More evidence, if it were needed, that Europe is increasingly becoming a mobile-centric culture, with figures showing that France’s smartphone market has grown 34 percent in the last year. Read more »
Stockholm-based iZettle — a company that is building a payments system not entirely unlike the much-heralded Square — is taking a big step forwards today by coming out of beta. The system, which consists of a plug-in device and app, goes live today, with approval from […] Read more »
Soundcloud’s decision to make soundwaves central to its offering seemed like it a gamble — but it’s paid off. So is the company now leading a movement of web services who choose to wear their data on the outside? Read more »
British social shopping game Fantasy Shopper, which launched last month, has become the first non-American company to win the top prize Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge. Read more »
British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday hailed the 200% growth in East London’s technology cluster over the past year — but closer examination of the official figures by GigaOM shows that the statistics include nightclubs, fashion retailers and other non-tech businesses. Read more »
Britain’s broadband market used to be widely lauded for its combination of high speeds and low prices, something achieved through a mixture of strong competition and careful regulation. But as the gigabit revolution has taken hold elsewhere, the U.K. has been left trailing its counterparts in […] Read more »
In a smart essay on the technical origins of today’s social networks, Pinboard founder Maciej Ceglowski explores the idea of why the social graph doesn’t work in the way we need — and explodes it in the process. Read more »
It already has a reputation as Europe’s top investor in startups, but now Index Ventures is adding more firepower with the announcement of a €500m new growth fund aimed at making big bets on rapidly-expanding companies on both sides of the Atlantic. Read more »
Raspberry Pi, the British outfit trying to build and sell low cost computers to help teach children how to code, has garnered plenty of attention in the past few months. Now director David Braben says the first devices will be on the market in weeks. Read more »
The market for social television services is getting increasingly crowded, as companies try to build systems that combine broadcast and social networks. But could British startup Zeebox get the jump on the competition with its smart new iPad app and powerful team? Read more »
The Guardian is trialling a new community publishing platform that’s based on where you are — a sort of Wordpress meets Craigslist meets Everyblock. But can it make hyperlocal work? The company’s director of digital strategy tells us what it means. Read more »
Sony has announced that it is buying full control of handset maker Sony Ericsson for $1.46 billion. But will it change anything? Here are five things that bringing the business in-house means for the Japanese electronics giant and the wider industry. Read more »
After throwing its lot in with Microsoft, Nokia is finally starting to ship its first Windows Phone handsets — the Lumia, a new range launched in London today. But while Stephen Elop knows everything’s at stake for the Finnish company, has he delivered? Read more »
Facebook is offering companies more information on the way fan pages are used — and new data shows that it’s for one simple reason: it’s by far the most effective way for brands to reach customers, which makes it an easy way for Facebook to cash in. Read more »
Twitter has made the world faster with its real-time messaging. But what if it’s not actually real-time enough? Enter Bonfire, a new browser plugin that promises to bring IM-style chat and presence into Twitter itself. Read more »
After enduring a torrid few months, Netflix is hoping to get that it can generate some positive momentum by announcing plans to launch in the U.K. and Ireland early next year — its first product launch outside the Americas. But it will face stiff competition. Read more »
Everyone in flash sales seems to be having problems right now, from Groupon to Gilt. But the new boss of the American spin-off from Europe’s pioneering Vente Privée explains why things will be different for him. Read more »
The cream of London’s startup community turned out at Buckingham Palace for a special princely audience. But the best entrepreneurs won’t let a brush with royalty get in the way of their ambition to overturn the establishment. Read more »
Even today, millions of American businesses are still offline — a situation that Texas startup Ownlocal is hoping to change, with new money and a fresh plan that could even help prop up embattled media companies along the way. Read more »
Any seasoned fashionista knows that shopping is serious business, but that doesn’t explain why most retail sites are so boring. New service Fantasy Shopper wants to inject more fun into buying online by turning it into a social game. Can it succeed? Read more »
The BBC played a huge part in the British computer boom of the 1980s by supporting local manufacturer Acorn. Now, with the U.K.’s computer education under criticism, it is considering whether to take on a similar role in the 21st century. Read more »
The tablet market is growing rapidly — but it could be getting even more of a boost thanks to the growing number of operator subsidies on offer. The latest? A series of cut-price deals aimed at France’s large student population. Read more »
The relaunch of Delicious was meant to be a phoenix-like resurrection — but instead was welcomed by a chorus of complaints about missing or broken features. After two weeks of scrambling to appease angry users, the company is making some progress… but is it enough? Read more »
One report says venture capital firms are investing more now than in recent years, but another says startups aren’t seeing enough money. So is the system healthy or sick? Perhaps it depends on where you think investors should be putting their cash — and why. Read more »
What started as a brief message interruption for BlackBerry users in Europe has now become a worldwide problem that has left millions of people unable to get service — and highlights the leadership problems at the top of Research in Motion. Read more »
A leading British politician is in hot water after mistakenly publishing a message to Twitter that was intended to stay private. But while his error provides some fun for the peanut gallery, the slip underscores a larger usability problem that Twitter has failed to deal with. Read more »
It’s become a piece of widely-accepted startup lore to say that failure is an important part of success. But this trio of examples highlight the fact that entrepreneurs have as much in common with Tiger Woods as they do with each other. Read more »
A report published today in the UK labels arguments against network neutrality as “myths” — and suggests that attempts by broadband providers to manage online traffic will end up doing long-term damage to the entire Internet industry. Read more »
Shares in Russian Internet group Mail.ru have fallen to their lowest point since the company went public last year. But since the company has been indirectly fueling Silicon Valley’s latest investment boom, a serious slump could have repercussions far beyond Moscow. Read more »
The frozen reaches of Siberia’s biggest city might not be the first place you’d go to look for the next generation of technology companies. But that’s precisely where Northern European accelerator Startup Sauna has gone in the search for new talents and ideas. Read more »
Raindance is Britain’s largest independent film festival, becoming an institution for cinephiles over the past 20 years. This year it’s decided to partner with a little-known film website run out of Poland. So what does Filmaster offer that others don’t? Read more »
When the social bookmarking service Delicious relaunched, people were concerned that it looked different. But now a litany of serious complaints is emerging: broken services, missing pages, deleted accounts. Were these mistakes deliberate — or just the result of bad planning? Read more »
Some of Web 2.0′s brightest talents are returning with new projects, from revitalized bookmarking sites to fresh online games. But the challenges they face today are different than back in 2005, because the internet is radically changed — not least because of Facebook. Can they succeed? Read more »
Sold by Yahoo to the founders of YouTube, social bookmarking service Delicious is one of the great survivors of Web 2.0. But can a revamp convince new users to bookmark the web — and keep the old ones happy at the same time? Read more »
Twitter is opening an office in Dublin, which has become notorious as Europe’s haven for American technology businesses, thanks to its lenient business taxes. But can a new program in London tempt engineers to join new startups, rather than the big names? Read more »
Charlie McDonnell is just 20 years old, but he’s already earning a living as Britain’s most popular YouTube video blogger. What’s the secret of success? And what can the industry — video companies or broadcasters — learn from his experiences? Read more »
With Europe’s currency on the brink of collapse, is there anything startups and investors can do to avoid risking their businesses? We asked some of the continent’s top venture capitalists what they are doing to try and sidestep the crisis. Read more »
The rise of gamification has become an increasing point of contention over the past year. Now it seems a spat between two leading figures has left the movement facing a divisive split. The controversy centers on a new book by Gabe Zichermann called Gamification by Design. Read more »
As the battle heats up among social recommendation websites, British newcomer Top10.com thinks it can make an impact. But with Facebook cranking up to launch new features, do independent sites have a fight on their hands? Read more »
British startup Fizzback, which has won much praise for its popular customer service software, has been bought by a larger Israeli rival for $80 million. But investors seem to think the business had more in the tank. So was the founder right to sell? Read more »
