Re/Code.net : Google buys French image recognition company in ongoing AI arms ra

Google buys French image recognition company in ongoing AI arms race
Welcome to the Borg, Moodstocks.

Moodstocks, a Parisian startup that develops image recognition tools for smartphones, is joining Google. The companies announced the acquisition today, sans financials.

Around since 2008, Moodstocks hasn’t had considerable traction. (It’s not clear if they’ve raised much either.) But the company has tech and engineers working on machine learning, something Google cannot get enough of as it competes with rivals like Apple and Facebook for talent.

And Moodstocks’ core service — “to give eyes to machines by turning cameras into smart sensors,” as its parting note described — fits with Google’s vision for image search and augmented reality, where a phone (or something else) knows your physical surroundings. Also, the acquisition price may have been low thanks to wobbling global markets.

While Google has AI expertise aplenty, it is always looking for more. There’s room for improvement. Google shared the news on its France blog, which translated its text to English thusly: “So we agreed to Moodstocks acquire.”

>>> Fnac/Darty could be asked to sell back 40 stores to get regulatory clearance

Fnac/Darty could be asked to sell back 40 stores to get regulatory clearance

France's antitrust regulator could ask French electronics retailers Fnac [EPA:FNAC] to sell between 20 and 40 stores, French daily Le Figaro reported citing several sources. The proposed GBP 900m (EUR 1.04bn) acquisition of Darty [LON:DRTY] by Fnac is currently under review from Autorité de la concurrence, the French Competition Authority, which announced via its Chairman Bruno Lasserre that it would, incorporate in-store and online sales for the definition of the pertinent market, because both markets are considered be in a state of "competitive interaction".
He added that in some of the markets that Fnac and Darty were operating such as brown and white goods, the ecommerce could account for about 20% of the sales.

According to the report, the commitments requested by the Authority could include the sale of stores in areas considered “dense”, such as the Ile de France region. Fnac and Darty operate 600 stores combined. The report went on to say that the French antitrust is expected to release its decision after July 14.

Le Figaro

NY Post : NY watchdog enacts relaxed regulations for insurance companies

NY watchdog enacts relaxed regulations for insurance companies

Gov. Cuomo must have a soft spot for Wall Street.

Regulations for insurance companies released Wednesday by the state financial watchdog were watered down from proposed rules introduced last year, industry insiders said.

For example, the rules enacted by Maria Vullo, the superintendent of the state Department of Financial Services, allow insurers to hold less money to pay their obligations than were in the initial proposals.

Lower cash requirements are precisely the kind of thing that warms the hearts of Wall Street, insiders said. The initial proposals from Benjamin Lawsky, the previous DFS boss, were much stricter.

DFS insisted, though, the lower cash requirements did not mean it had fallen down on the job.

“DFS will continue to make certain that New York’s insurance market is fiscally safe and sound and that the reserves to back insurance policies are appropriately set to protect consumers,” Vullo said in a statement.

The rules boil down to how much cash insurance companies have to hold in rainy-day funds for future claims.

The adjustment comes days after the DFS issued rules for other financial services companies that allow them to diffuse responsibility for money-laundering among a company board. Lawsky had proposed holding a single chief compliance officer criminally responsible.

The regulator has created an insurance sector working group to help adopt rules. That group includes top dogs like Chief Executive Ted Mathas of New York Life, as well as consumer advocates like Birny Birnbaum of the Center for Economic Justice.

Under Lawsky, who was the first DFS superintendent and now runs his own Manhattan-based consultancy, there was no working group.

In 2014, Lawsky had lowered the amount of cash insurance companies had to hold by about one-third. After the latest move, the amount would go down for the second time in two years.

Under Vullo’s rules, insurance companies will be allowed, starting in 2018, to use computer models to figure out how much cash they should hold in reserves, rather than rely on formulas set by regulators.

“The superintendent has taken a fresh look at the positions of the department and how that affects both consumers and the regulated entities,” Richard Loconte, a spokesman for the DFS, told The Post.

The regulator pointed out the standards adopted by Vullo are already in place in 45 states, and allow for more dialogue with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

“We aren’t just handing over everything to the insurance companies,” Laconte said.
Lawsky declined to comment.

“What people don’t understand about the life insurance business today is that a major part of these guys’ business is selling investment products,” Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, told The Post.

NY Post : A staggering percentage of Americans are too poor to shop

A staggering percentage of Americans are too poor to shop

Retailers have blamed the weather, slow job growth and millennials for their poor results this past year, but a new study claims that more than 20 percent of Americans are simply too poor to shop.

These 26 million Americans are juggling two to three jobs, earning just around $27,000 a year and supporting two to four children — and exist largely under the radar, according to America’s Research Group, which has been tracking consumer shopping trends since 1979.

“The poorest Americans have stopped shopping, except for necessities,” said Britt Beemer, chairman of ARG.

Beemer has been tracking this subgroup for two years, ever since his weekly surveys of 15,000 consumers picked up that 21 percent of consumers did not finish their Christmas shopping in 2014 due to being too busy working. That number grew to 29 percent last year, and Beemer dug in to learn more about them, calling them on holidays.

He estimates that this group has swelled from 6 million households four years ago, because their incomes have not kept pace with expenses like medical costs.

Nearly half of all Americans have not seen an increase in salary over the last five to seven years, and another 28 percent have seen their take-home pay reduced by higher medical insurance deductions or switching to part-time jobs, ARG found.

“It’s scary when you start to see things that you’ve never seen before,” said Beemer. “People are so pessimistic about their future.”

Most of those living on the edge — 68 percent are women between the ages of 28 and 38 — work in retail or in call centers, according to Beemer.

Another sign that a chunk of the population has pulled back its spending is that discounters like Walmart and the Dollar Store have been “holding their own,” said Richard Church, managing director of Discern Securities.

FT : IEA warns of ever-growing reliance on Middle Eastern oil supplies

IEA warns of ever-growing reliance on Middle Eastern oil supplies

The world risks becoming ever more reliant on Middle Eastern oil as lower prices derail efforts by governments to curb demand, the west’s leading energy body has warned.
The head of the International Energy Agency told the Financial Times that Middle Eastern producers, such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, now have the biggest share of world oil markets since the Arab fuel embargo of the 1970s.

Demand for their crude has surged amid a collapse in oil prices over the past two years that has cut output from higher-cost producers such as the US, Canada and Brazil.
Fatih Birol, IEA executive director, said policymakers risk becoming complacent as rhetoric surrounding a rise in North American energy supplies has overshadowed the world’s growing reliance on Middle Eastern crude.
“The Middle East is the first source of imports,” said Mr Birol. “The higher the demand growth the more we [consumer countries] will need to import.”
Middle Eastern producers now make up 34 per cent of global output, pumping 31m barrels a day, according to IEA data. This is the highest proportion since 1975 when it hit 36 per cent. In 1985, when North Sea production accelerated, their share fell to as little as 19 per cent.
Fast-growing supplies from US shale fields triggered the oil price plunge in mid-2014. Unlike in the 1980s, however, Opec producers — led by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies — decided to maintain output to defend market share for the 13-member group, rather than cutting output to bolster prices.
Demand has since surged as prices more than halved following years of trading above $100 a barrel. Mr Birol said efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions were being thwarted as motorists returned to buying fuel-guzzling cars.

In the US, more than two-and-a-half times as many sports utility vehicles were being bought compared with standard cars, Mr Birol said.
Even more concerning for policymakers is China, where more than four times as many SUVs were bought, suggesting the country’s rapidly growing car culture has adopted America’s taste for larger more fuel-hungry cars.
“Lower oil prices are proving to be bad news for efficiency improvements,” said Mr Birol.
China has been the centre of oil demand growth for the past decade, becoming the second-largest oil consumer — behind the US — and surpassing it as the world’s biggest importer last year.
Hundreds of billions of dollars in energy investments have been cut since 2014 as oil companies have embarked on the biggest cost-saving measures in 30 years, Mr Birol said. That is cutting supplies outside Opec, with US and other countries’ production expected to decline this year.
Higher output from Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran has filled the gap.

The Middle East is reminding us that they are the largest source of low-cost oil,” said Mr Birol. He said the region was expected to meet three-quarters of demand growth over the next two decades.
Higher US output had prompted some lawmakers to suggest the country can reduce its engagement in the Middle East. But Mr Birol warned politicians to keep in mind the importance of the region when creating economic and foreign policy. US oil imports are now rising as demand has grown faster than supplies.
Mr Birol said policymakers needed to impose stricter fuel efficiency targets to reduce demand, arguing it was not feasible in a world market to completely sever reliance on Middle Eastern oil.
“US oil production will increase, but it is still an oil importer and will be for some time,” Mr Birol said.
“Some have the view the rise of tight [shale] oil will sideline the Middle East. This view, I would never subscribe to.”

FT : UK companies in line for help on pension deficits

UK companies in line for help on pension deficits

Company pension schemes could be given new ways to calculate the cost of future promises to members in an attempt to ease the pressure of rising deficits.
Ros Altmann, the pensions minister, said she was reviewing how schemes could account for their liabilities, as new measures to ease the economic shocks from Brexit are expected to inflate pension shortfalls.

More than 11m people are reliant on a defined benefit pension to deliver their retirement income, with the employer backing the scheme on the hook for meeting the pension promises.
But UK pension deficits hit a record £935bn this week, according to Hymans Robertson, the consultants, as gilt yields, the assets used to help value the cost of future payments, hit record lows.
Baroness Altmann said employers and trustees currently had flexibility in how they valued future pension promises but this was not widely taken up.
“We need to look at why this flexibility is not used, and whether there are broader options to help support employers making contributions to repair deficits,” she said.
She added that she believed there was “a case for considering how pension liabilities are currently valued for regulatory purposes”.
Ms Altmann has held discussions with the pensions regulator and the Pension Protection Fund but has not yet launched a formal consultation.
“We need to bear in mind that the effect of quantitative easing, or the stimulus to respond to the economic shock of Brexit, is not undermined by companies who are running DB schemes seeing an increase in their deficits,” she added.
Rising pension deficits could mean that employers are forced to pour more money into their schemes.
The Pensions Regulator said two months ago that many employers were able to maintain or increase contributions to repair their pension deficits. It has since said that in the light of Brexit, it may review this guidance.
In 2012, before she became pensions minister, Baroness Altmann argued for UK pension funds and insurers to be allowed to use a longer term average measure of government bond yields for valuation purposes when markets were facing exceptional conditions.
However, in 2013, the government rejected proposals to allow pension funds to use a smoothed discount rate in an effort to buffer against rising deficits.
“There is definitely a case for new review in light of the prospect of more quantitative easing,” said Patrick Bloomfield, partner at Hymans Robertson. “Questions do need to be asked if the current legislation is adequate and is being adequately applied.”
Other experts said that tweaking the current framework could do “more harm than good”.
“I think there is a sufficient flexibility in the current legislative framework for trustees and employers to reach sensible agreements on scheme funding, which reflect each scheme’s specific circumstances,” said Graham McLean, head of funding at Willis Towers Watson, the pension consultants.
He said he did want a “framework that is too prescriptive”.
“Smoothing may reduce liabilities now but could increase them in the future if interest rates rise, and may also introduce an inconsistency between asset and liability values,” he said.

FT : European telecoms groups unveil 5G manifesto

European telecoms groups unveil 5G manifesto

Europe’s largest telecoms groups have pledged to launch superfast 5G networks in at least one city in every EU country by 2020, as part of a manifesto signed by the heads of BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia and Vodafone among others.
But as a quid pro quo for more investment, controversial new EU rules on net neutrality should be watered down, according to the document signed by 17 different telecoms groups and seen by the Financial Times.

Access to superfast broadband — with potential speeds of 10 gigabits per second — is seen as vital for embryonic sectors such as self-driving cars, but will be hindered unless the EU’s telecoms rules are overhauled, argue the telecoms chiefs.
Strict new net neutrality rules — upholding the principle that internet traffic should be treated equally — have proven controversial, triggering a three-way fight between telecoms groups, online activists and content providers such as Netflix.
While telecoms groups argue that such rules choke investment and will limit the availability of new services, net neutrality supporters see the rules as vital for keeping the internet open, without internet providers being able to censor or moderate content for no good reason.
In the document, the telecoms groups threaten to postpone investment unless regulators offer more light-touch arrangements.
“The telecom industry warns that the current Net Neutrality guidelines create significant uncertainties around 5G return on investment,” reads the manifesto. “Investments are therefore likely to be delayed unless regulators take a positive stance on innovation and stick to it.”
The telecoms industry has also demanded a regulatory “level playing field” by placing communications tools such as WhatsApp and Skype under the same rules as normal telecoms services.
Marietje Schaake, a liberal Dutch MEP who worked on the net neutrality law, said the telecoms industry was contradicting itself: “On the one hand they call for a level playing field, while saying: favour us with your legislation.”
Brussels is set to rip up its telecoms rules once again this autumn, as regulators attempt to increase investment in the sector, while keeping prices low for consumers.
The European Commission has angered the industry in recent months by taking a firm line on industry mergers, arguing that at least four players should be present in each large market in order to ensure sufficient competition.
Increased data usage will be able to ensure telecoms groups can afford to invest, without the easing of regulatory requirements, according to Ms Schaake. “Telcos are moving into providing access to the internet: they will benefit from larger use of data in general,” she said.
“There will be a transition from telephony — phone calls and SMS — to VoIP [online phone calls] and other kinds of communication based on data,” she added. “In order to foster that usage, strict net neutrality is necessary.”

>>> SFR Belgium takeover could interest Telenet and Nethys, among others - repor

SFR Belgium takeover could interest Telenet and Nethys, among others 

SFR Belgium, the Belgian cable operator and a subsidiary of Altice, could attract interest from telecoms companies Telenet, Nethys, Proximus, Orange and financial groups, Belgian daily De Tijd reported, without citing sources.

The Financial Times reported yesterday that Altice had hired Lazard to explore a sale of SFR Belgium.

Unnamed sources confirmed to De Tijd that Lazard's mandate includes the sale of SFR activities in Luxembourg, the item added.

Atice acquired Coditel, later renamed SFR Belgium, for EUR 82m in 2003, the item added. The company records a turnover of EUR 75m and an ebitda of EUR 51m, the report noted citing Altice's website.

De Tijd

>>> Lagardere puts sale of weekly magazine publishing activities on hold (transl

Lagardere puts sale of weekly magazine publishing activities on hold 

Lagardère [EPA:MMB], the listed French media and retail group, has put the potential sale of some of its weekly magazine publishing activities on hold, French daily Le Figaro reported. The report cited Denis Olivennes, chairman and chief executive of Lagardere Active, as saying that the company considered the sale of titles such as Tele 7 Jours, France Dimanche and Ici Paris, but failed to received offer that were good enough related to social responsibility, financial attraction, and industrial pertinence.

Le Figaro