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TalkTalk Anger as TeamViewer blocked a second time this year
 TalkTalk customers who need to use a remote desktop tool are on the warpath after the UK ISP blocked TeamViewer for the second time this year, ostensibly in an attempt to protect users from potential scammers.

A screenshot seen by The Register showed that teamviewer.com had been blocked as part of TalkTalk's Scam Protect blocker, saying the site was used by scammers.

TeamViewer is sometimes used by ne'er-do-wells to gain remote access to a victim's computer, but it is also used by techies for legitimate purposes.

Users who complained to TalkTalk on Twitter were told the ISP was "filtering a small number of websites that are being used by scammers".

The responses also stated that users would have the ability to change the default settings for the protector in the new year, but for now could speak to their customer service team to manually enable access.

On the other side of the scam blocker, TeamViewer has yet to respond publicly to any complaints on the matter directed at it by users.

The last time TalkTalk blocked TeamViewer was in March of this year. The block lasted less than a day after customer complaints (and perhaps our own report) convinced TT to change its mind.

TalkTalk is an ISP that is necessarily mindful of security issues. It suffered a large data breach in October 2015, which leaked 157,000 users' personal details, and its users were the target of an unrelated "Indian call centre" scam earlier this year.

A search of Twitter reveals a series of complaints between March and December, concerning apparent scammers pretending to be TalkTalk representatives and trying to fool users into downloading TeamViewer.

The Scam Protection page that pops up when a TalkTalk customer tries to visit teamviewer.com specifically states that TT never asks users to access the site, which one can deduce is a reaction to these reports. ®

Updated on 20 December to add: A TalkTalk spokesperson told The Reg: “Protecting customers is our top priority. We are filtering a small number of sites that are being used by scammers to take control of customers’ computers and steal from them.

"To minimize the impact on customers we know use these sites regularly, we have excluded them from the automatic filtering. It’s possible that some customers who want to access these sites legitimately for the first time will need to contact us."

Output: Telecoms firm and ISP provider TalkTalk sparked complaints when it banned popular remote desktop software TeamViewer for the second time this year. The ISP said it was protecting customers by "filtering a small number of websites that are being used by scammers", but the move angered legitimate users. Customers will be able to change the default settings for the Scam Protect blocker, which is locking them out of the service, next year. Access can be resumed in the meantime via customer services. The ISP blocked TeamViewer for less than 24 hours in March but reinstated it following complaints.


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Regus Limerick deal to boost Irish spaces to 150 amid tech demand
 Kenneth Dwyer, Area Manager, Regus and Ruth Lyndon, Azon Recruitment Group at Regus Bedford Row, Limerick

Bedford Row in Limerick city welcomes the global workspace provider Regus as a new resident. The premises will open for business on the 22 December with 60 office spaces available straight away.

Regus Ireland will house 150 workspaces in total by early 2018, consisting of office and event spaces to meeting rooms. Rental space here is the perfect destination in the central business district of Limerick.

The premises is a striking one – a contemporary building takes up the front of the Methodist Church which was originally built in the 1800s. Demand for the new Regus workspace is high with companies in the tech and finance industries already attempting to avail of Regus’ services. The first tenant to the site will be Azon Recruitment Group in January 2018.

Regus’ reputation of state-of-the-art facilities with national and international connections should prove popular among clients ranging from start-ups, remote workers and established businesses.

Regus Country Manager Gearoid Collins said: “We’re delighted to see Regus expand its offering to Limerick city. Flexible working is becoming increasingly popular, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer such a wide variety of workspace options enabling our clients to work when, where and how it best suits them and their business.”

Output: Flexible office space provider Regus has responded to high demand from tech and finance companies in Ireland to set up shop in central Limerick's Bedford Row building. The deal has made 60 office spaces available and another 90 will come online in January. Azon Recruitment Group is among the first tenants.


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Samsung to release wearable that enables calls at touch of an ear
 We've seen Innomdle Lab's Sgnl wearable at CES a few times before, but it's worth revisiting because a) it's an absolutely crazy idea that works; and b) it's very nearly ready for the masses. In case you missed it the first time around, the Sgnl is a sleek, understated wearable that lets you have full-blown private phone conversations by simply touching your finger to your ear.

The wearable, which was originally developed as a concept for Samsung's delightfully nutty C-Lab, transmits sound through your hand as vibrations that eventually come out of your finger as sound. In theory, this seems like an absurd concept. In practice, though, it appears to work as advertised. Even though Innomdle Lab's body conduction technology isn't specifically meant for music playback, a demo track streamed from a tablet via Bluetooth was piped into my wrist, up through my hand and came out surprisingly audible on through my finger.

Gallery: Hands-on with the SGNL | 7 Photos

/7 Gallery: Hands-on with the SGNL | 7 Photos

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There's no way you'd want to listen to an album this way even if it were possible, but the system is theoretically clear enough to keep conversations intelligible. We're told the Sgnl can store up to five contacts, which you can sift through using a set of slightly-too-gummy navigation buttons.

The Sgnl also doubles as a fitness tracker because, well, why not? Good thing it's relatively comfortable to wear. The prototype units I've tried in the past were considerably more bulbous and hack-y, but the final product is actually remarkable restrained in its design. The actual body conduction bits are housed in a soft-touch plastic body, while a dark stainless steel strap runs around the rest of the wrist. My biggest concern so far, though, is how clumsy the clasp seems; you have to stick the tiny metal tab on one end into the slot on the other, and it can be difficult to do with just one hand.

Even now, with Sgnl production in full swing, the wearable leaves some unanswered questions. Thankfully, we won't have to wait too long for clarification: The first units will be delivered to Kickstarter backers in March, with wider availability to follow soon after.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Output: A wearable developed by Samsung spin-off Innomdle Lab that allows users to conduct phone conversations by touching their ear is set to go on sale this year. The Sgnl is a slim wristband with conductive sensors that transmit sound, including speech and music, through the flesh in a user's hand. Originally a concept dreamed up by Samsung's C-Lab, the first Sgnls will be sent to Kickstarter supporters in March, before going on general sale.


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Redrow York set to consider 970 new homes for city's outskirts
 Developers have revealed plans to build 970 new houses and a primary school on the edge of York.

National housebuilder Redrow has drawn up proposals for the north east of the city, near Huntington, on a site bounded by Monks Cross Link Road to the east and North Lane to the north.

The development would cost £100 million to build and take ten years to complete, at a rate of around 100 homes a year.

As well as the houses and school, there would be sports pitches, a play area and public open areas.

‘Vibrant village centre’

Redrow says the school and commercial, transport and sports facilities would be at the heart of the development, to form a vibrant village centre.

The site is within the Outer Ring Road has been deemed suitable for housing in various draft versions of York’s proposed Local Plan, so will likely prove less controversial in principle than a separate, larger plan north of the bypass, reported earlier this month in the York Press.

Redrow revealed its ideas for the site at two local consultation events earlier this month, and intends to submit a formal planning application to City of York Council early in the New Year.

Redrow said it was keen to “create a community that is not just another new development”. They say they will include affordable housing.

It says:

The extended village will have new community facilities to meet the needs of the future and existing residents, including a small local shop, primary school and public open space and playing fields. It is expected that the primary school will be designed to a standard that facilitates wider public uses, to act as a community hub.

‘Respecting the landscape’

Elsewhere in the information they sent to YorkMix, Redrow says: “Monks Cross North will be a leading example of a high-quality sustainable community, through the creation of a place that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

“The development will draw on the features of the site while respecting the landscape setting of the surrounding green belt.”

Huntington and New Earswick councillor Keith Orrell said: “Local councillors know this has long been in the Local Plan.

“When the Local Plan process finishes, we look forward to local people being consulted about the details.”

City of York Council has struggled for many years to complete an acceptable Local Plan, a landmark document meant to help determine the future development of the city.

The plan identifies which parts of the city are suitable for what sorts of development, and aims to project how many houses will be needed to accommodate the city’s growth.

Disputes between parties have seen repeated disagreements and rewrites, but the current administration now hopes to submit a plan to the Government by May 2018.

Output: UK housebuilder Redrow has outlined a £100m ($134m) 970-homes plan for the outskirts of York. The development, which would take 10 years to complete, would also feature a school and public open spaces. It's proposed as part of the city's Local Plan, which aims to identify sites for future development in and around York. Redrow is set to submit a formal planning application to the City of York Council early in 2018, while York council aims to submit its Local Plan to government by May.


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Allianz X invests $96.6m in microinsurer BIMA
 Allianz’s digital investment unit Allianz X has invested $96.6m in digital microinsurer BIMA. BIMA will now look to hit its goal of obtaining 1 billion customers.

The move sees Allianz become BIMA’s largest strategic shareholder, and only insurance shareholder, in the tech platform.

“The strategic investment in BIMA contributes to the digital transformation of the Allianz Group and our commitment to emerging markets,” said Allianz X chief executive Nazim Cetin. “I am thrilled to work with colleagues who have such entrepreneurial spirit and look forward to our collaboration.”

BIMA offers low-income families access to microinsurance products in 14 emerging markets. BIMA has 24 million registered customers to date.

It will aim to use the raised funds for growth through continued mobile penetration. BIMA already has partnerships with mobile operators, as it uses mobile technology to make its products accessible to people who might not have another way of buying insurance.

BIMA founder and chief executive Gustaf Agartson said, “We are very excited to have Allianz as a shareholder. Allianz is the perfect insurance partner and investor for BIMA because of their strong commitment to emerging markets and overlapping footprint. This investment will allow us to continue our journey to innovate, scale existing as well as new markets, and retain our place as the emerging market insurtech leader. Allianz’s significant expertise and knowledge in the insurance space will enable BIMA to further improve our product portfolio and provide valuable products to the emerging market consumers.”

Output: Microinsurance platform BIMA can now count Allianz as its largest strategic shareholder after the firm made a $96.6m investment via its Allianz X digital investment division. BIMA aims to provide low-income customers with insurance policies and is already operating in 14 emerging markets. The platform has 24 million users, but hopes to grow that number to one billion. BIMA is hoping to use the investment to further its mobile capabilities. The company uses its mobile platform to make policies available to customers who otherwise would have no other way of purchasing insurance.


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Virgin Hyperloop One tube train breaks speed record in US tests
 For those of you holding out hope for one more high-speed test of the hyperloop before the end of the year, you’re in luck. On December 15th, Virgin Hyperloop One conducted the third demonstration of its not-to-scale system in the desert outside of Las Vegas, sending its magnetically levitating pod through a nearly airless tube at 240 mph (387 km/h).

It was a significant increase over the team’s previous record of 192 mph, but far less than the hyperloop’s theoretical maximum speed of 700 mph. The company believes it would need an additional 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) of track to hit that velocity. As it stands, the XP-1 pod’s maximum achievable speed in the current 1,620-foot DevLoop test track is 250 mph.

less than the theoretical maximum speed of 700 mph

It was a bit of good news for the company, which has just experienced a major rebranding and leadership shake-up. Yesterday, it was reported that co-founder and chairman Shervin Pishevar is out, thanks to allegations of sexual assault and misconduct (which Pishevar denies), and Virgin Group co-founder Richard Branson is in. Branson also helped secure a new $50 million investment from two existing investors, which sources say will help the cash-strapped company help meet its payroll obligations.

Perhaps more important than the speed of the XP-1 pod was the demonstration of the team’s new airlock technology. In order to obtain the high speeds first theorized in Elon Musk’s 2013 white paper, the hyperloop pod needs to travel through a near-vacuum state. This frictionless environment allows the magnetically levitating pod to travel at airliner-speeds through the length of the tube. The airlock will be a key factor in transferring pods with passengers or cargo between atmospheric states.

According to Virgin Hyperloop One:

All components of the system were successfully tested including the airlock, highly efficient electric motor, advanced controls and power electronics, custom magnetic levitation and guidance, pod suspension, and the vacuum. The tests were conducted in a tube depressurized down to the equivalent air pressure experienced at 200,000 feet above sea level. A Virgin Hyperloop One pod quickly lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag.

The ability to maintain a vacuum in the tube, especially one hundreds of miles long, is one of the steepest challenges facing the hyperloop. Every time a pod arrives at a station, it has to decelerate and stop. Then the airlock will have to close, pressurize, and open again. Then the pod has to clear the airlock before the next pod arrives. The speed in which this occurs will determine the distance between pods.

one of the steepest challenges facing the hyperloop

The longer the headway, the less capacity these pods will have, which may determine how useful a mass transit system the hyperloop can be. Operators can try to compensate by building larger pods, but then they’ll need stronger steel for their tubes to accommodate the added weight, and that spells higher costs.

Virgin Hyperloop One’s speed record may not stand for long. It is only slightly more than the 220 mph notched by Musk’s own Tesla-branded pod back in August at the conclusion of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition in Hawthorne, California. The student team from Germany’s WARR Hyperloop, took home the top prize in the competition for its pod which traveled 201 mph.

Output: Virgin's Hyperloop One -- a magnetic levitation train that glides through airless tubes -- achieved a record-breaking speed of 240 mph during a test of its XP-1 model, according to reports. The landmark puts it ahead of rival Tesla, whose own "pod" hit 220 mph in August, while Germany’s WARR Hyperloop notched up 201 mph. Virgin's test also showed off the XP-1's airlock technology, a crucial component to the company's hyperloop. Richard Branson recently stepped in as chairman and secured a $50m investment for the beleaguered firm after co-founder Shervin Pishevar was ousted amid allegations of sexual assault.


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Volvo's Drive Me autonomous vehicle project reduces in scale
 GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Volvo’s Drive Me autonomous driving project is taking some detours compared with promises the automaker made when it announced the program four years ago, but Volvo says the changes will make its first Level 4 vehicle even better when it arrives in 2021.

In early announcements about Drive Me, Volvo promised to have 100 self-driving vehicles on the road but that has been downgraded. Volvo now says it will have 100 people involved in the Drive Me program within the next four years. Initially, the people taking part in Drive Me will test the cars with the same Level 2 semiautonomous assistance systems that are commercially available to anyone who purchases the vehicle in markets such as Europe and the U.S.

Drive Me is a public autonomous driving experiment that now includes families in Sweden and will be extended to London and China later. The goal is to provide Volvo with customer feedback for its first model with Level 4 autonomy, which means the car can drive itself but still has a steering wheel and pedals so that the driver can take control when needed.

“On the journey, some of the questions that we thought were really difficult to answer have been answered much faster than we expected. And in some areas, we are finding that there were more issues to dig into and solve than we expected,” Marcus Rothoff, Volvo’s autonomous driving program director, told Automotive News Europe.

One of those issues is the automaker’s reluctance to pick a so-called “sensor set” too early.

“The development in sensor performance and processor capabilities is going so much faster than we expected in 2013,” Rothoff said Monday. “Because advancements are being made at such a rapid pace, we want to make this decision as late as possible.”

Volvo also wants to make sure its customers are completely confident with the new technology because if they don’t trust it they won’t use it. Failure here would result in the launch of “a high-cost product with limited customer value," Rothoff said.

“It’s about keeping stable controls so the car behaves like it knows what it is doing,” he added.

It’s also about finding a way to provide something that customers around the world will be willing to pay a premium to own.

“The autonomous car must be the safest car on the road,” Rothoff said. “But you don’t just pay for it being the safest. You need to know it has a value. The research is helping us extract what this value is.”

Volvo already has an idea what future customers will value most: time, especially during their daily drive to and from the office.

“I think offering time during the commute will be one of those values that people will want for a premium car,” he said.

His boss, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson, has said equipping a car with Level 4 functionality could cost add "close to $10,000” to the price.

There is another hurdle that Volvo has encountered that it didn’t foresee when the Drive Me project started in 2013. “The electrical architecture is a really huge challenge that has been more than we expected when we started the project,” Rothoff said.

Output: The swift evolution of sensor technology and the unforeseen challenges of electrical architecture are among the reasons car-maker Volvo has scaled back its Drive Me autonomous driving project. The initiative, launched in 2013, will now involve 100 people, rather than 100 vehicles as Volvo had previously stated, over the next four years. Families in China and London will be joining existing participants already road-testing the Level 2 technology in Sweden. Feedback will then be used to improve the manufacturer's Level 4 cars, set to launch in 2021.


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Facebook faces litigation over ads excluding older workers
 This story was co-published with The New York Times.

A few weeks ago, Verizon placed an ad on Facebook to recruit applicants for a unit focused on financial planning and analysis. The ad showed a smiling, millennial-aged woman seated at a computer and promised that new hires could look forward to a rewarding career in which they would be “more than just a number.”

Some relevant numbers were not immediately evident. The promotion was set to run on the Facebook feeds of users 25 to 36 years old who lived in the nation’s capital, or had recently visited there, and had demonstrated an interest in finance. For a vast majority of the hundreds of millions of people who check Facebook every day, the ad did not exist.

Ad From Verizon This Verizon recruiting ad appeared on Facebook last month, seeking financial analysts aged 25 to 36. Verizon didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment about this ad.

Verizon is among dozens of the nation's leading employers — including Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Target and Facebook itself — that placed recruitment ads limited to particular age groups, an investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times has found.

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The ability of advertisers to deliver their message to the precise audience most likely to respond is the cornerstone of Facebook’s business model. But using the system to expose job opportunities only to certain age groups has raised concerns about fairness to older workers.

Several experts questioned whether the practice is in keeping with the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which prohibits bias against people 40 or older in hiring or employment. Many jurisdictions make it a crime to “aid” or “abet” age discrimination, a provision that could apply to companies like Facebook that distribute job ads.

“It’s blatantly unlawful,” said Debra Katz, a Washington employment lawyer who represents victims of discrimination.

Facebook defended the practice. “Used responsibly, age-based targeting for employment purposes is an accepted industry practice and for good reason: it helps employers recruit and people of all ages find work,” said Rob Goldman, a Facebook vice president.

The revelations come at a time when the unregulated power of the tech companies is under increased scrutiny, and Congress is weighing whether to limit the immunity that it granted to tech companies in 1996 for third-party content on their platforms.

Facebook has argued in court filings that the law, the Communications Decency Act, makes it immune from liability for discriminatory ads.

Browse the Ads These Are the Job Ads You Can’t See on Facebook If You’re Older It is against the law to discriminate against workers older than 40 in hiring and recruitment. We found dozens of companies who bought Facebook ads aimed at recruiting workers within limited age ranges.

Although Facebook is a relatively new entrant into the recruiting arena, it is rapidly gaining popularity with employers. Earlier this year, the social network launched a section of its site devoted to job ads. Facebook allows advertisers to select their audience, and then Facebook finds the chosen users with the extensive data it collects about its members.

The use of age targets emerged in a review of data originally compiled by ProPublica readers for a project about political ad placement on Facebook. Many of the ads include a disclosure by Facebook about why the user is seeing the ad, which can be anything from their age to their affinity for folk music.

The precision of Facebook’s ad delivery has helped it dominate an industry once in the hands of print and broadcast outlets. The system, called microtargeting, allows advertisers to reach essentially whomever they prefer, including the people their analysis suggests are the most plausible hires or consumers, lowering the costs and vastly increasing efficiency.

Targeted Facebook ads were an important tool in Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. The social media giant has acknowledged that 126 million people saw Russia-linked content, some of which was aimed at particular demographic groups and regions. Facebook has also come under criticism for the disclosure that it accepted ads aimed at “Jew-haters” as well as housing ads that discriminated by race, gender, disability and other factors.

Other tech companies also offer employers opportunities to discriminate by age. ProPublica bought job ads on Google and LinkedIn that excluded audiences older than 40 — and the ads were instantly approved. Google said it does not prevent advertisers from displaying ads based on the user’s age. After being contacted by ProPublica, LinkedIn changed its system to prevent such targeting in employment ads.

Help Us Investigate Help Us Monitor Political Ads Online ProPublica launches a “PAC” to scrutinize campaign ads on Facebook.

The practice has begun to attract legal challenges. On Wednesday, a class-action complaint alleging age discrimination was filed in federal court in San Francisco on behalf of the Communications Workers of America and its members — as well as all Facebook users 40 or older who may have been denied the chance to learn about job openings. The plaintiffs’ lawyers said the complaint was based on ads for dozens of companies that they had discovered on Facebook.

The database of Facebook ads collected by ProPublica shows how often and precisely employers recruit by age. In a search for “part-time package handlers,” United Parcel Service ran an ad aimed at people 18 to 24. State Farm pitched its hiring promotion to those 19 to 35.

Some companies, including Target, State Farm and UPS, defended their targeting as a part of a broader recruitment strategy that reached candidates of all ages. The group of companies making this case included Facebook itself, which ran career ads on its own platform, many aimed at people 25 to 60. “We completely reject the allegation that these advertisements are discriminatory,” said Goldman of Facebook.

After being contacted by ProPublica and the Times, other employers, including Amazon, Northwestern Mutual and the New York City Department of Education, said they had changed or were changing their recruiting strategies.

Download the Extension You can download the Facebook Political Ad Collector from the Chrome Web Store or the Mozilla Add-ons Store.

“We recently audited our recruiting ads on Facebook and discovered some had targeting that was inconsistent with our approach of searching for any candidate over the age of 18,” said Nina Lindsey, a spokeswoman for Amazon, which targeted some ads for workers at its distribution centers between the ages of 18 and 50. “We have corrected those ads.”

Verizon did not respond to requests for comment.

Several companies argued that targeted recruiting on Facebook was comparable to advertising opportunities in publications like the AARP magazine or Teen Vogue, which are aimed at particular age groups. But this obscures an important distinction. Anyone can buy Teen Vogue and see an ad. Online, however, people outside the targeted age groups can be excluded in ways they will never learn about.

“What happens with Facebook is you don’t know what you don’t know,” said David Lopez, a former general counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who is one of the lawyers at the firm Outten & Golden bringing the age-discrimination case on behalf of the communication workers union.

‘They Know I’m Dead’

Age discrimination on digital platforms is something that many workers suspect is happening to them, but that is often difficult to prove.

Mark Edelstein at his home in St. Louis, Missouri (Whitney Curtis for The New York Times)

Mark Edelstein, a fitfully employed social-media marketing strategist who is 58 and legally blind, doesn’t pretend to know what he doesn’t know, but he has his suspicions.

Edelstein, who lives in St. Louis, says he never had serious trouble finding a job until he turned 50. “Once you reach your 50s, you may as well be dead,” he said. “I’ve gone into interviews, with my head of gray hair and my receding hairline, and they know I’m dead.”

Ad From HubSpot This HubSpot ad aimed at people aged 27 to 40 appeared on Facebook in November. The company said that this ad was a mistake and that the company would not use the age-targeting feature again.

Edelstein spends most of his days scouring sites like LinkedIn and Indeed and pitching hiring managers with personalized appeals. When he scrolled through his Facebook ads on a Wednesday in December, he saw a variety of ads reflecting his interest in social media marketing: ads for the marketing software HubSpot (“15 free infographic templates!”) and TripIt, which he used to book a trip to visit his mother in Florida.

What he didn’t see was a single ad for a job in his profession, including one identified by ProPublica that was being shown to younger users: a posting for a social media director job at HubSpot. The company asked that the ad be shown to people aged 27 to 40 who live or were recently living in the United States.

“Hypothetically, had I seen a job for a social media director at HubSpot, even if it involved relocation, I ABSOLUTELY would have applied for it,” Edelstein said by email when told about the ad.

A HubSpot spokeswoman, Ellie Botelho, said that the job was posted on many sites, including LinkedIn, The Ladders and Built in Boston, and was open to anyone meeting the qualifications regardless of age or any other demographic characteristic.

She added that “the use of the targeted age-range selection on the Facebook ad was frankly a mistake on our part given our lack of experience using that platform for job postings and not a feature we will use again.”

For his part, Edelstein says he understands why marketers wouldn’t want to target ads at him: “It doesn’t surprise me a bit. Why would they want a 58-year-old white guy who’s disabled?”

Looking for ’Younger Blood’

Although LinkedIn is the leading online recruitment platform, according to an annual survey by SourceCon, an industry website. Facebook is rapidly increasing in popularity for employers.

One reason is that Facebook’s sheer size — two billion monthly active users, versus LinkedIn’s 530 million total members — gives recruiters access to types of workers they can’t find elsewhere.

Consider nurses, whom hospitals are desperate to hire. “They’re less likely to use LinkedIn,” said Josh Rock, a recruiter at a large hospital system in Minnesota who has expertise in digital media. “Nurses are predominantly female, there’s a larger volume of Facebook users. That’s what they use.”

There are also millions of hourly workers who have never visited LinkedIn, and may not even have a résumé, but who check Facebook obsessively.

Ad From Facebook This Facebook recruiting ad appeared on the social network in October, targeting people aged 25 to 60. The company defends its use of age-targeting as part of a broader recruitment strategy.

Deb Andrychuk, chief executive of the Arland Group, which helps employers place recruitment ads, said clients sometimes asked her firm to target ads by age, saying they needed “to start bringing younger blood” into their organizations. “It’s not necessarily that we wouldn’t take someone older,” these clients say, according to Andrychuk, “but if you could bring in a younger set of applicants, it would definitely work out better.”

Andrychuk said that “we coach clients to be open and not discriminate” and that after being contacted by The Times, her team updated all their ads to ensure they didn’t exclude any age groups.

But some companies contend that there are permissible reasons to filter audiences by age, as with an ad for entry-level analyst positions at Goldman Sachs that was distributed to people 18 to 64. A Goldman Sachs spokesman, Andrew Williams, said showing it to people above that age range would have wasted money: roughly 25 percent of those who typically click on the firm’s untargeted ads are 65 or older, but people that age almost never apply for the analyst job.

“We welcome and actively recruit applicants of all ages,” Williams said. “For some of our social-media ads, we look to get the content to the people most likely to be interested, but do not exclude anyone from our recruiting activity.”

Pauline Kim, a professor of employment law at Washington University in St. Louis, said the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, unlike the federal anti-discrimination statute that covers race and gender, allows an employer to take into account “reasonable factors” that may be highly correlated with the protected characteristic, such as cost, as long as they don’t rely on the characteristic explicitly.

The Question of Liability

In various ways, Facebook and LinkedIn have acknowledged at least a modest obligation to police their ad platforms against abuse.

Earlier this year, Facebook said it would require advertisers to “self-certify” that their housing, employment and credit ads were compliant with anti-discrimination laws, but that it would not block marketers from purchasing age-restricted ads.

Still, Facebook didn’t promise to monitor those certifications for accuracy. And Facebook said the self-certification system, announced in February, was still being rolled out to all advertisers.

Ad From Amazon This Amazon recruiting ad appeared on Facebook in November, aimed at people aged 18 to 50. The company said it has corrected the ads and is changing its recruiting strategy.

LinkedIn, in response to inquiries by ProPublica, added a self-certification step that prevents employers from using age ranges when placing an employment ad, unless they affirm the ad is not discriminatory.

With these efforts evolving, legal experts say it is unclear how much liability the tech platforms could have. Some civil rights laws, like the Fair Housing Act, explicitly require publishers to assume liability for discriminatory ads.

But the Age Discrimination in Employment Act assigns liability only to employers or employment agencies, like recruiters and advertising firms.

The lawsuit filed against Facebook on behalf of the communications workers argues that the company essentially plays the role of an employment agency — collecting and providing data that helps employers locate candidates, effectively coordinating with the employer to develop the advertising strategies, informing employers about the performance of the ads, and so forth.

Regardless of whether courts accept that argument, the tech companies could also face liability under certain state or local anti-discrimination statutes. For example, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act makes it unlawful to “aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing” of discriminatory acts proscribed by the statute.

“They may have an obligation there not to aid and abet an ad that enables discrimination,” said Cliff Palefsky, an employment lawyer based in San Francisco.

The question may hinge on Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which protects internet companies from liability for third-party content.

Tech companies have successfully invoked this law to avoid liability for offensive or criminal content — including sex trafficking, revenge porn and calls for violence against Jews. Facebook is currently arguing in federal court that Section 230 immunizes it against liability for ad placement that blocks members of certain racial and ethnic groups from seeing the ads.

“Advertisers, not Facebook, are responsible for both the content of their ads and what targeting criteria to use, if any,” Facebook argued in its motion to dismiss allegations that its ads violated a host of civil rights laws. The case does not allege age discrimination.

Share Your Story Got a Story About Age Discrimination in the Workplace? We Want to Hear From You. We know American employers don’t always treat older workers fairly. We need your help figuring out what that looks like.

Eric Goldman, professor and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law, who has written extensively about Section 230, says it is hard to predict how courts would treat Facebook’s age-targeting of employment ads.

Goldman said the law covered the content of ads, and that courts have made clear that Facebook would not be liable for an advertisement in which an employer wrote, say, “no one over 55 need apply.” But it is not clear how the courts would treat Facebook’s offering of age-targeted customization.

According to a federal appellate court decision in a fair-housing case, a platform can be considered to have helped “develop unlawful content” that users play a role in generating, which would negate the immunity.

“Depending on how the targeting is happening, you can make potentially different sorts of arguments about whether or not Google or Facebook or LinkedIn is contributing to the development” of the ad, said Deirdre K. Mulligan, a faculty director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

Output: Dozens of leading US employers, including Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Target and Verizon, placed recruitment advertisements on Facebook that were restricted to specific age groups, according to an investigation by non-profit newsroom ProPublica and the New York Times. Facebook itself has also employed the practice, which some analysts argue might infringe the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. A class-action age discrimination complaint was filed in San Francisco on Wednesday on behalf of Facebook users aged 40 or older by the Communications Workers of America trade union.


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Statoil adds to Brazil oil assets with $2.9bn Petrobras deal
 Statoil has bought a stake in one of Brazil's largest oilfields from national oil company Petrobras for up to $2.85 billion.

This will nearly triple its production off the South American country, the Norwegian firm said today.

Statoil bought a 25% stake in the Roncador oilfield, Petrobras' third-largest producing field, situated in the Campos basin offshore Brazil.

The deal consists of an initial payment of $2.35 billion plus "additional contingent payments" of up to $550m, Statoil said.

After the transaction, Statoil's output off Brazil will increase to 110,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day from around 40,000 boe per day, it said.

Petrobras will continue to operate the field and will hold a 75% stake.

Roncador holds expected remaining recoverable volumes of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Statoil said.

"The ambition is to increase the recovery factor by at least 5 percentage points, bringing the total remaining recoverable volumes to more than 1,500 million boe," it said.

The transaction over Roncador will take effect from January 1. The deal is subject to approval from Brazilian authorities.

Output: Statoil will buy a 25% stake in the Roncador oil field off Brazil from Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) for as much as $2.9bn, tripling its presence in its biggest growth market outside Norway. The Campos Basin field still holds recoverable resources of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent after producing since the 1990s, Statoil said. Statoil has taken advantage of lower asset prices during crude’s slump and a Petrobras divestment program to build its position in Brazil.


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Fir Tree backs Icahn bid to end SandRidge deal
 NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fir Tree Partners ("Fir Tree"), manager of certain funds that together beneficially own, through common stock and warrants, approximately 8.2% of the common stock of SandRidge Energy, Inc. ("SandRidge"), today issued an open letter to the Board of Directors of SandRidge reiterating its strong opposition to SandRidge's proposed acquisition of Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. ("Bonanza") and voicing its support for the position of Icahn Capital LP laid out in its Proxy Statement that the Company should NOT issue more shares of common stock in connection with such a transaction. The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Members of the Board of Directors:

As one of SandRidge's largest shareholders, we are writing to reiterate our strong disapproval over the decision of the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") to acquire Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. by issuing a considerable amount of undervalued Company common stock (the "Stock Issuance").

As you are no doubt aware, a fund managed by Icahn Capital LP ("Icahn Capital") has filed a preliminary proxy statement urging shareholders to vote "AGAINST" the Stock Issuance (the "Proxy").

Fir Tree has Independently Reached the Same Conclusion as Icahn Capital and Strongly Supports the Position Laid Out in Icahn Capital's Proxy: The Proposed Share Issuance to Finance the Bonanza Acquisition is Dilutive, Non-Strategic and Significantly Over-values Bonanza.

As we have noted previously, the Bonanza acquisition represents a complete about face by management of its disciplined post bankruptcy strategy and would be extremely destructive to shareholder value:

The acquisition's proposed purchase price implies an unjustified premium to SandRidge's current valuation;

The acquisition presents no obvious synergies between SandRidge and Bonanza's assets;

The proposed purchase price constitutes more than a 75% premium to the $421 million valuation established when Bonanza creditors invested new capital just six months ago; and

valuation established when Bonanza creditors invested new capital just six months ago; and The acquisition represents nonsensical empire building that echoes back to SandRidge's descent into bankruptcy when this same management team acquired disparate assets and added leverage and costs with reckless abandon.

Strategically, one of the Board's basic obligations to shareholders is to make decisions that optimize long-term shareholder value. With zero net debt and approximately 200,000 acres and decades of remaining inventory to exploit, we believe SandRidge would better position itself by returning capital to its shareholders and growing production in a disciplined manner, not through pursuing this reckless transaction.

Fir Tree Intends to Vote AGAINST the Stock Issuance

Accordingly, we intend to vote AGAINST the Stock Issuance in order to stop what we believe is a nonsensical and overpriced acquisition being pursued by a reckless, grossly over-compensated management team and what is unfortunately proving to be a rubber stamp Board.

Sincerely,

(sig)

Evan Lederman & David Proman

Fir Tree Partners

About Fir Tree Partners

Fir Tree Partners, founded in 1994 and located in New York City (HQ) and Miami, is a value-oriented investment manager that manages private investment funds for endowments, charitable and philanthropic foundations, pension funds and other institutional and private investors.

For More Information Contact:

Scott Tagliarino or Taylor Ingraham

ASC Advisors LLC

(203) 992-1230

SOURCE Fir Tree Partners

Output: Fir Tree Partners said it’s joining Carl Icahn in opposing SandRidge Energy’s plan to issue shares to fund a $750m takeover of a rival oil explorer Bonanza Creek Energy. Fir Tree said that the stock issuance would be “extremely destructive” and dismissed the proposed purchase as "nonsensical empire-building." The New York-based hedge fund said it owns about 8.2% of SandRidge shares, while Icahn owns 13.5%. Holders of more than 25% of the company have come out against the deal.


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Are You Missing Opportunities to Improve Care for Older Adults?
 It should be great news. The US knows what kind of care to provide for older adults. We have PACE (Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) programs in hospitals and communities, ACE (Acute Care of the Elderly) units in hospitals, and GRACE (Geriatric Resources for Assessment and Care of Elders) in hospitals, for example.

The problem is that even though we know what care to provide for older adults, we meet less than 10 percent of the total need in our country with the best evidence-based models of care available. This means that the majority of older adults in the US could be getting care that is unnecessary, ineffective, or harmful. And we know how to prevent this. But too often we don’t.

At IHI we see this as a classic failure of implementation. We understand what it will take to improve the lives of 46 million adults over age 65 in the US today, but we don’t reliably use the best evidence and implement the best practices for every older adult, every time.

Learn more about the

Consequently, the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) invited leading researchers, physicians, and health systems to develop a model to reliably provide the best care possible for older adults every day and everywhere they encounter the health care system. We reviewed hundreds of articles and care models to find the most effective ways to create what we call an “age-friendly” health system — one that will measurably improve the quality of care for older adults and optimize value for health systems.

We’ve determined that four key interventions are essential to create an age-friendly system of care. If care providers consistently do these four things for every older adult, every time, across care settings, we believe we will save lives and avoid harm. We call them the 4Ms:

Output: Less than 10 percent of the total health requirements for older adults is being met in the United States, despite evidence-based models of care, such as PACE (Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly), ACE (Acute Care of the Elderly) units, and GRACE (Geriatric Resources for Assessment and Care of Elders) being available. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) believes that better use should be made of the evidence and best practices that could be established for older adults’ care. Working alongside the John A. Hartford Foundation, the organization has invited health systems, researchers and physicians to create a model of care that can encompass all needs of older adults. Four key interventions have been determined as essential for older adult care: What Matters – each patient’s health goals and care preferences being taken into account; Medication – Optimized medication use; Mobility – maintaining function and movement and preventing mobility complications; and Mentation – managing depressions, delirium and dementia to reduce safety risks. The IHI has created a self-assessment tool for organizations to determine whether they are doing the maximum to meet these key interventions, and is working on the Creating Age-Friendly Health Systems (CAFHS) initiative prototype.


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These Annual Checkups Help Seniors Not Only Survive But Thrive
 This story can be republished for free ( details ). This story also ran on The Boston Globe

Bea Lipsky shuffled into her wellness coach’s office one morning this fall and parked her walker by the wall. Lipsky, 89, had had a trying year, enduring a hernia operation and two emergency room visits for heart problems. She’s losing her hearing, and recently gave up her dream of riding in a hot air balloon for her 90th birthday.

That day, though, she was filled with pride: She told her coach she’d achieved her goals for the year, including attending her grandson’s wedding in China.

Lipsky spent two months training, doing leg curls and riding a stationary bicycle, to build up the strength to make it through a 10-day trip to China, accompanied by an aide. “It was absolutely divine,” she told coach Susan Flashner-Fineman, who works at the Orchard Cove retirement community in Canton, Mass., where Lipsky has lived for the past four years.

Lipsky’s check-ins with Flashner-Fineman are part of a wellness coaching program, Vitalize 360, that Orchard Cove started eight years ago in collaboration with the Kendal nonprofit senior living organization in Pennsylvania.

When seniors arrive at Orchard Cove, a coach measures their health and wellness in an hourlong, one-on-one session, assessing common problems for seniors, like loneliness, pain and distress. The coach also asks about seniors’ families, friendships, and spiritual life. Then the seniors meet with their coach every year before their physical checkup with a doctor, to talk about what matters most to them. The coaches, who come from a variety of backgrounds, including fitness, social work and chaplaincy, help seniors set goals for the year — which could be physical, social, intellectual or spiritual. These goals become the focus for the senior’s medical team, and the seniors follow up with their coaches every three months to stay on track.

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Wellness coaching aims to rethink how we treat aging, said Aline Russotto, Orchard Cove’s executive director. “We used to be at our very best when somebody was in crisis,” she said.

But Orchard Cove staff think they can help residents live healthier and happier lives by shifting the focus away from “fixing what’s broken,” said Russotto, to “living your best day every single day until the end.”

Dr. Atul Gawande, author of “Being Mortal” and an expert on end-of-life care, calls the Vitalize 360 approach “transformative.” It recognizes that “even as you may have health issues and frailty and the difficulties that can come with aging … people have lives worth living. And in fact have a lot more life worth living,” he said.

When young people become disabled, others often help them find ways to contribute to the world, he noted, but that is much less true for older people.

“I see it as the kind of thing that you’d like to see go populationwide,” Gawande said. “You’d like to make it routine.”

Since the program started at Orchard Cove, fitness participation — the proportion of residents who exercise at least three times a week — has more than doubled, from 30 to 77 percent, and one study found participants felt significantly less depressed than a control group, with a notable jump in the number who said they felt “delighted with life.”

The program itself has spread to 35 communities in 12 states, reaching more than 2,600 older adults in independent or assisted living. Since existing staff can be retrained to serve as coaches, the program isn’t costly, though there is an annual fee for training and data-tracking software.

Flashner-Fineman, who spent a decade as Orchard Cove’s fitness director, travels to new sites several times a year to run a three-day training to teach new coaches the skills they’ll need to work with patients and run standardized assessments. She and her colleagues also train health professionals, leadership and other staff on how to orient their care around seniors’ goals.

At Orchard Cove, where the average age is almost 90, Flashner-Fineman coaches a wide range of seniors, including younger, healthy residents, like 74-year-old Janet Donnoe, a retired consultant.

In a recent visit, an energetic Donnoe announced “great progress” on her fitness goals. She now gets up at 5 a.m. on Tuesdays to drive off-campus for nearly two hours of aqua “boot camp” and weight training. Flashner-Fineman asked if Donnoe, who moved there recently, is making time to meet her neighbors, too.

Programs like this have emerged because seniors are living longer and defying predictions of cognitive and functional decline, said John Morris, a researcher at the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, which operates Orchard Cove. Morris designed the assessment tool that Vitalize 360 uses and is helping retirement communities track participants’ wellness.

Esther Adler, a 93-year-old poet, writer and former Hebrew school teacher, moved to Orchard Cove in 2012, a few years after her husband died. She set a goal to “be a productive person” but didn’t know exactly how.

After learning about her background in an extensive intake interview, staff invited her to start teaching Hebrew to patients on the skilled nursing floor. Adler discovered their memories were too short for language lessons, and started teaching Bible lessons and prayers instead — a practice she has continued for three years.

Adler, who also finds purpose in writing poetry and helping neighbors through hospice, has proved resilient amid physical setbacks: She broke her pelvis last year when she tripped in the lobby of a hotel room in Poland, the night before the premiere of a documentary about her life.

“They thought I would never walk,” Adler said. “Here I am, I’m walking.”

Lipsky, despite her successful trip to China, confessed she feels “hesitant” about the year ahead. “I’m not as active as I’d like to be,” she said. As she spoke, her right hand started shaking — a new symptom she hadn’t yet told her doctor about.

But Lipsky lit up talking about achieving another goal, finding a new way to cope with loss. She sat with her granddaughter two weeks before and dialed up a medium on Skype to try to communicate with her husband, Sidney, who died three years earlier.

“She breathed in our energy — on the computer!” Lipsky said. “It was eerie. We felt like he was there.”

She said it helped the family grieve and brought her happiness. Since the experience, she said, “our lives haven’t been the same.”

In the year ahead, she plans to attend another wedding, this time in Canada, and continue “finding unexpected things that bring me joy.”

KFF Health News' coverage of these topics is supported by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The SCAN Foundation

Output: Wellness coaching can provide regular check-ins for senior citizens to ensure that they not only survive, but thrive in their daily lives. Offering one-on-one sessions for an hour, these sessions take place alongside physical check-ups with physicians and cover what patients care about the most, such as physical, intellectual, spiritual and social goals. These are then relayed to the medical teams taking care of these patients and incorporated into their care program, with three-month catch-up sessions to ensure progress is met. Rather than focusing on times of crisis, the teams establish healthier ways of living and achieving goals for senior citizens in an ongoing fashion. Wellness coaching program Vitalize 360 has seen fitness participation double from 30 percent to 77 percent since being initiated at the Orchard Cove retirement community, and has noted that depression has reduced when compared to a control group. The program is currently run in 35 communities across 12 states, caring for over 2,600 adults in assisted or independent living. Staff already present can be retrained as coaches, and the costs are low, requiring an annual training fee and data tracking software payment. Programs such as these are necessary as older adults are living lengthier lives and defying cognitive and functional decline predictions.


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Saudi Aramco considers stake in Indonesian toll road company
 JAKARTA: PT Waskita Karya, an Indonesian state-owned construction company, is in talks with a group of investors including Islamic Development Bank and Saudi Arabian Oil Co. to sell a stake in a unit that builds and operates toll roads.

The consortium also includes Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Waskita is aiming to conclude a deal early next year, President Director Muhammad Choliq said.

PT Waskita Toll Road owns 18 toll roads, mostly in Java, and counts state pension fund PT Taspen and financing company PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur as shareholders, he said.

Waskita is seeking to raise funds by selling toll roads to finance future projects as Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo pursues an aggressive infrastructure agenda to improve road, rail and port connectivity in the archipelago. The government will cease budgetary support to state companies from next year and is pushing them to fund infrastructure projects either through debt or equity.

“We are still negotiating the price and hopefully we can reach an agreement early next year,” Choliq said in an interview on Thursday.

“Aramco wants to diversify its business because of weak oil prices and they are keen to invest in Indonesia’s infrastructure projects.”

Aramco didn’t respond to an email requesting comment, while Khazanah declined to comment.

Nabil El Alami, head of marketing and communications for IDB’s Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector in Jeddah, didn’t respond to calls and an email requesting comment.

Lack of toll-road bidders casts doubt on Widodo spending funds

Indonesia won pledges of US$1bil in development finance from Saudi Arabia and signed agreements to cut trade barriers between the two countries during King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s visit earlier this year. That’s on top of a US$6bil oil refinery deal between Saudi Aramco and Indonesia’s PT Pertamina signed in December last year.

Saudi Arabia is also planning an initial public offering for Aramco as it seeks to set up the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund and reduce the economy’s reliance on hydrocarbons.

The World Bank estimates Indonesia needs about US$500bil over the next five years to bridge its infrastructure gap. The government has identified 245 projects worth about US$325bil as a priority.

Waskita is also talking to PT Astra Infra for selling a stake in the toll road projects, Choliq said. The company will pursue an initial public offering of shares in the second half of next year if it fails to find a strategic buyer by the end of the first quarter of 2018, he said. Waskita failed to get “acceptable offers” for 10 toll road projects it put up for auction in September.

Waskita is targeting 60 trillion rupiah (US$4bil) of new contracts in 2018, the same as this year, and sees net income rising to 7 trillion rupiah if it completes divestment of the toll roads, Choliq said. Net income may be lower at 5 trillion rupiah without the divestment, which would still be up from 4 trillion rupiah seen this year, he said.

Waskita shares rallied as much as 5.8% to 2,180 rupiah in Jakarta on Monday, paring losses to 15% this year, while the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index retreated 0.4% to trim gains to 15% this year. - Bloomberg

Output: Saudi Aramco, Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional and Islamic Development Bank are among investors mulling taking a stake in a unit of Indonesian state-owned construction company Waskita Karya that builds and operates toll roads, said President Director Muhammad Choliq. Waskita Toll Road owns 18 toll roads, mostly in Java. “Aramco wants to diversify its business because of weak oil prices and they are keen to invest in Indonesia’s infrastructure projects", he said.


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Internet to lose ‘basic utility’ classification after FCC vote
 The FCC has repealed its own 2015 net-neutrality rules in a 3-2 vote.

The repeal is likely to be met with lawsuits and a push to bring back the regulations through legislation in Congress.

The FCC's meeting was interrupted by a security threat, forcing everyone to evacuate the room while police searched the area with sniffing dogs.

Federal regulators voted Thursday to eliminate a two-year-old rule that classified internet access as a basic utility, a controversial move that will give broadband providers more leeway to sell different tiers of internet service but which critics say will leave consumers and web startups at the mercy of the big telecommunications companies.

In a partisan vote repealing net-neutrality protections, the FCC has lifted restrictions that prevented internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking certain websites or from charging companies and customers more for internet "fast lanes."

Those so-called fast lanes could mean the difference between a smooth, TV-like experience watching online videos or a frustrating frozen screen — a vital distinction as services like entertainment, news, and education shift to online platforms.

As expected, the vote passed the commission in a 3-2 party-line vote, with Republicans voting for the repeal and Democrats voting against it.

Now that the repeal is official, it’s likely headed to court.

Several groups have already said they plan to file lawsuits against the decision on the grounds that the FCC didn’t seriously consider the millions of pro-net-neutrality comments submitted to the commission. There will also be a push to get Congress to bring back net-neutrality regulations through legislation.

The 2015 net-neutrality rule, passed under the administration of President Obama, classified broadband internet service under Title II of the Communications Act, essentially defining it as a basic utility such as telephone service.

A 'great day' on the 'wrong side of history'

Critics of Thrusday's vote to repeal net neutrality say it will result in higher prices and fewer choices for consumers, and that it will be a boon to ISPs that will enter into a new environment where they'll be free to commoditize the internet and figure out new ways make money off their customers' internet access.

The vote brought out passionate comments from Republicans and Democrats on the commission. Democratic commissioner Mignon Clyburn gave the most impassioned plea for protecting net neutrality.

“I dissent from this fiercely spun, legally lightweight, consumer-harming, corporate-enabling Destroying Internet Freedom Order,” Clyburn said in her opening remarks.

The Republican members of the commission brought back their previous arguments from when the first proposed net neutrality repeal. They said it would bring back the lighter regulations the internet flourished under for most of its existence and would allow ISPs to invest more in broadband technologies.

The meeting was briefly interrupted in the middle of Chairman Ajit Pai’s remarks due to what the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service later said was a bomb threat. Guards and police dogs could be seen on The Washington Post’s live feed searching the room after it had been evacuated.

Here are some notes we took during the discussion of the net-neutrality repeal:

Output: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has voted to repeal net-neutrality protections, which classified internet access as a basic utility. The move will mean internet service providers (ISPs), particularly big telecoms firms, will be able to charge varied amounts for internet service levels and block websites. Advocates of the repeal suggest ISPs were hampered by the regulation, which was passed in 2015, and argued its repeal would boost innovation and broadband investment. Critics believe it will be a significant hit to consumers and small enterprises.


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Japan's iSpace raises $90m to advertise on the moon
 Dec 18, 2017 | By Tess

Japanese space startup iSpace Technologies Inc. has successfully raised $90 million in investments through a Series A financing round. The company says the funding will enable it to launch a spacecraft into lunar orbit by 2019, and eventually to offer a “projection mapping service” to advertise on the moon’s surface.

iSpace, founded in 2013 by Takeshi Hakamada, is an ambitious space exploration company that has its sights set on the resources available on the moon and in space. Specifically, the company is using 3D printing technologies to develop micro-robots capable of finding resources on the moon that could allow humans to stay and perhaps even settle on the moon.

As the Tokyo-based company says, “Our main focus is to locate, extract, and deliver lunar ice to customers in cis-lunar space.” Cis-lunar space, for those unfamiliar, refers to the area between the moon and the earth.

The recent investment round, which saw $90 million raised, was led by Japan Airlines Co. and Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings Inc., and included the Development Bank of Japan, Konica Minolta, Shimizy, Real Tech Fund, KDDI, Suzuki Motor, SPARX, Dentsu, and Toppan Printing.

As mentioned, the new funding will enable iSpace to launch two space missions. The first will be to send a spacecraft into lunar orbit by 2019, and the second will see that same ship land on the moon in 2020. The company’s investors will also provide support and technologies for the missions, including a projection mapping service, which will be a sort of billboard projection on the moon’s surface.

Presently, iSpace is using a range of innovative processes, such as 3D printing, to create low-cost micro-robots designed to explore the moon’s surface, gather data on resources, and even extract resources, such as lunar ice. These small robots, prototyped using 3D printing and off-the-shelf components, have the potential to explore the moon faster and in a more cost-effective manner than large rovers.

In iSpace’s “2040 Vision Movie,” the small moon rovers are deployed on the moon to find ice, which is then transported to processing machines which separate the hydrogen and oxygen in the water to create energy. This energy, in turn, could allow for a fuel station to be established in the moon which, down the line, would make it possible to have scheduled flights to the moon and, ultimately, moon settlers.

Coming back to the present, however, iSpace is preparing for its first missions. “We wanted to make sure that our financing for the next two missions was in place,” said Takeshi Hakamada, iSpace founder. “Through these two missions, we’re going to validate our technology to land on the moon safely. After we validate the technology, we’re going to enter the lunar transportation business.”

iSpace, as part of Team HAKUTO, is also a finalist in the $30 million Google Lunar XPrize competition, which is seeking to bolster privately-funded moon landing missions. The innovative company expects that by 2040, the moon could already have a population of about 1,000 as well as a significant tourism industry bringing in 10,000 visitors every year.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

Maybe you also like:

Ignacio wrote at 12/22/2017 2:28:46 AM:Pretty sure that's illegal.frank lipsky wrote at 12/19/2017 5:49:24 AM:billboards on the moon? .Of what possible value can this be to a civilized society? The Japanese or any other nation that attempts this should be ashamed and re-evaluate their moral codesMike wrote at 12/19/2017 2:43:57 AM:No. No. No. No. And, no.4WheelDrifter wrote at 12/19/2017 2:33:40 AM:Marvelous. What, are we running out of room on the highways???

Output: Japanese company iSpace Technologies has raised $90m in a series A funding round led by Japan Airlines and Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings. The start-up will use the cash to fund two missions, one in 2019 to put a craft in lunar orbit and a second in 2020 to land the same ship on the moon. iSpace is developing 3D printed robots which will collect samples from the satellite ahead of eventual human colonisation, and will also offer a "projection mapping service" enabling advertising on the lunar surface.


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MetaProp to take proptech start-up promotion programme global
 MetaProp has been an excellent investor as they understood our vision and lent us a great deal of credibility, which helped accelerate our progress significantly. They have invested three times in back to back rounds in less than 15 months, and continue to be both supportive and active, and we are grateful to have them as an investor in the company.

Alok Chanani CEO, BuildOps

Output: MetaProp founder Aaron Block has announced plans to expand across the globe in order to search out proptech start-ups. He claims that start-ups in the EMEA region "crave" guidance, programmes, networks and proven teams to assist with entry into markets. MetaProp has partnered with Columbia University to host a 20-week accelerator program aimed at start-ups wanting to enter international markets. The programme offers support and a potential investment of up to $250,000 by MetaProp.


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Pentagon confirms the existence of UFO hunting department
 When military intelligence officer Luis Elizondo stepped down from his post heading the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP)—the program created to investigate unidentified flying objects—in October, he cited lack of government support. “We tried to work within the system. We were trying to take the voodoo out of voodoo science,” Elizondo told Politico in a recent interview.

Until his departure the program, though unclassified, had nevertheless been a Pentagon secret in that its existence had never been publicly acknowledged. That is, until Saturday (Dec. 16), when Politico and the New York Times published reports tracing AATIP’s history from 2007 to today. The Pentagon confirmed AATIP’s existence, though it’s yet to comment on whether the program is still running despite lacking government funding.

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Former senate majority leader and retired Nevada lawmaker Harry Reid was AATIP’s catalyst, earmarking over $20 million of the defense department’s budget to fund it. Billionaire Robert Bigelow’s aerospace company secured many of the program’s early contracts. Bigelow, who now works at NASA, was the one who convinced Reid to move forward with establishing a UFO investigation program, according to the New York Times. He approached Reid earlier in 2007 about a Defense Intelligence Agency official’s interest in visiting his Skinwalker Ranch property in Utah—considered a point of interest for believers in paranormal and UFO activities.

Shortly after his meeting with Bigelow, Reid met with officials, who were also interested in establishing a UFO investigation program. AATIP had funds earmarked until 2012, though sources told the New York Times it has continued to operate and investigate potential sightings. Pentagon spokesperson Thomas Crosson told the Times the reason AATIP’s funding ran out was because “there were other, higher priority issues that merited funding.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Reid said he doesn’t regret a thing about helping to start AATIP. “I’m not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going. I think it’s one of the good things I did in my congressional service. I’ve done something that no one has done before,” Reid said.

Elizondo was clearly a fan of AATIP too, and hasn’t given up on UFO research. Following his resignation, he joined the for-profit To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences. Created by Blink-182 guitarist and singer Tom DeLong, the company is dedicated to studying unexplained aerial phenomena. Elizondo has begun speaking publicly about its mission in a bid for funding.

Output: The Pentagon has released data on its investigation of "anomalous aerial vehicles", or UFOs, following the departure of intelligence officer Luis Elizondo from the Defense Department. The data includes raw footage of fighter jets encountering hovering UFOs, and was released for public viewing following a request by Elizondo to publicly acknowledge the Defense Department's UFO analysis operation, the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program. The programme ran from 2007 and cost at least $22m and analysed "anomalous aerospace threats" from planes and drones to alien encounters.


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GM rolls out first in-dash com platform in auto industry
 GM wants to make life more efficient for its drivers and keep them on the road, so it's making sure you'll never have to leave the comfort of your car to order a coffee or pay for gas.

The automaker is rolling out a new commerce platform for its dashboard infotainment consoles with parter Xevo Inc. The new feature, dubbed the GM Marketplace, will allow drivers to order food and drink, find gas stations and pay for fuel, make restaurant reservations, and more using a personalized smart system honed by IBM Watson's machine learning techniques and user data.

GM says Marketplace will be the first in-dash commerce platform of its kind for the auto industry, but it's probably far from the last. The potential purchasing power of connected cars shouldn't be taken lightly, and capitalizing on the opportunity to make it easier to sell drivers even more stuff is a no-brainer.

SEE ALSO: You can now ask Waze for directions using your voice

Marketplace launches with a special GM section to allow drivers to purchase in-car data packages and parts, but the real centerpiece is the wide range of corporate partners. You can grab coffee and along your route at Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts, order meals from restaurants on delivery.com, Wingstop, Applebee's, or IHOP, or even reserve a table at TGI Fridays.

ExxonMobil and Shell will also be included in the Marketplace, with Shell offering on-dashboard payments through its Fuel Rewards program. More partners are expected to join the ecosystem going forward.

Marketplace will be included in eligible 2017 and 2018 model year vehicles from Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac that have 4G LTE-connections. GM says about four million US drivers will gain access to the in-car commerce options starting immediately, with more coming online over the next 12 to 18 months.

Output: General Motors (GM) and partner Xevo are launching Marketplace, a first-in-kind dashboard commerce platform that lets drivers find, order and pay for fuel, food, drinks and other products and services from their car. Personalised using machine learning techniques and user data from IBM Watson, the platform offers in-car data packages from GM and corporate partners include Starbucks, delivery.com, Exxon and Shell, which links to its Fuel Rewards programme. Marketplace will roll out immediately to around four million US drivers with 4G LTE-equipped 2017/2018 vehicles from GMC, Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet, and plans to add more models and partners.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
EC declares EU trademarks will cease in UK after Brexit
 The European Commission has sent an announcement stating that the effective date for Brexit with regard to IP rights will be 30 March 2019.

As of this date, the United Kingdom will become a “third state” and the registered and non-registered Community designs and EU trademarks will no longer be in effect in that country, but they will remain in effect of the other 27 Member States. The same will occur for pending applications.

This will likewise affect relations between the United Kingdom and the EU, as it will enforce the same requirements as those of the remaining non-member States.

See the announcement here.

Output: The European Commission has said that from the first day of Brexit, any registered and non-registered Community designs and European Union trademarks will no longer be in effect in the UK, as a "third state". They will remain in the other 27 member states.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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NextView buys 20% of lithium producer Bacanora Minerals
 Chinese institutional fund management group NextView Capital has reached an agreement to acquire a 19.89% equity interest in Bacanora Minerals, a lithium producer listed in London, UK, and Canada.

Under the agreement, the acquisition of the interest will take place through the placement of 32,976,635 common shares in Bacanora.

Proceeds from the placement are expected to be around £31.17m and will be used for the development of the company’s Sonora lithium project.

The agreement also includes an offtake component wherein Bacanora is required to supply NextView with 5,000tpa of lithium carbonate produced at its Sonora project in Mexico from its Stage 1 of production.

Bacanora Minerals CEO Peter Secker said: “NextView’s investment and offtake agreement underlines both the quality of our asset and the progress we have made to date.

“Through this investment, NextView Capital intends to build a long-term strategic partnership with Bacanorato capitalise on the expanding lithium battery raw materials market.”

“Together with highly favourable demand/supply dynamics for lithium carbonate driven by fast-growing end-markets such as electric vehicles and energy storage, the investment case for Bacanora is clear.”

The development comes after the company recently completed a feasibility study, which determined that the Sonora project has pre-tax net present value (NPV) of $1.253bn, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 26.2%, and life of mine (LoM) operating costs of $3,910/t of lithium carbonate.

NextView managing partner and president Yaping He said: “Through this investment, NextView Capital intends to build a long-term strategic partnership with Bacanorato capitalise on the expanding lithium battery raw materials market, which has significant potential given the electric vehicle industry in China, the largest new energy vehicles market in the world.”

The offtake agreement also includes a commitment to supply 8,000tpa of lithium carbonate during Stage 2 of the project and potential supply of a further 7,000tpa.

Bacanora expects to begin construction of mining and large-scale processing facilities at Sonora in the first half of next year.

Output: Chinese fund manager NextView Capital has agreed to acquire a 19.89% stake in Bacanora Minerals, a lithium producer listed in London and Canada. Proceeds from the placement are expected to be around £31.2m ($41.8m) and will be used to develop the company’s Sonora lithium project in Mexico. Under the deal, Bacanora has agreed to supply NextView with 5,000 tons per annum of lithium carbonate produced at Sonora.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ponce loosens grip on SQM to assuage Chilean regulator
 Esta jornada representantes de Pampa Calichera acudieron a la Corporación buscando nuevas posibilidades de acuerdo. Corfo ha exigido en varias ocasiones cambios relevantes en el gobierno corporativo de la minera, pidiendo la salida de Ponce como principal accionista, y ahora habría una nueva propuesta para ello. En un hecho esencial por separado, Calichera anunció que ponía fin al pacto de accionista con Kowa, acuerdo que le permitía a Ponce mantener control indirecto de SQM.

El conflicto entre Corfo y SQM dio un giro importante esta jornada. Tras el fracaso de la conciliación entre ambas partes, Julio Ponce estaría disponible a perder el control de la minera, abriéndose a cumplir uno de los mayores requisitos de la estatal, la cual exigió un cambio definitivo en el gobierno corporativo de SQM.

Este lunes el vicepresidente ejecutivo de CORFO, Eduardo Bitran, recibió en la Corporación -junto a otros directivos de la institución- a representantes de las sociedades SQM, Potash y Pampa Calichera, quienes solicitaron una audiencia por transparencia.

En esta reunión, según comunicó la Corfo, los representantes de Pampa Calichera dieron a conocer a la estatal una propuesta de cambio en la estructura de gobierno corporativo de SQM, consistente con los objetivos buscados por la Corporación.

Corfo, con tal de llegar a un acuerdo con la minera –a la cual acusa de incumplir una serie de cuestiones en los contratos de arriendo de pertenencias del Salar de Atacama- había exigido que la estructura de gobierno corporativo de SQM otorgue garantías permanentes de pleno cumplimiento de lo acordado y desarrollo de prácticas alineadas con los estándares de empresas globales y de la OCDE; que se aumente el nivel de rentas de arrendamiento para igualarlas con lo establecido en el contrato de Albemarle; establecer los derechos y protecciones de Corfo como propietario del Salar de Atacama; establecer el más alto estándar de vigilancia de cumplimiento de contratos y normas ambientales; aportar recursos a la Región de Antofagasta y a las comunidades locales; aportes significativos a investigación y desarrollo; opción de reserva de 25% de producción de litio para vender en Chile destinados a agregar valor al litio y mantención de contrato vigente hasta su fecha establecida, es decir, año 2030.

El primero de estos puntos era el más difícil de cumplir por la minera, considerando que Bitrán dijo en reiteradas ocasiones que para ello Julio Ponce debería perder su condición de controlador de SQM.

Tras ello, Corfo y SQM solicitaron esta jornada al árbitro Héctor Humes abrir un nuevo proceso de conciliación, dándose un plazo de 30 días (corridos) de suspensión del arbitraje. SQM expresó su disposición a considerar las condiciones propuestas por Corfo en el nuevo proceso de conciliación.

“Si bien no es posible anticipar el resultado de este nuevo proceso de conciliación -que se realizará en el marco del arbitraje-, de ser exitoso, además de obtener las condiciones exigidas por CORFO, la ampliación futura de las cuotas de Litio, permitirá a Chile expandir significativamente la oferta de Litio, durante el periodo del contrato, facilitando el desarrollo mundial de la electromovilidad, con el consiguiente efecto positivo en la industria del cobre baja en emisiones de CO2. La Corporación reitera su compromiso con establecer las condiciones que cautelen el interés público, ayudando así a restablecer la confianza de la ciudadanía en las instituciones de la República”, dijo la Corfo.

En un hecho esencial separado, Calichera anunció que ponía fin al pacto de accionista con Kowa, la japonesa que controla el 2% de SQM y que le permitía a Ponce mantener control indirecto de la minera no metálica.

Las dos sociedades pondrán fin al pacto de acuerdo de actuación conjunta en un plazo de 30 días.

Output: Julio Ponce has agreed that neither he nor any family member will hold a board or executive position in lithium miner SQM as he seeks to end a dispute with the Chilean government, forcing his brother Eugenio to step down as chairman. The holding companies through which Ponce controls SQM, Latin America's largest lithium and fertiliser producer, said they would adhere to the conditions imposed by government agency Corfo, allowing it to enter negotations over an extension of mining rights at one of the world’s richest sources of lithium.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Hammond, Carney visit China in search of new trade deals
 Around £1.4 billion worth of commercial deals, an agreement to accelerate the final preparations for the London-Shanghai Stock Connect initiative and new commitments to develop work on the Mutual Recognition of Funds and a bond connect, have been announced as part of the 9th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue ( EFD ) held in Beijing this weekend. And in a boost to UK businesses operating along the Belt and Road in Asia, up to £25 billion in financial support – such as loan guarantees – has also been announced.

The wide-ranging dialogue further strengthened the Golden Era in UK-China relations, successfully boosting cooperation across the two countries’ strategic partnership.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said:

These successful talks are an example of Global Britain at its best, demonstrating that we can work with our friends and partners across the world to support jobs, businesses and prosperity. This is testament to our strong and dynamic economy, and the world class talent and expertise we have to offer. These talks show the UK is truly open for business and we look forward to continuing the Golden Era of UK-China relations.

The Economic and Financial Dialogue involved a series of events over a two-day period, where agreements were reached on areas of trade and investment, deepening the financial services relationship, new partnerships on industrial strategy, and further ways in which the UK can partner on infrastructure initiatives.

These included:

Financial services

Final preparations for the London-Shanghai Stock Connect initiative, which will mean investors in each country will be able to trade shares listed on the other’s stock exchange, are to be accelerated. Building on this, the first steps were also taken in establishing a bond connect, with a view to opening up the bond market to mutual trading. There was also an agreement to progress Mutual Recognition of Funds work with the launch of a feasibility study, opening up China to the UK’s unrivaled asset management sector. The UK and China also engaged in deeper regulatory cooperation, including on financial stability, through the first meeting of the PBOC-Bank of England Symposium.

Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI )

The EFD set out further ways in which the UK, and specifically London as a global financial centre, can partner on the Belt and Road Initiative. To showcase the expertise the UK has to offer, Douglas Flint, former Chairman of HSBC Group, was announced as the Chancellor’s City Envoy to the BRI , and a City Expert Board will be established to bring together infrastructure financing, professional and emerging market expertise. Together these initiatives will facilitate further cooperation with China and create commercial opportunities for UK firms. In support of this Standard Chartered Bank also announced its support for the BRI by committing to facilitate financing to the value of at least $20 billion by 2020.

UK Export Finance affirmed up to £25 billion capacity to support new business in BRI countries in Asia, in a boost to UK businesses selling their goods and services. The UK and China also agreed to identify specific BRI projects to act as pathfinders for UK and Chinese collaboration, and to conduct research on mechanisms to support private sector financing of infrastructure development across the BRI . China recognises the UK’s world leading reputation in this area and greater partnership will increase global investment in UK infrastructure firms and enable them to export this expertise globally.

Trade and investment

Showing that the UK is open for business, the EFD saw a range of commercial announcements, worth around £1.4 billion. These include an agreement between Smiths Interconnect and Huafeng to establish a new joint venture working on products for High Speed Rail and commercial aviation; the establishment of UK fintech firm World First’s office and wholly foreign owned enterprise in Shanghai; and a partnership agreement between Tsinghua X-lab and Future Planet Capital to invest in innovative companies. The EFD also made substantial progress on issues which could unlock billions of pounds worth of agreements in the future. And in order to boost trade and investment and lay the foundations for a deeper future trading relationship ahead of the UK leaving the EU, the inaugural meeting of the new UK-China Trade Working Group took place. Progress was also made on implementing a reduction in tariffs on a range of food, retail and pharmaceutical goods, and the talks also built on previous EFDs in taking steps towards China lifting its ban on UK beef exports, put in place following the BSE crisis of the 90s.

Industrial Strategy

The UK and China discussed opportunities to collaborate on the UK’s new Industrial Strategy and welcomed the launch of a new UK China Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy. The UK are world leaders in innovative technologies like electric vehicles, so to build on the next generation electric vehicle package set out by the Chancellor at Budget and ensure Britain remains at the front of the pack in this market, a new collaboration was launched on zero carbon transport and Ultra Low Emission Vehicles ( ULEVs ). This includes cooperation on the £400 million Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund announced at the recent Autumn Budget. Discussions were also held with China’s most influential electric vehicles think tank, EV100, about collaborating more closely with Chinese automotive leaders to make it easier for UK and Chinese businesses to work together, boosting investment and creating more jobs.

Energy

The accompanying Energy Dialogue with China’s National Energy Administration saw the signing of an Action Plan to further cooperation between the UK and China on clean energy. Agreements were made between UK and Chinese businesses and research organisations to further develop renewable energy cooperation. The UK’s offshore Renewable Catapult will be linking up with TusPark Newcastle and TusWind to further offshore wind technology development between the UK and China, and UK-based engineering consultancy Mott Macdonald and the China Energy Engineering Corporation to work together in third countries on renewable energy projects.

The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Jones said:

Britain is an innovative hub, home to skills and services that are in high demand around the world. We are world leaders in electric vehicle technology and working with China will enable us to export this expertise globally. Deepening our trade and investment links will help create an UK economy fit for the future by generating new jobs and modern skills across the country.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Barclay said:

The relationship between the UK and China has brought real benefits, not just for our financial districts in the City, the Bund and Financial Street, but for our businesses and people across both nations. I’m incredibly proud of what our two countries have achieved together so far, and I’m excited to build on our growing partnership to build economies of the future.

Minister for Investment, Mark Garnier said:

Output: The chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, as well as senior executives from UK banks visited Beijing to discuss a reported £1.4bn ($1.9bn) of potential trade over the weekend 16-17 December. The trip is part of the ninth in a series of economic talks that began in 2008. However, this year's trip is more significant than previous visits because of the need for the UK to build up trading relationships outside the EU. An initiative allowing investors in each country to trade shares listed on the other's exchange was also announced.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Hammond, Carney visit China in search of new trade deals
 Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, will be in the delegation visiting China. He is pictured last month leaving Downing Street on his way to deliver his budget statement to parliament. Photo: Reuters

Output: The chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, as well as senior executives from UK banks visited Beijing to discuss a reported £1.4bn ($1.9bn) of potential trade over the weekend 16-17 December. The trip is part of the ninth in a series of economic talks that began in 2008. However, this year's trip is more significant than previous visits because of the need for the UK to build up trading relationships outside the EU. An initiative allowing investors in each country to trade shares listed on the other's exchange was also announced.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Economist Films Youtube subscriber count rises 140%
 The Economist Films division gets most of its views on Facebook, but like other publishers, it’s turning its attention to YouTube, where audiences tend to be more loyal and engaged than on Facebook.

The 20-plus person division began in mid-2015 with a focus on long-form series, like entrepreneur-focused “The Hub,” backed by Santander, and “The World in 2018,” supported by Thomson Reuters. This year, The Economist also started releasing three editorial videos a week, lasting under five minutes, like this on the gender pay gap or this on foreign aid distribution.

Recently, the publisher hired two staffers to focus solely on driving more engagement on Facebook and YouTube. They’re adapting short videos to both platforms, with attention-grabbing questions on the opening scene, such as, “Is this the world’s most powerful man?” for this video about China president Xi Jinping. The Economist has also started using YouTube’s end cards, which link to an additional piece of Economist content at the end of the video.

The effort is starting to pay off on YouTube. Since June, the subscriber count has grown nearly 140 percent, to about 400,000. In November, the average viewer watched 75 percent of each film posted, up 44 percent from June. Discovery has also grown: Since June, there’s been a 190 percent increase in views from YouTube’s homepage, according to the publisher. (It hasn’t supplied a total number of views.)

Facebook accounted for 83 percent of The Economist’s 20 million video views in November, according to Tubular Labs, and while it’s useful in introducing new audiences to the publisher, Facebook has been under scrutiny for its measurement mishaps and seemingly short three-second views. As more advertisers demand to know the true value of a view, YouTube will be more of a focus in the new year. The publisher is also in conversation with platform distributors like Amazon, Facebook, Samsung and Netflix.

“[YouTube] is where the engaged opportunity is,” said Jamie Credland, svp of strategy and marketing at The Economist Group. “We historically haven’t invested much on YouTube because the path to subscription isn’t as clear there as on other platforms. As the film ecosystem evolves, audiences on YouTube are really engaged.”

Hugo Ward, executive producer at The Economist Films, said videos on YouTube also tend to get more valuable comments, as did this analysis on the Balfour Declaration, which got nearly 700 comments, and this one on the fall of Zimbabwe’s former Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, which got more than 1,000 comments. Since June, the number of comments across all The Economist’s YouTube videos has increased by 228 percent, according to the publisher, which didn’t give a total raw number.

The past year has also been an evolution for The Economist Films’ business operation. It started as a separate division with its own commercial team, but in the past year it’s moved to the same floor as the rest of the company as part of the publisher’s office move, and become integrated into the rest of the company’s ad sales offerings. Now, advertisers have one point of contact for campaign reporting and ad operations, and The Economist Films has access to existing advertisers on The Economist’s roster, like Santander and Credit Suisse, enabling it to run longer and deeper partnerships with brands.

The Economist Films ran five brand-sponsored series this year. Four are part of large, seven-figure campaigns across the group, which typically run between £300,000 ($400,000) and £500,000 ($670,000) for the work the films division creates.

This year, luxury watchmaker Blancpain and EY renewed contracts with The Economist Films. The Economist guarantees 1 million views across platforms for each series paid for by a brand, a benchmark it has always delivered on, Credland said.

Image via The Economist Films

Output: The Economist's video production division, Economist Films, has substantially increased its viewing figures on YouTube, with the number of subscribers to its channel rising by nearly 140% to around 400,000. Despite the increase, the overwhelming majority of the publisher's video views come from Facebook, which accounted for 83% of the 20 million views it achieved in November. Economist Films was created in 2015, and now has over 20 staff producing long-form series and weekly editorial videos under five minutes in length.