Carphone Warehouse has been subjected to a cyber attack that could have seen the personal details of up to 2.4 million customers compromised and the encrypted credit card details of 90,000 customers accessed.
And although most Carphone Warehouse customers will remain unaffected, customers of the OneStopPhoneShop.com, e2save.com and Mobiles.co.uk subsidiaries may have more to worry about.
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…
Liechtenstein is a haven for UK-based tax dodgers – although HMRC is working hard to put a stop to the practice via a tax disclosure ‘opportunity’ that enables anyone who confesses to hiding money in the tax haven will only have to pay 10% of the tax owed.
In addition to the 10% penalty though, people will still have to pay tax, plus interest, going back as far as the last 10 years, so the final tax bill could still be hefty even though the 10% penalty limit sounds generous.
Since the scheme began more than 2,400 people have come forward to pay an extra £363 million in tax and penalties.
And HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) expects this figure to rise to £3bn by 2016, significantly more than the £1bn initially expected.
UK authorities estimate around 5,000 UK taxpayers have had money hidden in Liechtenstein – going back generations, in some cases – and co-operation between the UK and Liechtenstein authorities has now been strengthened by the signing, for the first time, of a formal double-taxation agreement between the two counties.
If you’ve business interests in Liechtenstein, you’ll want a low-cost and reliable teleconference, or conference call, provider – here’s how to quickly and easily set up a call between UK and Liechtenstein, using nothing more than a mobile or landline.
Ok, so you’ve set up your conference call, sent emails to all the participants and set up text message reminders to make sure even the most absent-minded don’t forget about it.
Then you check your calendar in Outlook and someone has gone and scheduled a meeting for the exact time you booked a conference call – it’s not their fault, they couldn’t see your plans in the company calendar.
Until now…
Back in 2010 David Cameron, Britain’s Prime Minister, declared that “Britain is now open for business” while on a trade mission to China. And he wasn’t kidding – the UK has seen the number of self-employed rise by 650,000 to 4.5million in the last five years.
This means the self-employed now account for 15% of the UK’s active workforce, and while some of this has been borne out of necessity – it’s no coincidence the number of people starting up on their own increased as recession came along – it’s clear the UK is a nation of start-ups.
So if you’re thinking of joining the legion of UK start-ups, here’s some top tips to get your start-ups up and running…
With call charges coming in at just 12.5p per minute (ex VAT), with no surcharges, using ConferenceCall.co.uk is now the cheapest way for anyone in the UK to set up a conference call via a mobile phone.
And here’s how it can be done in just a few simple steps…