March 18, 2002 - March 18, 2002
News - March 18,2002
What's This Internet Thing Then?
By:mark.j @ 3:22:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Many IT users are reported to still be confused about web services; many don’t even understand what the term means:
The research, conducted among 203 readers of VNU publications, discovered a massive ignorance of web services, with 43 per cent of respondents saying they were either completely unfamiliar or not very familiar with the concept of web services.
When it came to defining what level of understanding participants had, 28 per cent cited services accessed via the internet, 15 per cent believed the term refers to web hosting, while 3 per cent described web services as software provision via the web, and 2 per cent believed email provision constituted web services.
The VNUNet item is interesting, although you'd need to survey more than 203 people for proper results. |
AOL UK Forced To Pay V.A.T (17.5%)
By:mark.j @ 3:07:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] No doubt Freeserve will be happy with the news that a policy review conducted by HM Customs & Excise (responsible for VAT ruling and collection) has found that AOL must start charging UK customers VAT (Value Added Tax) from 1st July 2003:
Currently, AOL UK is treated as a content provider domiciled outside the European Union, and therefore not subject to VAT, unlike UK competitors, which are treated as telecoms providers (and therefore subject to VAT). This ruling is estimated by Freeserve, the UK's biggest ISP, to save AOL £30m a year, and gives its rival a huge unfair competitive advantage.
In a Business Brief, published on March 14, HM Customs largely appears to endorse this viewpoint. But the authority argues that "differences in the current VAT treatment of such packages are a direct function of existing EC provisions, which fail specifically to cover packages of Internet service and content.
A lasting, fair and clear approach, whereby all Internet service packages supplied by UK and non-EC ISPs are taxed in a similar way can only, in Customs' view, be successfully achieved through material
changes to the relevant EC VAT rules."
Despite the above, The Register reports that AOL UK will still have to follow suit and pay, although the change may not be enough to fend off Freeserve's legal action due to the time it'll take to implement.
In that period AOL is estimated to save £40 Million, much to the dissatisfaction of Freeserve. |
Energis Spreads The Debt
By:mark.j @ 2:59:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | The troubled telecoms and networking group behind several UK ISPs (Energis), among many other interests, has landed its parent company (National Grid) with a £350 Million write off thanks to its poor share price. |
Computer Games Help Logical Thinking
By:mark.j @ 9:34:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Since it's a typical Monday morning, devoid of all news, here's an interesting item we picked up about the 'positive' effects of playing computer/video games.
New research conducted with 700 children aged 7 to 16 has shown that playing video games could seriously improve their logical thinking skills:
They found that their communication and problem-solving skills were developed because children liked to play in pairs and small groups.
Researchers from Teachers Investigating Educational Multimedia say even the children's mathematics, spelling and reading improved.
Anne Sparrowhawk, director of the researchers, said the Government was examining ways to integrate the games into the curriculum, adding: "These games can prove valuable in terms of strategic planning and logical thinking. They taught children to reach decisions about the best course of action in a situation."
So there you have it, now both children and adults have the perfect excuse for playing games =). You can read the full item @ Ananova. |
ISP Review Forum Back Online
By:mark.j @ 9:17:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | Sorry to all those early morning users who just found our forum out of action for 15 minutes, we needed to update the members database and this has now been done - thanks for waiting =). |
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