Bad news, sky watchers: It’s going to take another 1,500 years for humanity to encounter aliens June 16, 2016 If you're worried about an alien invasion, you can calm down: a new study by astronomers at Cornell University has suggested humans won't make contact with extraterrestrials for another 1,500 years. Even Solomonides and Yervant Terzian combined the Fermi Paradox, which says billions of Earth-like planets exist in our galaxy, with Copernicus' mediocrity principle, which postulates that the [...]
Uber’s Apple-backed rival Didi Chuxing just raised billions June 16, 2016 The taxi wars are hotting up. A day after reports of Uber raising a further $2bn (£1.4bn) to add to its already rather large cash pile, its rival in China has announced another $7bn in new funding that puts it squarely on the tail of the US startup when it comes to being the most well-funded private startup [...]
Fintech and blockchain top Mark Carney’s Mansion House agenda June 16, 2016 London's status as the world leading centre for fintech is set to be cemented on Thursday when it tops the agenda of the governor of the Bank of England at a prestigious City event. Mark Carney will centre a major speech on the subject of fintech and blockchain technology at the annual Mansion House dinner, his first to address the disruptive sector in [...]
Hire a hacker: Cyber security needs some fresh ideas June 16, 2016 Today, cyber security is one of the major issues keeping chief executives awake at night. Cyber crime is on the rise. According to Juniper Research, data breaches are projected to cost companies $2.1 trillion by 2019. High profile hacks have highlighted the significant risks in the digital world. But while news outlets focus on the [...]
E3 Round-up: All the top announcements from PlayStation VR and Xbox One S price and release date to Arkham VR, Death Standing and The Last Guardian news June 15, 2016 Every year, the world’s gaming press jets off to Los Angeles to be wowed by Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and all the top games developers, who lay out their plans for the future of the industry. This year there was a big push for virtual reality, with the big players throwing their weight behind the nascent [...]
Tech titans rule 2016 with $268bn of M&A activity June 15, 2016 Technology is leading the global mergers and acquisitions sector this year with $267.6bn worth of deals announced so far, according to new research by financial markets platform Dealogic. This is only the second time on record that technology deals accounted for the maximum number of M&A deals made in a year. The year 2000 saw [...]
Rarer than a unicorn? This venture capital firm just floated in London June 15, 2016 Draper Esprit, the European firm which has backed startups such as LoveFilm, Graze and Lyst has made its stock market debut in a rare move for a venture capital firm.. With a dual listing on Aim and Ireland's Enterprise Securities market (ESM), shares on London's junior market were up as much as four per cent on the [...]
Scientists have discovered a surprising new influence on happiness June 15, 2016 We're always looking for happiness in life, and scientists are always looking at ways to help us find it, but now they have identified a surprising new influence on how positive we're feeling. It's not just our own happiness that matters, but the fortunes of those around us, according to a new study by researchers from University [...]
Uber’s hungry for even more cash with plans for $2bn leveraged loan June 15, 2016 Thought the most highly valued private tech company in the world had enough money to throw around? Apparently, it doesn't. Uber is rounding up another $2bn (£1.4bn) to its already pretty huge cash mountain in its bid for world domination, but this time it's tapping the cash via a leveraged loan. Read more: Apple's favourite Chinese Uber rival [...]
Twitter has invested $70m in music streaming service SoundCloud June 14, 2016 Tech giant Twitter invested $70m in music streaming service SoundCloud earlier this year it has been revealed. The social media network bought the stake as part of a round that would value SoundCloud at about $700m, tech website Recode has reported. Twitter's newly returned CEO Jack Dorsey didn't reveal details of the deal but confirmed that the San Francisco-based company now owns a stake [...]