US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to issue Huawei warning during UK visit May 8, 2019 US secretary of state Mike Pompeo is expected to warn Prime Minister Theresa May against allowing Huawei to build the UK’s 5G network during a meeting in London today. Pompeo is holding talks with May and foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, and will make a speech on foreign policy ahead of US President Donald Trump’s state [...]
It’s not cutting-edge AI we should feel anxious about, but mediocre automation May 8, 2019 If there were a betting market in future winners of the Nobel prize in economics, MIT’s Daniel Acemoglu would be at pretty short odds. His highly innovative work has already won him a string of prizes. So his research is always worth following – especially when he challenges the conventional wisdom, as in his paper [...]
London fintech startup Transfergo picks up an additional $3.4m from Seventure May 8, 2019 Money transfer platform Transfergo has added a $3.4m (£2.6m) to its $17.5m series B funding round, as it surpasses 1m customers. The additional investment came from French venture capital firm Seventure Partners, which has previoulsy backed the likes of Push Doctor and Sum Up. Read more: London startup Checkout.com raises Europe's largest ever fintech series A [...]
Gett eyes 2020 flotation and profitability as it raises $200m at a $1.5bn valuation May 8, 2019 Taxi-hailing firm Gett said it has raised $200m (£153m) in additional funding yesterday, with a flotation on the cards “as soon as the first quarter of 2020”. It added it is on track to become operationally profitable globally by the fourth quarter of this year, including its US operation. Read more: Uber drivers to stage [...]
Government’s digital identification system Verify is ‘failing users’ May 8, 2019 The government’s flagship digital identification programme is failing users and has not delivered value for money, according to a damning new report. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has slammed the Verify programme, which it said has been hampered by a catalogue of problems and has failed to deliver the benefits originally promised. Read more: "Grave [...]
Facebook taps London talent for its global Whatsapp payments drive May 7, 2019 Facebook has chosen London as the global centre of a payments push for messaging platform Whatsapp, as the capital gains another boost in tech workers and post-Brexit confidence. Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook, will hire around 100 people in an expansion of its workforce by about a quarter, the Financial Times first reported. Read [...]
Here’s a closer look at Google’s new budget Pixel phones, the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL May 7, 2019 Google has just announced two new additions to its lineup of Pixel phones at its annual Google I/O event in California. The Pixel 3a and the Pixel 3a XL will start at the relatively piddling sum of £399 (compared to £739 for the Pixel 3) and are positioned as a pair of wallet-friendly, value-for-money alternatives [...]
HP ‘not suing Autonomy US exec to go after Mike Lynch’ in fraud trial May 7, 2019 Hewlett Packard (HP) is not suing Autonomy’s former US chief executive in order to use his evidence against British businessman Mike Lynch in the biggest fraud trial in UK history, a court heard today. HP is suing Lynch, the former chief executive of software firm Autonomy, and ex-finance chief Sushovan Hussain for $5.1bn, alleging that [...]
DEBATE: Could Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook omnipotence be coming to an end? May 7, 2019 Could Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook omnipotence be coming to an end? Greg Consiglio, chief operating officer at Connectt, says YES. Facebook was originally set up to connect friends who share interests, primarily through a news feed that users controlled. Now, algorithms dictate the user experience, and with feeds more crammed than ever, what once was fun and informative [...]
Small businesses to be given artificial intelligence boost May 7, 2019 London may be the artificial intelligence (AI) capital of Europe, but City Hall believes the benefits of AI are failing to trickle down to small businesses. The mayor Sadiq Khan will give 200 small businesses in London a share of £200,000 to enhance their use of AI. “London is a leading hub for innovation in [...]
