Human drivers will be obsolete by 2050 as driverless technology takes over, say researchers Moshe Vardi and Bart Selman February 14, 2016 Cars driven by humans will become obsolete with the rise of driverless car technology, leading researchers have predicted, and it could happen as soon as 2050. "You cannot ride a horse in downtown Houston anymore. If you like horse riding, you have to go to horse ranches. The same is likely to happen with cars," said Moshe Vardi, [...]
Monitise share price up even as losses quadruple February 12, 2016 Monitise has reported quadrupled losses as the troubled payments firm has had to write off £167m from its value. The figures Monitise reported pre-tax losses soaring from £58m to £211m in the six months to 31 December. At the same time, sales were down from £42m to £33m. The firm’s share price, which has plunged [...]
Fraudsters are taking advantage of lonely singles on Valentine’s Day February 12, 2016 Haven't completely lost your faith in humanity yet? We suggest you sit down… Research by KPMG has found dastardly fraudsters are using dating sites to target lonely singles on Valentine's Day. In fact, according to its fraud barometer, people lost £3.2m to dating scams in 2015. One fraudster conned five women out of £180,000 – and used [...]
Shares in Candy Crush’s new owner Activision Blizzard plunge by 16 per cent as revenue miss overshadows Call of Duty success February 11, 2016 Shares in US video games maker Activision Blizzard tumbled by more than 16 per cent in after hours trading, after the company missed revenue and profit expectations in the final quarter of 2015. The firm, which bought Candy Crush creator King Digital in November last year, posted revenue of $2.12bn (£1.46bn) for the fourth quarter of [...]
Astonish your kids this half term with Da Vinci’s marvellous machines at the Science Museum February 11, 2016 The Science Museum | ★★★★☆ Leonardo da Vinci’s prodigious output has provided fertile ground for such blockbuster exhibitions as the National Gallery’s comprehensive 2012 survey, and the Queen and British Museum’s showcase of his drawings. The Science Museum’s new show focuses on da Vinci’s engineering, with physical incarnations of the various machines detailed in his many [...]
UK consumers ahead of the curve when it comes to payment technology February 11, 2016 British consumers are at the forefront of payment technologies, according to new research. Contactless payments, real-time payments and mobile banking have grown in popularity among UK consumers, while countries such as the USA and Canada continue to lag behind. The report, published by Payments UK, the trade association for the payments industry, found that by [...]
Gravitational waves: Here’s everything you should know about how Ligo scientists detected the merging of two black holes February 11, 2016 It's been called the "scientific highlight of the decade" and billed ushering in a "new era for astronomy": there's no doubt the discovery of gravitational waves – yes, waves of gravity – is one of the most important findings in recent history. But what does it actually mean? And can it make you sound cleverer at [...]
BBVA shakes up fintech venture fund, spinning out into independent Propel Ventures, doubling fund and setting up London office February 11, 2016 Spanish bank BBVA, which recently ploughed £45m into UK digital challenger bank Atom, has more than doubled its war chest for investing in fintech startups and will set up shop in London in a shake up of its venture investment strategy. The bank's $100m (£69m) fintech venture fund, which invests in European and US startups, will be upped to $250m [...]
Twitter share price tumbles to fresh lows on stalled user growth February 11, 2016 Twitter shares opened six per cent lower, hitting a fresh all-time low of $13.91, under the $14 mark for the first time. It recovered some of its after hour, however. It plunged as much as 14 per cent after reporting its latest earnings on Wednesday. The quarterly numbers revealed it lost 2m users from the third to the fourth [...]
The Witness review: solve hundreds of tricky mazes on a bizarro mystery island February 11, 2016 PC, PS4, iOS (coming soon) | ★★★★☆ The Witness is a smart, beautiful first-person exploration game that’s tied together by a seemingly endless string of maze-like puzzles. Over 600 of them. When have you ever seen that many mazes in one place? Never, that’s when. If you think that’s a mark of success, then you’ll [...]