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
By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the Office of Personnel Management refused on Wednesday to estimate how many millions of Americans were affected by recent hack attacks on her agency’s computers, but rejected as premature reports 18 million were compromised. OMP Director Katherine Archuleta conceded the number of people whose data was hacked could increase from initial estimates. OPM said this month it was victim of a
Toshiba wants to create a level of encryption technology that absolutely no-one can crack. First reported by the Wall Street Journal, the quantum-cryptography system, which has been tested on Toshiba’s labs and sites, uses photons sent over a custom-made fibre-optic cable that isn’t connected to the internet thus making any spying incredibly difficult. As for the particles themselves, Toshiba has stated that any attempts to change the code or wiretap
Unity Technologies CEO John Riccitiello doesn’t entirely agree with Deus Ex creator Warren Spector’s opinion that VR is a fad. Spector recently told Gamesindustry: “I don’t think most humans want to look stupid (everyone looks stupid in a VR headset) and they don’t want to isolate themselves from the world. “I mean, if someone’s sneaking up behind me with a baseball bat, I want to know about it, you know
Best 2-in-1 laptops Microsoft’s Windows 8 didn’t just shake up the company’s entire software empire, but the mobile computing industry as well. Given the dualistic nature of the new Windows, laptop and tablet makers responded in kind with devices commonly known as 2-in-1 laptops, or hybrid laptops. These are devices that are able to serve as both a laptop and a tablet, either in a detachable design that sees the
Windows XP remains popular among government agencies after details emerged of the US Navy paying millions to extend support for the outdated OS. First reported by PC World, a declassified Navy document detailed a $30.8 million (around £19.5 million, or AU$39.95 million) contract signed with Microsoft to continue supporting the OS until 2017 at a cost of $9.1 million (around £5.78 million, or AU$11.81 million) per year. “The Navy relies
Apple’s U-turn decision to pay artists for the duration of Apple Music’s three-month free trial has worked as Cupertino has just struck up a big deal with Beggars Group and Merlin, two major indie music rights holders. You might not have heard of Beggars, but the group manages a bunch of labels including XL, Rough Trade, Matador and 4AD, representing acts including Radiohead, Arcade Fire and Adele. Merlin covers a
The official OnePlus website has teased a series of photos that show off the upcoming OnePlus 2’s new USB cable. OK, so “new USB cable” isn’t the most exciting phrase in the world, but it does give us a glimpse of a new OnePlus 2 feature. This is because the photos show a new USB Type-C cable, which means the OnePlus 2 will be one of the few smartphones to
Google has angered privacy campaigners and open source developers after claims surfaced that it has secretly installed eavesdropping software inside one of its most popular programs. The developers behind the Chromium browser have reportedly found audio-snooping code inside Chrome that is able to listen to users, a function that was remotely installed by the company behind the browser, Google, according to the Guardian. Designed to support the “OK, Google” feature
