Toshiba shares fall 20 per cent on warning December 28, 2016 Shares in Japanese electronics manufacturer Toshiba plummeted 20 per cent today, after it warned it may be forced to take a writedown on its US nuclear business. The ¥80 fall meant trading in Toshiba's shares were halted on the Japanese stock exchange. The company said costs at Westinghouse Electric Co, which is building several nuclear reactors, [...]
Eight cool new features Airbnb will release in 2017 December 28, 2016 On Boxing Day Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky sent out a tweet: "If Airbnb could launch anything in 2017, what would it be?" It seems his followers are a creative bunch, because he received more than 1,700 responses. If @Airbnb could launch anything in 2017, what would it be? — Brian Chesky (@bchesky) December 26, 2016 [...]
Uber takes its self-driving cars to the streets of Arizona December 22, 2016 Uber's self-driving cars will now begin testing in Arizona following today's earlier announcement that its fleet would leave California after state regulators cracked down on permits. After testing its self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, San Francisco was supposed to be the ride sharing group's second testing ground. However, the California Department of Motor Vehicles requires a permit to test autonomous vehicles [...]
Nokia has sued Apple in Europe, Asia, and the US for infringing on its technology patents December 22, 2016 Nokia announced today it had filed a new set of lawsuits against Apple in Asia, Europe and the US for violating 40 technology patent suits in 11 countries. The Finland-based technology company originally said it was suing the iPhone maker yesterday, for infringing on 32 technology patents. Shares in the company were down nearly five per cent [...]
Bitcoin market cap smashes through $14bn barrier: Equivalent to the average market cap of a FTSE 100 firm December 22, 2016 Bitcoin prices today leapt by five per cent, breaking records for the overall value of the digital currency in existence and taking its price to the highest level for three years. Around 12.5 new Bitcoins come into circulation every 10 minutes. And this meant today the today market capitalisation of bitcoins broke through the $14bn [...]
Time to kill over the holidays? Here are the best games of 2016 December 21, 2016 Superhot A first-person shooter in which time only moves when you move, Superhot strips down gunfights to the fundamentals. Each level is a short Jon Woo-style action film vignette – a bar brawl, a heist – in which you plan your moves precisely, dodging gunfire and grabbing weapons in mid-air as they fly from the [...]
Netflix Twitter account is hacked by group gloating at lack of cyber security December 21, 2016 Netflix's US Twitter account has been hacked by an organisation infamous for breaking into the social media accounts of high profile individuals and companies. After gaining access to the social media account, OurMine sent a series of mocking tweets from the online media firm's account, boasting about the inadequacies of cyber security. "We are here to prove this," [...]
Snooper’s charter: Bulk internet data collection ruled illegal by EU court December 21, 2016 Theresa May's attempt to introduce greater surveillance powers has suffered a major set back after an EU court ruled part of the UK's new laws are illegal. The highest court in Europe has ruled that electronic personal data from email and other online communications can not be retained on a general and indiscriminate basis such as [...]
Twitter’s chief technology officer and vice president of product both said they will quit the company December 20, 2016 Two Twitter executives today announced they will leave the company, adding to a string of executive departures throughout the year. Twitter's chief technology officer Adam Messinger said he would resign from the company in a Tweet. After 5 years I’ve decided to leave Twitter and take some time off. Grateful to @jack for the opportunity and to my team [...]
Uber’s financials just leaked – here’s how much it lost December 20, 2016 Uber's losses clocked in at $800m in the third quarter of the year, according to leaked documents. It brings total losses to more than $2.2bn for the first nine months of the year, while revenues for the startup are expected to come in at $5.5bn for the year, according to the figures first reported by The Information, indicating [...]