A foldable smartphone that fits in your pocket? Samsung’s working on it June 1, 2016 As smartphone screens get bigger, the size of our pockets do not, resulting in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to carrying the thing around (when it' not glued to our palm, at least). Samsung is working on it, however, with plans for a device that simply folds in half and a new patent [...]
Trump, Thiel and space travel: Three things we learned from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos June 1, 2016 One of the most successful entrepreneurs of the modern world, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has spoken candidly on pressing issues such as Donald Trump, Peter Thiel versus Gawker and freedom of speech, as well as his childhood passion for space travel. Here are the three things we learned from his talk at Recode's Code Conference in California… [...]
Toyota is in talks to buy two robotics businesses from Google June 1, 2016 Motor company Toyota is in talks to buy two robotics divisions from Google's parent company, Alphabet. The Japanese firm is interested in buying Boston Dynamics – the firm behind Cheetah, said to be the fastest-legged robot in the world – and Schaft, according to a report from Nikkei. Alphabet is reported to be interested in [...]
Tech giants Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft agree to police online hate speech May 31, 2016 Some of the biggest tech companies in the US have signed up to a European Union code of conduct to try and slow a rising tide of hate speech online. Social networks Facebook and Twitter, as well as Google's video hosting platform YouTube and software giant Microsoft, have promised the European Commission they'll try and remove hate speech within 24 hours [...]
Meet the crazy secure luxury £10k Solarin smartphone May 31, 2016 If the smartphone had been around in the 80s, Patrick Bateman and Gordon Gekko would have been showing off a Solarin. Forget Apple. When you make a smartphone with no constraint on price and mass market production, you get the Solarin – a 10k super luxury smartphone from stealth startup Sirin Labs, designed to keep [...]
Time Inc confirms Myspace hacking May 31, 2016 Social networking site Myspace was hacked over the weekend, with user login data made available in an online hacker forum. Myspace's owner Time Inc confirmed the data breach today, and said the compromised information included Myspace usernames, passwords and email addresses, from the old Myspace platform prior to 11 June, 2013 – the date that the social [...]
Five things I learned (and relearned) in my first year as a VC May 31, 2016 1. Time is a brutal taskmaster You want to give everybody a fair crack of the whip but in truth you have to filter fast. The elevator pitch really does matter. If you, as a founder, can't communicate the essence of your proposition and your own skills quickly you won't cut through the noise. This filtering [...]
Finally, you can get Pizza Express delivered to your door May 31, 2016 Middle class pizza lovers rejoice – you can now get those delicious dough balls and more delivered straight to your door from Pizza Express. The high street chain has inked a deal with restaurant delivery startup Deliveroo to get its menu to people sat at home on their sofa in addition to those who visit the [...]
The 14 Google searches that can predict Britain’s unemployment rate May 31, 2016 The three billion searches we make across the world each day using Google may tell us more than simply the latest celebrities everyone is reading about – the massive data points could in fact help us make economic forecasts. Researchers in Finland have managed to put the information to a very valuable use and say they can predict a [...]
Donald Trump – the one thing even Stephen Hawking can’t explain May 31, 2016 What's more complicated than theoretical physics? It's not a trick question. Superstar scientist Stephen Hawking has theorised extensively about black holes and how the universe works, but he's still left utterly stumped by one fact of life – the popularity of Donald Trump. When asked to explain the rise of support for Trump, appearing on [...]