Samsung Pay launches in China following Apple Pay but faces Alibaba’s AliPay, Tencent’s WeChat Pay and other homegrown rivals March 29, 2016 Samsung will let its smartphone users in China pay with just a swipe of their mobile as it launches Samsung Pay in the country in a partnership with China UnionPay. Samsung follows Apple, which launched in China in February – also with UnionPay – and counted 3m cards set up with Apple Pay within the first two days. Samsung Pay will [...]
Sky’s going big on virtual reality with VR studio and plans for Formula 1, boxing, cycling content and more March 17, 2016 Sky is deepening its efforts in virtual reality, an industry expected to be worth $70bn by 2020, with a specialist studio producing new content, including films from the Formula 1 racetrack. Viewers will be able to almost smell the petrol of the pit and experience the hair-raising bends of a Grand Prix track as if they [...]
Apple’s Siri and other virtual assistants from Google, Microsoft and Samsung can’t help with tough questions about depression, suicide, rape, and domestic violence, study finds March 15, 2016 Siri may be able to tell you the weather forecast and show you where the nearest Pret is, but Apple’s digital helper and those from the likes of Google, Samsung and Microsoft, are unable to help with some of life’s toughest questions. Who hasn’t googled those niggling little health symptoms? But now that we use those [...]
The UK is the sport industry capital of the world – its businesses must lead the way with corporate responsibility March 11, 2016 In case you hadn’t noticed, the UK is sport mad. We watch, discuss, engage and play sport with great passion. So it’s not surprising that we are pretty damn good at the business of sport as well. Led by the Barclays Premier League we have an industry worth an estimated £24bn per year. But more [...]
Samsung partners with magician Dynamo, adding smoke and mirrors to its lower spec S7 smartphone March 9, 2016 News of street magician Dynamo's talent travels far; korean firm Samsung has hired him to show off the powerful technology behind firm's new S7 smartphone, despite UK consumers only being able to buy the lower spec model. Samsung has struck an advertising deal with the star to promote the mobile provider's new S7 smartphone to be released on 11 March 2016 and its powerful [...]
MWC 2016 roundup: the biggest new phones announced at this year’s Mobile World Congress February 24, 2016 LG G5 LG’s new flagship handset is one of the first modular designs to market, allowing you to remove part of the phone to snap on new accessories to upgrade or add functionality. So far LG has shown the G5 customised with a camera grip – which adds additional battery capacity as well as shutter [...]
The Oscars 2016 by numbers: The cost of the Academy Awards in advertising, security and bling February 24, 2016 Oscars season is here again. But how much cash is shelled out – and by whom? Here’s everything you need to know. Oscar statuette: between $500 and $900 each The estimated cost of the famous Oscar statuette is a closely-guarded secret. “We have agreed with the Academy to never discuss [cost of] producing the statuettes,” [...]
Why taking a selfie is going to start costing you money as MasterCard brings “selfie pay”, its facial recognition payment software, to the UK February 22, 2016 Now there's a less vain reason to take a selfie: MasterCard is bringing facial recognition payment services, dubbed "selfie pay", to the UK. The company has already trialled the technology in pilot schemes in the US and Netherlands, ahead of a launch in 14 other countries this summer. (Rumours Kim Kardashian was the first person [...]
Apple iPhone sales fell for the first time in history, Gartner figures reveal February 18, 2016 Sales of Apple's iconic iPhones have fallen for the first time in history, analysts say. Global sales of the device declined 4.4 per cent at the end of last year, with 71.5m handsets sold in the last quarter of 2015. Apple sparked fears that the world has reached "peak Apple" in January when it revealed sales had fallen to [...]
Mobile World Congress 2016: What to expect – biometrics, virtual and augmented reality and Chinese smartphone brands February 16, 2016 Mobile World Congress 2016 always brings with it a flurry of new mobile gadget announcements – here are some of the trends to expect. The smartphone is quickly becoming an integral part of a bigger continuum of devices and smart objects as users increasingly live their lives in a "device mesh." This is an environment, [...]