Tech

Switzerland placed first overall in international university Insead’s 2017 Global Talent Competitive Index (GTCI); the annual study, released by international graduate university Insead on Monday, measures a nation’s competitiveness based on the quality of talent that it can produce, attract and retain.
This year’s report explores the effects of technological change on talent competitiveness, arguing that while jobs at all levels continue to be replaced by machines, technology is also creating new opportunities.

Switzerland-based fintech company Advanon announced that it has closed the second round of funding and has raised 13.5 million swiss francs, as Finextra reported.

The funding round saw investors including one of the biggest telecom company from Switzerland, Swisscom, two venture funds b-to-v Partners and VI Partners as well as the founder of Partners Group, Urs Wietlisbach. There are three-quarters available to invest on the platform and one-quarter will be invested in equity. The online platform helps SMEs to bridge the long payment terms that they’re facing nowadays.

Yahoo, one of the Internet’s most venerable companies, won’t exist for much longer. According to SEC paperwork filed on Monday, it will be rolled into a publicly-traded investment company called Altaba.

Basically, Verizon is paying $4.8 billion solely for Yahoo’s core internet business, leaving behind Yahoo’s 15% of Chinese retail giant Alibaba and a part of Yahoo Japan, which is a joint venture with Softbank. Those assets will continue to exist in a separate company that will now operate under the catchy Altaba name.

Tesla begins to roll out the updates to its Enhanced Auto Pilot, with a 1,000 vehicles in the first round of updates and the rest in the following week.
It’s not just your computer that gets its software updates these days, from now on your trusty vehicle does the same and in the case of Tesla vehicles, the latest upgrade “Autopilot 1” will bring owners closer to self driving with the HW2 Autopilot software. The update is currently being uploaded to 1,000 Tesla vehicles and if all goes well, the rest of the fleet will be updated in the following week. The company will also provide a P100D performance upgrade in January, for Model S and Model X users.
‘HW2 Autopilot software uploading to 1,000 cars this eve. Will then hold to verify no field issues and upload to rest of fleet next week,’ Elon Musk posted on Twitter last Saturday.

Honda is in talks with Google to install the tech company’s self-driving technology in Honda vehicles.

Honda will have to provide Waymo with vehicles that are specially modified to accommodate the self-driving technology, while Waymo would lend Honda its insight into self-driving technology, a field every automaker is interested in these days.

The automaker says that if a deal is reached, it will provide vehicles to Waymo that are modified to handle the technology. The Hondas would join Waymo’s fleet that includes Lexus SUVs and Chrysler Pacifica minivans.

The European Commission is accusing Facebook of providing incorrect or misleading information during the Commission’s investigation into its merger with WhatsApp back in 2014, opening the company to a possible fine of 1% of its turnover. It centers around the fact that Facebook told the Commission that it would be unable to reliably automate matching between separate accounts on the messaging app and the social network.

"Companies are obliged to give the Commission accurate information during merger investigations. They must take this obligation seriously," Ms Vestager, the European Union’s Competition Commissioner, said.

Ernst & Young (EY), one of the “Big Four” accounting corporations in the world, is leading the Bitcoin industry to the mainstream. For users or employees that are in need of high liquidity, EY also installed a Bitcoin ATM in their public office in Switzerland, enabling its clients and employees to purchase and sell Bitcoins.

Most importantly, EY is accepting Bitcoin payments for all of their consulting services, which accounts for around $7.8 bln in 2016. This means that any client can pay globally with Bitcoin to cover services provided by EY.

The start-ups of the EPF Lausanne have already raised CHF 397 million and the counters of the year 2016 are still running. This is 50% better than in 2014 when they had raked 242 million, according to an EPFL statement.

The funds were raised by spin-offs created as a result of technology developed in an EPFL lab or created by a campus researcher, as well as companies located within EPFL’s Innovation Park, a tech community on the EPFL campus that hosts over 120 start-ups and 23 large companies including Intel, Logitech and Siemens.