Every worker online in 2012, says Lane Fox July 12, 2010 MORE than a fifth of the British population are missing out on access to public services and employment opportunities because they do not use the internet, the government’s digital champion said yesterday. Launching her “Manifesto for a Networked Nation”, Martha Lane Fox called on the government, industry and charities to take urgent action to help [...]
Avanti gets £70m in share sale July 12, 2010 Broadband provider Avanti is preparing to launch a new satellite it says will be able to provide superfast broadband to swathes of Europe and the UK without the need for expensive underground cables. It then plans to send out a second satellite in 2012 that will connect thousands of people in the Middle East and [...]
Every home may have a 3DTV within three years July 12, 2010 The sale of 3D TVs will be driven by a massive expansion in 3D video games, according to an executive at Ubisoft, the world’s biggest game publisher. UK head of marketing at the firm Murray Pannel said the new technology could be in every living room within three years. Publishers are already well underway in [...]
Google invests $200m in game maker July 12, 2010 GOOGLE has invested up to $200m (£133m) in social gaming group Zynga as it prepares to crash into the games arena later this year, according to sources close to the firm. Google Games will specialise in “social” games similar to those developed by Zynga, which users can play online without downloading software. Zynga shot to [...]
Microsoft shows Apple does not have monopoly on tablet PCs July 12, 2010 Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer showed off new tablet-style devices running the Windows 7 operating system from a host of top manufacturers yesterday, underlining the giant software company’s eagerness to counter the explosion of interest in Apple’s iPad. New Windows-powered tablet or slate devices — small, hand-held, wireless computers — are in the pipeline from [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 12, 2010 GLAXOSMITHKLINE Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has given GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) a “buy” rating and said that it believes that the drug company is returning to sales growth in 2010 on an underlying basis, excluding pandemic flu sales. RBS has made some minor adjustments to its sales and costs forecasts ahead of GSK’s second quarter results. [...]
J&J to buy Micrus for $480m July 12, 2010 Johnson & Johnson will buy Micrus Endovascular for $480m (£319.8m) to expand its portfolio of medical devices that treat and prevent strokes, the companies said yesterday. J&J will pay $23.40 a share, a 5.5 per cent premium over Micrus’ closing price on Friday. Micrus’ shares have climbed 50 per cent this year.
Motorway operators to merge July 12, 2010 Italian motorway operators Atlantia and SIAS said yesterday they plan to merge their Chilean operations into a billion-euro company, which may be listed. Atlantia and SIAS filed their plan to merge Societa Autostrade per il Cile srl (APC) and Societa Autostrade Sud America srl (ASA) with the Milan registry.
UK will not abolish food watchdog July 12, 2010 Health secretary Andrew Lansley denied yesterday he was planning to abolish Britain’s food watchdog but wanted to see some of its duties reassigned. Lansley has criticised the agency’s promotion of traffic-light labelling on convenience food to tackle rising levels of obesity, saying its approach was counter-productive.
SMEs will save the UK… but my kids are all learning Spanish just in case July 12, 2010 WOL KOLADE, managing partner at Isis, is worried. The future of private equity – and the UK economy as a whole – is at a turning point, he says, and he’s not sure which way things will go. And when Kolade worries, people should listen – he knows what he is talking about. He joined [...]