Apple reportedly hikes streaming budget as it eyes November launch date August 20, 2019 Apple is said to be planning a November launch date for its eagerly-awaited streaming service, as it ramps up its spending on new films and TV shows. Apple TV Plus is considering a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 (£8.25) following a free trial period, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Read more: Apple’s [...]
Facebook risks hit to advertising revenue as it unveils new privacy feature August 20, 2019 Facebook has unveiled a new feature that gives users greater control over their personal data, in a move that could impact the social media firm’s advertising revenue. The tech giant said it will allow users to prevent information about their browsing activity from being passed on to third parties for advertising. Read more: Twitter and [...]
Whatsapp in talks to launch mobile payments service in Indonesia August 20, 2019 Whatsapp is said to be in discussions with several digital payments firms in Indonesia over plans to offer mobile transactions over its platform. If a deal were reached, it would make Indonesia only the second country worldwide where Whatsapp offers the service. Read more: NSO denies Whatsapp spyware can hack data The firm is currently [...]
Shares in Kin and Carta slide as investment eats into profit August 20, 2019 Shares in Kin and Carta dropped roughly 13 per cent after the digital transformation company warned on profits for the full year. The London-headquartered firm said its pre-tax profit would be marginally lower than expectations after it upped its annual investment from £2m to £3m. Read more: AI software market posts huge growth amid digital [...]
Robot delivery service Starship Technologies targets students in $40m raise August 20, 2019 Starship Technologies, a US tech firm headed by former Airbnb exec Lex Bayer, has raised $40m (£33.1m) in a series A funding round. The investment was led by Morpheus Ventures with participation from Shasta Ventures, Matrix Partners, Metaplanet Holdings, TDK Ventures, Qu Ventures and others. Starship’s autonomous robot delivery fleet operates in cities across the [...]
Bureaucratic boroughs risk holding London back in the 5G race August 20, 2019 Despite the hype around the latest handsets and a commitment from the new cabinet to prioritise connectivity, London risks losing out on the 5G opportunity. Much has been made of the country’s struggles to keep up with international competitors in the race to deliver world-class connectivity, while our imminent departure from the EU places greater [...]
Twitter and Facebook shut down network of Hong Kong misinformation accounts linked to Chinese state August 19, 2019 Facebook and Twitter have taken down a wide-ranging network of social media accounts and profiles linked to a Chinese state operation to create division among and about the Hong Kong protests. Twitter said more than 900 accounts were discovered as part of a “significant state-backed information operation” to plant misinformation about the protests. A total [...]
Tech giants hit back at France’s digital tax August 19, 2019 Silicon Valley leaders have said plans for a French digital tax were discriminatory against US firms, but urged President Donald Trump to avoid retaliating with tariffs. In evidence submitted to a hearing by the US Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) today, representatives for Google, Facebook and Amazon said the levy would hurt revenues, harm local businesses [...]
Juul raises $325m to fund global expansion of e-cigarette range August 19, 2019 E-cigarette giant Juul has raised $325m (£268m) in an equity and debt offering as it looks to fast track its global expansion amid regulatory pressure in the US. Read more: British American Tobacco boosted by vaping sales Juul did not specify the ratio of equity to debt in the deal, but a source familiar with [...]
How useful are passwords for keeping our data secure? August 19, 2019 Every year, new research and new articles appear telling us that the most popular passwords are still things like “password1” and “qwerty123”. This “big” reveal is then followed up by a lecture on the importance of protecting yourself online. But we’ve been using passwords as digital identification tools for as long as we’ve had technology, [...]
