Zut alors! Squeaky-clean US company Walt Disney is being investigated for allegedly charging British and German customers more than French visitors at Disneyland Paris.
The Financial Times reports that European regulators have been alerted to prices on holiday packages that apparently offer a much better deal to French and Belgian residents.
It all sounds a bit Mickey Mouse, to be honest.
In the tech world, new tech and old tech giants Twitter and Microsoft go head-to-head for coverage from those media hacks that have not sold their souls to Apple.
Twitter released its second quarter numbers, and as we have come to expect from new-stylee [sic] technology companies, the news on the sales front was great, and the situation on the profits front … not so great.
Acerbic technology site The Register puts it better than I can, so here’s a direct quote: “Twitter has managed to collect over half a billion dollars - and somehow throw it all away and more even though it does nothing but run a microblabber portal.”
Second quarter revenue topped half a billion bucks, which was ahead of expectations, but not good enough for co-founder and stand-in chief executive Jack Dorsey, who said he was not satisfied with an increase of two million active users from the previous quarter.
The company posted a net loss of US$136.7mln, versus a loss of US$144.6mln.
Old school tech leviathan Microsoft released its new operating system last night. The company proved it can still cut the mustard when it comes to cutting edge innovations by skipping straight from Windows 8 to Windows 10.
This is presumably based on the same logic that had Spinal Tap’s lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnell (named after north London area Tufnell Park in homage to Eric Clapton, trivia fans) eulogising about his Marshall amp that has dials that go up to 11.
Be that as it may, Windows 10 – at least they have not called it Windows X – includes a new browser, “Edge”, that will be available as an alternative to the ancient Internet Explorer, plus various other features that continue the progression of the operating system from one aimed at desktop computing diehards to one aimed at a world where there are more mobile communication devices than there are people.
I am not sure that there are more mobile devices than there are people yet, but if not, it will surely happen one day.
On the day after Microsoft unveiled its new operating system, Nokia – the firm that sold Microsoft a doomed mobile phone division and, for all I know, a number of pigs in blankets – has released Ozo, a camera that can be used to make 3D movies and film games that can be played back using virtual reality headsets.
I am sure the technology is fantastic, but someone should have pointed out to Nokia’s marketing department that Ozo is just one letter away from Bozo, a pejorative term meaning a clown or buffoon.
With so many blue-chip companies bringing out trading updates today it has been hard for the tiddlers to get a look in.
Hats off then to Caretech Holdings (LON:CTH) for making it into the “most read stories” section of a well-known stock market news site, with details of its planned acquisition of the excellently named SPark of Genius.
The provider of specialist social care is buying SPark of Genius, a Scotland-based provider of residential care and education services for young people with complex needs, for up to £9.23mln.