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Health Insurers Enter Fray in Drug Price Fight
 Health insurers are pushing back against a recent report that accuses them of denying some patients coverage for medical products and procedures, alleging it is part of a campaign by the pharmaceutical industry to distract the public from rising drug prices.

America’s Health Insurance Plans, the nation’s largest trade group for medical insurers, reacted quickly to a study released last week that stated that as many as 24 percent of insured patients with chronic illnesses have been denied coverage for prescribed treatments.

The analysis, which was commissioned by the Doctor-Patient Rights Project, lays the blame on insurers for adopting cost-containment practices that can delay or prevent people from getting medical products and services they may need. The coalition, founded this year, states on its website that its mission is to prevent insurers from imposing decisions on patients and their doctors.

Coalition members strongly deny any connection to recent advertising blitzes by the pharmaceutical industry pointing criticism of drug prices at other sectors of the health industry, including insurers.

But the Doctor-Patient Rights Project study does suggest insurers have some blame regarding patients’ rising drug prices, saying that 34 percent of patients who were denied coverage for a medication or procedure were forced to forgo the recommended treatment because the insurer would not cover the cost.

There are several strategies insurers sometimes employ to keep their costs down. One practice, known as prior authorization, requires a doctor to get approval from a patient’s insurer before prescribing a treatment. Critics of prior authorization say the policy can lead to higher costs for providers because of negotiations between doctors and insurance companies.

“Gaining access to prescribed treatments is as challenging to patients as high treatment costs,” the report states.

Insurers say the coalition is tied to pharmaceutical companies, noting that one of the group’s six founding members is the drug maker Amgen Inc. Other founding members, such as the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, partner with or count pharmaceutical companies as major donors. (To be fair, many health groups receive money from drug companies, which are the biggest spenders on lobbying in the United States, according to OpenSecrets.org.)

“Big Pharma initiated another long-rumored political ad campaign in its attempts to distract from skyrocketing drug pricing,” AHIP spokeswoman Cathryn Donaldson said in an email Monday, adding that instead of spending money on advertising campaigns, pharmaceutical companies should address high prescription drug prices.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the nation’s largest lobbying group for the drug industry, responded by saying that its members spend millions on researching and developing new drugs each year, which is the industry’s preferred approach to reducing pharmaceutical costs.

PhRMA spokeswoman Holly Campbell said pharma companies spend 20 percent of their revenue on research and development, fueling economic growth and bringing patients new treatments. “In contrast, the insurance industry invested $0 in R&D and instead spend nearly 20 percent of premium dollars on administrative costs,” she said in a Monday statement.

Amgen, which is a member of PhRMA, said it is simply advocating for physicians, who have long opposed insurer practices that interfere with their treatment plans for patients.

“Physicians are in the best position to make individual treatment decisions for their patients, so it’s important to preserve doctors’ ability to make treatment decisions in consultation with their patients,” Amgen spokeswoman Kristen Neese said in a email on Tuesday.

The coverage-denial issue hasn’t been thoroughly studied, leaving unclear the prevalence of the practice or its impact on patients.

But the Global Healthy Living Foundation, a coalition member that represents people with chronic illnesses, says the issue is common.

“It should not be this difficult for patients who pay their premiums every month and meet their deductibles to get their insurer to cover the treatments prescribed by their doctors, but this is a new reality that needs more scrutiny,” GHLF co-founder Seth Ginsberg said Tuesday in a statement.

According to the report, the study was conducted in March 2017 by polling firm Schoen Consulting, and consists of a “representative, nationwide sample of 1,500 Americans,” all of whom had either employer-sponsored health insurance or were on Medicaid or Medicare.

Output: Health insurers are pushing back against a recent report that accuses them of denying some patients coverage for medical products and procedures, alleging it is part of a campaign by the pharmaceutical industry to distract the public from rising drug prices.


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Ascend Money's mobile payment platforms expands across Asia
 Ascend Money Targets Southeast Asia

August 25, 2017 By: Steven Anderson

It’s no secret that the southeast Asia is a major market for mobile payments. Since China is included in this package, it could be one of the sweetest pots of market around. That’s a point not lost on Ascend Money, a Thai mobile payments firm whose flagship product, TrueMoney Wallet, recently branched out to five new countries.

TrueMoney Wallet is now available not only in Thailand, but also in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam. It’s that second one that’s particularly noteworthy; while each of these represents a significant advance in the field, Indonesia is also a popular target for other mobile payments providers.

You’ll remember back in April when Ant Financial, the guys behind Alipay, noted plans to take a run at the Indonesian market as well. Indeed, reports note, Ascend Money has been working with Ant Financial to bring TrueMoney Wallet to the Apple App Store, to iTunes, and Apple Music. Plus, Ascend Money has been working with 7-Eleven and several other major brands to bring TrueMoney to the table. The company also plans to step into peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, along with travel accommodations like booking flights and hotels along with paying for food.

Future developments aside, TrueMoney Wallet will offer up plenty of services when it arrives. Users have access to money transfers, bill payments, mobile top-up services to keep the phones on in the first place, and both online and offline payments. It’s hoping for a fairly rapid expansion as a result, going from four million users in October 2016 to five million by the end of the year.

This is a great start, and given that many of these markets are developing markets—even Ant Financial wanted a stab at the Indonesian market—it could represent a chance for Ascend Money to gather up a lot of new users in fairly rapid fashion. While there won’t be a shortage of competitors with a similar idea, TrueMoney Wallet seems to have the features set both current and in development to make a real push on the field.

Only time will tell just how well this works for Ascend Money, but it seems to have a good plan, and a good shot at taking home substantial new users.

Output: Thai mobile payments firm Ascend Money has launched its flagship product, TrueMoney Wallet, in five new countries, including the hotly contested Indonesian marketplace. The TrueMoney Wallet offers customers offline and online payments, as well as access to money transfers, bill payments and mobile top-up services. Ascend Money aims to increase its user figures from four million in October 2016 to five million by the end of 2017, and has partnered with Ant Financial to expand its footprint.


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Latvians open to higher limit on contactless payments
 Most people in Latvia would be willing to make contactless payments for amounts larger than the current limit of EUR 10, reports LETA, according to a poll carried out by Swedbank.

As many as 68% of respondents stated their willingness to make contactless payments for amounts larger than EUR 10, including 34%, for whom the acceptable limit would by EUR 20, 13%, who suggested raising limit to EUR 30, 4%, who would go for a EUR 40 limit, and 17%, who would accept a EUR 50 limit. At the same time, 14% said they would not use a contactless bank card for purchases in excess of EUR 10.

"There was certain caution when we started offering contactless payments a year ago but today contactless payments have become a routine, just as e-tickets in the public transport or smart access cards in offices of large companies," says Swedbank board member Renars Rusis.

Since summer 2016 when Swedbank started issuing contactless bank cards in Latvia, 150,000 customers make contactless payments on a daily basis. Around 300,000 contactless payments are made every month.

The poll was conducted in cooperation with Snapshots pollster among 700 respondents aged 15-74 years across Latvia.

Swedbank is the largest bank in Latvia in terms of assets.

Output: Around 68% of Latvians want to to be able to make contactless payments for amounts greater than €10 ($12), with 17% suggesting they would be happy with a limit of €50, according to a survey by Swedbank, the country's largest bank. In contrast, only 14% said they would not use contactless payments for transactions of more than €10. Swedbank said around 150,000 customers use contactless payment on a daily basis, and around 300,000 payments are made using the system every month.


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Siam Commercial Bank releases two mobile payments apps
 SCB rolls out two mobile applications

SCB president and chief executive Arthid Nanthawithaya (left) with Siripong Preutthipan, chairman of the board at Chatuchak Weekend Market, State Railway of Thailand, after signing a deal to bring a digital platform to the popular market.

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has introduced two mobile apps for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) merchants and shoppers to nudge them towards digital payment channels. The move further aims to make the bank Thailand's largest mobile banking provider.

SCB yesterday launched Merchant mPos, a fully integrated point of sale (POS) platform. The app lets merchants manage their inventory, check daily sales and accept payment through PromptPay.

The bank also launched the Chatuchak Guide app, which lets buyers accurately search for and find merchants with an intelligent geomagnetic navigation technology, as well as benefit from real-time sales promotions.

SCB has joined forces with the State Railway of Thailand under the digital platform project with the aim of bringing Chatuchak Weekend Market into the 4.0 era. The digital platform is intended to help merchants attract shoppers worldwide.

Pikun Srimahunt, senior executive vice-president and head of the SME segment, said the roughly 10,000 Chatuchak merchants are the bank's target audience for using the new digital app.

Some 1,000 merchants are expected to use the app by October, she said.

The digital platform is intended to support SME sales, business management and operational cost control, while providing them with a more convenient and secure payment system.

The bank has recently put its focus on educating SMEs about digitalisation in order to strength their long-term business operations.

SME clients who want to join the bank's digital platform are required to open SCB's savings accounts, apply for SCB's mobile banking app and sign up for SCB's PromptPay service.

SCB, the country's second-largest mobile banking provider with more than 4 million users, recently said that it aimed for its number of users to increase to 5.5 million by year-end, overtaking Kasikornbank as the country's largest mobile banking provider.

SCB, the country's third-largest lender by assets, spent 97 million baht developing the mobile app.

SCB plans to collaborate with two large Chinese digital payment service providers, AliPay and wePay, to offer greater payment convenience to tourists from China.

The bank will adopt more features to boost benefits and convenience for both users and merchants in the next phase.

SCB shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 144.50 baht, unchanged, in heavy trade worth 1.56 billion baht.

Output: Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has launched a pair of mobile apps as it seeks to become Thailand's largest mobile banking provider. The Merchant mPos app, aimed at small and medium-sized enterprise merchants and shoppers, enables businesses to manage inventory, check daily sales and accept payments via PromptPay, while the Chatuchak Guide app uses intelligent geomagnetic navigation technology to help shoppers find merchants. Around 1,000 outlets are expected to have signed up for the Chatuchak Guide by October.


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American Idol competitor uses AI to co-create her new album
 A popular YouTube artist has an unusual collaborator on her new album -- artificial intelligence.

Pop artist Taryn Southern, who appeared on American Idol in 2004, created the lyrics and melodies for "I AM AI" but left most of the other work to software programs.

The album's first song "Break Free," which was released on Monday, was developed with the help of startup Amper Music. Amper is one of several AI music services Southern is working with on the album, which will debut later this year.

Southern has only basic piano skills, so she turned to the program to deliver the instrumental part of the song. The AI developed the harmonies, chords and sequences.

"In a funny way, I have a new song-writing partner who doesn't get tired and has this endless knowledge of music making," Southern told CNN Tech. "But I feel like I get to own my vision; I iterate and choose what I like and don't like. There's a lot more control."

Southern still worked with a producer on her vocals, but the rest of the song relied on Amper's software. She gave the program some guidelines, such as the speed of the song, key signature and preferred instruments. The program then produced a track for her to consider.

Although some fine-tuning was still necessary after the AI delivered its part, she arranged what was offered into verses and a chorus.

"In the past, I'd get into traps of writing songs in a given style or chords I know I like," Southern said. "When working with AI music, everything it spits at me is a surprise."

Related: Farmers turn to artificial intelligence to grow better tomatoes

Southern said writing the structure of the song is now 20 times faster than when relied on human musicians. She also previously used Apple's GarageBand platform.

Southern, known for cover songs and some original work, has been posting on YouTube for a decade. Her "Hot for Hillary" music video in 2007 has been viewed over 2.3 million times.

Her new work is an example of how AI can complement the human workforce, even as it automates some jobs. Southern said AI has made her more creative than ever.

"Human creators and human musicians are not going away," Amper Music CEO Drew Silverstein said. "We're making it so that you don't have to spend 10,000 hours and thousands of dollars buying equipment to share and express your ideas."

Output: YouTube artist and former American Idol contestant Taryn Southern has revealed she turned to artificial intelligence (AI) when composing her album I AM AI. Working alongside AI musical services start-up Amper Music, Southern gave a few guidelines such as tempo, key and preferred instruments to the program, which then created the track itself. The Amper program made writing the structure of the song "20 times faster than [using] human musicians", said Southern.


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Nestle's head of integrated marketing switches to publishing
 Tired of the “broken” advertising model, Nestle’s global head of integrated marketing has jumped the client ship for a role in publishing, joining French media company Konbini as its first ever chief marketing officer.

Michael Chrisment worked four years at Nestle, predominantly managing its Nescafe brand; prior to that, he spent time in top digital marketing roles at fellow FMCG giants Mondelez and Kraft Foods. However, the catalyst to move out of consumer goods marketing and into media has been the realisation that, quite simply, the brand building model that he has spent most of his career working in is failing.

“Something is broken in advertising and we can’t do it the same way as before,” he recently told The Drum.

“People are more in control about what they want to consume and brands have to be much more respectful, collaborative and inclusive when it comes to engaging with people – especially the youth – and stop interrupting their [social media] feeds and lives with pure advertising messages.”

At Nescafe, he tried to pivot the brand towards this kind of thinking. He was responsible for declaring that the "dotcom is dead" and moving all of the coffee-maker's digital assets on to Tumblr in the hope of creating a more "conversational" relationship with its drinkers.

But while he’s not lost hope in the industry, he is wanting to play a larger part in “reinventing” it and “contribute a new way of marketing and building brands”.

Enter Konbini.

Founded in France just over 10 years ago, Konbini describes itself as “new generation media. A leader amongst millennials” that “lives and breathes pop culture”.

“Whether it's the written word, imagery or video, we have developed a unique approach to content publication that resonates powerfully with our audience across the world,” its website proclaims. “Our audience is defined by their pioneering attitudes and behaviours, and their ability to influence consumers across the globe.”

A team of 200 work from offices in five cities – Paris (its epicentre), London, New York, Mexico City and, the most recently established, Lagos – and are divided into five platform groups: website, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter.

They create content specifically for each platform and the output – be it a single social media post, an article or video – falls under one of 10 editorial pillars (entertainment, inspiration, lifestyle, cinema, music, photography, society, series, environment, and partners).

According to its latest figures, the website reaches 150 million unique users a year, 80% of which are ‘millennials’. On Facebook, where it has a core 3.2 million ‘fans’, Konbini reaches 100 million people a day and lauds a 20% engagement rate. It has 250,000 followers on both Instagram and Twitter. Chrisment declined to reveal Snapchat figures.

“Konbini are experts in communicating with millennials around the globe. We want to craft intelligent stories that are motivational, educational and tailored to them in a positive way. This is really who we are and what everyone in the company moves towards,” he said.

Michael Chrisment, chief marketing officer, Konbini

While easily compared with a BuzzFeed or Vice, Konbini doesn’t have the same level of brand awareness. Rectifying that will be among Chrisment’s chief priorities but alongside the traditional part of this CMO role he has also been charged with developing the publisher’s commercial offering.

It currently centres around four main pillars. Like most, display remains an important (though dwindling) revenue stream, currently accounting for around 25% of earnings. “Qualitative editorial content” is, put simply, sponsored content on a project by project basis and something Chrisment described as “a high development opportunity”. While he was at Nescafe, he inked a six-month tie-up with Konbini in Nigeria – a region where it historically lagged other brands – that created “huge engagement, 10 times more than we used to have in the country” and led to a 30% uptick in coffee sales.

The more unusual commercial mainstays come in the form of “strategic partnerships on specific verticals”. Konbini will create a complete branded platform, be it a website, Snapchat channel or Facebook Bot, and all the content for it. Coca-Cola, Netflix, Orange and Airbnb are among the clients to have dabbled in partnerships of this ilk.

For Airbnb, for example, it developed a website called ‘Secret Doors’ that allowed the user to discover cities based on recommendations from influencers Konbini knew were already liked by its audience. Airbnb reached 2.4 million people, beating the 1.8 million goal and achieved 110,000 page views, almost double the number it had set out to achieve.

“This is a high priority area,” said Chrisment. “We have a lot of ask on it.”

The final strand ripe for development is its full-service offering. Konbini is, Chrisment said, increasingly being asked to take on the role of a traditional advertising agency but right now is incredibly selective about the clients it can manage. Currently, the only one on its books is Orange France which hired the publisher to develop the branding and communications strategy underpinning it for a new service it was launching called Dedicated Us.

“We need to shift the way [advertisers] go after people and the way we get them to consider brands. And it has to start with what people are interested in; listening to their passion points and giving them content to engage on it,” Chrisment explained, pointing to the success Nescafe saw in Nigeria as proof that “entering and addressing passion points of the youth, the brand can be reconsidered”.

“This is really the approach and traditional advertising agencies haven’t been doing this," he added. "They’ve been developing campaigns and messages around offers but not areas of conversations for brands to play in. We’re doing this and maybe this is where the tension ends.”

Given how editorial bleeds into commercial content, it has inevitably raised questions of ethics and independence. On this issue, Chrisment said: "People in the news industry and journalism question this; saying you’re doing informational news linked to a brand so are you still independent? Brands are providers of content and stories as well – this matters. There are many examples of brands transforming to media publishers.”

Chrisment pointed to his peers in FMCG marketing, former Mondelez execs Bonin Bough and Dana Anderson, as being at the forefront in pushing the idea that branded content can be as interesting, entertaining and engaging as a film on Netflix or YouTube video. It all boils down to being relevant.

“We’ve offering a radically new approach to brand promotion and really leveraging quality, on trend content that creates relationships with millennials. We’re not doing ‘Five things…’ or ‘Grumpy Cats’ that bring a lot of impressions but have no impact. We’re entering a long-term relationships and having a greater impact on people’s lives.”

On the subject of measurement, Christment is open on the fact that Konbini could be doing more. He wants the publisher to be a “leader” in the way it impacts a client’s commercial objectives and give more back than empty numbers vaguely linked to impressions or reach.

“Current methodologies are not enough,” he said. “We need to demonstrate what goes beyond reach and impressions. We can reach and engage but then we see the long-tail impact which travels much further as they react and share and to demonstrate it further and how it impacts sales and purchase behaviour.”

To do that, it is on the brink of inking a landmark deal with a measurement firm (he declined to reveal which) that will develop a set of KPIs to better measure the performance of promoted content and native advertising.

Output: Michael Chrisment, Nestle's global head of integrated marketing who once declared "dotcom is dead", has taken up his role as French media company Konbini's first-ever chief marketing officer. Commenting on the move into publishing, Chrisment said; "Something is broken in advertising and we can’t do it the same way as before". At Konbini he will be charged with raising the company's brand awareness and developing its commercial offering, and building a complete branded platform and content through strategic partnerships, following the likes of Airbnb, Coca Cola and Netflix.


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Cloud computing may be about to give way to edge computing
 Fasten your harnesses, because the era of cloud computing’s giant data centers is about to be rear-ended by the age of self-driving cars. Here’s the problem: When a self-driving car has to make snap decisions, it needs answers fast. Even slight delays in updating road and weather conditions could mean longer travel times or dangerous errors. But those smart vehicles of the near-future don’t quite have the huge computing power to process the data necessary to avoid collisions, chat with nearby vehicles about optimizing traffic flow, and find the best routes that avoid gridlocked or washed-out roads. The logical source of that power lies in the massive server farms where hundreds of thousands of processors can churn out solutions. But that won’t work if the vehicles have to wait the 100 milliseconds or so it usually takes for information to travel each way to and from distant data centers. Cars, after all, move fast.

[#image: /photos/5947e0146c638b3847cde2a7]|||||| Jeremy Hsu is a science and tech journalist based in New York. --------- Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter.

That problem from the frontier of technology is why many tech leaders foresee the need for a new “edge computing” network—one that turns the logic of today’s cloud inside out. Today the $247 billion cloud computing industry funnels everything through massive centralized data centers operated by giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. That’s been a smart model for scaling up web search and social networks, as well as streaming media to billions of users. But it’s not so smart for latency-intolerant applications like autonomous cars or mobile mixed reality.

“It’s a foregone conclusion that giant, centralized server farms that take up 19 city blocks of power are just not going to work everywhere,” says Zachary Smith, a double-bass player and Juilliard School graduate who is the CEO and cofounder of a New York City startup called Packet. Smith is among those who believe that the solution lies in seeding the landscape with smaller server outposts—those edge networks—that would widely distribute processing power in order to speed its results to client devices, like those cars, that can’t tolerate delay.

Packet’s scattered micro datacenters are nothing like the sprawling facilities operated by Amazon and Google, which can contain tens of thousands of servers and squat outside major cities in suburbs, small towns, or rural areas, thanks to their huge physical footprints and energy appetites. Packet’s centers often contain just a few server racks—but the company promises customers in major cities speedy access to raw computing power, with average delays of just 10 to 15 milliseconds (an improvement of roughly a factor of ten). That kind of speed is on the “must have” lists of companies and developers hoping to stream virtual reality and augmented reality experiences to smartphones, for example. Such experiences rely upon a neurological process—the vestibulo-ocular reflex—that coordinates eye and head movements. It occurs within seven milliseconds, and if your device takes 10 times that long to hear back from a server, forget about suspension of disbelief.

Immersive experiences are just the start of this new kind of need for speed. Everywhere you look, our autonomously driving, drone-clogged, robot-operated future needs to shave more milliseconds off its network-roundtrip clock. For smart vehicles alone, Toyota noted that the amount of data flowing between vehicles and cloud computing services is estimated to reach 10 exabytes per month by 2025.

Cloud computing giants haven’t ignored the lag problem. In May, Microsoft announced the testing of its new Azure IoT Edge service, intended to push some cloud computing functions onto developers’ own devices. Barely a month later, Amazon Web Services opened up general access to AWS Greengrass software that similarly extends some cloud-style services to devices running on local networks. Still, these services require customers to operate hardware on their own. Customers who are used to handing that whole business off to a cloud provider may view that as a backwards step.

US telecom companies are also seeing their build-out of new 5G networks—which should eventually support faster mobile data speeds—as a chance to cut down on lag time. As the service providers expand their networks of cell towers and base stations, they could seize the opportunity to add server power to the new locations. In July, AT&T announced plans to build a mobile edge computing network based on 5G, with the goal of reaching “single-digit millisecond latency.” Theoretically, data would only need to travel a few miles between customers and the nearest cell tower or central office, instead of hundreds of miles to reach a cloud data center.

Output: US start-ups Packet and Vapor IO are betting that the model of huge out-of-town datacentres will soon become outdated - and that their own micro datacentres will be the bridge to the future. The standard 100 millisecond latency time for data requests will not likely be tolerated by self-driving cars and mixed-reality smartphone applications, which need a delay closer to the seven milliseconds of human eye-head coordination if perceivable lag is to be avoided. Smaller, optimised data centres that are physically closer to the network nodes can provide this - a fact not lost on AT&T, which is considering incorporating compute technology into its cell towers.


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Artists pioneer the Airbnb of studios
 Creativity

Two Artists Created the Airbnb for Renting Studio Space

Casey Lesser

Aug 24, 2017 4:27PM

Photo by Studio von Monkiewitsch/Alexander Schneider. Courtesy of stusu.

Say you’re a Brooklyn-based painter with a studio in Bushwick. The 300-square-foot space gets great natural light, which is key for your practice; it’s located just a few blocks from the subway; and the neighboring units are used by fellow artists, who don’t mind that you blast music at all hours of the night. It’s an ideal scenario. That is, until you start yearning for a change of scenery. What then? A couple years ago, Berlin artist Ralf Dereich found himself in a similar situation. His studio in Neukölln was like a second home, but he had an itch to travel and create elsewhere. He wanted to sublet his own space and find another abroad, but quickly realized that that was easier said than done—there was no one website or app that seamlessly facilitated such sublets. He turned to a friend from art school, Melina Volkmann, and asked her: Why wasn’t there already a service like this, a sort of Airbnb for artists? That conversation led to stusu—a portmanteau of ‘studio’ and ‘sublet,’ of course—which Dereich and Volkmann launched in early 2016, billing it as “the first global platform where artists can sublet their studios.” In collaboration with web developer Sebastian Kempf and graphic designer Tobias Tilgner, they built a website that culls together information on available studio spaces and ultimately makes it easier for artists to seek out inspiration abroad and create work in cities beyond their hometowns. “Before stusu existed, most artist studio sublets had been advertised at ‘free listing pages,’” Volkmann explains, referring to websites like Craigslist, where pages for studio sublets are lumped together with various other types of sublets. “We wanted to improve this status, with the values of a community marketplace—values like trust and certainty.”

Portrait of Melina Volkmann and Ralf Dereich. Courtesy of stusu.

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An important earlier initiative in this space is the Listings Project, begun by Stephanie Diamond in 2003, which helps artists and other creatives find and list studios, homes, and workspaces in over 70 countries, through a weekly email newsletter. Stusu, in contrast, is a “hybrid of classic listings page and member-community model,” Volkmann explains. The site is fostering a virtual community of artists who can connect in order to help one another find spaces that will support their artmaking practices—spaces that foster productivity and creativity. Stusu can be used to expedite straightforward sublets—where one artist rents out another’s studio for a period of days, weeks, or months—but also to fill spots in shared workspaces, and even to arrange studio swaps among artists. At the moment, use of the site is free for all parties involved. The founders are currently planning a Kickstarter campaign (scheduled to launch September 1) to keep the site running and to raise funding needed to build out the functionality for a commission-based model. Those looking to find a temporary studio space can log onto stusu, enter their desired city and dates, and then scroll through listings and an interactive map—an interface that will be familiar to Airbnb users. But, rather than number of bedrooms, on stusu users can filter searches by price per day, shared or private spaces, and square footage. To list a studio on stusu, lessors create a profile and a listing, add images and a description of their space, and set their own prices and the minimum rental period. The site’s admins (Dereich and Volkmann) vet listings for quality and clarity, ensuring these spaces are in fact suitable for artmaking. There are currently some 340 studios listed on the site, from Brooklyn to Bangkok, representing a vast range of affordability and amenities.

Photo by Steffen Jagenburg. Courtesy of stusu.

Volkmann notes that stusu is conscious of the individual needs of artists, and thus aims to represent a variety of flexible spaces, rather than being limited to the classic, traditional concept of an artist studio—four walls, high ceilings, large windows. The site also covers a wide geographic span, especially considering the modest number of studios on the site. While the founders have put a concerted effort into developing a presence in New York and Berlin (each city has over 100 studios listed), a plethora of cities are represented on the site, from Chicago to Cape Town, São Paulo to Singapore. In New York at present, for example, one can find anything from a 75-square-foot shared space in Industry City for $308 per month, to a private, 475-square-foot photography studio in the West Village for $530 per day. In Berlin, options range from a desk in a Neukölln shared studio for under $5 per day for 90 days, to a sprawling, sun-drenched, 1,450-square-foot studio in Friedrichshain that can be used for filming, photo shoots, workshops, or castings, for around $470 per day. Meanwhile, in Cape Town, an artist can rent out a 323-square-foot space on the premises of a business for approximately $303 per month. For those heading to São Paulo, there’s a 130-square-foot studio on the 22nd floor of Oscar Niemeyer’s famed Copan building for $35 per day. In Singapore, there’s an artist homestay available, including a 430-square-foot space for $71 per day. And for someone in search of spiritual inspiration in nature, in a Polish village some 30 meters from Krakow, there’s a 409-square-foot yurt (a circular Mongolian tent) going for €25 per day. Volkmann emphasizes the artist-first, communal nature of the site, which she and Dereich have developed through first-hand experience. “Most of our feedback comes from artists, who immediately see the purpose and value of our website,” she says. “Stusu is an initiative from artists, for artists.”

Output: US artists Ralf Deriech and Melina Volkmann have created stusu, a digital platform similar to Airbnb that enables artists to let their studios. Stusu collects data on available studio lets and offers rentals to artists looking for space. The platform replaces the previously unreliable method of listing space on free listing pages, offering a member/community model to encourage artistic connections. The site is currently free to use, with a Kickstarter campaign planned to raise funding for further functionality.


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Most powerful US hurricane in 11 years heads for Texas
 Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, oil refineries are expected to shut down and 700 members of the National Guard are being called up as Hurricane Harvey, the most powerful weather system to hit the US in almost 12 years, barrels towards Texas.

Several counties along the Gulf coast, including Nueces county, Calhoun county and Brazoria county, have ordered mandatory evacuations in low-lying areas.

The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has activated about 700 members of the state National Guard and put military helicopters on standby in Austin and San Antonio in preparation for search and rescues and emergency evacuations.

Harvey, which is due to make landfall late on Friday, would be the first hurricane to hit the Texas coast since Hurricane Ike in 2008.

The head of the National Weather Service said the storm posed “a grave risk to the folks in Texas”.

Louis Uccellini, the NWS director, said Harvey would bring extremely heavy rainfall that causes inland flooding lasting through to the middle of next week, a large storm surge and high winds.

30-second imagery of rapidly intensifying Hurricane #Harvey from GOES-16. pic.twitter.com/b8CFxJdgQD — NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) August 24, 2017

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were moving detained immigrants housed in the projected path of the hurricane. In the Gulf of Mexico, oil and natural gas operators had begun evacuating workers from offshore platforms.

The hurricane is heading for the Texas coast with the potential for up to 3ft of rain, 125mph winds and 12ft storm surges in what could be the fiercest hurricane to hit the US in almost a dozen years.

Forecasters labelled Harvey a “life-threatening storm” that posed a “grave risk”. Millions of people braced for a prolonged battering that could swamp dozens of counties more than 100 miles inland.

Landfall was predicted for late Friday or early Saturday between Port O’Connor and Matagorda Bay, a 30-mile (48km) stretch of coastline about 70 miles north-east of Corpus Christi. The region is mostly farm or ranchland dotted with waterfront holiday homes and has absorbed numerous Gulf of Mexico storms for generations.

Harvey intensified on Thursday from a tropical depression into a category 1 hurricane. Early on Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center reported it had become a category 2. Fuelled by warm Gulf of Mexico waters, it was projected to become a major category 3 hurricane. The last storm of that magnitude to hit the US was Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 in Florida.

Superstorm Sandy, which pummelled New York and New Jersey in 2012, never had the high winds and had lost tropical status by the time it struck. But it was devastating without formally being called a major hurricane.

“We’re forecasting continuing intensification right up until landfall,” National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.

Typical category 3 storms damage small homes, topple large trees and destroy mobile homes. As in all hurricanes, the wall of water called a storm surge poses the greatest risk.

Imagine being on a spaceship, watching this storm barreling down on your family. Fingers crossed for the Gulf Coast. pic.twitter.com/L9eSxdSc1u — Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) August 25, 2017

Once it comes ashore, Harvey is expected to stall, dumping copious amounts of rain for days in areas like flood-prone Houston, the nation’s fourth most-populous city, and San Antonio.

The National Weather Service director, Louis Uccellini, said scientists were “looking at a potentially impactful storm over a two, three, four-day period”.

Donald Trump on Twitter asked people to get ready for the hurricane and posted links to websites for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Hurricane Center and a Homeland Security site with tips for emergency preparedness.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was “briefed and will continue to be updated as the storm progresses”.

In Houston, one of the nation’s most flood-prone cities, Bill Pennington was philosophical as he prepared his one-storey home for what he expected would be its third invasion of floodwaters in as many years and the fifth since 1983.

“We know how to handle it. We’ll handle it again,” Pennington said he told his nervous nine-year-old son.

Alex Garcia bought bottled water, bread and other basics in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land after dropping off his daughter at college. He said grocery items were likely more available in Houston than back home in Corpus Christi, where Garcia, a beer distributor salesman, said stores were “crazy”.

“We’ll be selling lots of beer,” he said.

Kim Fraleigh, of Sugar Land, stocked up with five cases of water, three bags of ice and other supplies at a supermarket. “We’ve got chips, tuna, dry salami, anything that does not require refrigeration,” she said.

Output: Mass evacuations are underway in Texas as Hurricane Harvey approaches. Harvey could be the most powerful hurricane to hit the US in 11 years, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Catastrophic flooding is expected. Oil refineries across the area are shutting down in preparation for the storm, with operators in the Gulf of Mexico are evacuating workers from offshore platforms. The hurricane presents “a grave risk to the folks in Texas”, according to the NWS.


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More bitcoin machines for London to meet growing demand
 Source: Alphavend

Alphavend, the UK based digital currency ATM operator, has just launched West London's first Bitcoin machine, in Acton Town located a few minutes walk from Acton Town Piccadilly Line Station.

After successfully deploying machines in Central London, Scotland, and in Brighton, this latest installation is at the heart of a vast catchment area of West London.

Now, customers from Acton, Ealing, Hounslow, Brentford, Heathrow, Grenwich, Hammersmith, Uxbridge and other key West London districts will no longer have to head into Central London to buy their Bitcoin.

Located in Dhillonz Convenience Store at 21 Hanbury Rd, Acton, London W3 8RF, the machine will be available from 7am until 8pm seven day a week.With the Bitcoin price now over £3,000, demand is expected to be high.

More machine deployments are planned in the months ahead to meet the growing demand for Bitcoin in the UK market.

Output: Growing demand in the UK has led to plans to install more bitcoin machines in London over the coming months. Digital currency ATM operator Alphavend has installed the latest machine in Acton Town, West London, following previous installations in Central London, Scotland and Brighton. The bitcoin price has recently risen to over £3,000 ($3,852), fuelling increased demand for the cryptocurrency.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Diamonds may prevent short-circuits in lithium-ion batteries
 While lithium-ion batteries, widely used in mobile devices from cell phones to laptops, have one of the longest lifespans of commercial batteries today, they also have been behind a number of recent meltdowns and fires due to short-circuiting in mobile devices. In hopes of preventing more of these hazardous malfunctions researchers at Drexel University have developed a recipe that can turn electrolyte solution -- a key component of most batteries -- into a safeguard against the chemical process that leads to battery-related disasters.

Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach professor in the College of Engineering, and his research team from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, recently published their work -- entitled "Nanodiamonds Suppress Growth of Lithium Dendrites" -- in the journal Nature Communications. In it, they describe a process by which nanodiamonds -- tiny diamond particles 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a hair -- curtail the electrochemical deposition, called plating, that can lead to hazardous short-circuiting of lithium ion batteries.

As batteries are used and charged, the electrochemical reaction results in the movement of ions between the two electrodes of a battery, which is the essence of an electrical current. Over time, this repositioning of ions can create tendril-like buildups -- almost like stalactites forming inside a cave. These battery buildups, called dendrites, are one of the main causes of lithium battery malfunction. As dendrites form inside the battery over time, they can reach the point where they push through the separator, a porous polymer film that prevents the positively charged part of a battery from touching the negatively charged part. When the separator is breached, a short-circuit can occur, which can also lead to a fire since the electrolyte solution in most lithium-ion batteries is highly flammable.

To avoid dendrite formation and minimize the probability of fire, current battery designs include one electrode made of graphite filled with lithium instead of pure lithium. The use of graphite as the host for lithium prevents the formation of dendrites. But lithium intercalated graphite also stores about 10 times less energy than pure lithium. The breakthrough made by Gogotsi's team means that a great increase in energy storage is possible because dendrite formation can be eliminated in pure lithium electrodes.

"Battery safety is a key issue for this research," Gogotsi said. "Small primary batteries in watches use lithium anodes, but they are only discharged once. When you start charging them again and again, dendrites start growing. There may be several safe cycles, but sooner or later a short-circuit will happen. We want to eliminate or, at least, minimize that possibility."

Gogotsi and his collaborators from Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Hauzhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, focused their work on making lithium anodes more stable and lithium plating more uniform so that dendrites won't grow.

They're doing this by adding nanodiamonds to the electrolyte solution in a battery. Nanodiamonds have been used in the electroplating industry for some time as a way of making metal coatings more uniform. While they are much, much smaller -- and cheaper -- than the diamonds you'd find in a jeweler's case, nanodiamonds still retain the regular structure and shape of their pricey progenitors. When they are deposited, they naturally slide together to form a smooth surface.

The researchers found this property to be exceedingly useful for eliminating dendrite formation. In the paper, they explain that lithium ions can easily attach to nanodiamonds, so when they are plating the electrode they do so in the same orderly manner as the nanodiamond particles to which they're linked. They report in the paper that mixing nanodiamonds into the electrolyte solution of a lithium ion battery slows dendrite formation to nil through 100 charge-discharge cycles.

If you think about it like a game of Tetris, that pile of mismatched blocks inching perilously close to "game over" is the equivalent of a dendrite. Adding nanodiamonds to the mix is kind of like using a cheat code that slides each new block into the proper place to complete a line and prevent a menacing tower from forming.

Gogotsi notes that his group's discovery is just the beginning of a process that could eventually see electrolyte additives, like nanodiamonds, widely used to produce safe lithium batteries with a high energy density. Initial results already show stable charge-discharge cycling for as long as 200 hours, which is long enough for use in some industrial or military applications, but not nearly adequate for batteries used in laptops or cell phones. Researchers also need to test a large number of battery cells over a long enough period of time under various physical conditions and temperatures to ensure that dendrites will never grow.

"It's potentially game-changing, but it is difficult to be 100 percent certain that dendrites will never grow," Gogotsi said. "We anticipate the first use of our proposed technology will be in less critical applications -- not in cell phones or car batteries. To ensure safety, additives to electrolytes, such as nanodiamonds, need to be combined with other precautions, such as using non-flammable electrolytes, safer electrode materials and stronger separators."

###

Output: Researchers from Drexel University in Philadelphia, US have discovered that using nanodiamonds as an additive in electrolyte solution can prevent the formation and growth of dendrites, which cause short-circuits, meltdowns and fires in lithium-ion batteries. "It's potentially game-changing”, said Yury Gogotsi, Bach professor in the College of Engineering at Drexel. Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in mobile devices and laptops, as well as electric vehicles.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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High levels of arsenic put 60 million in Pakistan at risk
 Story highlights A study estimates that millions have been exposed to high levels of arsenic in their water supply Regularly drinking contaminated water can have serious health consequences

CNN —

Up to 60 million people living in Pakistan’s Indus Plain are at risk of being affected by high levels of arsenic in the region’s groundwater supply, according to a new study in the journal Science Advances.

An international team of scientists created a “hazard map” of locations at risk using water samples collected from almost 1,200 sites across the country, the majority of them from hand and motor pumps.

Using statistical modeling, the team also assessed environmental factors that may affect the movement of arsenic and calculated the size of populations at risk of exposure. They concluded that there was widespread arsenic contamination in the Indus Plain, from where 50 million to 60 million people get their groundwater.

“This alarmingly high number of people likely affected demonstrates an urgent need to test all drinking water wells in the Indus Plain,” the team said in a statement.

The researchers have urged authorities to treat affected wells accordingly. Arsenic does not have a smell or a taste, and there are no short-term symptoms after consuming it. However, drinking contaminated water regularly could lead to serious illnesses including lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases, the team said.

The study “doesn’t mean every well in the area is affected, but the easiest thing to do and the first obvious step is to test each and every well,” said Joel Podgorski of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, the study’s lead author. “Once it’s known that a well has arsenic in it, people can shift to a safe water source. Or a filter could be used.”

‘Humans have exacerbated the issue’

The World Health Organization estimates that 200 million people worldwide are affected by arsenic contamination. The organization’s guidelines for concentration of arsenic in drinking water permit up to 10 micrograms per liter; Pakistan’s guidelines allow up to 50 micrograms per liter.

But use of either measurement would not change the number of people who the team believes to be at risk, Podgorski said, with most supplies in the area breaching 50 micrograms per liter.

Podgorski added that the arsenic naturally occurred in the groundwater but that “it’s possible in some cases that humans have exacerbated the issue.”

“We’ve alluded in the study to a correlation between arsenic levels and high organic pollution in groundwater,” he said. “Sometimes, human and animal waste getting into a shallow well can make the issue worse locally, as it causes a different type of of arsenic release.”

The team also found a correlation between irrigated areas and high arsenic levels in the water, though Podgorski stressed that this could be a coincidence.

Beyond further testing, the team suggested emergency measures such as health intervention programs for those affected.

The need to know more

“We need to know now how many people are affected as well as at risk,” said Mohammad Shamsudduha, a research fellow and hydrogeology expert at University College London who was not involved in the research. “I’m quite convinced by their data, as they’ve collected so many samples.”

Follow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.

He added that the fact that the group has linked contamination to the number of people exposed is impressive. “Previously, the numbers of those at risk were very speculative. It’s also a study examining arsenic levels in Pakistan at a national level. Much of the data I’ve looked at has been at a local level,” he said.

Podgorski said Syed Ali Musstjab Akber Shah Eqani, a co-author on the study, is collecting further groundwater samples in Pakistan for the team’s next phase of research.

“We also have in the pipeline a similar study on fluoride levels across Pakistan, which is also an issue,” Podgorski said.

Shamsudduha hopes the team’s research will increase awareness of arsenic contamination in Pakistan.

“There’s always a pressure put on officials with a high impact publication and the consequent media coverage,” he said. “It’s just a dream that every well will be tested before it is sunk, which everyone in this field would recommend, But possibly, this study may trigger policy changes so that testing for arsenic contamination is more common.”

Output: Around 60 million people are at risk of being affected by high levels of arsenic in the groundwater supply in Pakistan's Indus Plain, a study in the journal Science Advances has warned. The scientists urged authorities to treat the infected wells urgently. Drinking arsenic-contaminated water regularly could lead to serious illnesses such as lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and, although arsenic naturally occurs in the groundwater, humans appear to be exacerbating the problem. Studies have revealed a correlation between arsenic levels and high organic pollution, such as human and animal waste, in groundwater.


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Input:
Russian deputy prime minister backs crypto-ruble
 A major Russian politician has called for a Russian state cryptocurrency, revealing himself to be a supporter of the “crypto-ruble.” In an interview with Russian ...

A major Russian politician has called for a Russian state cryptocurrency, revealing himself to be a supporter of the “crypto-ruble.”

In an interview with Russian publication RBC, Igor Shuvalov, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister spoke of his support for cryptocurrencies. The senior official specifically called for the creation of a “crypto-ruble”, a state-backed cryptocurrency that would, according to him, make the Russian economy stronger.

In roughly translated statements, Shuvalov stated:

I am a supporter, a crypto-ruble must exist…This theme will develop. But it should develop in such a way that the national economy cannot be put under attack, but rather make it stronger.

The Russian official’s comments come with months of the notable revelation that Russia’s central bank is already working on a national digital currency. Earlier in June, deputy chairwoman at Russia’s central bank Olga Skorobogatova claimed it was only a matter of time before countries adopted national digital currencies, whilst adding that Russia was working on certain pilot projects of its own.

Russia: A Bitcoin Mining Hub?

Intriguingly, Shuvalov also revealed that the Russian government had discussed the possibility of installing and operating mining centers at a state level. While there are no concrete projects yet – due to a lack of legislation and regulation of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies – Shuvalov confirmed that prospective locations were sought in regions with an abundance of energy resources. Bitcoin mining is an energy intensive process where profits are gained when the mining rewards exceed the cost of mining resources and electricity costs.

Shuvalov told RBC:

We talked about the future of this sector, given that it is developing so rapidly in the world. Talks included the question of generetocs of electric energy, near which it would be possible to put such [mining] centers.

These developments come within a year of Russian authorities proposing criminal penalties on bitcoin adopters and miners. In March 2016, the Russian Finance Ministry sought to push a controversial bitcoin ban bill which enforced prison sentences up to 7 years for bitcoin adopters.

After spearing the effort to ban bitcoin since 2014, Russia’s deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev admitted this year that the government may seek to regulate the bitcoin industry in 2018. Such a move would, in effect, recognize and legalize bitcoin in the country.

In recent months, Russia’s largest online retailer announced plans to accept bitcoin for payments. Russia’s official standards authority has also begun work on developing blockchain standards, ahead of regulations expected to be established in 2019.

Featured image from Shutterstock

Output: Igor Shuvalov, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, has called for the creation of a "crypto-ruble" to strengthen the country's economy, according to RBC. In an interview, Shuvalov said the Russian government was looking for locations for potential mining centres operated at a state level. Shuvalov's comments follow remarks made by deputy chairwoman at Russia’s central bank Olga Skorobogatova in June, who revealed Russia was working on its own digital currency, at odds with the previous government position of a proposed bitcoin ban.


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Gambling addiction surges in the UK
 More than 2 million people in the UK are either problem gamblers or at risk of addiction, according to the industry regulator, which warned that the government and industry were not doing enough to tackle the problem.

The report by the Gambling Commission estimated that the number of British over-16s deemed to be problem gamblers had grown by a third in three years, suggesting that about 430,000 people suffer from a serious habit.

It also found evidence of an increase in addiction among those playing controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which have been criticised for allowing betting shop customers to spend up to £100 every 20 seconds.

Earlier this year, the government delayed a report on whether to curb FOBTs and limit the spread of gambling ads on television.

With the Department of Culture, Media and Sport not due to publish its recommendations until October, Gambling Commission executive director Tim Miller warned that neither the government nor the gambling industry were moving fast enough.

“We have a clear commitment to make gambling fairer and safer and these figures show that this is a significant challenge,” he said. “Success will depend upon us, the industry, government and others, all working together with a shared purpose to protect consumers.

“The pace of change to date simply hasn’t been fast enough – more needs to be done to address problem gambling.”

The UK’s leading gambling charity GambleAware, which funds the UK’s only dedicated gambling addiction clinic in London, repeated calls for the industry to increase its funding for addiction treatment.

GambleAware gets around £8m in funding from the industry per year but has called for this to increase to £10m.

Even that figure falls short of the donation suggested by the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, of 0.1% of the record £13.8bn the industry won from British gamblers last year, or £13.8m.

The Gambling Commission’s report, which has taken nearly two years to collate and charts gambling addiction up to 2015, found that the rate of problem gambling rose to 0.8% of over-16s from 0.6% in 2012.

That suggests an increase of more than 100,000 in the number of problem gamblers to 430,000, although the commission described the rate as “statistically stable”. The overall number of people in danger rises to more than 2.3 million when including 2 million people deemed to be at low or moderate risk of addiction.

Despite the apparent rise, the Association of British Bookmakers said the commission’s report showed that “problem gambling levels in the UK are stable”.

It dismissed concerns of a relationship between addiction and FOBTs, which make up more than half of bookmakers’ annual revenues, pulling in more than £1.8bn a year.

“Seeking to ban a single gambling product will simply lead to the shifting of problem gamblers to other areas rather than addressing the root cause of the issue,” the ABB said. The trade body called for more co-operation in the industry to reduce problem gambling levels.

According to the commission’s report, around 11.5% of the people who use machines in bookmakers are problem gamblers, up from 7.2% in 2012.

A spokesperson for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which wants FOBT maximum stakes cut to £2 said: “The increased rate of problematic gambling associated with FOBTs should alarm policymakers.

“The bookies have claimed that because the overall population rate of problem gambling is static, FOBTs are not harmful. The data published today, which shows a rate increase, has totally undermined the bookies’ argument.”

Carolyn Harris, Labour MP for Swansea East, said: “This should be a wake-up call for government as we near the response to the FOBT review in October.

“This problem is not going away, in fact it’s getting worse. If the industry believes there’s no issue, they’re completely deluded.”

While DCMS is understood to be minded to curb maximum stakes on FOBTs, Whitehall sources have previously told the Guardian that the Treasury opposes tough restrictions, fearing the impact on its tax take.

While campaigners singled out figures for FOBTs, the commission also found high rates of problem gambling in other parts of the industry.

Some 15.9% of poker players in pubs and clubs were defined as problem gamblers while the highest proportion was 20.1% in the relatively rare practices of spread betting and the use of betting exchanges. Online casino and slots gaming, one of the fastest-growing forms of gambling, showed a rate of 10.6%.

The Remote Gambling Association, which represents online firms, said: “Compared to areas like lotteries and bingo, online gambling is usually classified as ‘harder gambling’ and is always likely to attract a higher proportion of problem and at-risk gamblers and this study reflects that.

“The relatively high levels of regulation for online gambling reflect that as well, but it’s something we have to accept responsibility for and proactively seek ways to minimise those risks for all consumers.”

He said RGA members were working on several initiatives to identify patterns of addiction and intervene earlier.

The report found that rates of problem gambling, defined as being “to a degree that compromises, disrupts or damages family, personal or recreational pursuits” also vary wildly depending on factors such as sex, age, location and ethnic background.

Just 0.2% of women have a gambling problem, rising to 1.5% among men and 2.3% of men aged between 25 and 34.

Case study: Jason Haddigan

Haddigan became involved in gambling aged nine when an acquaintance starting taking him to poker games, and he turned to crime before then becoming addicted to fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). He has not gambled for a year and has written a book about his experiences, How and why I conned the bookmakers.

“[The acquaintance] got me to play a game of pool for £500 when I was nine. When I was 20, [he] had been charged for a £26,000 fraud and was due at crown court. He begged me to go on the run with him so I agreed. Two weeks after being on the road, we stumbled on a scam conning bookies. I got arrested, and went to prison at 22 with him for six months.

“After I came out I went on the road with him again though, conning bookmakers. Every bit of money earned went back to another bookmakers. We’d get £1,500 out of Ladbrokes and then gamble it away at William Hill. I went to prison two more times.

“Aged 30, that’s when the machines (FOBTs) came out. They weren’t £100 maximum stake at the time. You could do hundreds of pounds a spin and I was doing it.

“[We] got hooked because when we were betting on horses and dogs, you had to wait 10-15 minutes for your race. With problem gamblers like me, we get agitated, we want to hurry up and get the buzz. When you’re playing the machines, you haven’t got to wait so long. It’s 20 seconds, £100 a spin. It’s absolutely what we wanted.

“When you go to a bookmakers, the machines are full, people aren’t betting on horses and dogs anymore. People are even queueing for the machines. I’ve lost over £300,000 since they came out, probably more.

“I’ve had four failed relationships because of gambling and had to sell a business for £22,000. I put it back into the machines in eight days. I attempted suicide a few years back.

“I started young but when the machines came out, I went to jail more times than before. Because I got hooked on them so bad, I was committing more crime to get more money to play them and I was getting caught and going to prison.

“In prison, if you’ve got a drink or drug problem you can go on a course. But there was no help at all for gambling.”

Case study: Tony Muca

Muca, 38, of Fareham in Hampshire, started gambling on the high street before becoming addicted to online games.

“I have been gambling since I was 13 with friends and have been addicted since I was 19. I used to gamble on the high street but now I do it online.

“When I gamble I love the adrenaline but it has cost me so much money, perhaps £250,000 over 15 years. I lost most of my friends, which demoralised me and made me start drinking and taking drugs to take my attention away from losing all of my wages.

“I still gamble but not as much, because I have started to understand I can get adrenaline doing other things, like spending my money with people around me. It makes me feel better than winning a bet.

“There should be easier access to getting help with gambling addiction. If people spend their money on other things it will be good for the economy and the government could gain more if they invest in helping young people.”

Output: Over two million people in the UK are either gambling addicts or risk becoming one, according to a report from the Gambling Commission. The report states that the number of UK adults who are "problem gamblers" has surged by a third in the past three years to around 430,000, with evidence showing increased addiction rates among users of fixed-odds terminals. Neither the government nor the gambling industry are moving fast enough to deal with the rising problem, according to the commission.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Shell gets approval for 250 MW Australian solar project
 A 250 MW PV plant in Queensland has received approval from local authority Western Downs Regional Council. The project is proposed by oil giant Shell, who will make final financial assessments and ultimately decide whether or not to go ahead with construction.

The proposed project, Delga Solar Farm, would be the eighth PV plant approved in the Western Downs regional, according to the local council, and is set to be located 25 kilometers south of the town of Wandoan.

The council state that Delga Solar Farm would be able to connect to an existing substation, allowing energy to be fed into Australia’s National Grid, and that the construction phase would create up to 800 jobs, with 10 full time positions for the subsequent operation of the plant.

“We’ve fully embraced the future of renewables and energy production in our region, and we welcome the proposal of Shell Australia onto the solar energy scene in Western Downs,” says Mayor Paul McVeigh. “This interest from a leading multi-national energy company to invest in renewable energy in our region is a great boost to the Western Downs’ already impressive energy portfolio.”

Popular content

Other partners in the project have not been revealed at this stage, however, in July Shell invested an undisclosed sum of money in Singapore based PV developer Sunseap, and the two stated plans to partner on ‘a number of utility-scale projects in the Asia-Pacific region’.

Queensland has seen some major investments in PV throughout 2017, with the Australian Clean Energy Finance Committee backing 200 MW of projects earlier in August.

“This project marks the eighth solar farm approved by the Council,” continues Mcveigh, “demonstrating our goal to become the energy capital of Australia.”

Output: Shell has received approval for a 250 MW solar power plant in Queensland, Australia. The Delga Solar Farm project has been approved by the Western Downs Regional Council and will connect to the national grid through an existing substation. Shell will make a final financial assessment before deciding whether to proceed with construction. Queensland has had a number of solar projects approved recently, with the Australian Clean Energy Finance Committee backing 200 MW of PV projects this year. The new farm would be the eighth approved by the council.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Canberra introduces hybrid and all-electric buses
 "We see it as a stepping stone to the future. The future is electric, Volvo has electric chassis in development and actually in service in Europe which we are planning on bringing to Australia at some point in the future," Volvo Bus Australia's national contracts manager Ian Clarke said.

Output: Canberra, Australia, is introducing hybrid and electric buses as part of a 12-month trial. The ACT government will lease one of Volvo's hybrid buses and two electric buses from Carbridge, with the trial expected to cost around $900,000 to explore whether the current ACTION fleet should be replaced with the newer technology. Although there are currently six such buses working at Sydney Airport, with 11 to follow at Brisbane Airport, the Canberra trial will be the first on public routes.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Electrofuels could save 2.8 gigatons of CO2 by 2050: Bosch
 The calculation is based on an assumed e-fuels blend of 1% in 2025, 10% in 2030, 40% in 2040 and completely replacing the fossil fuel share by 2050.

According to a new study by Bosch, the use of e-fuels—synthetic fuels based on renewable energy—in Europe by 2050 as a scheduled supplement to electrification could save up to 2.8 gigatons of CO 2 : three times Germany’s carbon-dioxide emissions in 2016.

Top: Threefold pathway to a de-fossilized powertrain. Bottom: Fuel pathways. Source: Bosch. Click to enlarge.

If the climate targets set by the Paris conference are to be achieved, CO 2 emissions from traffic worldwide will have to be reduced 50% over the next four decades, and by at least 85% in the advanced economies, Bosch notes.

Achieving our future climate targets calls for other intelligent solutions apart from electromobility. —Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH

Even if all cars were to drive electrically one day, aircraft, ships, and even trucks will still run mainly on fuel. Carbon-neutral combustion engines that run on synthetic fuels are thus a very promising path to explore—including for passenger cars. In addition, synthetic fuels can be designed to burn practically soot-free. In this way, the cost of exhaust-gas treatment can be reduced, Bosch adds.

A further advantage is that the existing filling-station network can continue to be used. The same applies to the existing combustion-engine expertise. Moreover, even though electric cars will become significantly less expensive in the years ahead, the development of these fuels may be worthwhile. Bosch has calculated that, up to a lifetime mileage of 160,000 kilometers, the total cost of ownership of a hybrid running on synthetic fuel could be less than that of a long-range electric car, depending on the type of renewable energy used.

It is already possible to manufacture synthetic fuels; Audi’s e-fuels initiative provides an example. (Earlier post.) If the electricity used is generated from renewables (and thus CO 2 -free), such fuels are carbon-neutral and very versatile. The hydrogen that is initially produced can be used to power fuel cells, while the fuels created following further processing can be used to run combustion engines or aircraft turbines. Pilot projects to commercialize synthetic diesel, gasoline, and gas are currently underway in Norway and Germany.

In addition, because synthetic fuels are compatible with the existing infrastructure and engine generation, achieving a high degree of market penetration would take far less time than electrifying the existing vehicle fleet. Nor will anything change for the drivers of older vehicles, as even classic cars will still run on synthetic gasoline.

At the moment, producing synthetic fuels is expensive. However, a production ramp-up and favorable electricity prices could mean that synthetic fuels become significantly cheaper. Present studies suggest that the fuel itself (excluding any excise duties) could cost between €1.00 and €1.40/liter (US$4.47 to $6.25/gallon US) in the long run.

Resources

Output: Fuels created from converting renewable energy into synthetic hydrocarbons could save the world 2.8 gigatons of carbon CO2 by 2050 if selectively introduced into the transport system, according to research by Bosch. That's equivalent to three times Germany's carbon emissions in 2016. Bosch recommends blending so-called electrofuels into regular gasoline and diesel at a rate of 1% by 2025, 10% by 2030, 40% by 2040 followed by full replacement in 2050. Synthetic fuels don't require any changes to existing engines or delivery infrastructure, creating the potential for high penetration among existing vehicles.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Safe landing is the main challenge for autonomous flying cars
 Before you can zip about in a flying car, engineers must solve more than a few problems. Oddly, figuring out how to make a flying car fly isn't among them. The basics of flight were sorted out more than 100 years ago. No, the big challenge lies in making these things fly themselves so you don't have to go through the hassle of earning a pilot's license. Here, too, taking flight isn't the big problem. Landing is.

“Takeoff is fairly scripted,” says Sanjiv Signh, the CEO of Near Earth Autonomy. His company makes sensors and robotic controls for aerial vehicles like drones. “But the landing site may not be ready to take a vehicle. Maybe something went wrong, and there’s already a vehicle on deck.”

A human pilot would know what to do. But a computer algorithm? It must be programmed. So Airbus, which really is developing an autonomous flying car, tapped the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, company to provide the hardware needed to get it off the ground—and back down again.

Airbus calls its self-flying flying car Vahana, and is working on it at its Silicon Valley outpost A^3 (pronounced "a cubed"). The single-seat electric aircraft uses eight propellers mounted on wings that rotate. Vahana takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like an airplane. Engineers call this VTOL, or vertical take-off and landing, but a growing number of people think it's just the thing for flying cars. Airbus hopes to start flight testing a prototype before the end of the year.

If all goes according to plan, Vahana will use a Near Earth Autonomy technology called Peregrine. The system, mounted under the fuselage, looks like a shoebox with a dome. It contains lidar, inertial measurement, GPS sensors, and all kinds of processing power. When the aircraft is at an altitude lower than 65 feet, it laser scans the ground in three dimensions, looking for objects bigger larger than 12 inches across, to determine whether the landing spot is clear and safe. If it does spot an impediment—like your jerk neighbor's flying car—it will suggest an alternative LZ and feed that back to Vahana's flight control computer.

Output: Taking off in a flying car is easy, according to aerial vehicle parts provider Near Earth Autonomy, but landing is not. Autonomous flying cars require specialised software to be able to cope with any problems on landing such as obstructions or difficult conditions, which does not yet exist. The company is developing hardware for Airbus's Vahana, which can take off and land vertically, using a range of sensors and laser scanners to determine if it is safe to touch down. A working prototype will be produced by the end of 2017 if all goes according to plan.


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Redrow Bosses of building firms buy discounted homes meant for families
 The airline axed 54 flights scheduled to take off and land at Gatwick Airport on Sunday, while a further 55 were grounded today, causing misery for 15,000 passengers as Britain's hot spell sparked storms. People caught up in the chaos were outraged, claiming there were just two members of staff at the airport who were 'swamped' by thousands of stranded easyJet customers. Sam Spencer, who was due to fly to Nice from Gatwick, told MailOnline: 'The lady at the desk was polite but fairly unhelpful, the man on her radio literally told her: "Tell them all to s*d off".' EasyJet has stated that the disruption is 'outside of our control and is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance'. Due to the weather, this means that passengers will not be eligible for flight delay compensation. Suspicious passengers claimed that the issue was due to a lack of air crew - not storms - because rivals at Gatwick such as Norwegian and British Airways are not suffering in the same way. One critic tweeted: 'Why only easyJet? Surely other airlines would cancel their flights because of the weather'.

Output: The chairman of housing firm Redrow, Steve Morgan, has let four of the six affordable home properties at his company’s Stretton Green development in Cheshire to staff from his estate at the Carden Park Hotel. The homes failed to sell at their original price of £350,000 each, leading Morgan to purchase all six for £680,000. Morgan allegedly collects rent of at least £640 from each home, although the properties were designed to house less well-off families. He retains a significant stake in Redrow through another company, Bridgemere.


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RhythmOne RhythmOne confirms takeover talks with YuMe
 Publicly listed adtech companies RhythmOne and YuMe have issued separate statements confirming reports that they are in negotiations, with any potential deal representing the latest transaction in adtech mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Both parties have confirmed the talks but both are adamant that nothing has been concluded

UK-based RhythmOne, which is listed on the AIM, made the first move, issuing a statement confirming it was in talks with YuMe over a potential takeover. “Given the nature of the discussions, there can be no certainty that any transaction will proceed,” read the company statement.

“A further announcement will be made in due course if and when appropriate.”

YuMe, itself listed on the New York Stock Exchange, subsequently issued a similar statement, which described the negotiations as “YuMe’s strategic alternatives process.”

Both statements point out that no deal has yet been agreed, with the second statement stating: “YuMe has been engaged in a strategic process in which YuMe continues to consider several value-enhancing initiatives, including remaining as a stand-alone company.”

The share prices of both companies subsequently rose in the aftermath of the publication of their respective statements, with the revelations coming the same day as DoubleVerify confirmed that it had sold a majority stake to private equity outfit Providence Equity Partners in the latest M&A transaction.

RhythmOne itself took part in earlier adtech M&A activity this year, with the outfit purchasing certain assets of RadiumOne for an undisclosed amount.

At the time of the acquisition, RhythmOne claimed the purchase would allow it to gain access to customer insights, audience segmentation and targeting technology, and premium demand relationships.

Neither RhythmOne nor YuMe has issued any statement on any efficiencies such a transaction would facilitate.

Although the reports come as the US-based company revealed earlier this month that it was turning a corner with the video advertising specialist its best quarter since Q4 2013, during the three months to June 30, with a net income of $4.4m.

According to a Seeking Alpha transcript, YuMe’s chief executive officer Paul Porrini told investors at the time that its results during the second quarter of 2017 were 'record achievements.'

He added: “We delivered $11m of programmatic revenue in the second quarter, up from $2.1m for the same period last year and $9.4m sequentially. We are encouraged by this rapid growth and adoption, and believe we are well-positioned to capture additional ad spend through our programmatic offering.”

Meanwhile, RhythmOne's latest financial filing issued in March this year demonstrated that it generated revenues of $175.4m for the 2017 financial year.

Output: Adtech firm RhythmOne has confirmed that it is in discussions about a potential takeover of rival company YuMe. The latter business, a New York Stock Exchange-listed firm, has said that it is reviewing "value-enhancing initiatives", which include remaining as a "standalone company". Both companies' share prices jumped after the confirmation of the talks. RhythmOne has already made an acquisition this year, with the purchase of some of the assets of data marketing firm RadiumOne.


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IAB introduces Podcast Playbook guide to help marketers
 The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released its first-ever buyer’s guide for podcast advertising, providing insights into audience demographics, listener behaviours, creative treatments, ad formats, delivery and targeting, and ad effectiveness measurement.

The Podcast Playbook features research confirming the growth of podcasts, the locations people listen to them, the methods of listening to them, the number of podcasts listeners are subscribed to, and more.

“This playbook will serve as a go-to reference guide to help brand marketers understand podcasts and effectively steer more ad dollars toward opportunities that will deliver in terms of audience reach,” said Anna Bager, SVP and general manager for mobile and video at the IAB. “In an industry where explosive growth and dramatic change have been endemic, podcasts are having a standout moment. We want to educate marketers on the unique and valuable benefits of advertising on the medium.”

Recent IAB research, conducted by PwC, forecasts that podcast revenues will reach $200m in 2017, up 87 per cent from $119m in 2016. Meanwhile, smartphones, as expected, were found to be the primary device used for listening to podcasts.

IAB also found that 44 per cent of podcast listeners are under 34, educated, wealthy, and likely to be business influencers. In addition, two-thirds of listeners cite high brand recall and nearly the same number say that podcast ads inspired a purchase.

“Podcasts create an especially intimate space for listeners to engage with content because these listeners have made an active choice to download or stream,” said Harry Clark, EVP of Market Enginuity, and co-chair of the IAB Podcast Playbook working group. “This guide provides advertisers with concise, illuminating insights to the potential of podcasts as an effective ad channel, in terms of podcast audiences, their responsiveness, and the flexibility of the medium’s delivery options.”

Output: The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the US has launched its first guide for podcast advertising, offering expertise in audience demographic targeting, ad formats, delivery, listener behaviour and measurements of ad efficacy. The Podcast Playbook has been released as IAB research found that podcast revenues are due to reach $200m this year, an 87% increase from last year. Podcasts are most frequently accessed on mobile devices, with 44% of listeners under 34 and wealthy. Two-thirds of podcast listeners have good brand recall, with a similar number stating that podcast advertising led them to purchase a product.


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AbleTo plans expansion of mental health platform
 AbleTo, a healthcare business working with self-insured employers and health plans to use technology to help people who identify themselves as depressed or coping with anxiety or stress, has closed a $36.6 million Series D round. The fundraise is intended to expand the company’s customer base.

To date, AbleTo has raised $57.4 million.

Bain Capital Ventures led the round with Aetna Ventures. Existing ventures, such as .406 Ventures, Sandbox Industries, HLM Venture Partners, and Horizon Healthcare Services, also took part. Aetna has been an AbleTo customer since 2011.

Here’s how it works. Plan members take a questionnaire to assess their level of need, if any. They are matched with a behavioral health coach and a therapist through a phone or video chat. Goals are set as part of an eight-week personalized program.

AbleTo’s argument for employers is that its approach to behavioral health can boost work performance. A study with Aetna focusing on members with cardiovascular disease with depression found that graduates of AbleTo’s program had a 61 percent drop in absenteeism and a 44 percent decline in people working while sick between October 2015 through May 2016.

Earlier this year, AbleTo CEO Rob Rebak said that it wants to continue to validate its approach through clinical research in areas such as depression, anxiety and diabetes. It also has plans to explore how its technology platform can be applied to areas such as patients newly diagnosed with a chronic condition and the range of emotions that diagnosis can produce.

Another priority for AbleTo is adding telepsychiatry services to its platform.

“We are finding that 20 percent to 30 percent of our patients also have a need for some form of a telepsychiatry consult,” Rebak said. The idea is to better balance the services AbleTo provides its customers.

Photo: phototechno, Getty Images

Output: AbleTo, a healthcare company that uses technology to help people who identify themselves as depressed or suffering from anxiety or stress, has raised $36.6m in a series D round to expand its treatment platform. AbleTo CEO Rob Rebak said that the company wants to continue to validate its approach through clinical research in areas such as depression, anxiety and diabetes, and explore how its platform can help patients newly diagnosed with chronic conditions and with the range of emotions that diagnosis can produce. Bain Capital Ventures led the latest funding round alongside Aetna Ventures. To date, AbleTo has raised $57.4m.


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Lastminute.com and RBS latest brands to remove ads from Breitbart
 Lastminute.com and RBS are the latest brands to pull their ads from far-right news site Breitbart, following reports that close to 2600 advertisers had disassociated themselves from the Steve Bannon-fronted outlet.

RBS and Lastminute.com are the latest advertisers to remove their content from the site

The brands confirmed to The Drum that have taken steps to ensure their ads would no longer be served alongside content from the publisher. As late as Tuesday (22 August) promotions from both brands were featured on the homepage and above articles on the site in the form of banner ads (served via Google’s ad network).

“We take placement of our ads very seriously - we do not support any strong opinion which violates the rights of others,” a Lastminute.com spokesperson told The Drum.

RBS, meanwhile, said it also takes the issue “extremely seriously.” A spokesperson added: "We have suspended all advertising with this website. Our ads are served up through a third party and we are investigating why they have appeared here.”

Earlier this week, activist group Sleeping Giants released a list of almost 2575 companies it claimed have removed their ads from Brietbart news. Sleeping Giants noted that while household names Nestlé, Uber, Hewlett Packard and Ikea had removed their ads from the site, others like Amazon had not.

The Next Web cites sources as having said internal pressure is “mounting” for Amazon to blacklist the publisher so that programmatic ads are not served on the site on behalf of the e-commerce giant. On Monday several high-profile Twitter users implored the retailer to distance itself from Brietbart, while other brands, like cookware firm Le Creuset have asked the company to stop showing its products in its display ads on Breitbart.

When The Drum visited the site on Thursday (24 August) it was served Amazon ads on two separate occasions, indicating the retailer has yet block the site from its list of accepted publishers with programmatic partners. The ads were for Amazon's own fashion brand and external brands, like Yakoe. The Drum has reached out to Amazon regarding the matter, but at the time of publication had yet to receive a response.

Breitbart, which has previously run such headlines as: 'Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy', ‘The Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage' and 'Gay rights have made us dumber, it's time to get back in the closet', was banned from AppNexus’ ad exchange last year on the grounds of hate speech.

But, both Facebook and Google’s display networks still serve up ads on behalf of brands around Breitbart content.

Facebook specifically has introduced ways to let advertisers who purchase slots through their marketplace view a list of places where their ads will appear online before they start their campaigns.

When approached for further information about Breitbart ad placement, Facebook said that all websites and apps must adhere to its community standards. The company added that it reviews placements within its audience network reactively and that on top of domain blocking it offers brands the ability to block their ads from appearing against certain sensitive topics should they wish.

Google similarly enforces its ad policies at a page level so even if a website doesn't breach its policies, it can take action on specific pages if brands make that request. The search giant was unable to comment on its Adsense plug-in with Breitbart.

Amazon's conundrum, and questions about whether Breitbart violates either Facebook or Google's policies, comes amid debates on both brand safety and the role of tech companies in policing the internet.

The latter came to a head when neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer was removed from the internet last week after it disparaged a woman who died during protests in Charlottesville. The Daily Stormer's site host, GoDaddy, gave it 24-hours to find a new provider, while Cloudfare - which had been enlisted by the blog to help it prevent cyber attacks - also terminated its contract.

In a memo to staff, however, Cloudfare's chief executive Matthew Prince later said the whims of tech leaders like himself or Zuckerberg, shouldn't determine what content is available online.

"I think the people who run The Daily Stormer are abhorrent," said Prince, "but again, I don’t think my political decisions should determine who should and shouldn’t be on the internet.”

Breitbart has recently seen the return of former White House communications chief Steve Bannon to the helm, with the site hailing the return of its “populist hero” following an advertiser boycott and apparently plummeting readership in the wake of Trump’s election to the White House.

According to a Washington Post report published earlier this summer, the site has been keen to trim back some of its more extreme elements in a bid for mainstream respectability, including the departure of incendiary writer Milo Yiannopoulos.

The Drum has tried to contact Breitbart about its advertiser exodus, but the publisher didn't respond to a request for comment.

When Kellogg's pulled its ad spend from the site last year, the news organization called for a boycott on the FMCG giant's products.

Output: RBS and Lastminute.com are the latest brands to pull their advertisements from far-right news outlet Breitbart, following reports that almost 2,600 advertisers have already disassociated themselves from the Steve Bannon-fronted website. “We take placement of our ads very seriously – we do not support any strong opinion which violates the rights of others,” commented a Lastminute.com spokesperson. RBS stressed that it also takes the issue “extremely seriously”. A spokesperson added: “Our ads are served up through a third party and we are investigating why they have appeared here.”


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Gravity4 launches blockchain tech aimed at reducing ad fraud
 Advertising technology company Gravity4 has launched its new blockchain marketing cloud token called Lydian, which aims to provide advertising services with increased transaction transparency and reduce advertising fraud.

The company also wants to combine Lydian with its artificial intelligence (AI) marketing engine, Mona Lisa, launched earlier this year, to transform ad tech by digitising and decentralising the validation of transactions.

Lydian is targeted at new companies that have substantial cryptocurrency holdings, but are reluctant to liquidate large sums of cryptocurrencies into fiat currency to purchase services.

“As technological awareness of blockchain continues to increase, every sector of business stands a chance to be disrupted,” said Gravity4 founder and chief executive officer, Gurbaksh Chahal.

“There is a tremendous opportunity to utilize blockchain technology to create efficiencies within the ad tech industry.

“By enabling condition-triggered mechanisms for data to be accessible, it can be shared at scale without any middlemen. Lydian leverages the computing power of the G4 Marketing Cloud, and its data-driven marketing services to provide efficient advertising solutions for the cryptocurrency market.

“This will allow the community to effectively target customers, with verifiable metrics supporting their campaign efficacy. This will eliminate the need for an intermediary to validate the data integrity or ad serving transaction.”

Gravity4 also announced the appointment of Jeffery Seah, former Southeast Asia chief executive officer of Starcom Mediavest to its advisory board, where he will lend his domain and venture capitalist experience to the upcoming token sale for Lydian

Output: Adtech company Gravity4 has issued a blockchain marketing cloud token that aims to minimise ad fraud by digitising and decentralising the validation of transactions. Called Lydian, the token will enable companies with cryptocurrency holdings to purchase services without liquidating large sums of assets. Florida-based Gravity4 also plans to use Lydian's blockchain to enable brands to directly receive verifiable metrics on their campaigns without the need for an intermediary, said founder and CEO Gurbaksh Chahal.