Amazon steals entertainment spend from UK supermarkets January 26, 2015 ONLINE retail giant Amazon took a larger slice of the UK entertainment market over the Christmas period, largely at the expense of the major supermarkets, according to research published today. Kantar Worldpanel figures show that Amazon took one in every four pounds (25.6 per cent) spent on physical music, games and video in the 12 [...]
EU to force firms to report cyber attacks in “milestone” cybersecurity legislation December 8, 2015 EU firms will be forced to report data breaches to authoritie, after European lawmakers approved the first ever EU-wide legislation on cybersecurity today. The “milestone” deal will combat the threat of cybercrime, following a growing number of highly-publicised cases such as attacks on TalkTalk and Carphone Warehouse in the past year. The European Commission welcomed the agreement, [...]
Superforecasting: How seemingly ordinary people can predict everything from world events to election results May 27, 2016 The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was having a stressful time in 2013. A rebel militia had just taken control of Goma, a large province with a population of about a million people, and regional powers were putting pressure on him to wrest it back by force. Little did he know that [...]
Google Project Wing: Dave Vos says drones postal service will be delivering to your doorstep by 2017 November 2, 2015 Parcels from the postie might be a thing of the past, as a Google executive announced today that the company is aiming to start delivering packages by drone by 2017. Responding to an audience question at a conference for air traffic controllers, Dave Vos, project lead on Project Wing at Google, said he hoped the [...]
Forbes reveals the wealthiest US businessmen are getting poorer October 1, 2015 Are America's wealthiest businessmen getting poorer? Forbes released its 40-strong American rich-list yesterday, putting Windows founder Bill Gates in first place for the 22nd year in a row. However, his net worth is down by almost seven per cent to a slightly more modest $76bn (£53bn). Gates beat US business icon Warren Buffett, [...]
Black Friday 2015: Argos quashes outage rumours as John Lewis website goes down November 27, 2015 Argos has quashed talk of an outage on its website, saying it has already had 2.5 million visits to its website – just as John Lewis' website collapsed under the pressure as Black Friday's shopping frenzy continued apace. In a statement, Argos said its website had "not crashed or seen any outages at any point today". "We are seeing [...]
Uber warns EU regulations are holding back Europe’s tech startups December 7, 2015 Cab hailing app Uber has warned European Union (EU) regulation could mean that technology startups from Europe are unable to compete internationally. Uber’s head of public policy in Europe Mark McGann slammed the EU digital single market and said: “I’m concerned about domestic companies in the UK and across Europe not being able to make [...]
Israel rockets into first place in race to complete first ever private mission to the moon October 7, 2015 A team of Israeli scientists has accelerated into first place in the race to send a privately-funded space mission to the moon. Calling themselves SpaceIL, they have just signed an official launch contract with the organisers of Google's Lunar X Prize competition to send a rocket to the moon before the end of 2017. The [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK vs Cyber Monday: Shoppers on high street decline as they turn online November 29, 2015 The number of shoppers hitting the high street fell on Black Friday as they turned to buying online and as retailers spread their discount deals throughout the week. Footfall on high street pavements was down more than four per cent on Black Friday, compared to the same time last year the earliest figures reveal, according to retail [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Customer returns will cost retailers as much as £180m November 23, 2015 The cost to retailers of returned goods bought on Black Friday will come with a price tag of up to £180m and create an "out of stock" Saturday which could leave shoppers empty handed at the tills during the crucial Christmas shopping period. As much as 50 per cent of promotional purchases will be returned and 12 December is predicted to [...]