Uber boss issues apology following heated argument with driver, and says it’s time to grow up March 1, 2017 Travis Kalanick has issued an apology after a video was published showing the Uber boss in a heated argument with a driver over the app's pay rates. "To say that I am ashamed is an extreme understatement," said the 40-year-old chief exec. "My job as your leader is to lead…and that starts with behaving in [...]
Twitter’s troll crackdown:It’s going to start identifying abuse without it being reported March 1, 2017 Twitter has two new weapons in the battle against trolls: not only is it going to start identifying abuse before it is even reported – but it will allow users to mute certain keywords. No more "snowflake" jibes for Twitter users… Abuse is the social media giant's Achilles heel – trolling has been responsible for [...]
Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal’s son-in-law Amit Bhatia is a Snap investor and he expects the IPO to boom March 1, 2017 Snap's impending float will be mega successful, according to a London investor in the messaging app. Amit Bhatia, steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal's son-in-law and founder of Swordfish Investments, took part in a funding round in 2014 that valued the company behind Snapchat at $10bn (£8.13bn). "Far from looking to exit at IPO, I would look to add to my [...]
Transport for London turned a blind eye to the discrimination caused by new writing tests, Uber lawyer tells court March 1, 2017 Uber has today accused Transport for London (TfL) of burying its head in the sand when assessing the level of discrimination involved in its proposed English language testing. The tech giant is challenging the legal basis for rules proposed by TfL which would require private hire drivers to take a written English language test. Legal eagles for [...]
NCC chief exec Rob Cotton has stepped down after profit warnings March 1, 2017 Cyber security group NCC has announced chief exec Rob Cotton has stepped down today with immediate effect. The departure follows two recent profit warnings, and the group is now on the hunt for a new boss and a new chairman. Paul Mitchell, the current chairman, steps down at the end of May. The company recently appointed [...]
Dyson’s new Apple-style campus: Here’s what you need to know March 1, 2017 Wiltshire is in danger of becoming the Cupertino of the Cotswolds after Dyson announced plans for yet another massive, Apple-style campus in Hullavington, not far from its current HQ in Malmesbury. It's not the first time the engineering firm has built a Silicon Valley-type campus for its workers, but this one promises to be bigger, shinier [...]
Ignore the pessimists: Why I’m bullish on Snapchat’s IPO March 1, 2017 Today could see the official start of the biggest tech IPO in history. Snapchat will finally announce the price per share it will be seeking for its long-awaited public offering. If the social media giant gets the valuation it’s rumoured to be expecting, a whopping $25 billion, its IPO could end up dwarfing even Facebook’s [...]
The government’s tapping up Lloyds, Barclays and Google for digital skills March 1, 2017 The government is turning to private business, including Lloyds, Barclays and Google, to help the UK become skilled for the modern age with ambitious new plans. It has announced partnerships with the well known institutions to offer training in digital across the UK, to push forward the country's march towards a digital economy, putting these skills on a par with literacy [...]
Don’t fear a jobs apocalypse: The UK economy is already adapting well to automation March 1, 2017 The Hollywood vision of a jobless, authoritarian future has the super-rich minority living forever and the rest of the population in dangerous poverty, not able to do anything of interest or value. Possibly in response to this, we regularly hear scare stories from some politicians (for example Nick Clegg in the Evening Standard earlier this [...]
Atom Bank secures £113m in new funding for app-only lender February 28, 2017 App-only Atom Bank has succeeded in raising more money as part of a £250m funding round, as it races to secure market share in the newest front in the battle for banking customers. The fintech start-up will receive £113m in investments from Spanish bank BBVA, as well as investment funds Toscafund and Woodford Investment Management, [...]