1 Eurozone shows growth despite Brexit fears (San
Francisco Chronicle) Business activity across the 19-country eurozone grew at a
steady, moderate pace in August as the region continued to show little concern
about the impact of a British exit from the European Union.
A gauge of activity in the services and
manufacturing sectors in the eurozone, the so-called purchasing managers'
index, rose slightly to a seven-month high of 53.3 points from 53.2 in July.
The index published Tuesday by IHS Markit is on a 100-point scale, with the 50
mark separating contraction from growth in activity.
The result echoes the steady growth seen in July and
confirms that businesses in the eurozone aren't overly worried about Britain's
June 23 vote to leave the EU, the broader 27-country trading bloc that includes
the eurozone.
Britain has yet to trigger the clause that will
start negotiations on the nation's exit terms. It could take months for the
country to invoke that clause and when it does, the actual departure will
involve years of negotiations.
2 Airbnb starts own listings (Francesca Perry in The
Guardian) Since its inception, Airbnb – the website that allows people to rent
out their homes for holiday accommodation – has been a contentious issue in
cities. It’s a cost-saving convenience for travellers and a money-making
opportunity for homeowners, yet a source of ire to scores of traditional hotels
and guest-houses.
Some have accused the global home-sharing initiative
– which operates in 34,000 cities – of playing a part in gentrifying
neighbourhoods, as more Airbnb listed properties means fewer available homes to
live in, thus pushing up prices.
But could Airbnb be finding another way to influence
cities? Earlier this August the multi-billion-dollar company launched a brand
new initiative called Samara. It claims it is an innovation and design studio
that “generates new ideas and building products that serve the Airbnb
community” and “explores new attitudes to sharing and trust”.
So far, so vague. Samara will apparently focus on
architecture, product design, software engineering, and new economic models –
but the design studio has started with a house for a Japanese village.
Samara
says the rental income from stays at the house will be used to “strengthen the
cultural legacy and future of the town”, which has struggled as young people
move away to cities – an issue that has affected many of Japan’s rural
communities as the country’s population ages, shrinks and urbanises.
Abandoned houses blight many of Japan’s rural towns;
in 2013 there were 8.2 million vacant houses across the country, according to
the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Samara’s ambition is to take the Yoshino Cedar House
model – a listing run by and for the benefit of a community, designed as a
shared space – and roll it out to similar struggling rural communities around
the world to boost localised tourism and reinvigorate economies. ssentially, it
seems Airbnb would build its own listings.
Many websites reporting on Samara have announced
that Airbnb is branching out into urban planning. As it stands though, Samara’s
work is firmly targeting a rural context. So far, this is no urban planning; I
somehow doubt we’ll see Airbnb-designed cities any time soon.
3 Tesla claims ‘milestone’ car battery (BBC) Tesla
Motors has unveiled a new battery pack for the performance versions of its
Model S and X cars that will extend the range and mean faster acceleration. Elon
Musk, chief executive of the electric car maker, hailed the upgraded battery as
a "profound milestone".
He said the battery cell chemistry is the same, but
the reconfigured product stored more energy in the same space. Tesla, which
this month posted a steeper-than-expected loss, is adding a new sedan car to
its sports line-up. Mr Musk claimed that the new 100-kilowatt hour battery pack
means high-end versions of the Model S sedan, called the P100D, will be the
world's fastest accelerating car in production.
It will do 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds. He said there
were faster cars on the market, but these were limited-run vehicles, while the
Tesla is aimed at the mass market, he said. Mr Musk said that in cool weather,
a driver could travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles - a nearly 400 mile
drive - without recharging.
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