Car industry revival turbo charged in US – GM, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, and Nissan all pull in record sales for December and 2015 January 5, 2016 Oil prices at an 11 year low, an easy line of credit, pent up customer demand, and a rebound in the jobs market all contributed to a record breaking 2015 for the US car industry, crowned with one of the best December trading periods ever. The picture is looking similar in UK, with many of [...]
Strong US car sales heading for a record year in 2015 as General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Fiat and Nissan post booming sales January 5, 2016 US car makers posted strong December sales, fuelling expectations that 2015 sales will hit a record high, as analysts suggest a stronger economy and plunging petrol prices could send 2016 sales soaring higher still. December sales hit 17.8m vehicles, according to General Motors, besting the previous record from 2000 of 17.35m. The country’s car sales, [...]
Danny Cipriani on course for England Six Nations selection, says Sale Sharks boss Steve Diamond January 4, 2016 In-form Danny Cipriani is making it difficult for new England head coach Eddie Jones to leave the quicksilver fly-half out of his squad for the Six Nations, according to Sale boss Steve Diamond. Cipriani, now 28, is still to justify the predictions of a stellar international career that greeted his emergence at Wasps almost a [...]
You’re never too old to become an entrepreneur January 4, 2016 The most high-profile entrepreneurs of the moment are fairly young and have achieved serious business success very early: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Theranos chief executive Elizabeth Holmes, and David Karp, founder and chief executive of Tumblr, to name but three. But that doesn’t mean the dream is dead for the rest of us. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s [...]
CES 2016 preview: What to expect from the biggest tech show on earth – from virtual reality and wearables to drones and driverless cars January 3, 2016 No sooner has the new year arrived than the annual CES event is upon us, the biggest show of technology and electronics which are soon likely to change our lives. This year, there may be less focus on the headline-grabbing devices that have become familiar in recent years, according to Accenture, as the less glamorous technology [...]
Need funding? Alternative finance providers more than twice as likely as banks to approve small businesses loans December 27, 2015 Small businesses are more than twice as likely to get their loans approved through alternative finance than traditional banks, a fresh report has found. Over four in five, 82 per cent, of small businesses that went to alt fi providers got their funding approved, according to research from finance supermarket Funding Options. Banks, meanwhile, only [...]
Seizing the Moment: Why Antoine de Kermel thinks 2016 is the year of “moment marketing” December 21, 2015 In digital marketing, time is precious. And as brands vie to be noticed in the digital space, many are recognising the impact that offline events can have on online activity. “Moment marketing” may be the shot in the arm their campaigns need. Named as one of the six major marketing trends in Warc and Deloitte’s [...]
Star Wars: The Force Awakens review: The best film in the series since The Empire Strikes Back December 18, 2015 12A | Dir. JJ Abrams ★★★★★ Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens opens with the now familiar golden expository text scrolling into an infinity of stars. The Empire has fallen, only to be replaced by Darth Jar Jar and his Ewok army, who ruthlessly enforce a trade blockade against the ice planet Hoth… just [...]
Hitting the brakes? Driverless cars must have a driver, says California DMV, putting bump in road for Google, Apple, Ford December 17, 2015 The development of self-driving cars has hit a bump in the road, after US authorities said they won't be allowed to hit the roads without a driver present. Regulators in California, where the majority of research and testing of autonomous vehicles is centred, said there needs to be a driver present in case the technology fails. Google is the best known [...]
No. 5: Ford Foundation December 17, 2015 UNITED STATES – £314m Motor pioneer Henry Ford and his son Edsel established the Ford Foundation in the US in 1936 to advance human welfare. The organisation started with a gift of $25,000 (£16,000) and now holds an £8bn endowment, having approved over £330m in grants in 2014. Following a two year period of transition, [...]