Wework lays off 2,400 employees in Softbank-led efficiency drive November 21, 2019 Wework today confirmed it will lay off roughly 2,400 employees around the world as the company launches a drastic bid to cut costs and shore up its business. A Wework spokesperson said the cuts were part of the company’s efforts to focus on its core business and “create a more efficient organisation”. Read more: New [...]
Twitter acquires London AI startup as it looks to target small businesses November 21, 2019 Twitter has snapped up artificial intelligence (AI) marketing platform Aiden as it looks to expand its advertising offering for small businesses. Read more: Twitter outlines political ad ban ahead of 2020 US election The social media giant today said it had agreed a takeover of the London-based startup, which provides a cross-platform advertising command centre, [...]
Xerox threatens to go hostile in HP takeover bid November 21, 2019 Xerox today threatened to take its $33.5bn (£26bn) takeover offer for HP hostile if the tech firm’s board did not agree to a “friendly” merger by next week. Read more: HP rejects Xerox’s $33.5bn takeover bid but keeps door open for potential merger HP rejected Xerox’s offer of $22 per share on Sunday, saying it [...]
Netflix down: Streaming giant apologises as outages hit users across the globe November 21, 2019 Netflix users were less than chilled this afternoon as outages left them unable to watch their favourite films and TV shows. Read more: BBC chairman hits back at suggestions of Netflix-style subscription model More than a thousand users across the US and Europe reported difficulties loading videos, according to tracking site Down Detector. Scores of [...]
Pokémon Sword and Shield review: A spectacular upgrade for Nintendo’s chart-topping series November 21, 2019 Pokémon’s creator GameFreak was uncharacteristically secretive during the development of Sword and Shield, the latest pair of monster collecting games in the world-dominating, 23-year-old franchise. Now it’s clear to see why the studio played its cards so close to its chest: the new games shake up the rulebook in a way that might have given [...]
Google vows to curb political ad targeting November 21, 2019 Google has vowed to ban advertisements which target people based on their political leanings, as the debate over digital ads intensifies ahead of the upcoming US presidential election. The tech giant has said it will reduce audience targeting for election ads to age, gender and general location at a postal code level. Read more: Google [...]
Entrepreneurs back Pitch@Palace as pressure grows on Prince Andrew November 21, 2019 Entrepreneurs have expressed their support for Prince Andrew’s Pitch@Palace startup initiative even as the Duke was urged to give evidence to US authorities. A lawyer representing some of billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s victims has pushed for the Duke of York to speak with US investigators, following last night’s announcement that the prince will retreat from [...]
UK tech startups net a record £9bn to keep European crown November 21, 2019 Investors have ploughed a record £9bn into British tech startups in 2019, according to figures that place the UK’s tech investment scene head and shoulders above the rest of Europe. Tech companies have so far countred $11.1bn (£8.6bn) in venture capital this year, according to a report from VC firm Atomico today, a 48 per [...]
The internet can help left-behind constituencies step into the future November 21, 2019 It can sometimes be easy to forget that the internet plays a vital part of everyday life. It makes a substantial economic contribution to the UK, creating approximately 400,000 jobs, 80,000 businesses, and £45bn in gross value added to the UK’s GDP. Most importantly, the internet improves people’s lives with products and services that make [...]
The best smartwatches of 2019: Here’s our pick of this year’s top wearables November 20, 2019 Smartwatches have come a long way since the bulky strap-on devices of just a few years ago, and just like our phones they’ve begun to take on more and more useful functions as the underlying technology improves. Wearables have merged with fitness trackers, and have heroically untethered themselves from our phones by incorporating their very [...]