Apple unveils iPad tablet device

Apple has put an end to weeks of speculation by unveiling its tablet PC, which it has called the iPad.
Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive unveiled the touchscreen device at an event in San Francisco.
Mr Jobs described the tablet, which will cost between $499 and $829 in the US, as a "third category" between smartphones and laptops.
The device, which looks like a large iPhone, can be used to watch films, play games and browse the web.
"You can download right onto your iPad," said Mr Jobs.
"What this device does is extraordinary. It is the best browsing experience you have ever had," he said.
The device has a 9.7-inch multi-touch display, allowing people to type directly on to the screen, as well as manipulate pictures and move control the action in games with their fingers. However, users can also plug in a keyboard.

Will Santander challenge the big banks?

A big, shiny new name is on display in the UK's High Streets and shopping centres.

The logo of the giant Spanish banking group Santander will soon hang above more than a thousand former branches of the Abbey and Bradford & Bingley banks.

The 278 branches of the Alliance & Leicester, also owned by the Spanish group, will be renamed later this year.

That will bring the total number of Santander branded outlets to 1,300, making it the fifth-largest bank in the UK.

Its position, with 25 million customers, should be a challenge to the traditional dominance of the big four High Street banks - RBS-NatWest, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays.

"Santander is and will continue to be a challenger to the competition in the UK," a spokesman promised.

Energy security questioned as National Grid cuts off gas to factories

Severe weather and creaking power infrastructure lead to first tangible sign that fears over energy shortages are translating into supply disruption.

Vauxhall's car plant at Ellesmere Port and British Sugar's refineries at Bury St Edmunds and Newark are among nearly 100 factories that have had their energy supplies cut as Britain threatens to lurch from whiteout to blackout.

The National Grid has told British Gas and other power suppliers to cut or reduce their power to major corporate customers in a bid to preserve gas for domestic households as extreme weather caused a surge in demand.

New Year

Well the festivities are over and it's back to school for 'most' pupils - weather permitting.

Hope everyone had a good holiday!

Happy 2010!