DEBATE: Does Alibaba boss Jack Ma deserve the criticism for backing the ‘996’ working week? April 17, 2019 Does Alibaba boss Jack Ma deserve the criticism for backing the ‘996’ working week? Becci Gould, associate director at Kin&Co, says YES. I would challenge Jack Ma’s backing of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, not just from a mental health standpoint, but also from a business performance perspective. According to the [...]
London AI startup Cytora raises £25m from Swedish backer EQT Ventures April 17, 2019 Cytora, a provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to transform commercial underwriting in insurance, has today closed a £25m series B funding round led by EQT Ventures. Existing investors Cambridge Innovation Capital and Parkwalk also participated in the round, as well as a number of angel backers. Read more: Startups eye bigger slices of the [...]
Apple settles landmark $27bn legal battle with Qualcomm April 17, 2019 Tech giant Apple has ended a bitter two-year battle with former supplier Qualcomm, settling a patent dispute in California late last night. Qualcomm won a six-year patent licence deal and supply agreement with Apple as part of the settlement, as well as an undisclosed sum from the iPhone creator. Apple had previously been seeking $27bn [...]
Netflix predicts slowed subscriber growth as price hikes begin to hurt April 17, 2019 Netflix expects its subscriber growth rate to weaken in the coming months, as upcoming US price rises for its TV streaming site dampen the attraction of new users. The firm said it had gained a record number of 9.6m paid subscribers in the three months to March, taking its total up to 148.9m and ahead of [...]
Just Eat announces acquisition of software provider Practi April 16, 2019 Just Eat has acquired Practi, a software service that trades in tablet-based Point of Sale (PoS) and restaurant management systems. The food delivery marketplace has bought Practi for £6.7m, with further payments dependent on certain commercial milestones. Just Eat plans to roll out Practi's software to its restaurant partners, providing partners with PoS, payment handling, inventory management, [...]
Best noise-cancelling headphones 2019: Transform your cacophonous commute into soundless sailing with our pick of the top noise-busting headphones April 16, 2019 Sick of your podcast getting drowned out in Tube tunnels? So are we. If you're tired of turning the volume up to 11 just to hear your music over your surroundings, or just want a decent pair of cans to drown out the outside world, we've picked our favourite noise-cancelling headphones for you to choose between. [...]
US pressure to ban Huawei from 5G infrastructure ‘belittles’ national security April 16, 2019 The US government’s campaign to ban Huawei from 5G networks “belittles national security”, the firm’s cyber security boss has said. Huawei senior vice president John Suffolk accused the US of using national security as an excuse to stifle competition from China. Suffolk brushed off allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used for spying, insisting the [...]
British data bosses fear mass retraining of key tech staff April 16, 2019 Eight in 10 chief information officers at major British companies have voiced concerns about the need to re-train staff as technology progresses. Seventy-eight per cent of data executives surveyed by Barclaycard worried about the need to continually provide tech staff with new skills, a report said today. Almost 70 per cent of bosses said they view [...]
Microsoft Outlook and Hotmail accounts accessed by hackers April 15, 2019 Microsoft has admitted that hackers had access to some of its Outlook, Hotmail and MSN email accounts for at least three months. The software company would not say how many accounts were compromised in the breach that lasted from 1 January to 28 March. Hackers stole login credentials for a Microsoft customer support agent and [...]
The new iPad Air review: Apple’s new tablet doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s a solid improvement April 15, 2019 Reviewing Apple’s new iPad Air is tricky. For most people, this is the iPad to buy, the one that will fulfil all your tablet needs, with plenty of room to spare. And with this much power under the hood, it will fulfill all your tablet needs for years to come. It is, objectively, a brilliant [...]
