The new generation of Xbox Kinect games taking over your living room November 23, 2011 THE Xbox Kinect smashed records on its release last Christmas, shipping an astonishing 10m units in less than six months. Its motion-sensing camera made it the first console to completely do away with the need for a control pad – hence its tagline “You are the controller”. A year later it is still the must-have [...]
POWER UP! | THREE OF THE BEST LAPTOPS FOR GAMING November 23, 2011 While the Xbox Kinect may have helped move gaming from the bedroom to the living room, the hardcore gamers, the guys (and they’re almost all guys) who spent their teenage years playing Counter Strike, still use PCs. Here is a look at three of the most powerful gaming laptops. Dell Alienware M11x, from £900 You [...]
Paragon eyes takeovers as earnings rise November 22, 2011 BUY to let mortgage specialist Paragon posted a surge in full-year profits yesterday and said it remained on the lookout for acquisition opportunities, having bought a portfolio off Royal Bank of Scotland last month. Paragon’s pre-tax profits for the year ending September rose 12.5 per cent from a year ago to £80.8m, helped by acquisitions [...]
Home ownership to slide says Bank’s David Miles November 22, 2011 FIRST-TIME buyers are taking longer to save for large deposits, and so the number of owner-occupiers is set to fall, David Miles from the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee said in a speech yesterday. The transition to a society with fewer homeowners will be painful, he warned, but could have long-term benefits to the [...]
Get your skates on this Xmas November 22, 2011 Dedicated runners say part of the reason they slog through the pain barrier, come rain or snow, is to recapture the feeling of being young: to feel the wind rushing through their hair and the ground rolling under their feet. I think running is too much like hard work but after ice skating for the [...]
OUT OF OFFICE November 22, 2011 HYDE PARK WINTER WONDERLAND The Hyde Park Christmas extravaganza is your one-stop-shop for everything festive. Get a few snaps of the kids bobbing on Santa’s knee, wander through snowy Christmas markets and check out a show in the circus tent. Take time out on the big wheel, where you can look down on everyone else [...]
Inside the astonishing new Porsche November 22, 2011 An all-new Porsche 911 is a rare thing. The new generation – codenamed 991 – is only the third completely new version since the iconic sportscar was first introduced in 1963. We’re driving the Carrera S model from Santa Barbara and into the Santa Ynez mountains in California via fast and twisting roads. At first [...]
CAR TALK November 22, 2011 BMW The World’s press have been driving the new, fifth generation BMW M5. The car’s 560bhp V8 engine replaces the bigger, less economical V10 of the previous M5 meaning fuel consumption is down by 30 per cent to 28.5mpg (combined). Capable of 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds and 155mph the new M5 costs £73,040 OTR. AUDI [...]
Capital Shopping Centres secures new debt facility November 21, 2011 CAPITAL Shopping Centres (CSC), the UK’s biggest mall owner, has secured a £375m credit facility from a consortium of five banks to help provide “general liquidity” to the company. The owner of Manchester’s Trafford Centre and the MetroCentre in Gateshead said yesterday that the revolving facility would replace a previous, undrawn £248m facility that was [...]
London residential rents slip for first time since 2009 November 21, 2011 PRIME London residential rents have dropped for the first time since their recessionary low in June 2009 but still sit near to “an all time high”, research from Knight Frank shows. The property agent said rental levels crept back down by 0.1 per cent last month but rose by 0.6 per cent in the three [...]
