Nic Pothas sets the field, Durham v Hampshire, Chester le Street, April 22, 2012

Nic Pothas sets the field, Durham v Hampshire, Chester le Street, April 22, 2010©Getty Images

Nic Pothas 2012

Nic Pothas sets the field, Durham v Hampshire, Chester le Street, April 22, 2012©Getty Images

TalkTalk loses another 50,000 customers

TalkTalk loses another 50,000 customers
Broadband and TV provider has lost 170,000 customers since November 2010, but revenues remain stable at £422m

TalkTalk

TalkTalk has reported a fifth consecutive quarter of customer defections, with 50,000 lost in the three months to the end of December as the company continues to trail larger rivals BT Group and BSkyB.

The broadband and TV provider has lost 170,000 customers since November 2010, bringing its total down to 4.079 million, as BT and Sky continued to attract the lion's share of new broadband customers and poach business from rivals.

However, TalkTalk's share price raced up 9% to 130p in morning trading on Tuesday, as investors cheered a raised profit forecast from chief executive Dido Harding.

Full-year underlying earnings are now expected to be between 18% and 19% of revenues, up from previous guidance of 17% to 18% and an improvement on last year's 15.6% margin.

Revenues in the third quarter remained stable, rising £1m from the second quarter to £422m, but were down 5% on the same period the previous year. However, the business is becoming more profitable as the number of customers using its network of lines "unbundled" from BT's exchanges continues to grow.

Average revenue per user for TalkTalk broadband customers increased to £25.30, compared with £24.70 in the previous quarter.

"We are growing the number of customers on our network every week and that is what is driving the performance of our business," Harding said.

"We have continued to improve our customers' experience with further falls in customer service call volumes and an increase in the rate of online self-service. As a result, churn has stabilised and we remain confident of a return to positive total net adds in the first half of 2012."

TalkTalk had originally hoped to start growing customer numbers in the final months of 2011, but a mounting subscriber exodus delayed that target.

Formed through the rapid mergers of broadband companies including Tiscali, Pipex and Carphone Warehouse, TalkTalk has been struggling to integrate its billing platforms.

It was fined £3.1m by Ofcom after wrongly billing thousands of Tiscali customers for services they did not receive.

The group has lost 43,000 broadband customers in the past two quarters, including 7,000 of the 200,000 former Pipex subscribers in the most recent period.

Levels of customer churn were not disclosed, but TalkTalk said it remained stable on the previous quarter despite the Pipex defections, with call volumes to its customer service centre down 26% year-on-year and 60% of customer contacts now taking place online.

TalkTalk unbundled – installed its own equipment – in 130 new BT exchanges during the quarter, bringing the total to 2,338, with a further 119 expected in the final quarter.

The work is designed to improve customer numbers and profitability, because TalkTalk can offer lower prices but still make a bigger profit margin on unbundled lines.

The group said 80% of its customers are now on fully unbundled lines.

HomesafeTM, an optional product which blocks pornography and self-harm sites, has been activated by a further 60,000 customers, bringing the total to 270,000, despite concerns raised by internet privacy groups over its ability to track every website visited by a user.

The company is about to begin consumer trials of on-demand internet TV service YouView, a joint venture with other backers including the BBC and BT.

YouView and is on track for its scheduled launch this spring, TalkTalk confirmed.

The arrival of YouView could boost the numbers buying super-fast fibre optic broadband from TalkTalk, which remain low at just 5,000.

"At the moment there are very few households who genuinely really need fibre but that will change over time as demand for multiple live video viewing within a single household grows," Harding said.

Source Guardian

SeaWorld sued over 'enslaved' killer whales

SeaWorld sued over 'enslaved' killer whales

The five wild-captured orca "plaintiffs" are based at SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego

Five killer whales have been named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit which argues they deserve the same constitutional protection from slavery as humans.

A US judge is considering a complant by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (Peta) against SeaWorld.

It is reportedly the first time a US court has heard legal arguments over whether animals should enjoy the same constitutional protections as humans.

SeaWorld's legal team said the case was a waste of time and resources.

The marine park's lawyer, Theodore Shaw, told the court in San Diego: "Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the 'We the people'... when the Constitution was adopted."

He said that if the case were successful, it could have implications not just on how other marine parks or zoos operate, but even on the police use of sniffer dogs to detect bombs and drugs.

'Historic case'
Peta says the killer whales are treated like slaves for being forced to live in tanks and perform daily at the SeaWorld parks in California and Florida.

It is not considered likely that the whales will win their freedom, but campaigners said they were pleased the case even made it to a courtroom.

The lawsuit invokes the 13th Amendment to the constitution, which abolished "slavery or involuntary servitude" in the US.

Jeffrey Kerr, the lawyer representing the five whales, said: "For the first time in our nation's history, a federal court heard arguments as to whether living, breathing, feeling beings have rights and can be enslaved simply because they happen to not have been born human.

"By any definition these orcas have been enslaved here."

Hearing the arguments for about an hour, US District Judge Jeffrey Miller raised concerns over whether animals could be represented as plaintiffs in a lawsuit.

He will issue a ruling at a later date.

Peta names the five wild-captured orca plaintiffs as Tilikum and Katina, at SeaWorld Orlando; and Kasatka, Corky, and Ulises, at SeaWorld San Diego.

It is not Tilikum's first time in the media spotlight - he drowned his trainer before horrified spectators in February 2010, prompting a ban on the Florida park's employees entering the water to perform tricks with the orcas.

The same whale has also been linked to two other deaths.

Source: BBC

Panasonic launches Toughbook 31 rugged Computer, starts at $3,799

Panasonic launches Toughbook 31 rugged Computer, starts at $3,799
By Rachel King | May 12, 2010, 2:39am PDT

panasonic toughbook 31

Summary: Panasonic has rolled out their fierce-looking Toughbook 31 laptop computer, and the word “tough” seems to be an understatement based on the looks of this massive notebook.

Panasonic has rolled out their fierce-looking Toughbook 31 laptop computer, and the word “tough” seems to be an understatement based on the looks of this massive notebook.


This Panasonic clam shell notebook is ready for some serious action, with shock protection (can sustain a drop from up to six feet), a hybrid cooling system for work in extremely hot temperatures plus some stellar dust and water protection thanks to that magnesium alloy casing. Don’t worry about the hard drive too much either as Panasonic has implemented a shock-mounted HDD with quick-release.


For extensive outdoor work, Panasonic has also built in a 13.1-inch XGA LCD touchscreen that has a brightness range from 2 to 1,100 nits for either spy work at nighttime or working outside in the middle of a sunny day. Plus there’s full-circle view-ability so the whole team can crowd around and get an equally good view of the screen.


While there’s a lot that can be configured on this particular Toughbook, here’s a list can be found under that very durable hood:


Processor options: Intel Core i3-350M 2.26GHz; Core i5-520M 2.40GHz; or Core i5-540M 2.53GHz
Windows 7 OS (Optional downgrade to XP)
2GB of RAM (Optional upgrade to 8GB)
160GB hard drive (Optional upgrade to 250GB)
Intel HM55 or Intel QM57 chipset
Optional ATI Radeon HD5650 GPU
802.11n Wi-Fi
Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR
Optional WiMax, Gobi2000 3G and GPS
Back-lit keyboard
Fingerprint reader
SmartCard reader
Webcam
Connectivity: Four USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, VGA, Microphone line-in, Ethernet
Battery life: Up to 11 hours (with long-life battery)
Weight: 7.9 lbs (with lightweight battery on i3-based machine), 8.2 lbs. (with long-life battery on i5 machines)
The base price for the Toughbook 31 is set at $3,799. That will get you a machine with an Intel Core i3-350M 2.26 GHz processor and a 160GB hard drive.


UPDATE: While the release states drops up to six feet, Panasonic developers decided it would be a good idea to test the Toughbook 31 from a higher distance (20 feet) - and it survived. Click here to view the proof.


[Image via CNET]