Tech

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti considers the global banking sector has generated a degree of complexity such that it can only be managed by artificial intelligence (IA). In an interview on TeleTicino on Sunday, he underlined "we arrive at a human physical limit to manage all this complexity."

The phenomenon of digitization of the banking sector, which is imperative to maintain international competitiveness, should be viewed positively, Ermotti said, because it enables customers to provide more precise and faster services while banks can optimize the costs.

For Ermotti "These changes are also reflected in the elimination of certain activities,". However, he recalled that in Switzerland, one million people will retire in the next ten years, while at the same time job market will require only half million.

The Italian Competition Authority (ICA) imposed a 3-million-euro ($3.2 million) fine on WhatsApp messaging service for allegedly forcing its users to share their personal data with its parent company Facebook, the agency said in a statement Friday.

All 28 European Union data protection authorities asked Whatsapp last year to stop sharing users’ data with Facebook due to doubts over the validity of users’ consent. The Italian agency said the application led users to believe they would not have been able to continue using the service unless they agreed to terms including sharing personal data.

Whatsapp did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment on the fine. The amount is lower than the maximum €5 million the agency could have levied.

Electric car maker Tesla has added another product to its lineup: Solar roof tiles. As of Wednesday, customers worldwide could order a solar roof on Tesla’s web site. Installations will begin next month in the U.S., starting with California. Musk took to Twitter to confirm the delivery and installation of the tiles. According to his tweet, the first two styles will be in 2017 in the United States, and in 2018 for overseas orders.

The glass tiles were unveiled by Tesla last fall just before the company merged with solar panel maker SolarCity Corp. They’re designed to look like a traditional roof, with options that replicate slate or terracotta tiles. The solar tiles contain photovoltaic cells that are invisible from the street.

An advisor to Europe’s highest court has said that Uber should be regulated as a transportation company, subjecting it to local licensing regulations which could have been considered disproportionate under EU law had it been deemed an "information society service".

In a opinion handed down Thursday, Maciej Szpunar, the advocate general of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), said “Indirect control such as that exercised by Uber, based on financial incentives and decentralised passenger-led ratings, with a scale effect, makes it possible to manage in a way that is just as – if not more – effective than management based on formal orders given by an employer to his employees and direct control over the carrying out of such orders.” The decision handed down today is non-binding, though ECJ rulings have historically followed the advice of the advocate general. A final ruling is expected later this year.

Apple is the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, and it just broke its own record. Shares opened at $149.06 a piece on Monday, with 5.2 billion outstanding shares. Following a positive analyst report, Apple’s shares rose over 3% in midday trading to a record high of $153.70. At one point, the company’s market value rose above $800 billion before retreating below that barrier. Apple’s shares closed up 2.7% for the day at $153.01, good for a market value of $797.8 billion.

Facebook had another strong quarter, beating estimates to start 2017. Revenue in the first quarter climbed 49% to $8 billion, which was significantly higher than most analysts expected, and net income was $3 billion or $1.04 per share, compared with consensus estimates of just 87 cents.

It earned that from 1.94 billion users, up from 1.86 billion last quarter, growing at a faster 4.3% compared to 3.91% last quarter.
Facebook said in its last quarterly update that it expects to see its advertising growth rate "come down meaningfully" in 2017 as it stops adding more advertising to the news feed.

Swisscom reports revenues of CHF 2.83 billion for the first quarter of this year, down by 1.9 percent compared with the same period in 2016. The revenue decrease is caused by strong pressure on prices and increasing market saturation. In Q1 Swisscom revenue from telecommunications services fell by CHF 37 million (-2.2%). Around 50 percent of this decrease in revenue was the result of a decline in subscribers in fixed-line telephony, while the other 50 percent was due to price reductions, including roaming, and a decline in corporate business.

Scientists supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) have produced novel electrolytes for rechargeable sodium and magnesium batteries. The research group’s objective was to develop alternatives to lithium-ion technology.

The recent research, led by Arndt Remhof of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Empa, is said to have demonstrated the potential of sodium and magnesium and his team has produced experimental battery components based on these metals.