Tech

The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) has begun testing on a proof-of-concept autonomous air taxi, flying for five minutes approximately 650 feet above a windy residential neighborhood.

The air taxis (AATs) are built by the German company Volocopter. Looking like a helicopter with a drone’s rotors attached at the top, it is meant to seat 2 with 18 propellors. Unmanned for its first run, the test and surrounding ceremony was arranged by Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.

Best global brands of 2017 list was released on Monday by Interbrand, a brand consultancy based in the US. Technology companies dominated the top 20 spaces on the list with Apple Inc once again emerging as the number one brand.

The report shows technology is the dominant sector, with tech giant Apple securing the highest rank as the world’s most valuable brand for the fifth year running, while Google retains its second place for the fourth year in a row. The top 100 brands have a combined total value of $1,872bn, an increase of 4.2% from 2016.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise plans to cut its workforce by 10%, according to a person familiar with the plans, the latest cost cuts as the business-technology giant combats increasing competition and higher component prices.

“The cuts at the company, which has about 50,000 workers, are likely to affect workers in the U.S. and abroad, including managers,” Bloomberg reported, based on unnamed sources.

The finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy and Spain have written a joint letter to the European Union’s presidency and Commission calling for taxes on tech giants’ revenues, not just their profits. The four nations want the Commission to produce an "equalization tax" that would make companies pay the equivalent of the corporate tax in the countries where they earn revenue.

France is leading a push to clamp down on the taxation of such companies, but has found support from other countries also frustrated at the low tax they receive under current international rules.

The European Union’s highest court on Wednesday backed Intel Corp.’s appeal of a €1.06 billion ($1.26 billion) EU antitrust fine in 2009, referring the case back to a lower court and dealing a blow to an antitrust regulator that has taken a hard line on U.S. tech giants.

Intel was fined by the European Commission in 2009 for abusing its monopoly of the computer processor market by bullying manufacturers into purchasing all their chips from Intel instead of rivals. The penalty was the biggest antitrust fine in the Commission’s history until the €2.4bn fine handed to Google this year.

KLM has launched a Whatsapp service for businesses, allowing passengers to receive flight information through the messaging app.

The Dutch company has become the first airline out the gates with a presence on Whatsapp Business, a dedicated channel in which companies can reach out to their customers.

Responding to President Vladimir Putin’s recent comments on artificial intelligence, Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Monday that World War III would likely be triggered by competition for AI.

The business magnate’s prediction came in response to Putin’s comments at a meeting with schoolchildren in Yaroslavl on September 1, in which the Russian president said it was important to prevent monopolies in the field, adding that if Russia became the global leader in artificial intelligence, “it will share its technology with the rest of the world, like we are doing now with atomic and nuclear technology.”

Angry Birds maker Rovio will float shares on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange, confirming rumours of an imminent initial public offering (IPO) which emerged last month.

The developer of the first mobile game to hit one billion downloads will issue €30m in shares in the Finnish capital, where it is headquartered, it said in a statement.