PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Five for Friday is a weekly feature to give a brief roundup of our top five stories from the week that you might have missed. Think we left anything out? Let us know your favourite stories of the week by pinging us a tweet @pcr_online.
Google not worried about £2.7 billion lawsuit for snooping on UK iPhone users
Spearheaded by former Which? director, a new consumer campaign called ‘Google You Owe Us’ has launched a class action against the web giant over allegedly unlawful harvesting of data.
Demanding compensation of around £500 per user, the total compensation bill could rise to an eye-watering £2.7 billion. But is Google worried? Not a chance. So far, Goggle’s official stance is: “This is not new — we have defended similar cases before. We don’t believe it has any merit and we will contest it.”
Report: The cost of repairing smashed wearables
Smashing a smartphone screen is an all too familiar inconvenience experienced by a large majority of the population. Such is the epidemic of cracked screens in the UK, that some 7.5 million consumers in Britain use damaged devices with a recent O2 survey revealing that as many as 61 per cent of us have smashed a screen at one point or another. And while it is a pain, the options available for repair are plentiful, relatively simple and (if you search around) not too expensive.
The same however cannot be said for damaged wearable tech; and I can say that with full confidence, having been left pulling my hair out while trying to construct this article. I set off with the simple aim of comparing the repair prices of Apple’s line of watches, Fitbit’s range of fitness trackers and Snap’s Spectacles. Simple, right? Think again.
Tech Talent Charter launched to tackle gender imbalance in London’s tech community
A scheme aimed at balancing the gender gap in London’s tech community has been launched. The Tech Talent Charter has been set up in a new bid to encourage more women into what is still a male-dominated industry. The central London launch of the Tech Talent Charter, attended by Digital Minister Matt Hancock, comes after a year blighted by accussations of sexism and sexual harassment in the technology industry, largely in the heart of Silicon Valley but also in the UK.
In the UK, women account for 17 per cent of tech and IT workers, compared with 47 per cent of the workforce overall. More worryingly is the number coming out of schools, with just one in 10 A-level computer studies candidates currently female.
Is protecting personal data up to the consumer or the business?
Businesses who suffer large scale public data breaches are likely to see their customer numbers dwindle. According to a new survey by Gemalto, some 70 per cent of consumers would stop doing business with a company if it experienced a data breach. In addition, of the 10,000 people surveyed, a further 69 per cent don’t believe that companies are taking the security of customer data seriously enough.
Despite consumers concerns over businesses protecting their data, the same survey found that over half (56 per cent) are failing to adequately protect themselves. While that same nume still uses the same password for multiple online accounts, two fifths (41 per cent) of consumers admit to not using the technology to secure social media accounts, leaving them vulnerable to data breaches.
Safe smartphone is created to ‘prevent tech addiction’ among children
A new smartphone has been created to ‘prevent tech addiction’. Now, many of you will no doubt ask why? And then argue that we don’t need to prevent tech addiction. But the monqi smartphone is aimed at kids, and there are some undeniable merits to the youth of today becoming slightly more detached from their phones.
With over half of under 14s reportedly checking their phone first thing in the morning and last thing at night, the monqi smartphone is being targeted at 7-12 year olds, in order to change that figure.
Parents are able to schedule how much time their children are allowed to use the phone and create digital boundaries to stop children looking where they shouldn’t be. The monqi phone and app also ensures that all contacts and app downloads are pre-approved by the parents, making it one of the safest devices on the market too.
