WHAT’S NEW IN GADGETS AND TECHNOLOGY February 23, 2011 SONY LAUNCHES NEW VAIO RANGE Sony unveiled its new range of Vaio laptops this week, including the strikingly-coloured C Series. Available in luminous orange, green and pink, it features light emitting technology that makes your laptop look like it’s glowing. For the more demure consumer, you can also grab it in black or white, and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 2, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LLOYDS DROPS MORTGAGE BROKERS OVER SUSPECTED FRAUD Concerns over suspected fraud have prompted Lloyds Banking Group to cull the list of brokers it allows to sell its mortgages. The UK’s largest mortgage lender has removed some 900 individuals over the past four years from its “approved panel” of brokers, including 300 in the [...]
Banks boost capital ahead of Basel rules January 19, 2011 THE AMOUNT of risk-adjusted capital (RAC) held by banks around the globe is increasing as institutions prepare for new regulatory requirements. Banks worldwide had an average eight per cent RAC ratio as of June last year, up from 6.7 per cent at the same point in 2009, according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P) latest analysis. [...]
Petrofac gives job to drilling boss who quit over oil disaster January 5, 2011 OIL services firm Petrofac has hired the former boss of BP’s exploration and production (E&P) arm to run its energy developments business, less than four months after he quit BP in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Andy Inglis, 51, will join the Petrofac board in March after relocating to London from Houston, [...]
The future has a whole new sound November 2, 2010 WHATEVER your view on electric and hybrid cars, driving around the city in one of them in near silence is something that takes a lot of getting used to for some drivers. Spare a thought for pedestrians too, particularly those with sight problems. Traffic, in the absence of engine noise, is a potentially frightening, even [...]
Getting off your rocker on the slopes September 19, 2010 WHEN the late daredevil skier and base jumper Shane McConkey strapped his bindings to waterskis and set off down the mountain, it wasn’t expected that he’d cause a revolution in ski technology. But McConkey realised that the curvier, scooped camber of the waterskis gave him greater control when haring down the deep, soft snow drifts [...]
Check through Basel III’s small print September 13, 2010 BANKS around the world are rightly cheerful after the announcement of Basel III minimum capital requirements less stringent than many had feared and, in the UK, still far lower than major banks’ existing capital reserves. The inevitable gasp of relief following this news has brought an immediate uplift for most, but should not divert attention [...]
Green bank to invest £25bn in renewables June 29, 2010 AMBITIOUS plans for the green equivalent of 3i, the infrastructure investment behemoth set up by the government after the Second World War, were unveiled yesterday. A commission led by former Merrill Lynch European chairman Bob Wigley said a green investment bank would quickly be able to plough up to £25bn annually into climate change-related technologies. [...]
SNAP HAPPY June 23, 2010 Samsung NX10 A hybrid camera combining compact dimensions with digital SLR tech, the NX10 includes a 14 megapixel detachable lens, HD movie recording, and a very high quality, 3 inch viewing screen. £599 www.jessops.com Leica V-Lux 20 Taking a camera on your travels is one thing, but how about one that can record exactly where [...]
The Cayenne goes green June 22, 2010 ONCE deemed a horrendous diversion by Porsche purists, the Cayenne has gone on to become the single biggest-selling model in the Porsche range with more than 280,000 of them sold worldwide since the car’s launch back in 2002. The new Cayenne is a lighter, cleaner, more economical and prettier version of its predecessor and somehow [...]