RAC: Petrol prices to be “kept in check” if oil prices overshoot $50 per barrels May 21, 2016 The RAC assured motorists it expects fuel prices to remain in check, despite a recent uptick in the oil price due to production outages across the world. Supermarkets slashed petrol prices to below £1 per litre in the run-up to Christmas, citing savings from oil prices which had fallen from over $110 per barrel in the middle of [...]
Police carry out controlled explosion outside ITV’s Southbank studios May 20, 2016 Police have carried out a series of controlled explosions on a car parked just outside ITV's Southbank studios. Bomb disposal experts were called in early afternoon along with a robot which carried out the detonations. Witnesses said they had been asked to move away from windows while the police conducted the operation, which reportedly focused on a white [...]
Uber’s driverless cars have hit the roads May 19, 2016 Uber is the latest company to get its driverless car plans into gear, with test vehicles hitting the roads of Pittsburgh, the location of its Advanced Technologies Centre. The billion dollar startup is embracing more technology with Ford Fusion cars which drive themselves. The head of the research centre John Bares told the Pittsburgh Tribune [...]
Zopa’s got a new finance product, expanding into car refinancing loans and more May 19, 2016 Peer-to-peer lender Zopa is branching out with a new loan product offering car refinancing in a bid for a share of the £12bn a year market. Around 40 per cent of Zopa's loans are used for buying a car and Zopa Car ReFi will be a dedicated product aimed at those who already have a car [...]
Uber drivers accused of over 30 sex attacks on customers in London last year May 19, 2016 Uber drivers in London were accused of 32 sexual attacks in one year, new data has revealed. The figures show one customer was assaulted once in ever 11 days, Freedom of Information data shows. The Metropolitan Police dealt with 154 allegations of sexual assaults that involved taxi, minicab (legally booked or illegally picked up in [...]
Addison Lee is pouring cash into its luxury car fleet after a jump in demand May 19, 2016 Private hire company Addison Lee has spent £3.2m on 100 new Mercedes Benz E-Class saloons in response to a 15 per cent jump in executive car bookings over the last year. Andy Boland, chief executive at Addison Lee, said: We have made major investments to expand our executive fleet, this has ensured we have the best drivers and the best vehicles [...]
Uber commissioned research says Uber is not the source of London congestion May 18, 2016 Uber is often blamed for London's congestion, as the city grinds slower and slower to a standstill. But it's not Uber's fault… according to research commissioned by Uber. The research has looked into why London is now the most congested city in Europe, and found the problem is due to e-commerce. How? The research shows that demand [...]
Instagram’s rebrand has made the app lose its charm: Why brands need to avoid the trap of over-design May 18, 2016 The unveiling of Instagram's new logo has handed us another example of a successful digital brand that has unwittingly sacrificed its ownable assets in pursuit of "modernity". Like Uber, which had a redesign in February, Instagram has removed what made it distinctive to fit into the environment it sits, in a bid to appeal to its [...]
Goldman Sachs upgrades commodities to neutral as it cuts outlook for equities May 18, 2016 Uber bear Goldman Sachs is feeling slightly better about commodities, but the brighter outlook didn't extend to equities. The investment bank upgraded commodities to neutral on a three-month basis, saying supply disruptions should support oil prices. At the same time, growth and valuation concerns led it to downgrade equities to neutral over a 12-month horizon. Read more: Commodity [...]
Identity and security: The price we must pay to keep our information safe – and the companies helping us do it May 17, 2016 In ancient Roman mythology, Janus, the god of boundaries, is usually depicted as having two faces. Skip a few thousand years to today’s modern world, and many of us still wear more than one mask: there’s the one we present at work, one we wear in front of family, and others we wear in front [...]