Google name change to Alphabet shocks Wall Street August 11, 2015 Google stunned investors last night by unveiling a radical restructuring that will see it become part of a holding company named Alphabet. Shares in the global tech giant jumped in after-hours trading after co-founder Larry Page published a blog post detailing the new plans. The move is designed to differentiate between Google’s core [...]
Gene-editing startup Editas just raised $120m from Bill Gates, Google Ventures and 12 other investors August 10, 2015 A gene-editing startup has just raised $120m to learn more about replacing faulty genes, gaining support from Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates and 13 other investors. The startup Editas Medicine want to tackle grave illnesses by removing our defective genes, and plan to use the recently raised capital to study a new technology that could finally [...]
Traditional banking needs to act fast to survive Google’s predictive power August 6, 2015 The options we have for our everyday bank accounts are increasing. Virgin Money, Tesco Bank and the Post Office have recently entered the personal current account market, and prospective entrants include Atom, Starling, Civilised Bank and OakNorth. But could the biggest competition to our traditional banks be hiding in plain sight? There are various factors [...]
Apple prepares a voicemail service that will transcribe your messages using Siri to compete with Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Now August 3, 2015 The problem is obvious: Leaving voicemail is quick and convenient. Unfortunately, listening to it is sadly tedious. This age-old telephone dilemma has been solved, and the solution is ingeniously simple: transcribing incoming voicemail messages so that you can read them instead. Apple is preparing a new tool which will use voice assistant Siri to transcribe [...]
After Stagefright hack, new security flaw discovered that could render Android devices “totally silent and non-responsive” July 30, 2015 A security flaw that could make half the world’s Android phones “totally silent and non-responsive” has been uncovered, just days after the Stagefright hack was revealed. The new flaw affects devices running versions of the operating system from 4.3 to the present one, which is around 57 per cent of devices worldwide, according to to [...]
One in four millennials would rather bank with a tech company like Apple or Google than their current bank July 29, 2015 Fed up with your bank? You’re not alone. Just one in three millennials (that's people born after 1980) actually think their bank meets their requirements, and in fact, quite a few of them think Apple or Google would do a better job. It seems out of touch banks risk losing millennial business, as just 32 [...]
US corporations including Apple and Google pledge billions to help Obama administration combat climate change ahead of Paris summit July 28, 2015 US corporations are pledging billions of dollars to green finance, as the private sector supports the Obama administration in securing a strong global deal on combating climate change. Thirteen top US companies, including Apple, Walmart and Google, teamed up with the White House to launch the American Business Act on Climate Pledge. The campaign is [...]
Stagefright hack: 95pc of Android phones are vulnerable to this text message hack July 27, 2015 Bad news for Android users: It takes just one multimedia text for hackers to gain access to 95 per cent of the world’s Android devices, according to researchers from the cybersecurity firm Zimperium. In what’s being described as one of the worst Android flaws to date, a vulnerability found in the operating system’s media library [...]
Secret Escapes gets $60m Google Ventures backing for global expansion July 26, 2015 Deals website Secret Escapes has landed $60m (£39m) investment from Google's venture arm to fuel ambitious global expansion plans. The flash deals website set up in London in 2010 which offers luxury holidays at a discount has completed a series C round of funding led by Google Ventures and existing investor Octopus Investments. Index and [...]
The EU risks damaging consumer interests in its push against Google dominance July 22, 2015 Jean Tirole won last year’s Nobel prize for economics for his work on a new type of market – and one that has grown with the meteoric rise of the internet. So-called two-sided markets arise when a company brings together suppliers and consumers. Google is a classic example: it provides browsers with web pages, and [...]