Tencent posts profit boost after China lifts gaming ban August 14, 2019 Tencent has reported a 35 per cent rise in profit for the second quarter as growth in its gaming division returned after a lengthy regulatory ban. The Chinese tech giant has suffered a string of disappointing quarterly results after Beijing imposed a nine-month freeze on licences for new online games. Read more: Tencent in talks [...]
Senior MP slams ‘disingenuous’ Facebook response over Cambridge Analytica evidence August 13, 2019 The chair of the parliamentary committee probing Facebook’s alleged contradictory evidence to MPs has branded the tech giant’s response “disingenuous”. Facebook has been accused of giving inconsistent evidence about when it first learned that personal data had been misused for political advertising. Read more: MPs call on Facebook to explain ‘contradictory’ Cambridge Analytica evidence Asked [...]
EU antitrust chiefs urged to crack down on Google’s job search August 13, 2019 A group of almost two-dozen European job sites have heaped pressure on Google for allegedly using its search engine to unfairly favour its own results. In a letter sent to EU antitrust regulators, 23 online job search sites said that Google’s own jobs search, which launched last year, had stolen some of their market share. [...]
Computer says no: Workers waste millions of hours a year because of mediocre technology August 13, 2019 We have all been there. Waiting impatiently at the start of a meeting for documents and conferencing applications to load; the frustration when your device crashes after working two hours on a document that didn’t auto-save; or having to travel hours to a meeting because it’s just not possible to do it remotely. These are [...]
King’s Cross defends use of facial recognition technology August 12, 2019 The developer behind King’s Cross has defended its use of facial recognition technology, despite concerns about privacy and data use. Property development firm Argent, which is overseeing a regeneration project on the 67-acre site, said its use of the cameras was “in the interest of public safety”. Read more: Passengers told to avoid King’s Cross [...]
Value investing will survive Fortnite – and other tech disruptors August 12, 2019 Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf is 16, lives with his family in Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania and last weekend, by virtue of his extraordinary proficiency at a computer game, he became a millionaire. At the end of the first-ever Fortnite World Cup, which took place at New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, Kyle emerged victorious from a field of 100 [...]
Owlet and the appeal of wearable tech for babies August 12, 2019 Wellbeing is a big business. Technology can now closely track our personal health, with apps and devices to monitor how many steps we take, what calories we’ve eaten, our blood pressure, and even how well we sleep. Fitbits and other wearable gadgets have also exploded in popularity with health-conscious consumers. Is there a limit to [...]
Ailing economy puts strain on UK tech growth August 12, 2019 Following seven years of consecutive expansion in the fastest-growing sector of the UK economy, signs have emerged that growth in British tech has begun to slow. Business activity in the UK tech sector dropped from 54.4 in the first quarter to 53 in the second, according to a closely-watched industry bellwether index. Data from KPMG’s [...]
Facebook confirms ‘news tab’ launch in US as it offers newspapers $3m to reproduce content August 10, 2019 Facebook is set to launch a “news tab” in the US, confirming reports that it has been contacting media companies to license their stories. The social media giant has offered new executives up to $3m (£2.48m) a year to license their publications headlines and previews of articles a new tab, as reported by the Wall [...]
Tories outspend all their political rivals combined on Facebook advertising August 9, 2019 The Conservative Party has spent more money than any of its political rivals on Facebook advertising over the last month, within which time Boris Johnson has taken over from Theresa May as Prime Minister. The Tories have spent £51,719 on Facebook Ads during that period, almost three times more than the Labour Party, according to [...]