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Google launches ‘Read Along,’ a free app that helps young children practice reading

Google today is launching a new app, Read Along, that aims to help elementary school students practice their reading skills and stay educationally engaged amid school closures due to coronavirus. The new Android app is based on Google’s existing application, Bolo, which launched in India last year with a catalog of read-along stories in both […]




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A rebranded and updated version of CBS All Access will launch this summer

A rebranded and expanded version of the CBS All Access streaming service will arrive this summer, ViacomCBS announced this morning. The service, now run by ViacomCBS following the merger, today offers a mix of live TV, on-demand video, original programming, streaming news, local broadcast stations and sports. Now the company is accelerating its plan to […]




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Trader: Deflation

The idea of dropping bank notes from planes to stimulate inflation will be forever associated with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke




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Promethean shapes up, but for how long?

Shares in the educational IT provider rose 4.2 per cent




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Sharewatch: Mears strengthens on the road to recovery

Shares in Mears, a smaller rival, came under pressure, losing 16 per cent of their value within a week




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Clever copper on the rise

Copper is well poised to make new all-time highs




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Investors pour money into cash funds

Investors seek safe haven from stock market volatility




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Can I force my stepson to repay money I lent him to buy his flat?

I am in the process of getting divorced from his mother




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What are the tax implications of selling half my flat to my younger sister?

I own a flat in London but I am looking to buy a house further out and commute every day




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How can I manage the succession of our family business? 

My mother has early onset dementia and her health is deteriorating rapidly




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How can I ensure my child gets the best education?

My ex-husband and I have recently divorced and have a school-aged son




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Can I include IHT costs in my compensation claim?

I am pursuing a claim for the exposure to asbestos while working




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Am I responsible for paying my landlord’s tax bill? 

HMRC’s letter says I might have to withhold tax from my rent 




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Will we have to pay a 3% stamp duty surcharge on our new home?

I own three properties and want to buy another with my new partner




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Can I get a bargain on a classic car at auction?

Now that I’ve retired, I want to buy my first collector’s car




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Will Covid-19 repatriation leave us with a large tax bill?

We are returning to the UK from the US following the virus outbreak




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Daily Crunch: iPhone sales decline in Q1

Apple’s earnings show the impact of COVID-19, NVIDIA’s top scientist shares an open source ventilator design and Amazon anticipates big spending in the coming months. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 1, 2020. 1. iPhone sales are down, ahead of uncertain times for the industry Apple device sales have taken a hit, but the company’s […]




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An already struggling smartphone market takes a big hit from COVID-19

Quarter after quarter, familiar stories have appeared. The smartphone market, once seemingly bulletproof, has suffered. The list of factors is long, and I’ve written about them ad nauseam here, but the CliffsNotes version is: costs are too high, innovation is too incremental and most people already own a device that will be plenty good for […]





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Daily Crunch: Apple upgrades the keyboard on the 13-inch MacBook Pro

Apple announces a new MacBook Pro, tech stocks take a dip and Uber Eats shuts down in seven markets. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 4, 2020. 1. The 13-inch MacBook Pro gets Apple’s much-improved keyboard Following in the footsteps of the MacBook Air and 16-inch Pro, Apple’s 13-inch Pro model is finally getting the […]




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Apple and Google release sample code, UI and detailed policies for COVID-19 exposure-notification apps

Apple and Google are providing additional resources for developers working with the first version of their Exposure Notification API, the development tools the companies have created and are working on in order to provide a cross-platform way for public health agencies to notify individuals of a potential exposure to a person with a confirmed case […]




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UK’s coronavirus tracing app strategy faces fresh questions over transparency and interoperability

The UK’s data protection watchdog confirmed today the government still hasn’t given it sight of a key legal document attached to the coronavirus contacts tracing app which is being developed by the NHSX, the digital transformation branch of the country’s National Health Service . Under UK and EU law, a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) […]




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Apple’s online WWDC kicks off June 22

Back in March, Apple joined a rapidly growing number of companies announcing an online-only model for their annual tech events. At the time, SVP Phil Schiller promised the event would be “an innovative way to reach millions of developers around the world, bringing the entire developer community together with a new experience,” as planners across […]




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NHS COVID-19: The UK’s coronavirus contacts-tracing app explained

The UK has this week started testing a coronavirus contacts-tracing app which NHSX, a digital arm of the country’s National Health Service, has been planning and developing since early March. The test is taking place in the Isle of Wight, a 380km2 island off the south coast of England, with a population of around 140,000. […]




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A security expert says India’s contact-tracing app has flaws; New Delhi says they are ‘by design’

The Indian government has said that its contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu “by design” fetches the location data of its 90 million users and allows them to view the concentration of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in their vicinity. New Delhi issued the statement after France-based security researcher Baptiste Robert found what he […]




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Autotech Ventures raises more than $150 million with an eye on ground transportation startups

Autotech Ventures popped on the scene three years ago with a $120 million debut fund and a plan to invest in early-stage ground transportation startups. Now, with investments in 26 startups and a handful of exits, including Xnor.ai, DeepScale and Frontier Car Group, the venture firm is back with a new, bigger fund and the […]




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Your iPhone will soon be able to tell 911 about your medical conditions and allergies

Got something in your medical history that first responders should know about if you call 911? Things like known drug allergies, or the medications you’re on? The iPhone and Apple Watch will soon be able to share this information with first responders automatically (if you opt to let it do so). When a user with […]




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UK eyeing switch to Apple-Google API for coronavirus contacts tracing — report

The UK may be rethinking its decision to shun Apple and Google’s API for its national coronavirus contacts tracing app, according to the Financial Times, which reported yesterday that the government is paying an IT supplier to investigate whether it can integrate the tech giants’ approach after all. As we’ve reported before coronavirus contacts tracing […]




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Apple awards $10 million to rapidly scale COVID-19 sample collection kit production

Apple has awarded $10 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to COPAN Diagnostics, a company focused on producing sample collection kits for testing COVID-19 to hospitals in the U.S. The money comes from the fund that Apple established to support the development and growth of U.S.-based manufacturing, but is particularly notable because to date, the […]




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Xiaomi, Samsung and others begin to resume smartphone production in India

Xiaomi, Vivo, Samsung, Oppo and other smartphone companies have received approval from some state governments in India to partially resume manufacturing and assembling of devices amid the ongoing lockdown in the world’s second largest handset market that completely shut operations at these plants in late March. The companies said that they have secured permission to […]




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Marx, Gramsci and strikes: life at Tony Benn University

Thinking up the most leftwing ideas imaginable is tricky when several were in the last Labour manifesto




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David Lammy: ‘The British aren’t interested in revolution’

The Labour MP on his vision of civic service, Jeremy Corbyn — and forging unity around the maypole




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Coronavirus brings a reminder of the iron law of politics

Lofty ideas about open economies will have to be sold on directly improving voters’ lives




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A Budget that backs Boris Johnson’s hunches

The Conservatives will not lightly give up their newly acquired working-class voters




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Why coronavirus is making me miss Brexit

In a choice between discussing the WTO and the WHO, I’d take a rules-of-origin trade debate any day




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UK must tailor coronavirus action to restore faith

Britain has less margin for error because it is zigging to everyone else’s zag




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Home working’s fine — if you’re home alone

’I’m on my second day, drinking too much coffee and feeling I’d enjoy it more if everyone else wasn’t here too’




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Boris Johnson’s agenda is over

Voters will not tolerate another NHS winter flu crisis with too few medical staff




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Honestly, who’d be a burglar now?

Our streets are almost empty, our houses full of people — and self-employed operators still aren’t covered 




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A nation standing together, in isolation 

The coronavirus crisis brought out the best in Britons, but underlying divides persist




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Coronavirus cops: TV police shows for the crisis

With police enforcing the lockdown, it may mean new roles for some old telly favourites




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Johnson’s illness has made him more powerful

The UK prime minister’s brush with death has deepened his ties with voters




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Robert Shrimsley: After the coronavirus phone tracker, a few other life-saving apps

Post-lockdown, technology could help us contain Covid-19. But why stop there?




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My new government-inspired ‘non-information strategy’ ’

Whether on pocket money or holidays, I see the wisdom in refusing to discuss important decisions




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Weighed down by my coronavirus diet

Before lockdown, my desire to eat Hobnobs outweighed my desire to be thinner. Not any more




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MacBook Pro 16” first impressions: Return of the Mack

In poker, complacency is a quiet killer. It can steal your forward momentum bit by bit, using the warm glow of a winning hand or two to cover the bets you’re not making until it’s too late and you’re out of leverage.  Over the past few years, Apple’s MacBook game had begun to suffer from […]




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GitHub launches a mobile app, smarter notifications and improved code search

At its annual Universe conference today, Microsoft -owned GitHub announced a couple of new products, as well as the general availability of a number of tools that developers have been able to test for the last few months. The two announcements that developers will likely be most interested in are the launch of GitHub’s first […]




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Adobe details feature roadmap for Photoshop on the iPad, subject selection coming in 2019

Adobe has taken quite a bit of heat for its release of Photoshop on the iPad, mostly because it’s not as feature-complete as a lot of users were hoping, given that this is meant to be a full version of Photoshop on par with the desktop edition on Apple’s tablet OS for the first time. […]




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Review: 100,000 miles and one week with an iPad Pro

For the past eighteen months, the iPad Pro has been my only machine away from home, and until recently, I was away from home a lot, traveling domestically and internationally to event locations around the world or our offices in San Francisco, New York and London. Every moment of every day that I wasn’t at […]




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Apple brings its hardware microphone disconnect feature to iPads

Apple has brought its hardware microphone disconnect security feature to its latest iPads. The microphone disconnect security feature aims to make it far more difficult for hackers to use malware or a malicious app to eavesdrop on a device’s surroundings. The feature was first introduced to Macs by way of Apple’s T2 security chip last […]