Peak times: Ticket for space trip with Jeff Bezos sells for $28m June 14, 2021 A mystery bidder has splashed out $28m (£20m) for a ticket to travel to space with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. The sky-high bid was made at a live phone auction on Saturday, concluding a lengthy bidding process for a seat on the maiden voyage of the billionaire’s Blue Origin company. Bids reached $20m within four [...]
Qualcomm ready to swoop on Arm if $40bn Nvidia deal is blocked June 14, 2021 US tech giant Qualcomm has said it is ready to invest in British chipmaker Arm if a planned $40bn (£28bn) takeover by rival Nvidia is blocked by regulators. Nvidia last year agreed the bumper takeover deal for Cambridge-based Arm, but the merger is facing a national security review and competition probes in the UK and [...]
Huawei profit slumps as UK ban hammers sales June 13, 2021 The UK’s decision to blacklist Huawei has hammered sales and profit at the controversial Chinese tech giant, new figures have shown. Accounts for Huawei Technologies, the company’s UK subsidiary, reveal revenue slumped 27.5 per cent to £913.3m in 2020. Pre-tax profit fell from £48m to £36.5m. The government last year banned Huawei from building the [...]
Screenshot: How did a software glitch break the internet? June 11, 2021 This week **Media Moment of the Week: Motty goes off the rails **How did a software glitch break the internet? **BT’s bolt from the blue Media Moment of the Week: Motty goes off the rails Look, everyone loves John Motson. He’s a juggernaut of football broadcasting and I don’t have a bad word to say [...]
UK competition regulator secures commitments from Google on third-party cookies June 11, 2021 The UK’s competition watchdog has said it has secured commitments from Google on its proposal to remove third-party cookies from its Chrome browser. Third-party cookies are used by digital advertising companies to personalise and target advertising. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the commitments came after it took action in January over concerns Google’s [...]
UK and US double down on tech collaboration amid China threat June 10, 2021 The UK and the US today agreed to deepen ties in science and tech innovation, as the West looks to stave off growing competition from China. As part of the revised Atlantic Charter agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden today, the two sides vowed to form a new partnership to create [...]
UK competition watchdog ‘to probe Amazon buy box’ June 10, 2021 The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is planning to formally investigate competition at Amazon, according to reports this morning. The investigation comes amid a similar ongoing one by the EU into Amazon. The UK competition watchdog, which has been analysing the online retailer for months, has focused on how Amazon uses data collected on its [...]
Meatpacking giant JBS dishes out £7.8m in crypto ransom after cyber attack June 10, 2021 Meat processing giant JBS has dished out around £7.8m in a crypto ransom to rid its networks of hackers in a major cyber-attack, the company confirmed last night. The meatpacker’s computer networks were hacked at the end of May, which forced some operations in Australia, Canada and the US to temporarily shut down. The ransom [...]
UK Space Agency taps Babylon Health executive as new boss June 9, 2021 The UK Space Agency has appointed a top director at digital health firm Babylon as its new chief executive. Dr Paul Bate will take the helm at the government agency, which is charged with providing technical advice on the UK’s space strategy. The appointment, approved by science minister Amanda Solloway, comes as the government looks [...]
Joe Biden revokes Trump’s ban on Tiktok amid China threat June 9, 2021 US President Joe Biden will reverse efforts made by Donald Trump’s administration to ban popular Chinese apps Tiktok and Wechat due to national security concerns. The former president had attempted to block new users from downloading the apps and ban other technical transactions, effectively banning them in the US. The courts blocked the orders after [...]