Blog

 The UK’s data protection bill is facing fresh controversy and the threat of legal action if the government does not ditch an amendment which removes data protection rights in instances where the Home Office deems it could prejudice “effective immigration control”. Read More

 Zen Rooms, a budget hotel network funded by Rocket Internet among others, is facing shutdown if investors are unable to sell the loss-making business. The two-year-old company offers a network of affordable hotels in 50 cities across Southeast Asia that are designed as a happy medium between affordable guesthouses, which are typically not organized and hard to book online, and more… Read More

 It was a quiet Oscar ceremony for the big streaming services, but Netflix’s doping film Icarus (directed by Bryan Fogel) did win the award for best documentary feature. The Big Sick, distributed by Amazon Studios, was nominated for best original screenplay, while Netflix’s Mudbound was nominated for best adapted screenplay, cinematography (amazingly, Rachel Morrison is the first… Read More

 I just walked into Shenzhen, and boy, is my mind boggled. Let me just get all my knee-jerk chorus-line reactions out of the way, before we get to the weird stuff: yes, this place is amazing. Yes, the scores of shiny new skyscrapers look like something out of science fiction. Yes, the electronics markets are colossal hives of sensory overload, buzzing nonstop with small-scale high-tech… Read More

 Recently, we found that, for 2018, the amount of money being raised by blockchain and blockchain-adjacent companies via traditional VC rounds is on pace to surpass 2017’s highs. But despite more than $900 million in recorded venture funding in 2017, and more than $375 million in known venture funding for the first two months of 2018 so far, traditional VC rounds — convertible… Read More

 “Timing”, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said cryptically when asked what the greatest threat was for Snap Inc. “I think the big risks are always the really big product ideas that we’re investing in that are just hard to get right” he told the Goldman Sachs conference two weeks ago. The statements got lost amongst flashier quotes. He defended the Snapchat redesign… Read More

 For many in the open source community, code and technology are meant to be free, shared with all of humanity in the pursuit of a better present and future. That is not how governments see it though. In their minds, technology is a strategic asset that provides a competitive advantage against other countries. These assets lead to wealth, to jobs, and ultimately, to domestic tranquillity. The U.S. Read More

 As YouTube continues in its efforts to crack down harder on content that violates its terms of usage and promotes offensive and/or misleading content, it’s found itself in the fake news crossfire this weekend. After a video and some advertisers were removed from YouTube channels controlled by Alex Jones, the far-right commentator best known for hosting the video show InfoWars, Jones… Read More

 Brandless is an usual company. A direct-to-consumer purveyor of food, beauty, and personal care products, it says that every item it makes is non-genetically modified, kosher, fair-trade, gluten-free, often organic and, in the case of cleaning supplies, EPA “Safer Choice” certified. They are also priced at $3 across the board. The idea, says cofounder and CEO Tina Sharkey, is… Read More

 When Birmingham led the charge in the civil rights movement in the sixties, the city inadvertently created big shoes for itself to later fill. Just how Birmingham was the birthplace of many civil rights actions in the sixties, the city wants to be the birthplace of true diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. I found that out and more when I visited Birmingham and explored its tech scene… Read More