Raspberry Pi prepares £500 million London stock market listing, Sony reveals Xperia 1 VI
The British hobbyist computer company Raspberry Pi is to file for a UK stock market listing in a rare boost for the City. Raspberry Pi, best known for its cheap credit-card sized computers prized by hobbyists and amateur coders, has filed an intention to float and is expected to aim for a valuation of around £500m in the coming days. It came as the Cambridge-based company said on Wednesday that revenues rose by 42pc last year to $265.8m (£211m). It will sell new shares to raise funds while its majority owner, the Raspberry Pi foundation, will also sell down part of its stake in the flotation. Telegraph
AI systems able to interpret information in images via a phone camera, in videos and sounds and in spoken language have been shown off by Google. In one demo a prototype AI-powered assistant running on a phone was able to answer the age-old question “where did I put my glasses”. It comes a day after rival OpenAI’s launch of its latest AI system, GPT-4o, which included an eye-catching presentation in which it read human expressions via a phone camera, and chatted – and flirted – fluently. Google appears keen to stress its tools are as capable of this kind of so-called “multimodal” understanding as its rival. BBC
In the battle of the best phones, it so often comes down to flagship device’s cameras to define that next-level feature and stand apart from the competition. There are plenty of strong competitors from the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy S24 and Google’s Pixel 8 Pro – but now there’s a new competitor on the block. Sony just revealed the Xperia 1 VI, the company’s sixth-generation of its best Android phone, and the entirely redesigned handset not only appears significantly different from its Xperia 1 V predecessor, it also upgrades the rear camera unit with a significant new addition.
Chinese EV maker Aiways is preparing to formally exit its home market and focus its global operations on Europe, with an expansion of its European headquarters in Germany and plans to introduce a new entry-level crossover. Sources close to Aiways say the major change in the firm’s global strategy comes as it gears up to go public with a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (spac) by the end of 2024. Autocar
Last week’s news of Proton Mail disclosing a user’s recovery email to the Spanish police that was used to identify and arrest a pro-Catalan protester is likely to have unsettled activists in Europe and beyond. Proton Mail is an encrypted and secure email app and is hugely popular among journalists and dissidents alike who stand by the company’s promise to protect their privacy. However, as part of a terrorism investigation, the Swiss-based privacy firm was required by law to hand over the personal data it had on the Democratic Tsunami’s activist to the Guardia Civil. Tech Radar
Workers at the first Apple store in the US to have unionized, in Towson, Maryland, have voted to authorize a strike as progress in bargaining for a first contract has stagnated. They could be the first Apple retail store workers to ever go on strike. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ (IAM) Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM Core) represents 100 workers at the Apple store who had their union election win certified in May 2022. They are one of two Apple stores in the US to have successfully unionized, the other being a location in Oklahoma City. Guardian
