Augmented reality – Apple acquire company creating displays for AR glasses.
Recent reports that Apple have acquired Akonia Holographics, a smaller company based in Colorado, brings the world of Augmented Reality (AR) back into focus. Akonia was founded in 2012 by a group of holography scientists and had originally focused on holographic data storage before shifting its efforts to creating displays for augmented reality glasses According…
Grant Thornton receive hefty £3 million fine for misconduct over audits.
Grant Thornton, the accountancy firm has been fined £3 million for misconduct over its audits of the company that makes ‘Vimto’, Nichols and the University of Salford. This is the reduced settlement figure. The original fine was £4 million. It was reported in the Evening Standard that the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said the misconduct related…
Toyoto to invest $500 million in Uber in the race to develop self-driving cars.
The Japanese car maker, Toyota is investing $500 million in Uber’s quest to develop self-driving cars for its ride sharing network. Toyota will expand their partnership with Uber to jointly develop the self-driving cars which would involve the “mass-production” of autonomous vehicles. Despite mounting losses, the deal values Uber at $72 billion, up 15% since…
New Fund aimed at gaining skills and boosting diversity of people working in digital and tech jobs.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport issued a press release today about a £1 million Digital Skills Innovation Fund aimed to help under-represented groups of people gain the skills needed to work in digital roles. The press release says: – — New funds to boost diversity of people working in digital and tech…
Intelligent software, not physical robots, biggest threat to jobs.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning have been in the news for some years. The race has been on to become world leaders around the globe and the UK is hoping to be one of those countries to lead the charge. AI is already changing the world we live in and the way we work…
Tech Nation 2018 – UK’s tech industry is growing 2.6 times faster than the rest of the UK’s economy.
The 2018 Tech Nation report shows the UK’s tech industry is growing 2.6 times faster than the rest of the UK’s economy. The tech industry accounted for £170 billion in 2016 and rose to £184 billion in 2017. In the jobs market, it was digital tech jobs that rose at 5 times the rate of…
Fintech company Revolut launch new ‘Metal’ premium debit card.
Fintech company Revolut has launched a new metal card, it is actually made of steel. Its new ‘platinum’ debit card comes with new benefits such as giving cashback in cryptocurrencies. Other plans on the horizon include cards for kids that parents can control and wealth management. The new card, like the existing premium card will…
Uber under pressure after release of second quarter earnings.
Investors recently told Uber it would be wise to sell off its self-driving car unit after losses of $125m to $200m each quarter for the past year and a half, according to Reuters. This week Uber released its second-quarter earnings to investors. It reported a 51% annual increase in income from the taxi app side of…
Amazon told ‘one day delivery’ advert misleading.
The Advertising Standards Authority, (ASA) has ruled that Amazon’s claims for one day delivery on prime items was misleading. They said that they had received 280 complaints, mainly from prime customers, who say they did not receive their orders within a day. The Regulator went on to say, the ad “must not appear again in…
Bank of England’s MPC’s decision on interest rates later today.
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will publish their decision today on whether the interest base rate should rise. It has been widely expected that interest rates would rise to 0.75% from 0.5%. The MPC will publish its report later today. So, what is the MPC? The committee is made up of nine…