Alexa, cut jobs: Amazon targets hardware teams in first culls December 1, 2022 Amazon has started to cut its key hardware teams as the e-commerce giant is forced to slim down operations. Sources told the Financial Times that staff working on the Alexa voice assistant, Kindle ereader and Halo health tracking device are amongst the first to be hit by mass layoffs at the company. It comes after reports [...]
Elon Musk’s brain chip company to start trials in humans in next six months December 1, 2022 Elon Musk’s ambitious brain chip company Neuralink is hoping to begin human trials in the next six months. Neuralink had initially planned to start trials in human brains later this year, but Musk announced today that that plan has been pushed back into 2023. “We are now confident that the Neuralink device is ready for [...]
Citi and Morgan Stanley cut price targets for GSK following weeks of setbacks December 1, 2022 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has rattled the faith of two of the world’s biggest banks, which cut their share price forecasts for the British pharmaceutical giant this week. The London-listed pharma firm faced a double-barrelled setback to its oncology efforts in November, which has put banks and investors on more cautious footing. Citigroup earlier today slashed [...]
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite connection to be trialled in UK after bagging licences December 1, 2022 Elon Musk’s Starlink technology is to be trialled in the UK, in a bit to boost connection in rural areas. The web-linked satellites will be deployed to provide connectivity to a few isolated sites, including a 12th-century abbey in the North York Moors National Park and rescue operations in the Lake District and Snowdonia National [...]
Google sued by 130,000 firms over ad dominance November 30, 2022 Google has been sued in a claim by 130,000 firms that argue its advertising strategy has cost them billions of pounds in lost revenues. The competition claim valued at up to £13.6bn at the Competition Appeal Tribunal accuses Google and its parent firm Alphabet of abusing its dominant position in online advertising and “earning super-profits [...]
Govt strengthens cybersecurity laws for public services November 30, 2022 The government said it will strengthen its cybersecurity laws to better protect essential services like water, energy and transport, from online attacks. In response to a public consultation earlier this year, the government has confirmed the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations will be strengthened to protect essential and digital services against increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyber attacks both now [...]
Former Google exec Gill Whitehead named Ofcom lead for online safety November 30, 2022 A former Google executive will be joining Ofcom to oversee its new duties as the regulator for online safety. Gill Whitehead will head up the media watchdog’s Online Safety Group from April 2023, reporting to chief exec Dame Melanie Dawes. Whitehead currently leads the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) which oversees the digital expertise of four member regulators: the [...]
Musk dumps Twitter’s Covid disinformation policy November 29, 2022 Elon Musk has abandoned Twitter’s Covid disinformation policy in a grand push for free speech. “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the Covid-19 misleading information policy,” a notice on its website reads. The new owner of the social media firm axed the former “Covid-19 misleading information policy” page, outlining rules surrounding Covid [...]
AstraZeneca buys therapy firm Neogene for £266m in latest bid to tackle cancer November 29, 2022 AstraZeneca has bought cancer cell therapy company Neogene Therapeutics for $320m (£266m), in the company’s latest investment in its oncology offering. The deal, which is set to close in the coming months, will see AstraZeneca pay $200m as cash in hand, and another $120m if Neogene meets certain milestones. The British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, behind one [...]
Govt boots legal but harmful provision from online safety bill November 28, 2022 The “legal but harmful” provision has been formally scrapped from the online safety bill, in a push to water down moderation and put greater focus on free speech protection. The provision, which would have allowed tech firms to remove content that wasn’t actually illegal, sparked controversy across free speech advocates raising concerns around overcensorship. However, [...]