Elon Musk’s “next great idea” is to develop a vertical takeoff and landing electric plane after Tesla, SpaceX and Hyperloop February 5, 2016 Elon Musk has new big plans: After out-there projects like SpaceX’s reusable rocket and Hyperloop, the billionaire tech titan wants to turn his attention to electric aeroplanes. The technology is basically non-existent commercially today, but that could all be about to change. Speaking at a Hyperloop event in Texas, the Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur was [...]
The IT skills gap is growing: It’s not all about startups and Silicon Roundabout February 4, 2016 Amid all the pleas and promises to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of the digital revolution we need to remember that it is not all about startups and the "Silicon Roundabout". A more pressing problem of not having enough workers to fill the jobs in IT departments across Britain is now confronting the [...]
Friends Day: Facebook’s birthday is today – 12 years on, here’s three ways the social network has changed February 4, 2016 Happy Friends Day friend! You might have noticed something different on you Facebook feed today – a personal video of your nearest and dearest (on Facebook, at least), all because the social network is turning 12. Yep, it's hard to believe it's entering its teenage years, and that just 12 short years ago, it didn't even exist. Seriously, [...]
Five things entrepreneurs and founders need to know before joining a growth business accelerator programme February 4, 2016 British entrepreneurs have a lot to be excited about at the moment. With over half a million businesses started in the UK in 2013 alone – helped by a business environment with the fewest barriers to entrepreneurship in the world – and the number growing, it’s a good time to be a British-based business. Unsurprisingly [...]
Twitter’s testing a gif button February 4, 2016 In Twitter's ongoing adventure to remain relevant, its latest potential product innovation will likely illicit this kind of reaction from the twitterverse: Several users have reported seeing a dedicated gif button on the Twitter mobile app, just like the picture and polls options users have when posting a tweet now. Read more: Twitter chapter and verse? Here's [...]
How one simple change could save the NHS millions: Nurses taking stairs instead of lifts could save £100m, startup StepJockey says February 4, 2016 One simple change to an everyday habit in hospitals across the country could save the NHS millions of pounds, according to new research. More than £100m could be saved if even just 15 per cent of the country's 348,000 nurses took the stairs instead of the lift while on duty, research from health and wellbeing startup StepJockey [...]
Campaigners attempt to test Google “Tories are/Labour are” autocomplete “conspiracy theories” February 4, 2016 A conspiracy theory that Google is blocking negative auto-suggestions for "Conservatives are…." is being put to the test by campaigners trying to train the search engine into offering particularly mean ones. Google was forced to deny "conspiracy theories" that its £130m tax bill is linked to censorship of the search terms around the Conservatives. Users [...]
Facebook has slashed six degrees of separation to just 3.57 putting us much closer to Kevin Bacon February 4, 2016 Remember six degrees of separation? The theory that you, Kevin Bacon and every other human on Earth are just six connections away? Well, forget it, Facebook has changed all that The firm has analysed its over 1.5bn active users and discovered that in the age of social media, the real degree of separation between us [...]
Is this the biggest test yet for Google’s driverless cars? Testing roll out to Kirkland, Washington State will pose rain challenge February 4, 2016 Google's driverless car testing has logged more than a million miles on the road, but there's one thing they may not have come across in all those hours of driving which could pose quite a big challenge, especially if they were to come to Britain's roads: rain. The self-driving cars will now hit the streets of a new [...]
GoPro share price loses 9.34 per cent after revealing plummeting sales February 3, 2016 Camera manufacturer GoPro has posted a 31.1 per cent decline in sales for the final quarter of 2015, down to $436.6m (£299.3m) from $633.9m, missing analysts' expectations of $496.1m. Shares in the company dropped by over nine per cent in after hours trading, and at the close yesterday were down by more than 80 per cent over [...]