Tech giants like Facebook and Google face UK tax shake-up focusing on revenues rather than profit February 22, 2018 Some of the world’s largest tech firms are set to face a significant tax shake-up from the UK government. The likes of Google and Facebook could see changes in the tax system that would mean a new tax on revenues, rather than profits – a smaller figure. A Treasury minister told the BBC that the [...]
Microsoft opens Shoreditch startup space Reactor February 22, 2018 Microsoft is the latest company eyeing up London's hot shot startups with a $20m (£14.3m) investment in a new space in Shoreditch, opening today. Reactor will host the Silicon Valley tech giant's accelerator for scale-ups, along with a space for events such as hackathons to help grow the capital's startup ecosystem. Read more: Robot bookworms? [...]
Manchester United’s new YouTube channel highlights platform’s influence on football February 22, 2018 Such was the hype surrounding big tech’s supposed interest in acquiring live Premier League broadcast rights that YouTube’s name was inevitably thrown into the mix alongside Sky and BT as a potential bidder in the current auction. Yet Google’s online video behemoth was never interested. Why would they be? As demonstrated by Manchester United’s migration [...]
The ‘big tech’ backlash: How sustainable is the success of Google, Facebook and Amazon? February 22, 2018 In recent months it has felt like the tide is turning against big tech. Google has been fined for market abuse in the EU. Silicon Valley heads have been hauled in front of the US Senate and the UK Parliament to answer for the abuse of their platforms by extremists and Russian saboteurs. The repeal of [...]
Sorry HR, but the only way to ‘engage’ at work is to like your job February 21, 2018 Employee engagement is taking itself very seriously these days. It has its theorists and practitioners, its own Wikipedia page and an annoyingly persistent PR machine. According to this discipline's teachings, there exist fail-proof methodologies that can transform your average office worker – the one who browses Facebook and Mail Online when no one is watching [...]
Brussels vows to push ahead with digital tax plans aimed at tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple February 20, 2018 Brussels is pushing ahead with digital tax plans aimed at tech giants such as Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple. The economic commissioner for Europe Pierre Moscovici said efforts are moving forward to bring the taxation of digital companies in line with traditional firms: “this is happening” he said. Read more: EU competition chief threatens tech [...]
Here’s how you can avoid getting badly burnt in the cryptocurrency revolution February 20, 2018 Investing in cryptocurrency is not for the faint-hearted – a fact that has become increasingly apparent over recent weeks. After making some impressive gains at the end of last year, nearly all the major digital currencies have since come crashing down, only to gather momentum once again. These violent swings have triggered a fresh surge [...]
Apple HomePod smart speaker review: A hell of a speaker controlled by a mildly disappointing assistant February 16, 2018 Apple rarely gets to the party first. IBM built a smartphone 15 years before the iPhone. Tablet computers have been around since the 1980s. Just about every manufacturer had a stab at a smart watch before the Apple got around to it in 2014. But the iPhone will be remembered as the smartphone, the iPad [...]
Sky share price rises above takeover offer: English Premier League victory could see Rupert Murdoch bowing out just at the right time February 15, 2018 Investors were clearly happy with Sky’s Tuesday night Premier League result, pushing the company’s shares to nearly £11 a pop during yesterday’s trading. The broadcasting giant’s stock eventually ended the day 7p higher than the £10.75 a share tabled by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. With the majority of Premier League TV rights decided, Sky [...]
Sky and BT Sport pay £4.46bn to share Premier League TV rights for 160 games between 2019/20 and 2021/22 February 13, 2018 After years of extraordinary revenue growth, the Premier League has sold its latest package of live TV games to Sky and BT Sport for a reduced per-match rate. The two media giants will pay a combined £4.46bn to televise 160 matches per season, between 2019/20 and 2021/22. Three years ago, Sky and BT Sport paid [...]