Tech round up – w/c 30 June
10 Downing Street has launched the ‘Pitch 10’ event- a competition that will bring together start-ups, financiers, corporate partners and investors at the Prime Minister’s residence on 10 July. Any digital start up can apply. Ten will be selected to meet with a handful of financial influencers that can help the chosen entrepreneurs to expand their businesses.
Online wealth manager Nutmeg has raised US$32m (£18million) from a number of investors including Carphone Warehouse founder Charles Dunstone, asset management house Schroders, and VC firm Balderton Capital.
Google Glass is now available in the UK for a whopping £1,000. The futuristic specs are already causing controversy with the head of the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association (CEA) recommending a ban on wearing the glasses in UK cinemas. A journalist from the leading technology publication WIRED has also suggested that Glass is already ‘obsolete’ and that Google’s ‘Android Wear’ on a smartwatch does almost everything Glass could do ‘without any of the negatives’.
Facebook is being investigated by UK regulators for possible data protection violations after it was revealed that a Facebook data scientist and two university researchers manipulated the content of 700,000 Facebook users’ news feeds. The purpose of the secretive probing was to confirm whether people suffered from ‘emotional contagion’ if they were given more negative or more positive posts to view for a week. Critics argued that the findings of the covert operation showed nothing new – those who were shown happier images posted more positive images themselves while those who were shown negative images posted more negative updates.
