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TECHNOLOGY POWERING BUSINESS
June 2020
Microsoft Retail Stores To Close Permanently
No surprise? Microsoft is calling time on its 83 retail Stores globally, and will transform four flagship outlets into “experience centres”
Ericsson President – Firm Ready To Replace Huawei’s UK 5G Equipment
Cheeky offer? Senior Ericsson executive says his firm can replace all of Huawei's equipment in the UK's 5G networks
Huawei Approved To Build £1 Billion Research Centre In Cambridge
Facility in Cambridge will become international HQ of Huawei's fiber optic communications business and will create 400 jobs
Verizon Joins Growing Facebook Advertising Boycott
Advertising boycott grows. US phone giant Verizon confirms it has “paused” advertising on Facebook over its policy on controversial posts
Immunity Passports: Identifying The Infected
As the UK wrestles with its ability to use technology to trace and track COVID-19 infections, will immunity passports become a reality? Will this technology be able to consider the potential risks and downsides - inclusion vs elitism, ...
Google To Pay Publishers For ‘High Quality’ News In Three Countries
Regulatory pressure payout? Search engine confirms it will pay some news publishers in certain countries to license news content
Huawei, China Telecom Backed By Chinese Military, US Claims
Twenty leading Chinese firms, including Huawei and China Telecommunications, are either owned by or backed by the Chinese military, US DoD alleges
Virgin Media Broadband Down, Thousands Impacted
Thousands of Virgin Media customers working from home are reportedly affected by outage, across various parts of the country
Silicon UK In Focus EXTRA: Does More Data Equal Better Health?
Rabia has a background in immuno-genetics with a passion for bridging the worlds of science, business and technology. She completed her BSc in Biology and Economics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She went on to complete a ...
Wirecard Collapses, Files For Insolvency
German fintech start-up Wirecard has filed for insolvency, becoming the first DAX member to fail after a financing scandal
Does More Data Equal Better Health?
Healthcare, like many other sectors, is moving through technological change. All of the technologies in development need patient data. The healthcare sector already collects masses of information, but much of this is unstructured and n ...
Google To Delete User Searches, Location Data After 18 Months
Privacy win? Google will automatically delete user's website searches and visits, as well as some location data, after 18 months
Openreach Suspends G.fast Broadband Rollout Until 2021
Openreach confirms that the rollout of G.Fast, technology that speeds up copper-based broadband connections, will be paused until next year
US City In Oregon Pays Ransomware Criminals – Report
Worrying development. The city of Keizer in Oregon has reportedly paid hackers a $48,000 ransom after a crippling ransomware attack
Former Wirecard CEO Released From Jail
Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun walks free after arrest on Monday for allegedly falsifying the accounts for the German fintech firm
Google To Spend $2 Billion On Polish Data Centre
Cloud services push in Europe reportedly sees Google investing as much as $2 billion for a data centre location in Poland
Twitter Places Warning On Another Trump Tweet
Platform continues clampdown on certain tweets from US President Donald Trump, with new warning on his Tuesday tweet about protesters in Washington DC
US Police Forces Hit By Huge Data Breach
Activist hackers release 24 years' worth of data from hundreds of police forces in move timed to coincide with protests against police brutality and racism
Nvidia Builds In-House GPU Supercomputer
Selene supercomputer uses new A100 GPUs and Mellanox InfiniBand interconnects to deliver 1 exaflop, putting it in top 10 performance rankings worldwide
German Financial Regulator Expresses Shock At Wirecard ‘Disaster’
Munich fintech start-up Wirecard says £1.7bn missing from its accounts probably never existed, as cheif executive quits and prosecutors consider arrests
WWDC 2020: Apple Redesigns Desktop, Mobile Software
Mac desktop gets an iPad-like look, iPhones can now unlock cars and the Apple Watch gets customiseable watch faces, amongst other announcements
WWDC 2020: Apple Drops Intel Chips In Favour Of ARM
Apple shifts to its own custom silicon for the Mac, bringing it into line with iPhone and iPad and promising major boost to performance and power-efficiency
Researchers Find Weaknesses In Apple-Google Trace Tech
Apple and Google's coronavirus contact-tracing framework fails to accurately log exposures on a commuter bus, Dublin academic study finds
Amazon Records Record 2.3Tbps Denial-Of-Service Attack
Amazon says its AWS Shield mitigated a DDoS attack peaking at 2.3Tbps, far larger than previous assaults, amidst increasing cloud security threats
Russia Unblocks Telegram After Two-Year Ban
Privacy-focused chat app Telegram became more popular than ever in Russia during the ban and is widely used by news media and government agencies
France Upholds Record Google Data Protection Fine
French court upholds earlier £45m penalty on Google for failing to obtain Android users' consent to use their personal data for personalised ads
NCSC Warns Mobile Operators To Stock Up On Huawei Parts
Security officials warn operators that Huawei may be unable to continue to provide gear following 'escalating US action' against the company
NHS Says Apple-Google Contact Tracing Tech ‘Inaccurate’
Technology developed by Apple and Google for use by contact-tracing apps is unable to accurately determine how far away other devices are, NHS says
Covid-19 Phishing Campaigns Becoming ‘More Effective’
Peak of pandemic-related phishing traffic has passed by volume, but attackers are using increasingly focused and effective lures to steal data, study finds
Twitter Introduces ‘Voice Tweets’
Twitter introduces audio tweets for limited number of iOS users, in an effort to bring a more “human touch” to the platform
Facebook Removes Trump Ad, Cites ‘Organised Hate’ Policy
Symbol used by the Nazis to identify political prisoners used in adverts for the re-election campaign of US President Donald Trump
Are You A Kinetic Technology Leader?
Kinetic leaders envision, enable, and deliver growth and help their organizations navigate through change. The 2020 Global Technology Leadership Study from Deloitte describes the attributes, objectives, and practices of organizations t ...
Australian PM Warns Of ‘Sophisticated’ Cyber Attack By ‘State-Based’ Actor
Prime Minister Scott Morrison reveals Australia is experiencing cyber attacks across 'a range of sectors', with China reportedly the likely culprit
US Pulls Out Of Global Digital Tax Talks
European Union warns it will impose its own digital tax on technology giants, after the United States withdraws from global tax reform negotiations
British Covid-19 Tracing App Adopts Google, Apple Approach
NHS is abandoning its centralised approach and will instead adopt the Google-Apple decentralised model for the delayed Coronavirus tracing app
US Government To Reject Pacific Undersea Cable – Report
Undersea cable funded by Google and Facebook, connecting Los Angeles to Hong Kong, is to be blocked by US over national security concerns
Spyware Impacts Chrome Extensions, Downloaded Millions Of Times
Awake Security discover 'massive, criminal surveillance campaign' via 32 million downloads of extensions for Google's Chrome web browser
Former Google Boss Eric Schmidt Calls Out Huawei’s ‘Unacceptable Practices’
Eric Schmidt says Huawei does pose national security risk and has engaged in 'unacceptable acts', but the Chinese firm denies his accusations
US Justice Department To Propose Ending Tech Firm Protection
Trump's revenge. Officials at the US DoJ ready legislation to remove Section 230 protections from big name tech firms including Twitter, Google and Facebook
SpaceX Confirms Floating Spaceport For Mars Missions
Job listing for 'offshore operations engineer' on SpaceX website, reveals Elon Musk's plan for floating spaceport for Mars missions
Robot Dog Spot From Boston Dynamics On Sale For $74,500
Fancy being an owner of a robot dog? Well, if you happen to have £59,000 in cash spare, then you can purchase Spot from Boston Dynamics
Facebook Tightens Political Advertising Rules Ahead Of US Election
Rule change for political ads to make clear who paid for it, as social networking giant seeks to tighten rules ahead of US presidential election
Apple App Store, Apple Pay Hit By EU Antitrust Investigations
Double whammy. Apple now facing two separate official European Commission investigations into its App Store and Apple Pay
Can More Data Save Our Climate?
As IoT and IIoT continue to rapidly develop, could this explosion in data collection result in vast improvements to how we manage climate change? When every aspect of our environment can be tracked and analyzed, does this allow more pr ...
WhatsApp Launches Digital Payments Service
Chat-based payments system, offered first in Brazil, allows users to send money or pay merchants without leaving chat service
EU Rule Change Allows Start-Ups To Access State Aid
European Commission plans to change state aid restrictions that had prevented tech start-ups from participating in government Covid-19 liquidity programmes
Apple’s App Store ‘Facilitates More Than $500bn’ In Trade Worldwide
Apple says App Store facilitates more than half a trillion dollars in worldwide trade, with the lion's share being physical sales from which it doesn't take a commission
Amazon Agrees To Make Bezos Available To Congress
Company had previously resisted making Bezos voluntarily available to testify in congressional antitrust probe that also involves Apple, Facebook and Google
US ‘To Allow Companies To Work With Huawei On 5G Standards’
Change comes after earlier US measures against Huawei had backfired, resulting in American companies disengaging from 5G standards processes
Norway Shuts Down Contact Tracing App After Data Warning
Norway's health authority says it will pause data collection and delete all collected data after country's data regulator says the app is too invasive
GitLab Bolsters DevSecOps With Peach Tech, Fuzzit Acquisitions
GitLab to integrate Peach Tech and Fuzzit fuzz-testing into its DevOps lifecycle tool, helping developers to catch security bugs earlier on
California ‘Examines Amazon Business Practices’ In Latest Probe
The US state investigation adds to Amazon's regulatory woes, which include investigations by the European Commission and three US federal agencies
Attacks On Critical Infrastructure Now ‘More Targeted’
Study finds cyber-criminals are shifting tactics to favour multi-stage ransomware attacks that include stealing sensitive data to maximise damage and profits
US ‘In Talks’ To Finance 5G In Brazil And Keep Huawei Out
The US is reportedly in talks with Brazil to finance Ericsson and Nokia 5G equipment in the country as a measure to block Huawei's expansion
Just Eat Takeaway Acquisition Of Grubhub Creates Global Player
Just Eat Takeaway's deal to buy Chicago-based Grubhub for £5.8bn does little to consolidate delivery market, but could fuel further expansion
UK Regulator Probes Facebook Giphy Deal On Competition Issues
CMA says it will look into any possible 'lessening of competition' in the UK as a result of the deal, while other raise data concerns
Vodafone Warns UK Will Lose 5G Lead If Huawei Kit Is Removed
Operator issues second warning about removal of Huawei kit from UK's mobile networks, and said effort should focus on expanding 5G coverage
Twitter Clamps Down On 170,000 Pro-China Accounts
Tens of thousands of Twitter accounts operated on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party have been removed for spreading misinformation
Microsoft Bans Facial Recognition Sales To Police
Software giant follows IBM and Amazon with police facial recognition ban until there is national regulation of the technology
Apple To Replace Mac Intel Chips With In-House Processor – Bloomberg
Fresh media report suggests Apple is just a week away from official announcement of the replacement of Mac Intel processors with its own chips
Zoom Briefly Suspends Accounts Of Chinese Activists
Zoom meeting of US-based Chinese activist group to commemorate Tiananmen Square massacre results in brief account suspension
Tech Firms Pledge Child Abuse Disclosures To Blunt Anti-Encryption Drive
Strategic move? Google, Facebook, Microsoft pledge to improve and standardise annual disclosures around online child exploitation
Twitter Tests ‘Read Before You Retweet’ To Halt Misinformation
'We really want to read the information, before you retweet it' says Twitter, as it seeks to drive 'informed discussions'
Amazon Joins Police Ban Of Facial Recognition Tech
E-commerce giant Amazon joins other tech firms with announcement it will pause police use of its facial recognition software
Tesla Workers At California Plant Test Positive For Coronavirus
Production restart at giant Tesla factory in Fremont not going smoothly with reports of staff testing positive for Coronavirus
Post Office Knew Of Horizon IT Problems, But Still Pursued Postmasters – Report
Post Office reportedly knew problems with its Horizon system could be to blame for missing money, but still pursued prosecutions against staff anyway
IBM Cancels All Facial Recognition Programs, Urges Police Reform
Big Blue cancels its facial recognition programs and calls for reform and new ways to work with law enforcement, "to advance justice and racial equity"
Vodafone Fixes Issue After Voice Outage
Vodafone customers on Tuesday experienced problems making and receiving voice calls, after a mistake was made in blocking spam calls
Production At Honda Grinds To Halt After Second Cyber Attack
Work at Honda factories in Japan, the UK, North America, Brazil, India, Turkey and Italy has been suspended after another ransomware attack
Apple Project Aims To Improve Password Managers
Apple's open source Password Manager Resources project includes site-specific data aimed at improving compatibility of third-party password tools
Singapore Says Contact Tracing Token ‘Not An Electronic Tag’
Singapore to distribute contact tracing device to all residents beginning later this month following low takeup of TraceTogether smartphone app
SpaceX Starlink Satellites ‘Run Linux Computers In Space’
SpaceX runs its Starlink satellits like servers in a data centre, with each launch of 60 satellites containing more than 4,000 Linux computers
Google Adds Covid-19 Travel Alerts To Maps
Users will now receive data on how crowded trains and stations are likely to be and alerts on restrictions affecting public transport or border crossings
Huawei Touts ‘Commitment’ To UK 5G Amidst Review
Huawei says UK's 'own interests' at stake in decision on whether to allow it to help build 5G networks, warning of economic losses in the tens of billions
Chinese Manufacturer Claims ‘Million-Mile’ EV Battery Milestone
Chinese electric vehicle battery giant Catl reportedly worked with Tesla on the new battery technology, which can power a car for 1.2m miles
Facebook To Review Content Policies Amidst Protests
Facebook is to review policies on how it handles controversial posts amidst ongoing racism protests, after staff staged walk-out
Linux Mint Distances Itself From Canonical’s Snap
The popular Linux Mint distribution ends support for Canonical's Snap package manager, saying the system is comparable to proprietary software
Disappointed Investors Drive Slack Shares Down
Slack shares plummet after it reports steady revenue growth – but sees little benefit from coronavirus-related trend toward remote working
Reddit Co-Founder Quits In Racism Protest
Alexis Ohanian leaves Reddit's board of directors and says he will donate $1m to charity in move protesting hate speech and racial inequality
US Investigators ‘Lean Toward’ Breaking Up Google’s Ad Tech Business
US state attorneys general probing Google over antitrust issues are reportedly leaning toward pushing for the company's advertising tech business to be broken up
Planet Launches 5G Smartphone With Slide-Out Keyboard
The Astro Slide is Planet Computers' third device with a Psion-like physical keyboard, eschewing the clamshell form factor for a unique slide-out hinge
DoJ Investigates Google Search Domination, Approaches DuckDuckGo
US competition authorities have approached Google search rival DuckDuckGo, in a sign its antitrust investigation is advancing
Facebook To Identify State-Controlled Media From Russia, China
State-controlled media organisations from Russia, China and other countries will be labelled as such by Facebook from the summer
NHS Contact Tracing App Ready By End Of June
Bit on the late side? With new Coronavirus infections falling, the NHS contact-tracing app should be in place at the end of June
Apple Tracks iPhones Stolen By Looters
We are tracking you. Apple warns looters after some street protests in the United States result in the looting of Apple stores
Spanish Lawmakers To Draft 3 Percent Digital Tax
More bad news for US-based tech businesses as Spanish lawmakers ready a draft law calling for a 3 percent tax on digital services
Hackers Steal Data From US Nuclear Missile Contractor
Confidential data from the US military contractor that supports the Minuteman III nuclear deterrent has been stolen by hackers
Amazon Sued After Warehouse Worker Brings Home Covid-19
Fresh lawsuit filed against Amazon over alleged lack of protection against Coronavirus at its troubled Staten Island facility
Pressure On Zuckerberg Grows, As Facebook Old Guard Join Protest
Employees from the early days of Facebook denounce Mark Zuckerberg over his decision not to act against posts by US President Donald Trump
Lawsuit Accuses Apple Of Cover Up Over Falling iPhone Sales
Lawsuit filed by Apple shareholders allege that Tim Cook and co fraudulently concealed declining demand for iPhones, especially in China
France Hits Back At US Trade Threat Over Digital Tax
After the United States begins investigations this week into digital tax scheme of some countries, France warns of unity risk
Android Phones Bricked By Picturesque Wallpaper Of A Lake
Idyllic photo of a mountain lake surrounded by trees actually bricks Android phones, and in some cases only a factory reset will restore the device
Agents of Transformation
AppDynamics have launched a COVID-19 edition of its global research ‘The Agents of Transformation.’ The report includes data from interviews with IT professionals - from board-level directors and CIOs, through to senior and mid-level I ...
Huawei Allegedly Hid Iran Business After CFO Report
Reuters reported that internal documents show Huawei allegedly acted to cover up its relationship with Iran supplier Skycom
Google Hit With Lawsuit For Tracking Internet Use
Class action lawsuit seeks $5 billion from Google, for allegedly tracking people's internet usage via browser's 'private mode'
Smartphone Sales See Record Decline Due To Pandemic
Huawei sees biggest year-on-year sales drop for first quarter, but maintains No. 2 position after Samsung and ahead of Apple, while Xiaomi gets online boost
Microsoft Belatedly Credits AppGet Developer For WinGet
Microsoft acknowledgs its new WinGet package manager is largely inspired by the open source AppGet tool, after its developer pointed out the similarities
Facebook Hit By Staff Backlash Over Trump Posts
Facebook's Zuckerberg singled out for criticism by senior-level staff after allowing presidential post that Twitter labelled as 'glorifying violence'
Samsung Expands Memory Production As Pandemic Fuels Demand
Samsung Electronics begins construction of a new NAND memory production line in South Korea as lockdowns boost demand for equipment used in remote working
Italy Releases Controversial Covid-19 Contact-Tracing App
Italy's Immuni app makes use of Apple and Google's decentralised exposure notification API, but concerns remain over privacy and security protections
Google Postpones Android 11 Launch Event
The virtual launch event for Android's next version, originally set for this week, has been pushed back amidst civil unrest across the US and beyond
TrickBot Malware Update Makes It Harder To Detect
TrickBot information-stealing malware updated with new 'nworm' module that uses encryption and in-memory execution to hinder detection efforts
Uber Italia Hit By Labour Exploitation Probe
Milan court accuses Uber of using recruitment services that paid migrants as little as 3 euros per delivery to work as Uber Eats delivery riders
Windows 10 Update Removes Cortana Consumer Features
Microsoft removes Cortana home and third-party capabilities, amongst other Windows 10 features removed or deprecated in latest release
Tile Accuses Apple Of Anti-Competitive Practices
Tile files complaint with European Commission ahead of expected launch of Apple locator device that competes more directly with Tile
Uber Rolls Out Flat Hourly Rate In Some US Cities
Uber expands flat-rate feature, already available in some European cities, to the US to help riders carry out essential trips during pandemic
SpaceX Mission Delivers Astronauts Into Orbit
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carries two NASA astronauts to International Space Station in historic first for a private company