COVID-19 forced doctors like me to embrace technology March 23, 2021 | City Talk “Would you like to FaceTime him?”. My Dad suffered from dementia for several years but last year he stopped walking and then eating as a result, and then sadly passed away at the end of November last year. He was in and out of hospital during the pandemic and none of us were able to [...]
Test and Trace trials ‘groundbreaking’ new technology to detect Covid mutations March 22, 2021 NHS Test and Trace has begun trials of a “groundbreaking” new variant test that can hunt down Covid mutations and return results within 48 hours, the health secretary has announced. The tests could potentially halve the time it takes to identify whether a positive coronavirus sample contains a variant of concern, which usually take around five days [...]
Sir Richard Branson-backed air quality tech firm raises $3m to expand in UK March 22, 2021 Airly, the air quality tech firm backed by Sir Richard Branson, has raised $3.3m in a funding round to expand its platform globally. The company, which provides AI-driven insights on air pollution, is planning to open offices in the UK and the US and double its staff count. It currently counts Philips, Virgin, Innogy, PwC, [...]
Valuation of Fortnite creator Epic Games soars to $28bn after lockdown demand March 20, 2021 The owner of two big pandemic winners, Fortnite and Houseparty, has reportedly closed a new fundraising round which brings its valuation to around $28bn. Epic Games is finalising the terms of a $1bn fundraising just seven months after its last round, according to Sky News. Last summer the Houseparty-owner secured a $17.3bn valuation after a [...]
UK in talks with Elon Musk’s Starlink over broadband rollout March 19, 2021 The government is in talks with Elon Musk’s Starlink over using satellites to help roll out full-fibre broadband in the most remote parts of the UK. Ministers today confirmed the launch of a £5bn plan to bring high-speed internet connections to properties across the country in the coming years. The government had originally set the [...]
Zoom: What’s next for the Covid-19 pandemic’s biggest winner? March 18, 2021 There is a moment all marketers dream of when a product becomes so commonplace that the brand name becomes a verb. This achievement was last year bestowed on Zoom, the previously obscure video conferencing platform that almost overnight became relied upon for both work and socialising. It was a year of eye-watering success for the [...]
Google plan to block cookies ‘under scrutiny’ from US regulators March 18, 2021 Google’s plan to scrap web-tracking advertising tools known as cookies is said to have attracted scrutiny from US regulators amid concerns the move could harm smaller rivals. The search engine giant has unveiled proposals to block cookies in its Chrome browser in an effort to increase user privacy. But the plans have stirred up anger [...]
The artificial intelligence influencers that you should be following March 18, 2021 | City Talk Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ultimate manifestation of the promise of technology to improve our lives. Within our lifetimes AI will become omnipresent across every segment of economic activity and within every field of human endeavour. But AI is not a single genus but a constellation of technologies that must work together in harmony. By [...]
Using AI-powered spacecraft is the only way to clean up space March 17, 2021 | City Talk In 1978 NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler proposed a theoretical scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit due to space pollution becomes high enough that collisions between objects starts to cause a chain reaction whereby each collision generates more space debris, which then increases the likelihood of further collisions. One implication [...]
Dija acquires Genie in bid to expand 10-minute delivery service March 17, 2021 London-based grocery delivery startup Dija has acquired Cambridge startup Genie as it expands its service across the UK. Dija, which was founded by former Deliveroo executives, launched earlier this month and promises to deliver groceries within 10 minutes. It is the latest player to join the ever-expanding food delivery space and already has four warehouse [...]