Google Ventures just invested $60m in Paul McCartney and Sam Smith’s music rights company Kobalt February 27, 2015 More fuel to add to the Apple vs Google music streaming fire. Google's investment arm, Google Ventures, has just invested $60m (£39m) in music rights and publishing company Kobalt. As part of the funding round, the business also got investment from Dell founder Michael Dell. The company, which has more than 8,000 songwriters and more [...]
Man Vs machine: One chart showing how artificial intelligence created by Google’s Deep Mind beat humans at classic 80s Atari games February 26, 2015 Google just made a massive leap forward in developing artificial intelligence (AI) – with the help of classic Atari games like Space Invaders and Pong. Researchers working at the secretive London company Deep Mind have succeeded in creating a computer program which can learn how to play computer games, with no input whatsoever from humans. [...]
Google united: Tech giant will reform to face European challenges February 25, 2015 It’s all change for Google, as the search giant looks to re-group ready to face a wave of challenges to its European operations. Google’s two separate European arms are to be united under one banner with Mat Brittin, who headed up the group’s northern and western European arm, given command. Leaders of Google’s operations in [...]
Google is poised to unveil a new look California HQ – and it has Heatherwick Studios and Bjarke Ingels on the case February 25, 2015 Google is expected to reveal its plans for new headquarters in California this week, and the company behind the iconic cauldron at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games is behind it. London-based Heatherwick Studio and award-winning Danish architect Bjarke Ingels are thought to have put together "a series of canopylike buildings" for the [...]
Google buys Softcard to take on Apple Pay February 23, 2015 Google has signed a partnership with Softcard to buy some of its payment solutions software. In a deft move, the search giant has also struck a bargain with several of the US’s biggest mobile carriers, which will see Google Wallet app pre-installed on thousands of handsets. Apple arrived at the near-field-communications party with Apple [...]
Obama attacks Europe over tech protectionism against Google February 16, 2015 US President Barack Obama hit out at the EU for its scrutiny of companies like Google and Facebook, which he believes is driven by a desire to protect European tech companies. Search giant Google is currently embroiled in a four-year probe into its dominant position in Europe’s search engine market. “Sometimes the European response here [...]
Institute of Directors labels Google Tax a government about-face February 15, 2015 The Institute of Directors (IoD) has criticised the Diverted Profits Tax, known as the Google Tax, being introduced by the government. The law aims to gain revenue from some profits that multi-national companies register abroad. Firms will be legally obliged to notify HMRC, and pay a 25 per cent tax on identified earnings. Stephen Herring, [...]
Treasury group warns new Google tax could jeopardise efforts to deal with tax avoidance February 12, 2015 The Treasury Committee has slammed the proposed diverted profits tax and warned that it could derail international efforts to address tax avoidance. In its report on the 2014 Autumn Statement, the committee said an international response to the issue is currently taking place in the form of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting project, [...]
Tech firms’ confidence will help us build a UK Facebook or Google February 4, 2015 Tech City’s UK’s Tech Nation report today confirms what many of us in the tech sector have long known to be true: the UK’s digital businesses are flourishing and are set to become even more vital to our economy in the next few years. Fortune favours the brave, and we have the potential in this [...]
Project Tango: Google’s 3D mapping camera is one step closer February 4, 2015 Google's much-hyped 3D printing camera is one step closer to being unveiled to the world, after the company ramped its so-called Project Tango up a notch. The tech giant has announced Project Tango will move out of its Advanced Technology and Projects Group (ATAP) – suggesting it is now thinking about future marketability and real-world [...]