UK heading for a fight over cookies
The rhetoric over cookie legislation ratcheted up a notch on Tuesday, as the Information Commissioner’s Office told companies they “must try harder” in working out how to comply with the new rules on online privacy.
Christopher Graham, the commissioner, suggested that very few companies had yet come up with ways to get permission from online users to collect their details, as required by the new law.
Lifeline for Iceland’s data centre hopes
Iceland’s hopes of becoming a global hub for data centres came a step closer on Thursday, when plans for a new transatlantic subsea cable were announced, that would link New York and London via Iceland and Ireland.
Iceland has long been trying to market itself as a prime location for data centres. Its plentiful, cheap geothermal energy is attractive to data centre operators who are becoming increasingly worried about electricity costs, and the cold climate means cooling the racks of servers is virtually free.
Let them eat data
The UK government does not have a lot of money to pump into the technology sector so it is trying to be generous with something it does have in plentiful supply – data.
On Tuesday, as part of the government’s Autumn Statement George Osborne, the chancellor, is expected to announce plans to open up access to more government data, including transport data, health records, house prices and Met Office weather information.
Time Out snaps up UK daily deals bargain Keynoir
Time Out, the entertainment reviews and listings group, has acquired Keynoir, a London daily-deals service, for a sum well below its inspiration Groupon’s multi-billion-dollar valuation.
The unexpected impact of Facebook’s “seamless sharing” on newspaper sites
Mark Zuckerberg said in September that Facebook’s new sharing tools for music, video and news would “transform” the media world, with the social network “rethinking the whole way the news industry works”.
A few weeks in, there are early hints he might be right. Music services such as Spotify and Deezer had shared 1.5bn “listens” as of last week, while Rdio has seen a 30-fold increase in new user registrations from Facebook.
But the transformation is not necessarily what Facebook’s founder or his new partners in the news industry might have expected. A surge of Facebook traffic to years-old stories may be forcing news sites to reassess the importance of, well, news.
David Cameron returns to Silicon Roundabout, touting growth, electric cars and augmented reality
David Cameron, the British prime minister, returned to Shoreditch in East London on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of his Tech City initiative.
Tech news from around the web:
Amazon has increased the order numbers for its Kindle Fire tablet computer from manufacturers to 5m units by the end of the year, according to TechCrunch. The tablet is available in the US from next Tuesday.
Index Ventures doubles down on Europe with huge new growth fund
When two key partners at Index Ventures, Danny Rimer and Mike Volpi, moved from London to open the tech investor’s first Silicon Valley office, many European entrepreneurs saw it as a loss for the region.
But as it raises a huge new €500m ($700m) late-stage fund, Index insists that it’s just as focused on Europe – and London – as it’s ever been.
Elites disagree at London Cyber Conference
The two-day London Cyber Conference wrapped up Thursday with a remarkable lack of unity for such a carefully staged, invite-only event for world political and technology leaders.
Why government should not touch the internet
The London Cyberspace conference is an elegant metaphor for why government involvement in the internet should be limited as much as possible.
Even its name is already out of date, as quaint as calling it the “information super-highway” these days. A roomful of young people, convened as a “Youth Forum” on the fringes of the conference, were asked if anyone used the word “cyber” any more. No one raised their hands.
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