Google parent Alphabet’s life sciences arm and GSK are teaming up and investing millions into bioelectronics August 1, 2016 Google's parent company Alphabet and pharma firm GSK are banding together to form a new company that will explore the science behind using small electronics to treat disease. The pair will plough £540m over the next seven years into Galvani Bioelectronics, which will explore technology which combines electronics and biology to treat illnesses, with headquarters in the UK. Alphabet's Verily Life [...]
Five things you need to know about the Uber Didi Chuxing deal August 1, 2016 Uber and Didi have thrown in the towel on their costly rivalry with a deal to merge in China, worth a reported $35bn. Here's what you need to know. 1. Profits matter Uber was burning more than $1bn a year on its Chinese operations, becoming its largest market, but not making any profit from it. That's what boss Travis Kalanick [...]
Fintech startup wants individual investors to buy big corporate bonds August 1, 2016 Fintech start-up wiseAlpha wants smaller investors to take a bite out of the multi-billion pound corporate bond market. The online investment platform is widening access to individual corporate bonds for UK companies such Enterprise Inns, Vue Entertainment and New Look for as little as £100. wiseAlpha will issue notes, which are backed by loans or bonds it [...]
Uber is merging its China business with arch rival Didi Chuxing August 1, 2016 Ride-hailing app Uber is merging its Chinese operations with its biggest rival in the region, Didi Chuxing, signalling an end to a long-standing and expensive rivalry. Didi has confirmed earlier reports of a deal between the two, saying it will acquire Uber's China assets. In return, Uber will take a 17.7 per cent stake in Didi, while Uber China's shareholders [...]
Barclays is ditching telephone passwords for voice recognition August 1, 2016 Barclays is making passwords for telephone banking obsolete by rolling out voice recognition technology to all its customers. The use of biometric technology is being explored by several banks, but Barclays is the first UK bank to make the technology – which works in the same way as a fingerprint – widely available. Read more: Passwords are [...]
Mobile momentum: Why advertising on handheld devices will allow Google and Facebook to sustain their remarkable growth August 1, 2016 If there was any lingering doubt about the potential of mobile advertising, it was put paid to last week. Advertising’s two behemoths, Google and Facebook, beat analysts’ expectations for growth in the second quarter, thanks largely to the rise of mobile advertising. In its statement, Google’s parent company Alphabet said that not only were companies continuing [...]
David McCourt explains why micro-working is vital, and why he’s so disappointed by Trump and Clinton August 1, 2016 Do you mind always having to up sticks?” I ask David McCourt, founder, chairman and chief executive of telecoms and media investment firm Granahan McCourt, in regard to his likely move to London later this year. “No,” he replies. “I was only in the house my kids grew up in for 14 days last year; I’m [...]
Talking the talk: Harding on Ofcom, hacks, and fibre July 31, 2016 At TalkTalk's Shepherd's Bush offices, cavernous rooms enclosed by exposed walls and trendy staff make this company feel more like an outsized Shoreditch startup than a FTSE 250 constituent. Fitting surroundings for a firm that is out to ape Google’s growing US broadband service, Google Fibre, as it ramps up its challenge to BT’s faux-fibre offering. [...]
Phew! Facebook’s AI chief says intelligent machines are not a threat to humanity July 31, 2016 The chief scientist leading Facebook's research into artificial intelligence doesn't believe the technology is a threat to human existence – unless we are very stupid. "I don’t think at AI will become an existential threat to humanity," said Yann LeCun, the top professor who is leading Facebook's efforts in the space of AI and machine learning. "I’m [...]
China’s Ant Financial is testing out blockchain technology July 31, 2016 Ant Financial, the Chinese fintech giant spun off from Alibaba, is testing out blockchain technology for the first time to build a more transparent process for donating money. The group's charity platform, Ant Love, will use blockchain technology to track donations to one project being funded via the site. “We are trying to bring small and [...]