Latest Tech Headlines
All the headlines from our Tech Topic Page, ordered by recency.
In Iowa, Technology Changes Rapidly Altering Trucking Industry
May 13 2016 // In the trucking industry, technology is driving change. Todd Smith, chief operating officer at Decker Truck Line Inc. in Fort Dodge, Iowa, told The Messenger that by the end of 2017 it will be mandated that all trucks have...
Usage-Based Auto Insurance, Slow at First, Picking Up Speed
May 12 2016 // Usage-based auto insurance will explode globally in the next seven years, a new industry analysis asserts. IHS Inc.’s IHS Automotive predicts that 142 million customers will sign up globally for the...
Pennsylvania Officials: $11M Fine Against Uber Could Stunt Tech Growth
May 9 2016 // Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Pittsburgh-area officials want the state’s regulators to greatly reduce their record-setting $11.4 million fine against ride-sharing company Uber. The Public Utility Commission fined...
White House Urged to Protect Wireless Spectrum for Connected Vehicles
May 6 2016 // More than 50 automakers, state transportation agencies and other groups urged the White House and other federal policymakers on Thursday not to open a portion of the wireless spectrum reserved for connected vehicles in the...
Some Insurers Have More to Gain from Underwriting Technology Than Others
May 6 2016 // Personal Lines Insurers Personal lines insurers are most likely to benefit from wide uses of automation in underwriting, a new report has found. “They are more likely to have a homogenous book of business and a...
How Driverless Cars Could Disrupt Investors
May 5 2016 // The development of self-driving cars is a good example of how, and why, the future may be a less profitable place for investors. Volvo Cars, one of scads of technology and automotive firms working along the same lines,...
CSC Completes Acquisition of UK’s Xchanging
May 5 2016 // CSC, the TYSONS, Va.-based technology solutions and services provider, announced it has completed the acquisition of Xchanging plc. “CSC and Xchanging together will create a leader in technology and business process...
Bain Capital, Vista Equity Buy Agency Technology Firm Vertafore from TPG
May 2 2016 // Bain Capital Private Equity and Vista Equity Partners have agreed to acquire insurance agency technology firm Vertafore from TPG Capital. The parties did not disclose terms of the transaction. Reuters, citing anonymous...
Timeline: From Teen to Octogenarian, How Buffett’s Wealth Has Grown
May 2 2016 // In 2016, it’s easier than ever to play the financial markets. From the explosion of online brokers to the rise of robo-advisors, armchair investors have dozens of tools just a few clicks or taps away. Daily trading...
Australian Tech Entrepreneur Confirms He Is Bitcoin Creator: BBC Report
May 2 2016 // Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright told the BBC on Monday he was the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin, ending years of speculation about a person who until now has gone by the name of Satoshi...
Who Moved Your Cheese? The End (for Now) of Market Cycles
May 2 2016 // The good news is that for the foreseeable future, with certain exceptions, you will not have to tell your clients their premiums are increasing 10 percent or more. Property/casualty carriers collectively, not necessarily...
Young Consumers More Trusting of Autonomous Vehicles: J.D. Power
Apr 29 2016 // Trust in automation technology including driverless cars is very much age dependent, as younger consumers have a notably higher level of confidence in the technology than their older counterparts, according to the J.D....
Reuters Special Report: How Google Is Winning Acceptance of Driverless Vehicles
Apr 27 2016 // The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Plaza in Austin, Texas is a strip mall with a pet-accessories store, a Thai restaurant and a yogurt shop, an unlikely venue to display the high-tech future. But one Saturday morning in March,...
AIG, Hamilton, Two Sigma to Launch Small-Medium Business Insurance Joint Venture
Apr 26 2016 // American International Group, Bermuda-based Hamilton Insurance Group and affiliates of hedge fund firm Two Sigma Investments said they have agreed to create a technology-enabled insurance platform for sales to the small to...
Who Wins, Loses In a Driverless Car Economy?
Apr 26 2016 // The automotive and tech companies pursuing the driverless car share a utopian belief: Autonomous vehicles will benefit society, eventually saving most of the nearly 33,000 people each year killed in road accidents in...
Assurant Names Waghray Chief Technology Officer in Atlanta
Apr 25 2016 // Assurant, Inc. has appointed Ajay Waghray to the role of chief technology officer and to the company’s management committee, effective May 9, 2016. In this newly created role, Waghray will drive technology strategy...
One-Size Doesn’t Fit All in Today’s Evolving Homeowners Market
Apr 20 2016 // The homeowners insurance line, not often thought of as a bastion of change, is actually quietly evolving beyond the traditional “one-size-fits-all” business. Some of the puzzle pieces that make up homeowners...
Death Toll Rises from Japanese Earthquakes; Supply Chain Disruptions Examined
Apr 18 2016 // The death toll from earthquakes that struck southern Japan rose to 42 and the economic impact began to reverberate Monday as companies surveyed damage and the potential effects on production from supply-chain...
RIMS 2016: Star Trek Tools, Workers Comp’s Future Help Draw Biggest Crowd in 13 Years
Apr 15 2016 // Workers’ compensation, geopolitical risks, recalls, disaster response, the captive industry and cyber security were among the topics of sessions held throughout the final day of the annual RIMS conference for risk...
Automakers, Tech Industries Must Plug Cybersecurity Gaps, Says U.S. Official
Apr 14 2016 // Internet-connected and driverless cars could be targets for hackers — potentially including terrorists and hostile nations — so the automotive industry must ensure vehicles have built-in cybersecurity...
