Car alarm: Half of UK consumers fear driverless vehicles September 2, 2019 Almost half of UK consumers are worried about the dangers posed by driverless cars, a new survey has revealed. Roughly 43 per cent of adults surveyed said they were concerned about the problems that may arise from autonomous vehicles, as car manufacturers race to develop the new technology. Read more: Former Uber driverless guru charged [...]
What is Zao? The Chinese ‘deepfake’ face-swapping app that’s gone viral September 2, 2019 A controversial face-swapping app has provoked a major privacy row after going viral in China over the weekend. Zao, a new app that can place anyone inside their favourite TV show or movie by using a selfie, has sparked fresh concerns over so-called deepfake technology in the wake of its swift rise to the top [...]
Wolfenstein: Youngblood review – a bonkers but thrilling co-op experiment August 28, 2019 Platform: PS4 (tested), XBO, PC Five years ago, Wolfenstein: The New Order took a gloriously silly, decades old game about shooting Nazis and turned it into a gloriously silly, throughly modern game about shooting Nazis. It married lightning-quick gunplay with a pulpy, sci-fi yarn about monstrous mechanical Panzerhunds and fascist moon bases, while somehow making [...]
EU considers giving citizens explicit rights over facial recognition data August 22, 2019 The European Commission is considering introducing strict regulations governing the use of facial recognition technology that would give EU citizens explicit rights over the use of their facial recognition data. The Commission’s plans, which were first reported in the Financial Times, would be part of a wider overhaul into how the EU regulates artificial intelligence [...]
London’s demand for emerging tech skills could create a North–South divide August 22, 2019 London has more demand for those with emerging technology skills than ten other UK cities combined, new research has found. The UK currently has 422,000 professionals with skills in emerging technologies including data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing. Of those professionals, 37 per cent (155,000) are based in London, according to research by [...]
Shares in Kin and Carta slide as investment eats into profit August 20, 2019 Shares in Kin and Carta dropped roughly 13 per cent after the digital transformation company warned on profits for the full year. The London-headquartered firm said its pre-tax profit would be marginally lower than expectations after it upped its annual investment from £2m to £3m. Read more: AI software market posts huge growth amid digital [...]
Softbank suffers £380m writedown in Oneweb stake August 18, 2019 Softbank is said to have written down its stake in Oneweb by £380m as the British satellite company contends with the sky-high costs of its planned launches. Oneweb has burned through billions of pounds as it looks to create a network of satellites providing high-speed broadband across the globe. Read more: Oneweb lands $1.25bn in [...]
Tencent posts profit boost after China lifts gaming ban August 14, 2019 Tencent has reported a 35 per cent rise in profit for the second quarter as growth in its gaming division returned after a lengthy regulatory ban. The Chinese tech giant has suffered a string of disappointing quarterly results after Beijing imposed a nine-month freeze on licences for new online games. Read more: Tencent in talks [...]
Ailing economy puts strain on UK tech growth August 12, 2019 Following seven years of consecutive expansion in the fastest-growing sector of the UK economy, signs have emerged that growth in British tech has begun to slow. Business activity in the UK tech sector dropped from 54.4 in the first quarter to 53 in the second, according to a closely-watched industry bellwether index. Data from KPMG’s [...]
Malaysia charges 17 current and former Goldman Sachs staff in 1MDB fund fraud case August 9, 2019 Malaysia has charged 17 current and former Goldman Sachs directors and in a corruption investigation into the state fund 1MDB. “Custodial sentences and criminal fines will be sought against the accused in the Section 367 Charges, given the severity of the scheme to defraud and fraudulent misappropriation of billions in bond proceeds,” Malaysia attorney general [...]