The UK new car market reached the half-year milestone of one million vehicles for the first time in five years, with June new car registrations rising by 1.1% to 179,263 vehicles, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This brings the total number of new cars sold this year to 1,006,763, representing […] More
China has taken the lead in the global race for generative artificial intelligence patents, with over 38,000 patents filed between 2014 and 2023, according to a new report from the United Nations on Thursday. This number is significantly higher than the patents filed by U.S. inventors, which is six times less, as stated by the […] More
Last month, AI chip leader Nvidia briefly claimed the title of the world’s richest company, surpassing Microsoft, which had recently overtaken Apple. This news prompted spontaneous applause at a tech industry event I attended in Copenhagen. Currently, Nvidia has slipped back to second place, with its market value dropping to $3 trillion (£2.4 trillion) compared […] More
One shift in the Aston Martin Valour and you’re hooked. It’s the nature of that shift that’s key—a manual gear change connected to a V12 engine via metal and rods, all wrapped in a bespoke body, yours for £1.5m plus options. While Pagani initiated the trend with the Pagani Utopia’s manual gearbox, Aston Martin’s front-engine […] More
Google Translate is expanding its language capabilities significantly, adding 110 new languages, including Manx, in its largest single expansion ever. This brings the total number of languages supported by the translation tool to 243, nearly doubling its previous count. The expansion is driven by PaLM 2, the latest iteration of Google’s Pathways Language Model introduced […] More
The Eurozone Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased by 2.5% year-on-year in June, slightly slower than the 2.6% growth reported in May, according to data released by Eurostat on Tuesday. Market expectations had anticipated a 2.5% rise for the same period. Core HICP, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also grew by 2.9% […] More
Shell to Pause Dutch Biofuels Project Due to Market Conditions Shell will halt construction on one of Europe’s largest biofuel plants because of weak market conditions, marking another setback for low-carbon projects as CEO Wael Sawan aims to increase returns. This follows BP’s recent announcement of pausing two biofuel projects in Germany and the U.S. […] More
In February, deep within a warehouse at CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the world’s largest scientific experiment – two network engineers eagerly pressed a button. Instantly, text flashed on a screen before them, confirming success. “There was high-fiving involved,” recalls Joachim Opdenakker of SURF, a Dutch IT association serving educational and […] More
Britain’s upcoming government is set to gain from a reduction in household financial pressure due to a slowdown in inflation and a decrease in fuel prices, although costs remain high for many families. Data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) indicates that annual UK shop price inflation dropped to 0.2% last month from 0.6% in […] More
Metro Bank is introducing a 2.99% fee on all debit card transactions made outside the UK starting August 29, including in Europe, which is currently free. Customers withdrawing cash from their accounts abroad will also pay the 2.99% fee plus an additional £1.50 ATM fee. Currently, Metro Bank allows its approximately 3 million customers to […] More