DIGIT’s Top Trending Stories

DIGIT Announces Winners of Scottish Financial Technology Awards

The winners of DIGIT’s inaugural Scottish Financial Technology Awards have been announced, with Money Dashboard and Soar both scooping up two awards each on the night.

The ceremony, hosted at Edinburgh’s Sheraton Grand Hotel on the 25th of September, brought together more than 350 people from across Scotland’s technology and financial services sectors to celebrate and recognise outstanding companies and individuals across the fintech sector.

Edinburgh-based firm Money Dashboard was named Fintech of Year and Best Fintech Collaboration. Judges praised the company for its innovative consumer ownership model and its tireless efforts to make open banking data more usable and accessible to fintechs through collaboration.

Money Dashboard saw off stiff competition from a host of highly-rated financial technology companies in Scotland, including Modulr Finance, FreeAgent, LendingCrowd, ShareIn and Float.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

Spire Global Awarded £14.7M by Scottish Enterprise

Glasgow-based satellite company Spire Global has received one of the largest funding packages ever awarded by Scottish Enterprise.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the funding announcement on a recent visit to the company. The company will use the investment to facilitate its move into new 40,000sq ft premises at Glasgow’s Skypark facility, and will expand its staff from 60 to 320 over the next five years.

The planned expansion will also focus on satellite platform development, satellite payload development, constellation software development and product software development and data science.

Spire Global operates one of the largest constellations of private nanosatellites and ground station networks in the world.

Sturgeon said: “Our space sector is already punching above its weight, with almost one fifth of all UK jobs in this industry based north of the border and Scotland producing more small satellites than any other country in Europe.

“This £14.7 million investment will help Spire Global develop its infrastructure and technologies, which in turn will create dozens of high-tech and highly skilled jobs and training opportunities in Scotland’s space sector.”

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

Huawei Develops System to Detect Road Rage and Stop Angry People Driving

Chinese technology firm Huawei has patented a system that uses cameras to analyse divers’ stress levels and slow down or stop their cars if they develop road rage.

The tech, which could be used in future smart cars, uses thermal cameras to detect changes in blood pressure along with another camera to track the driver’s hands. If the system notices a driver make a gesture, such as a middle finger or fist, the car could be slowed down or brought to a halt.

Huawei’s patent also describes the use of an in-car microphone to monitor drivers’ speech for shouting and swearing.

It stated that frustrated drivers “typically react more erratically and, at times, with a slower reaction time”. The company also believes that causing the steering wheel to vibrate could help drivers to relax.

In July, Jaguar Land Rover announced similar technology which used cameras and biometric sensors to monitor the mood of drivers.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

In Case You Missed It…

UK Teen TalkTalk Hacker Charged in US

A British teenager who was convicted of hacking TalkTalk in 2015 has been indicted in the US for allegedly stealing funds from a cryptocurrency exchange.

Elliott Gunton, 19, of Old Catton, near Norwich has accused of targeting the EtherDelta exchange.

Authorities say he gained control of an admin account belonging to CEO Zachary Coburn in 2017, using it to manipulate the site’s DNS records in order to redirect customers to a domain under their control.

Harvesting customer credentials he is believed to have logged in to victims’ accounts to steal cryptocurrency.

One victim reportedly lost $800,000 due to the scam btu the total value of crypto stolen is unknown.

If found guilty, Gunton, who was 16 when he hacked TalkTalk, could face up to 20 years imprisonment.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

Facebook is Developing a VR world called Horizon

Social media giant Facebook is creating an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment called Horizon.

The VR app will offer a variety of social places where users can interact and play games as cartoon avatars.

Facebook said anyone using Horizon will be able to call on human guides to help them navigate the VR environment. The app will also include tools to allow people to manage how they interact with other users.

Users will also be able to shape and build their own part of the environment and design their own avatars.

The app is expected to be ready for testing in early 2020.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

Match.com Sued Over Alleged Fake Accounts

The owner of dating app Match.com has been taken to court in the US for allegedly using fake accounts to con people into subscribing to its service.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) documents outline what it describes as “deception” and “unfair practices”.

It claims Match.com used faked responses to dating profiles to encourage people to pay for membership.

Match Inc described the claims as “outrageous” claims and that it would “vigorously” defend itself in court.

While Match.com can be used for free, only those who pay can see who has sent them a message after viewing their profile.

The FTC alleges that Match.com sent users “fake love interest ads” to entice people into paying monthly fees.

A large number of the fake replies came from accounts Match suspected were fraudulent and run by bots and scammers and bots, said the FTC.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.