City Moves for 26 November – Who’s switching jobs at Circadian Trust, London Square and Loopme? November 26, 2018 Who's moving where in the City this week? Circadian Trust Charitable organisation Circadian Trust, which manages several community and lifestyle centres in the UK, has appointed Phil Boobier as chair of its trustee board. Phil has been an independent director at Circadian and chair of its commercial trading arm Sphere Leisure since 2013. He takes [...]
Defence firm BAE Systems plugs £20m into augmented reality and artificial intelligence on warships November 22, 2018 Defence contractor BAE Systems has today announced a £20m investment to innovate combat systems on its warships, using augmented reality and artificial intelligence to bring its fleet up to date with the latest tech. The firm unveiled several new solutions it has been working on as part of the investment, including augmented reality glasses that would [...]
Samsung to put its voice assistant Bixby in all devices by 2020 November 20, 2018 Samsung Electronics has put its faith in its smart voice assistant Bixby, today announcing a pledge to put the software in all of its electronic products by 2020. The technology, chosen as a rival to Amazon's Alexa, was launched last year via Samsung's top tier smartphone range. The Korean tech giant said at a developer conference [...]
Google and DeepMind are playing fast and loose with society’s trust November 20, 2018 Last week, we were greeted by the disturbing news that DeepMind, an artificial intelligence subsidiary owned by Google’ s parent company Alphabet, is moving some of its healthcare activities into the newly formed Google Health. This isn’t the first time that one of the tech giants has been accused of making misrepresentations to consumers, using [...]
Lexus and IBM debut the world’s first TV advert entirely scripted by artificial intelligence November 19, 2018 Luxury carmaker Lexus has teamed up with IBM's Watson and several London agencies to make the world's first car advertisement entirely scripted by artificial intelligence. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, who is known for films such as The Last King of Scotland and this year's Whitney Houston biopic, the advert was created to showcase Lexus' [...]
Blackberry buys artificial intelligence firm Cylance for $1.4bn November 16, 2018 Blackberry has today confirmed it is acquiring Cylance, a US artificial intelligence and cyber security firm, for $1.4bn (£1.1bn). The deal is expected to close before the end of Blackberry's current financial year in February 2019, pending regulatory approval. It is thought Cylance will work as part of Blackberry's Enterprise of Things (EoT) division, Blackberry Spark, [...]
Editor’s Notes: Nobody has a clue what’s going to happen November 16, 2018 Westminster has entered a period of chaos, marked by the usual signs of political turmoil: marquees outside parliament for camera crews, protesters desperately trying to get in shot and MPs from all sides of the debate milling around trying to get on the air. In the City, frantic movements in sterling and a sizeable hit [...]
London leads the way as an artificial intelligence tech talent hub November 15, 2018 Investment in London’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector from venture capital firms skyrocketed more than 200 per cent between 2015 and 2017, with funding for the capital’s startups so far this year already surpassing last year’s numbers. New figures released today by Pitchbook revealed the fast growth of London’s AI scene, which is home to more [...]
Speedy recovery: Tools supplier improves dividend as profits and revenue grow November 14, 2018 Speedy Hire upped its dividend after growing revenue and more than doubling profit in its half-year results today, sending shares upwards slightly. The tool hire company said it was well on the way to delivering its turnaround plan years after a battle between the board and activist investor Toscafund, which wanted it to merge with HSS. The [...]
Opinion: How can technology make moving house easier? We count the ways November 12, 2018 Moving home is considered to be one of the most stressful life experiences and as a result people rarely bother. The average person only moves once every 17.8 years according to the latest English Housing Survey. But does it need to be this way? Over the next decade, technology will transform the way we buy, [...]