Cultivating London’s next generation of tech entrepreneurs June 15, 2015 Digital technology is changing the world, but the pace of that change is still breathtaking. In three years, Airbnb amassed as many hotel rooms as the Hilton dynasty did in a century. Ten years ago, Twitter didn’t exist – now it has more than 300m users. And Spotify adds around 20,000 tracks to its 30m-strong [...]
London Technology Week: It’s official – London’s the capital of European tech June 15, 2015 London is the capital of Europe's tech scene, new research has suggested, with almost three times as many startups choosing the capital than those in the next-most attractive city, Paris. The research, by EY to mark London Technology Week, which launches today, suggested 1,000 "international tech investment projects" based themselves in London between 2005 and [...]
Banks call for better broadband and phone signals as UK customers switch to mobile banking apps June 14, 2015 The UK’S banking trade body is urging more government investment in broadband, 3G and 4G internet access, as new research shows that customers are becoming increasingly reliant on using their mobile phones and online access to conduct their banking activitys. Mobile phone apps are setting the pace for banking, according to the British Bankers’ Association [...]
London Technology Week will showcase the UK as a global tech powerhouse June 14, 2015 This week, tens of thousands of tech experts from all over the world will descend on the capital for London Technology Week. It presents an opportunity to celebrate our city’s position as the tech capital of Europe. Inventors and innovators will parade the very latest in pioneering tech and digital thinking. And hundreds of workshops [...]
Hope for the Rosetta comet-landing mission: Philae wakes up and sends signal to earth, European Space Agency says June 14, 2015 The Philae probe that landed on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in November has finally woken up from hibernation. According to the European Space Agency, which launched the Rosetta space mission to land on a comet in 2004, the probe radioed the agency this weekend for the first time in seven months. Read more: Rosetta takes a selfie in [...]
Over 30m people have watched Gfinity’s London eSports events June 12, 2015 London-based eSports firm Gfinity today told investors it generated more than 30m online views from the first half of its 2015 championship series, which have been broadcast in 10 languages to 25 countries around the world. Shares in Gfinity were down by over two per cent on Friday afternoon, even after the rapidly rising eSports firm [...]
Twitter share price soars as chief exec Dick Costolo steps down, Jack Dorsey steps in June 11, 2015 Twitter chief executive and co-founder Dick Costolo will step down from the role on July 1, but continue to serve on the board of directors. The social media company's board has appointed Costolo's co-founder and current Twitter chairman Jack Dorsey as interim chief while it looks for a replacement. Read more: Twitter share price plummets as [...]
Former Tesco asset Blinkbox Music goes into administration less than six months after sale June 11, 2015 Blinkbox Music, the music streaming service sold off by Tesco in its asset fire sale, has gone into administration less than six months into its new ownership. Australian firm Guvera, which bought the company in January for significantly less than the £10m the supermarket paid to acquire it back in 2012, attempted to sell Blinkbox [...]
Oculus Rift virtual reality headset to be compatible with Xbox One games such as Halo June 11, 2015 Oculus Rift has finally arrived. Kind of. Three years since Oculus first got off the ground with a Kickstarter campaign, and just over a year since it was bought by Facebook for $2bn, the virtual reality company today debuted the consumer version of its Oculus Rift headset. Expected to be available to buy early in [...]
War of the wearables: Jawbone sues Fitbit for second time ahead of IPO June 11, 2015 The war of the wearables is hotting up even more. Jawbone, the maker of the Up fitness tracker has filed a second lawsuit in the US courts alleging that soon-to-IPO rival Fitbit, which also makes fitness trackers, infringed several of its patents. It's the second lawsuit filed by Jawbone against Fitbit in two weeks – [...]