The Amazon Echo is an artificially intelligent speaker and virtual assistant that can play music, order curries and hail an Uber September 14, 2016 The Amazon Echo is a hands-free speaker that you operate using voice commands. Inside it (well, somewhere in the cloud to be precise) lives Alexa, an artificial intelligence and essentially Amazon’s version of Siri. Alexa’s machine-learning algorithms and rapidly expanding skillset make her smarter as time goes on: so while today she can play music, [...]
It’s time for long-term fintech to break into pensions and mortgages September 14, 2016 Certain areas of fintech have experienced an entrepreneurial frenzy over recent years. Sectors once dominated by traditional providers have become hotbeds of startup activity, with most of the action occurring in payments, foreign exchange, short-term lending and, more recently, current accounts. As is often the case, where entrepreneurs have led, money has followed. This has [...]
Will Yahoo ever be a verb? Exec sets out internet firm’s ambitions after Verizon takeover September 14, 2016 Yahoo is targeting the revenues of TV companies as it seeks success after its takeover by Verizon. “I do think there is opportunity to [take] budget from TV,” the internet firm’s chief revenue officer Lisa Utzschneider said. “As more and more viewers spend less time on TV and more time on their mobile devices, those [...]
Everyone go home: Gmail for Work is down, with outages reported across the UK September 14, 2016 It's 5pm on one of the hottest days of the year – so Google has helpfully made sure you have to go home, with users reporting outages on Gmail for Work. Down Detector showed a spike in reports of outages, with a live map showing problems across the East and West coasts of the US, as well [...]
Now you can get Twitter on your TV screen September 14, 2016 Twitter may have helped create the idea of the second screen, as fans tweeted along to their favourite TV shows from their phones, but now the troubled social network wants to be centre stage on the main screen. It has signed a new deal with Apple, Amazon and Microsoft to appear on their TV services as it expands [...]
The Mayor of London has opted to protect privilege not competition September 14, 2016 Sadiq Khan’s crackdown on London’s private hire industry is a sop to a privileged monopoly that distorts competitive markets and fails to defend consumer interests. As private hire services make inroads into London’s black cab monopoly, the case to protect them from decline and enforce consumer safety may sound reasonable. But Khan’s reforms go beyond safety and are [...]
Amazon’s virtual home assistant Echo comes to the UK September 14, 2016 Amazon has launched its virtual home assistant Echo in the UK and Germany, its first markets for the device outside the US, which lets users control their home and do tasks online via simple voice commands. The device, priced at £149.99 or £99.99 for Prime members, is powered by Amazon's Alexa, an artificial intelligence voice assistant similar to [...]
Ford warns on profit for 2017, blaming increased spending on electric vehicles and driverless cars September 14, 2016 Ford Motor said today that its profit in 2017 will decline from its result for this year, because it has ramped up spending. The car manufacturer said it has increased spending on emerging opportunities and other costs – including electric vehicles and driverless cars. Last week, the company lowered its 2016 pre-tax profit forecast to [...]
Uber launches driverless car pilot in Pittsburgh September 14, 2016 Uber users in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania could be in for a surprise today – their car could turn up with no-one in the driver's seat. The tech firm has made self-driving Ubers available for the first time in the US city – although they will come with a safety driver "to make sure the ride goes [...]
Just Eat delivers new chatbot “coach” to advise customers on takeaways September 14, 2016 Takeaway giant Just Eat will launch a Facebook Messenger chatbot food "coach" as part of an ambitious, tech-focused rebrand in which it is attempting to create "the world's greatest food community". Just Eat's chatbot will be on hand to customers to "bring food discovery to life by engaging with customers to coach and inspire their food choices", the company announced [...]