Is Twitter becoming a broadcaster? September 15, 2016 Twitter is moving heavily into the broadcast space, making a bet that its strength lies in real-time news. The joy of Twitter has always been its stream of pithy commentary around current events, with Twitter Moments the latest attempt to curate and editorialise those stories. Certainly, Twitter has always been able to break and spread [...]
You can even use Amazon Echo to check your stock portfolio September 15, 2016 Time to ditch your computer screen? Checking how your portfolio is doing or finding out what's going on with a certain stock price is now as simple as asking. Amazon Echo, the home voice assistant device which launched in the UK yesterday, can tell you what the weather is like, play your music or help you keep track [...]
Blockchain startup Ripple raises $55m from Standard Chartered and Accenture September 15, 2016 Blockchain startup Ripple, one of several groups working with banks to create standards for the distributed ledger technology, has landed millions more in funding, with Standard Chartered and Accenture among new investors jumping on board the blockchain bandwagon. The venture arm of Siam Commercial Bank, SCB Digital Ventures, and Japan's SBI Holdings also participated in the $55m [...]
London’s the most expensive place in the world to locate a tech startup September 15, 2016 London is the most expensive place in the world to locate a startup, with the average cost of renting office space in Shoreditch outstripping that of San Francisco, Brooklyn and 19 other tech and creative hubs around the globe, putting at risk the city's potential of producing its very own Google. The cost of renting business space in the [...]
This entrepreneur is so against Trump he’s made a hilarious card game about it September 15, 2016 What do you do if you're concerned about Donald Trump becoming President and gaining power? If you're one Silicon Valley entrepreneur, you invoke the power of satire. The founder and boss of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, has done just that with the creation of "Trumped up Cards", a card game erring into the realm of the ridiculous… not [...]
Three signs the iPhone 7 will be a huge hit for Apple September 15, 2016 The iPhone 7 received a cautiously optimistic welcome when it was unveiled a week ago. While new features such as being waterproof and a shiny new jet black colour were largely surface changes rather than a revolutionary new direction for the brand, they were certainly likely to dazzle potential buyers, analysts thought. Apple has quite a bit riding [...]
Hybrid engine firm Vantage Power is setting itself apart with clever software September 15, 2016 Not many startups hunt for premises with the requirement that they can fit a double-decker bus in them. But for Vantage Power, that was a necessity. Founded by Imperial College graduates Alex Schey and Toby Schulz, the firm makes hybrid – part-diesel, part-electric – engines. Vantage Power can turn four buses currently in use hybrid for the [...]
Cyber attack fears push up hack insurance September 15, 2016 Increasing fears over potential cyber attacks has pushed up the number of firms taking out hack insurance. Research from insurance broker Marsh has found 83 per cent of respondents say they have a basic or complete understanding of their company’s cyber exposure, compared to 61 per cent last year. According to Marsh almost a third [...]
The Amazon Echo is an artificially intelligent speaker and virtual assistant that can play music, order curries and hail an Uber September 14, 2016 The Amazon Echo is a hands-free speaker that you operate using voice commands. Inside it (well, somewhere in the cloud to be precise) lives Alexa, an artificial intelligence and essentially Amazon’s version of Siri. Alexa’s machine-learning algorithms and rapidly expanding skillset make her smarter as time goes on: so while today she can play music, [...]
It’s time for long-term fintech to break into pensions and mortgages September 14, 2016 Certain areas of fintech have experienced an entrepreneurial frenzy over recent years. Sectors once dominated by traditional providers have become hotbeds of startup activity, with most of the action occurring in payments, foreign exchange, short-term lending and, more recently, current accounts. As is often the case, where entrepreneurs have led, money has followed. This has [...]