Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open April 28, 2016 The futures market is pointing to a weaker open on Wall Street after the Bank of Japan decided not to issue further stimulus measures, taking the market by surprise. Earlier the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were down 0.8 per cent, while Nasdaq futures were 0.6 per cent lower. The Bank of Japan left its [...]
Netflix and other binge-watching might be making you unhappy and unwell according to new study March 10, 2016 Self-confessed binge-watcher? All those hours sat in front of House of Cards, Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black could be making you ill, a new study has warned. The addictive way we watch Netflix, box-sets, stacked series linked shows is being linked to poorer mental and physical health. It is, according to researchers from the [...]
BHS administration: Who has blood on their hands as yet another retailer falls into administration? April 25, 2016 The loss of a UK retailing stalwart from our high streets is always a sad affair. There is, of course, a sense of nostalgia as old photos of where we once shopped appear. And the human tragedy of those losing their livelihoods – in the case of BHS that’s 10,000 current employees, and thousands more [...]
What Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak really thinks about the Apple Watch, driverless cars and Tim Cook March 17, 2016 Apple's co-founder is not such a fan of the Apple Watch, it turns out. While he loves it as a customer, Steve Wozniak has revealed he's not such a huge fan of the wearable from a business point of view. In a Reddit AMA (that's ask me anything), he said he was worried about the market Apple [...]
Apple will have to pay millions over ebook price-fixing after supreme court declines to hear case March 7, 2016 Apple will have to pay out $450m in a settlement over ebook price-fixing after losing a battle in the US courts. The supreme court declined to hear Apple's challenge to a previous ruling which found that the tech giant conspired with publishers to increase the price of ebooks. A New York court ruled in June last year that it [...]
Amazon figures lifted by North American sales April 23, 2015 AMAZON.COM reported higher-than-expected revenue in the first quarter as sales jumped in North America, the e-commerce giant’s biggest market. Revenue rose 15 per cent to $22.7bn (£15.08bn), the company said yesterday. Analysts had, on average, expected revenue of $22.39bn. Sales from North America climbed 24 per cent to $13.4bn in the first quarter ended 31 [...]
The UK is about to become a world leader in artificial intelligence June 20, 2016 With the news that Magic Pony has been acquired by Twitter, we are witnessing a crucial turning point – five of the world’s biggest technology companies have now purchased UK-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies. See Magic Pony Technology and Twitter, SwiftKey and Microsoft, VocalIQ and Apple, DeepMind and Google, and Evi and Amazon. Over the coming days [...]
Homebase to be rebranded Bunnings after Wesfarmers completes £340m acquisition from Home Retail Group – now what’s happening with Argos? February 29, 2016 Home Retail Group has sold off its DIY chain Homebase to Australian group Wesfarmers, after shareholders voted 99.3 per cent in favour of the move. The deal, which was first submitted in December, valued the 265-store home improvement business at £340m. It was approved at an AGM last week and the deal was completed on Saturday [...]
Toilet brushes, tables and mysterious purchases: should MPs treat expenses the same as the rest of us? May 19, 2016 Is a toilet brush a legitimate expense claim? MPs must reconsider what they claim for In this, the era of austerity, the UK public have been accustomed to hearing that we are only ever a few steps away from falling off a metaphoric economic cliff. “We are all in this’ together,” is the message from our politicians. [...]
Matthew Syed: What doctors, pilots and F1 drivers can teach us about failure May 24, 2016 When it comes to analysing the reasons why a particular business or entrepreneur has succeeded or failed, hindsight is a wonderful thing. It leads us to ignore the role of luck, put talent on a pedestal, and treat every event in the story as one in a causal chain which led inevitably to a particular conclusion. [...]