From Southern rail’s backfiring poster to Google’s April Fool prank gone wrong: Six of the most memorable business blunders of 2016 January 1, 2017 2016 has been an interesting year to say the least. There has of course been a plethora of notable political events over the past 12 months, but there’s also been plenty going on in the business world. With that in mind, here are some of the most memorable company clangers from over the year – from [...]
Blackberry ups full-year forecast despite revenue fall and growing losses December 20, 2016 Declining revenue at former phone-maker Blackberry continued in the latest quarter, but the former star tech company has increased its full-year forecast. Sales fell to $289m in the third quarter to the end of November. That was down 47 per cent on the same period last year and 13 per cent on the previous quarter as [...]
Apple bought 9 startups in 2016. Here’s what they do December 8, 2016 Apple buys a lot of companies, but it doesn't talk much about them, making it hard to keep track. So we put together nine of its acquisitions reported this year. This list is not exhaustive, we know for sure some purchases have never been revealed. As expected, artificial intelligence companies remain the dominant category, but [...]
Top tech firms have formed a virtual reality supergroup December 8, 2016 Several of the biggest names in technology are joining forces to push forward innovation in the burgeoning world of virtual reality. Facebook, Google and Samsung are among the top tech companies to form the Global Virtual Reality Association (GVRA), tasked with promoting the global growth of the industry, which is expected to be worth $162bn by [...]
The Kodak Ektra half-asses two things when it should have just whole-assed one thing December 7, 2016 Approximately one hundred years ago, back when it was extremely novel and cool to have a mobile phone with a built-in camera, we would call such contraptions ‘cameraphones’. Nowadays we live in the future and we expect everything we own to have some type of camera embedded in it, but the new Kodak Ektra feels [...]
PlayStation VR review: An affordable entry into the world of virtual reality entertainment December 7, 2016 The PlayStation VR has made a right mess of my living room. Sony’s new headset requires the use of roughly seven thousand bits of cable, which snake and coil around your TV and your console and your neck like rubbery snakes. Truly, I have never felt more at risk of accidental self-strangulation than when reviewing [...]
John Lewis sales bolstered by final Black Friday promotions December 6, 2016 John Lewis' sales over the past week received a boost from the final Black Friday promotions on offer. Sales for the week to 3 December increased 3.9 per cent year-on-year, the department store said, reaching £172.1m. Read more: Nespresso is teaming up with John Lewis to open two new boutiques Year-on-year, fashion and home sales [...]
Samsung Vs Apple: US Supreme Court rules in favour of the South Korean giant December 6, 2016 The US Supreme Court has backed Samsung in the latest round of its patent bout with Apple. The decision to throw out an appeals court ruling means the South Korean company won't necessarily have to pay the $399m (£313m) penalty to Apple for copying the design of the iPhone. The US justices were unanimous in their decision, ruling eight to zero in [...]
17 years sleeping, a year in the pub, seven months queuing: How a British adult spends their lifetime November 30, 2016 Ever wondered quite how much time you spend binge-watching series after series on Netflix? Well, wonder no longer as Samsung has surveyed 3,000 UK adults to assess just how Brits spend their time in 2016. The average British adult will have spent 17 years and 41 days sleeping, 13 years and three months working, eight years [...]
Sky dives into mobile market with “flexible” contracts but steers clear of content offers November 29, 2016 Pay-TV operator Sky has unveiled details of its long-awaited mobile service. Available to Sky staff already and rolling out gradually to pre-registered customers and then to the wider market early next year, the service is aiming to offer what the company has called a "flexible" mobile subscription plan. Sky will then begin offering handsets to users [...]