EA’s new eSports division shows investors should stop ignoring and undervaluing competitive video gaming’s golden growth potential December 11, 2015 Last month, the best-performing media release of the year was revealed. It wasn’t Spectre, Adele’s new album or tickets for U2’s latest global tour. It was Fallout 4, a game from Bethesda Game Studios, which made $750m (£497.6m) in a single day of sales. One of the biggest industries you may not yet have heard [...]
Nasa shows us the surface of Pluto in unprecedented detail and in colour December 11, 2015 It may have been relegated to non-planet status, but Pluto is still an important body within our solar system. Now, for the first time, Nasa has shown us what this “plutoid” looks like close up and in colour, using high-resolution images taken earlier this year by its New Horizons spacecraft. The craft passed just 10,000 [...]
As Apple’s iPhone 6S lands will mobile payments change the way we live? December 11, 2015 Today’s smartphones can do incredible things. Need a ride around London? Just tap the Uber app. Fresh flowers or food from a local restaurant delivered straight to your door? Try Bloom & Wild or Deliveroo. These apps are fantastic, but there's a new smartphone feature set to fundamentally revolutionise the high street and how [...]
Obesity is a “national threat” like terrorism, says UK’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies December 11, 2015 Obesity has become such a serious health problem in the UK that it should be considered a “national threat” alongside terrorism and climate change, according to Britain's chief medical officer. In her annual report, Dame Sally Davies said obesity was a “growing health catastrophe” resulting in higher disease rates and greater burden on health resources, and that [...]
Death of cash: What does a cashless society mean for your children? December 11, 2015 Within a generation terms like cheque book and piggy bank may sound as archaic to young people as the threepenny bit and halfpenny are now. From mobile payments to bitcoin, money is constantly evolving. Last month the UK Payments Council revealed that for the first time ever, non-cash payments had overtaken cash payments in [...]
Scientists have taught robots to learn as quickly and easily as humans December 11, 2015 Until now, robots have taken a lot longer than humans to remember things. Typically, they have to be exposed to an object or event hundreds or even thousands of times before it sticks in their computerised minds, whereas in the case of humans just a couple of encounters tends to do the trick. So while [...]
More than half of Asian millionaire business-owners are women – so why can’t we do the same thing here? December 11, 2015 Earlier this week a report suggested that the UK is actually struggling when it comes to supporting its female entrepreneurs. Just over a quarter (28 per cent) of owners of businesses worth more than $1m (£635,000) are women, compared with 38 per cent in the US. In fact, out of seven countries featured in the [...]
GoPro share price jumps by over 12 per cent after it announces Apple Watch launch December 10, 2015 Shares in camera manufacturer GoPro have jumped by over 12.6 per cent after the company announced a new release for Apple Watch users. The point of view camera firm has launched Apple Watch features in its GoPro App. According to the company, “this new app allows users to preview their shot, toggle between capture modes, [...]
Which countries are London companies hiring tech talent from? San Francisco, even with the capital’s 37 per cent smaller salaries December 10, 2015 London's search for the top tech talent goes beyond the capital, and even the country, with a quarter of jobs filled by someone from outside the UK. Candidates in San Francisco, the epicentre of technology and home to Silicon Valley giants such as Google and Facebook, received more offers from London companies than those in any other location. [...]
The best games of 2015: The year’s Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC video games rated December 9, 2015 Game of the Year: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Under normal circumstances a game with as many glaring problems as Metal Gear Solid V wouldn’t get anywhere near our year-end list. There’s its hastily tied-up storyline, dubious representation of female characters (boobs!), underwhelming multiplayer element. But this isn’t an ordinary game. Its beautifully [...]