Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong jailed as media tycoon Jimmy Lai writes from prison April 13, 2021 Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been jailed for four months today for ‘unauthorised assembly’ and breaching an anti-mask law during a demonstration in October 2019. Among 47 others charged under a national security law, Wong is currently serving a separate 13.5-month jail term for organising an unauthorised assembly outside police headquarters in June [...]
Microsoft buys AI firm Nuance for $19.7bn in healthcare push April 12, 2021 Microsoft today said it will buy AI health firm Nuance Communications in a $19.7bn (£14.3bn) deal as it looks to bolster its healthcare offering. Massachusetts-based Nuance offers artificial intelligence and speech technology services designed to automate clinical administrative work and reduce the burden of paperwork on doctors. Microsoft said its offer of $56 per share [...]
NHS Covid-19 app update blocked for privacy breaches April 12, 2021 An update to the NHS Covid-19 app has been blocked by Apple and Google for breaking the companies’ privacy terms. The app was due for a fresh reboot from today to coincide with the reopening of pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops, which would have allowed users to log venues they had checked into via a [...]
Johanna Kyrklund: the FOMO market is over – so, what’s next? April 12, 2021 Maybe lockdown has made me more middle aged and boring. I’m just not as interested in trendy stuff any more, both in my personal life (I opted for a VW ID3, not a Tesla, after all) and now in investing. But in today’s markets a more boring approach – favouring diversification and judiciousness over more [...]
Elon Musk claims Neuralink could ‘enable paraplegics to walk again’ April 9, 2021 Elon Musk has shared a video of a monkey using his Neuralink this morning, which showed it playing a video game with computer chips in its mind. Neuralink has begun developing an implanted, wireless brain-machine interface (BMI) which could aid people with paralysis to use their brain activity to operate computers. “First Neuralink product will [...]
Apple’s China dilemma: as the tech giant cracks down on privacy, Beijing finds a workaround April 9, 2021 China’s tech companies have long lived in a parallel universe to their western rivals. But the news that a number of them are testing a tool to bypass Apple’s new privacy rules raises a number of questions about the future of privacy – and perhaps the internet in general. In short, app developers have long [...]
Wizz Air replaces ops chief after he told team to list pilots for redundancy who ’caused grief’ April 8, 2021 Wizz Air has replaced its flight operations chief after he was recorded telling his team to draw up a redundancy list of pilots who were often sick or “caused grief” while sparing cheaper contract crew. In a letter to staff dated April 4, seen by Reuters, Wizz said its head of flight operations Darwin Triggs [...]
Markets: Indexes in London and New York push further into record territory April 8, 2021 FTSE roars to highest levels since February 2020 as Wall St inches up
US outlines new global plan to tax tech titans April 8, 2021 The US has put forward a new plan on global corporate taxes in an effort to resolve disagreements over upcoming tech tax reforms. President Joe Biden’s administration has submitted proposals that would see tech giants and other large multinational corporations pay higher taxes in countries in which they operate, regardless of their physical presence in [...]
Tom Brady throws game-changing pass into the NFT world April 8, 2021 Record-breaking Super Bowl champion Tom Brady is the latest celebrity to throw his hat into the NFT ring.