Google self-driving cars have had their first accident which caused an injury July 18, 2015 Google's self-driving cars have had their first accident which resulted in three passengers sustaining minor injuries according to the company. The tech giant said that the accident happened on 1 July when its driverless Lexus sports utility vehicle was rear-ended while stationary in a queue of traffic on a road in California. "Thankfully, everyone in both [...]
Spam email levels at 12-year low as real emails outnumber them for first time since 2003 July 17, 2015 Good news on the email front: For the first time in twelve years, less than half of emails are spam. Real emails are outnumbering junk for the first time since 2003, writes security company Symantec in its monthly intelligence report. It remains a pretty close call, though, as spam still makes up 49.7 per cent [...]
IBM’s supercomputer Watson can check and correct the tone of your writing July 17, 2015 Worried about how you’re coming across in emails? There’s an app for that (sort of). IBM’s Watson now has a feature that can critique the tone of your messages. Think of it as a tone check rather than a spell check, if you will. IBM engineer Rama Akkiraju writes: To read a message and to [...]
Government spending on science rises for first time since 2009 July 17, 2015 The UK’s spending on science is up for the first time in four years, as new figures showed government expenditure on science, engineering and technology landing on £10.9bn. Spending in these areas went up by nine per cent in 2013, new figures released by the Office for National Statistics today showed. Allowing for inflation, this [...]
MacRobert Award 2015: British company Artemis Intelligent Power wins prestigious engineering award for digital hydraulics system July 17, 2015 A British company that has developed a way of cutting fuel consumption and transforming offshore wind has won the MacRobert Award, the UK’s most prestigious engineering award. Scottish firm Artemis Intelligent Power was presented with The Royal Academy of Engineering’s award late last night, for its novel digital hydraulic power system Three British companies were [...]
Google share price rises as chief financial officer Ruth Porat enjoys better than expected earnings July 16, 2015 The figures Google beat earnings expectations in its latest financial results with earnings of $6.99 (£4.48) a share, but overall revenue of $17.73bn came in below analysts' forecasts. Read more: Google could make joint bid for Tesco unit Excluding the cost to acquire traffic, Google's revenue in the second quarter rose 13 per cent to [...]
Plus500 shareholders give Playtech takeover the green light July 16, 2015 Plus500 shareholders have given the go-ahead to Playtech's £460m acquisition of the online spreadbetter. Read more: Watchdog must give its blessing to Plus500 deal Israeli online gambling firm Playtech's offer values Plus500 at 400 pence per share, some way below the 750 pence per share trading price the Aim-listed company enjoyed before freezing thousands of investors [...]
Can mindfulness protect against mental illness? Wellcome Trust funds £6.4m study on thousands of UK schoolchildren to find out July 16, 2015 Can mindfulness help protect against mental illness? Thousands of UK teenagers are taking part in a large experiment to find out. Some 6,000 teens at schools across the UK will be getting lessons in mindfulness as the Wellcome Trust is putting £6.4m towards a large study into how mindfulness works on adolescents. The point of [...]
Bigbelly is turning New York’s smart garbage bins into wi-fi hotspots July 16, 2015 New York’s rubbish bins were already pretty smart. Now they’re going online. The waste management company Bigbelly has applied for a grant from the city’s Mayor’s Office to convert its several hundred NYC bins into wi-fi hotspots, in the latest example of unexpected devices hooking up to the Internet of Things. This is an expansion [...]
Tessa Jowell forms business group with former trade minister Mervyn Davies to make London the tech capital of the world July 16, 2015 How can London become the tech capital of the world? That's the question being put to business leaders including former trade minister Mervyn Davies, National Express chairman Sir John Armitt and London Chamber of Commerce chairman Mark Adams today. The group, which has been set up by mayoral hopeful Tessa Jowell, also includes [...]