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US web giant Amazon is opening a new research centre in East London's Tech City - Britain's answer to Silicon Valley. The digital media development centre will employ hundreds of people and focus on ways to transform how we watch TV. The multi-billion dollar company joins a growing number of technology firms in the East End , as digital industries become an increasingly large part of the UK economy. The sector generates £86bn every year, around 11% of Britain's GDP. For the managing director of the Amazon centre, Paula Byrne, London was seen as an attractive place to invest. "The talent pool that we have around here is terrific," she said. "In the UK we've had multi-platform TV with satellite, cable, terrestrial for such a long time. "And so when I was looking around for where those skillsets were, the UK was just an obvious place to go to." This growing digital economy is not just confined to East London...

How you could halve your parking costs By taking advantage of new services and technology you could more than halve the amount you spend on parking. If you think your car is expensive to run, you’re probably thinking of the high price of fuel, MOTs, insurance and tax. But there’s another cost that’s really starting to bite into Brits’ budgets. Recent figures from Confused.com show more than one British driver in five spends over £150 on parking every single month. £150 a month adds up to £1,800 a year – that’s even higher than my car insurance! In total, the price comparison website worked out that British drivers are paying £8 billion a year simply to park – a rise of 12.5% on the previous year. Of course, it’s much worse for some. One car park in Knightsbridge, London, charges £36 for three hours of parking! So what you can do to keep the price of parking down? Get the technology If you have a smartphone, or just hop online before you drive anywhere, it’s fairly s...

The home extensions that increase property value The Government has reduced the rules surrounding home extensions. How much would extending your home increase its value? For a limited, time, homeowners can extend their properties with larger-than-usual extensions and conservatories without seeking the usual planning permission from local councils. Businesses also get a boost, as shops, offices and industrial units will be able to expand significantly without seeking approval from local authorities. Add 23% to your home's value The new rules may see a surge in spending on such home improvements. Nationwide Building Society reckons that homeowners who take the plunge by extending or improving their homes could make sizable gains. According to its research, extending your home can add a lot to its value -- depending on the scope and scale of your project, of course. Based on an average three-bedroom British home, Nati...

Special tax unit takes extra £500m from UK's richest people The taxman has extracted an extra £500m from Britain’s richest people thanks to a special unit set up three years ago to target “high net worth” individuals. Martin Randall, the head of HM Revenue & Customs’ high net worth unit, said: “The tax affairs of the richest people in the country are, by their nature, complex, and that’s why we have focused resources on getting their tax right. “The majority of the wealthiest taxpayers play by the rules, paying the right tax at the right time, but we take action against the minority who don’t. This approach has delivered the result we have announced today.” He said that when the unit was set up in 2009 it was expected to bring in about £100m a year but it yielded £200m in 2011-12, up from £162m the previous year and from £83m in 2009-10. “We have brought in £55m so far this year,” Mr Randall added. “These year-on-year revenue increases h...

In these straitened times our desire to stay in touch and up to date wherever we are has only grown. In order to connect we need big, shiny, expensive, contract-laden smartphones, right? Not necessarily - there are a growing number of smartphone manufacturers offering capable budget models for less than £100, such as the £50 ZTE Kis. They may not be as shiny and feature-laden as an iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S3, but they essentially offer the same functionality. Manufacturers like Huawei and ZTE are capitalising on dropping prices for parts and the growing demand for smartphones in the emerging markets. Low-end growth is driving the global market, with entry-level smartphone prices dropping thanks to greater manufacturer competition, data tariffs receiving closer regulation, and operators updating minimum hardware specs for so called ‘low-end devices’. This all sounds great for consumers looking to step up from feature phones, but do they really represe...

We spend a frightening amount of our lives at work, so what can you – or your boss – do to make it a better place to be? A happy office isn’t just a better place to spend time in, it’s frequently a key part of the success of any business.  And happiness has more to do with respect and admiration from your colleagues and peers than pure cash, meaning it doesn’t have to cost the business a thing, according to a recent study by the University of California’s Haas School of Business. We still spend most of our lives at work - and we want to enjoy it as best we can. While running a business for more than a decade I learn many things along the way - and, of course, made plenty of mistakes. So here are my tips to make the workplace a much happier place to be. A little bit of praise goes a long way Praise is a no-brainier for any boss. It costs nothing, it's easy to give and it means a lot. So why have so many bosses not got the brains to praise their employees more...

The country's major retailers are risking their businesses by keeping too many stores open and failing to keep pace with the digital age, according to a report. Professional services group Deloitte suggests firms should be reducing their number of shops. It found a "barnacle effect" - a focus on preserving sales volumes and store numbers - was holding companies back from getting rid of retail space. It estimated that online sales already account for the equivalent of more than 60 million square feet of retail space and could increase significantly, potentially rendering large amounts of space obsolete. Earlier this year, Deloitte forecast that some retailers would need to downsize portfolios by as much as 40% as the digital age drove fundamental structural change in the sector. The report was released just hours before discount fashion chain Primark forecast a 17% jump in full year sales figures - driven by an increase in selling space. ...

Nokia and Microsoft took the wraps off two new smartphones running the new Windows Phone 8 software - the flagship Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 - at an event in New York today.  They provided the world's first proper look at Windows Phone 8's capabilities, and the Finnish phone giant's latest attempts to get its smartphone mojo back after losing ground to Android and the iPhone. Tech writers have only had a limited opportunity to play with the devices so far - but already the first impressions are coming in. So what did the gadget world think of the two handsets? The Verge were largely impressed by their first look at the Lumia 920, writing: "The Lumia 920 feels every bit like a flagship phone... Thanks to the sharper edges the phone feels enormous in your hand (even bigger than the 900), but it's incredibly handsome."  They added: "The curved, Gorilla Glass-coated 4.5-inch display is a huge improvement over the 900, and thanks to Nokia...

On Wednesday, Apple launches its latest product. Of course, they won't say what it is but the large number 5 on the invite spells out pretty clearly that it's the latest iPhone and it'll be called the iPhone 5 (unless there are five separate iPhones going to be released, of course, but the chances of that are nil to zero). So what should we expect? Nothing is certain, but read on for our best-informed guesses - your cheat sheet to Wednesday evening's event. All-new looks Since the iPhone 4S was cosmetically near-identical to the iPhone 4, expect a wholly new design this time around. Leaked images suggest a similar glass front but with a proportionally longer display: enough for an extra row of app icons, which may cause app developers some headaches or mean that older apps have black lines at either edge, working as they always used to. The longer screen could make video watching more pleasurable as it'll be closer to the widescreen 16 x 9 ratio. Re...