Busker rejects cash – only accepts card payments

A busker in London has started to refuse cash payments and is now only accepting money for his performances via credit cards.

Peter Buffery plays on a guitar which has been adapted to feature ‘contactless technology’ allowing passers-by in Soho Square to ‘swipe’ a card and give him money.

Okay so it’s a publicity stunt by Barclaycard, however the idea of “swiping” for payment for small amounts certainly will be something that businesses will need to consider for the future.

Source.

Creepy Advertising

Interesting article on re-targeted advertising on Wired.

Imagine walking into a shoe shop in the high street, picking up and looking at a few pairs of shoes, before putting them down and leaving the store. Then imagine checking out a few other shops before popping into a newsagent, where you start flicking through a newspaper. As you do this, a display appears with the exact same shoes that you were interested in half an hour earlier, along with a deal attempting to lure you back to make a purchase.

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Osborne calls on banks to lend more to companies

BBC News reports on the chancellor calling for banks to lend more to business.

The chancellor has warned the UK’s banks that they need to start increasing their lending to businesses.

George Osborne said the government “would not tolerate banks piling the pressure” onto small firms, and that it was their “obligation” to lift lending.

Read more.

By getting banks to lend more, George is hoping that business investment will rise, resulting in an increase in jobs and incomes. This should also have a positive impact on tax revenues and reduce benefit payments.

Dreamliner lands at Farnborough

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has landed at Farnborough for its first appearance at an international air show.

Boeing’s flagship aircraft is different from conventional aircraft, having been built largely out of light-weight composite material.

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Christmas comes early for shoppers in Oxford Street

Next month at least one major store on Oxford Street will be launching their Christmas range!

One of the country’s top stores is to start its Christmas trading 145 days before the holiday.

Selfridges in Oxford Street will launch its Christmas season on 2 August – its earliest-ever start for the store.

People keen to plan ahead can purchase trees, crackers, fairy lights or even a £500 life-size donkey.

Read more.

So is there a crisis in capitalism?

So is there a crisis in capitalism?

In this RSA Animate, radical sociologist David Harvey asks if it is time to look beyond capitalism towards a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible, just, and humane?

Logistical Nightmare

The cloud of volcanic ash currently causing chaos for air travel will continue to cause chaos even after it has cleared.

BBC News reports

For while the majority of flights may be back in the air by the beginning of next week, it will be many more days before the airlines have got their schedules back on track.

The article continues…

Flight schedules are intricate and complex, and the consequences of missing just one flight, let alone hundreds, can be far reaching.

Aircraft on the ground cost airlines huge amounts of money. It costs British Airways £10m every day that their aircraft don’t fly.

Decisions will need to be made how these increased costs can be covered.

Cheaper mobile phone bills

Callers to UK mobile phones could see cheaper bills from 2011 under plans announced by telecoms regulator Ofcom.

Read more.

How large is my bill!!!

BBC reports that the EU cap for downloading data doesn’t come into effect until the 1st July.

The consumers’ association Which? is warning that people going abroad with smartphones can still face huge bills if they connect to the internet.

By 1 July, new rules will come into force in the European Union which will cap bills for downloading data.

But, until then, people travelling in Europe could face unlimited bills.

There is something quite annoying in a single market like the EU that in some ways the EU is treated as one market, however in other ways (as in with phones) that the single market is ignored and you have these national markets that do not transcend international barriers.

Arctic Roll

Production of Arctic Roll, the retro ice cream dessert, was halted in 1997, but in 2008, Birds Eye chose to revive the brand because the recession is fuelling a demand for comfort food.

Business Correspondent Ian Reeve went to the north Yorkshire factory that is making nine million of them a year.

Watch the video.