Londoners can now get UberPool in more locations May 31, 2016 Uber is expanding its ride-sharing service UberPool in the capital outside of central London to cover zones one and two. The billion dollar startup which has had run ins with regulators and black cab drivers since it first launched in London in 2012 introduced UberPool late last year. The service offers cheaper fares to passengers than the standard [...]
Meet Zenbo, Asus’s Wall.E style home robot May 30, 2016 A Wall.E style robot that can help around the home has been launched by Taiwan electronics firm Asus. “For decades, humans have dreamed of owning such a companion: one that is smart, dear to our hearts, and always at our disposal. Our ambition is to enable robotic computing for every household," said Asus chairman Jonney [...]
ARM eyes virtual reality with new chips May 30, 2016 British chipmaker ARM is eyeing up the burgeoning market for virtual reality with the launch of new chips that will support more high end graphics and greater processing power of the devices which use smartphones. The Mali-G71 boasts graphics performance better than some of those found in today's mid-range laptops, while the Cortex-A73 will boost the power of smartphones, including 30 [...]
Trials and tribulations: As Three announces a controversial ad-blocking experiment on some customers’ devices, is the technology gaining acceptance? May 29, 2016 In June, mobile carrier Three is to conduct an ad-blocking trial on the devices of some of its UK customers. Of course, it's only a trial. Three will invite 500,000 customers to partake for 24 hours. But Three's project could set a precedent which could threaten the revenue streams of online publishers and broadcasters which [...]
Facebook and Microsoft dive underwater to create gigantic cable across the Atlantic May 26, 2016 In a bid to fulfil the insatiable demand for high-speed cloud and online services, tech titans Microsoft and Facebook are together building a 6,600 kilometer underwater cable across the Atlantic Ocean. Dubbed "MAREA", Spanish for “tide”, the cable will carry 60 terabits of data per second. The cable's speed is expected to be 16 million times faster than the bandwidth of the average home internet connection. Construction of [...]
No IPO for Snapchat yet with new funding instead May 26, 2016 Messaging app of the moment Snapchat is now worth even more than everyone thought after it disclosed more than a billion dollars of new investment. The five-year old startup which has previously revealed plans for an eventual IPO, is staying private for now, having raised $1.8bn (£1.2bn) in a series F round of funding official documents filed with SEC revealed [...]
Santander’s using blockchain right now May 26, 2016 Santander is the latest bank to experiment with blockchain technology, applying it to international payments with the promise of making the process quicker. It claims to be the first bank in the UK to use blockchain in this way, trialling it in an iPhone app used by staff that reduces the time it takes to transfer cash by [...]
Old Street credit-checking startup expands into Germany with Deutsche Bank partnership May 26, 2016 An Old Street fintech startup is moving into Germany in partnership with Deutsche Bank. Ormsby Street’s credit-checking tool, CreditHQ, is used by more than 27,000 small businesses in the UK, the startup said. The tool, which allows small business to check the financial health and credit status of customers or partners, launched in Italy last year. [...]
Sophos operating loss position widens despite rising revenues, thanks to IPO costs May 26, 2016 Losses at Sophos Group widened during the year to March, the IT security company announced today. The company announced that its operating losses had grown to $32.7m (£22.2m), compared with $500,000 the year before, thanks to $41.9m of exceptional costs – including those associated with the company's recent IPO – being booked during the year. Sophos' [...]
Ex-Barclays boss Rich Ricci: Fintech will eat banks’ lunch May 26, 2016 Rich Ricci, the former head of Barclays investment banking and right-hand man of Bob Diamond, has warned that fintech startups will snatch market share from established financial institutions and change the landscape of banking. Efforts of big banks to innovate will continue to be thwarted by their archaic technology as they face increasing competition from [...]