It’s facile to blame the referendum for everything: Digital killed the TV star, not Brexit October 26, 2016 It matters not which sector you work in, if something has gone wrong since June, chances are it was the fault of Brexit. Just try it, it’s easy: “_______ happened, due to Britain voting to leave the European Union”. Feels good, doesn’t it? As sinecures go, doomsayers have only just stopped short of blaming Brexit [...]
Amazon Echo review: Or how I started talking to a little black cylinder every day October 25, 2016 How often do you trust Siri to do much besides setting a timer when you’re cooking pasta, or telling you whether or not it’s going to rain? Since they crept into our pockets, virtual assistants haven’t progressed much past the point of pseudo-capable helpers, who are unreliable in most roles beyond fancy egg-timers and meteorologists [...]
The weirdest things and most unlikely people Donald Trump has insulted on Twitter October 24, 2016 Today the New York Times took two WHOLE pages to print 281 people, places and things Donald Trump has insulted on Twitter. The full list is quite something. As the race enters its final few weeks, many have suggested that the polls are closer than they seem. If true, that means there are sure to [...]
How to build a creative company: Lucky Generals’ Helen Calcraft talks MBAs and 50 Cent October 24, 2016 "It's a quote by Napoleon. He was asked what it takes to win a war and he replied: ‘Bring me your lucky generals’,” says Helen Calcraft. “We liked the idea of being those generals that clients can send into battle and come back with a win.” Her agency, Lucky Generals, has been winning a fair [...]
Debenhams’ boss in the spotlight over pension fund woes October 23, 2016 The new chief of Debenhams, Sergio Bucher, will be under the microscope for the first time this week when the company announces its full year results. Bucher joined the department store from Amazon, where he was vice president, and is under pressure to solve the question of Debenhams' growing pension scheme deficit. Analysts at Morgan [...]
Hackers unleashed a wide-ranging and complex attack in the US that quickly spread globally October 22, 2016 Yesterday's complex cyber attack was orchestrated by hackers accessing thousands of internet-connected devices, such as webcams and digital recorders, that had previously been infected with malicious code. An infrastructure company called Dyn, which effectively acts as a switchboard for internet traffic, was targeted by hackers and led to access to the websites of companies around the world being [...]
The internet is down in large parts of the US October 21, 2016 The internet is down across large parts of the US today, with the East Coast in particular being badly affected, and many are unable to access major websites like Twitter or Reddit – no word yet on whether they can access City A.M. The problems are said to be connected to DNS (Domain Name Servers) hosts. [...]
Amazon’s £49 virtual assistant launches in the UK today: The Amazon Echo Dot October 20, 2016 Amazon has announced that the all-new Echo Dot launches in the UK today. Whereas the larger Echo device has its own speaker, the puck-sized Dot must be connected to external speakers to allow you to control your home entertainment system using your voice. It also works alone if you'd just like to chat to Alexa, the Echo's artificial intelligence, using a [...]
Stephen Hawking: Artificial intelligence research crucial to the human race October 20, 2016 The UK is about to further boost its status as a world leading centre for artificial intelligence (AI) with the launch of a new centre in Cambridge which is set to explore the implications the technology holds for humans. Officially opened by Professor Stephen Hawking on Wednesday, the £10m Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence [...]
Twitter fires its new head of VR… in the same week it hired him October 19, 2016 Twitter is ploughing on into the world of virtual reality, though it faced a small setback today after announcing it had fired its new head of VR (roughly 48 hours after he started his new job). A Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, Gregory Gopman, had joined the struggling social network to work on a nascent team charged with [...]