Crowdfunding platforms beware: The banks – and others – are eating your lunch May 5, 2016 European crowdfunding platforms could be left fighting for their piece of the pie. Incumbent financial players, including asset managers and banks, not-for-profit organisations, and non-financial firms are entering the crowdfunding business in increasing numbers. Recent research that I conducted with Politecnico di Milano’s Massimiliano Guerini, Evila Piva and Cristina Rossi-Lamastrais analysed the proliferation of crowdfunding across [...]
Tesla executives Greg Reichow and Josh Ensign announce their departure ahead of Model 3 launch May 4, 2016 Electric car giant Tesla has announced two of its top motor executives will leave the company ahead of its widely-anticipated, mass-market Model 3 car. Tesla said its vice president of production, Greg Reichow, who had previously been pegged to lead the manufacturing of the Model 3 vehicle, would take a leave of absence after a [...]
Tesla Motors beats expectations in first quarter results and primes for the launch of its Model 3 vehicle May 4, 2016 Tesla Motors has beaten analyst expectations in its first quarter results and ramped up production as demand for its mass-produced Model 3 electric car has sky-rocketed. The figures Tesla posted revenue of $1.15bn (£793m) for the first quarter of 2016, a 22 per cent increase from the same period in 2015, while sales climbed 45 per cent year on [...]
TripAdvisor shares tank after it misses expectations May 4, 2016 Travel website TripAdvisor’s revenue has decreased to $352m, a drop of $11m or three per cent, during the first quarter of 2016. TripAdvisor reported earnings per share of $0.32 in the first quarter, $0.14 less than the analyst estimate of $0.46. Shares of the travel business fell 7.73 per cent to $58.25 in after-hours trading on Wednesday. [...]
Millions of Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft email accounts sold to Russian underworld May 4, 2016 Over 270m email accounts have been hacked and sold to Russian underworld, a security expert has claimed. While a majority of stolen usernames and passwords belonged to popular Russian email service Mail.ru, credentials for some of the world's biggest email providers were also compromised. Of the 272.3m stolen accounts, nearly 40m addresses belonged to Yahoo, [...]
HTC Vive review: Virtual reality has finally arrived, but it will be years before games can catch up May 4, 2016 The Hardware There’s a thrilling moment when you first slip your face into the HTC Vive, soon after you stop feeling like a bootleg Robocop, when you become utterly convinced of the vast virtual world into which you’ve been teleported. You’ll absent-mindedly try to lean on furniture that isn’t there. You’ll laugh like an idiot [...]
The curious case of the iphone trademark: Apple loses fight over iPhone name in China May 4, 2016 Apple has lost a legal battle against a Chinese handbag maker over its use of the iPhone trademark. Xintong Tiandi, a Chinese company that sells leather purses and phone cases, trademarked "IPHONE" in 2010. Apple filed a trademark for “iPhone” in 2002, but got approval only in 2013. The tech giant launched a legal tirade against [...]
London fashion retailer Farfetch raises over £75m in funding round May 4, 2016 Online fashion retailer Farfetch has raised $110m (£75.6m) in its latest funding round to augment expansion plans in the Asia-Pacific region. The London-based luxury shopping platform plans to use the funding to expand in China, Farfetch’s second largest market, Japan and other Asia-Pacific countries. China represents 12 per cent of the company’s sales with Asia-Pacific collectively representing [...]
Star Wars Day shows us the droids we’re looking for May 4, 2016 Over the years I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I firmly believe science fiction is one of the most powerful influences on how people think about the future potential of technology. We’ve seen wonderful examples where the creative license of a few enlightened people have led to the creation of incredible technologies that [...]
Work in tech, bored of London? Forget Silicon Valley, try Australia May 4, 2016 Tech entrepreneur Oli Madgett and his wife Tara recently decided to swap London for South Australia. The weather, beaches, and wine played their part but the city’s growing reputation as a tech hub was crucial. As London’s ‘Here East’ starts to establish itself here’s how our Aussie cousins are doing it. Go big or go [...]