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 [...]
Apple Pay: How does it work and is it any quicker? A guide for the new contactless payment system July 15, 2015 Apple Pay has finally arrived in the UK. Well, sort of. If you have the right iPhone and the right bank and you shop in the right place and if the sun is shining at just the right angle – then you can use Apple Pay (okay, we made the bit about the sun up). [...]
5 the war on cash July 15, 2015 Transport With apps like Uber, cashless buses and contactless payments on the Tube, public transport is practically a note-free zone already. The London Underground has had NFC technology since the introduction of the Oyster card, which means it’s Apple Pay ready. Retail Many high street retailers have jumped onto the contactless bandwagon in recent years, [...]
Apple’s new iPod Touch has a better eight megapixel camera and the processing power of an iPhone 6 July 15, 2015 Apple has revealed a new range of iPods, including an updated iPod Touch and new colour options for the iPod Nano, Shuffle and Touch. The refreshed iPod Touch, a device first released in 2009, now comes with the processing power of an iPhone 6, an eight-megapixel camera with features such slo-mo and burst, fitness tracking [...]