News

Business Link, the government’s business support service, has moved online after the Government announced the closure of its regional advice centres this month. Sadly this removes the personal touch provided by the regional centres where local businesses could meet other local business folk and share experiences, network and at the same time benefit from seminars and workshops. Most of these were free and now the centres are closed it means there are fewer opportunities for the small businessman and businesswoman to network. However, the news is not all bad. The new online portal brings together 170 existing government business websites, and is divided into two distinct offerings. My New Business: This is aimed at businesses that are start-ups, offering more...

Recent severe flooding in Thailand has caused major problems for manufacturers of hard drives. Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook has said that he is “virtually certain there will be an overall industry shortage of disk drives.” He also warns that Apple’s Mac lines will be most affected. Lenovo Group Ltd., a major manufacturer of personal computers, says the flooding in Thailand will likely impact the global supply of hard disk drives. It says it will “monitor the situation closely and take necessary actions to mitigate the potential impact.” It’s something that is affecting numerous manufacturers, including Western Digital and Seagate, as well manufacturers of other computer parts, such as parts for optical, electro-mechanical and...

There was a palpable sense of shock when HP announced a while back that it was thinking of quitting the PC business, at least in terms of hardware. HP is one of the original computer companies (along with Apple, Compaq and IBM). When the CEO recently announced they were killing off their tablet device, the TouchPad it caused everyone to ask what was going on at HP. The TouchPad was powered by WebOS which some considered a strong rival to Apple’s iOS. The decision to abandon the PC business was one that was announced back in August by former chief executive Léo Apotheker, but current chief executive Meg Whitman has now stated that, after reviewing the possible impact, HP has reversed the decision. Apotheker was removed from the company shortly after his...

I have just received my shiny new iPhone 4S (Black, 16GB model) this past week and have been getting to grips with its features. Its my very first iPhone so although I am something of a Mac Geek, I am unfamiliar with the deeper workings of the iPhone. I have to say that I am mightily impressed though that it has proven pretty easy to get to grips with. Should have expected that really, with Apple’s reputation for making these things user friendly. I have already installed numerous apps (essential ones include Apple’s Pages, Dropbox and BatteryDoctor). I intend writing some reviews in the near future. I had the opportunity at the week-end to try out the camera and again I was very impressed. Despite the wind being very strong and the sunshine causing...

Today’s the day!: Today is the day that most, if not all, Apple fans have been waiting for… http://t.co/r6DXrl8lOctober 4, 2011 7:31 am via GoogleReplyRetweetFavorite@celtxianSteven Dale Today Apple will announce the new iPhone. Question is, will it be the iPhone 4S or the iPhone 5. Or could it be both? Rumours have been swirling around the internet ever since the iPhone 4 was released, such is the level of interest in all things Apple these days. When Tim Cook, CEO takes the stage later today, apart from the fact that he isn’t Steve Jobs, most of the attention will be on whether we are going to see just one new iPhone or in fact see two. I, for one, am not of the opinion that Steve Jobs will make an appearance on stage. Having effectively...

According to telecoms regulator Ofcom, TalkTalk was the most complained about telephone and broadband provider in the first six months of 2011. My experience of assisting clients with their broadband over the years means that this news comes as no surprise. I once wasted almost a day trying to sort out one client’s woes, most of it hanging the phone either for someone to answer or for the person at the other end to come up with the right answer! TalkTalk’s landline service had 0.8 complaints per 1,000 customers and it’s broadband division had 0.58 complaints per 1,000 customers. This compares to Virgin with 0.15 complaints in both cases. Things have improved over the years, which is good news but the fact remains that TalkTalk is still the worst...