Sadiq Khan tasks advisers to create emerging tech plan for London July 30, 2020 Sadiq Khan has tasked his advisers with identifying which emerging technology trends would most benefit London and its residents, as he seeks upgrade the capital’s infrastructure and policies. The mayor of London has appointed his chief digital officer Theo Blackwell and the Smart London Board to create an Emerging Technology Charter, which will set out [...]
Big Tech vs Congress live: Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon face Washington grilling July 29, 2020 Welcome to City A.M.’s Big Tech vs Congress live blog. Please refresh this page for live updates. Big Tech faces its day of reckoning today as the world’s four biggest tech moguls appear before the US Congress in Washington to face a grilling over their companies’ size and power. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, [...]
Tiktok boss attacks Facebook as parent firm weighs $50bn takeover bid July 29, 2020 Tiktok’s chief executive Kevin Mayer has launched a stinging rebuttal against Facebook, accusing it of using patriotism as a way to unfairly target the short-form video app. In a blog post today, Mayer criticised Facebook for pushing for higher scrutiny on Tiktok’s Chinese origins. “At TikTok we welcome competition. We think fair competition makes all [...]
Turkey passes controversial law to regulate social media content July 29, 2020 Turkey today passed a law which allows the government to control social media platforms, despite strong criticism that it will increase censorship in the country. The law requires foreign social media sites to appoint representatives based in Turkey to address authorities’ concerns over content. Officials can set deadlines for removal of material they take exception [...]
Samsung mulls ditching App Store and virtual assistant in possible Google tie-up July 29, 2020 Samsung is said to be considering plans to drop its own Galaxy App Store and its virtual assistant Bixby in favour of signing a deal with Google’s Android competitor. The tie-up would mark a major change for Samsung, which has consistently clung to using its own services rather than adopting Google’s offering. Google has tried [...]
Rising demand boosts Spotify to 138m paid users July 29, 2020 Spotify said today it had recovered from a coronavirus-related damp start to the second quarter, beating Wall Street expectations to report 138m in paid users. Subscribers to its Premium service, which accounts for most of the company’s revenue, were up 27 per cent from a year earlier. Analyst had on average forecast the company to [...]
It took a pandemic to show it, but now we can all see that internet access is a human right July 29, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has shown us the importance of the internet — but for many around the world, it could be the difference between life and death. It is time to realise that the web is not a luxury, but a necessity and a human right. The internet has become a lifesaving tool during this [...]
Great expectations: The Darwinian wars of economic and epidemiological forecasting July 29, 2020 A key concept in modern economics is, to use the jargon term, rational expectations. The idea has dominated orthodox macroeconomics over the past 30 years. Not all economists have been persuaded of its merits by any means, but nevertheless, its influence has extended far beyond academia, into finance ministries and central banks around the world. [...]
Letter: Is the government right to focus on obesity as its top public health issue? July 29, 2020 Re: Is the government right to focus on obesity as its top public health issue? People with obesity are at a much greater risk of serious Covid-19-related complications and death. They are also more likely to require hospitalisation, ICU admission, and mechanical ventilation. Hence, addressing obesity makes sense not only as a way to prevent [...]
The City takes the lead as Ebay reports 335 per cent jump in UK businesses July 29, 2020 The number of UK businesses signing up to become sellers on Ebay spiked more than 300 per cent in June, with the City of London taking the top spot for the most new companies on the site during lockdown. Ebay said the number of new businesses on its website jumped 335 per cent in June [...]