The GranTurismo MC is the last hurrah for Maserati’s ageing V8-engined coupe. Tim Pitt drives it June 12, 2018 When the Maserati GranTurismo was launched, Tony Blair was in 10 Downing Street, Jade Goody was in the Big Brother house and the iPhone remained a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye. Now, as this Italian stallion nears retirement age, Maserati has given it one last update to take on the ever-growing ranks of six-figure sports [...]
The focus on tech stocks is too narrow – it’s time to get creative June 12, 2018 Tech is a no brainer for investors. But a simple investment theme for the sector is being badly executed. Investors are too narrow in their focus, chasing Nasdaq and FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) stocks, in a similar way to how they tend to play emerging markets. That is, in a simple fashion. Investor [...]
SoftBank’s Vision Fund leads $250m series D investment into data storage tech firm Cohesity June 11, 2018 Californian data storage firm Cohesity has closed an oversubscribed series D round at $250m (£186.2m), led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund in its second ever enterprise investment after workspace messaging app Slack. The round also saw participation from Cisco Investments, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Sequoia Capital. Cohesity’s chief operating officer and president [...]
AI-powered language learning startup Memrise raises $15.5m in series B funding June 11, 2018 Memrise, a language learning app powered by machine learning, has closed a $15.5m (£11.5m) series B funding round, led by Octopus Ventures and Korelya Capital. Additional participation came from existing investors Avalon Ventures and Balderton Capital, which was recently listed as one of the top 10 unicorn-making funds in Europe. Its valuation is still under [...]
Foxconn launches investigation into working conditions at factory used to make Amazon devices June 11, 2018 A Chinese plant that makes devices for Amazon is being investigated after an American watchdog group slammed the facility for harsh working conditions. Contract manufacturer Foxconn said yesterday it would launch an investigation into the plant. A 94-page report by China Labor Watch said bosses made staff work excessive hours, with low wages and inadequate [...]
Revealed: The 15 best employers in Britain for work-life balance, as rated by staff June 7, 2018 Dealing with millions of busy commuters might not sound like the dream job, but according to a new study workers at Transport for London (TfL) are the most content with their work-life balance. The rankings, compiled by job site Indeed, showed that TfL had a better “staff first” mentality than any other company in the [...]
One in five EU consumers have shopped using a voice assistant like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa June 4, 2018 While 87 per cent of US consumers are aware of voice and text aides, the European Union is miles ahead on adopting new technology from the likes of Apple, Amazon and Microsoft to carry out their daily buying needs. According to research carried out by Mastercard, 21 per cent of consumers in the EU have [...]
Facebook denies new data privacy allegations over its decade-old mobile device APIs June 4, 2018 In a post-Cambridge Analytica world where tech giants have to be increasingly touchy when fingers are pointed at privacy issues, Facebook has issued a rebuttal to allegations that parts of its tech are still leaking data to third parties. Over the last ten years, Facebook has reached data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 mobile device [...]
The top and bottom performing investment funds in May June 4, 2018 “Sell in May and go away” advises the well-known City adage, which also suggests returning to the market after “St Leger Day”. This is the date in September when the horse race of that name is run and, traditionally, when the summer lull in trading is over. It bears little relevance in the modern era [...]
A future society driven by tech must have freedom at its heart June 4, 2018 Spotify knows your own taste in music better than you do. It’s the promise made by predictive technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) – and it was the claim made to a recent gathering of Europe’s leading investors in technology. Taste in music is not something I’ve ever shouted about, and to say my playlists are [...]