By the London technology team
Budgeting for tech
This week’s Budget saw a number of measures aimed at the tech sector. As well as £140m for the Internet of Things, £600m for releasing spectrum and new ‘ambition’ for ultrafast broadband, the Chancellor announced plans to grow the ‘sharing economy’ (for example by letting the public sector use it) and a new regulatory approach to stimulate FinTech. One intriguing aspect was an open standard API for banking data to allow apps to access user’s banking data and digital tax accounts to replace the annual tax return. Our full Budget analysis is here.
Data watchdog survey
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) released their annual survey showing that 77% of consumers are either ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ concerned that companies were not holding personal data so securely. Another finding of the survey was that 75% of respondents felt that businesses holding personal information should be subject to Freedom of Information, and the ICO urged businesses to increase transparency and do more to ease concerns. The story featured in ITPro and Computing.
Watchmakers taking their time to go digital
After the Apple Watch launched with some very premium pricing options, a number of traditional watchmakers have decided to get in on wearable tech as sales have fallen. BBC News paid a visit to Baselworld, a key show for the watch industry. Techradar also featured a story Swiss manufacturer Tag Heuer have also announced that they are partnering with Google and Intel to make an Android powered watch.
