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Seven Stars to launch ICO platform in Q4
 Seven Stars Cloud Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSC) ("SSC" or the "Company" or "Seven Stars Cloud"), today provided an update on NextGen Exchange Group (NextGen").

After passing initial testing, SSC's NextGen which will be the backbone of SSC's Tokenization and Exchange Platform (and will fall under SSC's 2nd Engine, Digital Finance Solutions) will be launching in Q4 2017. As a reminder, SSC announced the purchase of 51% of NextGen Exchange Group on June 12, 2017.

SSC's four monetization methods for asset-backed securities ("ABS") are: 1. ICO: tokenization or token issuance; 2. Index issuance and exchange; 3. ETF issuance and exchange; 4. Derivative issuance and exchange. What makes these exchanges different and the first of their kind, is that they combine all of the following: they are FINRA- and SEC-regulated, the products are developed using Big Data & Artificial Intelligence and finally, all ABS products are backed by real assets from industries that are partners and users of SSC's 1st Engine, VPaaS.

Additionally, SSC today announced a strategic investment in the Delaware Board of Trade Holdings, Inc. ("DBOT") (http://dbottrading.com/). DBOT, is an approved and licensed FINRA- and SEC-regulated electronic trading platform with operations in Delaware. NextGen is powered by DBOT's platform, trading system and technology.

Mr. John F. Wallace, the former Chairman of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Chairman of the Philadelphia Depository Trust and Vice Chairman of NASDAQ OMX PHLX is Chairman of DBOT and serves as Executive Chairman of NextGen.

About Seven Stars Cloud Group, Inc. (http://corporate.sevenstarscloud.com/)

Output: Seven Stars Cloud Group's NextGen exchange has passed initial testing and will launch in Q4 2017, the company said. The platform will facilitate initial coin offerings through tokenisation or token issuance; index issuance and exchange; ETF issuance and exchange; and derivative issuance and exchange. SSC claims its products are unique in that they are FINRA- and SEC-regulated, the products are developed using artificial intelligence and all asset-backed securities products are backed by real assets from industries that are partners and users of SSC's 1st Engine, VPaaS.


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75% of execs think AI is set to reshape insurance: Accenture
 Insurers harness cloud power and reduce tech debt

With all the buzz around ChatGPT and generative AI, it’s important to remember that cloud is the underpinning. Insurers will need to replatform by migrating to the cloud to enable innovation and growth through these new and emerging technologies. At the same…

Output: Professional services firm Accenture’s tech survey, the 2017 Technology Vision for Insurance, found that 75% of executives believe that AI is set to significantly change the insurance industry. AI will change how insurance is processed, automating back-end operations and eventually changing customer interaction with virtual assistance from chatbots. Accenture’s previous research found that 74% of consumers would be content to have insurance advice provided by computers.


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Representatives Investigating Rising
 ARTICLE | Politics & Policy

Representatives investigating rising MS prices

Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) launched an investigation into the rising price of multiple sclerosis drugs, citing increases in price of as much as 1002% over the lifetime of a drug despite growing competition. The committee issued a press release Thursday containing letters sent to Bayer AG (Xetra:BAYN), Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB), Merck KGaA (Xetra:MRK), Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN), Sanofi (Euronext:SAN; NYSE:SNY), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TEVA; Tel Aviv:TEVA) and Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) requesting information about their profits and pricing strategies.

In the letters, the representatives accuse the manufacturers of "shadow pricing," whereby companies increase their drug prices in response to new more expensive drugs entering the market. As evidence, the representatives cited a 2015 paper published in the American Academy of Neurology. The paper describes increases in the cost of first generation disease modifying drugs that are 5 to 7 times the rate of prescription drug inflation. Specifically, the researchers noted that the cost of first-generation MS drugs Betaferon interferon (IFN) beta-1b from Bayer, Avonex interferon beta-1a from Biogen and Copaxone glatiramer acetate from Teva rose by an average of 21-36% a year, compared to a general prescription drug inflation of 3-5%. Copaxone 20 mg had increased 1002% to a price of $91,401 since its launch in 1996...

Output: Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) launched an investigation into the rising price of multiple sclerosis drugs, citing increases in price of as much as 1002% over the lifetime of a drug despite growing competition.


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Republican-controlled states might be Trump’s best hope to reform health care
 Early on in this year’s health care debate, we wrote about how the interests of Republican governors and their federal co-partisans in Congress would not necessarily line up. Indeed, as Congress deliberated options to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, several GOP governors came out against the various proposals. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, for example, held a late June press conference with his state’s Republican senator, Dean Heller, where he criticized the congressional Republicans’ plans to end the Medicaid expansion. On the eve of what proved to be the final vote in the Senate, five GOP governors—Sandoval, plus Larry Hogan of Maryland, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, John Kasich of Ohio, and Phil Scott of Vermont—announced their opposition to the so-called “skinny repeal” measure ultimately defeated the next day. At the same time, some Republican governors who might have had reason to oppose congressional efforts at key junctures did not do so. Arizona’s Doug Ducey, for example, sided with nearly all Senate Republicans in supporting the “skinny repeal” proposal in order to move debate along, despite the fact that more than 418,000 people in his state benefitted from the ACA’s Medicaid expansion.

These same dynamics may also affect what’s likely to be the next front in the ongoing health care debate: waivers, which can be valuable policy tools in implementing federal health policy for governors and presidents alike. Waivers under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act have a long history of providing governors with an opportunity to experiment with different methods of Medicaid program delivery. Doing so may allow governors to pursue their own policy agendas and/or address needs specific to their state.

Presidents, meanwhile, also have something to gain by granting state waiver requests. At first blush, this may seem counterintuitive: Section 1115 waivers allow states more flexibility, while scholarship on the presidency emphasizes that, in general, presidents seek to centralize their control over federal policy. Granting waivers from federal law would appear to undermine this goal.

But this view does not account for the benefits waivers offer presidents. Faced with congressional intransigence, for example, presidents can approve waivers and claim credit for enacting policy reforms when Congress cannot – as we wrote previously, President Clinton used this approach. In addition, presidents may grant states flexibility via waivers to facilitate adoption of policies that governors may not otherwise implement. The Obama administration’s use of Section 1115 waivers to facilitate state Medicaid expansions is one example of how presidents have used the tool to incentivize behavior within the political constraints facing governors.

The potential use of waivers to induce state-level policy changes helps explain why presidents do not only grant waivers to governors from their own party. Indeed, of the 84 approved Section 1115 Medicaid waivers from 1993 through present, about 55 percent went to governors of the same party as the president – meaning, of course, that about 45 percent of approved waivers were granted by presidents for governors in the opposing party. Republican presidents in this time period (George W. Bush and Trump) are slightly more likely to approve waivers for co-partisans: about 59 percent of waivers approved by Republican presidents went to Republican governors, while 52 percent of waivers approved by Democratic presidents (Clinton and Obama) went to Democratic governors.

Given what we know about the politics of waivers, what should we expect moving forward? Recent analyses of pending 1115 Medicaid expansion waivers—including one from the Kaiser Family Foundation on various provisions and one in the New England Journal of Medicine on partial expansions specifically—suggest that the immediate focus will be shared conservative policy priorities in the face of congressional inaction rather than on inducing policy changes by Democratic governors. The Trump administration, for example, has signaled a willingness to approve work requirements via 1115 waivers. The Obama administration denied waiver proposals that would have imposed similar rules as a condition of expanding Medicaid “on the basis that such a provision would not further the program’s purposes of promoting health coverage and access.” However, in March 2017, CMS sent a letter to governors indicating it was interested in Section 1115 waiver applications that proposed work requirements, among other priorities.

As states submit waiver applications, it will also be important to remember that states’ internal political dynamics can also affect the process. The Trump administration, after all, can make clear what kind of policy changes it would like to see but cannot require states to submit waiver applications. As we wrote in June with respect to various proposals to end the Medicaid expansion, governors’ electoral timelines are different than those of members of Congress and the president, which may influence their choices; of the nation’s 34 Republican governors, for example, 14 are term-limited in either 2017 or 2018. State legislatures can and do insert themselves into the decision-making process as well. Arizona, for example, passed a law in 2015 requiring the governor to apply for an 1115 waiver implementing work requirements and a time limit for beneficiaries, but only after a similar law had been vetoed by the previous governor in 2013.

While history suggests that presidents do not always simply rubber stamp waiver applications from governors of their own party and desk reject those from their opponents, the Trump administration has signaled an interest in policy changes, like work requirements, that Democratic governors are unlikely to be enthusiastic about. Particularly given the Republican party’s recent legislative failures on healthcare, Republican politicians at the state and national level – governors and members of the Trump administration – face particularly strong incentives to deliver, at least in part, on their party’s promises to enact healthcare reforms. These conditions in turn may create fertile ground for policymaking via waivers in Republican-controlled states.

Output: arly on in this year’s health care debate, we wrote about how the interests of Republican governors and their federal co-partisans in Congress would not necessarily line up. Indeed, as Congress deliberated options to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, several GOP governors came out against the various proposals.


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China starts anti-dumping investigation into Brazilian chicken
 Chinese famers say the South American country has been selling the meat unfairly below market value on the mainland

Output: Chinese officials have begun an anti-dumping investigation into broiler products from Brazil, following complaints from Chinese producers that Brazilian exporters have been selling chicken meat below market value. Brazilian chicken accounted for over 50% of broiler products supplied to China between 2013 and 2016. China is the world's second largest poultry consumer and the biggest national consumer of Brazilian meat.


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Organic launches cognitive tech division
 Hopping straight into the zeitgeist, Omnicom agency Organic is launching Synthetic, a new division aimed at helping clients use artificial intelligence, machine learning and other aspects of so-called “cognitive technology.”

Organic COO Keith Pine and chief creative officer Chris Kelly will lead the new division.

“We started to do some dabbling in cognitive technology for different clients, but really toward the end of last year, we had the realization that if we want to go deeper and broader and do unique things, we needed to do a separate division,” said Pine. “One of the unique things with this group is we’ve got a hard line between them and the rest of the agency. They’re free from any constraints with space and latitude to think freely in a world where there isn’t anyone saying no.”

Cognitive tech is an umbrella term that includes artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning. AI can be something as simple as Facebook recognizing an image of a friend, while machine learning could be an intelligent spam filter. Brands are hoping to use all sorts of cognitive tech in various ways, from media buying (dynamically inserting and serving ads based on performance) to optimizing their websites for customers.

Synthetic has a couple of developers, a designer, a few UX people and a lead. It pulls in resources from the rest of the agency as needed. Every few weeks, it’ll work on a specific experiment; the first is around sentiment analysis and image recognition. Then, it’ll show the results to account leads from different brands, who will show them to clients, if applicable.

The first to use the new division is American Signature Furniture, an Ohio-based furniture chain with 125 locations and a growing e-commerce business. Organic is using Synthetic on a long-range idea to build cognitive technology into the actual shopping experience, said Steve Haffer, chief innovation officer at the brand.

E-commerce is still about 3 percent of sales in the “big furniture” category, said Haffer, and the purchase path for such big-ticket items is complex. “We put tablets in the hands of our store associates. We have so much data; we have data from the website, from our customer service, the cart,” said Haffer. “This cognitive tech stuff has to fit into the overall architecture of customer experience.”

Looming over this is the threat of Amazon. ASF doesn’t sell its products on Amazon, but Haffer said it has to compete with it. So where Amazon can afford to spend millions experimenting with new technologies, ASF is looking to Synthetic to help evaluate its use of new tech. “That’s why Organic is interesting; it helps us become a bit more selective about technologies like AI,” he said. “We have to compete with Amazon, innovate at their level, but we can’t really afford to do it like them.”

Organic, of course, is far from the front-runner here. AI — a part of the cognitive tech bucket — is everywhere now. At media agency Crossmedia, new cognitive solutions lead Karim Sanjabi is focused on implementing AI into the agency’s media work. MDC has Born, an agency focused entirely on AI.

But Organic thinks it will set itself apart by having experimental technology that works before it is presented to clients. “What we’re not trying to do is build a ton of technology that would just be redundant in the industry,” said Kelly.

Output: Omnicom subsidiary Organic has launched a new corporate division to provide AI guidance to its clients, covering machine learning and other types of cognitive technology insight. The division, called Synthetic, will be led by Organic’s COO Keith Pine and Chief Creative Officer Chris Kelly. The team will comprise developers, UX executives and designers. The company will work on sentiment analysis and image recognition for potential introduction to clients.


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Christmas trees could die off due to climate change
 The Swiss, who are more aware of climate change than the average Briton because of their disappearing glaciers and snow cover, are also worried about their trees, particularly the Norway spruce.

The Norway spruce is the mainstay of the Swiss forestry industry but is in danger of dying out this century because of warmer temperatures.

This spruce is common in Britain, best known perhaps as the classic Christmas tree, but also as a favoured habitat for the red squirrel. What the Swiss have discovered is that an increase in temperature and summer droughts expected this century is likely to kill off most of this spruce in their country.

Another important tree to the Swiss, the European beech, is also vulnerable to extra warmth and heat. Trees can adapt to climate change but in both these species there is about a 100-year time lapse between generations, so with rapid climate change there is not enough time for adaptations.

The Swiss are advocating taking seeds of spruce or beech from warmer valley bottoms and planting them higher up the mountains, or importing specimens of these trees from other countries where over centuries they have adapted to warmer drier conditions.

The alternative, to save the Swiss forestry industry, is to switch to planting other species able to thrive in harsher conditions.

The beech has also been identified by the UK’s Forestry Commission as the native species most likely to suffer from a warmer, drier, climate. But there has been nothing like the stark warning that has come from Switzerland. Perhaps the time has come for a closer look at the problem.

Output: The Norway spruce, a tree native to Switzerland, is at risk of dying out in the country amid rising temperatures and increased drought. The species of tree, best known as the classic Christmas tree, is also home to the red squirrel. In addition, the European beech is under threat from warmer temperatures. Authorities say both species can cope with changes in climate, but the current rapid pace leaves the trees no time to adapt. Options include planting the spruce in higher, colder conditions or growing different species entirely.


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LVL Technologies to develop hydration tracker after $6.75m round
 Austin, Texas-based LVL Technologies (formerly known as BSX Athletics) has raised $6.75 million in a self-described Series A round led by the Samsung Catalyst Fund. Maxim Integrated Products also contributed along with other industry investors. This is actually the company's second Series A round; according to a now-deleted blog post on the company's website, it already raised a $2.5 million Series A back in 2013 from six undisclosed private investors. That would bring its total funding to $9 million.

LVL Technologies is focused on building health and fitness wearables that track an additional metric that most market incumbents don't: hydration. The sensor uses infrared light to measure the water content in a user's blood stream, then the device prompts the user in real time to hydrate.

“Water is such a critical part of who we all are,” Dr. Dustin Freckleton, founder and CEO of LVL Technologies, said in a statement. “Our bodies are made up mostly of water and yet our internal thirst drive does a surprisingly poor job of helping us stay properly hydrated. This is manifested in numerous ways, from headaches, to joint pain, impaired exercise performance, lowered mental clarity and so much more. All of these can be improved by better hydration habits.”

In addition to hydration, LVL's wearable (called LVL One) tracks activity, heart rate, sleep, and self-reported mood. According to the company's website, the device is set to ship in summer 2018.

LVL Technologies has evolved significantly since it launched its first app, runBSX, in 2013. The company originally focused on personalized running coaching. In 2014, it launched BSX Insight, a wearable for athletes that tracks lactic acid buildup, a helpful metric for athletes who want to learn how hard they are working out, compared to how hard they could be working out. The wearable raised $121,000 on Kickstarter. The company says it is still in use by many endurance athletes, including US Olympic competitors.

With LVL One, the company is looking to push out beyond athletes to create a general interest consumer wearable. That's a hard market to break into right now, but the vote of confidence from a major tech player like Samsung is a promising start.

"At Samsung, we’ve long believed that wearables will help usher in the next wave of innovation in digital health,” Shankar Chandran, managing director and head of the Samsung Catalyst Fund, said in a statement. “By measuring important data on hydration - which has eluded the industry for years - LVL Technologies has demonstrated the vast potential of wearables technology, and the impact it can have on consumers’ lives. As a leader in the wearables space, we at Samsung are thrilled to partner with a company that will help us push the boundaries of this technology even further.”

Output: Health and fitness wearables firm LVL Technologies has raised $6.75m in a funding round led by Samsung Catalyst Fund. The firm plans to use the proceeds to build its latest product: a hydration tracker. The LVL One device will use infrared light to measure blood water content, then remind the wearer to drink water if they are dehydrated. The wearable will also track heart rate, activity, sleep, and mood, and is expected to ship next summer.


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Google introduces Questions and Answers feature
 Google has introduced a feature to Maps and Search that helps people find out all they need to know about a location they have searched for.

With Google’s ‘Questions & Answers’, people are able to ask questions, get answers, and answer other people’s questions about places on Google Maps. The most informative questions and answers can be upvoted by tapping on the thumbs up icon, and the most upvoted content is placed toward the top of the location listing.

Business owners are also able to add frequently asked questions and answers to make sure information is accurate. Furthermore, business owners and in-the-know users are notified when a question is submitted to see if they have the answers.

The feature is being rolled out to Google Maps for Android and mobile Search users worldwide.

“No matter where you’re headed or what you’re looking to do, Google Maps and Search highlights the information you need to make quick decisions and discover the world around you,” said Lisa Wang, associate product manager for Google Maps, in a blog post.

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. We've extended the final deadline to 18 August, but time's running out. More details here.

Output: Google is launching a new feature for Maps and Search, to help people find more information about locations they are searching for. “Questions and Answers” will allow users to ask questions - and to answer other users’ questions - about locations. The best answers are voted, and the most popular content rises to the top of the place listings. Businesses can also add FAQs, and provide their own answers. The new feature is being rolled out across the Google Maps app for Android and the mobile search app globally.


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Chinese short-term consumer debt is surging
 The Chinese government is moving to tackle high debt levels, but the country is still borrowing more, Deutsche Bank said in a report released Thursday.

That's because short-term consumer debt in China has begun to surge as authorities try to alleviate the high levels of corporate indebtedness. The redistribution comes as Beijing is trying to strike a balance between stability and strength in its economy.

Household debt in China is growing "very fast" and has accelerated in the last three to four months, according to Deutsche Bank: "If we focus purely on the consumer lending ... then China has been undergoing something akin to a consumer lending frenzy."

According to Deutsche Bank, corporate credit has fallen to 45 percent of net new credit, down from 65 percent in the last 10 years. Instead, Beijing is allowing households and governments to borrow more to fund growth, which is targeted for around 6.5 percent in 2017, said the analysts.

Now, short-term consumer credit is growing 35 percent year-over-year, and may hit about 40 percent year-over-year by the end of December at the current trend, Deutsche Bank said.

The bank said it isn't yet clear where exactly the short-term consumer credit is being deployed, although 70 to 80 percent of that debt has historically been credit card-related. Overall household credit growth in China, the analysts noted, is growing around 24 percent year-over-year.

At the end of the first half of 2017, corporate the debt-to-GDP ratio fell to 165 percent from the peak of 169 percent in the first quarter of 2016. That was "more of a 'stabilization' than a significant reduction," Deutsche Bank said, calling it an "explosion" of growth.

Meanwhile, household and government debt however rose by 8 to 9 percent of GDP.

"So when viewed in aggregate China is still leveraging up apace," the Deutsche Bank report concluded.

The note came just as the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that China is on a "dangerous" credit-expansion path.

The main cost of stronger growth "is further large increases in public and private debt," the IMF said in its annual review of China's economy.

China, for its part, has said debt reduction efforts are showing results, but debt levels are still too high. New loans in July fell to the lowest level since November, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

At the National Financial Work Conference last month, China pledged to refresh its commitment to watching for financial risk.

China is set to hold its once-in-five years Communist Party Congress in the fall, during which a leadership reshuffle is expected. Analysts say the keyword in the lead-up to the event is "stability."

Recent reports from various sources say that's what's behind the Chinese efforts to cut risky debt.

The country is also cracking down on shadow banking, a broad category of banking-like services from non-traditional players, which is outside the bounds of normal banking regulation, so it largely goes unregulated.

Regulators are also pushing banks to rein in riskier corporate loans, including short-term credit, Reuters reported in June.

Output: Borrowing rates in China are sky-high, despite Chinese officials' best efforts to lower the country’s debt levels, according to Deutsche Bank. Even as the government has achieved success in reducing corporate debt, short-term consumer debt has risen 35% over the last year, in a trend which looks set to continue. Credit card borrowing is responsible for an estimated 70-80% of the new consumer debt.


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Deloitte Digital names new chief creative officer and buys Acne
 Havas executive creative director Andy Sandoz has been named as the first chief creative officer of Deloitte Digital, which also announced its acquisition of creative agency Acne today (17 August).

The news proves the consultancy shows no sign of stopping in its bid to take on the creative marketing scene's traditional networks and agencies, having added Market Gravity to its portfolio just two months ago. It snapped up the San Franciscan Heat earlier this year.

Sandoz jumps ship from Havas, where he has held the executive creative director title since 2016. He will be based at Deloitte Digital's studio in Clerkenwell, London.

Sam Roddick, UK head of Deloitte Digital, explained: "As the creative side of our business continues to expand to meet demand, it was important that we appoint someone in the UK to help lead the team."

Sandoz, who founded Work Club in 2007, said he was attracted to the holistic, business-led approach that Deloitte Digital offers clients, which has scope beyond the marketing function.

“My best work-to-date has been using ideas backed by new technologies to help redefine my clients’ businesses for a better future,” he said. “With Deloitte Digital we have the ability, credibility and access to totally transform a business.

“I was impressed with the consultancy’s senior relationships and depth of expertise across multiple industries, our strong cultural fit and shared positive vision. This is an exciting point to become part of Deloitte Digital’s creative development.”

Acquiring Acne

Sandoz will be tasked with leading Deloitte Digital’s full range of creative services for clients in the UK, which includes overseeing the work of new acquisition Acne.

The Stockholm based creative agency, founded in 1996, already works clients such as Ikea, Spotify and H&M. Its new owner plans to hire around 80 new employees for the agency, half of which will be based in London.

Paul Thompson, head of Deloitte Digital for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: “The acquisition of Acne is an important move towards Deloitte Digital offering a full range of digital and creative services, with clients increasingly looking for a partner with multidisciplinary skills. We aim to deliver our clients’ ambitions, whether that be launching a new strategy, product or service.

"By combining Deloitte’s deep data and technological expertise, with Acne’s exceptional creative experience, together we will help build brands for the digital age."

Its M&A rampage follow similar buys by rival consultancies, with Accenture the most active in recent times having bought Karmarama, Brand Learning, The Monkeys and most recently, Clearhead.

According to research released by Results International around merger and activity during Q2 globally in the marcomms sector, Dentsu was the most active with 16 deals completed during that period.

Watch the consultancies speak about their place in the creative sector in our Postcards from Cannes documentary here.

Output: Deloitte Digital has named its first chief creative officer as former Havas executive creative director Andy Sandoz. The company also acquired Stockholm-based creative agency Acne as part of its strategy to expand into creative marketing. Over the past 12 months it has also acquired international design consultancy Market Gravity and San Francisco-based creative agency Heat.


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Soluble coffee creamer reduces need for packaging
 Researchers develop dissolvable, easy-to-use milk capsules

Nummer 094/2017 vom 17. August 2017

Have your coffee without spilling the milk: Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have developed a milk capsule that dissolves when placed in a hot drink. Not only does this reduce the consumption of packaging material, the capsules are easier to use than conventional plastic containers. The research group published its findings in the journal "Chemical Engineering & Technology".

The new milk capsules essentially could be compared to sugar cubes filled with milk or condensed milk. "A crystalline crust forms a type of packaging around the capsules that easily dissolves in hot liquid," explains Martha Wellner, who developed the process as part of her PhD studies at MLU’s former Centre of Engineering Sciences under Professor of Engineering Joachim Ulrich.

The production of the capsules is relatively simple. First a solution of milk and the desired sugar, or any other non-sweet material which gives the coating properties, is produced and placed in a mould. As the solution cools, the excess sugar moves to the edge of the liquid, forming crystals. The milk-sugar solution fills up the interior. Wellner, a nutritional scientist, conducted multiple trials to examine which materials and which cooling processes delivered the best results.

Currently there are two options for milk containers: sweetened and lightly sweetened. The researchers are still working on an unsweetened sugar free version. The capsules can be produced in various shapes and stored at room temperature. Once the milk has been encapsulated it can keep for at least three weeks. "Our processes can also be used for other liquids. For example, we can also encapsulate fruit juice concentrate," explains Wellner.

Joachim Ulrich came up with the idea of the encapsulation process years ago. His team has been studying crystal formation processes for many years, searching for ways to apply them in industry, for example in the production of pills. "We have already studied different encapsulation processes as part of other PhD projects, however with other aims in mind," says Ulrich. He believes the new, environmentally friendly development has a lot of potential applications. "For example, the capsules could replace the small, extremely unpractical coffee creamer packaging that is used in great quantities at conferences or on airplanes."

The scientists already registered a patent for the process in 2015; however, there is still no final product on the market. Before this could happen, it has to be investigated whether the milk capsules meet all necessary and legal requirements for groceries in general and also whether the hassle-free containers can be produced as industrial products.

About the Publication:

Wellner, M. and Ulrich, J. (2017), Design of Dissolvable Milk Containers for Convenient Handling. Chem. Eng. Technol., 40: 1247-1251. DOI:10.1002/ceat.201600714

Zum Seitenanfang

Output: A solid coffee creamer that dissolves when placed in hot drinks and which requires less packaging than current alternatives has been created by food scientists from Germany’s Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The “milk capsule” is produced by placing a sugar “crust” around the milk which dissolves on contact with hot liquid. The capsules remain fresh for three weeks. Researchers hope to produce a non-sweetened version in the future.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Soluble coffee creamer reduces need for packaging
 Scientists just revolutionized coffee creamer

Coffee, America's favorite beverage, just got a little more convenient thanks to some food scientists with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The researchers have created what they call a milk capsule; it is a puck-shaped solid bit of coffee creamer that dissolves after being put into a cup of hot coffee. Unlike the little cups of liquid creamer that currently exist, you can't accidentally spill the milk capsule on your clothes.

If you want cream in your coffee at the moment, you have limited options: a large container of fresh cream, a small plastic container of portable liquid cream, or powdered creamer product. Fresh cream, while ideal, isn't practical if you're traveling, at work, or similar. Powdered creamer isn't all the great tasting, and so you'll left with the small plastic containers of cream.

Those, however, are somewhat perilous in terms of transportation and they result in a lot of packaging waste. Addressing both issues is the researchers' new milk capsules, which are shaped something like a puck with a dome. There are multiple benefits, one being that less packaging is necessary for a solid product, and the other being the lack of potential mess.

Production of the milk capsule is described as being fairly simple, and depends on a 'crust' around milk. In the case of a sweetened capsule, sugar is used to form a crust in a mold with milk in the middle. Putting the capsule in coffee causes the crust to melt, releasing the 'milk-sugar' product into the drink. A non-sweetened ingredient can be used in the place of sugar to produce 'lightly sweetened' milk capsules.

In the future, the researchers hope to also produce a non-sweetened version that doesn't have sugar for those who don't want it or can't consume it. Milk capsules remain fresh for at least three weeks after production, and so while they're not as shelf-stable as packaging coffee creamers, they're still more convenient than fresh cream or milk. Assuming the now-patented milk capsules can be authorized by regulatory bodies as safe for sale and consumption, we may see them on grocery store shelves.

SOURCE: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

Output: A solid coffee creamer that dissolves when placed in hot drinks and which requires less packaging than current alternatives has been created by food scientists from Germany’s Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The “milk capsule” is produced by placing a sugar “crust” around the milk which dissolves on contact with hot liquid. The capsules remain fresh for three weeks. Researchers hope to produce a non-sweetened version in the future.


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Regus [2]: Regus' 1979 Marcus Avenue location renovated and close to full occupancy
 « Back to Facilities Management News Home

« Facilities Management

NJ Real Estate Firm Renovates NY Property to Attract Large Tenants

Lincoln Equities Group LLC (LEG) announced that one of its premier Class A commercial properties on Long Island, 1979 Marcus Avenue, is nearly fully leased. Following an extensive renovation, the four-story, 350,000-square-foot property attracted a number of new tenants to complement its cadre of longtime tenants, including medical organizations Northwell Health and IPRO, regional shipper Liberty Maritime, and international co-working space Regus.

Tenants now occupy over 325,000 square feet of the building, filling up the top three floors, leaving just 12,200 square feet available for lease. The property offers numerous amenities that add to workplace culture and atmosphere, including a full-service cafe, complimentary fitness center, on-site security, 24-hour card access, and a parking deck with more than 1,000 spaces.

“We are pleased with the diverse, dynamic group of companies currently leasing one of our prime Long Island office properties,” says Joel Bergstein, President of Lincoln Equities Group. “We always set out to attract prestigious tenants and we’re excited to continue to provide exceptional amenities to help make their businesses successful.”

LEG has owned 1979 Marcus for more than a decade and recently led a renovation effort to attract bigger and more lucrative tenants. LEG updated the restrooms, revamped the elevators, upgraded the parking decks, and remodeled the lobby to give the interior of the building a modern feel that complements the sleek, all-glass exterior.

Tenants also benefit from the property’s location within 20 minutes from La Guardia and JFK airports, with easy access to the Long Island Expressway, Cross Island Parkway, Northern State Parkway, Great Neck Station, New Hyde Park Station, Stewart Manor Station and MTA bus service.

“LEG is happy to offer a distinguished variety of unique leasing opportunities in the region,” says Ken Flynn, Senior Director of Leasing, Lincoln Equities Group. “While our 1979 Marcus location is almost fully leased, we have upgraded spaces available at other Long Island properties including 100 Merrick Road, Rockville Center; 114 Old Country Road, Mineola; and 666 Old Country Road, Garden City.”

More From 5/15/2017 on FacilitiesNet

Output: Lincoln Equities Group’s four-storey property 1979 Marcus Avenue, Long Island, where Regus is a tenant, is said to have only 12,200 of its 350,000 sq ft left for lease. The building, which is 20 minutes from JFK and La Guardia airports, recently underwent extensively renovations to attract bigger and more lucrative tenants.


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Facebook refreshes appearance of News Feed on mobile
 Facebook is making several changes to News Feed to offer a cleaner look, and improve experience and navigation around the centrepiece of its mobile offering.

The biggest changes to be made include getting rid of Facebook’ famous blue within certain screens and turning comment rectangles into bubbles.

In changing comments from rectangles to bubbles, Facebook aims to make it easier to see which comments are direct replies to another person.

“Every person’s News Feed is different and populated with a unique set of stories — from photos and videos to GIFs and links,” said Facebook. “And with so many types of stories available, each feed is more complex than ever. In order to make News Feed more conversational and easier to read and navigate, we’ll be making a few updates to its design over the coming weeks.”

Other changes include colour contrast adjustments, larger link previews, larger icons and circular profile pictures. The overhaul, judging by released images, will give Facebook a much sleeker feel.

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. We've extended the final deadline to 18 August, but time's running out. More details here.

Output: Facebook is changing the look of its News Feed to improve navigation and experience for mobile users. Facebook will remove the blue shade from certain screen displays and put comments into bubbles instead of rectangles. The changes also include larger link previews, circular profile photos, larger icons and colour contrast adjustments.


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Cyber attack costs could reach $300m for Maersk
 Maersk shut down a number of its operations due to the Petya cyberattack. Image: Moller-Maersk Group

Falling victim to the global Petya cyberattack is set to cost Maersk, the world's largest container ship and supply vessel operator, up to $300m in lost revenues.

The Danish transport and logistics conglomerate -- which has offices in 130 countries and almost 90,000 employees -- revealed predicted losses due to the ransomware infection in its second quarter financial report.

"In the last week of the quarter we were hit by a cyber attack, which mainly impacted Maersk Line, APM Terminals and Damco. Business volumes were negatively affected for a couple of weeks in July and as a consequence, our Q3 results will be impacted. We expect that the cyber-attack will impact results negatively by USD 200-300m," said AP Moller-Maersk Group CEO Søren Skou.

Maersk was one of the first high-profile victims of the Petya malware epidemic, which originated in Ukraine but spread to bring down IT systems around the world.

The company's interim report details how it reacted to the attack by immediately shutting down infected networks to contain the malware and prevent its spread. While Maersk's three container-related businesses were taken offline, its energy and other businesses were able to continue operating as normal.

Nonetheless, this precautionary measure resulted in what the firm describes as "significant business interruption during the shutdown period". The bulk of the financial impact of this disruption will be felt during the third quarter, according to Maersk, due to the temporary loss of revenue in July.

See also: Ransomware: An executive guide to one of the biggest menaces on the web

Total lost revenue as a result of the cyberattack is estimated to be between $200m and $300m. However, the firm's overall profit expectations for the year remain unchanged, despite the negative impacts of the Petya attack.

In response to the attack by the previously unseen variant of Petya malware, Maersk said it has "put in place different and further protective measures and is continuing to review its systems to defend against attacks".

Maersk isn't the only company to have reported losses as a result of the attack. Reckitt Benckiser -- the company behind Dettol cleaning products, the Nurofen painkiller, Durex condoms and more -- has predicted £100m in lost revenue and still hasn't restored all of its IT systems.

FedEx has also said it may not be able to recover all the systems at its TNT Express delivery unit infected during the outbreak. The company said the financial cost of the attack is likely to be significant.

While Maersk has taken a financial hit as a result of the cyberattack, the financial report said that "no data breach or data loss to third-parties has occurred".

The cyberattack spread a version of the Petya ransomware modified with a leaked NSA exploit -- the same EternalBlue Windows flaw which spread WannaCry. But unlike WannaCry, researchers have suggested that those behind Petya weren't interested in charging ransoms, but rather in irrecoverably wiping data.

Ukrainian police have arrested a 51-year-old man in connection with the ransomware attack.

Previous coverage

READ MORE ON CYBERCRIME

Output: The fallout from the Petya cyber attack will cost container ship and supply vessel company Maersk as much as $300m. The Danish firm confirmed the damage in its Q2 2017 report, saying the attack had affected its Maersk Line, Damco and APM Terminals businesses. The company, the largest in its sector, was one of the first victims of the attack, which began in Ukraine and spread to infect networks all over the world. Maersk was forced to take businesses offline to prevent further damage. The bulk of the financial impact will be felt in the third quarter, Maersk said.


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Redrow Urmet chosen to provide door entry system for Redrow development
 Wed, Aug 16, 2017 11:22 AM

Nationwide house-builder, Redrow PLC, has chosen Urmet’s IPervoice IP door entry system for Colindale Gardens, a large mixed-use parkland development of residential units and commercial premises covering 46 acres in north-west London.

Urmet has already supplied its open-platform solution to an initial stage of over 300 apartments in what will ultimately be a community of 2,900 new homes to be completed by 2025. Residents will also benefit from Urmet’s access control system, which is an integral part of the installation.

Urmet’s Elekta steel and Elekta glass IP PoE entry panels were selected by Redrow and were fitted at entrance points in the initial phases. Visitors will use the panels to communicate with residents and the concierge. The panels feature a 3.5-inch colour display and enable the recording of both audio and video messages if no one is at home.

When completed, there will be 24 blocks of apartments and townhouses within the landscaped gardens. The site is set in extensive grounds and the panels provide a valuable feature as the display is able to show the visitor a route map to the selected residence. Urmet’s IPervoice also combines door entry with access control. At Colindale, the Elekta panels feature integrated Wiegand 13.56 MHz RFID proximity readers, which allow entry to residents and staff on presentation of a key fob or card.

Site awareness for optimum decision-making

Redrow has also specified Urmet’s switchboard software, which allows concierges to manage calls, receive and create alarms, and send messages on a global, group or individual basis. The software simplifies these functions by presenting concierges with a simple-to-use screen menu, giving them awareness of the whole site, which contributes to overall resident safety.

As the development progresses, the installers will be able to move the switchboard management software from one building to another, thereby delivering considerable cost-savings for the developer. Using an IP-based system such as Urmet's IPervoice enables multiple apartment blocks to operate from a single software platform on a site-wide network.

Unified solution

Redrow also specified a requirement that the property management software should be able to administer resident services. The respective features of the door entry system and property management software were compared to see how this would be made possible. By using the Max Pro IP touchscreen monitor, Urmet was able to combine both services on one platform. The Max Pro IP touchscreen is powered by Android and allows Urmet to work with other manufacturers installing third-party apps on the device.

Urmet’s MAX IP Android-powered touchscreens have been installed in each apartment. This is a seven-inch tablet-style device that employs the same swipe movements as a smartphone. The MAX IP has a 2-megapixel camera and a 1024x600 pixel 16:9 screen.

Current trends are app-driven

Mark Hagger, Urmet’s Sales & Marketing Director, said: “Tablets and smartphones with multiple apps are in use every day, which makes the Max Pro Android environment familiar to residents.Redrow understood that app-based technology could help simplify a number of the resident services it wanted to achieve. It’s exciting to work with developers who are leading the demand for resident services such as video entry, alongside parcel and facility management and who are willing to quickly adopt innovative manufacturers such as Urmet, who invest in delivering technology solutions.”

He continued: “Having truly integrated door entry and access control, plus the switchboard units at Colindale Gardens, means we can make efficient use of the network. Administrative staff have a seamless solution with one point of management and one front-end software set. By providing residents with a touchscreen device that works like a tablet, we have achieved the aim of providing a product that is intuitive from day one.”

Due for completion in 2025, the project will eventually encompass 24 blocks of apartments, townhouses, a health centre, school and neighbourhood centre. Architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios have designed buildings that feature mainly brick elevations, with some of the houses built as three-storey terraced structures. Residents will benefit from walkways, cycle paths, indoor and outdoor gyms, fitness trails, cafés, retail spaces and a four-acre central park.

Output: Redrow has chosen Urmet's IPervoice IP door entry system for the 2,900-home mixed-use development in North West London. The product allows visitors to communicate with residents and the concierge via a 3.5-inch colour display, which also enables the recording of both audio and video if no one is at home.


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Redrow New MD in West Country division for Redrow
 Redrow Homes has appointed a new managing director for its West Country division as the company looks to strengthen its presence in the region.

Nigel Palmer has been appointed managing director at the company’s divisional head office in Exeter, with responsibility for the developer’s sites across the West Country.

With a background in land and surveying, Nigel Palmer is keen to lead the expansion of Redrow West Country, the newest division of the national housebuilder which was launched only three years ago.

“My priority is to continue to build the Redrow brand in the West Country,” said Nigel. “The division has seen significant success in its first few years and my aim is to accelerate that expansion and increase the number of new homes we deliver each year, targeting prime land in desirable locations for high quality developments.”

Nigel joins Redrow from Linden Homes, where he spent the last 15 years as the Commercial Director and Managing Director of Linden Homes Bristol, and more recently as the south west Managing Director.

Devonian Nigel started his career as a Quantity Surveyor in 1984 and, with more than three decades of experience in housebuilding, is well versed in what it takes to be successful within the industry. “I’ve got a strong team to work alongside at Redrow and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work for a respected national house builder that takes such pride in its product – Redrow is renowned for delivering quality homes in areas where people want to live and are proud to call home,” Nigel said. “It’s no accident that five Redrow site managers from this region have just been named among the best in the country. Selected from a pool of 16,000 across the UK they were recognised as creating homes of outstanding quality in the NHBC’s Pride In The Job awards.”

Nigel, also a former founding director of South Devon University Technical College, was particularly attracted to Redrow because of the firm’s commitment to addressing the skills shortage, added: ”There is a real issue with the availability of skilled tradespeople and Redrow is working hard to address this with a dedicated apprenticeship programme that is actively driving the number of apprentices into its business. Currently there are 16 trade apprentices in the West Country division along with graduates and trainees across our office, commercial and technical departments.”

Barry Stiles, Redrow Regional Chief Executive said: “We are delighted to welcome Nigel to Redrow whose experience in the industry over many years will help us deliver our ambitious growth strategy and to meet the demand for high quality homes in sought after locations across the West Country. We look forward to Nigel leading our established team of experienced and talented individuals to ensure they reach their potential and we fulfil our exciting growth plans.”

Redrow West Country currently has 13 live outlets across Devon and Cornwall with several new sites scheduled to open this year. Visit www.redrow.co.uk/westcountry for more details.

Output: Redrow homes appoint Nigel Palmer as managing director in the West Country division, with the goal of strengthening the company's presence in the region. Palmer comes from a land and surveying background and was previously the commercial director at Linden Homes, as well as the South West managing director.


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Ford aims to rid vehicles of steering wheels
 Lawmakers have cautiously supported automakers' experiments with self-driving vehicles, but they've been split on whether cars need a steering wheel at all times in case humans need to take over. But with more and more concepts ditching control elements (wheels, pedals, gear shifts) entirely, it's likely a matter of time before those wholly autonomous options head to consumers. In the meantime, a patent Ford filed has been published that splits the difference: A wheel and pedals that are completely removable.

Ford actually filed the patent in February 2016, and it was awarded to the automaker last week on August 10th, as originally reported by Motor1. It's not a perfect solution, the document notes: Designers will have to reconsider how they implement airbags, which are traditionally situated in the steering wheel. Ford's patent proposes one in both the wheel and dashboard behind it, electronically switching off the latter if the wheel column is locked in.

But it isn't just about popping a wheel in and out: This redesign would probably require major changes to an automobile's interior, both cosmetically and from a mechanical standpoint. Pretty much everything in a driver's seat has been designed around the steering wheel and column since 1908 when Ford released the Model T.

While this is only a patent, it shows that automakers are thinking hard about steering and control compromises that will let them sell autonomous vehicles in countries with different legal requirements -- along with users who might just want to take the wheel from time to time.

Update: The post originally said that the steering column is an integral part of any car's frame, which is not accurate. It has been updated with the correct information.

Output: Ford has been granted a patent that will allow future autonomous vehicles to feature removable steering wheels and pedals. While the American automaker only expects to profit from autonomous vehicles by 2021, the company announced a $1bn investment in Argo AI, a specialist in autonomous vehicle software, earlier this year.


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Norwegian supermarket sells out-of-date food to reduce waste
 “They might not taste quite the same,” says Naeeh Ahmed, 37, holding up for inspection a pack of Old El Paso soft tacos. The tower of boxes in front of him are three weeks past their best before date but Ahmed, operations manager at the Best Før supermarket in Oslo, says they’ll stay on display for a good few weeks yet. The same goes for the chocolate biscuits precariously piled up in the display – four weeks past their best before date – and the packs of Tassimo coffee pods that should have been sold in April. But all the prices reflect the product’s age: half-price for the tacos, two-thirds off the biscuits and, at 30 kroner (£3.66) for 32 pods, the coffee is also less than half its regular price.

It would be hard to find cheaper food in Oslo than that sold at Best Før. They flog the stuff that no one else has been able to get rid off. Products whose season has passed, or which have been overproduced, have been arriving at this small store since October last year when the mainstream Lentusgruppen supermarket chain heeded the call of the Norwegian government and decided to take food waste seriously. They established an offshoot in Oslo, the first of its kind in the city, selling the stuff other stores and suppliers throw away. It’s all up front – the shop looks like any other, but a large sign informs customers of the slightly different nature of the food down their aisles and in the chillers, which includes chicken fillets frozen a couple of days before going off.

Best Før supermarket is the first of its kind in Oslo, selling discounted food that other shops and suppliers would chuck out. Photograph: Daniel Boffey

“Most supermarkets won’t buy products that are within 10 days or so of their expiry date – it often has to be wasted,” Ahmed explains. “We thought, ‘Why don’t we make a place that has that kind of product, that will be beneficial to every party: the consumer, the supplier, and us. A win-win for everybody,” he says.

“Some who believe in the cause are very positive but, any new concept takes a little time in the market. It is going well though … every person in Norway knows these days that now is the time to do something before it is too late.” One customer, asked why he is shopping in this store, puts it succinctly: “I’m hungry.”

Best Før is the latest concept that has taken root in Norway, where collaboration between industry and the government to tackle food waste has sparked a range of innovations designed to make the most of what the country produces. A platform called bestfør.no, helps supermarkets identify food at risk of becoming inedible through a digital record of products’ sell-by dates, allowing stores to locate the food that needs a lower price, or alert charities of a load of produce coming their way, without the fuss of searching through the shelves. A new app, foodlist, encourages people to take photographs of food in stores coming to the end of its shelf life, to alert people that it needs to be eaten and where it can be found. A company called SNÅL frukt & grøn has popped up selling wonky vegetables, or odd coloured eggs, with a 30% discount. And the Norwegian government says they want more of this, and quickly.

It was 2010 when the food industry in Norway first started to take the issue seriously, with the encouragement of the state. A country dedicated to tackling climate change was waking up to the fact that its food waste corresponded to emitting 978,000 tonnes of CO2, or about one-quarter of the emissions from Norway’s cars. Industry started to collect statistics on waste through the food chain, from field or factory to the kitchen bin. Labels on products were adapted. “Use by” was changed to “best before”. Smaller packs of food were sold. Consumers were educated by people in stores about the best way to keep food fresh, and the costs of waste to their household budgets.

By 2015, edible food waste had been reduced by 12% per person, having risen for the previous five years. But a target of reducing waste 25% by the end of 2015 had not been met. Waste in the country still amounted to 355,000 tonnes a year, 42.1kg of food per person. Norwegians were still throwing away over 11% of fruit and vegetables and about 4% of solid dairy products.

Food waste in Norway amounted to 355,00 tonnes a year in 2015. Photograph: Carolyn Cole/Getty Images

In 2015 the UN agreed on reducing per capita food waste by half by 2030, and the Norwegians decided to go further. “Our goals are more ambitious than the UN because we are going to reduce food waste by half, all the way down the value chain,” said Norwegian minister for climate and the environment, Vidar Helgesen, of an agreement struck this summer with the food industry.

“We discussed a ban on food waste but it was decided legislation wasn’t enough,” he added. “It could lead to the problem being pushed down the value chain. We are collaborating with all the actors in the food industry and we are encouraging people to smell and taste their food before throwing it away. We are setting targets and how the industry gets there is up to them. We are unleashing innovation.”

The government is insisting that businesses and consumers reduce their waste by 15% by 2020 compared with 2015 levels, and secure a 30% reduction by 2025 to achieve the 50% goal by 2030. Some of what will happen in the coming years, Helgesen says, involves a compromise. “Packaging is important and that leaves us with a dilemma because we want to reduce the use of plastic. A lot of it is about just being sensible.” Helgesen believes people in Norway want to get this right.

Back in the Best Før store, Ahmed agrees with the minister that more traders are getting in on the act. There are a couple of similar stores just outside Oslo, he says. He is proud that Norway is pushing the issue. “We are environmentally friendly people,” Ahmed said, before explaining the idea of a website he is working on with a developer in his spare time. Called Savefood, it would allow individual households to advertise produce that needs to be eaten – almost like eBay.

“Somebody has to be first,” Ahmed adds, “and it is good if we are the one’s leading the way.”

Output: The Best Før supermarket in Oslo, established in 2016 by supermarket chain Lentusgruppen, is the first in the city to sell discounted food that would be discarded by other shops and suppliers. The bestfør.no platform lets supermarkets use a digital record of sell-by dates in order to identify food close to its limit. This enables them to lower the price of the items or alert charities that produce will be available. Norway has committed to reducing waste by 15% by 2020, compared with 2015 levels. This figure rises to 30% and 50% reductions by 2025 and 2030 respectively.


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New York agreement sets date to increase bitcoin blocksize
 Bitcoin Upgrade at Block 494,784

During the month of November 2017, approximately 90 days after the activation of Segregated Witnesses in the Bitcoin blockchain, a block between 1MB and 2MB in size will be generated by Bitcoin miners in a move to increase network capacity. At this point it is expected that more than 90% of the computational capacity that secures the Bitcoin network will carry on mining on top of this large block.

The upgrade to 2MB blocks has been agreed first during the Bitcoin Roundtable Consensus in Hong-Kong on February 2016, and then ratified by the Bitcoin Scaling Agreement in New York on May 2017. These agreements stipulate the activation of Segregated Witness support and an increase of the maximum base block size from 1MB to 2MB.

Segregated Witness support has been locked-in as a soft fork expected to activate around August 23 2017 (block height 481,824). Bitcoin clients that are not currently SegWit-compatible and wish to benefit from the new type of transaction must perform extensive upgrades to various subsystems, including changes to transaction serialization, signature hash computation, block weight calculation, scripting engine, block validation, a new address scheme, and P2P protocol upgrades. Fortunately Segregated Witness compatibility is opt-in, and existing Simplifed Payment Verification (SPV) wallets and full nodes are expected to continue working without changes after SegWit activates.

Readiness Checklist

The November 2017 upgrade to 2MB blocks is a hard-fork, but necessary changes are trivial to perform. Some SPV clients are expected to work without any change at all. Most clients will need to tweak only two constants to remain compatible with the new larger blocks:

For SegWit-compatible clients:

Maximum block weight doubles from 4,000,000 to 8,000,000

Sig-ops per block doubles from 80,000 to 160,000

For non-SegWit-capable clients:

Maximum base block size doubles from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000

Sig-ops per block doubles from 20,000 to 40,000

Both types of clients should add new DNS seeds:

BitPay: seed.mainnet.b-pay.net

OB1: seed.ob1.io

Blockchain: seed.blockchain.info

Bloq: bitcoin.bloqseeds.net

Testnet5

For testing purposes, a new Testnet5 network that builds on the same Genesis block as the existing Testnet3 network has been created. In order to update a client for compatibility with Testnet5, do these changes to existing Testnet3 settings:

Port changes from 18333 to 18555.

Network magic changes from 0x0b110907 to 0x6e657400

to BIP-34, BIP-66, BIP-65 and single checkpoint all refer to the block at height 10001 with hash 00000000fb7c0a2aeb5f1244e81921b84b7ac770004543144e10c2284f89bfd8

DNS seeds are available at seed.testnet5.b-pay.net and bitcoin-testnet.bloqseeds.net

Block size/weight and sig-ops changes above also apply to Testnet5.

Compatible Fully-Validating Node Software

BTC1: https://github.com/btc1/bitcoin

Bitcoin Unlimited: https://www.bitcoinunlimited.info/

Bitcoin Classic: https://bitcoinclassic.com/

Incompatible Fully-Validating Node Software

Output: The Bitcoin Scaling Agreement in New York has ratified the Bitcoin Roundtable Consensus's decision to upgrade the maximum base block size from 1 MB to 2 MB, with the block to be created in November. It is expected about 90% of computation capacity will be mined on top of this block. As part of the agreement, bitcoin clients will introduce segregated witness support. Bitcoin clients that are not segwit-compatible and who want to benefit from the new type of transaction must undertake extensive upgrades to various subsystems.


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Apple removes ApplePay from white supremacy and hate group sites
 Apple today has joined the chorus of companies taking a firmer stand against white nationalists and hate groups. According to a new report from BuzzFeed, Apple has disabled Apple Pay support on a handful of websites selling goods pertaining to such groups…

The report explains that Apple has dropped Apple Pay from websites selling items such as sweaters with Nazi logos, t-shirts emblazoned with “White Pride,” and a bumper sticker depicting a car crashing into a crowd of protestors.

Apple hasn’t provided an official comment on its decision, only confirming the move. Instead, the company pointed towards its existing Apple Pay guidelines which state that the payment platform can not be used on any site that “promotes hate, violence, or intolerance based on race, age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.”

Tim Cook addressed the recent string of white supremacy and racist violence on Twitter earlier this week, calling it a moral issue and encouraging people to stand against it:

“We’ve seen the terror of white supremacy & racist violence before,” Cook wrote. “It’s a moral issue – an affront to America. We must all stand against it.”

In a separate tweet, Cook condemned the violent scene in Charlottesville over the weekend, saying that violence and racism have no place in America:

Heartbreaking scenes in #Charlottesville. Violence and racism have no place in America.

PayPal has taken a similar stance against such sites, saying that it was working to block “sites that accept payments or raise funds to promote hate, violence and intolerance.” The payment platform has blocked a handful of such sites over the last six months.

The three sites from which Apple removed Apple Pay have not commented on the decision. The decision on Apple’s part is putting an increased focus on credit card companies to put their foot down, as BuzzFeed notes that Discover has done:

Discover said in a statement to BuzzFeed News, “In light of recent events, we are terminating merchant agreements with hate groups, given the violence incited by their extremist views.”

We’ll update this post if Apple provides an official comment on this decision.

Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Output: Apple has removed ApplePay from several sites with links to white nationalists and hate groups after a similar move by PayPal, according to BuzzFeed. While Apple did not comment directly on the decision, it confirmed the removal of Apple Pay and reiterated its guidelines, which state the platform cannot be used on sites that "promotes hate, violence, or intolerance based on race, age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation". The decisions by Apple and PayPal followed recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia when white supremacists clashed with anti-fascist protesters.


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Atlas Genetics raises £2m for sexual health diagnosis technology
 Innovate UK has awarded a £2 million pound contract to Bath-based company, Atlas Genetics, for its diagnostic instrument (io System) and how to best adopt it into UK sexual health clinics.

Atlas’ io system is a molecular diagnostic platform that rapidly diagnoses a broad range of infectious diseases.

According to an Atlas spokesman, it offers results within 30 minutes, allowing clinical professionals to perform infectious disease tests that are as accurate as those carried out in hospital laboratories.

The two-year contract will allow Atlas Genetics to collaborate with Aquarius Population Health, an independent health economics consultancy, and the Applied Diagnostic Research and Evaluation Unit (ADREU) at St George’s, University of London where they will research the benefits of point-of-care testing for sexual health.

The company wants to further understand how to best integrate its io system into UK sexual health clinical practices and expand its research into diagnostic pathways within sexual health. The funding will also help Atlas develop its Multi-STI (MSTI) test ahead of clinical trials.

The first of the various studies and evaluations conducted by St George’s using the io system started mid-2015.

Atlas have collaborated with St George’s on variety of other projects including i4i, phase 1 of the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) project, and have also performed the company’s clinical trial for the CT product, eSTI2 project.

“The (IO) system is not yet commercially available, so while nobody is using the system for patient diagnosis yet, a number of clinics have used the system in a range of different evaluations and usability studies – St Mary’s, Portsmouth, Taunton, Royal South Hants and in the US, University of Alabama, Birmingham”, the spokesman said.

Tariq Sadiq, director of the applied diagnostic and research evaluation unit at St George’s reinforced that it is an innovative approach to better understand and overcome the often complex and substantial challenges to getting cutting-edge technology adopted into the NHS.

“We believe that there are real benefits to using the io rapid diagnostic platform as patients will be able to receive the appropriate treatment immediately and thereby reduce onward transmission, and ultimately save the NHS time and money”, Sadiq said.

Clinics will be able to get patient results in 30 minutes. “This has numerous benefits including reducing loss to follow-up, immediate treatment of positive patients, less empirical treatment / better antibiotic stewardship and reduction in onward transmission and improvement in the patient experience”, the Atlas spokesman said.

John Clarkson, chief executive officer of Atlas said Innovate UK’s commitment to introducing new, pioneering approaches to healthcare validates both their technology and leading role in molecular diagnostics.

Output: Government-backed Innovate UK has given a £2m contract to diagnostic provider Atlas Genetics to help it incorporate its io System into the UK's sexual health clinics. The io System diagnoses infectious diseases through molecules. The firm claims it provides results in 30 minutes that are as accurate as clinical hospital testing. Bath-based Atlas Genetics will test the benefits of sexual health point-of-care tests, and develop its multi-STI test before clinical trials. The funding will also support Atlas Genetics' continuing collaboration with St George’s, University of London.


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Lack of FTSE 100 board diversity could hamper post-Brexit deals
 Raj Tulsiani, CEO & Co-Founder

“We founded Green Park in 2006 with a mission to change the face of leadership. We retain that same passion and entrepreneurial spirit today as when we started. Only now, the world is turning towards us.”

Output: A lack of boardroom diversity in the UK’s major firms could obstruct trade negotiations with countries outside of Europe after Brexit, according to research by executive search company Green Park. The annual study shows that although the number of FTSE 100 companies with no senior ethnic minority representation has fallen from 62 to 58, the number of ethnic minority individuals holding the post of chair, CEO or CFO has fallen by 18%. Rolls-Royce had one of the least diverse senior management teams in the FTSE 100, ranking 90th in relation to employment of women and people of colour.


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Lack of FTSE 100 board diversity could hamper post-Brexit deals
 Britain’s biggest companies have been told that a lack of diversity in their boardrooms could hinder government plans to increase trade with non-EU countries after Brexit.

The warning comes as a report shows the number of FTSE 100 businesses with no ethnic minority representation at senior level has fallen from 62 to 58. However, none of the companies have CEOs or chief financial officers who are women from ethnic minority groups.

The study by the executive search company Green Park found that while there has been a rise in the number of non-white workers in the upper echelons of FTSE 100 companies, there appears to be a glass ceiling at the top levels of management.

Green Park’s chief executive, Raj Tulsiani, said the findings should be viewed against the backdrop of looming trade talks with dozens of countries outside the EU.

“In light of the UK’s desire to increase trade with non-EU countries, the ongoing inability of our leading companies to attract and retain leaders from east Asian and African backgrounds should be a matter for serious concern,” he said.

“The UK’s aspiration to be outward looking and open to business with the non-European world is hardly enhanced by the continued lack of challenge in the boards of our leading companies, still statistically and behaviourally dominated by men of similar cultural and educational backgrounds.”

The study found that the senior management at Rolls-Royce is one of the least diverse in the FTSE 100. The engineering group ranked 90th for employing people from ethnic minorities and women at senior levels.

Last year, a government-backed review of ethnic diversity recommended that Britain’s top companies should bring an end to all-white boardrooms by 2021. The report, led by Sir John Parker, the outgoing chairman of the mining company Anglo American, said businesses were failing to promote sufficient numbers of people from ethnic minority groups to senior positions.

The results from Green Park’s annual leadership 10,000 survey raises questions over whether this ambition is achievable. While there has been a small decrease in the number of companies with all-white boards, the number of people from ethnic minorities holding one of the most senior roles – chair, chief executive or chief financial officer – has fallen by 18%.

There are three non-white chairs of FTSE 100 companies and four non-white chief executives, according to the survey. Six of the chief executives are women, including Alison Brittain of Whitbread and ITV’s Carolyn McCall.

There has been a 5% rise in minority representation outside the board, but the figures suggest a problem with progression to the highest levels of FTSE 100 companies, Tulsiani said.

“It is a positive trend that in the pipeline we are doing better around race, but at the top of the pyramid, we have gone backwards slightly,” he said.

Rolls-Royce said it was working to bring more people from diverse backgrounds into its workforce.

“We are well aware of the need to attract talent from more diverse backgrounds, not only into our business, but into the wider engineering and technology industry. It is particularly challenging to attract BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] engineers where numbers across the UK are currently low,” said Heather McVicar, a global diversity and inclusion consultant at Rolls-Royce.

Output: A lack of boardroom diversity in the UK’s major firms could obstruct trade negotiations with countries outside of Europe after Brexit, according to research by executive search company Green Park. The annual study shows that although the number of FTSE 100 companies with no senior ethnic minority representation has fallen from 62 to 58, the number of ethnic minority individuals holding the post of chair, CEO or CFO has fallen by 18%. Rolls-Royce had one of the least diverse senior management teams in the FTSE 100, ranking 90th in relation to employment of women and people of colour.


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US ad association joins brand-safe ad-buying platform TrustX
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MLA

Bilton, Ricardo. "One of the big advertising groups is partnering with Digital Content Next’s trust-focused ad marketplace." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 16 Aug. 2017. Web. 5 Jun. 2023.

APA

Bilton, R. (2017, Aug. 16). One of the big advertising groups is partnering with Digital Content Next’s trust-focused ad marketplace. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved June 5, 2023, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/one-of-the-big-advertising-groups-is-partnering-with-digital-content-nexts-trust-focused-ad-marketplace/

Chicago

Bilton, Ricardo. "One of the big advertising groups is partnering with Digital Content Next’s trust-focused ad marketplace." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified August 16, 2017. Accessed June 5, 2023. https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/one-of-the-big-advertising-groups-is-partnering-with-digital-content-nexts-trust-focused-ad-marketplace/.

Wikipedia

{{cite web

| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/one-of-the-big-advertising-groups-is-partnering-with-digital-content-nexts-trust-focused-ad-marketplace/

| title = One of the big advertising groups is partnering with Digital Content Next’s trust-focused ad marketplace

| last = Bilton

| first = Ricardo

| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]

| date = 16 August 2017

| accessdate = 5 June 2023

| ref = {{harvid|Bilton|2017}}

}}

Output: The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in the US has partnered with media industry body Digital Content Next on TrustX, a curated and automated ad-buying marketplace. Launched by Digital Context Next last May, TrustX offers advertisers a brand-secure method for purchasing ad inventory. The marketplace guarantees advertisers that they will only pay for ads that are seen by humans and offers a scorecard that details supply chain costs. ANA, which represents roughly 1,000 advertisers, will join digital publishers including Hearst, Condé Nast, Vox Media and Time as TrustX members.


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Phil wins $10m funding for app-based prescription service
 Phil, a San Francisco-based prescription refill and delivery service, has raised $10 million in a round led by Crosslink Capital. Eniac Ventures, Softtech VC, Forerunner Ventures, SV Angel, Silicon Valley Bank, and Transmedia Capital also contributed to the round.

The startup partners with local pharmacies to provide a technology-powered service that delivers customers' prescriptions directly to their door. The arrangement helps small local pharmacies to compete with large chains while allowing Phil to provide an app-powered prescription service without having to build its own pharmacy.

“We believe care coordination between doctors, insurance and pharmacies is the biggest hurdle to patients receiving their meds on time, especially so for those who take medications regularly,” Phil COE and founder Deepak Thomas said in a statement. “With larger chain pharmacies, the consumer experience is often held captive by their business model that requires patients to return to the pharmacy, often multiple times a month. With Phil, we focus on providing a hands-off, concierge experience and rather than building our own pharmacy, we chose to partner with independently-owned pharmacies with strong community roots.”

Via the Phil app, patients can manage prescription and insurance information for themselves and family members and arrange for deliveries. The app is free to use (Phil makes its money off the partner pharmacies) and the company guarantees it will match users' existing co-pay if they switch over.

The company is also tapped into the changing paradigm of care delivery. In May, Phil announced a partnership with telemedicine company Lemonaid Health allowing patients who see a Lemonaid doctor to have their prescriptions delivered by Phil.

Output: San Francisco-based healthtech start-up Phil has raised $10m in a funding round led by Crosslink Capital. Phil partners with small pharmacies to offer an app-powered prescription service, enabling patients to manage their own prescription and insurance information, as well as arrange for home deliveries. The service is free to users. Eniac Ventures, Softtech VC, Forerunner Ventures, SV Angel, Silicon Valley Bank and Transmedia Capital also participated in the round.


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Facebook adds fundraisers for friends' birthdays
 Facebook has introduced new ways for people to celebrate theirs and their friends’ birthdays on the social network.

Now, US Facebook users will be given the option to give back on their birthdays by creating a fundraiser to accompany their celebrations. Two weeks before their birthdays, users will see a message from Facebook in their News Feed giving them the option to create a fundraiser for any of the 750,000 US nonprofits available for fundraising on the platform. Friends will receive a notification inviting them to support the cause in honour of the special day.

In addition, Facebook has introduced shareable birthday videos – similar to the videos that friends can share to celebrate how long they’ve been Facebook friends for. The personalised videos are presented to users on the day of a close friend’s birthday, and can be shared if the user chooses to.

“People come to Facebook to send well-wishes and celebrate birthdays with friends. In fact, every day more than 45 million people give birthday wishes on Facebook, which is why it’s important to us to ensure you can celebrate the way you want to,” said Mike Nowak, product director at Facebook.

“Birthdays have always been a part of Facebook, and we hope to continue providing you with a variety of experiences that make celebrating on the platform fun and meaningful for you and your friends.

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. We've extended the final deadline to 18 August, but time's running out. More details here.

Output: Facebook has given US users the option to fundraise for 750,000 non-profits on its platform as part of friends' birthday celebrations. Two weeks ahead of a friend's birthday, users will receive a message from Facebook in their News Feed which invites them to support the cause. Facebook has also introduced birthday videos which, much like its "friendship anniversary videos", collate and animate previous posts for presentation on users' timelines.


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Lockstate's smart locks brick after software update
 The Internet of Things continues to amaze, but unfortunately for all the techno-utopians of the world, it's for exactly the wrong reasons.

The latest case study in why connecting every little thing to the internet might not be such a good idea is brought to us by Lockstate — a company that manufactures, among other things, a Wi-Fi enabled smart lock(opens in a new tab) marketed to Airbnb hosts around the world. The device allows for keyless entry and remote monitoring, along with the charming ability to be remotely bricked.

And, surprise, that's exactly what happened on Aug. 7 when Lockstate pushed an errant firmware update that left a number of its locks permanently busted. Whoops.

"We are sorry to inform you about some unfortunate news," CEO Nolan Mondrow wrote in an email(opens in a new tab) to those unfortunate enough to be stuck with a nonfunctioning LS-6i. "Your lock is among a small subset of locks that had a fatal error rendering it inoperable. After a software update was sent to your lock, it failed to reconnect to our web service making a remote fix impossible."

That's right, people who shelled out for a $469 future lock that enables them to track the comings and goings of their Airbnb clients suddenly found themselves forced to return to the old-fashioned days of metal keys and tumblers. And, unfortunately, they're going to be stuck there for a while.

The LS-6i looking so fancy. Credit: lockstate

That's because in order to get the system working again, owners have to either completely replace the lock or send it in for repairs — a process that could take anywhere from five to 18 days. Importantly, however, that doesn't mean people literally can't get through their front doors that entire time.

"Every one of our locks ships with a physical key," explained Mondrow over the phone. "We have thought about redundancy for access."

"We really feel for those that are affected," he added.

This, of course, isn't the first time that an Internet of Things device has brought with it some unexpected risks. In April, a man had his garage door opener disabled after leaving a bad product review online, and internet-connected (and camera-enabled) vibrators have revealed themselves to be surprisingly easy to hack.

Thankfully, for all involved, when it comes to Lockstate's recent misstep, only around 500 locks were impacted. What's more, Mondrow insisted that this was all the result of human error and that the technology itself is solid. Even so, he came close to admitting that nothing in the Internet of Things world can ever be 100 percent foolproof as humans still have to administer the tech.

"You always have to be aware of the fact that it's people that work with customers and making sure they're well trained."

And, well, even well-trained people make mistakes. Something to perhaps keep in mind the next time you're shopping for a shiny new internet-connected gadget.

Output: Around 500 Wi-Fi enabled smart locks have been permanently bricked by a firmware update. Lockstate, the manufacturer of the LS-6i smart lock, issued an apology to customers with malfunctioning security systems. Although the $469 smart lock comes with physical keys, owners of the lock have to completely replace it or send it in for repairs. The locks were commonly used by Airbnb hosts who sought to benefit from its keyless entry and remote monitoring features.