Facebook taking on Snapchat with disappearing messages November 13, 2015 Facebook is trying out messages that will self-destruct within an hour after sending. Sound familiar? That’s probably because that’s exactly how rival Snapchat works. This isn’t the first time Facebook has attempted to muscle in on Snapchat’s popularity, either. The social media giant, which incidentally offered to buy Snapchat for $3bn back in 2013, previously launched the [...]
EE boss Olaf Swantee: Hacking activity has increased since TalkTalk attack came to light November 12, 2015 It's not just ironing out the details of the coming takeover from British telecom giant BT, scheduled for March next year, that’s keeping EE chief executive Olaf Swantee busy. The mobile operator EE, – created in a 50:50 joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and Orange SA in 2010 – has had to fend off an increased [...]
Cisco share price falls on weak outlook as cloud business sales offset weak quarterly performance November 12, 2015 Cisco’s revenue climbed 3.6 per cent in the three months to October as sales from its cloud business offset poor performance elsewhere. Total revenue reached $12.7bn (£8.35bn), with earnings per share up to $0.59 per share from $0.54 per share. The tech giant's sales growth was led by Data Center and Collaboration – which include its cloud [...]
Microsoft launches blockchain cloud-based platform with startup ConsensYs to make blockchain experimenting easy November 12, 2015 Looks like Microsoft is getting serious about blockchain. The tech giant is teaming up with startup ConsensYs to launch a cloud-based blockchain platform that will enable financial institutions to experiment with the lauded technology that underlies cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. “Working with our customers that wanted to start playing around with blockchain technology, the major pain [...]
You can now buy land in space – as long as you live in the US November 12, 2015 It's now possible for businesses and individual people to own parts of space – and it's likely to be asteroids they put their money on. This week, Congress passed the final version of the Commercial Space Bill, which will give limited property rights for resources extracted from asteroids. Called the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, the [...]
Blockchain is the single biggest fintech innovation of the decade November 12, 2015 Despite the enormous attention being lavished on digital currencies such as bitcoin, the reality of the situation is we won’t see one hit the mainstream for many years. Before central banks commit to issuing a digital pound or dollar they will need to be assured about several factors, including proof that there are no vulnerabilities [...]
This is when most British people get grey hair, dodgy knees and back problems November 12, 2015 Some people embrace their grey hair as a sign of wisdom, others do everything they can to cover it up. But whichever category you fall into, you can expect to see the first silver strands when you're 39. This is according to a survey carried out by the South West News Service, which worked out the [...]
Astronaut Chris Hadfield says Moon settlement is 15 years away and Mars colonisation is possible November 11, 2015 Moon settlement will be a reality in 15 years, according to astronaut Chris Hadfield, who also said colonisation of Mars is possible. “We are on the cusp of rewriting space travel all by visualising perfection and deciding what the next thing is we need to do to make it happen,” he said in a speech [...]
Banks to use bitcoin technology blockchain as soon as 2016 November 11, 2015 Banks could integrate the technology underpinning cryptocurrency bitcoin into some parts of their business as early as next year, according to a new report. Bitcoin utilises blockchain technology which enables the transfer of financial assets using cryptographically secured networks, and consequently removed the need for a third-party intermediary. Read more: UBS plays down potential of bitcoin The report [...]
Copper could soon become crucial for global disease prevention November 11, 2015 “Antimicrobial copper” could soon become a common term in the medical world – researchers from the University of Southampton have discovered that the metal can rapidly inactivate certain viruses, stopping them from spreading and causing disease. When they placed coronavirus 229E on a surface containing copper, they found that the virus was destroyed within minutes, [...]