Yahoo and Alibaba agree on Alipay

29 July 2011 Last updated at 18:04 GMT Alibaba Group is one of the world's biggest internet conglomerates. Yahoo and Chinese internet company Alibaba have reached an agreement over its online payment service Alipay.

On Tuesday, Yahoo said Alibaba - in which Yahoo owns a stake - had spun off its online payment service Alipay without informing it.

Yahoo and Alibaba have now agreed that Alibaba would benefit from any future financial gain, such as a public offering.

Alibaba will also license some of its intellectual property to Alipay.

Alibaba will receive a minimum of $2bn (?1.2bn) and a maximum of $6bn from the sale of Alipay, under the terms of the agreement.

Earlier in the week, Yahoo said Alipay was transferred to a Chinese company, owned mostly by Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma, in August 2010.

Yahoo said it only found out about it in March this year. However, Alibaba insists the transaction was talked about at a 2009 board meeting.

Yahoo owns a 43% stake in Alibaba.

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New deal for F1 rights announced

Ecclestone on new Formula 1 TV deal

The BBC and Sky Sports will broadcast Formula 1 in the UK between 2012 and 2018 under a new rights deal.

The BBC has been the exclusive broadcaster of F1 in the UK since 2009 but its contract with Formula One Management was due to expire after the 2013 season.

Sky Sports will show every race, qualifying session and practice live.

BBC Sport will broadcast half the races live, as well as the qualifying and practice sessions from those races.

Both companies will broadcast in high definition.

Deal keeps F1 with BBC for longer, says director of sport Barbara Slater

Races screened by the BBC will be live on the BBC Sport website for UK users.

The BBC will have highlights on TV, online and mobile for any race it is not showing live, and all races will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 live.

Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: "We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC.

"The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10-year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments.

"With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence-fee payers."

Races shown live on BBC TV will include the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the Monaco GP and the concluding race of the season.

Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: "This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD.

"We will give F1 the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to each race never seen before on UK television."

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone told BBC Sport: "It's super for F1. It will mean a lot more coverage for the sport.

"There'll be highlights as well as live coverage on two different networks now, so we get the best of both worlds."

Christian Horner, the team principal of world champions Red Bull, said it would have been a "disaster" if F1 was no longer on the BBC.

"The BBC sets the standard for F1 coverage across the world," Horner said.

"This is an agreement that safeguards the sport on the BBC, albeit reduced from what we are used to. And Sky opens up new avenues. So rather than losing the sport from the BBC, I think this was the most sensible way to move forward."

Reaction to new F1 rights deal

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Rising costs hit Centrica profits

28 July 2011 Last updated at 12:25 GMT British Gas says it has been selling at a loss British Gas owner Centrica has reported operating profits of ?1.3bn in the six months to 30 June, down 19% on the same period last year.

The results include a 54% fall in operating profits at its residential energy division, British Gas, to ?270m.

British Gas says higher wholesale gas prices and lower energy use are responsible for the fall in profits.

The news comes as the firm prepares to raise gas prices by 18% and electricity prices by 16% in August.

Higher bills

The planned bill increases will push up the average bill for around nine million customers by ?190 a year.

It comes as the group announces a 12% increase in its dividend to shareholders.

Richard Lloyd from consumer group Which? warned that customers would be angry.

Continue reading the main story

Pain for customers is a reward for shareholders. Now these are not two distinct groups: millions of people hold British Gas shares indirectly through their pension schemes. But, if asked, many of those saving for a pension would probably sacrifice the dividend for lower energy prices.”

End Quote Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News "These profits come at a terrible time for people who are being clobbered by these 18% rises in gas bills and 16% rises in electricity bills," he said.

British Gas says it has been selling gas at a loss since April due to the rising cost of gas on the wholesale markets.

"UK wholesale gas prices have risen by around 30%, reflecting unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and increased global demand for gas, in part due to closures of nuclear plants in Japan," the company said.

The company said that without the August price rises, it would have made a loss in the second half of the year, "wiping out" the ?270m profit its residential business made in the first six months of the year.

Overseas investment

Centrica says it expects to invest ?1.3bn to secure new sources of energy this year - much of this investment will be outside the UK.

The company has confirmed it will scale back its future investment in UK gas production partly due to new taxes on oil and gas production in the North Sea.

The new taxes cost the company ?204m in the six months to June 30 according to its results. It has already mothballed some North Sea production.

Profits from its own operations, which include production in the North Sea and Trinidad, increased by 14% to ?414m.

Some analysts have suggested the tax rise still allows Centrica to make a profit in the North Sea.

"Whilst none of these companies will like a tax rise at the same time it is still enormously profitable to invest in the North Sea and I think some of these companies may be overplaying how unattractive the tax rise makes it," said David Hunter, an energy analyst at M&C Energy.

Centrica also said it plans to slow down its investment in new nuclear power stations in the UK.

"Investors are putting pressure on them specifically around the nuclear project where they are a junior partner, some are saying they shouldn't touch it with a barge pole," said Mr Hunter.

Warm weather

In its core business of home gas supply British Gas lost customers and market share compared with the same period last year.

Customer accounts for gas were down 0.7% from last year and market share down 0.5%, though it picked up customers for electricity supply.

That helped overall customer numbers at British Gas, which trades as Scottish Gas in Scotland, to rise - up 159,000 to 16.1 million accounts.

Warmer weather also saw a big fall in residential gas use, down 18% on the previous year, and a 3% drop in electricity consumption, further hurting profits.

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Pension payments to rise by £1bn

28 July 2011 Last updated at 20:06 GMT The changes prompted a strike and a march in London on 30 June More than two million public service employees have been told they will pay ?1.1bn in extra contributions from April 2012, under government plans.

The payments form part of coalition plans to reduce its pensions bill.

Unions expressed anger about the timing of the latest announcement, accusing the government of undermining talks on the future of public sector pensions.

However, Chancellor George Osborne said the plans were a good deal for both the public sector and taxpayers.

NHS workers, teachers and civil servants will have to pay extra money into their pensions as the government looks to shave ?1.2bn off its pension bill next year.

Under the plans, the maximum rise will be 2.4 percentage points.

The increases are the first of three consecutive annual increases being planned by the government.

Anger

Unions expressed anger at the announcement.

"These talks are being put in jeopardy by the crude and naive tactics of government ministers who do not seem to understand the word negotiate," said Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union which staged a walkout in June, said the proposals "made a mockery" of the ongoing talks.

"These highly detailed proposals show that the government has made its mind up and is not negotiating seriously," he said.

But Chancellor George Osborne defended the plans.

"They are a good deal for teachers, nurses and police officers, because they are going to get one of the best pensions you can get in our country, but it is also fair to taxpayers," he said.

"I think the trade unions and the government can work together on this and I certainly do not think it is a reason for anyone to go on strike."

The coalition also said pension contributions needed to rise as life expectancy continues to increase.

Burden shifted

The initial proposals affect 2.5 million people at first: NHS workers and teachers in England and Wales, and civil servants in England, Scotland and Wales.

Mark Serwotka of PCS: "It's unfair and we are determined to resist it"

Similar plans are in the offing for firefighters and the police, and possibly for local government staff as well.

The Fire Brigades Union said it was making preliminary arrangements for a strike ballot, warning that industrial action looked "increasingly likely" in the autumn.

The government has estimated that 750,000 of the NHS, civil service and teaching staff earning less than ?15,000 a year will not pay any extra contributions at all.

And many staff will now be asked to make smaller increases in their contributions than first thought.

Continue reading the main story

If my contributions go up again that leaves me with less money which will effectively mean a pay cut”

End Quote Robert Barton Social worker, Wiltshire In general it has been proposed that people earning between ?15,000 and ?21,000 (up from the previously suggested limit of ?18,000) will pay 0.6 percentage points more from next April.

However, in two of the schemes for which detailed proposals have now been published, this aspect has been watered down.

For teachers, the Department for Education, in its consultation response, has proposed that the 0.6 percentage point rise should apply to salaries up to ?26,000.

This is designed to deter younger, newly-qualified, teachers from leaving the scheme.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said: "The government had made up its mind a long time ago to raid the teachers pension scheme. We now have the privilege of commenting on how efficiently it plans to do so."

For the NHS scheme, the 0.6 percentage point rise will apply to those earning up to ?26,557.

This means the burden of raising the extra contributions in these two schemes has been shifted towards higher paid staff.

Maximum contributions

The government wants those on higher levels of pay to contribute up to 2.4 percentage points more in 2012-13.

This, for example, would take the total contribution to a maximum of 5.9% for civil servants earning more than ?60,000.

The highest paid NHS staff, such as doctors, now face a maximum contribution rate of 10.9% once they earn at least ?110,273.

The highest paid teachers would pay a maximum 8.8% of their salaries into their scheme once they earn ?112,000.

The additional contribution rates for civil servants, which have also been published, kick in at significantly lower salary levels than for teachers and NHS staff.

For example, at a salary of ?30,000, teachers will pay additional contributions of 0.9 percentage points, but civil servants will face additional contributions of 1.6 percentage points.

However, civil servants' existing contribution rates are generally low in comparison.

Continue reading the main story Annual salaryNowFrom 2012Annual salaryNowFrom 2012Annual salaryNow*From 2012*

Source: Cabinet Office, Department of Health, Department for Education

*Lower figure is for classic pension scheme and the higher figure for other schemes

More to come The Treasury said that in the next financial year the proposals would save ?530m in the NHS pension scheme, around ?300m from the teachers' scheme and ?180m in the civil service scheme.

Continue reading the main story

These are difficult times for everyone - public sector workers included. We are ensuring that those with the broadest shoulders will bear the greatest burden”

End Quote Danny Alexander Chief secretary to the Treasury The government is trying to implement the recommendations of Lord Hutton, the former Labour pensions minister.

His review of the public sector pension schemes, completed earlier this year, recommended higher contributions and the wholesale conversion of existing schemes from final-salary to career-average structures.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said the details of April's rising contribution rates would be subject to 12 weeks of consultation, and added that they ensured that the government's contributions would be kept under control.

"These are difficult times for everyone - public sector workers included. We are ensuring that those with the broadest shoulders will bear the greatest burden," he said.

However, the union representing senior civil servants said the plans for contributions were "completely unjustified".

"These negotiations will be complex and difficult. However, if we are not able to reach agreement then industrial action is possible," said Jonathan Baume, the general secretary of the FDA union.

Labour said that leaking the information to newspapers before the official announcement could affect the outcome of those talks.

"By once again acting in a rash and irresponsible manner ministers seem to be more interested in provoking confrontation with public sector workers than sensible negotiation," said Angela Eagle, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.

"Making arbitrary announcements through the newspapers in the middle of talks with the trade unions will do nothing to avoid the industrial action nobody wants to see."

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Pay attention 007

28 July 2011 Last updated at 23:18 GMT By Michael Millar Business reporter "Now pay attention 007": You may think biometric security is something Q would recommend for James Bond - but should you be thinking about it? Until fairly recently many people using fingerprint or retinal scanners to get through doors would have done so to an exciting soundtrack and almost certainly have very good teeth and hair.

The use of such biometric devices was the domain of Hollywood films, as companies and governments tried to thwart suave secret agents intent on subterfuge.

Biometric verification involves identifying someone through one of their unique biological traits.

These include everything from a fingerprint, iris, retina, or outline of a hand, to ear shape, voice patterns, and even body odour.

Biometric benefit

Proponents of biometrics, such as Cyrille Bataller, director of Accenture Technology Labs Europe, say companies see benefits in terms of security, automation and convenience.

"It's a very secure way of assessing identity," he says. "You are also delegating control to a machine, rather than having to have face-to-face manual check."

"This makes it convenient because you don't need to carry a card or pay someone at the entrance to read an ID," he adds.

The biometrics industry claims there has been a sharp increase in the number of companies protecting their workplaces with this kind of technology.

This is not surprising but until recently much biometric technology was not fit for purpose.

Biometric verification identifies people using biological traits - including the unique patterns in our eyes

"Before you couldn't count on the biometric solution - we saw a lot of what is known in the industry as false rejection rates," says Itay Langer from Israeli firm BioGuard.

"In the past if you didn't put the finger in at the same angle as you originally did, it wouldn't let you in," he says. "If you had a weaker fingerprint - for example, if you did a lot of manual labour or had diabetes - you'd have a problem."

Big Brother

There are several other good reasons businesses decided a biometric solution wasn't worth the effort on the past.

These include legal concerns over collecting highly personal information from staff, and fears that multiple people touching the same machine could spread illness and disease, particularly in the healthcare sector.

Then there is the major problem of convincing staff that allowing an employer to take these unique details won't plunge them into an Orwellian nightmare of surveillance and profiling.

Security

Keeping the right people out and letting the right people in remains the chief raison d'etre of biometrics, and products have been developed that would make James Bond gadget chief 'Q' proud.

Now you can buy scanners that will register you accurately if you put your finger on the reader upside down or even back-to-front.

They have also become more affordable, with good products starting at around $200 (?122) per door reader, going up to around $1,000.

BioGuard's ID-Pod scans the veins in the hand to identify people

One of BioGuard's premium products is a $1,600 scanner which maps the veins inside your hand to make sure you are who you say you are.

"It sends an infrared light into your hand, which is harmless, it's just light," Mr Langer explains.

This also helps overcome concerns amongst staff that they will have to touch something dirty, he says.

He adds that in some places anyone other than police taking fingerprints is taboo, including Canada "where they don't want anything to do with fingerprint [technology]".

Health and safety

But biometrics can be useful for more than securing a strong room or server centre (two of the places most commonly associated with biometric security).

Firms can now put biometric readers on laptops and even printers, scanners and photocopiers.

Property developer, Ollie McGovern, created a handheld biometric reader to manage the movements of the workforce on his sites and ensure they adhered to health and safety regulations.

His Simeio fingerprint reader, which is principally used in the construction industry, is designed to make sure those entering a site have appropriate health and safety training.

"In the UK, for example, health and safety regulation is getting more and more onerous and employers are guilty until proven innocent if someone gets hurt," he says.

The Simeio fingerprint reader checks that workers have the right health and safety training

"So when contractors use the Simeio to clock in it will check whether they have the right training, insurance, and equipment to be on site," he explains.

The device can also act as an attendance monitor, which could defuse arguments over how much time a worker has spent on site.

Tara Sheehan, from building and transport firm Sheehan Contractors, uses the Simeio and says she "can't put a price" on the benefits her firm derives from its health and safety features.

"Daily it will remind staff to have the high visibility equipment they have to wear on a daily basis," she says.

"It shows we have done as much as humanely possible to ask them if they have the right equipment and we have a record that we are doing our part."

But like most firms she encountered suspicion of biometrics, particularly from older staff.

"They thought we were Big Brother - watching where they were and what they were doing all day," she says.

"But once they could see it was saving us money in the tough climate we were in they were more accepting. After a few days of moaning they accepted it," she adds.

But other workers are not so understanding and devices that attract such suspicion are inevitably going to face close scrutiny from legal authorities.

Continue reading the main story

They thought we were Big Brother - watching where they were and what they were doing all day”

End Quote Tara Sheehan Sheehan Contractors Suspicious minds "In Europe there is a general expectation that employers will carry out a risk assessment before they introduce biometrics, so that they can be confident that the inevitable interference with privacy will be proportionate," says Stewart Room, partner at law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse.

"They need to be sure that they are using biometrics for a legitimate purpose and that there is not a less privacy invasive way of achieving their goals," he adds.

In some European countries, such as Germany, there is also an expectation that the employer will consult with workers' representatives on biometrics.

In other countries, such as France, the roll out of any such plans will have to be approved by the national data protection regulator.

Advanced biometrics systems, such as those used by BioGuard and Simeio, never hold a picture of a finger print or suchlike, as the image is immediately encoded into binary and the photograph destroyed.

This makes it less likely companies will fall foul of data protection legislation.

"It's not possible to re-engineer the fingerprint," says Simeio's McGovern. "The information has no value and there's nothing you could do with it even if you are a super techie."

All of which means super spies will have to return to traditional skills, such as lifting fingerprints off martini glasses to get the job done.

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BMW unveils electric car division

29 July 2011 Last updated at 15:55 GMT By Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News, Frankfurt BMW is making its first foray into the world of electric cars German carmaker BMW has unveiled two new models to launch its electric motoring division BMWi.

The i3 is an all-electric small city car, while the i8, a powerful sports car, combines an electric motor with a three-cylinder combustion engine.

To reduce weight, the cars have been constructed with light-weight aluminium under structures and bodies made from strong and light carbon fibre.

That means their batteries can be smaller without compromising on range.

"We wanted to show the carbon fibre in the raw," Ian Robertson, group sales and marketing director, said in an interview.

German jobs

The i3 city car, which will hit the road in 2013, will have a range of 150km (95 miles) on one charge.

Both the batteries and the motor lie below the floor of the car, which maximises space inside. The car seats four and has a 200-litre luggage space.

The less spacious but more aerodynamic i8 sportscar is a prototype, though a production version will go on sale in 2014. Its electrics-only range is more limited, at only 35km.

BMW will create 800 jobs at its Leipzig factory in Germany, where the cars will be built.

Flexible production

BMW is cautious about predicting how strong demand for electric cars will be in the future.

"We will make tens of thousands of these vehicles during the first few years," is all Mr Robertson is prepared to say at this stage.

Much depends on regulation, which is beyond the company's control, he insisted, such as in cities where many expect authorities to restrict access for cars that pollute.

However, the relatively simple production process for its BMWi models, which does not involve a press shop or a welding shop and keeps paintwork to a minimum, means "it is much easier to ramp up production than with conventional production", Mr Robertson insists.

BMW is hoping to launch several more similar models in the years to come, and as a number of other carmakers are thinking along the same lines, we can expect light-weight carbon-fibre cars to become a prominent part of electric motoring in the future.

Volkswagen, for instance, recently unveiled a model it calls XL1, which seats two adults, combines a 0.8 litre two cylinder diesel engine with an electric motor.

The car is constructed around a carbon fibre reinforced polymer monocoque to reduce the weight dramatically when compared with conventional cars. A monocoque design doesn't use an internal frame or chassis.

McLaren's recently launched sportscar, MP4-12C also uses carbon fibre to reduce its weight. The car is built around a single carbon fibre monocoque.

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Obama stresses debt-plan urgency

29 July 2011 Last updated at 21:56 GMT President Obama: "This is one burden we can lift ourselves"

US President Barack Obama has said Democrats and Republicans must compromise to cut the US budget deficit and raise the debt limit.

He warned time had almost run out, before Speaker John Boehner made an impassioned speech in the House of Representatives ahead of a vote.

Meanwhile, Democrats announced they would put their plan to the Senate.

The fiscal fiasco leaves the US inching closer to a potentially catastrophic default on federal debt next Tuesday.

The US government will start running out of money to pay all its bills unless a $14.3tn (?8.79tn) borrowing limit is increased by 2 August.

'Last train leaving'

At the White House, Mr Obama accused House Republicans of pursuing a partisan bill that would force Washington into another debt limit fight within months.

Continue reading the main story

It's odds-on the president won't have to veto the Republican plan, as the Tea Party seems to have done the job for him”

End Quote Mark Mardell BBC North America editor He said: "There are plenty of ways out of this mess, but we are almost out of time."

"The time for putting party first is over," he added. "The time for compromise on behalf of the American people is now."

In Congress, the arm-twisting continued on Friday.

House Speaker John Boehner and his lieutenants were working to whip Republicans into line behind their plan to cut the budget while raising the debt limit.

A vote on that bill was tentatively scheduled for between 17:45 local time (21:45 GMT) and 18:15 local time (22:15 GMT), after being called off on Thursday night when it became clear Mr Boehner lacked support within his own party.

Mr Boehner appeared to have won over recalcitrant conservatives in his party by strengthening language calling for the so-called "balanced budget amendment".

That proposal calls for a vote on an amendment to the US constitution - a move certain to be rejected by the Senate.

Senior Senate Democrats said the upper chamber would vote on some sort of compromise proposal at the weekend, and invited Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for talks.

Analysts say that if the Senate passes legislation first, it could increase the president's leverage in a final deal.

"Too much is at stake to waste even one more minute - the last train is leaving the station," Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

But Mr McConnell accused Democrats of wasting precious time and obstructing a deal by vowing to block Mr Boehner's bill, should it be passed in the House.

"Republicans have been doing the hard work of governing this week," he said.

Mr Boehner convened a closed meeting of all 240 House Republicans on Friday morning to outline tweaks he has made overnight to the legislation.

Mr Boehner and other Republican leaders spent all day Thursday arm-twisting dissident lawmakers, but they were unable to win over enough conservative hard-liners.

Some Republicans - including Tea Party supporters who won House seats last year and oppose raising the debt limit under any circumstance - feel the Boehner bill would not cut enough from the US budget.

Mr Boehner's plan faces certain rejection by the Democratic-controlled Senate, as well as a White House veto threat, but could form the basis of an eventual compromise.

Brinkmanship

It would reduce spending by about $900bn and raise the debt limit by nearly the same amount.

Speaker John Boehner's plan cannot pass the Democratic-controlled Senate

The Reid plan - which Mr Obama supports - would cut $2.2tn from deficits, and raise the debt ceiling by $2.7tn.

One possible scenario is that Mr Obama and Senate Democrats could shape a bill to their liking, then dare divided House Republicans to plunge the nation into default by rejecting it.

The Boehner and Reid plans overlap in key ways, such as trimming spending over 10 years and shunning President Obama's call for tax increases on the wealthy and corporations.

But Mr Boehner's approach would force another debt-limit showdown during next year's presidential campaign, something Mr Obama has fiercely opposed.

Mr Reid's plan would see the ceiling lifted until after the November 2012 elections.

Analysts predict a last-minute scramble for a compromise and razor-edge votes in both chambers, with the high-stakes game of legislative brinkmanship expected to continue all weekend.

Washington hit its debt ceiling in May, but has used accounting adjustments, as well as higher-than-expected tax receipts, to continue operating.

In recent decades, the US Congress has increased the government's borrowing authority dozens of times as a matter of routine.

But this year newly elected conservative Republicans have demanded steep cuts to the budget deficit as the price of an increase.

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Virtual people to get ID checks

29 July 2011 Last updated at 00:12 GMT Is that cyclops the same one you saw yesterday? The faces and behaviour of online avatars could help identify the people controlling them, scientists believe.

Using both characteristics, researchers hope to develop techniques for checking whether the digital characters are who they claim to be.

Such information could be used in situations where login details are not visible or for law enforcement.

Impersonation of avatars is expected to become a growing problem as real life and cyberspace increasingly merge.

Signature moves

Avatars are typically used to represent players in online games such as World of Warcraft and in virtual communities like Second Life.

As their numbers grow, it will become important to find ways to identify those we meet regularly, according to Dr Roman Yampolskiy from the University of Louisville.

Working out if their controller is male or female has an obvious commercial benefit, he said. But discovering that the same person controlled different avatars in separate spaces would be even more useful.

As robots proliferate we will need ways of telling one from the other, said Dr Yampolskiy.

"It's useful for profiling of avatars for marketing purposes by businesses in virtual worlds," explained Dr Yampolskiy.

"It also has some applications in forensic tracking of avatars across multiple virtual communities."

The technology may also have implications for security if a game account is hacked and stolen.

Behavioural analysis could help prove whether an avatar is under the control of its usual owner by watching to see if it acts out of character.

The research looked at monitoring for signature gestures, movements and other distinguishing characteristics.

Limited expressions

Researchers discovered that the lack of possible variations on a avatar's digital face, when compared to a real human, made identification tricky.

However, those limited options are relatively simple to measure, because of the straightforward geometries involved in computer-generated images.

Dr Yampolskiy's team generated large data sets made up of many possible faces in Second Life and Entropia Universe and then studied them to spot key characteristics.

"It's very preliminary work as we are still collecting data," he said. "So far we have been very successful."

Dr Yampolskiy pointed out that another factor driving the need for avatar identification was the increasing use of telepresence and augmented reality.

Especially for businesses, it will be important to ensure that on-screen facsimiles represent the people they purport to.

Further work by the group will extend the identifying work and behaviour monitoring to robots.

As more and more machines start to work alongside people access to controlled areas would rely on being able to tell one from another.

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Jilted generation

28 July 2011 Last updated at 23:26 GMT By Alvin Hall Poorer Than Their Parents, BBC Radio 4 Thousands of young people have protested against rising tuition fees and poor job prospects Many young people in Britain are set to be in a worse economic position than their parents, but is there any sympathy among older generations and is their cause gaining support from politicians?

"I'm 100% livid, I think that's the best way of putting it. We're going to get more angry than we are now."

Twenty-five-year-old City worker George Lewkowicz is mad about the economy.

He is typical of many young Brits under the age of 30 who have come to realise that their financial prospects are substantially less bright than that of their parents' generation.

When I first met George last year, he predicted young people would take to the streets - and he was proved right as thousands of students from across the UK protested against the rise in university tuition fees and the scrapping of the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA).

Today, George predicts this disquiet is only set to escalate:

"There is this huge population of older people who have essentially had it all, and my generation are then paying for their retirement."

When this dawns on people, George argues, "the riots will happen".

Pessimism

Shiv Malik, author of Jilted Generation - a book which examines the prospects for the 80s generation onwards - looks at his peers and sees further evidence of the impact a financially tight future is having on young people.

Continue reading the main story

If you ask people 'Is Britain going to be a better place to live in five years time?', the majority are saying no”

End Quote James Morris Greenberg Quinlan Rosner "From my middle-class cohort of friends - people who should be doing well - they're delaying having children, having families, settling down. They don't know what to do with their lives.

"They get personally depressed about this stuff, and it's a quiet depression that happens everyday.

"No-one is paying attention to it, and that's the most upsetting thing. The impacts are going to be huge."

Is the sense of pessimism that Shiv sees among his friends valid, or are young people just whining?

James Morris, pollster with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and former speechwriter for Ed Miliband, says his research confirms Shiv's observation across generational lines.

British youth unemployment hit a record high in 2011 and commentators fear a "lost generation"

"If you ask people 'Is Britain going to be a better place to live in five years time?', the majority are saying no.

"If you ask older people... there's a consensus that this generation of teenagers, and particularly people in their 20s, are going to have a much harder time than their parents did."

However, Mr Morris makes an interesting qualification.

He says that while the dominant view among young people is that success requires effort, there is an important difference.

"If you look at my grandparents' generation, the kinds of hours they worked, the kind of work they did, the drudgery of [the] work... it's something young people today aren't minded to accept.

"They want a more interesting career. So there's a legitimate concern here that people's expectations about a decent job have changed."

Political priority

But what do the accused - the baby boomers - think?

James Morris says his research indicates that people in their 40s and 50s are the most pessimistic about the prospects for the younger generation - they are more worried about young people than young people are themselves. So does the older generation feel they have a responsibility to do something about it, too?

"They don't buy into that," say James.

George Osborne (left) and Ed Miliband have concerns over future generations' debt

"Baby boomers don't feel like their wealth should be taken away from them and moved to the younger generation.

"They feel the government ought to act to create the right sort of opportunities for younger people to move on."

Pollsters like James Morris see evidence of a gathering movement of support of the financial prospects of young people, and are advising the Labour Party that this is something people really care about.

And party leaders from across the political spectrum are responding by making this a real priority.

Continue reading the main story

We need to address consequent problems... but it's not fair to have a revolution where most of the victims are of a certain age”

End Quote Angus Hanton The Intergenerational Foundation In the government's Spending Review announced last October, the Chancellor George Osborne put forward the case that "there is nothing fair about running huge budget deficits, and burdening future generations with the debts we ourselves are not prepared to pay".

Labour leader Ed Miliband is taking a slightly longer-term view. He talks about the "promise of Britain" - the expectation that next generations will do better than the last, whatever their birth or background.

He says he is worried that is being eroded.

Who will shout loudest?

There are also some signs of sympathy among the baby boomer generation. Angus Hanton, a baby boomer himself, has founded a new think-tank called The Intergenerational Foundation to lobby for fairness between the generations.

He sees clear culpability on the part of his older peers.

"Let's take my own house [which] I bought 16 years ago for ?160,000. It's in south-east London. It's now worth about ?1.15m.

"So I've gained a million pound windfall to which I do not feel entitled, and that windfall, at the moment, is tax-free. Were I to sell [the house], there's no tax on that gain."

Continue reading the main story

Alvin Hall's Poorer Than Their Parents continues on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 30 July at 12:00 BST and is repeated on Wednesday 3 August at 15:00 BST.

"It may appear very lucky for me, but the reality is when I sell, it will probably be to a younger person who'll be getting a mortgage and spending most of their working life paying off that windfall which went to me. I don't think that's fair."

Angus Hanton recognises that people from across the generations face a tough financial future, but he offers a final observation that captures the bottom-line perspective for Britain's youth:

"We need to address consequent problems... but it's not fair to have a revolution where most of the victims are of a certain age."

On this the under-30s would definitely agree.

But with government spending being slashed, it is not just students who have taken to the streets in protest.

Just as young people may feel they have started to persuade the politicians and opinion formers about the seriousness of their plight, the generations before them are not sitting by quietly waiting to see what happens - as the recent pension protest in London showed.

One must wonder: since there are so many baby boomers in the UK - an estimated 12 million - will their protests drown out the voice of the disaffected youth?

Alvin Hall's Poorer Than Their Parents continues on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 30 July at 1200 BST and Wednesday 3 August at 1500 BST. Listen again via the BBC iPlayer or by downloading the Money Box podcast.

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FA urgently needs reform say MPs

Whittingdale MP wants FA overhaul

The Football Association has been urged by MPs to make big changes in the way the game is run in England.

A report by MPs stresses the need to address the financial instability and the levels of debt in football.

John Whittingdale MP said: "Significant changes need to be made to the way the game is run to secure the future of England's football heritage."

Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to go into administration in February 2010.

"No one doubts the success of the Premier League in revitalising English football," Whittingdale said.

"But it has been accompanied by serious financial problems throughout the football league pyramid."

The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee [chaired by Whittingdale] has recommended that more rigorous measures should be introduced to promote a sustainable business and should underpin self-regulation measures introduced by the Premier League and the Football League.

Continue reading the main story

The FA is the organisation for the job, but it has some way to go getting its own house in order before it can tackle the problems in the English game

John Whittingdale MP

The report also suggests that a strong fit and proper persons test is consistently applied, and that the selling of a club's ground should not take place unless it is in the club's interest.

The Committee report also said that "there is no more blatant an example of lack of transparency than the recent ownership history of Leeds United" and has urged the FA to investigate if necessary with the assistance of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Other recommendations include an end to the Football Creditor's Rule, an FA review of expenditure at grass roots level, and a restructuring of the FA board.

"The FA is the organisation for the job, but it has some way to go getting its own house in order before it can tackle the problems in the English game, and address the future," Whittingdale added.

"We need a reformed FA to oversee and underpin a rigorous and consistent club licensing system and robust rules on club ownership, which should be transparent to supporters."

Continue reading the main story Matt Slater,
BBC sports news reporter

"The Culture, Media and Sport Committee's report on Football Governance is 112 pages of good sense and honorable intentions. Those eight evidence-gathering sessions, hundreds of written submissions and trips to see what German football looks like were not wasted. Sadly, we have been here before: many, many times. Government interventions into English football have been as regular and pointless as England's failures in summer tournaments. MPs get bored, ministers move on, governments change, football stays the same. Will this time be any different?"

The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee's findings now pass to Sports Minister Hugh Robertson, who will co-ordinate the Government's response and relay to football's governing bodies which recommendations it would like to see adopted.

"We will look carefully at the report in detail before setting out the Government's plans in our response," Robertson said.

"But it's clear that no change in the areas of governance, financial regulation, transparency and the involvement of supporters is not an option.

"There is a moment here for the football authorities to respond positively and decisively to both the content and spirit of the report and we will be working with them to achieve this," he added.

Shadow Sports Minister Ian Austin was equally supportive of the measures and recommendations made in Friday's report.

"The game needs strong leadership on governance issues, transparency for every professional club and proper involvement for supporters and fans because giving fans a bigger stake in their clubs and a greater say in the decisions which are made by football's governing bodies should be an integral part of modern football," Austin said.

"In the period ahead it is important that the FA build on reforms to be considered by their shareholders next month and the Premier League embraces the need for change by making a clear commitment to improved governance arrangements."

Some of the recommendations made may not meet with the Premier League's approval, but the corporation have said they will await the Government's response before reacting to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee's findings.

David Bernstein took on the role of FA Chairman in December 2010

"The CMS Select Committee has undertaken a lengthy and considered inquiry into the governance structures of English football, one we were happy to contribute to with both written and oral evidence," the Premier League said in a statement.

"We, along with the other football authorities, will now consider the report's contents and await the Sports Minister's response before taking a view on the recommendations and any part the Premier League may have to play in implementing them."

Supporters Direct, which gives advice and funding to fans wanting to enhance representation and set up trusts at clubs, has welcomed the report into football governance in England.

Brian Burgess of Supporters Direct said: "The Select Committee's inquiry has provided a welcome opportunity to consider the challenges facing football in this country and hear the views of the fans.

"With 52 clubs who are or have been in the top 92 having suffered from insolvency events since 1992 it is clear that things cannot carry on as they are.

"We look forward to working with the Government, the FA, the Premier League and the Football League to develop practical solutions to respond to the report's recommendations," Burgess added.

View the original article here

Premium travellers boost BA group

29 July 2011 Last updated at 08:46 GMT International Airlines Group CEO Willie Walsh: "It's good to be back in the black"

International Airlines Group (IAG), formed by the merger of BA and Iberia, has swung to a first-half profit of 39m euros (?34m), boosted by a rise in premium travellers.

That compared with a 419m-euro loss made in the same period a year earlier.

But it said fuel costs had risen 34.8% to 2.4bn euros in the six-month period and said that fuel was still a "significant issue".

The company expects its annual fuel bill to total 5.2bn euros.

BA and Iberia completed their merger in January this year.

'Significant growth'

Revenues for the half-year rose 17.9% to 7.8bn euros.

The company also reduced its net debt by almost a half to 480m euros.

IAG said it had seen "continued strength in premium markets", adding that while its long-haul business was stable, the short-haul European market remained "highly competitive".

"We expect significant growth in operating profit this year, with improvements in both our unit revenue and unit cost performance versus 2010 and are on track to reach our synergy targets," IAG said.

But it said it expected the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East to reduce its operating profit for the year by 90-100m euros.

Charles Stanley analyst Douglas McNeill said: "These are good results at the upper end of expectations but the year-ago period was depressed by the ash cloud crisis and strikes at BA."

View the original article here

Apple overtakes Nokia and Samsung

29 July 2011 Last updated at 11:55 GMT Handsets from Apple (left) and Samsung (right) saw the biggest growth Apple has become the world's biggest seller of smartphones, according to industry analysts.

The US firm overtook both previous leader Nokia and Samsung in the second quarter of the year, when total smartphone sales hit a record 110m.

The figures from Strategy Analytics also showed that 361m handsets were shipped, up 13% on the previous year.

Nokia remained the biggest seller of all types of handsets, but the numbers shipped and its market share fell.

It shipped 20% fewer handsets in the second quarter - 88.5 million.

The Finnish firm's market share dipped to 25% - its lowest level since 1999.

'Star'

The report describes Apple as the "star performer" during the quarter, more than doubling its handset shipments to a record 20.3 million units.

All handsets Smartphones Total market share

However, its share of the overall market was 6%, making it the world's fourth biggest mobile phone seller behind Nokia, Samsung and LG.

Samsung shipped 74 million units, rising 16% from 63.8 million in the quarter a year earlier.

The company's market share rose to just above 20%, and Samsung is now "breathing down Nokia's neck", the report said.

Strategy Analytics said Nokia was plagued by problems.

"An unexciting touchphone portfolio, inventory corrections in Asia and Western Europe, wavering demand for the Symbian platform and limited presence in the huge US market continue to weigh on Nokia's near-term performance," the report said.

Third-placed LG shipped 24.8 million handsets during the three months, with volumes down 19% from a year earlier.

China-based ZTE shipped 18 million handsets, giving it a global market share of 5%.

Seperately, Taiwan's HTC said it had shipped 12m handsets in the second quarter of the year, helping its profits double to 17.5 billion Taiwan dollars ($607m; ?372m).

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BSkyB gives £1bn to shareholders

29 July 2011 Last updated at 12:52 GMT BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch: "We've invested a lot in terms of what we put on screen and people like that"

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB is returning ?1bn to shareholders angered by the recent fall in share prices.

Its shares have fallen sharply in the past month after News Corporation abandoned its bid for BSkyB amid the phone-hacking scandal.

The company said it had gained 426,000 customers over the past year.

Operating profits, excluding earnings from non-core activities such as investments, rose 23% to ?1.07bn, while pre-tax profits fell 15% to ?1.01bn.

On Thursday, BSkyB's board confirmed that James Murdoch would stay on as company chairman, despite the phone-hacking scandal at News International, a News Corporation subsidiary where Mr Murdoch is also chairman.

Continue reading the main story BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch told BBC News he did not think Sky's broadcasting licence was at risk, regardless of what the investigations into News International and News Corporation found.

"The licence is held by the company (BSkyB) and the company is controlled by a majority of independent directors at board level," he said.

"We have got strong systems of control and strong standards right throughout Sky. It just makes me even more determined to ensure that they stay in place."

BSkyB is raising its dividend 20% to 23.28 pence per share and has announced a ?750m share buyback.

This should help to placate shareholders, as the value of their shares has fallen 15% since in the past month.

Triple-play Continue reading the main story

One member of the board told me that the decision to back Mr Murdoch could not be seen as being forever. If evidence were to emerge that damaged the credibility of Mr Murdoch then the board would have to reconsider whether he needed to stand down.”

End Quote Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News BSkyB increased its customer base by 426,000 in the year to give it a total of 10,294,000 subscribers.

Average revenue per customer grew ?31 to ?539.

One of the key targets for media companies at the moment is persuading customers to subscribe to more of their products, combining fees for television access with services like broadband internet access and landline telephone services.

"Critically, they've put on a 37% increase in triple-play, that's people who take pay-TV, telephone and broadband," said Steve Hewlett from BBC Radio 4's Media Show.

"That's the holy grail - that's what everyone is after, and they've now got 27% of their customers, 2.8 million people, taking all three services."

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Osborne: Eurozone must get a grip

21 July 2011 Last updated at 10:54 GMT Mr Osborne has said the UK cannot insulate itself from the eurozone's problems George Osborne has urged eurozone members to "get a grip" on the sovereign debt crisis plaguing Europe to prevent it spreading further.

The chancellor told the Financial Times that inaction risked economic damage on the scale of the 2008 banking crisis.

Countries using the single currency are holding a crunch meeting to discuss the Greek debt crisis and wider problems.

Nick Clegg said the crisis was not a justification for the UK to reshape its relationship with Europe.

Some Conservative and Labour MPs have called for Greece to be allowed to leave the single currency and for the current eurozone to be radically restructured.

Thursday's meeting will consider the need for a second eurozone bailout of the Greek economy - in which the UK insists it will not participate, as it is not a member of the single currency.

Amid fears of a wider "contagion", with the debt position of Italy and Spain being questioned, Germany and France said they had agreed a common position on how to handle the Greek situation.

'Very worried'

Mr Osborne, who is not attending the meeting, told the FT that while he was optimistic that the 17 eurozone members would make progress on the challenges facing them, the dangers of not doing so were considerable.

Continue reading the main story

We have a vital self-interest as a country in working with countries and our partners in the eurozone”

End Quote Nick Clegg Deputy Prime Minister "We see the potential for a set of economic events that could be as damaging as 2008," he said.

"I am very worried. This building (The Treasury) is very worried and this government is very worried."

While not contributing to eurozone bail-outs of Greece and Portugal, the government has stressed that a stable eurozone is in the UK's interest - as 40% of the UK's trade is with Europe.

The eurozone is looking at ways for the private sector to take a bigger role in supporting Greece's debts - potentially by expanding the bail-out package to include buying Greek bonds.

No finger-pointing

Amid calls from within the eurozone for greater fiscal integration to help struggling economies, Mr Osborne said there was a "remorseless logic" to this.

He said the idea of issuing eurozone bonds was "worthy of serious consideration" but he stressed the UK would not be taking part in any eurozone financial solutions.

At a press conference on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said there should be no "finger-pointing" in the UK about the eurozone's difficulties, as a "strong and prosperous" single currency area was vital for the country.

"We have a vital self-interest as a country in working with countries and our partners in the eurozone to make sure the problems are resolved successfully," he said.

Although the eurozone needed "comprehensive and sustainable reform", he warned those predicting its demise - who include a number of Tory MPs - that this would have "catastrophic consequences" for millions of people, including people in the UK.

While it was "no secret" his party had different views from their coalition partners on Europe, he rejected suggestions the crisis could be a catalyst for EU members to "hare off" in different directions. "Absolutely not," he said.

'More active role'

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said the UK should be playing the role of "honest broker" in discussions about the future stability of the eurozone.

"In the same way that President Obama and the IMF have all said ... 'get this sorted out', Britain - as a member of the European Union - we should be in there, helping to broker a solution.

"I think that's what leadership is all about and we have a direct interest in that. We should be there."

And former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling said eurozone leaders needed to come up with a "convincing" response, not a short-term fix to stop the problems spreading.

"You can see a real calamity facing us," he told the BBC.

"If America has problems and starts getting down rated in relation to its credit, we have got this continuing problem in Europe and you already have got very sluggish growth in this country.

"This is going to have a real impact ... and I do think our government ought to have been playing a more active role in encouraging our partners in Europe to sort this problem out."

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Automatic transmission

21 July 2011 Last updated at 07:23 GMT By Katia Moskvitch Technology reporter, BBC News WATCH: BBC Technology reporter Katia Moskvitch is taken for a spin in an electric car that is charged wirelessly

The Citroen C1 springs to life and leaps forward with the enthusiasm only a French city runaround can muster.

This one is a little smoother and quieter than most. It's electric, and like all battery-operated automobiles needs regular charging.

But the top-up process is different from the usual hassle of plugging a bulky cable into a specially designed socket.

Here, the driver doesn't even need to get out.

"The charging is done wirelessly, you park up, turn off the key and voila... charging starts automatically," says Anthony Thomson, CEO of HaloIPT, a UK company that has installed the technology.

The process uses electromagnetic induction to transfer power from a pad built into the ground to another installed in the bottom of the car.

Continue reading the main story

The charging is done wirelessly, you park up, turn off the key and voila... charging starts automatically”

End Quote Anthony Thomson HaloIPT The system could be installed in a supermarket parking place, garage floor or the ground at a special charging station.

When a driver parks the vehicle, the two pads line up and with a flick of a switch, the charging starts.

Induction

The phenomenon of electromagnetic induction was discovered by British physicist Michael Faraday in 1831.

He found that when two coils were placed close to each other and power applied to one of them, it produced a magnetic field, which then induced a voltage across the second coil.

In the case of charging a car, the coils are embedded inside the two pads.

The system was originally developed at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and commercialised by HaloIPT.

A total of 31 electric buses in Italy are charged wirelessly

And although some of the electricity inevitably gets wasted during the charging process, people who have tried it have praised its simplicity.

Two of the induction-equipped C1s have been taking part in the Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators (CABLED) consortium - the world's biggest trial of electric vehicles.

"City planners don't like the prospect of a line of charge posts down streets, adding to the existing street clutter," said Neil Butcher, the CABLED project leader, who has been driving one of the two cars since May 2011.

Continue reading the main story

There are obvious health and safety issues associated with many live electric cables hanging between the post and the car, especially in bad weather”

End Quote Neil Butcher CABLED consortium "The lack of any visible connection minimises any risk of vandalism - unplugging or theft of cables.

"There are also obvious health and safety issues associated with many live electric cables hanging between the post and the car, especially in bad weather, including electric shock and trip hazards," added Mr Butcher.

But with wireless power transfer, bad weather is not a problem, claims HaloIPT.

Pads remain perfectly operational and safe in any conditions, "sending" the energy up, even through a layer of snow.

As simple as the process might sound, there is a catch - there are currently no charging stations in the UK.

So Mr Butcher can only feed his hungry Citroen at his garage where the system has been installed as part of a pilot project. As a back-up he can switch to a conventional plug-in cable charging point.

But HaloIPT is certain that things will improve in the future, and induction stations will become commonplace.

One of their first visitors may be a Rolls Royce.

The luxury carmaker has equipped its latest electric model, the 102EX Phantom Experimental Electric with a magnetic induction plate.

And the technology is being deployed in more down-to-earth modes of transport.

Italian buses The experimental Rolls Royce 102EX Phantom model is equipped with inductive charging plates

A fleet of city buses equipped with special pads has been navigating the streets of two Italian cities, Genoa and Turin, since 2002.

Corresponding pads have been embedded into the pavement at certain bus stops - to charge the vehicles on the go.

"The buses have signs that they are electric, and people say that they like the experience - the buses are a lot smoother than diesel ones," said Mathias Wechlin from Conductix-Wampfler, a German company that, just like HaloIPT, originally sprung from the University of Auckland and now licenses the technology.

Mr Wechlin adds that, during charging time, people stay inside the buses - something he says is absolutely safe, as the strength of the magnetic field produced is within the limits recommended by the International Commission on non-ionizing radiation protection (ICNIRP).

Although the safety issue may indeed seem worrisome, Professor Paul Mitcheson from Imperial College London, who has studied the effects of electromagnetism on people, says there should not be a problem.

"The whole concept of efficient wireless charging of vehicles relies on near-field, non-radiative coupling between the charging point and the receiver on the vehicle.

"It is not possible to design a system with no radiation, but a well-designed system can have negligible levels of radiation well below safety limits provided by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standard."

Despite the electric buses project in Italy being a success on a small scale, the company has found it tricky to expand the operation.

Continue reading the main story

The buses are charged in the end of the route, and those little rechargings allow you to keep the bus in operation from 7am till 8pm”

End Quote Mathias Wechlin Conductix-Wampfler The main reason has been the difficulty in convincing municipalities to get on board, said Mr Wechlin, as electric buses are usually a lot more expensive than petrol or diesel powered ones.

In Turin and Genoa, the situation was different.

Officials decided to invest some money in trialling alternative transport systems, and electric buses seemed a perfect option.

But when they raised the idea of plug-in technology, the union of bus drivers voted against their members plugging in cables on health and safety grounds.

That was when Conductix-Wampfler offered to go wireless.

The initiative resulted in eight buses in Genoa and another 23 in Turin.

Mr Wechlin said that besides pure convenience, the system also significantly increases the time the bus can remain in operation as it does not need to go to the depot every few hours for recharging and there is a need to swap batteries.

"With wireless charging, the buses are charged at the end of the route, where they change direction and stand for about five to ten minutes - and those little rechargings allow you to keep the bus in operation from 7am till 8pm," he told the BBC.

WiTricity A US start-up WiTricity uses a different wireless charging method

But electromagnetic induction is not the only method used for wireless charging.

A US start-up business WiTricity, founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Marin Soljacic, has patented a new way to wirelessly transfer energy in much larger amounts and over greater distances than induction.

The technique, called highly coupled magnetic resonance, involves pairing the magnetic fields of two pads with closely matching resonant frequencies.

"When you plug one pad into the wall, that electricity is converted into a magnetic field, which oscillates at a frequency," explained WiTricity CEO Eric Giler.

"It creates a second magnetic field that oscillates around the second coil that sits underneath the car, and it is then converted into electricity that goes to a charger inside the car and charges the battery."

The company has received a lot of attention since WiTricity demonstrated the technology at the 2009 TED conference.

Electronics giant Intel started experimenting with it in their labs, and some recent reports suggest that Apple is investigating wireless charging for the iPhone 6.

In March 2011, carmaker Toyota invested in the start-up and signed a deal to develop wireless charging for its future electric cars.

Continue reading the main story

Car manufacturers have already realised that if you don't have to plug a car in to charge it, it will significantly increase the adoption of the electric vehicles”

End Quote Eric Giler WiTricity Mr Giler said that besides Toyota, WiTricity has been in contact with virtually all the biggest car companies around the world.

And just like Mr Thomson of HaloIPT and Mr Wechlin of Conductix-Wampfler, he believes that sooner or later, automakers will have to go wireless.

"Car manufacturers have already realised that if you don't have to plug a car in to charge it, it will significantly increase the adoption of the electric vehicles," he said.

With global oils supplies depleting, the hope is that wireless charging might be the killer feature that attracts drivers to electric vehicles.

And maybe one day, if the technology gets embedded into streets and motorways, drivers won't even have to worry about charging at all.

View the original article here

UK retail sales post modest rise

21 July 2011 Last updated at 11:30 GMT Retail analysts say shops have introduced their summer sales earlier than usual Retail sales recovered slightly in June as stores started their summer sales early to attract customers, official figures have shown.

Like-for-like sales excluding petrol were 0.8% higher than May, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Compared with June 2010, sales were up 0.2%.

It comes after sales declined by a revised 1.5% in May from April.

Marks and Spencer is one of the main retailers to have already cut prices.

'Under pressure'

Philip Shaw, economist at investment group Investec, said: "The retail sales figures were much as we expected, with a strong bounce back in June partly reflecting early summer sales.

"That really implies that sales could fall back in July because of the change in timing of High Street discounting."

Mr Shaw added: "The overall assessment is that consumer spending remains under pressure."

Continue reading the main story

At best, the majority of retail outlets are limping along and it is only a matter of time before more fall by the wayside”

End Quote Brian Johnson Insolvency practitioner The official ONS figures come a week after the British Retail Consortium said early summer price discounting had slowed the rate of sales decline on the High Street.

The continuing weakness in the retail sector comes after a number of well-known names have gone into administration.

Firms that have had to call in administrators in recent months include Jane Norman, Habitat, Focus DIY, Homeform, TJ Hughes and Oddbins.

Other retailers such as Carpetright, HMV, Thorntons, JJB Sports, Comet and Blacks Leisure have shut stores.

Brian Johnson, an insolvency practitioner at chartered accountants HW Fisher, said the retail sector was "one of the busiest areas of our business right now".

He added: "At best, the majority of retail outlets are limping along and it is only a matter of time before more fall by the wayside."

Income squeeze

The weakness in the retail sector comes as consumers are struggling with higher fuel and food bills, and job insecurity.

ONS figures last month showed that UK households have seen the biggest fall in their disposable income for more than 30 years.

It said that in the year to the end of March real incomes - adjusted for inflation - fell 2.7%, a fall not seen since 1977.

It comes as UK petrol prices are at near all-time highs, and three of the big six energy companies have said they will be raising their electricity and gas bills in the coming months.

At the same time, the latest ONS data showed that food prices last month were 5.8% higher than June 2010 - the biggest annual rise since March 2009.

View the original article here

What price success?

21 July 2011 Last updated at 23:00 GMT By Alvin Hall Radio 4: Poorer Than Their Parents Internships with companies owned by superstars like Jay-Z can be bought for thousands of dollars Work experience is vital for first-time job seekers looking to impress potential employers but does the trend to sell high-profile internships mean only the privileged get the top jobs?

In their light, open-plan office on New York's Fifth Avenue, the young staff working for online auctioneer, Charity Buzz, are silent and focused on the progress of bids for a placement with the hip-hop artist Jay-Z's record company, Roc Nation.

"People wait until a couple of minutes before it closes," says the company's chief executive, Coppy Holzman.

"It could go for $5,000 (?3,100) or $50,000 (?31,000)."

After some recent success in offering London-based internships through its website, the company is set to open a permanent base in the UK.

In these times when young people are set to be in a worse economic position than their parents, with rising education costs, high house prices and an increasingly competitive job market, buying an early career advantage could become more common in the UK.

Continue reading the main story

Our highest price for an internship was working with both Sir Richard Branson and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and it sold for $85,000 (?53,000)”

End Quote Coppy Holzman Charity Buzz "We expect the number of internships to expand exponentially," says Coppy Holzman of Charity Buzz.

"Our highest price for an internship was working with both Sir Richard Branson and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and it sold for $85,000 (?53,000).

"The person that won it has a deep social conscience."

And certainly deep pockets.

The growth of internships in Britain where young people or their families pay for the experience has been controversial - earlier this year Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minisiter Nick Clegg publicly disagreed on the way internships are awarded.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, also criticised the Conservative Party for auctioning placements with city banks and hedge funds at a fund-raising dinner.

PM David Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg have different views on access to internships

And in April, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, promised to ensure fairer access to internships as part of his social mobility strategy.

Ben Lyons, from the campaign group Intern Aware, says there is evidence some employers favour the friends and family of existing employees.

The group recently obtained a copy of a letter written to a student who had contacted the legal department at HSBC about an internship or work experience which said:

"HSBC does not have a structured work experience programme although, occasionally, arrangements are made for sons and daughters of HSBC executives, particularly if they work in the Legal or Compliance departments."

Continue reading the main story

You can hear the first programme in Alvin Hall's new series Poorer Than Their Parents on BBC Radio 4 at 1200 BST on Saturday, 23 July and 1500 BST on Wednesday, 27 July.

"This student was on track for a first class degree from Oxford in Law and yet she wasn't considered," says Ben Lyons.

"This is clearly troubling because a big, big company like HSBC, one would think, would be the most responsible and the best behaved when it comes to this."

The bank told the BBC that it does run paid internships for undergraduates, which are advertised on its website, and paid internships in the legal department open to students of Greenwich University.

They also said there was a clear difference between work experience and internships.

"HSBC recruits from a variety of sources, including referrals from employees. Inevitably there is more demand for jobs than the supply of them. Merit is absolutely always the basis of recruit selection."

Compensation for interns

For young students and graduates lucky enough to find their own placements but without parents to support them, it is becoming increasingly hard to get on the path to paid work.

James McKay is not sure if he can afford to complete his internship

Twenty-four-year-old James McKay has just started a three-month stint with a graphic design company in east London but he is not sure the ?100 a week expenses he will be getting will be enough to support himself.

"I've worked out the figures for the three months and they just don't add up," he says.

"So if the worst comes to the worst, I am going to have to give up this placement and move back north."

And even if James does last the three months, he says he is likely to need more unpaid work before he is offered a salaried position.

"I didn't foresee that what would happen was that placements would come in place of a graduate job," he says.

"They're running these unpaid things 12 months a year, and I think in many cases in place of what would have been a paid job."

Some interns who have given their labour for free are beginning to take action against employers.

Continue reading the main story

A lot of people were very frightened that if they did support me, their career in TV and film would be over”

End Quote Nicola Vetta Former intern Nicola Vetta, 27, made history in 2009 as the first intern to take an employer to an employment tribunal to argue she should have been paid the minimum wage.

She had worked as an unpaid art department assistant for a small film production company but felt the hours required and the responsibility she took on justified a wage.

"A lot of people were very frightened that if they did support me, their career in TV and film would be over," she says.

"But they had put me into a corner so much financially that I didn't think I was able to ever work in this industry again."

In November 2009, Nicola Vetta won her case and was awarded more than ?2,000 ($3,250). She now works as a teacher.

In response to that ruling, the National Union of Journalists launched a campaign called Cashback for Interns and it says more than 100 people have been in touch about claiming back wages.

Back in New York, the final bids have come in for the Jay-Z internship, with the winner paying more than $5,000 (?3,100).

But are such internship opportunities working in high-profile companies only available to young people with wealthy parents?

Company chief executive officer Coppy Holzman has a well-rehearsed answer for his critics.

"These people may have deep pockets but they also have a social conscience," he says.

"I sleep really well at night knowing that we provide unusual access to people that do have deep pockets but it's an opportunity for them to give back."

But there is perhaps a final irony.

The proceeds from this auction granting privileged access to the job market are going to a charity supporting young women from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Poorer Than Their Parents will be broadcast at 1200 BST on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, 23 July and at 1500 BST on Wednesday, 27 July. You can listen again on the BBC iPlayer or by downloading the Money Box podcast.

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Kingfisher sales hit by B&Q fall

21 July 2011 Last updated at 09:37 GMT Kingfisher says times are tough for UK retailers Sales at Kingfisher's 330-store DIY chain B&Q have slumped, with the company warning of "challenging" trading conditions.

Like-for-like sales at B&Q in the 11 weeks to 16 July fell 6.7%.

Overall, Kingfisher's UK sales dropped by 5.5% with a good performance by trade supplier Screwfix offsetting some of the downturn at B&Q.

Kingfisher said B&Q was hurt by rival Focus DIY going into administration and cutting prices to clear stocks.

Ian Cheshire, Kingfisher's chief executive, said: "These are testing times for retailers."

Sales at Kingfisher's two French chains, Castorama and Brico Depot were much stronger, adding 3.7% on a same-store basis during the 11 weeks.

Across Kingfisher's outlets in Poland, China, Spain and Russia, like-for-like sales added 1.4%.

Group-wide same-store sales were up 0.5%.

Despite the difficult trading conditions in the UK and Republic of Ireland, Mr Cheshire added that it provided "an opportunity for strong businesses such as ours to strengthen their position".

"We expect to emerge from this year in excellent shape and well prepared to start delivering the next phase of our growth plans," he said.

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White House debt talks collapse

23 July 2011 Last updated at 01:10 GMT Barack Obama: "Republicans are puzzled as to why it couldn't get done"

Republican House Speaker John Boehner has walked away from crunch debt ceiling talks at the White House with US President Barack Obama.

Mr Obama said Mr Boehner had rejected an "extraordinarily fair deal" that would have included $650bn (?400bn) of cuts to entitlement programmes.

The president said he had been willing to take "a lot of heat" from his party.

Mr Boehner told a news conference afterwards that Mr Obama had "moved the goal posts" by demanding a tax hike.

President Obama said he wanted a meeting with congressional leaders, including Mr Boehner, at the White House at 1100 (1500 GMT) on Saturday.

'Left at the altar'

The negotiations are aimed at avoiding what analysts say would be an economically catastrophic US debt default on 2 August.

"It is hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this kind of deal," President Obama said at a news conference on Friday evening.

John Boehner: "Dealing with the White House is like dealing with a bowl of Jell-O"

"There are a lot of Republicans who are puzzled as to why it couldn't get done."

As well as cutting $650bn from Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlements, the president said he was offering to slash $1tr in discretionary spending, while seeking $1.2tr in revenues, which could have been achieved by raising income tax rates.

In a rebuttal news conference later on Friday evening, Mr Boehner said they had been close to a deal until Mr Obama had demanded $400bn in tax increases on top of about $800bn in revenues that would have been reaped through a comprehensive rewrite of the tax code.

"Dealing with the White House is like dealing with a bowl of Jell-O," Mr Boehner said.

He told reporters he did not think his relationship with Mr Obama had been "irreparably damaged", and that he would attend Saturday's meeting.

White House correspondents said Mr Obama looked visibly angry as he told reporters he, too, thought a deal had been close until Mr Boehner did not return a phone call made by the president earlier on Friday.

"I've been left at the altar now a couple of times," Mr Obama said of the talks with Mr Boehner.

For the first time, Mr Obama publicly countenanced the possibility of the US not meeting its financial obligations.

"If we default, then we're going to have to make adjustments," he said.

Moments later, the president added he remained confident the $14.3tn limit on US borrowing would be raised by the 2 August deadline.

Mr Obama also said he was "fed up" with political posturing.

'We couldn't connect'

In a letter to the Republican rank and file, Mr Boehner said: "A deal was never reached, and was never really close.

Continue reading the main story US government owes itself $4.6tnRemaining $9.7tn owed to investorsThey include banks, pension funds, individual investors, and state/local/foreign governments China: $1.16tn, Japan: $0.91tn, UK: $0.35tnDeficit is annual difference between spending and revenue, $1.29tn in 2010Congress has voted to raise the US debt limit 10 times since 2001

Source: US Treasury, May 2011, Congressional Research Service, Congressional Budget Office

"In the end, we couldn't connect. Not because of different personalities, but because of different visions for our country."

He wrote: "I have decided to end discussions with the White House and begin conversations with the leaders of the Senate in an effort to find a path forward."

With the clock ticking down toward a national default after weeks of deadlocked negotiations, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a Republican, told reporters on Friday that inaction would result in dire consequences.

"Failing to raise the debt ceiling would do irreparable harm to our credit standing, would undermine our ability to lead on global economic issues and would damage our economy," he said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic-led US Senate rejected a "cut, cap and balance" bill passed by the Republican-led House, which would have severely cut public spending and forced the government to balance its budget.

Republicans have been unwilling to consider raising new taxes to counter the growing budget deficits.

The Democrats have been opposed to cutting popular healthcare and welfare programmes for pensioners and the poor.

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Twin resignation blow for Murdoch

15 July 2011 Last updated at 23:37 GMT Two top Murdoch lieutenants - Les Hinton (left) and Rebekah Brooks (right) - stepped down on Friday Les Hinton, one of the top executives of Rupert Murdoch's embattled News Corporation media empire, has quit.

Mr Hinton was chief executive of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal. Mr Murdoch said the resignation brought him "much sadness".

Rebekah Brooks - chief executive of the media group's UK newspaper arm, News International - also quit on Friday.

Mr Hinton led News International from 1995-2007, when the UK's News of the World was hacking phones.

Mr Murdoch apologised for "serious wrongdoings" by the News of the World, in full-page advertisements signed by him, in Britain's main national newspapers on Saturday.

'An unexpected end'

Mr Hinton worked for News Corp for more than half a century after joining Mr Murdoch's business as a cub reporter with the Adelaide News in Australia.

In a statement, Mr Hinton said: "I have watched with sorrow from New York as the News of the World story has unfolded.

"I have seen hundreds of news reports of both actual and alleged misconduct during the time I was executive chairman of News International and responsible for the company.

"The pain caused to innocent people is unimaginable.

"That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp, and apologise to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World."

Mr Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old Sunday tabloid last week in response to the phone-hacking scandal, with the loss of 200 jobs.

At the Wall Street Journal, news of Mr Hinton's sudden departure was reportedly greeted by gasps from stunned staff.

In the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, Mr Hinton is the first Murdoch executive to fall on his sword in the US, where the FBI announced on Thursday it was investigating whether the News of the World had also snooped on the phones of 9/11 victims.

Mr Murdoch said in a statement: "Les and I have been on a remarkable journey together for more than 52 years.

"That this passage has come to an unexpected end, professionally, not personally, is a matter of much sadness to me."

Murdoch heckled

The Australian-born media baron added: "I vividly recall an enthusiastic young man in the offices of my first newspaper in Adelaide, where Les joined the company as a 15-year-old and had the rather unenviable task of buying me sandwiches for lunch."

Continue reading the main story Worked for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for 52 yearsAppointed CEO of Dow Jones and Co in Dec 2007 after its acquisition by News CorpHead of News International from 1995 to 2007, during alleged News of the World phone-hackingFormer chairman and chief executive of Fox TV StationsMr Murdoch's statement added: "Let me emphasise one point - News Corporation is not Rupert Murdoch.

"It is the collective creativity and effort of many thousands of people around the world, and few individuals have given more to this company than Les Hinton."

Earlier on Friday, Mr Murdoch apologised to the family of murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

The crisis shaking News Corp exploded after it emerged the 13-year-old's mobile phone had been hacked by the News of the World newspaper in 2002.

Allegations surfaced last week that the News of the World had also snooped on senior politicians, the victims of London's 2005 terrorist bombings and the families of dead British soldiers.

As Mr Murdoch emerged from a meeting with the Dowler family at a London hotel to tell reporters he was appalled by their ordeal, the 80-year-old was jeered by hecklers.

Also on Friday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the resignation of Ms Brooks, who was News of the World editor between 2000-03, had been "the right decision".

This week Mr Cameron appointed a judge to conduct a sweeping inquiry into criminal activity at the paper and in the British media.

Ms Brooks, 43, had been with News International for 22 years, and was also Mr Cameron's friend and neighbour.

She has been replaced by Tom Mockridge, a New Zealander who was in charge of News Corporation's Italian broadcasting arm.

Following Mr Hinton's departure, Dow Jones President Todd Larsen will report to News Corp Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey, the company said.

Earlier this week, the scandal prompted News Corp to abandon a multi-billion dollar bid to take full control of British pay-TV operator BSkyB.

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Another tech bubble?

14 July 2011 Last updated at 23:01 GMT Viewpoint, by Julie Meyer Chief executive, Ariadne Capital Is it 1999 all over again? Are we in a new tech bubble?

Has the thrill of the new - social media and ubiquitous connectivity - erased our memory of the last tech bubble's burst just over a decade ago?

The stock market flotation of LinkedIn and the excitement around the listing of social-buying website Groupon would seem to suggest that we have got carried away again with the idea of new business models that will change the world forever and create untold wealth in their wake.

At the height of the dotcom boom some 12 years ago, every internet entrepreneur was a market disruptor, applying technology to make everything from entertainment to markets and services more efficient.

Those entrepreneurs were like David with a slingshot, out to slay the FTSE Goliaths: "Watch out established businesses. You won't survive."

Dancing with disruptors The burst of the dotcom bubble dampened a lot of the enthusiasm for internet stocks, but companies who were slow to pay attention to the fact the world had nevertheless changed forever are still feeling the repercussions today.

HMV for one, is limping along with an outdated business model. But others have ducked the slingshot that has hobbled the retail music industry and learned instead to dance with their tiny disruptors to create not just new business models, but new business ecosystems.

Think of retailers like Waitrose and Ocado, or price comparison websites, and the major media owners who host their services on their web portals as a new source of revenue to replace advertising.

All throughout the dotcom bust and the financial crisis, broadband and mobile penetration continued to increase. Connectivity became cheap and commoditised, components interlocked and compatibility became the norm.

The world has gone irrevocably network and mobile.

Ecosystem economics

As a result, very distinct "ecosystems" have emerged during the past half-decade - with companies like Facebook, Apple and Google each commanding the time and attention of millions of users who are also fans.

Microsoft was lagging, but its acquisition of Skype puts it in the camp of "watch this space". Each of these camps are deeply social - there is a network at its core. Each of them has a platform of hundreds of millions of users who access services through the platform.

If I have to predict what is different this time around and who will prosper, I would say the camp that organises the most inclusive set of economics in its ecosystem - that is offering the best incentives to consumers and developers to use their platform - will win.

This is "ecosystem economics". The winners in business are those firms who organise the business model in their industries. Ecosystem economics helps us to see that to win today, you as a business owner need to seek out your natural allies and align interests.

Shared incentives will drive market adoption of your company's service or product.

Of course, there is another major difference this time around. Companies like LinkedIn and Groupon have significant and growing revenues. While these may not entirely support their valuations, they clearly point to the fact that business models plus their understanding of the network-orientation of all business is on the right track.

For those of us who finance entrepreneurship in Europe, what this means is we're mostly going to help build "digital Davids" - companies who understand how to re-organise the economics to create robust and sustainable businesses where everybody wins - customers, retailers and ultimately of course, investors.

So why are firms like Groupon worth billions? How can something as simple as organising a group discount be so powerful?

Because ecosystem economics is at play.

Julie Meyer founded networking group First Tuesday in 1998 during the first internet boom. She now runs Ariadne Capital, a technology-focused investment and advisory firm. Julie Meyer and Ariadne Capital neither have an investment in Groupon nor do they advise the company. Ecosystem economics is a trademark of Ariadne Capital.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

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