Weekly Brief: You Gotta Fight. For Your Right…

This week we’re bringing you a piece about Google! Google has just won a landmark ‘Right to be Forgotten’ case and it’s all we’re thinking about! Plus, we’re bringing you all the hottest jobs of the week. Enjoy! […]

Weekly Brief: You Gotta Fight. For Your Right…

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As you are probably aware (!), Google has won a landmark ‘Right to be Forgotten’ case. The “Right” was enshrined by the EU in a 2014 legal ruling and required Google, and other search engines, to delete embarrassing or out-of-date data about individuals on request. And General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) added yet more obligations! In case you didn’t already know (and this newsletter is opening your eyes 👀) members of the public can now request that ANY organisation (including UK startups!) delete information about them and the organisation in question has exactly one month to respond! Bored? Me too. Slightly… but the reality is most people didn’t know any of this until it was splashed across every newspaper in the UK this week! And learning new things is always #good4thebrain 😎

Anyhow, onto the interesting stuff… in 2016 the French Privacy Regulator CNIL fined Google €100,000 💲 for point blank refusing to de-list sensitive information from search results globally upon request. Google fought back 👊 and took its case to the European Court of Justice! Search engines, Google argued, should not censor search results for people in other parts of the world where the Right to be Forgotten is not enshrined. Were the Right to be Forgotten applied outside the EU, it could (potentially!) be abused by authoritarian regimes to censor human rights abuses. Essentially, Europe ruled that it is not Europe’s place to apply the Right to be Forgotten globally!

So what actually happened this week? Well Google WON the landmark case and (for now!) the Right to be Forgotten only applies within the EU. So try not to do anything too embarrassing when you’re outside of Europe…

You May Request to be Forgotten…. But Don’t Forget This Week’s Hottest Startup Jobs:

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Weekly Brief: Are you ready to lend a hear?

This week we’re bringing you a piece on how to promote accessibility and inclusion in tech. Specifically voice recognition technology and how some big names are creating products for all. As usual we have a roundup of this week’s hottest jobs (too)! […]

Weekly Brief: Are you ready to lend a hear?

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Hey Google! Do you understand what I’m saying?

Voice-recognition software and smart assistants are becoming life (and energy) savers, but not all of us get as great an experience as others. Particularly those for whom English is a second language, who have speech impediments, or just plain mumble! Here in blighty, the good ol’ BBC is looking to uphold our weird and wonderful accents in a field largely catered toward ‘American English’ (whatever that is!) They plan to launch a rival smart assistant (‘Beeb’) that will supposedly understand even the most tricky regional British accent and obscurest patter. And this is not as out-of-the-blue as it may seem – YouGov reported that smart speakers are two-thirds less accurate for those who are not “white and male”. This is partly because speakers are largely developed by men (diversity in tech rears its ugly head yet again) and partly because AI finds deeper vocal tones easier to understand. Luckily Mozilla has a pretty cool solution for this: a crowd sourced data set of diverse voices. Common Voice aims to revitalise voice-recognition tech with entries from a diverse range of contributors. Feel free to contribute yourself (remember to add your demographic data), we certainly did! Maybe you’ll hear the dulcet tones of the Work in Startups team in your exploration?

This weeks hottest jobs:

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Weekly Brief: We’ve got a Sixth Sensor

This week on the weekly brief we are discussing sweaty sensors, mind control and smart gloves. We’re exploring the interesting developments in the tech behind sensors. Plus: giving you a shortlist of our favourite startup jobs from the site this week! […]

Weekly Brief: We’ve got a Sixth Sensor

Move over Elon Musk, you’re not the only one who wants to read minds!

Facebook unveiled their Brain API Beta at F8, aiming to “integrate people’s thoughts into the next generation of apps”. Given the less-than-discreet reputation Facebook has earned, this is understandably putting some noses out of joint (would you trust them with your thoughts?) But putting privacy or morality to one side (*fingers firmly in ears*), we instead want to look at the awesome tech behind the project. Their team of scientists and developers are treading new ground in both BioTech implants and “neural machine learning”. Thinking as positively as possible, the tech could completely revolutionise treatment plans for neurological disorders. Seems a noble enough cause?

Another group using sensors to potentially tackle the way we treat debilitating disease (and pick up weapons in VR video games) are the team behind the ‘Stretch-Sensing Soft Glove.’ This glove accurately captures intricate hand movements without the need for optical tracking (watch them show off the product and absolutely slam their competitors below!) Meanwhile teams at UC Berkeley and Stanford have both developed similarly thin sensors to track even more biometric data about us “glamorously” through our sweat! Shows just how versatile and open this field is. So, whether you’re prepared to deal with the ickier privacy concerns of neural implants, or just want your sensors to be plain sticky, it looks like this tech will be a major part of future wellness and health. Really it’s just common sense(or)!

Check out this week’s hottest jobs

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Weekly Brief: Banana Fungus Slip Slidin’ AwayAI

Here is a write up of this weeks newsletter. Today we were looking at potential banana extinction and how BioTech, AI and CRISPR can be used to help! As always you can get this content straight to your inbox on our weekly newsletter – we always try to include some fun and interesting tech news! Go bananas! […]

Weekly Brief: Banana Fungus Slip Slidin’ AwayAI

How can artificial intelligence save the world’s favourite fruit?

Tropical Race 4 – don’t worry we aren’t talking about that purple hurricane game every kid seem to be playing this summer! Better yet: crop destroying fungus. Fusarium Oxysporum has come to public attention after it hit land in Colombia. Short banana PSA: a different strain of Fusarium almost obliterated bananas as we knew them 30 years ago, leaving the more resistant ‘Cavendish’ as top banana. This strain is already present in Asia and can survive dormant in the soil for many years. It is expected to sweep through Latin America, where 99% of the world’s crop is grown, decimating bananas left and right. But all is not lost! An international team is using AI to detect diseases in bananas, developing tech that could be deployed on an international scale to contain and control the epidemic. Opening up the GMO debate, CRISPR and BioTech options have also been suggested to modify bananas (or even the disease itself) to sidestep a potential biological catastrophe. Without getting all Swedish child environmentalist on you, it seems like a good time to think about how to promote biodiversity within the confines of practical and ecological production needs. Thankfully BioTech is positioned to lead this attack and protect our precious bananas! Let the fights in offices across the nation continue over (objectively) the best fruit.

Go bananas for our favourite job ads:

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Check out our vacancy for a Sales and Operations Intern – apply on the site if you think you can be our next superstar!

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Weekly Brief: Are you Paranoid about Androids?

This week’s Weekly Brief write-up: talking about developments in robotics and machine learning. Plus: the usual round-up of high quality startup jobs. News + jobs = happy reading! […]

Weekly Brief: Are you Paranoid about Androids?

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Are you completely operational and are all your circuits functioning normally? Good!

2001, A Space Odyssey references aside, it really has been a banner week for robotics news. Post-bank holiday, we (and seemingly everyone else on startup social media) watched in awe as a £700k robot tentatively picked a raspberry. This may seem a relatively benign field to throw groundbreaking robotics research at but, in a post-Brexit UK, farming and labour costs could potentially rise quite aggressively. So this is Fieldwork Robotics’ solution, boasting a 150% increase in yield when compared to human harvesters.

Meanwhile Ford is upping the ante in the delivery space with its new bipedal, startlingly humanoid robot named Digit. This guy can climb stairs, lift packages and (hopefully) do a generally better job than simply lose your countless ASOS parcels in a depot somewhere. It’s worth noting that this is a ‘research project’ with no established plans for roll-out, but having watched the video we wouldn’t be surprised if this changed in the near(ish) future.

And there’s another area where robotics could potentially change the game, or rather, change your game. The Metro published an opinion piece on whether romantic or sexual relationships with bots (!) are likely to become widespread given how many individuals find love online. Now, it is a bit of a leap of faith to assume the occasional hungover right-swipe will lead to a future a la ex-Machina. But it does open up an interesting discussion about how we combat the loneliness that can come from increasingly living life on the web…

Whether or not the encroachment of our shiny metal friends is good or bad for the human race generally, we know we want to be at the party! Check out Work in Startups for a whole host of robotics, machine-learning and AI jobs. Whatever your taste in future tech we have you covered!

Robocrop: world’s first raspberry-picking robot set to work

Fieldwork Robotics have developed a robot that could revolutionise the fruit-picking industry in the UK.

Ford’s vision for package delivery is a robot that folds up into the back of a self-driving car

Ford have developed a ‘research project’ with a bipedal delivery robot called Digit.

Forming romantic and sexual relationships with robots ‘will be widespread by 2050’

Interesting opinion piece about the potential for human/robot relationships.

This weeks hottest startup job ads:

Senior Business Analyst / Product Manager at Nodal Labs in London
Experienced Product Manager at Oddbox in London
Client Executive Industrial at Syft in London
Head of Paid Acquisition at Snaptrip in London
CFO at City Relay in London
Associate at Cylon in London
Ui/Ux Designer at Nodal Labs in London
Support Engineer at Akkroo in London
Head of Marketing / CMO at Howsy in London
Product Manager at Syft in London
Mid/Senior PHP Developer Contract at Work In Startups in London
Recruitment Coordinator at Tessian in London
Lead Front-end Developer at Nodal Labs in London
Graduate Full-Stack PHP Developer at Zodiac Media in London
UX Designer at Syft in London
Customer Success Builder at JollyDeck in London
People Partner at Tessian in London
Senior Back-End Developer at Nodal Labs in London
Internal Recruiter at Syft in London
SEO Manager at Adzuna in London

As always, subscribe to our newsletter for more like this.

Happy Hunting! Happy Hiring!

Weekly Brief: Did somebody say cheese?

This week we are discussing the merits and risks of facial recognition software for security surveillance, all over the world. With the usual side of startup jobs – we have some corkers this week! […]

Weekly Brief: Did somebody say cheese?

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For those who were too busy enjoying the glorious sunshine in London yesterday, you may have missed the headlines about San Francisco’s outright ban of facial recognition tech for security surveillance purposes. The ban was brought on by widespread concern about the expansion of government surveillance and potential issues with profiling bias. While concerns over the increasing amount we are all monitored by technology are entirely justified, it is a little hard to digest the idea of San Francisco, home of social liberty and Silicon Valley, and a hub of surveillance tech, making such a sweeping (and pioneering) decision.

Unsurprisingly, opponents of the ban have been quick to extoll the value of facial recognition, highlighting its growing use in criminal suspect verification and a slowly improving success rate in this regard. Proponents, however, point to China as an example of what could happen if ‘Big Brother’ gets a little too into his steroids. Facial and video recognition is reportedly now used to monitor everything from childhood attentiveness in the classroom to isolating petty thieves in real time. The most dystopic Chinese AI project (that we’re aware of anyway) is a plan to roll out facial recognition system linked to the government database of 1.3 billion (yes, with a B) ID cards. Orwellian, we know. And it’s particularly punchy given the tech itself is still in its relative infancy (yes, your iPhone’s unlocking capabilities really aren’t that impressive). Closer to home, the Met police are currently trialling facial recognition cameras rigged to police vans in East London in order to locate suspects in ongoing criminal investigations. As you can see in the video, it is hitting mixed results!

We’re not sure an outright ban on tech is ever the optimal solution – one to watch in the news and see whether other cities (or states for that matter) follow suit…

San Francisco’s facial recognition technology ban, explained

Understanding the connotations of San Francisco banning facial recognition technology for surveillance.

Could facial recognition cut crime?

(Video) Metropolitan police are experimenting with similar software in East London.

Drones, facial recognition and a social credit system: 10 ways China watches its citizens

This is all about how China uses facial recognition (among other methods) to monitor its population.

If you’re not too busy watching the Game of Thrones finale, and you’re interested in pop culture facial recognition, check out Black Mirror (generally) but specifically “Nosedive” Season 3, Episode 1. Minority Report is also an early 2000’s Tom Cruise classic! Both available on your favourite streaming services.

This weeks hottest startup job ads… check em out!

Senior Business Analyst / Product Manager at Nodal Labs in London
Senior Front-End Developer at Get My Grades in London
People Operations Manager at Beauhurst in London
Mid/Senior PHP Developer Contract at Work In Startups in London
Marketing Manager at Pasta Evangelists in London
Recruitment Coordinator at Tessian in London
Full Stack Developer at Talentpool in London
Lead Front-end Developer at Nodal Labs in London
Graduate Full-Stack PHP Developer at Zodiac Media in London
Customer Success Builder at JollyDeck in London
People Partner at Tessian in London
Chief Of Staff at Beauhurst in London
Senior Back-End Developer at Nodal Labs in London
SaaS Sales Development Representative at Akkroo in London
Head of Growth at Pass the Keys in London
SEO Manager at Adzuna in London

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Happy Hunting! Happy Hiring!

Weekly Brief: You shop, they… might drop?

Usual deal here folks! A weekly roundup on an interesting topic. A selection of our favourite startup jobs from your favourite startup job board. What’s new? Well: we’re discussing the interesting developments into how we buy and deliver produce online. Read on! […]

Weekly Brief: You shop, they… might drop?

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If the growing mountain of ASOS deliveries and returns in our office is anything to go by, the popularity of online shopping is on a constant rise. Though it would seem that the fantastically convenient world of online shopping and delivery is not quite sitting on a bed of roses.

Resolver, a platform to air and (shock!) resolve customer grievances with companies has announced an 84% increase YOY in UK consumer complaints referencing online shopping. Some of the more recurrent problems included (perhaps unsurprisingly) customer service, issues with deliveries, quality control and refunds. So… basically everything that a high street experience could resolve? Meanwhile in their storming expansion through the subcontinent, African delivery giant Jumia have reported similar issues… and some more interesting ones. In a fascinating piece by the FT they explore some region-specific troubles such as distrust of corrupt suppliers, resulting in a pay-on-delivery culture and an (even more) hazardous life for the underlying couriers. Maybe this is something the giants of Alibaba and Facebook can solve as they weigh into the fray – the former is helping pioneer facial recognition tech to the way we buy, while the latter is supposedly about to introduce online marketplace functionality across all three of its major platforms, suggesting that they hope to marry influencer power and personal recommendations from your inner circle (and then take your cash). Time will tell if innovation, technical development and design from the big dogs will unseat the likes of Amazon – who knows if buying a package on Whatsapp will solve any of these issues?

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Online shopping complaints soar 84% in a year

Resolver has announced a huge rise in complaints about online shopping and package deliveries.

Jumia’s rise exposes the challenges of online shopping in Africa

There are a variety of issues facing online-shopping giant Jumia in Africa as it plans aggressive expansion.

Alibaba-backed facial recognition startup Megvii raises $750 million

Megvii, an ambitious facial recognition software has raised $750 million in a Series D funding round.

WhatsApp and Instagram to add online shopping as Facebook takes on Amazon

Facebook is to add an online shopping feature to its ‘Big Three’ apps (including Instagram and Whatsapp).

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Check out our hottest startup jobs from this week!

Transformation Programme Manager at GoCardless in London
Ruby Developer at Bloom & Wild in London
iOS Developer at Monese in London
Front End Engineer at Gousto in London
SEO Manager at Adzuna in London
Customer Success Builder at JollyDeck in London
People Partner at Tessian in London
Recruitment Coordinator at Tessian in London
Chief Of Staff at Beauhurst in London
Full Stack Developer at Talentpool in London
Marketing Manager at Pasta Evangelists in London
SaaS Sales Development Representative at Akkroo in London
People Operations Manager at Beauhurst in London
Talent Scout Software Engineering at Workshub in London

As always, subscribe to our newsletter for more like this.

Happy Hunting! Happy Hiring!

You May Request to be Forgotten…. But Don’t Forget This Week’s Hottest Startup Jobs:

This weeks hottest jobs:

Check out this week’s hottest jobs

Go bananas for our favourite job ads:

This weeks hottest startup job ads:

This weeks hottest startup job ads… check em out!

Check out our hottest startup jobs from this week!

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