Online payments company Stripe expands to 130 currencies February 11, 2014 Stripe, the online payments firm started by two Irish brothers in their mid-20s and valued at $1.75bn (£1.06bn) last month, has expanded its payment services from four to over 130 currencies. “This is something that is phenomenally important to businesses, because when you’re selling to an increasingly global audience you want to be able to [...]
The Long View: Bill Gates is gone and the dot-com era is over: It’s only the end of the beginning February 6, 2014 AS FACEBOOK turns ten, and with Bill Gates stepping down as Microsoft chairman, it feels like something is drawing to an end. But if so, it is only the end of the technological revolution’s beginning. It is extraordinary to look back now and think how visionary both Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg were: Gates saw [...]
The market’s already come up with something that makes Nick Clegg’s electric car plan totally irrelevant January 30, 2014 Nick Clegg’s on a drive to make Britain the world leader in electric cars. Today, he announced that the government will invest more than £9m to up the number of charging points across the country. The government’s partnered up with major car manufacturers who are backing the suspectly-named Go Ultra Low campaign – which they [...]
Google snaps up London start up in £400m deal January 28, 2014 GOOGLE has paid £400m to take control of a London-based tech company co-founded by former chess prodigy and neuroscientist Demis Hassabis. DeepMind Technologies, which was set up by Hassabis and colleagues Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman in 2011, will work on research and development projects in artificial intelligence, which could one day be used in [...]
Google snaps up London start up in £400m deal January 27, 2014 GOOGLE has paid £400m to take control of a London-based tech company co-founded by former chess prodigy and neuroscientist Demis Hassabis. DeepMind Technologies, which was set up by Hassabis and colleagues Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman in 2011, will work on research and development projects in artificial intelligence, which could one day be used in [...]
Tesla Motors sales soaring January 14, 2014 ELECTRIC car maker Tesla Motors said yesterday that deliveries of its Model S sedan in the fourth quarter blew past what the company had forecast, sending shares up more than 10 per cent in New York. Tesla, run by tycoon Elon Musk, delivered 6,900 Model S sedans in the quarter, 20 per cent above what [...]
Disruptive technology isn’t a miracle: We can harness its future power now | City A.M. December 20, 2013 THE ASTONISHING rise of firms like Twitter (founded just seven years ago, yet now expected to float for $10bn), is often seen as a grand romantic narrative – an exciting story, difficult to predict. But transformation, disruption, and change should be easier to forecast. The only weapon we need is the deceptively simple power of [...]
Five reasons why delivery drones won’t take off December 2, 2013 The news is buzzing with hopes for Amazon's drone-based delivery service. But skies in the UK will remain quiet for the time-being. Here’s why. 1. REGULATIONJohn Moreland, a spokesperson for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Systems Association (UAVS), says that regulatory fears over drone technology still hold back development. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) wants all [...]
Five reasons delivery drones won’t take off December 2, 2013 The news is buzzing with hopes for Amazon's drone-based delivery service – Prime Air. But skies in the UK will remain quieter for the time-being. Here's why. 1. Regulation John Moreland, a spokesperson for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Systems Association (UAVS) says that regulator fears over drone technology still hold back development. The Civil Aviation [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 22 November 2013 November 21, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Independence could lose sterling Scotland will be forced to quit the sterling currency union if it votes for independence next year, a cabinet minister has said, in the starkest warning yet for Scottish voters to remain in the UK. Speaking to the Financial Times days before the Scottish government releases its vision for [...]