Elon Musk sets sights on October opening for new Tesla Berlin factory August 13, 2021 Tesla hopes to make the first cars at its new gigafactory near Berlin in October or soon afterwards, boss Elon Musk has said. The electric car giant has pushed back its planned opening of the plant to late 2021, blaming German bureaucratic hurdles. The £5bn project has also come under fire from locals due to [...]
Plymouth shooting: Suspect’s hate-filled Youtube account taken offline August 13, 2021 A hate-filled Youtube account belonging to the suspect in a mass shooting that killed five people in Plymouth yesterday has been taken offline. The account, named Professor Waffle, included a number of videos by 23-year-old Jake Davison, who has been named locally as the gunman. It has now been removed and the page shows a [...]
Apple child protection features spark concern among its own staff August 13, 2021 Apple employees have spoken out internally about privacy concerns over the firm’s move to scan US customer phones and computers for child sex abuse images as protests over the new feature intensify, it is reported. More than 800 messages were shared between Apple staff across several days on an internal Slack channel, sources told Reuters, [...]
Tech boss outlines £300m plan to reclaim UK chip plant if China deal blocked August 11, 2021 The former boss of tech firm Imagination Technologies has reportedly pledged to spend £300m on Britain’s biggest microchip factory should a Chinese-led takeover fall through. Six companies, led by Ron Black, are ready to make a bid for Newport Wafer Fab if the government blocks its sale to Shanghai-owned firm Nexperia, the Telegraph reported. Last [...]
NortonLifeLock to buy UK cyber firm Avast in $8bn deal August 11, 2021 US cyber firm NortonLifeLock has confirmed it will buy British rival Avast in a deal that values the London-listed company at up to $8.6bn (£6.2bn). In a statement yesterday the two companies said Avast shareholders will receive a combination of cash and newly-issued shares in Norton, with alternative options available. Based on the US firm’s [...]
Twitter to introduce autoblocking after Euro 2020 racist abuse August 10, 2021 Twitter will trial automatic blocking of accounts that post harmful language after Brits used the platform to hurl racist abuse at England footballers following the Euros final. The social media giant said the UK was “by far” the biggest source of abusive tweets sent on the night of England’s defeat to Italy and in the [...]
Salesforce enters streaming wars with Netflix-style business service August 10, 2021 Software giant Salesforce has waded into the increasingly crowded streaming market with the launch of a new platform offering business-focused content on demand. The San Francisco-based company said its in-house studio had produced the core programming for Salesforce Plus, which will launch at its Dreamforce event next month. The service will look to harness the [...]
Chinese social media giant Weibo’s ex-PR director arrested on bribery charge August 10, 2021 Chinese authorities have arrested today a top communications director at Chinese social media giant Weibo accused of taking bribes. Mao Taotao, former senior public relations director at Weibo, was detained by police on suspicion of accepting bribes and committing fraud. Weibo, part-owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba Groups, said the company had fired Mao and will [...]
Global chip crisis boosts Arm sales amid Nvidia takeover row August 10, 2021 A global chip shortage has helped drive a surge in sales at British semiconductor giant Arm ahead of its planned $40bn (£29bn) takeover by US rival Nvidia. Cambridge-based Arm reported a 57 per cent rise in total net sales to $675m in the three months to the end of June thanks to increases in both [...]
Home working win: HR software firm Gusto hits $10bn valuation and mulls IPO August 10, 2021 HR software firm Gusto has hit a $10bn valuation following its latest funding round, amid work-from-home measures in which it thrived. The company secured $175m in a funding round in recent weeks, its CEO Josh Reeves told Forbes, after bagging $200m in capital last year. The capital rally was led by T. Rowe Price and [...]