MWC 2016 roundup: the biggest new phones announced at this year’s Mobile World Congress February 24, 2016 LG G5 LG’s new flagship handset is one of the first modular designs to market, allowing you to remove part of the phone to snap on new accessories to upgrade or add functionality. So far LG has shown the G5 customised with a camera grip – which adds additional battery capacity as well as shutter [...]
Focus On Shadwell: Good transport and pubs mean promising times ahead in East London February 23, 2016 St Chad – after whom east London’s Chadwelle, now known as Shadwell, is named – is jokingly referred to as the patron saint of botched elections. This modern nickname was applied after the 2000 US election, when irregular “chads” (punched holes) may have defaced enough ballots cost Al Gore the 2000 US election. Chad is [...]
Mobile World Congress 2016: Google’s guide to getting your business noticed on smartphone February 19, 2016 On Monday, marketers will flock to Barcelona for the annual Mobile World Congress – four days of presentations, networking and plenty of sangria. But what most will be looking for is how to convince prospective customers to engage with their brand on the most intimate device we own. Smartphones have become so ingrained in our lives that for [...]
Innovative Finance Isa: A guide to the new product and what it means for investors February 18, 2016 In less than two months, the Innovative Finance Isa will be launched, enabling savers to hold peer-to-peer (P2P) loans within the tax efficient wrapper. Hailed as the moment the P2P industry will chassé into the mainstream, research suggests it’ll also be popular with savers. According to research by P2P lending platform ThinCats, one in four [...]
It’s official: Twitter’s getting Gifs with search support for web, iOS and Android from Giphy and Riffsy February 17, 2016 Twitter is adding a new feature which will likely please most of the internet this time: gif support. Users will be able to search for and add gifs to their tweets directly in Twitter. "Whenever you're composing a tweet or direct message, you can search and browse the gif library. So if you're looking for the [...]
Millennials told they should be saving £800 a month if they want a £30,000 a year income when they retire; millennials react with Kanye jokes and cat gifs February 16, 2016 Millennials are having a hard enough time saving up for a deposit on a house: now they're being told they should be putting £800 aside each month for their retirement. That's the amount that Rebecca Taylor, director at the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments, has said 25-year olds should be averaging every month for the [...]
Sunderland and England winger Adam Johnson sacked after admitting child sex charge February 11, 2016 England winger Adam Johnson was last night sacked by Sunderland after his plea of guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child and one charge of grooming. Blacks Cats boss Sam Allardyce had earlier confirmed that Johnson would not be involved in the club’s Premier League fixture against Manchester United at the Stadium [...]
Global turmoil? Four things the Bank of England could still do if we were plunged back into a financial crisis February 11, 2016 UK stocks have hit a three-year low, the economy has lost steam, and concerns are growing that, should things go pear-shaped, interest rates are so low the Bank of England has run out of ammunition. Whatever your view on whether we're about to be plunged back into the misery of a full blown financial crisis, here's [...]
Escaped Alone: Caryl Churchill’s incisive take on four women’s friendship has an absurdist streak February 4, 2016 Royal Court | ★★★★☆ At 77, Caryl Churchill isn't so much slowing down as paring down, Pinter-style. Lately, the veteran dramatist – prolific as ever – has been trimming her running times and discarding the grand experimental gestures of her early work, while keeping her wit and moral seriousness. Escaped Alone hews to the trend: [...]
P2P lending: Four predictions for 2016 February 4, 2016 After a decade of bold leaps, 2016 is the year that peer-to-peer (P2P) lending will finally come of age. It has built a loyal following of investors, but remains something of a niche asset class. This year it will launch itself as a true mainstream investment option. Why? The Innovative Finance Isa In the 2015 [...]