British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz says it always will be “a premium airline” as he plots tech push to fight off competition December 6, 2017 The chief executive of British Airways said today the carrier “always will be a premium airline”, though added the airline remained unapologetic about cost-cutting in order to face off against rising competition. Speaking at the Aviation Club lunch, Alex Cruz said: “Let me make our position clear: we are, and always will be, a premium [...]
From Xero to Hero: Gary Turner has his head in the cloud December 4, 2017 It is the dream of every startup to overtake the incumbent, dominant player in its field. Facebook swallowed Myspace; Uber is usurping taxis; Spotifykilled the CD. London’s fintechs are chipping away at just about every area of financial services. We are witnessing an era of great technological change. Some of the present disruption is quite [...]
Just Eat faces a tall order – it needs to keep delivering for its investors if it’s to be number one in the £9.9bn takeaway sector December 1, 2017 Just Eat delivered more than just takeaways last month. It not only set a new Guinness world record for the largest human image of a pizza but also received the green light to gobble up rival Hungryhouse. But the cherry on the cake for Just Eat was joining the FTSE 100 this week with a [...]
Brexit talks: Business groups call on UK government to secure data deal with EU November 30, 2017 The financial services sector is calling on the government to forge an agreement with the EU which will allow for personal data to be protected when it is exchanged between countries. UK Finance and techUK have authored a report on data sharing, and have recommended that in Brexit talks the two sides outline a mutual [...]
Uber hack: 2.7m UK riders and drivers affected by huge data breach – more than half of all users November 29, 2017 Uber has revealed that 2.7m riders and drivers in the UK have been affected by a massive hack of data – more than half of its users in the country. It’s the first time any figure has been given for the UK specifically since the hack, in which information such as email addresses, names, and [...]
Apple’s MacOS High Sierra bug: A major security flaw can give easy root access to hackers November 29, 2017 Apple is scrambling to issue a fix to a major security flaw which has come to light overnight that could leave Mac users vulnerable. Anyone can gain access to a computer running MacOS High Sierra, the most up to date version of the Mac operating system, by typing in root when prompted for a username [...]
Investing in disruption: Is the US tech boom a bubble? November 28, 2017 It has been a fantastic year so far to be a technology investor. The Fang (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) stocks are leading again and are now up 33.6 per cent on average year to date. Add Tesla and Nvidia into the mix, and we have a group of businesses that capture the imagination of both [...]
London firms back Transport for London’s English tests for private hire drivers November 28, 2017 London businesses are in favour of a controversial planned English test that private hire drivers face, according to a new poll from the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Transport for London plans to bring in a English language test for private hire drivers, and wants all drivers to be able to prove their ability [...]
Uber has been behaving like a tech teenager – it’s time to grow up November 27, 2017 When Dara Khosrowshahi was ushered in as the new broom at Uber in August, he can’t have realised the full extent of the mess he had been tasked with clearing up. Damaging claims of sexual harassment that came to light in February were superseded in September by the dramatic decision to strip Uber of its [...]
EU authorities consider creating data breach justice league to tackle uber hack November 23, 2017 Multiple investigations prompted by Uber’s admission that it concealed a hack could join together for one big mega-probe into the incident. An EU working group which has responsibility for data protection will decide next week whether to co-ordinate different investigations taking place in the UK, Italy, Austria, Poland and the Netherlands. Read more: The massive [...]