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 [...]
XCOM 2 review: a game of difficult choices, dire consequences and little alien men February 11, 2016 PC, Mac | ★★★★★ The XCOM series tells the timeless story of an extremely polite alien invasion in which everybody has kindly agreed to take turns fighting, chess-style, rather than piling on to one another in a furious mess of guts and explosions and insectoid limbs. XCOM 2 doesn’t stretch the idea too far, feeling [...]
The hottest tech sectors for investment and deals: Biotech, pharma and fintech are set to grow in Silicon Valley and Silicon Roundabout alike February 11, 2016 Last year was a bumper year for UK tech investment, with over £3bn of investment by venture capital. Yet the year finished without its usual flourish. It was the same story in the US and with the same protagonists – perceived overvaluations of private companies, particularly in the technology sector, and the uneasy public markets. [...]
Farming is more digital than finance – and the most digital business industries in the UK February 11, 2016 The digital economy is being fuelled by traditional businesses as much as it is hot shot startups – but some are innovating more quickly than others and you might call finance a surprising slow moo-ver. Farming and the agriculture industry counts more digital businesses in its midst than finance, according to figures from market intelligence firm GrowthIntel. Just [...]
We’ve reached peak Twitter as user growth goes negative at former social media darling February 11, 2016 Haunted by quarters of slowing growth, Twitter’s worst nightmare became a reality yesterday. It’s not growing anymore. The company’s fourth quarter report revealed monthly active users (MAUs) dropped to 305m from 307m in the previous quarter. None of this should come as a shock, although it obviously did for many investors. The stock fell as much as [...]
Italian low-carbon energy company Cogenpower to float on Aim February 11, 2016 An Italian low-carbon energy company will float on the London Stock Exchange's alternative investment market (Aim) tomorrow, as it seeks to expand into the UK. Cogenpower wants to raise £1m by listing 5,000,000 shares at 20p each, giving it an anticipated market capitalisation of £10m. Cogenpower's power plants and district heating networks deliver cheaper, cleaner heat and energy to nearby communities [...]