Friday 29 September 2017

Round The World in 60 Minutes

People will soon be able to fly from city to city within minutes, rocket and car entrepreneur Elon Musk says. Mr Musk made the promise at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia.  Mr Musk told the audience he aimed to start sending people to Mars in 2024. His SpaceX company would begin building the necessary ships to support the mission next year. He says he is refocusing SpaceX to work on just one type of vehicle - known as the BFR - which could do all of the firm's current work and interplanetary travel. As well as being the CEO and chief designer at SpaceX, Mr Musk also founded the Tesla electric car company and is chairman of SolarCity which specialises in renewables technologies, such as high-storage batteries.

The Spanish City

Launching in the summer of 2018, the iconic Spanish City will return to rekindle its love affair with the residents and visitors of Whitley Bay. A renaissance of the site is under way with a final goal of reawakening a truly unique visitor destination for the North East of England. Those visiting Spanish City will be welcomed by a wide range of options as the venue goes on to house a luxurious seafood fine dining restaurant, a traditional tea room, an ice cream and waffle house, a fish and chip restaurant and takeaway and a champagne and oyster bar.The restoration comes after North Tyneside Council invested £4m, successfully secured £3.47m of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and gained a Coastal Communities Fund grant of more than £2.5m, bringing the total investment to almost £10m.

The Apprentice is Back

The Apprentice is back with a new batch of ambitious entrepreneurs seeking to demonstrate their commercial insight and business sense to stay out of the firing line. There’s a £250,000 investment at stake and the chance to go into a business partnership with Lord Sugar. Over the course of 12 tough tasks, the 18 candidates will be whittled down until just one victor remains. And plenty of sparks are set to fly in the boardroom along the way! Each week the budding entrepreneurs will be divided into two teams - led by designated Project Managers - that lock horns under the watchful eyes of Lord Sugar's advisor Baroness Karren Brady and new aide Claude Littner. Why not meet a few of the candidates this year and see what skills they have...

Tuesday 26 September 2017

150 Years On The High Street


A family-run hardware shop has been celebrating 150 years in business. Goldings in Bedford High Street, first opened its doors in 1867 and has survived the launch of DIY superstores and the rise of internet shopping. Its former owner, 71-year-old Victor Warner, who has been working there since 1961, has been sharing his secrets to business success. How do you think a Business like this can survive for so long? Take a look at the clip to find out!

Saturday 23 September 2017

Ryan 'Up In The' Air

Ryanair is to cancel 40 to 50 flights every day for the next six weeks, in a bid to improve punctuality of flights. The move could affect up to 285,000 passengers, who will be offered alternative flights or refunds. Ryanair said that less than 2% of its flights would be cancelled and the move would help it hit its annual punctuality target of 90%. Ryanair made a profit of €1.32bn (£1.16bn) last year after it carried 120 million passengers.  So it can afford to risk annoying up to 400,000 of its customers by suddenly cancelling hundreds of flights at short notice. He apologised to shareholders for a “major management failure” that has cost Ryanair about 25million euro (£22million) and has caused a 10% drop in share prices.

Friday 22 September 2017

Toys R Bust

It has 60,000 employees around the world and around 1,600 stores - all busily preparing for the crucial Christmas trading period. But even that scale hasn't been enough to protect Toys  R Us, it seems. The toy-retailing specialist has filed for bankruptcy in the US to provide it with protection against its creditors and huge debts. A comment from an industry analyst in this Sky News report suggests it might:"The past decade has seen a dramatic change in the domestic toy market with new channels, increased competition, and new technology all having a deleterious impact on the sector and traditional toy stores. Unfortunately, Toys R Us has not responded effectively to these challenges and, as a result, has found itself with both a weak balance sheet and falling sales."

Window Cleaning Robot

Proof that not every new innovation can be a clear success. This is a $400 window cleaning robot launched by a technology company Winbot. With a host of advanced window-cleaning and SMART DRIVE technologies, WINBOT 950 can clean automatically, effectively and thoroughly, freeing your hands from tedious chores. Do you think that the time it may save will make it worth the purchase for anyone?

Sunday 17 September 2017

Apple iPhone X


Apple has revealed a high-end smartphone with an "edge-to-edge" screen that has no physical home button. The iPhone X - which is referred to as "ten" - uses a facial recognition system to recognise its owner rather than a fingerprint-based one. Apple said FaceID can work in the dark by using 30,000 infra-red dots to check an identity, and was harder to fool than its old TouchID system. It is Apple's most expensive phone yet. A 64 gigabyte capacity model will cost $999 (£999 in the UK) when it goes on sale on 3 November. A 256GB version will be priced at $1,149 (£1,149 in the UK). One expert commented that Apple's ability to get consumers to spend more on its smartphones than rivals' was "legendary".

Growing Clothes

Clothes that grow with your child have won the UK's annual James Dyson prize for innovation. The prototype garments fit children aged between six months and three years, and were created by engineering graduate Ryan Yasin. His creation is now being considered for a worldwide prize. Parents spend more than £2,000 on clothes for one child before they even reach the age of three. Does this solve a problem? Why might this idea not make the shops?

New £10 Note


The new £10 note featuring novelist Jane Austen has entered circulation - marking a return of a woman in addition to the Queen on Bank of England notes. The launch comes after a four-month period when women, apart from the Queen, have not been represented on the Bank's notes.One billion polymer Jane Austen £10 notes have been printed and will be fed into general circulation over the coming weeks and months. There is also less than a month to spend or bank the old £1 coins which will be withdrawn from circulation on 15th October. 

Monday 4 September 2017

Hot Crisps

Claimed to to be the UK's first 'hot crisps', Essex's very own 'artisan' snack purveyor Fairfields Farm is bringing out a new product called Heat & Eat. The range of potato crisps comes in 'patented triple-layered packaging', which allows the snack stay crunchy despite 30 seconds in the microwave. The idea is that the crisps taste as if they've come straight out of the fryer – warm, crispy potato, glistening with oil and dusted with seasoning. Fairfields Farm said: "Ever wondered what hot handcooked crisps taste like fresh from the fryer? With Heat & Eat, you can experience the most delicious hot crisps ever, straight from the microwave in just 30 seconds". Heat & Eat has been created to "revitalise the snacking market and give consumers a whole new eating experience". Fairfields Farm believes that manufacturers have been focusing their innovation on flavours, rather than new, bolder concepts. 

Smile to Pay

Diners at a KFC store in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou will have a new way to pay for their meal. Just smile. Customers will be able to use a “Smile to Pay” facial recognition system at the tech-heavy, health-focused concept store, part of a drive by Yum China to lure a younger generation of consumers. Diners can pay by scanning their faces at an ordering kiosk and entering a phone number - which is meant to guard against people cheating the system.The store’s menu offers seasonal produce, made-to-order salads and paninis. The chicken on the menu is “roasted”, while drinks include freshly squeezed juices, gourmet coffees and craft beer. KFC have also launched a limited edition smartphone to celebrate 30 years since it first opened in China.

McStrike

McDonald's workers are staging their first UK strike after walking out at two stores in a dispute over zero-hours contracts and conditions. Some workers at Cambridge and Crayford, south-east London, began the 24-hour action at midnight. A union called it a "brave" move by low-paid staff. The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union said staff wanted a wage of at least £10 an hour and more secure jobs. McDonald's said only 14 of the 33 union members balloted had joined in. McDonald's, which employs about 85,000 people in the UK, announced in April that workers would be offered a choice of flexible or fixed contracts with minimum guaranteed hours, saying that 86% had chosen to stay on flexible contracts. And it pointed to a series of pay rises as evidence that it treated its staff well.