Watch out Alexa: Google’s AI assistant’s been released into the wild at MWC integrating with Nokia, Samsung, Huawei and more February 26, 2017 Google's voice assistant has been released into the wild, making an appearance in several blockbuster smartphones unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. The Siri-like assistant will feature in the latest flagship phones from Nokia, Samsung, Huawei LG, Sony and HTC. It's the first time the artificial intelligence (AI) powered Google Assistant has featured in any non-Google [...]
Editor’s Notes: Snapchat woos London investors, Venezuela’s vice president reaches a new low and Channel 4’s Jon Snow needs to get a grip February 24, 2017 Are you a Snapchatter? Do you even know what I’m talking about? Snapchat is a social media app that allows users to send images and videos to each other, often augmented by the addition of creative filters or effects. It’s also increasingly used as a platform for viewing and sharing news content. You may not [...]
Bring on the robots: We should welcome the demise of the human machine February 22, 2017 In decades to come, people will reflect on the present day with bewilderment and say: “they had humans doing what?” In the blizzard of noise around a looming acceleration in technological unemployment we need to balance our fears of the rise of the robots with excitement around the impending demise of the human machine. The [...]
The end of road rage? Your car will soon be able to tell what mood you’re in – then play your favourite music to cheer you up February 21, 2017 Could this be the end of road rage as we know it? Ford might just have a solution in the works as it expects the cars of tomorrow to be able to pick up on minute changes in our facial expression and inflections in our speaking voice. So advanced systems, equipped with microphones and in-car cameras, could [...]
The government must relax visa rules to safeguard our tech boom February 20, 2017 The UK digital technology sector is emerging as a global force. A record £6.7bn was invested in UK tech firms in 2016, more than any other European country. In contrast, the automotive sector received £1.66bn in investment. This record boom means the sector already accounts for 16 per cent of domestic output compared with 10 per [...]
“Rise up”: The full text of Tony Blair’s Open Britain speech on Brexit February 17, 2017 Tony Blair has been absent from British politics for years, now – but today he returned in spectacular style, urging the UK's population to "rise up" against Brexit. Although some (including former deputy PM Nick Clegg) liked it, the majority of reaction has been that he missed the mark. Not sure what you think? Here's [...]
Private equity giant Blackstone buys majority stake in London technology company Cloudreach February 16, 2017 Private equity giant Blackstone has announced a deal to acquire a majority stake in a London cloud technology company. Cloudreach provides cloud computing products and services for companies including BP, Pearson and Hearst Corporation. Founded in 2009, the company now has offices in seven countries and has a presence in both Europe and North America. [...]
Artificial Intelligence to reveal the biggest secret in oil February 15, 2017 The EIA is, and will continue to be, the gold standard for reporting U.S. oil inventories, and the administration’s weekly reports have the power to immediately swing crude oil prices depending on builds or draws in oil stocks. But while the U.S. is a transparently reporting country, other nations are not revealing oil stocks data, [...]
Ford gears up for a major AI investment to boost its self-driving car offerings February 11, 2017 Ford is spending big to up its game in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. The US carmaker said it will invest $1bn (£800m) over the next five years in Argo AI, an AI software and robotics technology startup, to support its autonomous vehicle development. Pittsburgh-based Argo AI, which was founded by former Google and Uber leaders, will work to develop a [...]
Replace 250,000 public sector jobs with robots, urges think tank Reform in radical workforce overhaul driven by technology February 5, 2017 Automating admin jobs could reduce the public sector workforce by more than a quarter of a million people saving the economy billions of pounds, a leading think tank has suggested. And adopting technology such as artificial intelligence, chatbots and drones, could radically overhaul the public sector and streamline Whitehall even further, according to a new report [...]