Just a decade ago, the world's biggest tech beast was a relative minnow. Microsoft had become notorious for disappointing product launches, stagnant innovation, and losing top talent. The first true software giant was becoming a big tech dinosaur. Fast forward to 2024 and Microsoft is the planet's most valuable business. Under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella, stock has soared by over 1,000% in 10 years. In January, the company reached a $3 trillion market cap — larger than the whole GDP...
Britain is exploring new curbs on China's access to "sensitive technologies" following allegations of cyber espionage. Oliver Dowden, the UK's deputy prime minister, launched a review of the restrictions on Thursday. He warned that "hostile states" could use British funds and tech for "military and intelligence" projects that threaten national security. "Our open economy is being targeted by state-based actors and their proxies," Dowden said in a speech at the Chatham House think tank in...
For the past two years, I have worked at a company whose workforce hails from around the globe, including the United States, Europe, and Latin America. I’m the only team member based in Santa Marta, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, and I work remotely — like many of my colleagues on the other continents. The experience has opened my eyes to a dynamic blend of workplace norms and cultures, but has also posed some challenges. Differing time zones, humour and customs, access to technology,...
Dutch startup Meatable has hosted the first legally approved tasting of cultivated meat in Europe. On the menu was a lab-grown pork sausage. Meatable says the produce is "indistinguishable" from traditional meat, but causes no harm to animals or the environment. To replicate the flavours and textures of livestock, Meatable first extracts a single cell sample from a pig. The sample is then cultivated in a bioreactor. Over time, the sample multiplies and forms real muscle tissue, which is...
AI threatens to decimate the translation profession, according to a new survey by a British union. Almost four in ten translators (36%) said they've already lost work due to generative AI. Nearly half of them (43%) said the tech has decreased their income. They fear far worse is to come. Over three-quarters of translators (77%) believe GenAI will negatively impact future income from their creative work. The survey was conducted by the Society of Authors (SoA), the UK's largest trade...
California-based quantum circuitry company Rigetti has brought a commercially available quantum computer to the UK. Only the second in the country, it was installed in collaboration with Oxford Instruments NanoScience — a cryogenics company that provides the cooling needed for superconducting qubits. The system, supported by grants from the UK government, is Rigetti’s first UK-based quantum computer and will be accessible via the company’s cloud computing services. When it comes to...
Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In today’s episode, Linnea and Andrii talk about artificial general intelligence, repairable airbuds, some Wolverine nerdery, drone delivery adoption, and much more. The guest of the show is Caroline Viarouge, CEO at EIT Manufacturing. A big part of the conversation...
Amid the semiconductor industry’s slowdown and increasing geopolitical tensions, Dutch chip machine-maker ASML reported a decrease both in sales and profits. Europe’s most valuable tech company saw orders fall to €3.6bn in the first quarter of 2024, down from €9.2bn in the previous quarter. Its net profit also dropped to €1.2bn — a 37% decrease compared to Q4 2023. “We see 2024 as a transition,” ASML's President and CEO Peter Wennink said in a statement. Wennink expects a stronger...
Under orders from the EU, tech giants have launched 11 advertising transparency tools. None of them are fit for purpose, according to a new study from Mozilla. The tools provide libraries of data about online adverts. By exploring the repositories, researchers can identify the funders and techniques behind the ads. At least, that's the idea. The libraries are obligatory under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), a law designed to safeguard online environments. By shining a light on ad...
A British drone maker plans to launch air taxis in 2026 after raising a whopping $110mn. Skyports has already flown electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft on delivery and monitoring trials. The new funding brings commercial air taxis closer to the services on offer. The first flights are slated to take off in the United Arab Emirates. Earlier this year, Skyports inked a deal with authorities in Dubai to build four vertiports ahead of the launch of air taxi services in 2026....
Berlin-based Ecosia, best known as the tree-planting search engine, has teamed up with French startup Kanop to monitor its reforestation efforts from space. With around 20 million users, Ecosia is the world’s largest not-for-profit search engine. It is also one of the biggest tree-planters in the world. The company claims to have planted 200 million trees since its inception in 2009. To date, Ecosia has monitored its tree-planting efforts using ground-based observations. But with the help...
We have all been guilty of falling under the foundation model spell of the past year-and-a-half, initiated by OpenAI’s unveiling of ChatGPT to the public. But it is not only where large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 are concerned that incredible progress has been made in the field of artificial intelligence. And one company has been behind more impressive milestones than most — DeepMind, acquired by Google in 2014 for a reported £400mn to £650mn. Speaking at the TED 40th...