Online investment platforms help close the gender participation gap in equity markets by a fifth March 8, 2017 Online investment platforms could help tackle gender inequality in participation in equity markets, according to an investor study of diversity trends. Research by SyndicateRoom into attitudes to investment found that online investment platforms had reduced inequality in male-female participation in equity markets by nearly 20 per cent. Men were 17 per cent more likely to access [...]
Hotmail and Outlook are down: Xbox players as well as hundreds of email users are unable to access their accounts due to Microsoft outage March 7, 2017 A Microsoft crash has locked thousands of email users have been locked out of their accounts today. Website status monitoring service downdetector.com said there had been 1,276 reports of problems with Outlook today, which was previously known as Hotmail and is offered by Microsoft. A spokesperson for the firm said: "We are aware of reports [...]
Payments company Paysafe share price drops despite nearly doubling profits March 7, 2017 The figures Payments processing company, Paysafe, saw its share price plummet 6 per cent lower this morning despite delivering a strong set of results and nearly doubling profits compared to last year. The company reported in its 2016 financial results today that it has nearly doubled adjusted profits after tax, achieving $213m (£174.6m) for the [...]
Now you can use Apple Pay in Ireland – just swipe your iPhone March 7, 2017 iPhone owners in Ireland rejoice – you can now get on board with Apple Pay and just swipe your phone (or Apple Watch) to make a purchase. The tech giant has launched the payment service in its sixth market in Europe, supporting Irish banking customers with Ulster Bank and KBC as well as Boon, an app [...]
Letter: Reform business rates entrepreneurs tell chancellor ahead of Spring Budget March 7, 2017 Entrepreneurs, startup founders and tech leaders have penned an open letter to chancellor Philip Hammond ahead of the Spring Budget calling for business rates reform. Dear chancellor, In recent years London has established itself as Europe’s top destination for technology startups. Our capital has gone above and beyond to welcome and nurture some of the [...]
Entrepreneurs and tech leaders urge chancellor to give startups business rate exemption in Spring Budget March 7, 2017 Entrepreneurs and tech leaders are urging the chancellor Philip Hammond to exempt newly created companies from business rates, adding their voice to a growing chorus of anger at the burden of an imminent rise in costs, and calls for reform. A three-year exemption would give startups breathing space and a chance to find their feet while [...]
Ford’s testing out making car parts using a massive 3D printer March 6, 2017 Car spoilers and other bespoke and custom car parts could be made for Ford's vehicles with the help of a massive 3D printer. The US car company is testing out the technique with a new machine, the Infinite Build, from Stratasys, which can construct parts made of plastic on a larger scale than many 3D printers – feet [...]
Connected cows: An actually useful example of the Internet of Things (seriously) March 6, 2017 Just when you'd lost faith in the Internet of Things (IoT) and its pointless devices such as connected vases, toothbrushes and, um, egg holders, which make you scream "but why?" to the world, along comes something that might restore your faith. And it's not just because it's cute. Farming is where you'll find an actually [...]
Fintech funding trends in 2017 March 6, 2017 An Innovate Finance report recently suggested that venture capital investments into the UK FinTech sector have dropped by a third over the past year, potentially making way for a new type of investor in town. FinTech has typically attracted the most investment and limelight compared to other areas of digital innovation. Yet the funding landscape [...]
IBM is commercialising quantum computing to solve mind-boggling problems March 6, 2017 IBM has revealed its ambitions to bring the power of quantum computing to the business world. The tech firm is making available its IBM Q quantum systems to firms wanting to analyse and explore data that's too complicated for standard computing. Read more: The organisations of tomorrow – and the technologies already building them “Classical computers [...]