It was designed to make sharpening a pencil feel as thrilling as flying a jet. A gleaming chrome teardrop, tapered to a point and adorned with a bullet-like handle, Raymond Loewy’s aerodynamic tail-fin pencil sharpener brought the glamour of the machine age to the humble office desk. As the godfather Continue Reading
Tech
The Guardian view on taxing the tech giants: time to pay up | Tax avoidance
The terrible global cloud that is the Covid-19 pandemic offered the world the glimpse of a silver lining this week. New tax proposals by Joe Biden mean that the economic emergency caused by coronavirus could result in big multinational corporations having to pay the fair amounts of tax they have Continue Reading
How past tech floats fared, and upcoming IPOs in London | Business
Amazon listed on the Nasdaq at $18 a share with a market value of $438m in 1997, when it was just an online bookseller, with 256 employees. The share price rose gradually over the years, but started to rocket in 2015 after the firm posted substantial profits. Three years later, Continue Reading
Tech CEOs grilled over role in Capitol attack as protesters mock them with giant cutouts | US Congress
The CEOs of America’s biggest technology companies faced a grilling on Thursday from Congress about the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol, as protesters outside the hearing denounced the platforms for playing a role in fueling the violence. The marathon, six-hour hearing saw the three most powerful men in tech Continue Reading
‘The earlier you act, the more impact’: how Seattle tech industry led on Covid | Seattle
Last year, four days after the first recorded Covid-19 death in the United States was reported in Kirkland, Washington, just east of Seattle, Microsoft leaders jumped into action – recommending that their employees in the area work from home. Two days later, Amazon made a similar declaration. Combined, their announcements Continue Reading
A very happy anniversary for the stock market Congress Japan China Big Tech Boom- Tempemail
It was one year ago that the terrifying free fall for the stock market suddenly ended, ushering in one of its greatest runs. On March 23, 2020, the S&P 500 fell 2.9%. In all, the index dropped nearly 34% in about a month, wiping out three years’ worth of gains Continue Reading
How non-fungible tokens became the latest tech speculation bubble | E-commerce
If you go by the headlines, there’s a trading boom in something called non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Grimes has sold $6m of art via NFTs; Kings of Leon will be releasing their new album as two types of NFT, and a 10-second digital artwork bought via an NFT for $67,000 in Continue Reading
Tech giants to make Australia’s phone repairers extinct, Right to Repair inquiry hears | Business
Independent phone repairs companies could soon become extinct, small business owners have warned, as tech conglomerates such as Apple and Samsung continue to make it impossible for third parties to fix their devices. Nicholas Muradian, the founder and director of The Phone Spot, an independent repairs retailer with stores in Continue Reading
Naomi Klein: how big tech helps India target climate activists | India
The bank of cameras camped outside Delhi’s sprawling Tihar jail was the sort of media frenzy you would expect to await a prime minister caught in an embezzlement scandal, or a Bollywood star caught in the wrong bed. Instead, the cameras were waiting for Disha Ravi, a nature-loving 22-year-old vegan Continue Reading
Smile for the camera: the dark side of China’s emotion-recognition tech | China
“Ordinary people here in China aren’t happy about this technology but they have no choice. If the police say there have to be cameras in a community, people will just have to live with it. There’s always that demand and we’re here to fulfil it.” So says Chen Wei at Continue Reading