Silicon UK Pulse: Your Tech News Update: Episode 23

Welcome to Silicon UK Pulse

This is your weekly round-up of the top tech news stories.

Every Friday, Silicon UK surveys the week’s tech news.

Stay up-to-date with what’s happening in your industry or sector.

I’m James Marriott with all the big technology news from the last week.

Welcome to Silicon UK Pulse

I’m James Marriott with all the big technology news from the last week.

Microsoft has completed its buyout of the games manufacturer Activision Blizzard.

It completes a rather long-running saga, with the UK regulator blocking the deal for several months.

But some changes were made to how cloud rights were being dealt with, and the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) finally gave it the go-ahead last Friday.

And the $75 billion deal was signed and sealed shortly after that.

But the CMA took the opportunity to have a final swipe at Microsoft.

The regulator’s chief exec criticised the firm’s conduct during the investigation, saying, ‘the tactics employed by Microsoft are no way to engage with the CMA.’

New X users in New Zealand and the Philippines will have to pay to sign up.

The platform formerly known as Twitter is trying out a new charge.

It’s quite modest – just one dollar a year.

But it’s thought to be the first step towards moving X behind a paywall for everyone.

Elon Musk spoke a few weeks ago about that being his ultimate plan.

Crypto exchange Binance has confirmed it’s stopped accepting new customers in the UK because of new regulations from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The change kicked in on Monday after the new FCA rules were introduced earlier in the month.

The regulation restricts promotions from overseas digital asset firms in the UK.

Existing users here will keep their current services if they’ve completed an Investor Declaration and Appropriateness Test – but they won’t be able to get new products and services for the time being.

Telecom giant Nokia is to cut up to 14,000 jobs by the end of 2026 in cost-saving measures.

It comes as the company reported a 20% drop in sales between July and September, blamed on slowing demand for 5G.

The firm currently has around 86,000 staff.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn announced a series of job cuts.

It’s the second time this year it has announced a reduction in its workforce.

This time, 668 people are being made redundant.

They’re from across the engineering, product, talent, and finance teams.

More than 700 positions were cut earlier in the year.

Another big fine for Equifax.

The UK’s financial watchdog has fined the American credit checking specialist £11.2 million for failure to protect consumer data in one of the largest ever cyber security breaches.

The Financial Conduct Authority made the announcement on Friday.

It was fined half a million pounds by a different UK watchdog back in 2018 for failing to prevent the personal data of 13.8 million Brits from being exposed in a 2017 cyberattack.

Vodafone and Three have denied their planned merger would mean increased prices.

Representatives from the two companies were questioned by MPs on a specialist committee this week.

Their plan is to merge and create the UK’s biggest mobile network with some 27 million customers.

But unions say it could mean bills rise by £300 a year.

The deal needs regulatory approval before it is allowed to go ahead.

Netflix has announced a price rise – despite its recent clampdown on password sharing.

The premium ad-free plan in the UK will go up by £2 to £17.99 a month.

Bills will also go up in the US and France.

Recently the firm announced it had taken on an extra 8.8 million subscribers over the summer – the most in two years.

Remote working is still going strong, according to a new report.

New research from managed network solutions provider Expereo suggests that remote work is the key to obtaining talent and skills, with 48% of CIOs believing that flexible working is the key driver for retaining and recruiting the most skilled employees.

Almost a third had hired someone they’d never met in person.

The iPhone is no longer number one in China.

Apple has been toppled – with Huawei taking over as the best seller there.

That’s despite the recent launch of the new iPhone 15 range.

Reports said sales of the new handsets have been ‘disappointing’ in China – which gave the opportunity for Apple to be dethroned.

Now, you know Donald Trump has his own social media platform?

Well, Truth Social got an unexpected sign-up this week… Joe Biden.

The US president’s campaign set up an account on Monday – @BidenHQ – and seems to be using the platform to try to poke fun at Trump.

Of course, he’s widely expected to be the Republican candidate to run for the White House again next year.

Amazon’s trying out using drones to deliver medicine.

This is a trial being carried out in Texas in the US.

Customers of the Amazon Pharmacy service can choose to have certain medication delivered to them by drone, in less than an hour.

It applies to more than 500 medications that treat common conditions, including flu, asthma, and pneumonia.

The firm has been using drones for some other deliveries for a while now.

That’s the latest from Silicon UK Pulse – for more tech news and features, head to silicon.co.uk