Spy scandal: Businessman admits smuggling marine tech to China April 28, 2021 A Chinese businessman has pleaded guilty to smuggling marine technology out of the US to help China’s efforts to develop underwater military drones. Shuren Qin, a marine biologist who owns a company that sells oceanographic instruments, pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to illegally exporting devices called hydrophones, which monitor sound underwater. His plea related [...]
Microsoft calls on users to pick new default font for Office April 28, 2021 Microsoft is changing its Office font for the first time in 15 years and is calling on users to pick the new default. There are more than 700 options in Word but Microsoft has reportedly commissioned five new customs for Office as it moves away from Calibri. Users will be given the options to choose [...]
G7 leaders ink agreement over global tech regulation April 28, 2021 Top leaders from G7 nations today signed an agreement over proposed new tech laws aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech and improving safety on online platforms. Politicians from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the EU signed a declaration outlining a series of shared principles on how to tighten [...]
Samsung tycoon’s family to sell off art as it faces $11bn inheritance tax bill April 28, 2021 The family of Samsung’s late chairman Lee Kun-hee will donate a vast art collection as it faces a $10.8bn (£7.7bn) inheritance tax bill on his estate following his death last year. Lee, who is credited with transforming the South Korean company into the world’s largest smartphone and memory chip maker, died in October at the [...]
Spotify hits subscriber targets as pandemic party continues April 28, 2021 Spotify today reported subscriber growth at the top end of its targets for the first quarter as strong momentum from a pandemic-induced boom in trading continued into 2021. The music streaming giant posted 21 per cent year on year growth in premium subscribers to 158m after it added 4m in the first three months of [...]
Spotify earnings: Is the music streaming giant facing a subscriber lag? April 28, 2021 Spotify will be in the spotlight this afternoon as it reports its first-quarter figures, with all eyes on the streaming giant’s subscriber numbers. The Swedish music platform enjoyed a bumper year in 2020, with paid subscribers hitting 155m thanks to higher demand for music and podcasts during the pandemic. But Spotify warned that pace of [...]
Covid connections: Pandemic narrows digital divide as more Brits go online April 28, 2021 While it may be hard to find silver linings in lockdown, it appears the rapid shift to online services has had its benefits. A surge in demand for internet services over the last year means the UK’s digital divide has narrowed even further, with more and more Brits getting connected. The proportion of homes without [...]
Microsoft sees continued demand for cloud services April 27, 2021 It was another stellar quarter for Microsoft as it continued to benefit from the pandemic-induced shift to the cloud. The tech heavyweight beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly revenue, rising 19 per cent to $41.7bn in the three months to March just ahead of analysts’ estimates of $41.03bn. Last quarter Microsoft reported a 17 per [...]
Google owner Alphabet beats revenue expectations as ad spend recovers April 27, 2021 Google’s parent company Alphabet beat Wall Street estimates for the first quarter amidst a recovery in digital ad spend. Revenue rose to $55.31bn in the first quarter from $41.16bn a year earlier, beating analyst estimates of $51.7bn according to Refinitiv data. Alphabet shares rose about five per cent to $2,405 in after-hours trading. Digital advertising [...]
Softbank leads $525m round in British drug developer Exscientia April 27, 2021 British pharmaceutical company Exscientia has received funding from Softbank Vision Fund just a month after closing its last investment round. Exscientia uses artificial intelligence to discover new drug molecules and has now designed two drugs that are in Phase 1 of clinical trials. The Oxford-based company today announced it had completed a $225m Series D [...]