crop
 The genome of wheat (Triticum aestivum) is huge, and full of repetitive sequences. Credit: Nico van Kappel/Minden Pictures/Getty

The wheat genome is finally complete. A giant international consortium of academics and companies has been trying to finish the challenging DNA sequence for more than a decade, but in the end, it was a small US-led team that scooped the prize. Researchers hope that the genome of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) — described in the journal GigaScience this month[1] — will aid efforts to study and improve a staple crop on which around 2 billion people rely.

The wheat genome is crop geneticists' Mount Everest. It is huge — more than five times the size of a single copy of the human genome — and harbours six copies of each chromosome, adding up to between 16 billion and 17 billion letters of DNA. And more than 80% of it is made of repetitive sequences. These stretches are especially vexing for scientists trying to assemble the short DNA segments generated by sequencing machines into much longer chromosome sequences.

It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle filled with pieces of blue sky, says Steven Salzberg, a genomicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, who led the latest sequencing effort. “The wheat genome is full of blue sky. All these pieces look like a lot of other pieces, but they’re not exactly alike.”

As a result, previous wheat-genome sequences contained gaps that made it hard for scientists to locate and examine any particular gene, says Klaus Mayer, a plant genomicist at the Helmholtz Center in Munich, Germany, and one of 1,800 members of the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) that have been tackling the genome since 2005.

A sequence released by the consortium in 2014 covered about two-thirds of the genome, but it was highly fragmented and lacked details about the sequences between genes2. Improved versions were released in 2016 and 2017, but the use of these data is restricted until the IWGSC publishes its analysis (Mayer says the team is preparing to submit its report to a journal). The sequence was also produced using proprietary software from a company called NRGene, preventing other scientists from reproducing the effort.

Puzzle pieces

Salzberg, who specializes in assembling genome sequences, and his five colleagues decided to tackle the problem themselves. To overcome the challenge of ordering repetitive DNA — the puzzle pieces of blue sky — the researchers used a sequencing technology that generates very long DNA stretches (often in excess of 10,000 DNA letters). They also created much shorter, but highly accurate sequences, using another technology.

Stitching these ‘reads’ together — which amounted to 1.5 trillion DNA letters and consumed 880,000 hours of processor time on a cluster of parallel computers — resulted in nearly continuous chromosome sequences that encompassed 15.3 billion letters of the wheat genome.

Mayer calls the new sequence “a major leap forward”. Postdocs can spend whole fellowships locating a single wheat gene of interest, he says. “Those genes which took 10 man- or woman-years to clone, this will melt down to a couple of months, hopefully.” The results of such research should help breeders to develop strains of wheat that are better able to tolerate climate change, disease and other stresses.

Some scientists are already using the new wheat genome — including, Salzberg says, members of the IWGSC working on one particular chromosome. But if it is to be of widespread use, all of the genes and sequences will need to be identified and labelled, a laborious process known as annotation. Salzberg says that a collaborator of his is planning to do this, “unless someone does it sooner”.

Neil Hall, a genomicist and director of the Earlham Institute, a genomics research centre in Norwich, UK, sees Salzberg’s approach as a sign of the times. If the wheat genome — considered one of the most complicated to be tackled by scientists — can be sequenced by a small team using the latest technology, almost any genome could.

Output: A US-led group of scientists has sequenced the wheat genome in its entirety, potentially improving upon the staple crop, on which an estimated 2 billion people depend. The genome, which is over five times the size of a single copy of the human genome, contains six copies of each chromosome and between 16 billion and 17 billion letters of DNA. Over 80% of the genome is comprised of repetitive sequences. The research could enable breeders to develop strains of the crop that are more resistant to climate change and disease.


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Start-up creates edible water bottle
 Home > Big Impact > News This Edible Water Bottle Provides Unique Solution To Plastic Pollution Skipping Rocks Lab, a startup based in London, has received over $1 million US through crowdfunding to create the Ooho! By Brian Spaen May 25 2019, Updated 1:46 p.m. ET Source: Twitter

Plastic water bottles may provide one of the most convenient ways to obtain H2O, but they continue to wreak havoc on our environment. Despite having the ability to be recycled, nearly all of these single-use bottles end up in the trash. For those that don’t want to give up consumption through bottles, there could be a new way to simply eat the bottle after being used.

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Skipping Rocks Lab, a startup based in London, has received over $1 million US through crowdfunding to create the Ooho! Started by three guys in college back in 2012, their goal was to create a solution to the plastic pollution that has been destroying marine life. A few years later, they created a prototype for their product -- an edible blob of water made out of seaweed.

The product is similar to edible balls found in bubble or boba tea. It doesn’t have any initial flavoring, which could make consuming it a little bland, but there is the potential to add flavors. To create the protective casing, balls of ice are tipped into calcium chloride and brown algae extract. This stays solid even after the ice converts to room temperature.

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It only costs roughly two cents to create these edible balls. Even better, for those that don’t feel like eating the bottle, it’s biodegradable. When it’s thrown away, the bottle won’t be sticking around for hundreds of years like traditional plastic with polyethylene terephthalate.

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"At the end of the day, you don’t have to eat it," Pierre Paslier, one of the co-founders, told The Guardian. "But the edible part shows how natural it is. People are really enthusiastic about the fact that you can create a material for packaging matter that is so harmless that you can eat it."

After the prototype became a viral hit online, it’s no surprise that the Ooho was wildly successful through crowdfunding. Since the bottle is squishy to hold and use, they tested out the prototype to make sure people weren’t turned off by the new product. It ended up being mostly accepted. Paslier believes that it would fit great with outdoor events and cafes.

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Ooho is consumed by peeling off the outer layer like an orange. One major difference from traditional water bottles is that when it’s opened, the product cannot be sealed again. This means we likely won’t see large variations of the bottle. In order to avoid large shipments, the product could be made on-site.

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“The process that we’re developing allows for them to be made on the spot, just before consumption,” Paslier told Fast Company. “If you think of a coffee machine in the cafe that makes the coffee just before you drink it, we’re working on something that would be about that size.”

Output: Skipping Rocks Lab, a London-based start-up, has created edible balls of water in an initiative designed to reduce the use of plastic bottles. The product, named Ooho!, has garnered over $1m in crowdfunding. The balls, similar to those found in bubble tea, are made from ice dipped in calcium chloride and brown algae extract. This coating remains solid even after the ice reaches room temperature. The balls cost equivalent to two cents to produce, and the coating biodegrades in four to six weeks if uneaten.


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Australian investment consultants take aim at robo-advisers
 Fears that robo-advice is mis-selling products and not delivering the best outcomes for clients continues to raise concerns across the financial advice industry.

While the technology behind robo-advice is making it cheaper to invest, it doesn't mean it is actually providing advice let alone the right advice, says the Association of Real Return Investment Advisers general manager Rebecca Jacques.

"If you actually look at what robo is doing, it's a very good way of selling passive index funds at a low cost," Jacques says.

She told a recent Calastone forum that she put a few global and domestic robo-advisers to the test by giving each the same simplistic target: to pay her young children's private school fees.

Every robo asked for a country of origin; only one asked for a tax bracket - but what was "scary" was that not one asked if the funds would be used for private school tuition, she notes.

In every single instance, the robo advised: "You have 100% certainty of achieving your objective by investing in fixed interest and cash next for the next 15 years."

Based on today's capital markets and for the next five years, there is "no way" the goal is achievable, she points out.

Jacques even rang one robo-adviser to determine what type of forecast is used in providing estimates, to which the company replied, "none."

What's "wrong" is the fact that the wealth management industry faces constant scrutiny and regulation in providing advice, but those in IT can simply "type anything" in an algorithm and sell it to mum and dad, she says.

Perth-based start-up, PictureWealth, is attempting to defy such limitations and "do what hasn't been done before", which is provide digitised advice across all aspects of personal finance, says its founder David Pettit.

The app, which aggregates different accounts to paint a holistic snapshot or a 'welfie' of finances, is a free online tool that allows users to interact with chat bot FLIQ (Financial Literacy IQ) about financial matters ranging from bank balances and superannuation to insurance policies.

Unlike the Qantas Money app, which only goes as far as aggregating accounts, PictureWealth takes the next step by employing filters to help users understand what they could be doing better or differently in managing their money, he says.

The robo-advice element for instance, will provide guided decisions if it makes sense to buy an investment portfolio or if the money could be used elsewhere to pay off a credit card or mortgage or kept in savings.

He agrees the "advice" element of robo-advice is a misnomer; a lot of robo-advisers are either selling or helping investors find investment products.

Welfie meanwhile, is attracting interest from advisers wanting to use the software for clients. It isn't intended to disrupt the advice industry, rather to complement it, says Pettit, who is also managing director of Advocate Private Wealth.

This is an extract of a news story first published in the latest issue of Financial Standard. You can view the full article on our free iPad app.

Output: Australia's Association of Real Return Investment Advisers (ARRIA) has sounded off on robo-advisers, questioning whether these services are providing investors with the correct advice. The organisation noted many robo-advice platforms can't advise towards specific goals, such as paying children's school fees. Some robo-advisers also noted a high probability of achieving goals over the next 15 years with holdings in fixed-interest and cash, something ARRIA contests. Overall, the industry body concluded robo-advisers serve mainly as a method of selling cheap index funds.


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Deliveroo uses 'dark kitchens' to cater to expanding market
 A tatty car park under a railway line is squeezed between a busy road, an industrial site and a semi-derelict pub covered in graffiti. It’s one of the grittiest parts of east London and probably the last place you would imagine some of the trendiest eateries in the country to be preparing meals.

But the grimy spot is just a short moped ride from the gleaming office towers of Canary Wharf and upmarket docklands apartments, and is therefore the perfect location for the latest idea from Deliveroo, the food courier service. It is setting up dozens of “dark kitchens” in prefabricated structures for restaurants that want to expand their businesses without opening expensive high street premises.

Ten metal boxes of a similar size to a shipping container are on this site in Blackwall. They are fitted with industrial kitchen equipment, and two or three chefs and kitchen porters are at work in each, preparing food for restaurants including the Thai chain Busaba Eathai, the US-style MeatLiquor diners, the Franco Manca pizza parlours and Motu, an Indian food specialist set up by the family behind Mayfair’s Michelin-starred Gymkhana.

The boxes have no windows and many of the chefs work with the doors open, through which they can be seen stirring huge pans or flipping burgers. Outside there are piles of spare equipment, mops in buckets, gas cylinders for the stoves and large cans of cooking oil.

A Deliveroo rider sets off from a Roobox dark kitchen in Hove, Sussex. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

This is one of the biggest of 11 sites currently operated by Deliveroo that are home to 66 dark kitchens. Five sites use the metal structures, known as Rooboxes or Deliveroo Editions, while others are in adapted buildings. The majority are in London, but there are others in Leeds, Reading and Hove, tucked away in car parks or on industrial estates. All are close to residential and office areas filled with customers hungry for upmarket takeaways.

The locations may be unglamorous, but one dark kitchen in Southwark, south London, is turning out rotisserie chicken for the pricey Notting Hill-based specialist Cocotte. There are also outposts for Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the trendy pizza joint Crust Bros and the Soho sushi bar Yoobi.

Deliveroo has big ambitions for its Rooboxes, with plans to open more in London’s Swiss Cottage, Nottingham and Cambridge soon, and Manchester and Birmingham lined up for more boxes next year. Deliveroo finds and equips the locations, then rents them out to the restaurants, which employ and train the kitchen staff.

Two chefs tell the Guardian that working in the metal boxes is either hot or cold, depending on the weather and whether they are cooking or prepping. In one kitchen, there is only a small fan heater for cold days. Another houses a pizza oven that takes up more than a third of the space and makes it extremely hot.

Javed Akhtar, the operations director of Franco Manca, says the company is testing out a Roobox at the Blackwall site so diners and chefs at its busy nearby restaurant can avoid being troubled by takeaway delivery drivers. Franco Manca chefs get extra money for working in the box, he says, because “there is no interaction with front-of-house staff”. It also encourages chefs who may not be keen to work in a metal box in a car park.

But more chefs are likely to soon be swapping central locations for less salubrious surroundings.

Deliveroo couriers pick up meals for delivery from a restaurant. Photograph: Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images

Deliveroo’s sales soared sevenfold to £128.6m last year as it expanded its operations in the UK and overseas, to 25,000 restaurants in more than 140 cities and 12 countries. The food delivery market, which includes the Deliveroo rivals JustEat and UberEats as well as traditional takeaways, is expected to increase by 10% a year to £53bn by 2020, according to the market analyst NPD.

But it is not all straightforward for Deliveroo. The company had planned to have more than 200 dark kitchens on 30 sites across the UK by the end of 2017, and even more overseas. That target has been missed and there have been complaints from residents and councils, who accuse the company of bypassing planning rules.

The Roobox site in Camberwell, south London, may be forced to close after Southwark council said the noise of delivery vans and mopeds was a nuisance to neighbours and the operations had been set up without planning permission.

Dan Warne, Deliveroo’s UK and Ireland managing director, admits the company did not move quickly enough to speak to the council and residents in Southwark, but says Roobox kitchens are clean, hygienic and checked by the Food Standards Agency.

He says Deliveroo is considering the use of more pushbikes to deliver food, rather than mopeds, in order to reduce noise where that is a problem. The company has a team of staff especially to deal with queries and complaints from councillors and residents. “We are keen to adapt our operations to meet the concerns that people raise,” Warne says. “We do understand this is a new thing coming into an area and some people will have questions about it.”

Some residents living in and around Rooboxes say they welcome the opportunity for jobs for young people. But in Dulwich, south London, Pasquale Mereu, a chef at the nearby Italian restaurant Il Mirto, says Deliveroo has been a “very bad thing” for the business. He says the restaurant’s delivery orders have more than halved in the past year and they have had to lay off one of two couriers.

Output: Food courier service Deliveroo has set up dozens of "dark kitchens" for restaurants that want to expand without opening up expensive premises. Ten large metal boxes, similar in size to a shipping container, have been set up in Blackwall, east London to prepare food for restaurants such as Thai chain Busaba Eathai and MeatLiquor diners. Deliveroo operates 11 sites, which are home to 66 kitchens, in London, Leeds, Reading and Hove. The company had hoped to have over 200 dark kitchens in 30 UK sites by the end of the year, but missed its target.


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Samsung team invent bitcoin mining rig with old smartphones
 Making Old Hardware Useful

Consumer behavior when it comes to smartphones — particularly flagship devices like Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy phones — has become quite predictable. As these premier devices get upgraded every year, most people tend to stick to their device for only two years. Most find themselves with older smartphone models that, more often, are just left unused in closets.

But what if you could turn those old phones into something useful — say, a cryptocurrency mining rig?

Enter an engineering team from Samsung called the C-Lab, purpose of which is to find creative solutions or projects. This team has come up with innovative ways to make these older devices useful — a process called "upscaling" or repurposing. One of these projects, which the C-Lab presented at Samsung's developer conference in San Francisco, upscales old Galaxy S5s into a bitcoin mining rig.

Image credit: Kyle Wiens

Cryptocurrency mining has become popular in recent months. Usually, miners rely on computers with dedicated central processing units (CPUs) to keep transactions conducted in Bitcoin's blockchain. In exchange for this, they get to mine bitcoin.

But Samsung's mining rig has demonstrated that you don't need a fancy CPU to mine cryptocurrency. Instead, 40 units of Samsung's Galaxy S5 can do the trick — in fact, they could even mine at a greater efficiency than a desktop computer.

Recycling Value

The C-Lab engineers presented a bunch of other upscaled Samsung devices as well, including a old Galaxy tablet turned into an Ubuntu-powered laptop, a used Galaxy S3 that now works as a fishtank monitor, and another old Samsung phone with facial recognition software that's been made into a sort of watchdog for your front door.

"This innovative platform provides an environmentally responsible way for old Galaxy mobile devices to breathe new life, providing new possibilities and potential extended value for devices that might otherwise be forgotten in desk drawers or discarded." Samsung spokesperson Robin Schultz told Motherboard in an email.

Maintaining CPUs dedicated for mining can be costly, especially in terms of electricity. So, some have tried to find creative ways to mine for crypto coins. At least one website has resorted to using software that clandestinely turns the CPUs of their visitors into satellite crypto miners, much to the consternation of said users. Instead of resorting to such a questionable practice, perhaps you could opt for a mining rig similar to Samsung's?

At any rate, Samsung's bitcoin mining rig is really worth some consideration, especially for those who want to dip their toes into cryptocurrency mining. It's not too late, and the crypto coin market is growing, with Bitcoin leading the pack. The world's most popular cryptocurrency has maintained its value above $5,000, after peaking at $6,000 last week. As of writing, Bitcoin is priced at $5,950.

Samsung's C-Lab is planning to release the software they used to unlock their phones for upscaling, and they're even going to make the plans for the projects mentioned here available online for free.

Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact

Output: Engineers at Samsung's C-Lab in South Korea have successfully turned old Galaxy S5 smartphones into a bitcoin mining rig. Cryptocurrency mining has become increasingly popular, with miners normally relying on computers with dedicated central processing unit (CPU) space to hold transactions carried out in bitcoin's blockchain. But the C-Lab team showed a special CPU was not necessary, and that 40 Galaxy S5s could even mine at a greater efficiency than a computer. Other upscaled devices created by C-Lab include a used phone that works as a fish tank monitor and a Galaxy tablet converted into an Ubuntu-powered laptop.


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No Brexit effect on student accommodation market, finds Savills
 2016 saw the UK achieve its second highest ever investment volume into purpose built student housing with $5.84 billion (£4.5 billion) ploughed into the sector and three of the world’s five largest individual student housing investment deals over the past 18 months taking place within its borders.

All three were by international investors: the largest was Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and student accommodation developer GSA’s acquisition of a 7,150-bed student accommodation portfolio for US$900 million.

To those outside the industry this may be surprising: why, when there are question marks over both the continuation of European research funding to UK universities after it leaves the EU and its potential appeal to foreign students, would so many commit to UK student housing?

The answer is that many international investors continue to view student accommodation as a stable asset class with strong returns. Investment in UK purpose built student housing continued unabated after June 2016, despite falling volumes in other sectors.

International students, too, found that their money suddenly goes further in the UK than before and therefore have not been deterred from applying to study here, consequently ensuring that occupancy rates, and income, remain high.

In addition, the UK’s higher education sector enjoys an exceptionally strong international standing, built upon hundreds of years of university heritage. This did not suddenly change on the morning of 24 June 2016: the appearance of UK universities near the top of global rankings will remain for the foreseeable future. Beyond the league tables, London’s status as a global city also means that it continues to appear at the top of many young people’s wish lists as somewhere to live and experience.

The UK’s vote to leave the EU does bring some uncertainty, particularly around European research funding, as well as the treatment of academic staff from the EU and the ongoing management of student immigration, but none of these are sufficient to deter large volumes of students or indeed investors, who see UK student housing as a resilient, well performing investment class.

The reality is that good student accommodation will always remain in demand, and the mood in the sector remains buoyant. Investors are willing to pay premiums for larger portfolios, driven by their need to allocate their investment capital and build scale quickly, so we expect to see further activity in the UK market in the months to come.

Further information

Read more: Savills Spotlight: World Student Housing

Output: The Brexit vote has not affected investment in UK student accommodation, according to property firm Savills. Despite concerns about the country's appeal to foreign students after Britain leaves the EU, many global investors still see student housing as a stable asset class with good returns. Also foreign students have found their money goes further in the UK than before, ensuring applications and occupancy rates remain high. In addition, British universities have a strong international reputation, a status that's unlikely to change in the immediate future. Nearly $6bn was invested in the asset class last year.


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Cisco chooses Michigan for first US smart state initiative
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Today, networking giant Cisco announced that it will be partnering with Michigan on an initial three-year program to help the state train more tech workers, become a hub for autonomous vehicle testing, and use data to streamline government services.

According to a blog post on Cisco’s website, the program has five priorities: developing connected roadways, fostering improvements in advanced manufacturing, offering digital education and training for tech workers, developing a “citizen-centered, smart, and connected government,” and making Michigan a “safer and more attractive place to live.”

Called the State Digital Acceleration program, the Michigan initiative is the first of its kind that Cisco has offered in the U.S. It’s modeled after Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration program, which has been in existence for about three years and has been introduced in approximately 16 different countries. Alison Gleeson, senior vice president of Cisco Americas, said in a phone interview with VentureBeat that the company decided to launch its first stateside digital acceleration program in Michigan because of the state’s leadership in autonomous vehicle testing. In 2016, Governor Rick Snyder launched the Planet M campaign to “strengthen, protect, and promote the state’s global leadership” in autonomous and connected vehicles.

Gleeson declined to say how much money Cisco will be investing in the program, but she highlighted a few commitments in particular. First, the company will partner with the Michigan Department of Transportation to pilot “Cisco Connected Roadways,” which will provide MDOT with real-time data to improve passenger and worker safety. Gleeson said that Cisco is interested in exploring ways to assist MDOT in notifying drivers about poor weather conditions — whiteouts, black ice, fog — as well as providing the exact mile at which the driver is expected to hit these conditions, via digital signage and vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

Second, Cisco will partner with Wayne State University in Detroit to create a 25,000-square foot building for advanced manufacturing training. The company also plans to hire 300 instructors to expand the footprint of its Networking Academy — an IT skills and career-building curriculum that Cisco makes available to secondary schools, universities, and other organizations. The goal is to double the number of students that graduate from Networking Academy programs in Michigan each year from 3,000 students to 8,000 students by 2020.

Finally, Cisco will partner with the Michigan department of technology, management, and budget on “collaboration around a converged network platform for innovation in the future in services, security, collaboration, cloud, and more.”

Gleeson said that Cisco will likely launch a digital acceleration program in another state before the end of the year and said the company plans to roll the program out to other states in the coming year.

Output: Networking giant Cisco is embarking on a technology partnership with Michigan. The three-year digital acceleration programme will help the state train technology workers, use data to streamline government services, develop connected roadways and become a centre for driverless vehicle testing. The Michigan initiative is the first of its kind offered by Cisco in the US and is modelled on its Country Digital Acceleration scheme, which operates in about 16 countries. Cisco chose Michigan as its first US launch for the programme because of the state's interest in supporting the development of autonomous driving technology.


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Attivo Networks use threat deception to tackle cyber attacks
 Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.

Attivo Networks, a startup that specializes in thwarting cyberattacks using deception technology, has raised $21 million in a series C round of funding. The round was led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity, with participation from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s VC firm Omidyar Technology Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures.

Founded out of Fremont, California in 2011, Attivo is one of a number of cybersecurity startups in the deception technology realm, using defensive “hall of mirrors” techniques that consist of lures and traps designed to trick attackers into revealing themselves. In effect, the underlying technology automatically sets decoys that are integrated into a company’s existing IT infrastructure to confuse and misdirect any hackers that may have already infiltrated the network.

“Achieving 100 percent security is not realistic — organizations must know immediately when their perimeter security controls fail and be able to respond quickly,” explained Tushar Kothari, CEO of Attivo Networks. “Attivo Networks deception-based detection efficiently closes this detection deficit. It is not enough to understand how an attacker attacks, you must also know how to defend and respond.”

Prior to now, Attivo had raised $23 million in funding, including a $15 million series B round just five months ago. With its latest cash injection, the company plans to “meet the soaring demand” for early detection and smart deflection of cyberattacks.

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With the gargantuan Equifax data breach still fresh in everyone’s minds, and the global cybersecurity workforce estimated to be short by 1.8 million people by 2022, it’s little surprise that we’ve seen such an uptick in cybersecurity investment. This year alone, the likes of AI cybersecurity startup Darktrace raised $75 million, while SentinelOne nabbed $70 million.

In the deception technology realm, Israel’s Illusive Networks has raised at least $30 million in funding, including a $22 million round back in 2015, and Microsoft Ventures added an undisclosed sum of money to its pot back in January. Elsewhere, TrapX has also raised some big bucks, with Intel and others channeling up to $19 million into the company.

As a result of Trident Capital Cybersecurity’s participation in this new round, Alberto Yépez, the firm’s managing director, will now join Attivo’s board.

“Deception puts attackers on the defensive, making them work harder and increasing their costs,” noted Yépez. “High accuracy addresses the issue of too many alarms being reported by existing solutions, and incident response is improved with the capture of specific techniques and tools being used by the attacker. This is the primary reason why companies are working closely with the Attivo team to help detect and more effectively respond to sophisticated cyberattacks.”

Output: Attivo Networks has raised $21m in a series C funding round for its deception technology for thwarting cyber attacks. The California-based start-up uses defensive "hall of mirrors" decoy methods, integrated into a firm's IT infrastructure, to trick hackers into revealing themselves. The round was led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity, with support from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's venture capital firm Omidyar Technology Ventures, as well as Bain Capital Ventures.


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Energi Mine launch ICO to incentivise energy conservation
 U.K.-based Energi Mine has today launched its blockchain-based platform that aims to decentralise the near $2 trillion global energy market by incentivising energy conservation. Former energy spokesman for the Liberal Democrats for the House of Lords, Lord Rupert Redesdale has also been appointed as an advisor to Energi Mine.

According to an Advanced Energy Now 2017 Market Report from Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), the global advanced energy market surpassed $1.4 trillion in 2016, a seven percent increase compared to the updated $1.3 trillion in 2015. Advanced energy is a broad range of technologies, products and services that include the best available technologies for meeting energy needs.

Of the seven advanced energy market segments, electricity generation remains the largest globally with $455.6 billion in revenue, up five percent over 2015. The remaining six include building efficiency, advanced transportation, advanced fuel production, advanced fuel delivery, advanced industry, and electricity management and delivery.

According to Manchester-based Energi Mine, the current electricity market approach is broken as it encourages energy companies to sell as much energy as they can, at the highest price possible. The company currently manages over $140 million worth of energy on behalf of its customers, and looks after around 1,100 customer sites in the U.K., France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The newly launched platform is aiming to change the market by encouraging consumers and organisations to reduce their energy consumption. It hopes to achieve this by issuing ETK tokens to reward energy efficient behaviour, such as taking public transportation or purchasing energy-efficient appliances.

“Our AI and blockchain technology will plug into existing data feeds – smart meters or transport software – to verify energy saving behaviour has taken place,” said Omar Rahim, CEO of Energy Mine, speaking to CoinJournal. “We then help organisations build and manage their reward schemes in our infrastructure.”

Through the ETK tokens, token holders can redeem them on the Energi Mine platform to pay for energy bills, electric vehicle recharging, exchange them for fiat currency instead, or trade them directly with transport authorities to pay for their trip. With the process designed to be as frictionless as possible, users will receive their tokens via a simple-to-use app, which they will receive from local transit authorities such as the Transport for London. It’s hoped that behaviours can be influenced via rewards.

Furthermore, through Energi Mine’s decentralised platform, excess energy from a consumer can be sold to a different consumer at transparent market prices, rather than sold to a power supplier at a rate determined by the power supplier.

Output: A Manchester-based tech startup has established a blockchain-based market to incentivise energy conservation. Energi Mine is launching an EnergiToken (ETK) as a virtual token which it says can be bought and used by companies and public authorities as part of incentive schemes to encourage energy-saving behaviour such as increased use of public transport or buying an electric vehicle. They can then be exchanged on the Energi Mine platform for other currencies or used to pay energy bills, creating a market to incentivise energy conservation.


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HTC targets VR as educational tool
 Nikitas Glykas, president of HTC Middle East and Africa.

The way school children are taught in classrooms has not changed in decades, leaving the education sector free from disruption as the world enters the fourth industrial revolution.

However, hardware manufacturer HTC says old ways of teaching will not adequately prepare learners for the new digital era. The company is investing heavily in virtual reality (VR), as it believes this will soon completely change how school children are taught.

Nikitas Glykas, president of HTC Middle East and Africa, says VR is not only about entertainment and gaming, as the emerging technology has enormous implications for education.

He cited a study done last year, which found VR-based education has an advantage, over traditional teaching, in theoretical knowledge teaching as well as practical skills training.

"In theoretical knowledge teaching, it boasts the ability to make abstract problems concrete, and theoretical thinking well-supported. In practical skills training, it helps sharpen students' operational skills, provides an immersive learning experience, and enhances students' sense of involvement in class, making learning more fun, more secure and more active," the research findings stated.

In the paper titled "The Impact of VR on Academic Performance", researchers explain how they took two separate groups of learners and taught them the same lesson: one group via traditional ways of teaching and the other using virtual reality and the HTC Vive set-up. The students were tested afterwards on what they learnt.

The average pass rate of the VR group was 90%, while that of the traditional teaching group was 40%.

It made a difference to children across learning abilities. In the VR teaching group, students with learning difficulties went from an average of 68 to an average of 88, while the 'whizz kids' who were naturally very good at school, improved their average to almost 100%.

The children were also tested two weeks after the initial lesson to see how well they retained the knowledge. The results showed the VR group retained the knowledge 32.3% more than those in the traditional group.

"VR enjoys obvious advantages in teaching; for example, it makes the content of courses more vivid; students can experience by themselves; it is very interactive, and easy to remember and understand," the researchers said.

Content drive

The HTC Vive launched in SA earlier this year. It is a complete VR setup, including a headset, hand controllers and wall sensors, so that users can use their hands while in the virtual world.

Glykas says the barriers at the moment for VR taking off in education are price and lack of content.

He believes private schools with more money will first start fitting VR rooms in schools and then as the price comes down, so other schools will follow.

Content is tricky, he says, because it needs to be localised.

HTC is working with developers to create some content and will open an online portal that educators can subscribe to within the near future. One programme already up and running, developed with partners, is an anatomy lesson which lets learners 'take apart' the human body in VR and then place it back together again.

There are people in SA working on solving the lack of contextualised educational VR content.

In June last year, an Interactive Digital Centre was opened in Tshwane. The R140 million facility aims to provide 50 students a year with VR and augmented reality skills to create local educational content.

Move away from smartphones?

Speaking about Google's recent $1.1 billion acquisition of HTC's division that develops the US firm's Pixel smartphones, Glykas dismissed speculation that this move was made so that HTC could solely focus on VR.

He says smartphones are still at the core of the HTC business. "Now HTC, following this sale, is very strong financially to continue to invest in VR and smartphones."

Glykas hinted at possible new business revenues. "HTC has been innovating for the past 20 years. Some of the areas we are working on are the Internet of things and artificial intelligence, but I cannot comment on that yet."

Output: Manufacturer HTC is investing significant resources in developing virtual reality (VR) technology for use in schools. The company, based in Taiwan, cited a research paper suggesting that the use of VR in teaching could dramatically improve students' performance. The experiment used an HTC VR system called VIVE to teach a physics lesson, while a comparable group of students was taught using traditional methods. The VR-taught group achieved a pass rate of 90%, compared to a 40% rate for the traditionally-taught group. HTC is now working with developers to create further applications and content for educators.


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London's prime market is stabilising: Knight Frank
 The average value of English greenfield development land was unchanged in Q3, according to the latest research from Knight Frank. The value of prime central London development land also stayed the same. Urban brownfield site values slipped slightly over the quarter, but on an annual basis are still outperforming.

English greenfield land values were up 1.1% year-on-year in Q3, the second consecutive quarter they have been in positive territory after two years’ of modest declines in pricing. There is now a steadier supply of greenfield development land in many parts of the market. This is likely to keep pricing level overall in the coming year, although there is still potential for outperformance in some areas where sites are oven-ready and have access to good infrastructure.

In urban areas, the continued price growth in the urban brownfield land index reflects continued demand in these markets. While this sustained demand will likely continue to underpin pricing, average land values remained broadly flat in Q3, suggesting that pricing in some urban markets may have found its equilibrium.

In prime central London, the decline in development land values shows continued signs of abating, with values down just 2.5% on the year, compared to a 10.3% decline seen in Q3 last year.

In general, the prime central London land market is showing signs of stabilising after a period of deflation and this trend is expected to continue over the next 12 months.

Ian Marris, Joint Head of Residential Development, said, “The liquidity in the land market is low as sentiment is nervous; however, for the brave there is value to be found. Deals are price sensitive and risk needs to be appropriately analysed and understood.”

There are challenges for developers trying to secure debt and equity funding, and development economics must also account for the fact that there is, so far, little sign of any significant softening in construction costs. The weaker pound is boosting import prices, while the lack of resource in the labour market is also a key consideration for developers currently active in the market.

“This is a market for the experienced who know and understand how to extract value in uncertain times. That said, we believe there is opportunity for investors who will be building out into a market, which, over the next few years, looks to be extremely limited in respect of new supply,” Marris added.

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Output: The prime London property market appears to be stabilising after a period of deflation, according to research by consultants Knight Frank. The report found that development land values in central London were down by just 2.5% on the year, compared to a decline of 10.3% at the same time last year. The figures suggest the trend will continue, though analysts warn that the market is still experiencing uncertainty, and will require experienced investors who understand how to extract value from it.


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Bitcoin-mining energy usage equates to 13m barrels of oil a year
 The Bitcoin boom has forced the mining sector to try and keep up, as the energy and effort put into mining a single coin is paying higher and higher. However, it’s also causing the mining sector to go into overdrive seeking the elusive prize.

One way that miners have sought to gain an additional edge in the game is to try and cut their energy costs. It’s good for the miners, for Bitcoin and for the environment if energy usage plummets.

The cost of a Bitcoin

The Bitcoin mining industry consumes 22.5 TWh of energy annually, which is the equivalent of 13,239,916 barrels of oil. With 12.5 Bitcoins being mined every 10 minutes, that means the average energy cost of one Bitcoin equates to 20 barrels of oil.

It seems an inodramate amount of oil to be spending on mining a digital currency, yet when considering the worth of one coin, which is now valued at more than 100 barrels of oil, it becomes understandable.

However, despite the lucrativeness of it all, there are serious implications environmentally for the mining sector of Bitcoin. Accordingly, if the boom continues there should be plans to try and keep energy costs down.

To put this in perspective, the total energy consumption of the world’s Bitcoin mining activities is more than 40 times greater than that required to power the entire Visa network.

Cheap electricity kings

It’s unsurprising to find that the countries that have been seen as the superpowers of Bitcoin mining have been those who’ve had cheap electricity, or worked towards it.

China has long been a Bitcoin mining hub as it has some of the cheapest electricity, however, with its stance on Bitcoin changing Russia is stepping in.

There were plans for Russian subsidization for Bitcoin mining, but the socialist country is heading down China’s route in regards to its feeling towards Bitcoin.

This has led to other countries becoming mining powerhouses.

Land of ice and mining

The future of mining seems to be a lot greener and a lot more efficient and economical. Many mining companies are looking to places like Iceland and Kazakhstan, where the temperatures are lower and there’s no need to spend money on cooling.

Additionally, there have been forays into using sustainable and renewable sources of energy to power mining operations. These are beneficial to the plant and to the miners, as power is a lot cheaper in many parts of the world.

Output: The bitcoin mining industry could be heading for a cheaper, greener future, as companies seek to reduce cooling costs and electricity consumption. Currently, bitcoin mining consumes 22.5 TWh of energy a year, the equivalent of 13.2 million barrels of oil, and more than 40 times what is needed to power the entire Visa network. As China, a source of cheap electricity, and Russia step back from bitcoin mining, cooler climes such as Iceland and Kazakhstan, and well as the renewable energy sector, could benefit.


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Processing times slashed by launch of bank cheque imaging
 The UK is beginning the phased roll out an image-based cheque clearing system that will slash processing times from six 'weekdays' to one day and pave the way for the introduction of interbank mobile cheque deposits.

Although cheque usage is in decline, 477 million were written in 2016. Previous attempts to abolish cheques caused political uproar and howls of protest from consumer groups and charities which still rely on paper-based donations.

Legislative changes to enable the passing of digital cheque imaging came into force in July 2016 and marked the onset of a number of bank trials of mobile cheque deposit systems for intra-bank clearing. Under the new system, banks will be able to accept and clear cheque images drawn from their peers.

Initially, the volume of cheques going through the new system - built by Vocalink and Exela Technologies - will be small, with the UK's Cheque and Credit Clearing Company running two clearing systems in parallel until all banks have come online later in 2018. This means that some cheques that customers write or pay-in will be cleared more quickly via the image system, and some will clear to the existing, six weekday timescale through the current, paper-based system.

James Radford, chief executive officer of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company, says: "For more than 350 years the way cheques have been cleared in this country has essentially remained the same. Now, with the introduction of cheque imaging, we are bringing the UK cheque into the 21st century, ensuring that it remains a secure, robust and viable payment method for the millions of charities, businesses and personal customers that still write or receive cheques on a regular basis.”

Output: The UK deployment of an image-based cheque clearing system could cut processing times from six working days to just one. Some 477 million cheques were written last year, despite usage being in decline; previous reform attempts caused protests from charities and consumer groups who rely on paper-based donations. Under the new system, developed by Vocalink and Exela Technologies, banks can accept and clear cheque images drawn from their rivals. The initial volume of cheques processed will be small, with two clearing systems running parallel until all banks adopt the technology in 2018.