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UK government spends £370,000 on failed air pollution lawsuits
 The government spent £370,000 of taxpayers’ money unsuccessfully fighting court claims that its plans to tackle air pollution were illegally poor, a freedom of information request has revealed.

The money was spent battling two actions brought by environmental lawyers ClientEarth and included more than £90,000 in costs paid to the group after it won on both occasions. Critics said the government’s expenditure was “disgraceful” and should have been spent on cutting pollution.

Nitrogen dioxide pollution, mostly produced by diesel vehicles, has been illegally high in most urban parts of Britain since 2010. ClientEarth successfully argued that the government’s plans would not cut the toxic fumes in the “shortest possible time”, as EU law requires.

This forced ministers to produce a new plan, published in July, but this was condemned as “woefully inadequate” by city leaders and “inexcusable” by doctors. Air pollution causes an estimated 23,500 early deaths every year from NO2, rising to 40,000 when other pollutants are considered. In September, the UN’s special rapporteur on pollution said the government was “flouting” its duty to protect the lives and health of its citizens.

Earlier in October, ClientEarth sent a legal letter demanding that the environment secretary Michael Gove sets out a range of new measures to address air pollution. If the government fails to comply with this “letter before action”, ClientEarth will issue new proceedings and ministers are likely to face a third judicial review.

“It’s disgraceful that so much taxpayers’ money has been wasted by the government trying to avoid producing a proper plan to tackle air pollution,” said Tim Farron MP, the Liberal Democrat’s environment spokesman. “This money could have been spent instead on schemes to improve air quality in our towns and cities. We need radical action now to reduce the thousands of premature deaths caused by air pollution each year.”

ClientEarth’s lawyer Alan Andrews said: “The government’s insistence on fighting us in court, rather than cleaning up our air, is baffling. The plans produced in response to two court orders show a similar reluctance to get a grip. All we’ve seen is inaction and delay.”

“The sums recovered from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are a small fraction of the costs involved in bringing these cases, which we have brought in the public interest over the course of seven years to uphold the right to breathe clean air,” Andrews said.

A Defra spokesman said: “We have put in place a £3bn plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions. We will also end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040, and next year we will publish a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will set out further steps to tackle air pollution.” The costs revealed in the FOI document does not include the cost of the work done by Defra’s in-house lawyers.

London has the nation’s worst air pollution and on Monday a new “toxin charge” (T-charge) came into force, meaning drivers of the most polluting vehicles must pay a £10 charge on top of the congestion charge of £11.50 to enter central London.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “This is the time to stand up and join the battle to clear the toxic air we are forced to breathe. But I can’t do this alone. I urgently need government to step up and face their responsibilities by delivering a diesel scrappage fund and a Cleaner Air Act that is fit for purpose.”

A letter issued by a coalition of organisations including the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Child Health, Unicef, the British Lung Foundation, the British Heart Foundation and Asthma UK said: “Vehicle emissions, particularly from diesel, are a risk to everyone’s lung health. It can worsen existing conditions like asthma, and affect babies’ development before they’re born. It’s essential that the T-charge is used as a stepping stone to more ambitious plans to tackle toxic air.”

Output: The UK government spent £370,000 ($488,000) on fighting two legal actions, brought by environmental lawyers ClientEarth, which argued that its efforts to counter air pollution were illegally weak. The disclosure, which comes as the result of a freedom of information request, also reveals that this sum included over £90,000 paid to ClientEarth after it won both cases. Critics have argued that the money should have been spent on anti-pollution action instead.


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HIVE agrees to finance Genesis mining expansion in Sweden
 HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. announced today it has entered into a legally binding letter agreement dated October 23, 2017 with its largest shareholder Genesis Mining under which the company will finance the construction of a cryptocurrency mining data centre in Sweden.

The Sweden mining facility will be a newly constructed GPU mining facility with an anticipated completion date of December 2017. HIVE Blockchain’s cryptocurrency mining capacity or hashpower is expected to increase by approximately 175% with the addition.

The new facility will be constructed by Genesis for consideration of an estimated USD $22 million. Pursuant to the master services agreement between HIVE and Genesis, Genesis will be responsible for hosting, maintenance and related services for the new location for a monthly fee.

Harry Pokrandt, CEO and President of HIVE stated:

“With the help of Genesis, Sweden represents the next stage of growth for HIVE as we continue to build our portfolio of mining facilities. HIVE is acquiring a facility in a politically stable country with access to excellent infrastructure and complements our existing facilities in Iceland. We will continue to evaluate other opportunities to ensure we provide our shareholders the best exposure to the blockchain and cryptocurrency.”

Output: Canadian blockchain company HIVE has agreed upon a partnership to build a new cryptocurrency mining centre in Sweden. Genesis Mining, a specialist company which is HIVE's largest shareholder, will build and maintain the new $22m centre under the agreement. Adding to the company's existing facility in Iceland, the centre will increase HIVE's mining capacity, or "hashpower", by around 175%.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Maronda Homes offers customisation tools to potential buyers
 Maronda Homes has constantly been changing its approach to home building, Dream. Build. LIVE! is their tag line, but it could be moving towards Dream. Build your entire home online; from colors, to granite, to options and LIVE in the home that you designed. The Amazon approach has taken full grips throughout all tech companies and now is being seen in most verticals. Putting the customer first will not only make them feel like they are part of the process, now they are the whole buying process. Some tools and feature Maronda has brought to the table are 360 Tours, Exterior and Interior Color Visualizers and Interactive Floor plans. "The company (Maronda Homes) shows no signs of stopping," says Director of Digital Marketing Matthew Wilson. "With our products evolving in the home productions department, it only makes sense to continue to give the potential buyer more of a hands on approach leading up to their brand new home."

Home builders have provided a variety of options to their shoppers for a long time but showing a unique finished product to each and every customer was sometimes difficult. Maronda Homes is leading the online home shopping experience with the addition of the online visualizer tool, 360 tours and interactive floorplans to make home buying online easier.

Today’s buyers have a very specific picture of what their dream home looks like, this online visualizer gives them to chance to see their home come to life, make adjustments and build a home that is truly unique.

The three tools Maronda Homes has unveiled are:

Home Color Selections with Online Visualizers

Selecting from a bevy of options and available upgrades customizes can mix and match features to suit their needs, place furniture in their new home and virtually walk one of our models. Maronda Homes can now give a true feeling, both interior and exterior of what the finished home actually will look like. The visualizer will let you change exterior siding, brick, ,shutters ,interior flooring ,paint ,counter tops and cabinetry are just some of the features you can change and customize.

360 Tours

Walk Room by Room and See an Overview of the Home with the new 360 Tours. This gives any buyer the ability to virtually walk through their next home. You can mouse through room to room, view the floor plan and layout, get a "dollhouse" overview of the home. Making the homes come alive from anywhere.

Interactive Floorplans

Design the home with options to fully meet any needs. With interactive floorplans you can add furniture to see if that perfect couch will fit in the living room. Share the dream home that has been created, with friends or family.

The future for Maronda Homes being a tech/builder has risen to new heights. Look for more consumer friendly moves from this company in the future

Output: US building company Maronda Homes has launched a number of online tools to enable buyers to visualise the look of their finished homes. The Florida-based company offers 360-degree tours of its homes, along with interactive floorplans that allow buyers to see the full layout and walk through, and add furniture to the virtual spaces. Users can also use an online visualiser to try out different materials and colours on internal and external walls and surfaces.


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SAP Hybris using AI facial recognition to help target retail
 SAP’s Hybris Marketing Cloud service is using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, machine learning particularly, to help retailers make more informed and targeted marketing decisions.

During the SAP Hybris LIVE: Global Summit event in Barcelona, the German business software giant announced on Oct. 17 an integration with SAP Leonardo that allows SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud customers to use facial recognition to help retailers promote in-store sales and bridge the gap between online and brick-and-mortar retailing.

Powered by SAP Leonardo’s machine learning, the facial recognition system provides a foundation for intelligent and personalized shopping experiences, according to Jackie Palmer, global vice president of Strategy and Solution Management at SAP Hybris.

“SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud analyzes clues about customers to provide personalized recommendations. When a customer enters a store, the technology will capture demographic data such as eye color, hair color, sex, age, etc. as well as other factors such as what they are wearing,” explained Palmer in an email exchange with eWEEK.

Capturing that data is just the start. SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud can then use that information to help shoppers find merchandise that fits their tastes and needs.

“This information is funneled into the digital kiosk/sign to offer customized product suggestions,” continued Palmer. “For example, a shopper with blue eyes and a tan cardigan would be guided towards blue sweaters to match their eye color and sense of style.”

The new facial recognition capabilities complement SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud’s other machine learning capabilities, which help provide personalized product and offer recommendations, Palmer said. They can also supply retailers with lead scoring, churn prediction and buying propensity information, among several other insights.

Ultimately, the product helps solve a problem that many brands face today.

Despite the wealth of data that can be generated by shoppers and their interactions, capturing it and using it to create more complete customer profiles is often a struggle. By digitizing the in-store shopping experience and making it trackable for businesses—plus adding a smattering of third-party data sources—SAP’s solution helps set the stage for contextually driven retail operations that are imbued with intelligence and help marketers make the right call at an opportune time.

Naturally, data privacy is a big concern, given the types and amount of data that today’s technology can collect on an individual. In that regard, SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud fully supports the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the company announced. GDPR is a set of stringent privacy regulations that goes into effect in May 2018 and applies to companies doing business in the region, even if they are based elsewhere.

Also new is SAP Hybris Customer Attribution (formerly Abakus), a solution that generates accurate measurement of marketing campaigns. A new Digital Boardroom tailored to the needs of CMOs (chief marketing officers) joins the portfolio. The solution is based on SAP Digital Boardroom, a business intelligence and data visualization product for C-level executives.

On the Internet of Things (IoT) front, marketers can now use consumer IoT devices to trigger campaigns and generate personalized offers. Finally, SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud now features a WeChat integration that extends its reach into the Chinese social media application’s 889 million users.

Output: German software giant SAP has integrated its Leonardo machine learning system with its Hybris Marketing Cloud to develop facial recognition software that enables retailers to personalise the in-store experience. The system captures data such as hair and eye colour and feeds it to a digital sign, which then displays targeted product suggestions. SAP's Hybris Marketing Cloud is fully GDPR compliant and sits alongside a suite of tools, including Hybris Customer Attribution, which measures marketing campaigns, and Digital Boardroom, aimed at CMOs.


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Ocean acidification poses threat to marine life: Study
 If the outlook for marine life was already looking bleak – torrents of plastic that can suffocate and starve fish, overfishing, diverse forms of human pollution that create dead zones, the effects of global warming which is bleaching coral reefs and threatening coldwater species – another threat is quietly adding to the toxic soup.

Ocean acidification is progressing rapidly around the world, new research has found, and its combination with the other threats to marine life is proving deadly. Many organisms that could withstand a certain amount of acidification are at risk of losing this adaptive ability owing to pollution from plastics, and the extra stress from global warming.

The conclusions come from an eight-year study into the effects of ocean acidification which found our increasingly acid seas – a byproduct of burning fossil fuels – are becoming more hostile to vital marine life.

“Since ocean acidification happens extremely fast compared to natural processes, only organisms with short generation times, such as micro-organisms, are able to keep up,” the authors of the study Exploring Ocean Change: Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification found.

Marine life such as crustaceans and organisms that create calcified shelters for themselves in the oceans were thought to be most at risk, because acid seas would hinder them forming shells. However, the research shows that while these are in danger, perhaps surprisingly, some – such as barnacles – are often unaffected, while the damage from acidification is also felt much higher up the food chain, into big food fish species.

An unhealthy pteropod shows the effects of ocean acidification, including dissolving shell ridges on its upper surface, a cloudy shell, and severe abrasions. Photograph: Courtesy of NOAA

Ocean acidification can reduce the survival prospects of some species early in their lives, with knock-on effects. For instance, the scientists found that by the end of the century, the size of Atlantic cod in the Baltic and Barents Sea might be reduced to only a quarter of the size they are today, because of acidification.

Peter Thomson, UN ambassador for the oceans and a diplomat from Fiji, which is hosting this year’s UN climate change conference in Bonn, urged people to think of the oceans in the same terms as they do the climate. “We are all aware of climate change, but we need to talk more about ocean change, and the effects of acidification, warming, plastic pollution, dead zones and so on,” he said. “The world must know that we have a plan to save the ocean. What is required over the next three years is concerted action.”

The eight-year study was carried out by the Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification group (known as Bioacid), a German network of researchers, with the support of the German government, and involved more than 250 scientists investigating how marine life is responding to acidification, and examining research from around the world. The study was initiated well before governmentssigned a global agreement on climate change at Paris in 2015, and highlights how the Paris agreement to hold warming to no more than 2C may not be enough to prevent further acidification of the world’s seas.

Governments will meet in Bonn in November to discuss the next steps on the road to fulfilling the requirements of the Paris agreement, and the researchers are hoping to persuade attendees to take action on ocean acidification as well.

A scientist feeds coral in a lab to study the impact of multiple climate stressors on coral reef. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Ocean acidification is another effect of pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as the gas dissolves in seawater to produce weak carbonic acid. Since the industrial revolution, the average pH of the ocean has been found to have fallen from 8.2 to 8.1, which may seem small but corresponds to an increase in acidity of about 26%. Measures to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide reaching the atmosphere can help to slow down this process, but only measures that actively remove carbon already in the atmosphere will halt it, because of the huge stock of carbon already in the air from the burning of fossil fuels.

Worse still, the effects of acidification can intensify the effects of global warming, in a dangerous feedback loop. The researchers pointed to a form of planktonic alga known as Emiliania huxleyi, which in laboratory experiments was able to adapt to some extent to counter the negative effects acidification had upon it. But in a field experiment, the results were quite different as the extra stresses present at sea meant it was not able to form the extensive blooms it naturally develops. As these blooms help to transport carbon dioxide from the surface to the deep ocean, and produce the gas dimethyl sulfide that can help suppress global warming, a downturn in this species “will therefore severely feed back on the climate system”.

Output: Ocean acidification, caused by burning fossil fuels, is increasing across the globe, with species losing their ability to adapt to the acidity due to plastic pollution and global warming, according to an eight-year study by Germany’s Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification group. The research found that, as acidification occurs quickly, only species with short generation times, such as micro-organisms, are able to adapt. Acidification could also reduce the size of Atlantic cod by 75% by the end of the century, according to the study.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ocean acidification poses threat to marine life: Study
 Number of items: 618.

Articles in a Scientific Journal - peer-reviewed

Articles in a Scientific Journal - without review

Books

Book chapters

Brander, L. M. , Hattam, C. and Rehdanz, K. (2014) In: An updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification on marine biodiversity. , ed. by Hennige, S. , Roberts, M. and Williamson, P. . Montreal Technical Series, 75 . Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada, pp. 62-70. ISBN 92-9225-527-4 and(2014) Impacts on ecosystem services, livelihoods and biogeochemical cycles. In: An updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification on marine biodiversity. , ed. byand. Montreal Technical Series, 75 . Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada, pp. 62-70. ISBN 92-9225-527-4

Brander, L. M. , Narita, D. , Rehdanz, K. and Tol, R. S. J. (2014) Nunes, P. N. L. D. , Kumar, P. and Dedeurwaerdere, T. . Edward Elgar (EE), Cheltenham, UK, pp. 78-92. ISBN 978-1-78195-150-7 and(2014) The Economic Impacts of Ocean Acidification. In: Handbook on the Economics of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity. , ed. byand. Edward Elgar (EE), Cheltenham, UK, pp. 78-92. ISBN 978-1-78195-150-7

Riebesell, U. (2011) Disconcertingly unique - the Anthropocene. In: The Ocean Is Our Future : Kiel Marine Scientists On a Time Trip To 2100. . Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean", Kiel, Germany, pp. 48-53. ISBN 978-3-00-036928-5

Pörtner, H. O. , Bickmeyer, U. , Bleich, M. , Bock, C. , Brownlee, C. , Melzner, F. Michaelidis, B. , Sartoris, F. J. and Storch, D. (2010) Riebesell, U. , Fabry, V. J. , Hansson, L. and Gattuso, J. P. . Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 137-166. and(2010) Studies of acid-base status and regulation. In: Guide to best practices for ocean acidification research and data reporting. ; Chapter 9 , ed. byand. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 137-166.

Pörtner, H. O. , Dickson, A. and Gattuso, J. P. (2010) Riebesell, U. , Fabry, V. J. , Hansson, L. and Gattuso, J. P. . Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 167-180. and(2010) Terminology and units for parameters relevant to the carbonate system. In: Guide to best practices for ocean acidification research and data reporting. ; Chapter 10 , ed. byand. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 167-180.

Conference papers

Presentations

Moreno de Castro, M. (2013) (2013) Separating direct acidification response signal from variability in plankton dynamics. [Talk] In: Understanding and Interpreting Uncertainty - Interdisziplinary Conference of Young Earth System Scientists. , 22.-25.09.2013, Hamburg, Germany .

Moreno de Castro, M. (2013) (2013) Uncertainties in models for ocean acidification. [Talk] In: 1. Workshop on Trait-based approaches to Ocean Life. , 26.-28.08.2013, Kopenhagen, Danmark .

Rehdanz, K. (2013) (2013) Socio-economic impacts of ocean acidification. [Talk] In: UNFCCC's Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). , 24.-25.10.2013, Bonn, Germany .

Bögner, D. , Bickmeyer, U. and Köhler, A. (2011) and(2011) Effect of Ocean Acidification on Fertilization Success of Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. [Talk] In: Effect of Ocean Acidification on Fertilization Success of Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis Workshop. , 24.-26.11.2011, Xanten, Germany .

Hauck, J. , Gerdes, D. A. , Hillenbrand, C. D. , Hoppema, M. , Kuhn, G. , Nehrke, G. , Völker, C. and Wolf-Gladrow, D. A. (2011) and(2011) Distribution and mineralogy of carbonate sediments on Antarctic shelves. [Talk] In: 2. Young Scientist Excellence Cluster Conference on Marine and Climate Research. , 04.-05..10.2011, Bremen, Germany .

Conference posters

Hauck, J. , Völker, C. , Wang, T. , Hoppema, M. , Losch, M. and Wolf-Gladrow, D. A. (2013) and(2013) Response of carbon fluxes to the Southern Annular Mode: The role of export production and seasonality. [Poster] In: 45. International Liege Colloquium on Ocean Dynamics: The variability of primary production in the ocean: from the synoptic to the global scale. , 13.-17.05.2013, Liege, Belgium .

Theses - not published by a publisher

Reports - Cruise Reports

Reports - other reports

Broadgate, W. , Riebesell, U. Armstrong, C. , Brewer, P. , Denman, K. , Feely, R. , Gao, K. , Gattuso, J. P. , Isensee, K. , Kleypas, J. , Laffoley, D. , Orr, J. , Pörtner, H. O. , de Rezende, C. E. , Schmidt, D. , Urban, E. , Waite, A. and Valdes, L. and International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) (2013) andand International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) (2013) Ocean Acidification: Summary for Policymakers. . IGBP, Stockholm, Sweden, 22 pp.

Broadgate, W. , Riebesell, U. Armstrong, C. , Brewer, P. , Denman, K. , Feely, R. , Gao, K. , Gattuso, J. P. , Isensee, K. , Kleypas, J. , Laffoley, D. , Orr, J. , Pörtner, H. O. , de Rezende, C. E. , Schmidt, D. , Urban, E. , Waite, A. and Valdes, L. and International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) (2013) andand International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) (2013) Ozeanversauerung: Zusammenfassung für Entscheidungsträger. . IGBP, Stockholm, Sweden, 22 pp.

Videos

Output: Ocean acidification, caused by burning fossil fuels, is increasing across the globe, with species losing their ability to adapt to the acidity due to plastic pollution and global warming, according to an eight-year study by Germany’s Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification group. The research found that, as acidification occurs quickly, only species with short generation times, such as micro-organisms, are able to adapt. Acidification could also reduce the size of Atlantic cod by 75% by the end of the century, according to the study.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Urban logistics in Europe must catch up with e-commerce growth
 Major European cities will need a “huge increase” in urban logistics space to cope with the expected growth in e-commerce-driven parcel volumes over the next few years, according to a new report from property company Cushman & Wakefield. The Urban Logistics report, published yesterday (18 October), forecasts a 69% increase in parcel volume in Europe by 2021.

According to Cushman & Wakefield: “In terms of population and buying power, London is the largest and most mature eCommerce market in Europe with a current urban logistics space requirement of 870,000 sq m. This total is expected to exceed 1.2 million sq m in 2021, an increase of 42%.”

In the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona, the report forecast that the space requirement will more than double.

Commenting on the report, Lisa Graham, Head of EMEA Logistics Research & Insight, Cushman & Wakefield, said: “As more of us do our shopping online, it’s vital that our large cities have the capability to handle the increase in parcel capacity across Europe. Our Urban Space Model shows that substantial growth is expected across the board. The fact that a 42% rise in the UK is the smallest increase speaks volumes for the direction the market is heading.

“Looking ahead, it will be crucial for online retailers and parcel companies to use urban logistics space in order to meet rising customers’ expectations in terms of speed and reliability of delivery, while at the same time reducing costs in order to justify higher rents.”

Output: The continuing increase in e-commerce over the coming years will require more space to be given over to "urban logistics" – the facilities needed to handle goods ordered by customers for delivery. A report by commercial property company Cushman & Wakefield projects a 69% increase in the volume of parcels being delivered in Europe by 2021, with the space required to handle them doubling in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona. London will need an increase in space of 42%, according to the projections. London is the most mature e-commerce market in Europe, the report said.


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Facebook trials shift non-promoted posts away from news feed
 Facebook is testing a major change that would shift non-promoted posts out of its news feed, a move that could be catastrophic for publishers relying on the social network for their audience.

A new system being trialled in six countries including Slovakia, Serbia and Sri Lanka sees almost all non-promoted posts shifted over to a secondary feed, leaving the main feed focused entirely on original content from friends, and adverts.

The change has seen users’ engagement with Facebook pages drop precipitously, with publications reporting a 60% to 80% fall. If replicated more broadly, such a change would destroy many smaller publishers, as well as larger ones with an outsized reliance on social media referrals for visitors.

According to Filip Struhárik, a journalist at Slovakian newspaper Dennik N, the change resulted in a drop in interactions across the country’s media landscape. “Pages are seeing dramatic drops in organic reach,” Struhárik said. “The reach of several Facebook pages fell on Thursday and Friday by two-thirds compared to previous days.”

Overnight, from Wednesday to Thursday, a broad cross-section of the 60 largest Facebook pages in Slovakia saw two-thirds to three-quarters of their Facebook reach disappear, according to stats from Facebook-owned analytics service CrowdTangle. For larger sites, with a number of different ways to communicate with their readers, that hasn’t had a huge effect on their bottom line, but it’s a different story for those with a reliance on social media.

The change does not affect paid promotions, which appear on the news feed as normal. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Smaller sites are reporting a loss of traffic and Facebook engagement, Struhárik told the Guardian. “Its hard to say now how big it will be. Problems have also hit ‘Buzzfeed-like’ sites, which were more dependent on social traffic.”

Struhárik noted that the trial has only been in place since Thursday, rendering it too soon to draw strict conclusions. “But if reach is radically smaller, interactions decreased and your site doesn’t have diversity of traffic sources, it will hurt you.”

In a statement, Facebook said: “With all of the possible stories in each person’s feed, we always work to connect people with the posts they find most meaningful. People have told us they want an easier way to see posts from friends and family, so we are testing two separate feeds, one as a dedicated space with posts from friends and family and another as a dedicated space for posts from Pages.”

Notably, the change does not seem to affect paid promotions: those still appear on the news feed as normal, as do posts from people who have been followed or friended on the site. But the change does affect so called “native” content, such as Facebook videos, if those are posted by a page and not shared through paid promotion.

Matti Littunen, a senior research analyst at Enders Analysis, said the move was “the classic Facebook playbook: first give lots of organic reach to one content type, then they have to pay for reach, then they can only get through to anyone by paying.”

Littunen said that many “premium” publishers had already cottoned on to the trend, and backed off relying too strongly on social media. But new media companies, who rely on social media to bring in traffic and revenue, would be wounded, perhaps fatally, by the switch. “The biggest hits will be to the likes of Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and Business Insider, who create commoditised content aiming for the biggest reach.”

Elsewhere, publishers who dived towards video content as Facebook began promoting that may also get burned, Littunen says. “The kind of video that is doing best has been quite commoditised low-value stuff that is often lifted from elsewhere and repackaged for Facebook.

“We don’t see that bonanza going on forever, and since the content isn’t what Facebook has been hoping for, it’s expendable. We’re expecting to see another repeat of this playbook, with organic reach being replaced by paid reach.”

For Struhárik, there is one last catch: he doesn’t expect the test to be a huge success. “Newsfeed without news. Just friends and sponsored content. People will find out how boring their friends are,” he said.

In a second statement issued after this article was published, Facebook added: “We have no current plans to roll this out globally.”

Output: Facebook is trialling a new version of its news feed which relegates almost all non-promoted posts to a secondary feed. Paid-for advertising through promoted posts still appear on the main feed along with posts from users' friends, but other posts are hidden. The system is being trialled in six countries, including Slovakia, Serbia and Sri Lanka, and has led to some publishers seeing a fall of up to 80% in readership. Facebook says the trial is meant to allow users to see posts from friends and family more easily.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Smaller cities at greatest risk from automation: MIT
 Other researchers have attempted to measure the effect of technology on employment in cities, but the Media Lab authors, who have identified which jobs and skills tend to be more prevalent in smaller cities and larger ones, claim to be the first to explain why different U.S. cities are more susceptible (or resilient) to technological unemployment. (Though the authors did not define “small” and “large” in their paper, they say that cities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants will experience more disruption.)

They say that bigger cities have a disproportionately large number of jobs for people who do cognitive and analytical tasks, such as software developers and financial analysts—occupations that are less likely to be disrupted by automation. Smaller cities have a disproportionate amount of routine clerical work, such as cashier and food service jobs, which are more susceptible.

This interactive map shows how automation is expected to affect jobs in individual U.S. cities.

The five U.S. metropolitan areas that are expected to experience the least job impact from automation are San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara, California; Washington, D.C., and Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia; Trenton, New Jersey; Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. All of those regions have large populations and high proportions of skilled technical and managerial occupations, particularly technology jobs. The metro areas deemed most at risk (among them Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Elkhart County, Indiana; and Punta Gorda, Florida) rely on industries, such as agriculture and tourism, that have already been disrupted by technology and will probably continue to be.

“Big cities provide greater opportunities for synergies among creative, highly technical people, and that’s why they attract them,” explains Iyad Rahwan, an associate professor at MIT and the corresponding author of the paper. “The other dynamic is that cashiers and waiters are less idle in big cities than small cities, so large cities need fewer of them in proportion to their size.” As a result, he says, large cities have fewer routinized occupations that are more likely to be automated and relatively more technical and managerial occupations, which are less likely to be impacted by automation.

There are, of course, outliers. Warner Robins, Georgia; Ithaca, New York; and Corvallis, Oregon, have fewer than 75,000 inhabitants each, but all rank in the top 15 metropolitan areas in terms of lowest expected automation impact. Morgan Frank, an MIT researcher who co-wrote the Media Lab report, says these cities are surprisingly resilient to the costs of automation because they house (or are located very close to) major institutions that employ skilled workers, such as an Air Force base, Cornell University, and an HP research lab.

The study is likely to draw comparisons to other recent high-profile economic analyses of automation and jobs. A 2013 University of Oxford paper estimated the susceptibility to “computerization” of more than 700 occupation types and forecast that 47 percent of U.S. employment was at “high risk” of automation, and a 2017 MIT paper gauged how much use of industrial robots reduced manufacturing employment and wages across U.S. “commuting zones” between 1990 and 2007.

The Media Lab study differs in making relative comparisons rather than absolute predictions. Rahwan says the approach reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the Media Lab, which aims to meld research in the media, arts, and sciences. Though the study uses the same occupation-level predictions as the Oxford paper (as well as another set of predictions from a 2016 OECD analysis), it offers an “expected job impact” percentage for 380 cities rather than calculating an overall technological unemployment number for the entire U.S. (“Job impact,” says Frank, could refer to workers having to seek new employment or to the costly retraining of workers.) The Media Lab study also attempts a broader analysis of automation than the other MIT paper, which was written by two economics professors.

“For us, the question is: How can we anticipate future changes, not just related to robotics but also machine learning, algorithms, chatbots, and voice recognition, which are going to disrupt people who are in white-collar occupations as well [as in blue-collar jobs]?” says Rahwan.

Output: The rise of automation in the US will have a greater effect on cities of less than 100,000 people than on larger ones, according to new research. The study, from the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), found that smaller cities have a greater proportion of workers in routine service roles, which are likely to be more vulnerable to automation. Larger cities, by contrast, were found to have a bigger proportion of workers in cognitive and analytical roles, which are expected to be more resilient.


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Understanding how animals digest bamboo boosts biofuel production
 In Canada, scientists in Ottawa with Agriculture Canada are looking at how pandas digest bamboo to better understand the fungi and microbes that help them digest the branches and twigs. This builds on another recent study about how beavers digest trees and how the enzymes in their gut help break down the material to get nutrients. The hope is that the digestion and microbiomes of beavers and pandas can help researchers apply that knowledge to ruminant digestion and help with biofuel production from plant cellulose.

Wen Chen told Western Producer, “What we’re seeing in the lab is really exciting. Imagine the possibilities that exist in reducing our reliance on petrochemicals by improving the way we make biofuel.”

Output: Scientists at Agriculture Canada are studying the digestive habits of beavers and pandas, in an attempt to learn more about how the animals break down bamboo. It is hoped that the results will be applicable to the improvement of biofuel research. The team wants to know how enzymes in the creatures' gut work to dissolve plant material, and whether the process can be applied to ruminant digestion to help produce biofuels from plant cellulose.


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Keyless tech investment on the rise
 Silicon Valley may be the techiest place on earth, but even here, the way people open the front door hasn’t changed much in a century. Most of us still get in by turning a flat metal key in a lock. Visitors ring doorbells, and we peep at them through peepholes. If we’re out, keyless guests are out of luck.

If investors have their way, that status quo will look quite primitive in a few years. So far this year, venture investors have poured more than $200 million into an assortment of companies with businesses and technologies tied to keys, locks and building access. To date, those companies have more than $500 million, according to an analysis of Crunchbase funding data.

Several startups have business models tied to traditional keys, including offering tools to more easily copy and keep track of them. Most of the funding, however, has gone to companies offering digital alternatives to metal keys, including systems that tie in smartphone apps to monitor and control who gets through the door.

“Locks are anachronistic and inconvenient in today’s digital age,” Jason Johnson, CEO of August Home, a developer of smartphone-enabled keyless entry systems, told Crunchbase News. “People shouldn’t have to carry their keys with them all the time when they are only used one to two times a day.”

Moreover, Johnson says, virtual keys give users more control. They get more information about who accesses their home and when. Users can also revoke virtual keys instantly, eliminating some of the worries that come with sharing physical keys.

Why now for keyless entry?

Timing of investments seems tied to projections for consumer adoption more than major technological breakthroughs. Card access systems for buildings and keyless entry for cars, after all, have been around for decades. Smartphone apps for security monitoring are also nothing new. While funded startups are developing proprietary technologies, market timing is motivating backers to put money into scaling operations now.

The biggest round this year went to Ring, a developer of connected doorbells and security systems that closed a $109 million Series D financing in January. August closed a $25 million funding round in July, and KeyMe, which lets people make copies of physical keys using a digital image, closed on $25 million in September. (See a full list of funded startups here.)

Pitches about the virtues of virtual keys hold particular appeal in the e-commerce age. Deliveries become much more convenient when one doesn’t have to wait at home to open the door or worry about leaving stuff outside. The ability to allow limited or one-time access, along with an electronic record of entry, also offers some measure of security.

The growth forecasts look enticing. To a large degree, lock and building access-related investments are an extension of the connected home space, with startups and tech giants alike eyeing everything from doors to appliances to thermostats to sprinkler systems. Forrester Research projects that U.S. adoption of smart home devices will grow at a 42 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years.

Growing adoption of connected home systems provides a key entry point for key and door tech. As Amazon and Google compete to sell more Alexa and Google Home devices, they’re partnering with a host of companies developing compatible devices. Buyers of connected home systems are also looking for ways to get value from their purchases, and the front door is an obvious place to look.

Traditional meets technical

It’s not clear whether startups will dominate in key and home access innovation. Old-school lock makers, security system providers and tech giants are all competing for market share.

Traditional lock makers, in particular, are investing to keep up with the times. Schlage, a lock maker founded in 1920, has been developing add-ons for locks and smart deadbolts that offer compatibility with Apple, Android and Amazon Alexa. Yale Locks, with a history dating back to the 1840s, also sells smart door locks and alarms and a digital door viewer.

Google’s also planning a big play for the front door. Its Nest smart thermostat subsidiary plans to roll out a video doorbell called the Nest Hello early next year. Amazon has also been exploring smart doorbells to provide controlled access for deliveries.

Startups, however, may derive some strategic benefit from having no legacy product lines to sustain or proprietary platforms they’re obligated to support. Moreover, smart lock systems don’t necessarily require giving up traditional keys.

“The best digital solutions have analog fallbacks,” says August’s Johnson, who says his system is designed as an addition to existing locks, not a replacement.

So maybe we won’t be throwing away the keys just yet. But we will have the option of using them a lot less.

Output: More than $200m has been invested this year in Silicon Valley start-ups and technologies relating to locks, keys and building accesses. Some companies are offering tools for copying and tracking traditional keys, though most of the funding has gone towards digital alternatives, such as smartphone apps that control keyless entry systems. “Locks are anachronistic and inconvenient in today’s digital age”, said August Home CEO Jason Johnson.


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Countrywide to launch online mortgage broker Mojo Mortgages
 Countrywide is launching an online mortgage broker called Mojo Mortgages early in 2018.

The property services group, which includes the largest mortgage broker in the UK, has partnered with venture capital investor Blenheim Chalcot to build the business.

The launch of Mojo Mortgages will extend Countrywide’s mortgage channels to include online offerings. Countrywide said it would continue to invest in its face-to-face, telephone and online offerings.

As part of the launch it is also producing a set of digital tools for advisers.

Countrywide managing director for financial services Peter Curran said the business was pleased to be forming the joint venture with Blenheim Chalcot.

“This year already we have strengthened our telephony mortgage sales channel and invested in technology to support our mortgage advisers,” he said.

“We plan to continue to grow all three channels as we offer a truly multi-channel proposition. This includes increasing our adviser force in the field, further strengthening our telephony team in Camberley and now, through our partnership with Blenheim Chalcot, we’re able to offer digital tools to our advisers and launch a consumer-facing online mortgage proposition to further enhance the choice we give our customers.”

Blenheim Chalcot managing partner for fintech Dan Cobley added that Countrywide had unprecedented understanding of the mortgage industry.

“Combining that with our 20 years’ experience of building digital platforms and businesses is a winning formula. Together we will build the best possible customer journey through any channel,” he said.

In 2016, Countrywide exchanged on over 60,000 homes, representing £19bn worth of property, while it’s broker arm completed more than £15bn of mortgages. The company also manages more than 90,000 properties.

Blenheim Chalcot was founded in 1998 and specialises in building digital businesses. It has portfolio sales of more than £300m with more than 3,000 employees.

Output: Countrywide is to launch an online mortgage broker service Mojo Mortgages early next year. The UK property services group is developing the service with venture capitalist firm Blenheim Chalcot, which will include digital tools for advisers. Countrywide also plans to increase the number of advisers in the field and strengthen its telephone team in a bid to offer a multichannel service.


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Home monitoring device recognises home's inhabitants using AI
 This is how Cherry Home identifies people. Cherry Labs

Startup security company Cherry Labs wants its system of cameras with built-in sensors to be the eyes and ears of your smart home . The system, called Cherry Home, uses a separate processor and advanced AI to not only see what's going on, but map the room it's in, recognize the people in the room, tell you what they're doing, and notify you if something goes wrong.

Cherry Labs and Cherry Home officially launch today. The company will ship out its first 100 Cherry Home units in February. Those customers will still technically be beta-testing the product. The next 1,000 units will roll out in May.

We've seen cams with some level of AI before. The Netatmo Welcome and the Nest Cam IQ recognize faces. An upcoming cam called Lighthouse can even distinguish actions and notify you if someone is running.

The cam/sensor of the Cherry Home system. Cherry Labs

The ambitious Cherry Home smart home system promises capabilities well beyond what any of its competitors can do. That's because Cherry Home won't just use facial recognition to tell who's who. The cam also learns the length of your arms and legs, the clothes you wear, the sound of your voice, the color of your skin and hair, and even the way you walk.

Cherry Home triangulates its position in the room through a variety of sensors and creates a diagram of the space you can see on the app. Thanks to all of the info it tracks, the Cherry Home knows who's in the room, where that person is within the room, and what they're doing.

How Cherry Home maps a room. Cherry Labs

At launch, Cherry Labs promises that its system will send an alert when a person falls down. The system will also know if someone is screaming, crying or just laughing. Cherry Labs service will include professional monitoring, so if the system senses something wrong, it can call emergency services.

In the future, Cherry Labs wants to offer even more advanced smarts. For example, you could tie it into your smart home so it could automatically turn on your reading light when you open a book. And the coolest innovation is still a work in progress for the team but could be a significant step forward for the actual smarts of the smart home -- Cherry Labs is working with pharmaceutical companies to understand the body language of a person when they're about to have a stroke. The company isn't promising this feature any time soon, but at some point, this smart home cam could recognize when you're in the early stages of a stroke and call 911.

How is all of this possible?

To make all of this happen, Cherry Home's cams pack in a bunch of sensors: It has a binocular camera with a 165-degree field of view and an infrared sensor for night vision. Each cam also includes a motion sensor, an accelerometer, a compass and an altimeter so it knows how high it is off the ground and which way it's facing.

The cams send all of the data they collect to a central processor with the computing power of a high-end PC, according to Cherry Labs. That processor will save and analyze all data locally to increase turnaround time on its responsiveness and for added privacy . The cams and processor talk to each other using a mesh Wi-Fi network. The processor only talks to the cloud when it needs to send you an alert or if you're using an app to watch a live feed from a room.

You'll be able to customize alerts and when you want Cherry Labs to save clips. You'll get a daily summary of the activities it spotted and who it saw. And the processor has a backup battery should the power fail.

The cams are battery powered by coin batteries that last about three months. Fortunately, the processor can recharge those batteries, and houses two extra, so you can swap in those once a quarter.

Will this actually work?

Because Cherry Labs is promising smarts well beyond what's currently available, I'm skeptical that Cherry Home will ever be a reliable consumer product you can pick up at your local electronics store. Even the more limited facial recognition in cams like the Netatmo Welcome is hit-or-miss.

What you'll see in the app. Cherry Labs

And as you might have expected, the Cherry Home's price will be prohibitive for curious smart-home shoppers. A starter pack of two sensors and a processor will be $900. A pack with four sensors will cost $1,200. An eight-pack kit is $1,400. (Cherry Home will ship overseas. The US prices convert to approximately £680/AU$1,150 for a two-pack, £900/AU$1,500 for four, and £1,000/AU$1,800 for eight.)

For comparison, a Nest Cam IQ can work on its own without a processor and costs $300. Cherry Labs will also charge $14 per month per sensor for its insights and monitoring (£10/AU$18), or $10 per month per sensor if you sign up for a full year (£8/AU$13). You can still use the cams as cams without this subscription, but you lose almost all of the AI advantages. Nest's AI service, called Nest Aware, starts at $10 per month, but doesn't include monitoring.

I also have privacy concerns about Cherry Home. The cams don't have a physical shutter, so you can't manually keep it from keeping an eye on you short of killing its power.

But Cherry Home's promised features sound possible given all of its sensors and the computing power of a high-end PC. It might also be more reliable than the facial recognition we've seen simply because it's not just relying solely on facial recognition.

Plus, the company is being upfront about what it'll be able to do from the start and what it's hoping for in the future.

Obviously, Cherry Home isn't for you if you're looking for an affordable and simple upgrade to your home's security. If you want to preorder Cherry Home, get ready to live on the cutting edge, for better and for worse. That said, I'm fascinated by Cherry Labs' ambitious goals. If the company can pull off all of its lofty promises, the AI of Cherry Home could act as the brain of a more proactive smart home.

Output: US start-up Cherry Lab has developed a home monitoring device, called Cherry Home, that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to keep tabs on a property's inhabitants. The system is capable of mapping a room, recognising the people in it, determining what they are doing and telling the owner if anything happens. The first 100 units will be shipped in February, with another 1,000 units released in May. A starter pack of two sensors and a processor will cost $900.


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Google denies planning to offer publishers revenue-sharing deal
 Google has strenuously denied reports that it has been angling to soften up publishers into accepting some form of revenue split, in exchange for using its muscle to attract potential new subscribers, following a spate of weekend reports.

Google denies floating revenue split model with publishers in exchange for subscriber aid

The Financial Times had suggested that several media organisations had been approached by the internet firm with the offer of a subscriptions lifeline in exchange for a share of the spoils but Google itself has described the speculation as ‘totally wrong’.

Output: Google has strongly denied claims that it will offer new publishers subscription deals in return for a share of their revenue. The social media giant is thought to have been exploring ways of using its data algorithms to help publishers customise their online subscription offers as print readerships decline. But Google said speculation that it had already approached several media organisations with such offers was "totally wrong".


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Australian AI firm Flamingo raises $3.8m for virtual assistants
 Two artificial virtual assistants called Rosie and Maggie are set to become more ubiquitous after artificial intelligence start-up Flamingo raised $5.1 million last month to fund their rollout.

Chief executive Catriona Wallace, who founded Flamingo in 2014, says she is "super pleased" with the raise after it was opened and closed within 12 minutes with $10 million bid on the book.

Catriona Wallace says the successful capital raise is an endorsement of artificial intelligence. Credit: Ben Rushton

"We were well oversubscribed," she says. "It was one of the fastest capital raises that [lead investment partner] Bell Potter had ever conducted, which I believe is testament to Australia's growing interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning."

More than chatbots

Output: Sydney-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Flamingo has raised AUD5m ($3.8m) in less than 15 minutes in an oversubscribed funding round, according to CEO Catriona Wallace. The funding will enable the rollout of Flamingo's flagship products, virtual sales and inquiry assistants Rosie and Maggie, aimed initially at the "highly commoditised" insurance sector. Wallace said Flamingo was "a good year ahead" of rivals Microsoft and Watson, and added the company was working on "five big client go-lives across Australia and the US".


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UAE appoints 'minister for AI' in global first
 After appointing a Happiness Minister for the state, in another global first, UAE has now named a State Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The decision was announced post the reshuffling of the UAE cabinet indicating that the country is focusing on the new era of future skills, future sciences and future technology.

27 years old Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama has been appointed the Minister of State for Artificial intelligence, who had earlier lead the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy. This development comes following the UAE’s announcement of its UAE 2031 AI strategy, which aims to make the government more efficient and streamlined by relying on AI technologies.

“We want the UAE to become the world’s most prepared country for artificial intelligence,” His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said on his Twitter account.

Mr Al Olama has been on the Executive Committee of the World Government Summit since 2014. He has a BBA from the American University of Dubai, and a diploma of excellence and project management from the American University in Sharjah.

Output: Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama has been named as the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) first-ever minister of state for artificial intelligence (AI) following a cabinet reshuffle. Al Olama, 27, formerly led the UAE AI strategy, which seeks to streamline the government and increase efficiency using AI.


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Netherlands comes up with novel uses for empty prisons
 A decline in the prison population of the Netherlands, coupled with one of the lowest incarceration rates in Europe – almost half that of the UK – has led to the importing of foreign prisoners and some surprising uses for empty Dutch jails.

Here are some of the wackiest ways in which unwanted prisons are being repurposed.

A School

Parents enrolling their children at the €14k+ a year British School of Amsterdam can be sure that their offspring will be taught in secure surroundings, although the word ‘detention’ is likely to bring back murky memories. The school’s new building is a former prison and is due to reopen its once heavily-bolted doors in 2020.

The Havenstraat campus, in Amsterdam’s expat heartland to the south of the city, is one of several new schools being built to address a shortage of international education for an expanding international workforce. In a statement on its Union-Jack-emblazoned website, principal Paul Morgan promises that the 13,500 m2 former jail with its 1,200 pupil capacity, will still have a “small-school, family feel”.

A Hammam

The Bijlmerbajes penitentiary is still a good place to get clean, even though the inmates have all been moved on. A total of 15 cells within the vast jail have been converted to a Hammam complex, providing facilities to steam, enjoy a full-body scrub, bathe and get a massage.

Image: Bijlmer Hammam.

It is the country’s first Syrian hammam and provides work opportunities for refugees from the asylum centre which occupies a neighbouring wing. The graffiti from the previous occupants remains as a reminder of bitter times past.

Guests can complete the luxury experience – and support other refugee workers – by dining in the prison’s new pop-up restaurant A Beautiful Mess or overnighting in the newly-opened Movement Hotel (see above for a pic). You might be sleeping in a converted cell, but you do have custody of the keys to your room.

A Children’s Party

The kids at the parties held at Leeuwarden’s Blokhuispoort prison in the north of the Netherlands are unlikely to be running wild. Caronen Entertainment lock up the little mischief-makers as part of their jolly prison-themed birthday celebrations. Children get a tour of the building and make their own robber’s mask in one of the cells. The medieval prison, which closed in 2007, has been extensively renovated and remodelled over the years, but the gothic spires and moated entrance remain a formidable sight.

An Escape Room

Wannabe criminals can don a boiler suit and step into their own adrenalin-filled prison drama with Prison Escape’s interactive escape room concept. Set in Breda’s dramatic Boschpoort prison, with its epic turrets and dome, the aim of the game is to escape and players have just three hours to work out how. The challenge begins in your cell with an unknown cellmate and ends, if you are successful, with freedom.

Image: Prison Escape.

At almost £60 a ticket, Prison Escape is not cheap, but then how many escape rooms involve an authentic setting, a cast of 80 actors, and up to 400 participant inmates?

A Restaurant

The chefs at the De Lik restaurant in Utrecht’s Wolvenplein prison won’t be doing porridge these days; instead diners can now expect a five-course meal.

Opened in March 2017, the restaurant prioritises organic, native ingredients and offers a surprise menu based on what’s seasonal and fresh.

Image: Restaurant De Lik.

The long waiting list is a testament to the success of this unusual dining experience, which is available just three times a month and likely to be short-lived as the council has plans to sell the building.

The tables butt up against cell doors in the long prison corridor and the galleried floor overhead creates an unsettling view, as if – at any minute – a group of detainees might emerge from the cells above. Speaking to news platform GreaterVenues.com in March, operational manager Freek van Kooten said the caterers hoped to create “a casual, laid-back atmosphere” with the new restaurant.

An Asylum Centre

For refugees new to the Netherlands, the long wait for your residency permit can feel a lot like serving time, and all the more so if you are being temporarily housed in a former jail.

Facilities to accommodate newcomers have been improvised from several of the country’s disused prisons, creating – In the best cases – pop-up communities offering language support, apprenticeships and even – at the Lola Lik in Amsterdam – a refugee radio station.

Residents who violate the centre’s rules or intimidate members of the community, risk being moved to yet another ex-jail, the Amsterbaken, in Amsterdam, a former juvenile detention centre for 14-23 year-olds.

Like the experimental prison which preceded it, the centre for troublesome asylum-seekers has a strict regime but allows residents to come and go.

Housing traumatised migrants in prisons has provoked debate in the Netherlands, and the Amsterbaken initiative, in particular, has come under attack from some refugee organisations. Speaking in the Volkskrant earlier this year, Vluchtelingen Werk Nederland argued that it was not a case of simply “weeding out a few rotten apples” but instead improving the poor living conditions in these makeshift centres, which, they say, create a breeding ground for violence.

What Next?

As crime rates continue to drop in the Netherlands, the conversion of jails is likely to continue. The new uses are creative, clever and often controversial. But perhaps most innovative of all is the Netherlands’ progressive approach to law and order, which has made so many prisons defunct.

With the long-term trend showing a steep increase in incarceration in the UK, further investigation into the Dutch model and alternative strategies for both the prevention and treatment of crime seem the sensible way forward. Besides, Wormwood Scrubs is a great name for a hammam.

Deborah Nicholls-Lee is a British journalist based in the Netherlands. She tweets at @DebNichollsLee.

Output: The Netherlands is putting its many empty prisons to good use by offering them as business premises. As a result, the Bijlmerbajes penitentiary has been transformed into the country's first Syrian hammam, offering work for locally based asylum seekers, the Leeuwarden’s Blokhuispoort in the north of the country runs prison-themed children's parties, while the De Lik restaurant in Utrecht’s Wolvenplein prison is a hit with diners, despite council plans to sell the venue. However, the schemes have been criticised for using former jails to house vulnerable migrants, although one, the Lola Lik in Amsterdam, offers a refugee radio station.


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Data indicates China has room to cool off real estate sector
 A porter walks on a bridge in Chongqing, China with new residential buildings in the background.

China's escalating property prices have long been a concern for Beijing as it balances growth targets with social stability. Now, economic signals are giving the go-ahead to authorities for sustained efforts to cool off the real estate market.

On Monday, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported average new home prices in the country's 70 major cities rose 0.2 percent in September, Reuters calculations show. That comes after the last two years saw substantial increases.

Compared with the year-ago period, new home prices rose 6.3 percent in September, cooling from an 8.3 percent increase in August, Reuters calculations show.

This tapering off in price increases came after a series of government measures in the last year to cool the red-hot property market amid fears of an asset bubble.

Last Wednesday, President Xi Jinping signaled that the state is likely to continue managing the property market. At the opening of a once-every-five-years leadership confab, Xi said "housing is for living in, not for speculation."

For their part, Chinese authorities will now have room to let the property market relax after good growth data in the last week, said Phillip Zhong, senior analyst at research firm, Morningstar.

On Thursday, China reported third-quarter growth data at 6.8 percent that met expectations.

The "strong GDP number will give policymakers the room as well as confidence to continue the tightening policy without the fear of a slowing property sector dragging down the entire economy," Zhong told CNBC.

Real estate contributed 6.5 percent to overall GDP in China in 2016, state-owned China Daily reported in January, citing the country's National Bureau of Statistics.

Last week's third-quarter data revealed China's property sector grew 3.9 percent against the year-ago period — down from a 6.2 percent on-year increase for the second quarter. Meanwhile, year-over-year growth in construction activity slowed to 4 percent in the third quarter from 5.4 percent in the second quarter.

The services sector, however, expanded 8 percent year-over-year in the third quarter compared to a 7.6 percent year-over-year second quarter rise — picking up some of the economic slack from the real estate market.

Output: Economic data suggests China's authorities have the legroom to continue efforts to curb escalating property prices. With Q3 2017 economic expansion coming in at an expected 6.8% and China's National Bureau of Statistics reporting that property-price growth tapered to 0.2% in September, authorities can allow the property market to relax a little, said analyst Phillip Zhong at research firm Morningstar. The figures give officials the "confidence to continue the tightening policy without the fear of a slowing property sector dragging down the entire economy", Zhong said. China's property market contributed 6.5% to overall GDP last year, according to state-owned China Daily.


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Levi's to implement AI tech on website
 Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of retail’s hottest topics. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are experimenting with the potentially transformative powers of AI. Earlier this month, outgoing Shop Direct CEO Alex Baldock warned that ready or not, AI will shake-up every retail business in the UK. Fellow etailer Net-a-Porter, which leads the charge on AI, also recently unveiled new tech that can select products for consumers based on their future plans.

But how are heritage brands making sure they are staying ahead? Drapers talks to Levi’s vice-president of ecommerce for Europe Claudia Roggenkamp about the denim brand’s technology strategy and how its Virtual Stylist service, which launched on Levi.com and Facebook Messenger at the end of August, is improving the customer journey.

Claudia Roggenkamp

Talk us through Levi’s Virtual Stylist and how it works

Trying jeans on and how they fit is often the most personal part of a customer’s journey. We wanted to take the network of stylists we have in store into the online world. The virtual stylist can be accessed through our website if customers are on their laptops, or through Facebook Messenger if they are on mobile. It is a structured artificial intelligence-empowered bot, which can also recognise natural language.

We ask a set of questions around how customers like their jeans, such as fit, style, and wash. There’s also a “see it styled” option. Customers can see user-generated content on how other customers have styled the same item. It is designed to speak to customers in a very natural, easy way, as if they were shopping with a friend. It went live in the UK and the Netherlands in September and we’re looking at which other markets it could work in.

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What challenges did Levi’s face when creating the Virtual Stylist?

This is a very different way of working – it is more like working in a start-up than the way big companies normally approach things. The tech is new, the partners you’re working with are often young and there was a focus on speed, so there were some barriers. The truth is a lot of these tech partners aren’t funded to survive the next five years and don’t have much experience, so you’ve got to make brave decisions. We had to do a lot of screening in the market to see who we could potentially partner with and spend time with the guys to see how they worked. (The chatbot is powered by Mode.ai and personalised fit data is from True Fit.)

How will you develop the technology further?

Levi’s “virtual stylist”

It’s very early days, so we’re still collecting data on how people interact with the stylist, where customers drop out of the process and how we can optimise it further. I’m not sure if the “see it styled” feature is prominent enough, but we have to see if and how people interact with. What we have seen so far is that consumers using the stylist are more likely to convert.

What impact do you see artificial intelligence having on the retail industry?

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It is going to be massive for everybody and lots of people are talking about it, but we still don’t really know which areas AI will impact the most. That’s why our approach was to build something fast, rather than something perfect. We got the budget in April and in September it was live, which is pretty quick for a company our size. For us, that was the right thing to do because we wanted to get something out there in front of consumers quickly. That’s how you learn.

Output: Denim brand Levi's has become the latest retailer to embrace artificial intelligence with the UK and Netherlands launch of its Virtual Stylist service. The chatbot interacts with online shoppers, asking questions about their preferred fit and wash, and offers user-generated images of how previous customers styled the clothing. VP of e-commerce for Europe Claudia Roggenkamp admitted the technology behind the Virtual Stylist was built for speed rather than perfection, but said early results indicated customers using the feature were "more likely to convert".


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China's online education boosted by growth in usage and investment
 Yang Zixuan, 8, a student at Beijing No 2 Experimental Primary School learns English through VIPKID online courses. [Photo provided to China Daily]

China's online education sector has been eyed by the capital market as emerging and promising, Securities Times reported Monday, citing multiple industry sources.

An unidentified analyst with a Shanghai broker said since 2014, online education companies have been "hot cakes", valuations of which were pushed higher by investors who just wanted to grab a slice of this sector, but in 2016, investors turned more cautious.

However, investors have turned their eyes back to this sector quickly as companies with good performance have surfaced and this sector's profitability model is becoming more clear, said this analyst, adding that investors' enthusiasm have again been ignited as several online education companies even got listed on stock exchanges and those already listed posted remarkable growth.

China's after-school English lessons provider RISE Education Cayman Ltd made its debut on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday.

RISE Education priced its initial public offering of 11 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at $14.50 per ADS, above the range of $12 to $14 given by the company, for a total offering size of about $160 million. Each ADS represents two ordinary shares. The company started trading at $16.00 per share on Friday, jumping 10.3 percent from its pricing.

In August, online children English education startup VIPKID announced that in its D round of financing it has raised $200 million from investors including Sequoia Capital and Tencent Holding.

Founded in 2013 and incubated by Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, VIPKID focuses on teaching English through one-on-one video courses, connecting language teachers from North America with Chinese children aged between 4 and 12.

Chen Zongzhen, an executive with Shenzhen-based RC Investments, attributed online education sector's boom to mature infrastructure, income increase in households, high importance that the Chinese attach to education and various technological means such as AR/VR which online education could resort to.

The number of online education receivers reached 144 million in China by the end of June, an increase of 6.62 million, compared with the end of 2016, according to China Internet Network Information Center's data cited by the Securities Times.

Online audience research company iResearch predicted that online education sector will maintain a 20 percent compound annual growth rate between 2017 and 2019, by when, the market size might be close to 270 billion yuan, up from 150 million yuan in 2016, Securities Times reported.

Output: Investors are flocking to back China's online education companies, attracted by the sector's mature infrastructure and strong growth in firms such as RISE Education Cayman and VIPKID. China had 144 million users of online learning solutions at the end of June 2017, a rise of 6.62 million on the year-end 2016 figure. Insiders cited the importance placed on education in China, along with increasingly wealthy households and the rise of augmented and virtual reality technologies, as drivers of the industry's success.


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Insurtech Wrisk launches equity crowdfunding campaign
 Insurtech start-up, Wrisk is on the warpath against the usual customer pain-points the insurance industry fails to address. The start-up plans to shake up the industry with a smartphone app, which will bring buying, maintaining and claiming on different types of insurance into the digital age. After closing a “super-seed” funding round of £3,000,000 earlier this year, Wrisk has launched a £500,000 equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs today.

Wrisk will offer all types of insurance, from motor to travel, home to health on its mobile app. The team calls the approach of covering multiple types of insurance in a single plan “macroinsurance”, something that should start to catch on as customer demand for simpler, streamlined policies increases.

According to co-founders Niall Barton and Darius Kumana, the concept of insurance, “the idea of sharing the loss of one against many” is great in theory but poorly executed. “We believe that consumers deserve better, so we’re giving insurance a much-needed digital upgrade,” they said. “Wrisk will truly transform the user’s experience of buying, updating and claiming on their insurance. And while it’s no easy task, we’re delighted that household names such as Munich Re, Hiscox and BMW are willing to lend their support and help us realise our vision. We are also extremely excited to offer our future customers the opportunity to own shares in Wrisk through Seedrs, and to play a part in shaping our ambitious future.”

The team is made up of 12 technology and insurance experts who have worked with actuaries and data scientists to develop a unique ‘Wrisk Score’, a similar concept to that of a credit score for personal risk. The idea is to allow customers to really understand the risks they face and how these risks can be reduced to bring premiums down.

As well as targeting consumers who already buy insurance, Wrisk is also eyeing an untapped market; those who avoid buying insurance in the first place because the process is so painful. This includes 61 per cent of UK renters who don’t have contents insurance and 31 per cent of millennials who have never bought travel cover.

Wrisk’s previous funding round was led by VC Oxford Capital, and supported by investment from angels and insurers including QIC and Hiscox. The business has partnered with the likes of Munich Re, Hiscox and QIC, and last year, Wrisk was selected to join the 2016 BMW Innovation Lab – the first ever fintech business incubator in the automotive sector.

The app will launch in Q1 2018, starting with contents insurance, followed by motor later in the year.

Output: Insurtech Wrisk is looking to raise £500,000 ($659,000) via an equity crowdfunding Seedr campaign after collecting £3m in a funding round earlier this year. The insurtech firm aims to launch in Q1 2018. It will provide potential clients with a so-called Wrisk Score that allows them to see the level of risks they are exposed to and pick insurance coverage accordingly.


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London’s anti-pollution T-charge comes into force
 Drivers of the most polluting vehicles must from now on pay a daily charge of up to £21.50 to drive in to central London.

From Monday, people driving older, more polluting petrol and diesel vehicles will be liable for the £10 T-charge, on top of the congestion charge of £11.50, which has been in place since 2003.

The charge has been introduced in an effort to improve air quality in the capital, where legal pollution limits are regularly exceeded. The mayor, Sadiq Khan, said he wanted to prepare Londoners for the ultra-low emission zone being introduced in April 2019.

“As mayor, I am determined to take urgent action to help clean up London’s lethal air. The shameful scale of the public health crisis London faces, with thousands of premature deaths caused by air pollution, must be addressed,” he said.

“Today marks a major milestone in this journey with the introduction of the T-charge to encourage motorists to ditch polluting, harmful vehicles.

“London now has the world’s toughest emissions standard with older, more polluting vehicles paying up to £21.50 a day to drive in the centre of the city. This is the time to stand up and join the battle to clear the toxic air we are forced to breathe.”

The charge came into effect at 7am on Monday. It is applicable to pre-Euro 4 vehicles in the zone, which covers all of central London to the south of King’s Cross station, to the east of Hyde Park, west of the Tower of London and north of Elephant and Castle.

Pre-Euro 4 vehicles are typically those registered before 2006, but Transport for London suggests that anyone who has a vehicle registered before 2008 checks if it is liable for the charge. The total daily levy can be reduced by £1 if drivers register to pay the congestion charge automatically. People living within the zone and driving cars covered by the new charge are eligible to pay as little as £11.05 a day in total for the two.

Speaking to Sky News on Monday morning, Khan said the T-charge would cost about £7m a year, which he said was a “price worth paying”. He added that the ultra-low emission zone, once introduced, would make money that would then be ring-fenced for clean air initiatives.

And he defended the plan against claims it would do little to solve the problem because relatively few vehicles are covered by it, saying it was part of series of measures, including the forthcoming introduction of the ultra-low emission zone.

Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers, said: “Industry recognises the air quality challenge and wants to see London and other cities meet their targets.

“Investment made by the industry into new diesel and petrol technologies has resulted in the most recent cars being unaffected by this new charge in London and, indeed, exempt from any other charges across the UK.

“This new T-charge will affect a very small number of older vehicles so the impact on air quality will be marginal whereas bigger improvements could be achieved by policies which incentivise the uptake of the latest, lowest emission vehicles.”

Output: The new central London T-charge, which imposes a daily charge of £10 ($13) on drivers of heavily polluting and diesel vehicles, has come into operation. The charge will be levied on top of the congestion charge of £11.50, which was introduced in 2003. The scheme is part of an attempt to improve the quality of the capital’s air, which regularly breaches legal limits on pollution. The charge applies to pre-Euro 4 vehicles, typically those registered prior to 2006, but is also applicable to some vehicles registered prior to 2008.


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Digitisation of health care threatened by cybersecurity fears
 Technology, specifically the electronic medical record, is becoming more prevalent in the healthcare industry; however, there are significant cybersecurity risks due to the major information shift.

A paper published in JAMA discussed the risks involved in the transition from paper medical records to electronic, and the prevention methods that are needed to avoid the consequences of potential viruses and hackers.

Congress had established the Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force (HCIC) in 2015 to protect from 2 malware viruses—WannaCry and Petya. The HCIC was made up of 21 members including representatives in the federal government, patient advocates, and information technology (IT) specialists. In its report, Report on Improving Cybersecurity in the Health Care Industry, the HCIC suggested 6 critical recommendations for the healthcare industry, including:

Identify and streamline leadership, governance, and expectations for healthcare cybersecurity. Increase the security of medical devices and health IT. Create the healthcare workforce capacity needed to prioritize and guarantee cybersecurity awareness and technical capabilities. Increase the industry’s readiness by improved cybersecurity awareness and education. Identify mechanisms to protect the research, development efforts, and intellectual property from attacks. Improve the information sharing of threats, weaknesses, and mitigations in the industry.

The development of electronic health records has produced a new risk for patients that potentially have more severe consequences. For example, ransomware—a software that permanently blocks access to records unless a ransom is paid—has the potential to isolate large data files that can limit patient care for extended periods.

“This stolen information not only can be sold for financial gain, but also can be used by other individuals to receive medical care, providing an opportunity for intermingling of medical information that can alter an allergy history, medication list, or other critical elements of a patient’s history,” the authors wrote. “This vulnerability can undermine public trust and prompt patients to withhold sensitive but needed information about medical history.”

Not all small hospitals and practices have access or the resources to protect against certain cybersecurity risks, and therefore should practice cyber hygiene, according to the authors. This can be accomplished by regularly changing passwords, ensuring their passwords are strong, and being aware of certain vulnerabilities, including non-updated software.

Despite the benefits of improved access that electronic health records and technology advancements provide, the healthcare industry should make an effort to prevent negative consequences that come with these new technologies through promoting awareness.

Output: The shift to electronic health records in the US comes with a significant increase in the possibility of cyber attacks, with potentially life-threatening information at risk of being stolen, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force laid out six recommendations in a report, which included improving the sharing of information concerning threats and weaknesses. The JAMA authors said smaller hospitals could also take preventative steps, including the use of strong passwords and ensuring software was regularly updated.


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Court scrutinises value of graffiti art in New York property row
 Graffiti’s transformation from a kind of vandalism to a high art form is almost complete. In the last half century, street art has evolved from a stain on neighborhoods to a tourist draw and the toast of museums and galleries, embraced in pop and high culture.

As its market value rises, the controversial art form is also increasingly the subject of legal disputes with developers and property owners about its preservation and value as intellectual and cultural property. This week, a group of 20 New York street artists are in federal court, fighting developer Gerald Wolkoff, who in 2013 whitewashed 5Pointz, his iconic building in Long Island City (LIC), a neighborhood in Queens just across the East River from Manhattan. The building’s facade served for years as an outdoor aerosol-art exhibit space and had become known as a graffiti-Mecca for its many murals.

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Wolkoff granted permission to artists to paint on the building in 1993, when Long Island City wasn’t hot property. In 2000, PS1 in LIC, a nonprofit started in 1971 to use derelict buildings for art (PS1 stands for “Public School 1”; the nonprofit was housed in a former public school building), became affiliated with the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, turning into MoMA PS1. That made the location more attractive to artists. By 2002, this part of western Queens was becoming cool, and Wolkoff gave an artists’ group his blessing to make 5Pointz a hub, along with keys to office space in the building.

Fast forward to 2013, New York real estate was exploding. The building’s location was highly desirable; Brooklyn and Queens were flourishing and New Yorkers needed to expand into new territory. They chose the old manufacturing hub, LIC, which by 2016 was “home to New York’s building boom,” according to the Financial Times (paywall). The New York Times in 2015 wrote (paywall) about LIC “for the good commute.” It was also attracting the fashion industry “for its price and proximity.”

Wolkoff saw the change happening and wanted to cash in. But he knew the artists were attached to the building. In October of that year, he stealthily whitewashed 5Pointz at night. Soon after, the building was demolished and Wolkoff’s companies began work on two luxury-apartment high-rises that would capitalize on the locale’s street cred by referencing the graffiti and incorporating street art into the decor.

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In the lawsuit—a consolidation of two cases brought by various artists against the developer’s companies—the muralists argue that their work contributed to the improvement of LIC. They claim 5Pointz was of such prominent international stature that Wolkoff should not have destroyed it without permission and proper notice, providing time for them to salvage what they could, based on the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.

That law grants artists “moral rights” to works of prominent stature. Basically, it gives artists the ability to sue for damages if prominent creations are mutilated or destroyed—even if those artworks are owned by someone else. A Harvard Law School guide on the statute explains that the legal remedies available for moral-rights violations include $500 to $20,000 in damages per artwork.

The 5Pointz muralists are suing over the destruction of at least 350 paintings, so there’s a lot of money at stake, apart from the case being significant to the street-art movement, the contemporary art market, and property developers. The artists say that they should have been allowed to salvage what they could for museums and sales.

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Whether the 5Pointz murals are “prominent artworks” qualifying for legal protection is a question a jury must resolve. To convince the panel of 12, each side in the case will present dueling art experts who will explain the current state of street art.

The art expert called to the stand by the artist group will no doubt point to the prominence of Banksy and Shepard Fairey, household names whose works are displayed in museums, and whose contributions to building facades and retaining walls, at this point, drive up property values. Perhaps he or she will mention the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, who began as a graffiti artist in New York’s Lower East Side in the 1970s before becoming famous; one of his paintings sold at a Sotheby’s auction in March 2017 for $110.5 million.

Meanwhile, Wolkoff’s expert will surely try to distinguish these stars from the muralists in the suit, arguing that their work doesn’t reach the dizzying heights of great street artists. For example, Jonathan Cohen, who organized the 5Pointz artists in 2002, goes by the tag Meres1. He isn’t a household name. But, Cohen insists on his website, Banksy knows of his “selfless efforts” at 5Pointz. Cohen’s site also notes prominent corporate connections, including Louis Vuitton, Nikon, Nespresso, Fiat, Facebook, Google, Samsung, and Smartcar.

The trial will take place in a New York federal court, presided over by Frederic Block, who is something of a renaissance man with a feel for the streets, or at least that’s the impression I got when I read his book and spoke to him last month.

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On Oct. 10, Block released his first novel, Race to Judgment, a “reality fiction” about the complex interactions between Brooklyn’s racially, ethnically, and economically diverse citizens vying for power and space in the city. The judge also recorded songs to go with the book, providing a soundtrack for his protagonist. When Block and I spoke, we didn’t discuss this case, but it’s safe to bet he has some appreciation for the efforts of the visual artists involved.

Indeed, last April, Block denied Wolkoff’s attempt to dismiss two different 5Pointz cases. In his decision, Block cited the expert who testified on behalf of the artists, who noted that many of the muralists were internationally known and supported by museums, academics, celebrities, the media, and the public. Block did reject the artists’ attempt to sue for damages based on claims of emotional distress, writing that developers “did no more than raze what they rightfully owned” and didn’t engage in “outrageous or uncivilized conduct.” However, he also allowed the case to proceed to a jury trial.

At the time, Wolkoff told the New York Times the decision to allow the case to continue was “mind-boggling.” Graffiti isn’t created for preservation, he said, and the artists couldn’t have expected their works to stay up forever since they were constantly getting covered up anyway. Wolkoff claimed to have developed an expertise in street art through his relationship with the 5Pointz artists over the decades, and oferred his view of the form:

They call it bombing, and the next artist goes over someone else’s work, They painted over their own work continually, and it goes on for years. That’s the idea of graffiti. There were tens of thousands of paintings there, over the years, and they’d last for three or six or nine months.

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Wolkoff feels betrayed by the artists he thought he was helping by lending them his wall to bomb. He cried when the building came down, he confessed, and said he would bring back more street artists to paint at the location after the renovation—just not those who sued.

There have been similar cases before but they have settled. Katherine Gibbs created “The Illuminated Mural” in Detroit’s North End with a hundred gallons of technicolor paint and $33,000 in grant money in 2009. A few years later, the development company Princeton Enterprises acquired the building and planned to mar the massive painting with new windows. In 2016, Gibbs sued, claiming that federal law protected public artists’ work from mutilation or destruction.

Gibbs’ mural had become a prominent piece of public art and her lawsuit drew publicity. Like the 5Pointz muralists, Gibbs argued that her work helped make the neighborhood more attractive to city dwellers and tourists alike, thus making it more valuable to developers. In 2017, the parties settled amicably without disclosing the exact terms of their agreement—but did agree publicly that the painting would be preserved and incorporated into future development.

Of course, it’s already too late for that kind of solution at 5Pointz. But it’s not too late for a settlement. In 2008, Los Angeles muralist Kent Twitchell sued the federal government and others for destruction of an iconic six-story painting on a government-owned property in downtown LA. Although the mural is gone forever, Twitchell got $1.1 million in the settlement. At the very least, that covered buying supplies for his next epic work.

Output: The issue of whether graffiti as an art form has a positive effect on US property values is set to be discussed in a New York federal court. A lawsuit will see a group of muralists argue their work on property owner Gerald Wolkoff's 5Pointz building in Long Island City helped elevate the district's profile, enabling him to profit from redevelopment after he demolished the site in 2013. They also claim it was of such importance that they should have been given the chance to protect the paintings before the building was pulled down without "permission and proper notice".