“Snoopers’ Charter” data collection rules ok if proportionate, says European court July 19, 2016 A UK law requiring companies to keep up to a years worth of data on people's emails, phone calls and web activities is okay – as long as it "satisfies strict requirements" – according to a preliminary ruling from the European courts . The legal case, which has implications for the future legislation on monitoring communications, was brought by Labour deputy leader Tom Watson and [...]
If you go down to the woods today… you might find a Google robot July 19, 2016 A woman walking her dog was in for a surprise when she came across something a little more unusual also out for a stroll. It's not every day that you stumble across one of the biggest companies in the world testing out their robot technology, but that's exactly what happened – and she caught it [...]
MPs slam BT: “Put house in order or face split” July 19, 2016 BT has been told to put its "house in order" or face a split by a leading group of MPs. The telecoms firm has been accused of "significantly under investing" in its Openreach broadband, potentially to the tune of millions of pounds a year and of favouring "interests and priorities" of shareholders over customers. An investigation [...]
Cheers! Now Deliveroo’s delivering wine, beer and cocktails July 19, 2016 Drinkers rejoice: food delivery startup Deliveroo is expanding beyond the simple delivery of food and into into takeaway alcohol, including wine, craft beer and cocktails. The startup backed by top investors has inked new deals with Majestic Wines and Brewdog among others to bring the tipples straight to people's doors after testing out the drinks-only and [...]
Nintendo is catching all the investors – shares double since Pokemon Go launch July 19, 2016 Nintendo's share price rocketed another 12 per cent in the US on Monday, and was performing even better in Tokyo on Tuesday. The tech giant's share price has now more than doubled since the launch of Pokemon Go earlier this month – bringing the group's market cap to around $42bn (£32bn). Read more: Pokemon Go is showing [...]
Barclays chief warns of UK digital deficit July 19, 2016 The UK is beating its rivals when it comes to embracing digital technology but risks being usurped by smaller countries, putting the country’s economic growth and productivity at risk, Barclays’ top boss in Britain has warned. “We urgently need to secure London and the UK as the world’s pre-eminent powerhouse of tech innovation as well [...]
Shot in the Arm for the City as £24bn mega-deal is agreed July 19, 2016 British tech giant Arm Holdings yesterday agreed to a £24.3bn takeover by telecoms group Softbank, in a move that would go down as the second largest outbound Japanese deal on record. Softbank has pounced for the Cambridge-based chip-maker following a sharp drop in the value of the pound, largely prompted by last month’s vote to leave [...]
Internet of Things not so clever as scepticism holds back the rise of smart homes July 19, 2016 Households are failing to put their money where their mouth – or their food – is when it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT), a new survey into connected devices from consultants Deloitte has found. While two-thirds of UK consumers said they believed IoT gadgets could make their lives better, only half of us [...]
Santander’s added $100m to its fintech venture fund July 18, 2016 Santander is ploughing a further $100m (£75.3m) into its venture fund to invest in fintech startups around the world. The cash doubles the bank's UK-based venture investment fund, Santander InnoVentures, which has already invested in blockchain startups Ripple and Digital Asset Holdings. “A deeper investment in our fintech fund represents Santander's success in investing in disruptive new technologies that will help [...]
Arm founder bemoans “sad day” for British tech market as Japanese firm SoftBank makes play for chipmaker July 18, 2016 Arm Holdings founder Hermann Hauser has described the news that the chip manufacturer is likely to be sold to Japan's SoftBank as "very sad". SoftBank has made a £24.3bn bid for Arm, which was spun out of Hauser's Acorn Computers in 1990. Hauser now runs Amadeus Capital Partners, which he co-founded in 1997. "Arm is [...]