Sainsbury’s loses clash of the titans as its challenge over Tesco’s Price Promise is thrown out November 10, 2014 Tesco can breathe a sigh of relief – Sainsbury's claim that its Price Promise campaign was unlawful and like comparing “apples with pears” has been thrown out by a High Court judge. Sainsbury's had complained that, when applied to Tesco's own label products and fresh food, the price comparisons were misleading, unfair and unlawful. [...]
RateSetter founders Peter Behrens and Rhydian Lewis talk banks, Australia and dwarves November 9, 2014 Ask the founders of a business if they’ve got a good setback story, and they’ll usually give you something fairly typecast. Not in the case of RateSetter. “Pete the painter,” answers Peter Behrens firmly, looking over to co-founder Rhydian Lewis. It seems completely off piste, but it actually shows that rumbling the status quo, [...]
It’s about time November 6, 2014 A crop of new collections prove that Switzerland is finally making watches for women with both beauty and brains. What took them so long Bellwethers pop up in the strangest of places. Last week, sandwiched between a Radio 4 discussion on the appeal of ghost stories and an item on people living with dementia was [...]
iPhone, iPad and Mac users hit by malware as Apple blocks WireLurker virus in China November 6, 2014 Apple has blocked malicious software which targets users of Apple smartphones, tablets and computers, particularly in China. The malware, spotted by US research company Palo Alto Networks, is known as WireLucker and can infect any devices running Apple’s operating systems, including iPhones, iPads and Macs. WireLurker infects devices through app downloads and can steal information. More [...]
Styluses for iPads: Take your tablet experience to the next level November 5, 2014 Apple doesn’t believe in styluses. Avoiding reliance on a digital pen was part of Steve Jobs’ masterplan when engineering the first iPad and the Cupertino company has stuck to its guns ever since. There are a handful of third party devices on Apple’s online store but you won’t catch it manufacturing its own. [...]
Apple issues first euro bonds amid rock-bottom borrowing rates November 5, 2014 Tech giant Apple has sold €2.8bn (£2.2bn) marking the company's first nondollar debt offer. The sale was divided between into two equal parts with one-half of the debt maturing in eight years, with a yield of one per cent and the other in 12 years, with a yield of 1.5 per cent. Goldman Sachs and [...]
Apple borrows €2.8bn at lowest euro rate on record November 4, 2014 APPLE tapped European bond markets yesterday borrowing €2.8bn (£2.2bn) in the cheapest euro bond sale ever with investors clamouring to lend to the iPhone-maker. The US tech giant offered its first- ever European debt in two tranches with eight and 12-year maturities, with record-low yields of 1.082 per cent and 1.671 per cent respectively. While [...]
Sex, drugs and EU tolls: Why that £1.7bn bill is a gift to politicians November 4, 2014 Whichever way you look at it, the £1.7bn EU ‘toll-tax-bill’ is a fabulous win-win-win. The EU gets more revenue, the UK gets an increased rebate and the UK political parties have a PR gift from which to debate what the EU really means for the people and economy of the UK. The child in me [...]
Xiaomi is spending $1bn on Internet TV content to takeover China’s smart TV market and rival Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent November 4, 2014 Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker, is planning to spend up to $1bn (£625m) on online TV content in an effort to dominate the smart TV market. The three-year-old company has already overtaken established players in the smartphone market to become the third largest in the world and is now setting its sites on the billion [...]
GCHQ director: WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook “facilitate” Isis terrorism November 4, 2014 GCHQ’s newly appointed director has suggested that Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other large US tech brands “facilitate” terrorism. In an opinion piece published in the Financial Times, Robert Hannigan writes that “the largest US tech companies…are the routes for the facilitation of crime and terrorism.” Hannigan’s article is published on the same day [...]