Blockbuster end looms nearer as more shops go December 5, 2013 BLOCKBUSTER’S administrator yesterday blamed business rates for contributing to the film rental chain’s demise, as it warned that all of the DVD rental chain’s 153 remaining stores may be closed after failing to find a buyer. “While the difficulties faced by Blockbuster are not solely due to the burden of business rates the group was [...]
Gather round for the Hudl – Tesco’s tablet launch event on the horizon September 17, 2013 On Monday 23 September, Tesco is holding a press event, with speculation that it's the unveiling of a new tablet, the Hudl. The Hudl arrives on the market with a rumoured price tag of £99, taking on Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus, and the tagline 'We've got something to show you.' Analysts anticipate a 16GB, [...]
Potential delay on retina display for new iPad Mini October 2, 2013 A new version of Apple's iPad Mini with a high-resolution "retina" display will not be rolled out this month, reports Reuters. This puts the tablet at a disadvantage compared to rival products from Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX. Sources said that Apple's supply chain is only now preparing to make retina diaplays [...]
Letters to the editor – 05/12 – Intelligent future, Tax revenue, Best of Twitter December 4, 2013 Intelligent future [Re: As Amazon tests delivery drones, could the technology prove transformative? Tuesday] Even more exciting is the prospect of machines that think in ways no human could. They would have a deep “understanding” of the laws of inference, and would be incredibly good at solving problems. We could use them to design better [...]
Wall St The Week Ahead: Thanksgiving lull ahead of Black Friday November 24, 2013 Wall Street set another record last week, and the rally that has taken the S&P 500 index nearly 30 per cent higher for the year shows no sign of losing steam as Americans prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. Trading volume is likely to be light as US stock markets will be closed on Thursday [...]
Network Rail to open click and collect shops December 2, 2013 COMMUTERS will be offered the chance to pick up their parcels from the train station as part of a trial being run by Network Rail. The rail operator announced today that it will soon open the prototype branch of Doddle, its new delivery shop, in Milton Keynes Central. Visitors to the station, including around 3,000 [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 13 January 2014 January 12, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Treasury debt pledge on Scotland The UK Treasury will today assume full responsibility for Britain’s £1.2 trillion debt stock in the event of Scottish independence, in an attempt to head off market jitters ahead of September’s referendum. Danny Alexander, Treasury chief secretary, fears gilt investors could start demanding a risk premium in the [...]
Sage Group shares jump on raised dividend December 4, 2013 Sage Group reported four per cent growth in underlying revenue, to £1.42bn, buoyed by its cloud-based computer services and in line with forecasts. Sage invested 32 per cent more in its cloud and connected services strategy than last year. The company's investment is timely. The infrastructure-as-a-service battle is heating up. On Monday, Google announced “general availability” [...]
New York Report: Lack of festive cheer sends stocks down December 3, 2013 THE DOW and the S&P 500 fell for a third straight day yesterday, dropping from record levels in a broad decline as investors took profits amid signs of a weak holiday shopping season. Retail and consumer discretionary stocks were among the weakest of the day. Amazon slipped two per cent to $384.66 and was one [...]
Bottom Line: Not much room at the bottom September 17, 2013 IF APPLE doesn’t want to chase the low end of the market, there are others who do. In America, Intel has announced its chips will be inside US tablets selling below $99 by Christmas. In the UK, step forward Tesco. Next Monday’s launch is widely anticipated to reveal a Tesco tablet cheap enough to consider [...]