BT to hire 1,600 staff amid internet connections criticism

BT has now decided to hire 1,600 engineers, as they have received criticism from regulation over the speed at the new internet connection, which was they have installed in faults repairs. The internet provider which includes Sky and TalkTalk broadband has been talked and discussed about by watchdog, after customers were complaining and discussing about the internet provider being too slow and unable to connect with the internet for a long time.

Installations have picked up and are now within target, but TalkTalk says a third of faults reported by its customers are not fixed on time. Ofcom is expected to propose that by the financial year beginning April 2016, targets will have to be met 80% of the time. If they are not, BT could be fined.

BT's service has in the past been hampered by bad weather, particularly when rain floods its ducts and manholes. During 2012, the wettest year on record, the time it took to install the some fibre lines fell to 18 days on average. During 2011, repairs slowed to an average of six days.

Openreach employs more people than the Navy, with 31,600 staff. As the company has been ramping up the roll out of its fibre-optic network, numbers have grown by 1,200 in the last year. Many recruits will be drawn from the armed forces, with Garner emphasising there will be jobs for wounded personnel. He also wants more female engineers – less than 10% of Openreach staff are women. "There's no reason why that can't change," said Garner. We'll be a better organisation if we better reflect the society we are part of, why would we not be fishing in half the labour pool?

I think that BT is doing the right thing, as they are making sure that their companies is providing everyone with internet, as they have paid for it each month, also, it allow the business to be up to date. It makes sure that the business is operating and providing people with the internet. 

Amazon set to launch its first three original TV shows for children

Amazon have planned to launch its first three original television series for children, the animated show Tumble Leaf and Creative Galaxy will début and will be serviced on the May 23 and the June 27. The show is aimed at preschool age children, aimed at 4-7 year-old, will appear from 25 July. The show is available on all platforms like the Amazon Kindle Fire tablets and Fire TV set-top box, as well as iOS devices, Roku, and all the major games consoles.

"We’re working with some of the most renowned creators in the business to introduce programming that promotes life-long learning through play," said Amazon Studios' head of kids programming Tara Sorensen, in a statement.

All three of the new children's shows had been piloted on Amazon Prime, with users able to rate and review the initial episodes of Tumble Leaf,Creative Galaxy and Annedroids. That feedback was then used to inform Amazon's decision to commission full runs of each show.

I think that Amazon has create a show which can attract millions of children to watch the show, having these show on their website, can allow the children to watch these shows on on-line, instead of watch these programmes on television. Having these shows on-line and on their website, mean that they are promoting their brand on a globally market and stopping people from watching these shows on the traditional platform, television. 

Netflix announces immediate fee increase for new UK subscribers

 Netflix has now decided to increase and raise their online monthly subscription for their services, streaming movies and television shows from 5.99 to 6.99. The price increase will happen as soon as possible for the media streaming business. The business has decided to raise the price of their service not just in the United Kingdom but across the world with the 48 million subscribers they have. They decision to do this and raise prices came amid the commercial and critical success of House of Cards, where Netflix invested 100 million in the drama starring Kevin Spacey and made the entire series available for immediate streaming. It has also enjoyed a ratings hit with Orange is the New Black. But it makes Netflix £1 a month pricier than Amazon Instant Video (the new name for Love film) which charges £5.99 a month.

Netflix will allow subscribers to continue paying £5.99 a month if they opt for a lower-resolution "SD" quality service. It also has a multiple-users service for £8.99 a month which allows four users to view programmes at the same time on a single monthly account.

"In order to continue adding more films and TV programmes, we are increasing our price from £5.99 to £6.99 for new members. As a thank you for being a member of Netflix already, we guarantee that your plan and price will not change for two years."

In April it said that US subscribers would see a potential "one or two dollars increase" in monthly rates for new members, while in Europe prices are also rising, from €7.99 to €8.99 a month or €11.99 for the multiscreen service.

I think that raising the prices for Netflix's service will benefit their business a lot as Netflix has plans of increasing and expanding their business in the future, having shows like House Of Cards will help the business in sales and brand awareness, as shows like these have a huge market and audience, so people will keep on paying and watch these show as this is the only platform they can watch it on, its a huge demand.

Dr Dre-founded Beats Electronics looks set for takeover by Apple

Apple have decide to buy the popular Electronic company Beats by Dr Dre for 3.2 billion. It is the California company's largest ever acquisition. Beats have been developed as rapper Dr Dre and music producer Jimmy lovine lunched a strong brand after it in 2008. Apple said that ‘we don’t have a rule on the price it will pay: "We'll spend what we think is a fair price."

Beats recently launched a streaming music service, which may have proven particularly attractive to Apple, the popularity of whose iTunes service appears to be falling. In contrast, subscription services are growing fast, with revenues increasing 50% to $1.1bn in 2013, according to a report by the the global music industry association IFPI. Downloads, however, fell 2% to $3.93bn.

The Apple deal, news of which was first reported by the FT on Thursday night, would mark a change in the California firm's approach under the leadership of chief executive Tim Cook following the reluctance of Steve Jobs to make large acquisitions. Reporting the company's second-quarter earnings last month, Cook said he was "on the prowl" for companies to buy. He told journalists: "We are not in a race to spend the most or acquire the most. We're in a race to make the best products that enrich people's lives." He added that Apple has purchased 24 companies over the past 18 months.

"In terms of acquisitions, Apple has been very, very light in their activity," Richard Lane, an analyst at Moody's, told the FT. He added: "I don't think they've spent $1bn in any of the last four years."

I think that Beats is a popular company and has done well one it own, I feel that they shouldn't of sold the business to apple because it would of done better on its own and generated a lot of money in the years before but selling the business to apple will be good for the apple business as they'll have a product which is popular and known in the market which is there own. 

Presentation

Nadeem 

• People are using it globally
• Hashtaging feature theme
• Young people use these sites
• Free to access
• Started conflicts through social networking sites 

Harpal 

• Spotify – allow people to stream music
• Launched in 2008
• Takes up less spaces on their device
• Illegally downloading songs
• UGC
• No profit being made 
• Reducing privacy

Navneet 

   Global village - McLuhan 

   Pluralism 

   China blocked Facebook in 2009 

   Al Gore ' the internet is an empowering tool'

LA Clippers owner allegedly says: 'Don't bring black people to my games'

The NBA is investigating a report of an audio recording in  owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling is making  racist remarks while speaking to his girlfriend.Mike Bass, said in a statement on Saturday that the league is in the process of investigating a recording of owner Donald Sterling being racist, the recording was then posted on TMZ's website. Bass called the comments "disturbing and offensive" and said the league would have no further comment at this time.

"I will never go to a Clippers game again as long as Donald Sterling is the owner," Magic Johnson said on Twitter. He also said the alleged comments were "a black eye for the NBA" and said he felt bad that friends such as Rivers and Clippers point guard Chris Paul had to work for Sterling

In the recording posted on TMZ, the man questions his girlfriend's association with minorities. TMZ reported the woman, V Stiviano, who is of black and Mexican descent, posted a picture of herself with Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson on Instagram – which has since been removed.

The man asked that Stiviano not broadcast her association with black people or bring black people to games.

Sterling has been involved in several lawsuits over the years, including ones with discrimination accusations.

I think that this is a serious issues which has affected himself, his girlfriend and this business. Even thought he is the owner of a well known and popular basketball business, he has put himself and his business in the front of it, for the negative reason. Saying this to his girlfriend, 'Don't bring black people to to my games is a racism act which can be taking further by the NBA to the LAPD instead and can affected his business a lot. the reason why is because LA is a diverse area to live in, which has a lot of people with different races and religions. Also, the workers and the players in the business as well, LA Clippers have few members who are black and the coach as well who would like to play for a owner who is racist and doesn't like black people. 

Spotify says it's 'a matter of time' before it overtakes Apple's iTunes in Europe

Streaming music service Spotify has genrated more than 1 million active users in the UK in the last four months, as they plan to and try to overtake American media company, Apple's iTunes as the biggest digital music service in Europe in the years to come. In 2013, Spotify  generated 103 million pounds in Uk, as they said they they streamed 7.4 billions of song that year, doubling the total of last year in 2012. The owner of the music stream company said that "Given that download sales are declining and Spotify is growing rapidly, particularly in the UK, it is only a matter of time before Spotify is bigger than iTunes across Europe as a whole."

"Some of our partners are saying Spotify is now generating more revenue each month across Continental Europe than iTunes," Spotify's head of label relations in Europe, Kevin Brown, told industry site Music Week.

The UK is one of Spotify's biggest markets. The company's UK subsidiary published financial results for 2012 last November, when it generated £92.6m from British customers, including £64.8m from subscriptions and £9.1m from advertising. The UK accounted for just over a quarter of Spotify's global revenues in 2012.

"I don’t see iTunes as our primary competitor - that’s YouTube," said Brown, criticising labels that decide to keep albums off Spotify in favour of exclusive deals with iTunes. "We’re still put in the same bucket as iTunes by some labels, whose music then appears on YouTube. 

I think that Spotify is becoming a popular app to use and many people will feel that its better to use than Apple's iTunes, as people only have to stream this music and its on their phones, tablets and any other device. I think that Mr brown is right of saying that iTunes is not our primary competitor - thats YouTube. I think Youtube is generating millions of people every day and Spotfiy want to be apart of that tend and generate millions of uses every day as well.