Pi in the sky: Google Cloud sets new Pi record with 31 trillion digits March 14, 2019 A Google employee has set a new record by calculating the value of the number Pi to more than 31 trillion digits. Emma Haruka Iwao, a developer advocate at the tech firm, beat the previous record of 22 trillion, set in 2016. Read more: IBM's Watson supercomputer launches tie-up with Volkswagen's SEAT The calculation, which [...]
Google removed 2.3bn ‘bad ads’ last year in fight against fake news and fraud March 14, 2019 Google removed 2.3bn ads last year for violating its policies on fraud and misinformation, the company said today. The total number of ads removed, which equates to roughly 75 ads per second, is almost 1bn lower than last year. Read more: Google paid $105m to executives accused of sexual harassment But Google said it had [...]
The World Wide Web is 30 years old – what will be the future of the internet? March 14, 2019 The World Wide Web turned 30 years old this week: on 12 March 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal to the world’s largest physics laboratory, Cern, that outlined a new way to link, share, and manage information over the internet. As the main way that the vast majority of us access the online world, the [...]
Hammond calls for competition probe into digital advertising market March 13, 2019 The government will call on the competition regulator to launch an inquiry into the digital advertising sector amid concerns about the dominance of tech giants. Presenting his Spring Statement this afternoon, Chancellor Philip Hammond said he will ask the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to review the market and ensure Google and Facebook “pay their [...]
How the arrival of the World Wide Web has changed the mortgage market March 12, 2019 In 1989, the Swiss physics laboratory, CERN, was buzzing with information but it had one big problem: ideas, data and knowledge held by the lab was stored across incompatible computers. A young scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, envisioned creating a unifying structure for sharing information across its computer systems. He wrote a proposal for a linked information [...]
EU drops plans for digital tax as pressure builds for global reform March 12, 2019 The EU has scrapped plans to roll out a digital tax on tech giants due to opposition from several member states. Romanian finance minister Eugen Teodorovici today told representatives of EU governments the plan has been axed as no agreement could be reached after months of talks, Reuters reported. Read more: EU digital tax could [...]
WPP appoints Microsoft chief executive Cindy Rose to the board March 12, 2019 Advertising group WPP has appointed Microsoft UK chief executive Cindy Rose to its board as a non-executive director, the company said today. Rose, who has held a string of high-profile jobs in the media and technology sectors, will join the firm from the beginning of April and will serve as a member of the audit [...]
World Wide Web: Google Doodle marks 30th anniversary of Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s invention March 12, 2019 It’s become such a fundamental part of our daily lives that it’s now almost impossible to imagine a world without the World Wide Web. But on 12 March 1989 the system we've come to rely on across the glove was just an inchoate proposal for an information management system, written by 33-year-old software engineer Tim [...]
Google paid $105m to two executives accused of sexual harassment March 12, 2019 Google paid a total of $105m (£79m) to two executives after they were accused of sexual harassment, according to court documents released last night. The lawsuit, filed by shareholder James Martin, confirms previous reports that Android creator Andy Rubin was paid $90m after he allegedly coerced sex from a colleague. Read more: Fintech superstar Marta [...]
The UK’s competition policy must be fit for a world of tech giants and hidden cartels March 11, 2019 Competition is the oxygen of the capitalist system. From Adam Smith on, there have been warnings of the threats to economic health if competition is restricted by would-be monopolists or cartels. In the UK, the system is policed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It rarely hits the headlines except for occasional controversial cases like [...]