Invasion of the smart machines January 30, 2011 MY house isn’t smart enough. To get inside it I have to open the door myself. With a key. When I walk in, a digital voice doesn’t greet me, realise I’ve had a bad day and tell me a joke to cheer me up (I’m imagining a soothing voice like Hal from 2001: A Space [...]
Hackers under suspicion for Amazon crash December 12, 2010 WEB giant Amazon last night became the latest suspected victim of a cyber attack by supporters of WikiLeaks. The firm’s website was out of action for more than half an hour during one of the most lucrative shopping days in the run-up to Christmas. The firm’s operations in the UK, France, Germany and Spain were [...]
US jobs data leads FTSE to a strong close January 5, 2011 THE FTSE continued its strong start to 2011 as a late afternoon rally enabled it to stick at levels not seen since 2008. The FTSE 100 closed 29.99 points or 0.5 per cent higher to close at 6,043.86, still ahead of the important 6,000 mark and far above levels seen in the recession. Impressive US [...]
Flights and commuters hit by snow December 19, 2010 SNOW storms and intense frost risk causing commuter chaos today, train operators and airports warned last night. Holidays have also been ruined at the busiest time of year, after Heathrow abandoned all of yesterday’s flights. Flight delays are expected throughout the week, as problems build up. Around half a million passengers are thought to have [...]
A CHANCE TO DRESS UP: NOW THAT’S WORTH CELEBRATING November 28, 2010 WOMEN come into their own during Christmas party season – it’s a non-stop party and that means a non-stop fashion parade. There’s something about wearing a frock that makes you feel good, in the mood, flirty and pretty. Dressing up, especially at Christmas, gives you that sense of occasion and makes you feel “Christmassy”. Wearing [...]
Traffic free day earns London shops £250m November 28, 2010 OVER £250m was spent in West End shops this weekend, as consumers took advantage of the sixth annual traffic-free “VIP Day” in Oxford Street and Regent Street. And retailers are delighted with a reported boom in sales of “big ticket” items, after recent data pointed to a slump in people’s willingness to splash out on [...]
THE MONTH AHEAD in association with GFT January 3, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● International seed and fertiliser company Monsanto publishes its first-quarter earnings on Thursday. ● Spread betting company IG Group publishes its interim results on 18 January. ● AstraZeneca, BSkyB, Charles Stanley and Vedanta Resources all publish earnings announcements on 27 January. ● Aluminium producer Alcoa traditionally kicks off the US’s fourth-quarter earnings season, publishing [...]
CAR TALK November 30, 2010 SNOW SOCKS FOR YOUR CAR Ok so the big freeze is here. And the British don’t generally take much of a Scandinavian approach to fitting snow chains to their cars, mainly because we just can’t be arsed. Luckily Vauxhall is selling Snow Socks for cars – a kind of motoring equivalent of non-slip socks – [...]
THE TIPSTER December 12, 2010 THE rail and bus company Go Ahead might be a reasonable long call. The company seems to be trying to focus more on core aspects of the business but the share price is continuing to struggle to make an impression. There’s clearly longer term exposure to the rail franchise renewal mechanisms and also government intervention [...]
Snow disturbs sales jump at Travis Perkins December 14, 2010 BUILDERS merchant Travis Perkins said yesterday that turnover for the year had risen 6.5 per cent, though the wintry weather has hit recent sales, as it completed its £558m takeover of BSS Group. The firm saw a jump in sales in the last two months to 30 November, although it said the snow and freezing [...]