How six City analysts reacted to Arm’s acquisition by Softbank July 18, 2016 Another ripe fruit was plucked from the tree of UK plc today, after Japanese lender Softbank announced it was acquiring Arm Holdings, the rockstar chip designer. Not surprisingly, shares in the company, whose clients include Apple and Samsung, shot up more than 40 per cent on the announcement of the news. But how did the City [...]
Ctrl at RADA Studios by Breaking Fourth is the world’s first VR play, and we can’t get enough of it July 14, 2016 This debut feature from Breaking Fourth claims to be the first Virtual Reality play, combining elements of video game storytelling with both traditional and immersive theatre. In this case, the “theatre” is a dark room filled with swivel chairs, where you’re given a short, in-character introduction before being told to don your VR headset (Samsung [...]
The Pokemon Go effect? This startup powering AR and VR has landed millions July 13, 2016 Unity Technologies, a developer engine behind the hugely popular Pokemon Go mobile game, has landed millions of pounds in new funding from top venture capital investors. Unity is popular for traditional games development and is increasingly used by creators of virtual and augmented reality content, including the majority made for Facebook's Oculus and Samsung's Gear VR. Read more: [...]
Why British homeowners still aren’t buying into the idea of the home connected by smart tech June 29, 2016 Take any object in your home and you can guarantee that at some point a Silicon Valley startup has tried to create a web-enabled version of it. The ever expanding “Internet of Things” (IoT), as it’s clunkily termed, now includes almost every household item under the sun. Many are useful, such as thermostats, light bulbs, [...]
Forget the Nexus, Google is set to launch its own smartphone by the end of the year June 26, 2016 Tech goliath Google is expected to release it own smartphone by the end of the year in a bid to get a bigger slice of the smartphone market. The search giant has approached mobile operators to discuss manufacturing a Google-branded phone, sources told the Daily Telegraph. Currently the tech giant provides operating systems for smartphones [...]
The City of London will prosper in or out of the European Union June 15, 2016 A friend tells me why he is voting Remain. “My wife works for a French bank and they would pull out of London if we left the EU.” That’s fair enough. Assuming the French bank set up in London to access the EU, then it’s logical to assume it would leave after Brexit. But a [...]
Watch out PayPal: Now you can use Apple Pay online June 13, 2016 Apple has made a major move with its mobile pay service, adding support for it online. This means users can simply use a "Pay by Apple" button when browsing on the iPhone or Mac, in addition to using the iPhone to pay at tills. An Apple Pay button will appear when you pay online, via [...]
How to watch Apple’s next big announcement June 12, 2016 No sooner than we have a new iPhone (the SE, if you'd forgotten) than it's that time of year when we roll around to one of Apple's big annual events – WWDC. The tech company's annual developer conference is where several announcements are due to be made – from a new evolution of Siri, potentially, [...]
The seven things to look out for at Apple WWDC June 12, 2016 Apple's already launched a phone this year, but there's more to come from the tech titan, and some of that will be revealed at its developer conference next week. Don't expect the iPhone 7 yet though, this will be all about software and services rather than devices. Last year, we had a bumper one that [...]
Is fintech the new black? Lower trust in disruptors gives banks reason to cheer June 10, 2016 Digital innovation – and more specifically the impact of fintech – is currently the most intensely debated topic in the financial services sector. Two years ago hardly anyone outside the industry had heard of fintech. Now it’s the hottest investment class globally for VCs. PwC recently produced a report claiming that over 20 per cent [...]