All UK Best Buy Stores to Close

Carphone Warehouse is to close all of its 11 Best Buy stores across the UK, the company has announced.

The move puts 1,100 jobs at risk at the outlets, which sell electronic goods, but the firm said it hoped to find the "large majority" alternative work.


The 11 Best Buy stores are part of Best Buy Europe, a joint venture between US group Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse.
The first Best Buy store in the UK only opened in April of last year. The outlets have failed to make a profit.
'Economic times'
Best Buy's 11 UK outlets are in Liverpool, Derby, Bristol, Nottingham, Rotherham, Dudley, Thurrock, Southampton, and three places in London - Croydon, Hayes and Enfield.
Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy initially planned to open 200 Best Buy stores across the UK and continental Europe.
Best Buy Europe was formed in 2008 when Best Buy paid £1.1bn to buy a 50% stake in Carphone Warehouse's retail division.
Carphone Warehouse said the focus would now be on selling more electronics goods from Best Buy Europe's 805 Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK, and 1,648 Phone House shops in continental Europe

BT told to block Pirate Bay

UK arts lobby groups have demanded BT block access to the BitTorrent file sharing website, The Pirate Bay.



Pirate Bay Logo

 Music industry trade body, the BPI, said it would take legal action if the telecoms firm refused to co-operate.

The movie industry has already forced BT to block Newzbin 2, a members-only site that aggregates illegally copied material.

BT said: "We can confirm we are now in receipt of a letter from the BPI. BT is considering its response."
The telecoms operator added that a court order would be needed before any blocking could begin.

A source told the BBC the firm was unlikely to fight a lengthy legal battle as it had in the Newzbin case.
"We would not tolerate Counterfeits 'R' Us on the High Street - if we want economic growth, we cannot accept illegal rip-off sites on the internet either," said the BPI's chief executive, Geoff Taylor.\

Apple acts on iPhone 4s battery bug

Apple has admitted that "a few bugs" in its latest mobile operating system iOS 5 are affecting the battery life of some of its devices.

It said that it will release a fix in the next few weeks.

The issue came to light over recent weeks with thousands complaining on Apple's forums about poor battery life.

In some cases, people claimed that their phone battery was draining by up to 15% every hour, even when the handset was not being used.

The issue was not limited to Apple's new iPhone 4S handset but also affected some of the firm's iPad tablet computers which had installed the upgrade.
Initially Apple would not comment on the matter but late last night it issued a statement: "A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," it said.

Telcos Can Challenge Piracy Law

Bt & TalkTalk are launching a challenge against the Digital Economy Act. Both companies have been granted permission to appeal by the High Court. To read more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15212651