It matters not whether a payday lender or a dog groomer, morally policing advertising is a dangerous precedent January 30, 2017 One of the many perks of living in a democratic capitalist society is the laissez faire relationship between (legitimate, legal) business and government. But questions must be asked when giants step on smaller businesses. Especially when based on the moral posturing of a cabal of pious zealots. Such is the case with Google, who in [...]
Why could digital tech reach over $2.7 trillion by 2020? January 30, 2017 | City Talk Whether it’s big data, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud storage or cyber security, the effects of digital technology development are all around us. Recognised as the third industrial revolution, we are experiencing one of the most transformative periods in history. Digital – transforming our industrial society In 2001, a group of software developers met at the [...]
Tech giants are hitting back against Donald Trump’s immigration ban January 30, 2017 Events have moved fast since Theresa May walked hand-in-hand with President Trump outside the White House. Initial reaction to May’s Washington visit was positive: the PM had charmed Congressional Republicans, banged the drum for increased US-UK trade and held a successful press conference with the new President. Hours later, however, as details emerged of America’s [...]
British tech sector slams President Donald Trump’s migration block, echoing US counterparts January 30, 2017 British tech bosses have echoed their American counterparts by criticising President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel to the US for people hailing from several majority Muslim nations. Just days after Prime Minister Theresa May met the President in a bid to reinvigorate the “special relationship”, she was forced to distance herself from his controversial order on [...]
Donald Trump’s travel ban provokes top tech bosses from Apple, Google, Uber, Twitter, Facebook and more to speak out on immigration January 29, 2017 The high profile bosses of several of the United States' biggest technology companies have spoken out after Donald Trump issued an executive order banning people from seven majority Muslim countries entering the US. Google founder Sergey Brin, himself a migrant from the former Soviet Union, attended a protest at San Francisco airport in a personal capacity, he told reporters. [...]
Och, aye: Emoji English, Scottish and Welsh flags could be released in the next six months January 27, 2017 Smartphone fans in three UK countries are about to get more specific about their patriotism, after the body which decides on emojis declared it will add the English, Scottish and Welsh flags to its ranks. At a meeting of the Unicode Technical Committee, members – including representatives from Google and Apple -voted to add England, Scotland and [...]
Mark Carney’s fintech critique should be a wake-up call for a sector used to plaudits January 27, 2017 The fintech sector is so used to being publicly lauded that this week’s comments by the governor of the Bank of England will have come as a shock. Despite claiming London as the fintech centre of Europe and exulting its potential, Mark Carney made clear fintech’s rise could disrupt the established financial sector – raising [...]
Forget Berlin, Dublin and Paris – Asia’s a bigger rival to London fintech regardless of Brexit January 26, 2017 As Germany, France and Ireland attempt to woo London's fintech firms to their respective capital cities after the Brexit vote, one of the UK's top VCs has warned the industry should be more concerned with the rise of Asia as a fintech powerhouse rather than other European cities. In the long-term, the continent's prominence in financial technology is likely [...]
Three major changes Facebook’s made to trending topics in the fight against fake news January 26, 2017 Facebook has made some major changes to the feature which shows users what topics are trending after serious accusations of bias and amid the wider debate around fake news. The list of topics will no longer be personalised to users' interests, and will instead be based upon their location. Read more: Facebook steps up fake news [...]
Now Microsoft’s pledged to train the UK in digital skills for free January 26, 2017 Microsoft is the latest tech giant to make a pledge to help train the UK in digital skills, following hot on the heels of Google and Amazon. It will offer free digital literacy training online for everyone in the UK and specifically target 30,000 UK public servants to improve their knowledge. It will also aim to [...]