Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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MIT uses graphene to develop flexible solar cells
 Imagine a future in which solar cells are all around us — on windows and walls, cell phones, laptops, and more. A new flexible, transparent solar cell developed at MIT is bringing that future one step closer.

The device combines low-cost organic (carbon-containing) materials with electrodes of graphene, a flexible, transparent material made from inexpensive and abundant carbon sources. This advance in solar technology was enabled by a novel method of depositing a one-atom-thick layer of graphene onto the solar cell — without damaging nearby sensitive organic materials. Until now, developers of transparent solar cells have typically relied on expensive, brittle electrodes that tend to crack when the device is flexed. The ability to use graphene instead is making possible truly flexible, low-cost, transparent solar cells that can turn virtually any surface into a source of electric power.

Photovoltaic solar cells made of organic compounds would offer a variety of advantages over today’s inorganic silicon solar cells. They would be cheaper and easier to manufacture. They would be lightweight and flexible rather than heavy, rigid, and fragile, and so would be easier to transport, including to remote regions with no central power grid. And they could be transparent. Many organic materials absorb the ultraviolet and infrared components of sunlight but transmit the visible part that our eyes can detect. Organic solar cells could therefore be mounted on surfaces all around us and harvest energy without our noticing them.

Researchers have made significant advances over the past decade toward developing transparent organic solar cells. But they’ve encountered one persistent stumbling block: finding suitable materials for the electrodes that carry current out of the cell.

“It’s rare to find materials in nature that are both electrically conductive and optically transparent,” says Professor Jing Kong of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS).

The most widely used current option is indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO is conductive and transparent, but it’s also stiff and brittle, so when the organic solar cell bends, the ITO electrode tends to crack and lift off. In addition, indium is expensive and relatively rare.

A promising alternative to ITO is graphene, a form of carbon that occurs in one-atom-thick sheets and has remarkable characteristics. It’s highly conductive, flexible, robust, and transparent; and it’s made from inexpensive and ubiquitous carbon. In addition, a graphene electrode can be just 1 nanometer thick — a fraction as thick as an ITO electrode and a far better match for the thin organic solar cell itself.

Graphene challenges

Two key problems have slowed the wholesale adoption of graphene electrodes. The first problem is depositing the graphene electrodes onto the solar cell. Most solar cells are built on substrates such as glass or plastic. The bottom graphene electrode is deposited directly on that substrate — a task that can be achieved by processes involving water, solvents, and heat. The other layers are then added, ending with the top graphene electrode. But putting that top electrode onto the surface of the so-called hole transport layer (HTL) is tricky.

“The HTL dissolves in water, and the organic materials just below it are sensitive to pretty much anything, including water, solvents, and heat,” says EECS graduate student Yi Song, a 2016-2017 Eni-MIT Energy Fellow and a member of Kong's Nanomaterials and Electronics Group. As a result, researchers have typically persisted in using an ITO electrode on the top.

The second problem with using graphene is that the two electrodes need to play different roles. The ease with which a given material lets go of electrons is a set property called its work function. But in the solar cell, just one of the electrodes should let electrons flow out easily. As a result, having both electrodes made out of graphene would require changing the work function of one of them so the electrons would know which way to go — and changing the work function of any material is not straightforward.

A smooth graphene transfer

For the past three years, Kong and Song have been working to solve these problems. They first developed and optimized a process for laying down the bottom electrode on their substrate.

In that process, they grow a sheet of graphene on copper foil. They then transfer it onto the substrate using a technique demonstrated by Kong and her colleagues in 2008. They deposit a layer of polymer on top of the graphene sheet to support it and then use an acidic solution to etch the copper foil off the back, ending up with a graphene-polymer stack that they transfer to water for rinsing. They then simply scoop up the floating graphene-polymer stack with the substrate and remove the polymer layer using heat or an acetone rinse. The result: a graphene electrode resting on the substrate.

But scooping the top electrode out of water isn’t feasible. So they instead turn the floating graphene-polymer stack into a kind of stamp, by pressing a half-millimeter-thick frame of silicon rubber onto it. Grasping the frame with tweezers, they lift the stack out, dry it off, and set it down on top of the HTL. Then, with minimal warming, they can peel off the silicon rubber stamp and the polymer support layer, leaving the graphene deposited on the HTL.

Initially, the electrodes that Song and Kong fabricated using this process didn’t perform well. Tests showed that the graphene layer didn’t adhere tightly to the HTL, so current couldn’t flow out efficiently. The obvious solutions to this problem wouldn’t work. Heating the structure enough to make the graphene adhere would damage the sensitive organics. And putting some kind of glue on the bottom of the graphene before laying it down on the HTL would stick the two layers together, but would end up as an added layer between them, decreasing rather than increasing the interfacial contact.

Song decided that adding glue to the stamp might be the way to go — but not as a layer under the graphene.

“We thought, what happens if we spray this very soft, sticky polymer on top of the graphene?” he says. “It would not be in direct contact with the hole transport layer, but because graphene is so thin, perhaps its adhesive properties might remain intact through the graphene.”

To test the idea, the researchers incorporated a layer of ethylene-vinyl acetate, or EVA, into their stamp, right on top of the graphene. The EVA layer is very flexible and thin — sort of like food wrap — and can easily rip apart. But they found that the polymer layer that comes next holds it together, and the arrangement worked just as Song had hoped: The EVA film adheres tightly to the HTL, conforming to any microscopic rough features on the surface and forcing the fine layer of graphene beneath it to do the same.

The process not only improved performance but also brought an unexpected side benefit. The researchers thought their next task would be to find a way to change the work function of the top graphene electrode so it would differ from that of the bottom one, ensuring smooth electron flow. But that step wasn’t necessary. Their technique for laying down the graphene on the HTL actually changes the work function of the electrode to exactly what they need it to be.

“We got lucky,” says Song. “Our top and bottom electrodes just happen to have the correct work functions as a result of the processes we use to make them.”

Putting the electrodes to the test

To see how well their graphene electrodes would perform in practice, the researchers needed to incorporate them into functioning organic solar cells. For that task, they turned to the solar cell fabrication and testing facilities of their colleague Vladimir Bulović, the Fariborz Maseeh (1990) Professor of Emerging Technology and Associate Dean for Innovation for the School of Engineering.

For comparison, they built a series of solar cells on rigid glass substrates with electrodes made of graphene, ITO, and aluminum (a standard electrode material). The current densities (or CDs, the amount of current flowing per unit area) and power conversion efficiencies (or PCEs, the fraction of incoming solar power converted to electricity) for the new flexible graphene/graphene devices and the standard rigid ITO/graphene devices were comparable. They were lower than those of the devices with one aluminum electrode, but that was a finding they expected.

“An aluminum electrode on the bottom will reflect some of the incoming light back into the solar cell, so the device overall can absorb more of the sun’s energy than a transparent device can,” says Kong.

The PCEs for all their graphene/graphene devices — on rigid glass substrates as well as flexible substrates — ranged from 2.8 percent to 4.1 percent. While those values are well below the PCEs of existing commercial solar panels, they’re a significant improvement over PCEs achieved in prior work involving semitransparent devices with all-graphene electrodes, the researchers say.

Measurements of the transparency of their graphene/graphene devices yielded further encouraging results. The human eye can detect light at wavelengths between about 400 nanometers and 700 nanometers. The all-graphene devices showed optical transmittance of 61 percent across the whole visible regime and up to 69 percent at 550 nanometers. “Those values [for transmittance] are among the highest for transparent solar cells with comparable power conversion efficiencies in the literature,” says Kong.

Flexible substrates, bending behavior

The researchers note that their organic solar cell can be deposited on any kind of surface, rigid or flexible, transparent or not. “If you want to put it on the surface of your car, for instance, it won’t look bad,” says Kong. “You’ll be able to see through to what was originally there.”

To demonstrate that versatility, they deposited their graphene-graphene devices onto flexible substrates including plastic, opaque paper, and translucent Kapton tape. Measurements show that the performance of the devices is roughly equal on the three flexible substrates — and only slightly lower than those made on glass, likely because the surfaces are rougher so there’s a greater potential for poor contact.

The ability to deposit the solar cell on any surface makes it promising for use on consumer electronics — a field that’s growing rapidly worldwide. For example, solar cells could be fabricated directly on cell phones and laptops rather than made separately and then installed, a change that would significantly reduce manufacturing costs.

They would also be well-suited for future devices such as peel-and-stick solar cells and paper electronics. Since those devices would inevitably be bent and folded, the researchers subjected their samples to the same treatment. While all of their devices — including those with ITO electrodes — could be folded repeatedly, those with graphene electrodes could be bent far more tightly before their output started to decline.

Future goals

The researchers are now working to improve the efficiency of their graphene-based organic solar cells without sacrificing transparency. (Increasing the amount of active area would push up the PCE, but transparency would drop.) According to their calculations, the maximum theoretical PCE achievable at their current level of transparency is 10 percent.

“Our best PCE is about 4 percent, so we still have some way to go,” says Song.

They’re also now considering how best to scale up their solar cells into the large-area devices needed to cover entire windows and walls, where they could efficiently generate power while remaining virtually invisible to the human eye.

This research was supported by the Italian energy company Eni S.p.A. as part of the Eni-MIT Alliance Solar Frontiers Center. Eni is a Founding Member of the MIT Energy Initiative.

This article appeared in the Spring 2017 issue of Energy Futures, the magazine of the MIT Energy Initiative.

Output: MIT researchers have developed a transparent solar cell that uses graphene for its electrodes and can be mounted on a range of surfaces. The technique works by depositing a layer of one-atom-thick graphene on a solar cell, making the device flexible. The resulting solar cell is significantly cheaper and easier to transport than traditionally-manufactured cells, which rely on brittle electrodes. The cells, which are made of organic materials, would have a wider range of applications than conventional cells because of their transparency.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Reports that Facebook bots ran out of control were false
 In recent weeks, a story about experimental Facebook machine learning research has been circulating with increasingly panicky, Skynet-esque headlines.

“Facebook engineers panic, pull plug on AI after bots develop their own language,” one site wrote. “Facebook shuts down down AI after it invents its own creepy language,” another added. “Did we humans just create Frankenstein?” asked yet another. One British tabloid quoted a robotics professor saying the incident showed “the dangers of deferring to artificial intelligence” and “could be lethal” if similar tech was injected into military robots.

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References to the coming robot revolution, killer droids, malicious AIs and human extermination abounded, some more or less serious than others. Continually quoted was this passage, in which two Facebook chat bots had learned to talk to each other in what is admittedly a pretty creepy way.

Bob: I can i i everything else Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to Bob: you i everything else Alice: balls have a ball to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me

The reality is somewhat more prosaic. A few weeks ago, FastCo Design did report on a Facebook effort to develop a “generative adversarial network” for the purpose of developing negotiation software.

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The two bots quoted in the above passage were designed, as explained in a Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research unit blog post in June, for the purpose of showing it is “possible for dialog agents with differing goals (implemented as end-to-end-trained neural networks) to engage in start-to-finish negotiations with other bots or people while arriving at common decisions or outcomes.”

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The bots were never doing anything more nefarious than discussing with each other how to split an array of given items (represented in the user interface as innocuous objects like books, hats, and balls) into a mutually agreeable split.

The intent was to develop a chatbot which could learn from human interaction to negotiate deals with an end user so fluently said user would not realize they are talking with a robot, which FAIR said was a success:

“The performance of FAIR’s best negotiation agent, which makes use of reinforcement learning and dialog rollouts, matched that of human negotiators ... demonstrating that FAIR’s bots not only can speak English but also think intelligently about what to say.”

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When Facebook directed two of these semi-intelligent bots to talk to each other, FastCo reported, the programmers realized they had made an error by not incentivizing the chatbots to communicate according to human-comprehensible rules of the English language. In their attempts to learn from each other, the bots thus began chatting back and forth in a derived shorthand—but while it might look creepy, that’s all it was.

“Agents will drift off understandable language and invent codewords for themselves,” FAIR visiting researcher Dhruv Batra said. “Like if I say ‘the’ five times, you interpret that to mean I want five copies of this item. This isn’t so different from the way communities of humans create shorthands.”

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Facebook did indeed shut down the conversation, but not because they were panicked they had untethered a potential Skynet. FAIR researcher Mike Lewis told FastCo they had simply decided “our interest was having bots who could talk to people,” not efficiently to each other, and thus opted to require them to write to each other legibly.

But in a game of content telephone not all that different from what the chat bots were doing, this story evolved from a measured look at the potential short-term implications of machine learning technology to thinly veiled doomsaying.

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There are probably good reasons not to let intelligent machines develop their own language which humans would not be able to meaningfully understand—but again, this is a relatively mundane phenomena which arises when you take two machine learning devices and let them learn off each other. It’s worth noting that when the bot’s shorthand is explained, the resulting conversation was both understandable and not nearly as creepy as it seemed before.

As FastCo noted, it’s possible this kind of machine learning could allow smart devices or systems to communicate with each other more efficiently. Those gains might come with some problems—imagine how difficult it might be to debug such a system that goes wrong—but it is quite different from unleashing machine intelligence from human control.

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In this case, the only thing the chatbots were capable of doing was coming up with a more efficient way to trade each others’ balls.

There are good uses of machine learning technology, like improved medical diagnostics, and potentially very bad ones, like riot prediction software police could use to justify cracking down on protests. All of them are essentially ways to compile and analyze large amounts of data, and so far the risks mainly have to do with how humans choose to distribute and wield that power.

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Hopefully humans will also be smart enough not to plug experimental machine learning programs into something very dangerous, like an army of laser-toting androids or a nuclear reactor. But if someone does and a disaster ensues, it would be the result of human negligence and stupidity, not because the robots had a philosophical revelation about how bad humans are.

At least not yet. Machine learning is nowhere close to true AI, just humanity’s initial fumbling with the technology. If anyone should be panicking about this news in 2017, it’s professional negotiators, who could find themselves out of a job.

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[Fastco Design]

Output: Recent reports that Facebook was forced to shut down its messenger bots because they broke out of their training and invented their own language are inaccurate, according to descriptions of the experiment by the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit. Their use of non-human language was occurred because the engineers made the error of not incentivising the bots to communicate in a way that humans could comprehend. The language that the bots began conversing in was nothing more of a shorthand for referring to the objects of their negotiation. An article in the International Business Times led with the headline: “Did we humans just create Frankenstein?”


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Reports that Facebook bots ran out of control were false
 When Facebook designed chatbots to negotiate with one another, the bots made up their own way of communicating.

A buried line in a new Facebook report about chatbots’ conversations with one another offers a remarkable glimpse at the future of language.

In the report, researchers at the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab describe using machine learning to train their “dialog agents” to negotiate. (And it turns out bots are actually quite good at dealmaking.) At one point, the researchers write, they had to tweak one of their models because otherwise the bot-to-bot conversation “led to divergence from human language as the agents developed their own language for negotiating.” They had to use what’s called a fixed supervised model instead.

In other words, the model that allowed two bots to have a conversation—and use machine learning to constantly iterate strategies for that conversation along the way—led to those bots communicating in their own non-human language. If this doesn’t fill you with a sense of wonder and awe about the future of machines and humanity then, I don’t know, go watch Blade Runner or something.

The larger point of the report is that bots can be pretty decent negotiators—they even use strategies like feigning interest in something valueless, so that it can later appear to “compromise” by conceding it. But the detail about language is, as one tech entrepreneur put it, a mind-boggling “sign of what’s to come.”

To be clear, Facebook’s chatty bots aren’t evidence of the singularity’s arrival. Not even close. But they do demonstrate how machines are redefining people’s understanding of so many realms once believed to be exclusively human—like language.

Already, there’s a good deal of guesswork involved in machine learning research, which often involves feeding a neural net a huge pile of data then examining the output to try to understand how the machine thinks. But the fact that machines will make up their own non-human ways of conversing is an astonishing reminder of just how little we know, even when people are the ones designing these systems.

“There remains much potential for future work,” Facebook’s researchers wrote in their paper, “particularly in exploring other reasoning strategies, and in improving the diversity of utterances without diverging from human language.”

Output: Recent reports that Facebook was forced to shut down its messenger bots because they broke out of their training and invented their own language are inaccurate, according to descriptions of the experiment by the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit. Their use of non-human language was occurred because the engineers made the error of not incentivising the bots to communicate in a way that humans could comprehend. The language that the bots began conversing in was nothing more of a shorthand for referring to the objects of their negotiation. An article in the International Business Times led with the headline: “Did we humans just create Frankenstein?”


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Toray to construct EV battery plant in Europe
 TOKYO -- Japan's Toray Industries will build a European plant to make parts for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, part of a 120 billion yen ($1.08 billion) spending plan through around 2020 that comes as the world gears up to leave fossil-fuel cars behind.

The materials giant's factory will produce separators -- films that partition batteries' positive and negative electrodes to prevent short circuits. Toray is the world's No. 2 maker of separators behind Japanese compatriot Asahi Kasei.

Output: Japanese company Toray Industries has announced its intentions to build a factory for components for lithium-ion batteries in Europe. As part of a spending plan costing $1.08bn, Toray hopes to have the plant completed by late 2019, and is considering locations in Germany and Eastern Europe. The factory will build separators, the film that separates the batteries' electrodes, of which Toray is the second largest manufacturer in the world.


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Accountancy firm warns one in five high street agents may close
 One in five UK estate agents are at risk of going out of business amid a growth in online companies, new research shows.

Almost 5,000 estate agents are showing signs of “financial distress”, said accountancy firm Moore Stephens.

Traditional companies are likely to have higher property and staff costs and are struggling to compete with low-cost, fixed-fee online agents, said the report. The growth in property websites has also undermined the role of estate agents, it suggested.

Mike Finch of Moore Stephens said: “Traditional high street estate agents’ profit margins are being squeezed from both sides, from cut-price online competitors, to their larger counterparts on the high street who are forcing them to up their spending or give up the race.

“Many areas across the UK are over-saturated with estate agents, and competition is becoming too much for some smaller businesses.”

The study follows a slump in profits announced last week at two of the UK’s biggest estate agents.

Countrywide, the UK’s biggest listed estate agency, said pre-tax profits for the six months to June were £447,000, down from £24.3m in the same period last year.

Revenues and profits at Foxtons also fell in the first half as the London-focused estate agent pointed to “unprecedented” economic and political uncertainty hitting the property market.

The group said revenue fell 15% to £58.5m in the six months to 30 June, with pre-tax profit plummeting 64% from £10.5m to £3.8m.

A separate study has found that planning applications for new shops have fallen to an eight-year low amid continued growth of e-commerce.

There were 6,525 applications in England in the year to March, almost half the number in 2008/-09 and down by 11% on 2014-15, said Lendy, which provides property finance and development loans.

Greater Manchester recorded the biggest fall in retail planning applications last year, it said.

Liam Brooke of Lendy added: “The continued softness in the retail property market shows no sign of abating. Retailers are shunning and shutting bricks and mortar shops.

“The government needs to find a way to encourage retailers to give the high streets a face lift.

“Big brands are continuing to shift their focus towards their online services.”

Output: Traditional UK estate agents are struggling to compete with low-cost online rivals, with nearly 5,000 companies displaying signs of "financial distress" and one in five firms in danger of going out of business, according to a report by accountancy firm Moore Stephens. The report follows the drop in profits at Countrywide, which posted £447,000 ($590,000) on pre-tax revenues for H1 2017, compared to £24.3m the previous year, while Foxtons revealed a 15% slump in revenue to £58.5m over six months, with pre-tax profit dropping 64% from £10.5m to £3.8m.


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Didi Chuxing invests in Uber rival Taxify
 Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-hailing giant, has invested in Estonian startup Taxify, the companies revealed on Tuesday. Taxify, a four-year-old company, has more than 2.5 million passengers in 18 countries across Europe and Africa, including Hungary, Romania, the Baltic States, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

The deal: Didi has invested an undisclosed amount into Taxify, and the company says it will "collaborate with Taxify to support the latter's further growth and innovation across its diversified markets." The Estonian startup previously raised about €2 million (about $2.4 million) in venture capital.

Didi's world domination: The Chinese giant, which has raised more than $12 billion in funding to date, has been investing in ride-hailing companies around the world as part of its ambitions to "play a global game," as president Jean Liu said last year. So far, these investments include Southeast Asia's Grab, India's Ola, Latin America's 99, and Lyft in the U.S.

Output: Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing has invested an undisclosed amount in Taxify, an Estonian ride-hailing start-up. Taxify operates in 18 countries across Africa and Europe, and boasts over 2.5 million passengers. The company plans to use the funds to expand its market presence. Didi has invested in other rivals to Uber around the world, including Ola in India, 99 in South America, Grab in Southeast Asia and Lyft in the US.


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Google tests built-in ad blocker for Chrome
 We’ve known for some time that Google is planning an ad blocker, to be released in all versions of its Chrome browser. While it’s not expected to launch until 2018, we’re getting our first look at it early thanks to the latest developer build of Chrome on Android, via the Canary app.

The ad blocker was discovered by German-language Caschys Blog. In Canary, it takes the form of a toggle in preferences, though it’s switched off by default. Not all Canary users have received the setting at this time, so it appears to be a server-side update.

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Part of the reason Google is waiting until the new year to launch its ad blocker is to give web developers some time to prepare. Chrome’s native solution won’t block all ads indiscriminately — only those ads that don’t comply with Google’s new guidelines that denote “intrusive” ads. That includes pop-ups (which Chrome already blocks), autoplay videos, and timed ads that lock away content behind a countdown.

The guidelines were developed in partnership with the Coalition for Better Ads, which includes other big names such as Facebook, News Corp., and Thomson Reuters.

Google’s primary source of revenue is ads, so it may seem counterproductive for the company to build a blocker into the world’s most widely used desktop and mobile browser. The thought process is that if Google can do away with the kinds of ads users really can’t stand, they won’t have as much motivation to install a third-party blocker, and can simply rely on Chrome’s.

If you do opt to continue to use a third-party blocker, however, Google is developing a new tool for sites that asks users to disable them, or pay a fee for ad-free access.

In recent months, developers of other major mobile web browsers, like Apple and Samsung, have embraced support for ad blocker plugins, while Google has prepared its own built-in solution. The ability to download and run Samsung’s Internet app was opened up to non-Samsung devices around the same time, making it a popular choice for mobile Chrome users frustrated with the browser’s lack of compatibility with third-party blockers.

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Output: Google has been testing the forthcoming ad blocker for its Chrome browser via the Canary app, according to German-language Blog Caschys. Although not set to launch until next year, the sneak preview revealed ads which don't comply with guidelines developed in partnership with the Coalition for Better Ads will be blocked. The guidelines forbid autoplay videos and timed ads that hide content behind a countdown. Google is also working on a new tool for users who want to rely on a third-party blocker.


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British Gas faces criticism for 12.5% electricity price rise
 British Gas has raised electricity prices by 12.5% in a move consumer experts warned could kick off a new round of price rises from rival suppliers this winter.

The company, owned by Centrica, left its gas prices unchanged, which means the average annual dual fuel bill will rise by 7.3%, or £76, to £1,120. The increase, which takes effect on 15 September, will affect 3.1 million customers. The company said it would give a £76 credit to more than 200,000 vulnerable customers to protect them from the increase.

Ministers expressed concern about the rise, which they said should not be blamed on government policy, and said they were not ruling out future steps to “increase fairness for customers”.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said: “Energy firms should treat all their customers fairly and we’re concerned this price rise will hit many people already on poor-value tariffs.

“We are not ruling anything out – whether it is action by the regulator or legislation – to increase fairness for customers.”

Shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead called it a “whopping rise” and said the government should take further action.

“There was an agreement coming into the election that there should be a price cap operating across the market and action should be taken on the standard variable tariffs that so many customers are on. Unfortunately the government has changed their minds about that now and we want to press them to change their minds,” the Labour MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.

The chief executive of Citizens Advice, Gillian Guy, said: “British Gas has in recent years been offering one of the less expensive standard variable tariffs from a larger firm, but today’s price rise will close this gap and hit longstanding customers hardest. This price rise has been issued despite costs for energy firms dropping in recent months.”

Iain Conn, Centrica’s chief executive, defended the move, saying the electricity price rise was the first since November 2013 and reflected a 16% rise in the cost of energy and delivery to customers’ homes since 2014.

“We haven’t taken the decision lightly,” he said on Sky News. “We realise that 3.1 miilon people are affected. I should stress that just over 5 million customers are unaffected by today’s news. In the end we’ve had to respond, like many of our competitors, to the underlying increases we’ve seen in electricity.”

Martin Lewis, the founder of the MoneySavingExpert website, said the move was a catch-up price rise from British Gas and might prompt another batch of rises this winter.

Previous price freezes by British Gas had lulled customers into a “false sense of security that it wouldn’t move prices”, Lewis said, which meant consumers did nothing, “when they could have cut their rate and locked that in for longer by actively picking a far cheaper one-year fixed energy tariff.” He added that the cheapest tariffs on the market cost £844.

News of the price rise came as Centrica reported an adjusted profit before tax of £639m for the six months to June, down from £688m a year earlier.

Conn, who was handed a pay rise of nearly 40% last year, taking his remuneration package to £4.15m, said: “Centrica delivered a solid first-half financial performance despite reduced energy demand due to warm weather and strong competitive pressures, and we remain on track to achieve the 2017 targets we set out in February.”

Households are missing out on the cheapest tariffs by not switching suppliers. Although the number of people switching rose by 30% last year, around two-thirds of bill payers are still on the worst-value standard tariffs. Trials are under way on how to encourage people to switch.

Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief of money.co.uk, said: “I’m worried the Conservatives’ promise to ‘end unfair practices in the energy market’ will make people think they don’t need to switch. They do. There is no guarantee when and if anything will be done, so it’s not worth wasting money while you wait.

“Switching energy deals could help you to save now and protect you against hikes in the near future. There’s no point sticking with the same supplier when you could pay hundreds less for exactly the same service elsewhere.”

Output: British Gas, which is owned by Centrica, will raise electricity prices by 12.5% on 15 September in a move which will affect 3.1 million customers. Gas prices will remain unchanged, meaning that the average duel bill will rise to £1,120 ($1482), an increase of 7.3% or £76. British Gas promised to give £76 credit to over 200,000 vulnerable customers to mitigate the increase. A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said that further action "to increase fairness for customers" could not be ruled out.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Algae feed on rejected papaya to create biodiesel
 In Hawaii, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers are leading an effort to produce biodiesel using a type of green algae known as Auxenochlorella protothecoides (formerly Chlorella protothecoides) tied with the pulp of discarded papayas, namely, those deemed too blemished, malformed, or damaged to be sold for market.

The system devised by researchers calls for growing the algae in giant bioreactors where, hidden from sunlight, the algae are fed what might be likened to a papaya smoothie.

Keith’s team thinks their remains from the oil-extraction process, called “algal meal,” can offer Hawaiian farmers a low-cost source of feed for fish or livestock, cutting importation costs. The algae’s fondness for papaya also could offer a way for growers to recoup some of the losses on about one-third of Hawaii’s $11-million papaya crop discarded because of defects.

Output: Scientists at the US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hawaii have developed a biodiesel using a green algae known as Auxenochlorella protothecoides. Bioreactors are filled with malformed papayas, which the algae then feed on, absorbing the organic sugars from the fruit. The algae are capable of storing 60% of their cellular weight in lipids, which provide the material for developing biodiesel. The diesel is considered an environmentally and economically effective way of dealing with the one-third of Hawaii’s papaya crop that is thrown away each year.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Algae feed on rejected papaya to create biodiesel
 Posted by Jan Suszkiw, Public Affairs Specialist, Agricultural Research Service in Research and Science

Discarded papayas are being examined as part of a zero-waste system to producing algal oils for biodiesel. (ARS photo by Peggy Greb).

Think algae is just slimy green pond scum? Well, think again!

Thanks to advances in science and technology, these microscopic plant-like organisms are now star players in biologically-based approaches to producing fuel for transportation and other energy needs.

In Hilo, Hawaii, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Plant Pathologist Lisa Keith is leading an effort to produce biodiesel using a type of green algae known as Auxenochlorella protothecoides (formerly Chlorella protothecoides).

Oh, and she’s also using the pulp of discarded papayas, namely, those deemed too blemished, malformed, or damaged to be sold for market.

So how, you may ask, does one go from green algae to papaya to biofuel?

That’s where the science and technology part comes in—along with support from the state government of Hawaii, which hopes to ease the state’s reliance on imports of petroleum-based oil.

The system devised by Keith and her colleagues calls for growing the algae in giant vats, called “bioreactors.” There, hidden from sunlight, the algae are fed what might be likened to a papaya smoothie.

“While nearly all algae are capable of using energy from light to produce organic molecules from carbon dioxide and water, some algae, including Auxenochlorella protothecoides, can also absorb organic molecules such as sugars from sources such as papaya juice,” explains Keith. She is with ARS’s Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo.

In the process, these industrious algae end up storing 60 percent of their cellular weight in lipids. These lipids (or oils), in turn, provide material for making biodiesel.

The algae are like the gift that keeps on giving.

Keith’s team thinks their remains from the oil-extraction process, called “algal meal,” can offer Hawaiian farmers a low-cost source of feed for fish or livestock, cutting importation costs. The algae’s fondness for papaya also could offer a way for growers to recoup some of the losses on about one-third of Hawaii’s $11-million papaya crop discarded because of defects.

It’s all part of what Keith and colleagues call a “zero-waste” system.

“The goal is to make agriculture more profitable and to address food- and energy-security issues in Hawaii,” she says.

Output: Scientists at the US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hawaii have developed a biodiesel using a green algae known as Auxenochlorella protothecoides. Bioreactors are filled with malformed papayas, which the algae then feed on, absorbing the organic sugars from the fruit. The algae are capable of storing 60% of their cellular weight in lipids, which provide the material for developing biodiesel. The diesel is considered an environmentally and economically effective way of dealing with the one-third of Hawaii’s papaya crop that is thrown away each year.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Gender pay gap exists primarily at highest levels
 MEDIA organisations aspire to cover news, not make it. But the BBC, Britain’s public broadcaster, has found itself in an uncomfortable spotlight since July 19th, when it published the names of its employees who earn at least £150,000 ($195,000) a year. The ensuing furore was less over the absolute level of pay than about the differences between men’s and women’s incomes. Some female presenters discovered that they made much less than male colleagues they regarded as peers. Just over half of the BBC’s staff are men, but among the 96 high earners listed, two-thirds are male.

In a petition, female presenters said this was evidence that women at the BBC are paid less than men “for the same work”. If that were true for the company as a whole, it would make the BBC an outlier. Although the average woman’s salary in Britain is 29% lower than the average man’s, the bulk of that gap results from differences in rank within companies, firms’ overall compensation rates and the nature of the tasks a job requires. According to data for 8.7m employees worldwide gathered by Korn Ferry, a consultancy, women in Britain make just 1% less than men who have the same function and level at the same employer. In most European countries, the discrepancy is similarly small. These numbers do not show that the labour market is free of sex discrimination. However, they do suggest that the main problem today is not unequal pay for equal work, but whatever it is that leads women to be in lower-ranking jobs at lower-paying organisations.

Moreover, even if the bulk of the BBC’s 9,000 female employees are not underpaid relative to their male colleagues, the list does suggest a problem among the broadcaster’s top brass. That pattern is fairly common. Pay gaps between men and women in the same roles at the same employers are narrow across Europe for 15 of the 16 job levels in Korn Ferry’s database—but the highest one is the exception. In Spain and Germany, top-ranking women make 15-20% less than similarly high-flying men.

A new law in Britain requires all medium-to-large employers to publish data on the pay gap between their male and female workers by April 2018. The reactions to the BBC’s list suggest they would be wise to break these data down for comparable jobs. That will show more precisely where the problem lies.

Read the full article here.

Output: The key issue in relation to gender and pay is not unequal pay for the same work, but the prevalence of women in low-ranking jobs in low-paying organisations, according to an analysis by The Economist. In the UK, the salary of the average woman is 29% lower than that of the average man. However, consultancy Korn Ferry estimates that women in the UK earn just 1% less than men in equivalent roles. Pay gaps are similar across Europe in 15 of the 16 job levels used by the consultancy.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ blamed on global meat industry
 Tyson Foods, America’s Largest Meat Company, Leads Those Found to be driving massive Manure and Fertilizer Pollution

Mapping data links top meat companies to regions experiencing worst pollution from meat

Washington, D.C. — A new report, released by Mighty Earth, identifies the companies responsible for the widespread manure and fertilizer pollution contaminating water from the Heartland to the Gulf. Much of this pollution comes from the vast quantities of corn and soy used to raise meat animals, and has caused one of the largest Dead Zones on record in the Gulf of Mexico this year.

To identify the companies responsible, the investigation maps the supply chains of the top meat and feed companies, and overlays it with data showing elevated nitrate concentrations in waterways that are experiencing high levels of fertilizer pollution. The report also mapped where these supply chains are driving destruction of natural grasslands, including native prairies, putting new regions at risk for fertilizer pollution.

America’s largest meat company, Tyson Foods, stood out for its expansive footprint in all the regions suffering the worst pollution impacts from industrial meat and feed production. Tyson produces one out of every five pounds of meat produced in the United States, and owns brands like Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, and Sara Lee, in addition to selling to fast food retailers like McDonalds. The company is consistently ranked among the top polluters in America, although Tyson’s new CEO has declared that a focus on sustainability will be at the center of the company’s future plans. The report found:

Tyson is the only meat company with major processing facilities in each of the states listed by the USGS as contributing the highest levels of pollution to the Gulf ; Tyson and Smithfield have the heaviest concentration of meat facilities in those regions of the country with the highest levels of nitrate contamination ;

Tyson’s top feed suppliers are behind the bulk of grassland prairie clearance , which dramatically magnifies the impacts of fertilizer pollution, with Cargill and ADM clearly dominating the market for corn and soy with their network of grain elevators and feed silos in all the states with the highest losses.

“Americans should not have to choose between producing food and having healthy clean water”, says Mighty Earth campaign director Lucia von Reusner. “Big meat companies like Tyson have left a trail of pollution across the country, and have a responsibility to their customers and the public to clean it up.”

“As the public has gained awareness of the major impacts of industrial meat production, many consumers have been trying to find more sustainable options,” said von Reusner. “This report shows that our nation’s largest meat companies shape our food system on a massive scale, and can implement the solutions needed to make meat less polluting.”

A recent analysis from the Environmental Working Group of 2015 public water utility data found that 7 million Americans are exposed to unhealthy levels of nitrate contamination in their drinking water. The Tap Water Database “provides information on the most widespread and potentially harmful contaminants and their sources – including agriculture, a leading source of pollution in the U.S. that is largely exempt from federal laws designed to protect drinking water,” according to the Environmental Working Group.

Researchers recently announced that so much pollution has run into the Gulf of Mexico this year that is has created one of the largest dead zones on record. Fertilizer pollution flowing down the Mississippi River from the American heartland is the cause of this dead zone, by causing toxic algae blooms where marine life cannot survive. This fertilizer pollution comes mostly from industrial corn and soy fields. Last year the USGS reported that around 1.15 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. As comparison, the BP oil spill was 670,800 metric tons, and is not an annually occurring event.

*The report was amended to clarify the proportion of U.S. soy that goes toward animal feed. The rest of the report remains unchanged.

Take action! Sign the petition below calling on Tyson’s CEO to clean up this pollution from meat.

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About Mighty Earth

Mighty Earth is a global environmental campaign organization that works to protect forests, conserve oceans, and address climate change. We work in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and North America to drive large-scale action towards environmentally responsible agriculture that protects native ecosystems, wildlife, and water, and respects local community rights. Mighty Earth’s global team has played a decisive role in persuading the world’s largest food and agriculture companies to dramatically improve their environmental and social policies and practices. More information on Mighty Earth can be found at https://www.mightyearth.org/.

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Output: The world’s meat industry is contributing to what is predicted to be the largest ever “dead zone”, situated in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a report by environmental group Mighty. “Dead zones”, in which areas of water suffer from reduced oxygen, leading to the death of marine species, are created when toxins from manure and fertilisers enter waterways and exacerbate harmful algal blooms. Mighty has said a small number of agribusinesses are responsible for much of the pollution. The report claimed Tyson Foods, which supplies McDonald’s and Walmart, has dumped 104 million tonnes of pollutants into waterways in the past decade.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ blamed on global meat industry
 The global meat industry, already implicated in driving global warming and deforestation, has now been blamed for fueling what is expected to be the worst “dead zone” on record in the Gulf of Mexico.

Toxins from manure and fertiliser pouring into waterways are exacerbating huge, harmful algal blooms that create oxygen-deprived stretches of the gulf, the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay, according to a new report by Mighty, an environmental group chaired by former congressman Henry Waxman.

It is expected that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) will this week announce the largest ever recorded dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to be larger than the nearly 8,200 square-mile area that was forecast for July – an expanse of water roughly the size of New Jersey.

Nutrients flowing into streams, rivers and the ocean from agriculture and wastewater stimulate an overgrowth of algae, which then decomposes. This results in hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, in the water, causing marine life either to flee or to die.

Some creatures, such as shrimp, suffer stunted growth. Algal blooms themselves can cause problems, as in Florida last summer when several beaches were closed after they became coated in foul-smelling green slime.

America’s vast appetite for meat is driving much of this harmful pollution, according to Mighty, which blamed a small number of businesses for practices that are “contaminating our water and destroying our landscape” in the heart of the country.

“This problem is worsening and worsening and regulation isn’t reducing the scope of this pollution,” said Lucia von Reusner, campaign director at Mighty. “These companies’ practices need to be far more sustainable. And a reduction in meat consumption is absolutely necessary to reduce the environmental burden.”

The Mighty report analyzed supply chains of agribusiness and pollution trends and found that a “highly industrialized and centralized factory farm system” was resulting in vast tracts of native grassland in the midwest being converted into soy and corn to feed livestock. Stripped soils can wash away in the rain, bringing fertilisers into waterways.

Arkansas-based Tyson Foods is identified by the report as a “dominant” influence in the pollution, due to its market strength in chicken, beef and pork. Tyson, which supplies the likes of McDonald’s and Walmart, slaughters 35m chickens and 125,000 head of cattle every week, requiring five million acres of corn a year for feed, according to the report.

This consumption resulted in Tyson generating 55m tons of manure last year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with 104m tons of pollutants dumped into waterways over the past decade. The Mighty research found that the highest levels of nitrate contamination correlate with clusters of facilities operated by Tyson and Smithfield, another meat supplier.

This pollution has also been linked to drinking water contamination. Last week, a report by Environmental Working Group found that in 2015 water systems serving seven million Americans in 48 states contained high levels of nitrates. Consuming nitrates has been linked to an increased risk of contracting certain cancers.

Large parts of America are being plowed up for corn and soy to raise meat. There is very little regulation Lucia von Reusner, Mighty

“Large parts of America are being plowed up for corn and soy to raise meat,” said von Reusner. “There is very little regulation so we can’t wait for that.

“The corporate agriculture sector has shown it is responsive to consumer concerns about meat production so we hope that the largest meat companies will meet expectations on this.”

The report urges Tyson and other firms to use their clout in the supply chain to ensure that grain producers such as Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland employ practices that reduce pollution flowing into waterways. These practices include not leaving soil uncovered by crops and being more efficient with fertilizers so plants are not doused in too many chemicals.

The US is an enormous consumer of meat, with the average American chewing through 211lbs in 2015. A study released earlier this year found that US beef consumption fell by nearly one fifth from 2005 to 2014, possibly due to concerns over health or the environment. A new increase is now expected.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, beef and pork production is forecast to grow significantly over the next decade, driven by lower feed costs and healthy demand. By 2025, the average American is expected to eat 219lbs of meat a year. Just 3% of Americans follow a vegetarian or vegan diet.

This voracious appetite for meat has driven the loss of native forests and grasslands in the US and abroad, releasing heat-trapping gases through deforestation and agricultural practices. Agriculture produced 9% of US greenhouse gas emissions in 2015, according to the EPA.

A spokesman for Cargill said the company was an “industry leader” for sustainable practices, pointing to its efforts with environment groups to address air, water and soil quality in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska.

“Protein consumption is growing globally and we are working to meet increased consumer demand with sustainably and responsibly produced foods and supply chains,” said the spokesman. “We are dedicated to protecting animal welfare, reducing environmental impact, increasing transparency and keeping workers and consumers safe.

“We also continue to improve livestock feed efficiency. Over the last 15 years we have seen an overall trend in reducing the volume of feed for each pound of beef produced.”

A Tyson spokeswoman said “we don’t agree with the group’s characterization of our company but share its interest in protecting the environment.”

“It’s true the livestock and poultry industry is a major buyer of grain for feed, however, the report fails to note that a large percentage of corn raised in the US is used for biofuel and that a significant portion is used for human consumption,” she added.

“Tyson Foods is focused on continuous improvement. We are constantly looking to improve and lead the industry, so that we can deliver sustainable food to people every day at a scale that matters to the world.”

Archer Daniels Midland were also contacted for comment prior to publication.

Output: The world’s meat industry is contributing to what is predicted to be the largest ever “dead zone”, situated in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a report by environmental group Mighty. “Dead zones”, in which areas of water suffer from reduced oxygen, leading to the death of marine species, are created when toxins from manure and fertilisers enter waterways and exacerbate harmful algal blooms. Mighty has said a small number of agribusinesses are responsible for much of the pollution. The report claimed Tyson Foods, which supplies McDonald’s and Walmart, has dumped 104 million tonnes of pollutants into waterways in the past decade.


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US start-up to unveil first rechargeable alkaline battery
 Cheaper and more powerful batteries are also considered by many to be the driver needed to make the cost of renewable energy technologies like wind and solar competitive with the coal, gas and nuclear power that support the national energy grid.

Ionic said it had developed prototypes of a rechargeable alkaline battery that can be made using continuous manufacturing processes similar to the making of plastic wrap. So far, the company, which is backed by William Joy, a pioneering Silicon Valley computer designer, has demonstrated up to 400 recharge cycles for its prototypes. Ionic executives say they believe they will be able to triple that.

The alkaline batteries that Ionic has developed would initially be heavier than today’s lithium-ion batteries, said Mike Zimmerman, a materials scientist who is the founder and chief executive of Ionic. But the new batteries would more than compensate for that handicap with their cost advantage and, in time, their ability to store more energy.

There are other advantages besides cost and safety. Lithium-ion batteries rely on cobalt, and using that element comes with a human cost. Cobalt mines in Africa, for example, have been accused of using child labor while leaving behind a toxic mess.

Alkaline batteries, on the other hand, use relatively abundant zinc and manganese. “Ionic can help us get lithium-ion past cobalt and completely eliminate it with alkaline,” said Mr. Joy, who is a member of Ionic’s board.

Output: Massachusetts-based company Ionic Materials is set to unveil its prototype for a solid-state, rechargeable alkaline battery at a conference for the 35th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado. Ionic CEO Mike Zimmerman said the firm has developed a battery that has demonstrated up to 400 recharge cycles, can be made with zinc and manganese, bypassing the need for cobalt, and would not be as prone to the combustion issues affecting lithium-ion equivalents. Alkaline batteries have not so far been rechargeable, but are safer and far cheaper than lithium-ion batteries.


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Onshore shale techniques can boost deepwater fracturing efficiency
 Conventional multi-zone completion systems have several fundamental problems. They are time-consuming, costly, and treat only a small number of zones, which can lead to uneven coverage across the reservoir.

“Imagine the impact across the entire pay section if you can have 20 stages instead of just four,” says Jim Sessions, vice president for completions at Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE).

A new deep-water multistage fracturing service called DeepFrac from BHGE uses multi-position sleeves and flow-back control technology to rapidly stimulate more than 20 tightly placed stages, increasing reservoir contact with reduced rig time.

The

Output: Baker Hughes's DeepFrac, a deep-water multistage fracturing service, uses multi-position sleeves and flow-back control technology to stimulate over 20 stages, boosting reservoir contact with reduced rig time. Standard multi-zone completion systems are less time-efficient, more expensive and can only treat a small number of zones. There is "a line of sight to an unlimited number of stages", said Jim Sessions, vice-president for completions at Baker Hughes.


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Apple hints that its autonomous systems may go beyond cars
 It’s an open secret that Apple is working on autonomous driving systems — the company seems to have even put self-driving vehicles on the road. But now Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted that the company’s AI work is meant for more than just autonomous cars.

“[Autonomous] systems can be used in a variety of ways,” Cook said during a call with investors this afternoon. “A vehicle is only one, but there are many different areas of it. And I don’t want to go any further with that.”

“We do have a large project going.”

The answer makes it pretty clear that Apple isn’t limiting its AI work to autonomous vehicles. But beyond that, it leaves a lot to speculation. Autonomous systems could be used for drones, shipping, and all kinds of robots, from warehouse assistants, to search robots, down to the machine that disassembles iPhones.

Apple is certainly not the only company working on these things: there are already several autonomous drones, big ambitions for autonomous factory robots, and even plans for an autonomous delivery robot.

But expanding Apple’s focus beyond cars opens up a lot more possibilities for the company, since its AI could reach far more markets. Given how many companies are investing in autonomous technologies right now, that certainly seems like the right idea — even if cars still seem to be Apple’s main target.

Output: Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted the company's artificial intelligence (AI) plans could extend far beyond self-driving cars and said the firm is working on a big project. During a call to investors, Cook said: "Autonomous systems can be used in a variety of ways. A vehicle is only one, but there are many different areas of it – and I don’t want to go any further with that." Insiders are speculating the Apple AI could be used in everything from robots to drones and shipping.


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Bill Tai joins Power Ledger on board of advisors
 Australian Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term-powered peer-to-peer renewable marketplace, Power Ledger, has announced that venture capitalist Bill Tai has joined its board of advisors and will become an Ambassador for the company.

Learn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!

Tai is a co-creator of the Blockchain Summit which took place last month in Sir Richard Branson’s private retreat, Necker Island.

Power Ledger Co-Founder and Chair, Dr Jemma Green who was invited to the Summit to present on how her company was applying blockchain technology to enable the decentralization of energy systems, met Tai onsite where the announcement was made.

Bill Tai

“Power Ledger is a standout among the companies at our gathering, solving a real problem in an enormous market,” commented Tai. “Jemma and her team have shown the world how blockchain based technology can be applied to create Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term and efficiency in the renewable energy markets with a solution that can be truly transformative.”

Dr Jemma Green, Power Ledger

“It’s extremely exciting that Bill is now part of the team,” said Dr Jemma Green, Co-Founder and Chair of Power Ledger. “To have someone of Bill’s calibre as an ambassador within the team, will really help bring about change on a global scale. Having Bill onboard is a big win for us and we’re looking forward to an exciting year ahead.”

“The application of blockchain technology is making itself known in so many different industries now,” added Tai. “Power Ledger’s solution is in the final stages of commercial deployment, and shows massive promise in the future of renewable energy and decentralizing the grid”.

The Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist is an investor and Board Director at Bitcoin mining giant and blockchain transactions processing company, BitFury.

Output: Venture capitalist Bill Tai has been appointed to the board of advisers for Power Ledger, an Australian blockchain smart grid company. The news was announced during the recent Blockchain Summit, organised by Tai, where Power Ledger co-founder Dr Jemma Green was giving a presentation. Tai said Power Ledger's solution was reaching the final stages of commercial deployment, and showed promise in decentralising the grid.


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Arson fraud trial to hear evidence from defendant's pacemaker
 When Ross Compton had a pacemaker installed, he had a constitutional right to remain silent. One would expect his body to have the same. But when the 59-year-old's Middletown, Ohio, home erupted in flames last September, the electronic data stored in his cardiac device eventually led to his arrest and subsequent indictment on charges of arson and insurance fraud. And despite his attorney’s arguments to the contrary, earlier this month Butler county judge Charles Pater held that the functioning of Compton’s own body — heartbeat included — could be used against him at the upcoming trial.

WIRED OPINION ABOUT Deanna Paul (@thedeannapaul) is a former New York City prosecutor and adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Fordham University school of law. This fall she will begin attending Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism. Her nonfiction work has been published by Rolling Stone and The Marshall Project.

In September 2016, Compton told law enforcement, he awoke to find his home on fire; he survived, but the blaze caused $400,000 of damage and killed his cat. Before escaping, Compton managed to pack his belongings in multiple bags, grab his computer and medical device charger, break through a window with his cane, and throw his luggage out of it. Then, he abandoned the feline and fled.

Ohio authorities determined that the fire originated from multiple locations within the house, leading them to conclude that a crime had occurred. They said statements Compton gave to fire officials at the scene differed from the story he later told investigators; in addition, investigators reported Compton's property smelled of gasoline and that his account was inconsistent with the available evidence.

Once police learned about Compton's pacemaker, the department decided to obtain a search warrant for the data recorded on it; this would reveal his heart rate and cardiac rhythms before, during, and after the fire. Medical technicians downloaded the information (the same information that would routinely be retrieved from a pacemaker during a doctor's visit) from the device, and law enforcement subsequently subpoenaed those records from the hospital.

The information corroborated one version of events, investigators argue. Unfortunately for Compton, it wasn’t his.

Ohio authorities alleged the data showed that Compton was awake when he claimed to be sleeping. In addition, investigators stated that given Compton's medical condition and the few minutes that passed between the time Compton called 911 and police arrived on the scene, it was improbable that he would have been able to collect and remove his belongings and himself from the burning house so quickly.

This was, the involved parties agreed, the first case in which police obtained a search warrant for a pacemaker. Compton’s defense attorney, Glenn Rossi, filed a motion to suppress the pacemaker data evidence as an unreasonable seizure of Compton’s private information. Nevertheless, in court assistant prosecutor Jon Marshall argued that police have historically obtained personal information through search warrants and that doing so for a pacemaker should not be viewed differently. The trial is scheduled for December.

Law enforcement can use legally obtained blood samples and medical records as evidence. Investigators have also recently used data from less invasive smart devices, such as steps counted by activity trackers and queries made to speakers, to establish how a crime was committed. In Connecticut, Richard Dabase was charged with murdering his wife after police built a case based, in part, on the victim's Fitbit data. In Arkansas, James Bates was charged in the death of his coworker. After noticing an Amazon Echo smart speaker in his kitchen, investigators requested a search warrant for any audio recordings and data from the device.

In Compton's case, it may seem unnerving that information contained inside the body — as opposed to kept in the home or worn on the wrist — could be used in a criminal investigation. But courts have yet to distinguish between data interior to the body and data stored on the outside. Data isn’t considered more protected or more private by virtue of its personal nature or where it is stored.

The more connected, convenient, and smart our devices are, the more they have the potential to expose the truth. “The reality is that we are no longer the sole proprietors or controllers of our personal information,” says Stephanie Lacambra, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s criminal defense staff attorney. “For people worried about being monitored in that way, this ruling is chilling. If Compton didn’t want doctors and law enforcement to have access to his heartbeat, what alternative did he have — decide against getting a pacemaker?”

There’s nothing new about consumers choosing to bring tracking and recording devices into their homes. They already walk around wearing athletic trackers that monitor heart rate, distances ran, hours slept, and calories burned, for instance. Athletic classes display participants’ real-time performance data on public scoreboards, and online fitness groups stay motivated by sharing personal data with other members.

Output: Data from a man's heart pacemaker has been submitted as evidence to charge him with insurance fraud in a US case that has established the defendant's constitutional right to remain silent did not extend to his pacemaker. Ross Compton is to stand trial in December for fraud and arson after the pacemaker data suggested he had lied about events leading to the destruction of his Ohio home by fire. “We are no longer the sole proprietors or controllers of our personal information,” said Stephanie Lacambra, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s criminal defence staff attorney. “For people worried about being monitored in that way, this ruling is chilling."


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Athletes community Strava adds insurance perks to membership
 Strava Premium users of the popular cycling community platform Strava will be able to enjoy new 'perks', which Strava says will be in excess of the cost of its annual membership.

>>> Buyer's guide: Best cycle computers

As of this week, discounts and freebies from Wiggle and Science in Sport are on the perks list, as well as a two-month Audible free trial that includes three audiobooks of your choice.

Most notable though, is the insurance cover from Sundays Insurance that will cover any accidental phone or GPS damage (whilst using Strava), including taxi reimbursement for any mechanical failings whilst out on a ride. This will also include further discounts on bike, travel life and health insurance.

This insurance will cover Strava Premium members in the UK, USA and Australia.

These new features can be seen now via the new perks portal shown here and will include deals for both runners and cyclists alike.

Currently Strava Premium membership will cost you £5.99 monthly or £44.99 annually.

David Lorsch, VP Strategy & Business Development at Strava says Premium is the best way to get the most out of Strava.

"We’re committed to continually developing new features as well as introducing these new perks for athletes."

"Premium is our all-out effort to keep athletes safe, improve their performance, and to make every activity as enjoyable as possible; we’ve carefully selected partners and providers who share this same ethos.”

With the new perks Strava says that the Premium service is now a more complete package for athletes of all abilities to make the most of their sport. You'll still be able to utilise its workout analysis, race analysis, create custom goals and training plans, see live segments on the go and live performance data.

Strava Premium also has Beacon, which is a real-time location feature with select safety contacts that can be shared between friends.

Output: Strava, a social media site for athletes that also supports training goals, is offering GPS and phone damage insurance to its premium members while they are using Strava. The deal is one of a number of perks being offered in the UK, US and Australia by Strava Premium, which also provides cyclists with safety and training services. Coverage, which is provided by Sundays Insurance, also includes taxi reimbursement after any breakdowns while out riding, as well as further discounts on bike, travel, life and health insurance. Premium membership currently costs £5.99 a month or £44.99 a year.


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Sponsored GIFs to be tested by Giphy
 GIF search engine Giphy will soon begin testing sponsored GIFs within messaging environments, as it seeks to make money off its popular platform that boasts 200m daily active users and around 250m monthly uniques.

According to TechCrunch, citing a source close to the company, as with traditional GIFs these are there to be shared with friends once the user has searched for a term. So, in essence, it will work in a similar way to Snapchat’s sponsored filters – thus not forcing the user away due to intrusive advertising.

It’s not yet clear where Giphy will test the ad platform, or when it is likely the tests will begin. The GIF database is integrated into various platforms including Facebook Messenger, Slack, iMessage, Twitter, Tinder, Bumble, and more, so it has plenty of options to choose from when it decides to go ahead with the monetisation plans.

One other things Giphy must consider is what it promises to brands. If it guarantees that a certain GIF will be shared X number of times, how can it make sure this actually occurs? Or will it just simply promise to make sure a brand’s GIF is at the front of the queue X number of times?

In October last year, Giphy raised $72m in a Series D funding round, which took the company’s valued to $600m.

Output: GIF search engine Giphy is planning to test sponsored GIFs in messaging apps as it looks for profit options for its platform, which has 200 million daily users and 250 million monthly unique users. The sponsored GIFs will be shown once users have searched for specific terms, rather than being intrusively placed. The date of the trial is yet to be confirmed as is which platform Giphy will use for it.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
China tightens internet controls
 Moscow and Beijing are tightening their control over citizens' use of the internet by prohibiting the use of privacy technologies.

A new law in Russia has been signed by President Putin banning the use of software which could keep people anonymous to the nation's internet surveillance tools.

In China, the reinvigorated enforcement of an existing law has led to Apple withdrawing a number of apps from the App Store which allowed users to browse the internet over a virtual private network (VPN).

VPNs are used by businesses to protect their internet communications from third parties, but they are also a popular means of circumventing China's "Great Firewall" through which Beijing exerts strict control over what its citizens can see on the internet.

Apple explained to Sky that it was working to comply with the Chinese government which earlier this year "announced that all developers offering VPNs must obtain a license from the government."

As such the company has "been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations. These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business."

Foreign businesses operating in China have also expressed concern at the crackdown on privacy technologies which they are worried may disrupt their operations and jeopardise trade secrets.

In Russia and China the anonymous and secret use of the internet is often used as a safe means of communicating criticism of the authoritarian regimes.

Image: A joint Chinese-Russian military drill took place in September 2016

Both countries, which signed a cybersecurity pact in 2015, have sought to crackdown on this use of the internet in recent months.

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They have also engaged in military cooperation, performing joint naval exercises in the Baltic Sea where NATO holds its annual training operations.

The cybersecurity agreement mainly established non-aggression between the two countries, both of which are regularly accused of supporting attacks against Western nations.

However, it also stressed the concept of "cyber sovereignty" - in which their respective governments could control and monitor everything that their citizens' had access to online.

Apple has also removed apps by The New York Times from the App Store in China following a government request.

At the time, the co-founder of anti-censorship group Greatfire.org - using the false name Charlie Smith - said it was unclear if the internet services industry would comply with China's orders to expose VPNs.

He said of the firms: "They will push back, quietly... if they deem the cost of running these checks to be too high."

Speaking to Sky News, the executive director of Privacy International, Dr Gus Hosein, said: "This is the end of the internet as we know it.

"The internet was supposed to move packets around without regard to geography. Security was an add-on once we realised its importance.

"Over the past twenty years industry and governments collided and colluded, resulting in national walls built up against free speech and walls to protect ourselves are torn down.

"Russia is a sign of things to come. China and Apple also is a sign of the future. Unless we change things now, the internet will become a sanitised commercial space free of value."

Output: The Chinese government has clamped down on internet services that use virtual private networks or leased lines that allow users to access blocked overseas websites. As a part of a wider 14 month "clean-up" of the internet, the decision allows the government to strengthen its control on the nation's internet and keep an eye on its 731 million users. Under the new legislation, all data centres, internet service providers and content distribution networks must be licensed by the central government.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
China tightens internet controls
 China seems to be sticking to its self-imposed schedule for making it harder for Chinese citizens to connect to the unfiltered web.

Beijing has ordered three state-owned telecoms—China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, which together dominate the Chinese Internet access market—to bar individuals from using VPNs, or virtual private networks, starting next February, Bloomberg reported Monday (July 10), citing unidentified sources.

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The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China’s top internet regulation body, on July 12 said it hasn’t issued such an order, according to news site the Paper (link in Chinese). None of the big three telecoms responded to Quartz’s request for comment.

The use of VPNs has been a frequent government target in the country as it allows Chinese citizens to climb over the “Great Firewall” and access blocked foreign sites like YouTube, Facebook, and the New York Times, and to see content that the ruling Chinese Communist Party doesn’t want seen. The Bloomberg report follows a series of regulations earlier this year as part of China’s efforts to accelerate the tightening control over its internet.

Cracking down

In late January, the MIIT published a notice (link in Chinese) calling for Chinese telecoms to provide VPN services only for business purposes inside a company. It said the effort would last for 14 months and was meant to “clean up and regulate the internet access service market.”

Although it’s difficult to ferret out individual VPN users, one way telecoms can make it harder is by not providing certain services, such as server access to VPN businesses. Other laws might make it harder for VPN businesses to operate, too.

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Last month Beijing enacted the long-gestating Cybersecurity Law, which regulates where companies can store and move data generated in China. The law is part of the government’s effort to restrict cross-border data flow. Apple announced today (July 12) that it is setting up its first data center in China to comply with the law, which requires foreign firms to store data within the country.

At the local level, too, provinces and cities are taking new steps to stop VPN use. In March, the city of Chongqing published a notice that specified fines of as much as 15,000 yuan ($2,210) against individuals and organizations for establishing or using channels (link in Chinese) to connect to international networks. Although the notice did not specify VPNs, users of VPNs were targeted, reported state media Global Times.

Some still fighting

On July 1, the popular service GreenVPN ceased operations in China. In an earlier note (link in Chinese) in June, the company said it had received a notice from authorities, without elaborating on the details. Another service, Haibei VPN, cited the same reason before it was taken down. Many others have been removed from app stores in the past few months.

A VPN works by “tunneling” your internet traffic onto a private network before sending it out onto the public internet. It is not illegal to use a VPN in China, nor is it to run a business within China distributing VPN software. But running such a business requires registering with the government and promising to hand over user data (links in Chinese) to authorities when necessary.

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ExpressVPN, which is based in the British Virgin Islands and has been operating for eight years, described Beijing’s latest order as part of “a continual game of cat-and-mouse” since it comes “in the absence of any official statements.” Other VPN providers—among them New York-based KeepSolid and Switzerland-based VyprVPN—argue they have the technology to route traffic so as to avoid detection by telecoms.

A headache for Chinese netizens

“I won’t survive without a VPN,” says 24-year-old Klara Xu, who works in a Shanghai-based media company. Searching on Google for information-gathering is part of her daily job. Last August she paid around 600 yuan ($88) for a full-year subscription to ExpressVPN. But now she is hesitating because of the recent VPN shutdowns. “Should I get a half-year subscription, or a full-year one?” she wonders.

“How often do I use VPN? I would count it by the second,” says 24-year-old Calvin Cheng, who works at a Beijing-based publication. Cheng has two VPN apps: Lantern for his Windows computer and Super VPN for his Mac. He uses these not only for work, but also for entertainment, such as watching music clips on YouTube. Previously Cheng paid 72 yuan ($11) for a half-year subscription for a domestic VPN service, which was taken down in June.

“I can survive without a VPN, but it will be hard to make progress for personal growth,” says Cheng, “since we are limited to domestic information.”

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Visen Liu contributed reporting.

Output: The Chinese government has clamped down on internet services that use virtual private networks or leased lines that allow users to access blocked overseas websites. As a part of a wider 14 month "clean-up" of the internet, the decision allows the government to strengthen its control on the nation's internet and keep an eye on its 731 million users. Under the new legislation, all data centres, internet service providers and content distribution networks must be licensed by the central government.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
China tightens internet controls
 Another big political meeting, another crackdown on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) — the location-shifting software many in China use to access websites banned by its government, such as Facebook, YouTube and Google.

This fall, China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) will have its 19th Congress — when the nation’s leadership is reshuffled and its ideological direction honed — which is why experts believe the government is once again targeting VPNs. On Saturday, Apple removed popular VPNs from its China App Store in line with a new government crackdown announced in January that would see them completely banned by early next year.

“We have been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations,” Apple said in a statement. “These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business.”

Crackdowns on accessing the Internet beyond the Great Firewall — the world’s most sophisticated state-censorship apparatus, employing at least 2 million online censors — are a perennial irritation in China, and highlight how the world’s second largest economy is struggling to balance authoritarianism with its mercantile aspirations. Foreign news websites such as the New York Times, Bloomberg and, indeed, TIME are deemed verboten, as are uncensored social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

VPNs provide access to this contraband by pretending the user is situated outside the country, and in China are particularly used by foreign nationals including those visiting on business, academics and students trying to access research material not properly indexed by Chinese search engines, and a proportion of Chinese unsatisfied with the sanitized news provided by the nation’s state media. Unregistered VPNs are officially forbidden, though almost a third of the China’s 650 million Internet users are estimated to have them. In addition, companies can have legitimate VPNs registered with the Chinese authorities in order to have secure communications between regional offices.

Read More: The Other Side of the Great Firewall

Crackdowns on VPNs “come up periodically and usually generates a certain amount of hysteria, and not all under-deservedly, because you can’t totally afford to ignore it,” says Mark Natkin, founder of Beijing-based IT research firm Marbridge Consulting. “Every time there’s a major political event there’s a lot of pronouncements — some of which do get enforced, at least leading up to the event, and others which are more statement than action.”

That Apple has acquiesced to removed the VPNs is a clear coup for the Chinese government, which has clamped down on free speech since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, jailing dozens of critics, rights activists and lawyers. In a blog post, ExpressVPN, one of the most popular VPNs used in China, said its removal was “surprising and unfortunate.”

“ExpressVPN strongly condemns these measures, which threaten free speech and civil liberties,” it added.

According to Martin Johnson, co-founder of China censorship-monitoring website Greatfire.org, “Apple is now an integral part of China’s censorship apparatus, helping the government expand it’s control to a global scale.”

The latest crackdown is an escalation of an enduring pattern. Before big party meetings — such as the “Two Sessions” legislative sessions each spring — VPNs typically grind to a halt as the CCP attempts to restrict access to proscribed material. Afterward, control is typically relaxed, as VPNs serve as a pressure valve that allow a determined, normally well-educated, minority to access information they largely know is out there anyway.

What the Chinese government is more worried about is potential social unrest caused by ordinary Chinese accessing dissident criticism in the local language, such as the teachings of the banned spiritual Falun Gong movement.

“Chinese authorities are most concerned about ‘the masses,’ but leaving a pressure valve for white-collar [workers and] academia is not so injurious and, one could argue, beneficial to ensure those people don’t feel overly frustrated,” adds Natkin.

As such, there is every reason to suspect that this latest VPN crackdown is once again temporary. However, the ban is only one of a slew of new measures leading up to the 19th Party Congress that have made tech experts jittery. Other than Apple, VPNs are increasingly scarce on the rival app stores of Chinese-made Android-based phones — brands like Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo — whose global market share is mushrooming.

Read More: China Just Made It Even Harder to Get Around the Great Firewall

In addition, a strict new cybersecurity law came into effect in June, and earlier this month China Telecom, the nation’s biggest Internet service provider, sent a letter to corporate clients seen by the AP that said in future VPNs would only be allowed to connect to a company’s headquarters abroad. Around the same time, China initiated a partial block of the messaging app WhatsApp, which is owned by the banned Facebook, and several Chinese VPNs were forced to shut down. In addition, five-star hotels — whose affluent, overwhelmingly foreign guests were once granted carte blanche to access banned foreign sites from their premises — are now shutting that loophole in response to government pressure.

But shutting off all access to prohibited foreign websites would have a tremendous chilling effect on China’s credentials as an international business hub. Already, business executives arriving for meetings in China must deal with the shocking reality that they cannot access Gmail — the world’s most popular email service — by virtue that it is run by the banned Google.

Today, those execs might be able get access by downloading a VPN, retreating to their opulent hotel or using their Beijing office’s computer network. But were the newly threatened rules fully implemented, those options would all be cut off. Aside from the practical limitations, the oppressive and frustrating atmosphere would be hugely damaging at a time when China’s economy is already slowing.

“In the past, any effort to cut off internal corporate VPNs has been enough to make a company think about closing or reducing operations in China,” Jake Parker, Beijing-based vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council, told the South China Morning Post. “It’s that big a deal.”

Write to Charlie Campbell at charlie.campbell@time.com.

Output: The Chinese government has clamped down on internet services that use virtual private networks or leased lines that allow users to access blocked overseas websites. As a part of a wider 14 month "clean-up" of the internet, the decision allows the government to strengthen its control on the nation's internet and keep an eye on its 731 million users. Under the new legislation, all data centres, internet service providers and content distribution networks must be licensed by the central government.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
China tightens internet controls
 The Chinese government is clamping down on internet services which get around strict controls - in a 14-month-long "clean-up" of the industry.

Virtual private networks (VPNs) or leased lines that allow users and businesses to access blocked overseas websites like Google and Facebook will be targeted.

There will be inspections of cloud-hosting and content-delivery services until March 2018 amid signs of "disorderly development", said the ministry of industry and information technology.

The new government measures are an attempt to strengthen its grip over the domestic internet and closely control what information China's 731 million online users can access.

Under the new directive, all internet service providers, data centres and content distribution networks must be licensed by the government.

They must also conduct "self-inspections" for any unlawful activity taking place on their servers, which would include those discreetly providing VPN services.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration has championed a vision of "internet sovereignty" where governments have the right to divide off their nation's cyberspace from unwanted elements like it was physical territory.

Image: President Xi Jinping's administration has championed a vision of 'internet sovereignty'

The censors' reach has extended beyond websites.

Earlier this month, China's top internet regulator said it would regulate mobile app store offerings after finding some apps disseminated information it considered illegal or a danger to social stability.

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The move came weeks after Apple removed apps by The New York Times from its app store in China following a government request.

Co-founder of anti-censorship group Greatfire.org, who uses the false name Charlie Smith, said it was unclear if the internet services industry would comply with China's orders to expose VPNs.

He said of the firms: "They will push back, quietly ... if they deem the cost of running these checks to be too high."

Output: The Chinese government has clamped down on internet services that use virtual private networks or leased lines that allow users to access blocked overseas websites. As a part of a wider 14 month "clean-up" of the internet, the decision allows the government to strengthen its control on the nation's internet and keep an eye on its 731 million users. Under the new legislation, all data centres, internet service providers and content distribution networks must be licensed by the central government.