The government is considering increasing the penalty for violations of online piracy laws to include a jail term of up to ten years – a massive five-fold increase on the current maximum term of two years.
Ministers have launched a consultation to bring sanctions in line with those imposed on anyone who infringes copyright laws on physical goods.
Have you ever wanted to take a conference call while in the shower, or conduct a teleconference while on the toilet?
It may seem like a odd question, but it’s something almost half (47%) of us admitted to doing in a recent study from InterCall.
Or maybe you just want some waterproof tech you can take to the pool or the beach on your summer holiday?
Whatever the reason, here is our updated round-up of the best waterproof tech…
The internet has made the world a smaller place – a concept that has been completely lost on phone operators across the globe who feel not all internet connections are created equally.
So if you’ve ever got back from holiday only to find you’ve been charged the earth for those texts, Tweets and Instagram updates, you’ll be happy to know data roaming charges are to be scrapped within the European Union (EU) within the next two years.
The most straightforward way to stop nuisance marketing calls is to simply opt out of receiving marketing calls when you use a product or service – so imagine if a company had a policy that suggested customers would have to accept automated cold calling, emails and even text messages?
Well PayPal has done just that!
Are you a loyal customer? Once you find a product or service you’re happy with, do you stick with it, keeping with what you know and like?
Well what would you do if you’d been using a service for a while, you were happy with it and had no complaints and then suddenly, overnight, it put its prices up?
What if it not only put its prices up, it increased them by almost half?
You’d probably not be happy and might even consider looking around for a comparable yet more cost-effective service.
And that’s exactly how customers of certain conference call providers must be feeling right now after a round of price hikes yesterday (July 1, 2015).
Using a phone is pretty much second nature to all of us – unless there are any readers born before the turn of the 20th century, it’s unlikely any will remember a time when we never used phones.
(Note for fact fans and pub quiz types…Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patent drawing, March 7, 1876. The first successful bi-directional transmission of clear speech by Bell and Watson was made on March 10, 1876 when Bell spoke into the device, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” and Watson answered.)
And since the advent of smartphones, the things have become an extension of ourselves, a Swiss Army-style tech tool for all occasions.
Here’s the twist though, you’ve no idea how to use the thing properly…
Apple has announced that next month the UK will be the first country outside of the US to get its Apple Pay service that allows consumers to make payments by waving their iPhone of Apple Watch at contactless payment terminals.
The system uses NFC technology – the same tech that powers our Wallet Cards – and will be offered at around £250,000 locations across the UK and cover around 70% of credit and debit cards.
Working from home is many office workers idea of employment heaven and if offered the chance then the lure of a working day with flexible hours and no commute would prove too good an offer to turn down.
However, while it’s often assumed that remote working is good for your work/life balance, a recent study has found that if this balance is already out of kilter, then working from home can actually exacerbate feelings of mental and physical fatigue.
Periscope – the live video streaming app owned by Twitter – is getting a Google Android launch a couple of months after it was released in the Apple app store.
Is it a social network too far though?
Social media has become a vital marketing tool for SMEs of all descriptions as it not only enables them to target their advertising directly to customers and brand advocates, it also allows for genuine interaction and can be great for customer relations.
And so popular have social networks become that last year, half of all SMEs in the UK increased their marketing spend on social media; higher than that of any other marketing channel
So here’s how SMEs are making social media work for them…