Film review: Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, Lost River April 10, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ Ryan Gosling's directorial debut, Lost River, could charitably be called a paean to his cinematic heroes: David Lynch, Terence Malick, Harmony Korine, Guillermo del Toro and, most of all, his sometime collaborator Nicolas Winding Refn. He borrows themes, tropes, sometimes even complete shots from all of them, weaving a lurid, dark, [...]
Tidal wave as Jay Z’s debut album disappears from Spotify April 7, 2015 Is this the beginning of a Tidal wave of artists pulling out from Spotify? Jay Z fans this morning woke up to discover his classic debut album Reasonable Doubt was no longer available in the US and Canada. It's still available in the UK, however. So far, the rest of his back catalogue, including [...]
The super-rich paying a £50,000 deposit to RENT in London August 20, 2015 With rising house prices placing home ownership out of reach for many and overseas investment rife, London’s lettings market is booming. But the commonly-painted picture of young professionals struggling to pay for their grotty house share in Dalston only tells one side of this increasingly complex story. For competition isn’t only fierce at the affordable [...]
JKX seeking $180m compensation from Ukraine over treaty violations February 16, 2015 Exploration firm JKX Oil & Gas is seeking $180m (£116m) in compensation from Ukraine, claiming the country has violated international treaties. The business, which is in talks over a possible buyout, said this morning that it had started arbitration proceedings against Ukraine under the Energy Charter Treaty between the UK and Ukraine and a [...]
Apple just lost $533m in a patent case February 25, 2015 Apple has lost a case worth $533m (£343m) after a Texas jury found its iTunes and App stores had infringed patents. The tech-giant was battling Smartflash, an American company founded in 2000. Smartflash claimed that Apple wilfully infringed its patents, and did not respect its inventions. Apple disagreed, claiming the claims excessive and the patents [...]
Arm Holdings’ full-year profit grows on the back of Apple iPhone sales February 11, 2015 Software design company Arm Holdings’ full year profit jumped 13 per cent to £411.3m, after the iPhone 6, holding the company’s core chip technology, enjoyed record sales. The Cambridge-based company, most known for selling microchips to smartphone giants Samsung and Apple, saw its revenue rise 11 per cent to £795.2m. Apple, one of Arm’s biggest [...]
Film review: Jupiter Ascending leaves plenty of space for improvement February 5, 2015 Cert 12a | ★☆☆☆☆ Sean Bean probably resisted at first. I picture bitter arguments, impassioned pleas, point-blank refusals. Contracts will have been brought out, threats made against the future of his career, the safety of his family. Eventually he capitulated, agreeing to read the line. “Bees are genetically programmed to recognise royalty.” Jupiter Ascending’s [...]
Arm buys into the Internet of Things with acquisition of Dutch firm Offspark February 9, 2015 It looks like UK chip designer Arm Holdings sees its future in internet-ready fridges. The company has just announced the acquisition of Offspark, a Dutch firm which specialises in security software for the Internet of Things. There are signs the Internet of Things is finally making headway, with headline grabbers like Google's $3.2bn (£2bn) acquisition [...]
Davos 2015: Who’s going to the World Economic Forum? January 20, 2015 Where else do world leaders, economists, royalty and even a celeb or two cross paths? It can only be Davos. The World Economic Forum’s annual summit hosts a privileged few, but if you’re lucky enough to be visiting, here’s who to look out for. If, like most people, you’ll be remaining at your desk and [...]
Horizon to beat revenue targets as pharma customers increase January 19, 2015 SHARES in life science research tools supplier Horizon Discovery leapt 4.9 per cent yesterday after the group said it expects its 2014 revenues to beat consensus expectations of £11m by around seven per cent. Horizon said its strong performance has been driven by an increased global demand for its research tools, services and intellectual property. [...]