By Jim Drury The world’s first commercially available personal jetpack should go on sale to customers next year, at a cost of around $150,000. The Martin Jetpack has been developed over the past 35 years, the dream of then university student, New Zealander Glenn Martin. Tests in New Zealand of the initial prototype in 2011 saw the manned jetpack successfully fly at least 1,000 meters off the ground before landing
The old powers of market incumbents – massive scale, control over distribution, brand power, millions of customer relationships – are no longer seen as the obstacles they once were to agile rivals with innovative business models. A new survey finds business leaders believe four out of 10 top-ranked companies in their industries worldwide won’t survive the next five years. “Consumers are still unlikely to take an app if they
The explosion of electronic, mobile and other payment methods will ultimately make for a safer system, but the technology needs to be rolled out “in a prudent fashion” with recognition of possibly unexpected risks, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell said on Thursday. As the U.S. relies more heavily on electronic payment methods and beefs up security with changes like chip-and-pin credit and debit cards, banks, data processors and merchants need
Hopes of a deal between Greece and its creditors faded once again, as European officials strived to come to an agreement over its finances.
U.S. consumer spending recorded its largest increase in nearly six years in May on strong demand for automobiles and other big-ticket items, further evidence that economic growth was gathering momentum in the second quarter. While other data on Thursday showed a modest increase in first-time applications for unemployment benefits last week, the underlying trend in jobless claims continued to suggest the labor market was tightening. The Commerce Department said consumer
The technology giant plans to build a new data center at the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Alabama.
The head of Japan’s Takata Corp (7312.T) said an internal probe into its potentially deadly air bag inflators was not progressing well, but vowed to stay at the helm until trust in the safety of its products was restored. Facing the media for the first time since the company’s recall crisis erupted over a year ago, Chief Executive Shigehisa Takada apologised for the defective inflators, which have been linked to
China plans to launch a yuan-denominated gold fix by the end of 2015 via the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), in a move aimed at giving the world’s biggest bullion producer and consumer more influence over pricing. The first public confirmation made by an exchange official comes after Reuters cited sources in February on the proposal for the fix to be set through trading on the SGE, the world’s biggest physical
Wall Street opened higher on Thursday as data showed that the U.S. economy was on the path to recovery after consumer spending recorded its largest increase in nearly six years. Investors have been keeping a sharp eye on economic data for signs of a recovery in the U.S. economy, which came to a crawl in the first quarter, as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates for the first
The European Central Bank held a crucial cash lifeline for Greece unchanged on Thursday, a person familiar with the discussion said, as the head of the Bundesbank objected to the way Greek banks are being funded.