Ernst & Young say economy will overspend
by brian_turnerAccording to a study by The Ernst & Young Item Club, the weakness of the UK economy means that tax rises to support government spending, will have to be deferred until 2007.
UK economic growth is expected to fall to 2.1% this year. An interest-rate cut next month is not expected to raise consumer confidence [...]
OFT warns credit cards
by brian_turnerThe Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has told eight major credit card companies that the fees they are charging for late payments are too high. Charges up to £25 are being imposed and the OFT has given the companies three months to adjust them. If the firms do not comply, they could be prosecuted and [...]
Microsoft tries to tackle piracy via updates
by brian_turnerMicrosoft has introduced new measures to reduce software piracy. Anyone downloading updates for Windows XP is now required to verify that their copy of the operating system in genuine. However, this does not apply when security updates are downloaded.
According to the Business Software Alliance, a third of software worldwide is fake. Microsoft estimates that [...]
July 25, 2005
CEBR expacts falling house prices by 2007
by brian_turnerAccording to a report from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), UK house prices will fall 5% by 2007.
House prices, which have risen for ten years, are expected to stop rising this year, at an average of £163,353, and then to fall to £155,329 in two years’ time. Annual house price inflation [...]
Domino’s Pizza record strong online orders
by brian_turnerDomino’s Pizza UK and Ireland recorded a 34.7% increase in pre-tax profits after one-off items to £5.5m for the 26 weeks to 3 July, helped by a 64% increase in online sales, with orders worth £6.5m. Online sales now make up 10.6% of the company’s business.
Sales were also helped by record store openings of [...]
Credit card industry aims to broadly inform with new website
by brian_turnerThe credit card industry has launched a new website called “choosing and usingâ€, which advises people on the best card to suit their spending behaviour. It also aims to help prevent people building up excessive debt, and offers help for those already experiencing credit card debt.
Approximately 1,500 credit cards are available in the UK, [...]
Revalued Chinese currency gains strength
by brian_turnerChina’s yuan gained against the US dollar in its second session of trading since currency limits were relaxed last week.
On Monday, the yuan ended trading at 8.1097 against the dollar, up from 8.11 on Friday.
China revalued the yuan following pressure to let it appreciate – it had been pegged at 8.28 per US [...]
IPPR suggests 67 as minimum retirement age
by brian_turnerA new Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) report suggests that Britons should work until they are 67 before receiving a state pension, with the higher age being introduced between 2020 and 2030.
Peter Robinson, the report’s author, said: “Raising the state pension age is vital if the UK pensions system is to remain sustainable [...]
Guantano Bay website hacked
by brian_turnerThe US Navy’s website to provide information on Guantanamo Bay has been hacked.
A message puporting to be from an Iranian source complains about the US treatment of Muslims in Guantanamo Bay:
IRAN HACKERS SABOTAGE Was here
all muslim’s nation condemned all terorist activities
in everywhere even in londen or america Do you think that all muslims are terrorists? [...]
July 23, 2005
Introduction to Link Building
by Brian TurnerGeneral tips on using targeted link building
Links can be very useful for ranking webpages in a very targeted way – and the more competitive a search term, often the more important it is to have links in volumes from a range of different sources, targeting your pages with your preferred keywords.
However, a big mistake (in [...]
Islamic banking focuses on London
by brian_turnerAccording to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, London is becoming a major hub for Islamic banking and investment that conforms to Islamic law, or Sharia.
In a report published Thursday, RICS said that 90 percent of Islamic investors favored London for the location of Sharia funds due to factors such as its political [...]
July 22, 2005
UK economic growth slowest for 12 years
by brian_turnerAccording to provisional data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), GDP grew by only 0.4% between April and June. As a result year-on-year growth was 1.7%, the worst performance since the first three months of 1993.
The slowdown is expected to increase concern that the Chancellor Gordon Brown’s target of 3% – 3.5% growth [...]
Spamming aimed at spammers
by brian_turnerBlue Security, an Israeli technology firm, has established a scheme to flood spam websites with thousands of complaints.
People who join Blue Security’s Do-Not-Intrude registry can have messages sent to up to three e-mail addresses monitored. As well as these e-mail addresses, Blue Security will create a number of fake addresses to tempt spammers into [...]
Blinkx improves media search with RSS
by brian_turnerMultimedia search firm Blinkx is the latest company to use Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to make it easier for people to find video and audio on the Internet.
RSS allows users to look for any word uttered in news videos, podcasts and video blogs.
Blinkx’s service uses smart voice recognition technology to scan video and [...]
Microsoft Vista to be released
by brian_turnerMicrosoft, the world’s largest software manufacturer is producing a new version of its operating system, which will be known as Windows Vista.
The software is scheduled for release towards the end of 2006, five years after Windows XP was launched. This will be the longest ever gap between releases of new Windows systems.
To achieve the [...]
EU blocks Chinese sweater imports
by brian_turnerThe European Commission has blocked Chinese sweater imports after limits on imports were breached. China was permitted to export 69 million sweaters to the EU from 11 June to the end of the year, but the Commission stopped issuing import licenses after 12 July because China had reached its limits. China’s full quota of sweater [...]
July 21, 2005
UK software prices claimed as over-inflated
by brian_turnerResearch carried out by PC Pro magazine found that consumers could be paying more than necessary for hi-tech gadgets and software. The research involved pricing a basket of hi-tech products which someone establishing their own business might buy.
The study found that a basket of gadgets and software costing £3,500 from UK shops, could be [...]
NAO finds channnel link costs unrealistic
by brian_turnerA report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that passenger revenue forecasts for the £5bn Channel Tunnel Rail link between London and Kent, made in 1998 and 2001, underestimated the cost. As a result taxpayers may have to make up the shortfall.
According to the report “The economic justification for the project [...]
Retail sales in small increase
by brian_turnerOffice for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that , the largest monthly growth since November 2004. The increase contradicted recent signs of a decline in spending and raised the annual growth rate to 1.6% from 1.3% in May.
According to retailers, the upturn was due to stores starting summer sales earlier than usual. The ONS [...]
China revalues yuan
by brian_turnerChina has revalued its currency, the yuan, in a move welcomed by the US, which has been a long-term critic of the country’s exchange-rate policy.
The reform is considered an initial step towards the liberalisation of China’s tightly controlled currency.
The yuan will no longer be linked at a fixed rate to the US dollar, [...]