How artificial intelligence, peer-to-peer technology and blockchain are changing the insurance industry forever July 14, 2016 Just as fintech is transforming the banking world, “insurtech” has set its sights on the insurance industry. There are firms like Trov, which provides insurance on-demand and enables consumers to catalogue insured belongings. Buzzmove uses home removals data to create a new distribution model for insurance – people are more likely to renew or buy [...]
EU slaps more antitrust charges on Google July 14, 2016 The EU's move against US tech companies when it comes to competition has continued today as the Commission accused Google of further breaches of anti-trust laws. Two further charges have been set out against the search giant by competition chief Margrethe Vestager and claim Google abused its dominant position by "systematically favouring its comparison shopping [...]
Time will standstill on New Year’s Eve – but only for one second July 14, 2016 Time will quite literally be brought to a standstill on New Year's Eve. On 31 December a "leap second" is going to be slapped onto the end of 2016 — which has already had an extra day added to it anyway. Read more: Seven interesting facts you should know about the clock change That's according to timekeepers [...]
Telematics will make you safer and save you money – by disrupting the disrupters July 14, 2016 Telematics – the technology for collecting and analysing driver behaviour – has been transforming the face of car insurance for a long time. Now it is set to play a key role in how people engage with market disrupters such as Uber and Zipcar. These new entrants give people a great deal of flexibility in how [...]
Pokémon Go is an overnight sensation – here are some of the weirdest places people have been catching ’em all July 13, 2016 For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Pokémon is the story of a young boy who abandons his mother to go on an adventure with his best friend, an electric dog called Pikachu. On his quest to cram all of the Pokémon into tiny plastic balls, he befriends strange men in forests and routinely encourages the [...]
Seven locations that show just how crazy the Pokemon Go craze is July 13, 2016 It's been less than a week, but we're all now living in a Pokemon World. At a time of deep political uncertainty, many are no doubt welcoming a little light distraction, but the obsession might well have some influence on the next round of productivity figures as everyone attempts to catch 'em all. The craze has certainly unearthed some insights into human nature, [...]
The Pokemon Go effect? This startup powering AR and VR has landed millions July 13, 2016 Unity Technologies, a developer engine behind the hugely popular Pokemon Go mobile game, has landed millions of pounds in new funding from top venture capital investors. Unity is popular for traditional games development and is increasingly used by creators of virtual and augmented reality content, including the majority made for Facebook's Oculus and Samsung's Gear VR. Read more: [...]
Prime Day was the biggest day ever for Amazon July 13, 2016 Here's how crazy Prime Day was for Amazon. Sales on the shopping day that's now bigger than Black Friday for the retailer rocketed 60 per cent on last year, when it's estimated sales hit around the $400m, according to analysts. Now in its second year, Amazon Prime vice president Greg Greeley said: “We want to thank our [...]
Jaguar Land Rover will put driverless cars on Britain’s roads this year July 13, 2016 Jaguar Land Rover is the latest car maker to reveal its plans for driverless cars – and it aims to put them on Britain's roads incredibly soon. The car maker will begin introducing a fleet of driverless cars this year and by 2020, more than 100 of the vehicles will have hit Britain's roads on test routes [...]
These are the results of the first post-Brexit survey of tech startups July 13, 2016 Tech startups in the UK are worried that the environment for doing business will worsen after Britain's vote to leave Europe. However, they are largely ploughing ahead with plans for growing their business despite the uncertain climate. Nearly three quarters of tech businesses believe the environment could get worse, according to the first snap survey of startups post-Brexit. However, [...]
