With its foray into facial recognition, Uber is normalising mass surveillance January 13, 2020 The news late last year that Uber plans to introduce facial recognition technology seems to have mostly escaped the notice of the public, buried as the story was beneath five or six paragraphs in most of the reports on the loss of the firm’s London licence. Or perhaps, as one depressing Wall Street Journal headline [...]
London leads the UK in creation of startups January 13, 2020 London continued to dominate the startup landscape in 2019, as the UK hit a record level for a second year in a row. The number of startups in London increased 2.4 per cent to 221,373 companies, a substantial portion of the 681,704 businesses created in 2019. Data from the Centre for Entrepreneurs’ annual startup index released on Monday showed that [...]
US officials to hold last-ditch talks with UK over Huawei ban January 12, 2020 US officials are gearing up for a final attempt to persuade the government to block Huawei from building the UK’s 5G network. Representatives from the US National Economic Council and National Security Agency are set to hold meetings in London tomorrow ahead of a final verdict on whether the embattled Chinese tech firm will face [...]
Three ways to prevent the UK from falling into data anarchy January 10, 2020 No business will admit to using personal data in ways that are unethical or discriminatory. But when every social media click, phone call, card payment, and gym visit pings into existence a new nugget of data, how can any of us be sure that our data is being used ethically? There are many excellent examples [...]
Just one in 10 Brits trusts Huawei amid China spying fears January 9, 2020 While the UK is yet to decide whether or not it will allow Huawei to participate in the country’s 5G network, it seems the public may already have made up its mind. Just one in 10 Brits said they trust the controversial Chinese tech firm, according to a new survey from Yougov, while 22 per [...]
Apple’s iPhone sales surging in China, government data shows January 9, 2020 Sales of Apple’s iPhone in China jumped over 18 per cent year-on-year in December, according to government data. China is gearing up for the Lunar New Year in late January – a major holiday for gift-giving in the country. Read more: Apple rekindles relationship with Imagination Technologies with new deal Apple shipped roughly 3.2 million [...]
The best (and weirdest) new gadgets from CES 2020 January 9, 2020 As difficult as it is to believe, 2019 has actually ended, slinking out of time’s backdoor like a scolded cat and into the history books under a chapter titled ‘Bloopers and Outtakes’. Of course, the annual changing of the calendar guards heralds many things – reflection, resolution, vegan steak bakes – but it’s also a [...]
Home is where the heart is: how to revolutionise the house buying process January 9, 2020 For too many people, home ownership is a distant dream. In today’s Britain, only about 27 per cent of people aged 25 to 34 own their home — a huge dip compared to 1990, when ownership for this age group was 50 per cent, according to the Resolution Foundation. Sky-high property prices, the need to [...]
Ofcom plans to ‘supercharge’ rollout of full-fibre broadband January 8, 2020 Ofcom will “supercharge” British investment in full-fibre broadband by encouraging more competition in cities and supporting BT to roll out faster speeds in rural areas. In a new five-year plan set out today, Britain’s telecoms regulator proposed the introduction of different regulatory regimes for rural and urban areas. Read more: Broadband speeds are increasing but [...]
Why CES 2020 shows the UK is a tech superpower January 8, 2020 The UK’s position as Europe’s leading tech superpower is being reinforced and demonstrated at Consumer Electronic Show (CES) — the world’s largest tech show — in Las Vegas this week. As the UK investment minister I’m delighted to be leading a powerful delegation of UK tech companies ranging from startups hosted by the Future Worlds [...]