Apple acquisitions: Tech giant buys a company every three to four weeks February 24, 2021 As the giants of Silicon Valley jostle for pole position in the escalating technology arms race, mergers and acquisitions are often the name of the game. But the scale of Big Tech acquisitiveness has been laid bare after Apple boss Tim Cook revealed his company has snapped up roughly 100 companies over the last six [...]
You Sex-AI thing – why relationships could be next to go digital February 20, 2021 It is fair to suggest that the art of dating and formulating new relationships has undergone a paradigm shift over the past year. The notion of digitised matchmaking is nothing new of course, but that stage of the journey is traditionally followed by face-to-face interactions and experiences to complete the process. However, with COVID-19 expediting [...]
Slave to the algo: facial recognition and fraud in a Covid-19 world February 19, 2021 “There will come a time when it isn’t, ‘they’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be, ‘my phone is spying on me’.” American author, Philip K. Dick, warned us about the rapid advancement of technology. Incredibly, this warning was given long before his death in 1982, when mobile phones were the [...]
Big Bang 2.0 will only succeed with a revolution in the back-office of financial services February 19, 2021 Negative news about the new post-Brexit challenges for the UK’s financial services currently dominates headlines. The market structure is still far from settled ahead of upcoming talks between the UK and the EU on equivalence. Whatever level of equivalence is agreed upon will dictate the direction for UK financial services, with some eyeing up an [...]
Dr Ben Goertzel: The crusade against the oligopolies February 18, 2021 SingularityNET CEO Dr Ben Goertzel explains how, once AGI is achieved, it must not fall into the hands of individuals with their own agendas.
Labour’s top priority is ‘financial responsibility’, says Starmer February 17, 2021 Sir Keir Starmer will tomorrow say Labour’s priority will “always be financial responsibility” in a speech expected to reveal the party’s future economic direction under his leadership. Starmer will also say there can be “no return to business as usual” post-Covid, while outlining policies that he says will provide “long-term security to the economy, support for [...]
UK to announce secretive £800m science research agency called Aria February 17, 2021 The government is set to announce a new £800m research facility that will invest in high-risk military projects. It will be called the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) and is based on the US’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which has overseen the creation of experimental military technologies. Darpa and its predecessor agency [...]
Illegal drugs worth £11m seized by Royal Marines in Arabian Sea February 17, 2021 The Royal Navy have seized more than 2.6 tonnes of illegal drugs in an operation lasting 10 hours. In total 2.4 tonnes of heroin, crystal methamphetamine and hashish were seized, adding to the 275 kilograms of heroin confiscated two days previously. All up, the haul had a street value of £11m. Sailors on board the [...]
Labour should become the party of AI and tech under Keir Starmer February 16, 2021 Sir Keir Starmer has had a rough start to 2020. The Labour leader has taken a battering in the past few weeks for a perception that Starmerism has no impetus or direction, leaving some pundits to question whether he has cut through beyond the SW1 bubble. While much of this criticism should be dismissed when [...]
Adapt and thrive: There’s a £200bn prize for British firms willing to embrace new ideas February 16, 2021 After the toughest of years, many businesses are still reeling from the impact of Covid-19. Shuttered high streets and closed forecourts are the visible scars from a bruising year. But alongside this, some businesses are swimming against the tide, with strong profits reported at firms like Next and Jaguar Land Rover. Covid-19 shone a spotlight [...]