GTA’s creator voices server worries
Grand Theft Auto’s creator has warned its users that there may be teething problems with the online launch of the GTA 5.
This is due to the sales of the latest game being much stronger than expected. According to analyst’s figures, it is estimated that more than 15 million units of the game had been sold by last week.
A blog by the game’s creator, Rockstar North said, " We are working around the clock to buy and add more servers".
The online game is included free with every copy of the Grand Theft Auto 5 console video game.
Faster internet access for Britain’s rail network
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced that Britain’s rail industry plans to roll out "high-speed mobile broadband" across the busiest parts of the rail network.
"Today’s announcement marks the beginning of the end of poor coverage on our railways," Mr McLoughlin said. The programme will be industry funded.
The Department for Transport said that by 2019, 70% of train passengers should have access to the faster broadband technology.
Network Rail is in the middle of a £1.9bn digital communications improvement programme which includes a new fibre optic network that aims to be capable of handling up to 192,000 gigabit per second of data by June 2014.
The plan is to raise data capacity per train 25-fold, which could allow passengers to watch streamed videos on their mobile devices.
Google’s UK tax contribution questioned
Google has paid only £11.6m in UK corporation tax last year, despite revenues of £506m and a £36.8m profit, according to documents filed at Companies House.
The US technology firm has come under much scrutiny over its UK tax, as many believe it is paying a lot less than it should, and designating Ireland as its official European sales base to benefit from lower company tax rates.
A spokesman for Google said on Monday that it was right that the majority of its tax should be paid in the US, although the company did make a significant contribution to the UK through investment and jobs.
The spokesman for Google said: "Like most multinationals we pay the bulk of our £1.2bn corporate tax bill where our business originated, in our case the US.
"That’s a rate of more than 19%, roughly what a UK-based company would pay. We’re also a significant contributor to the UK economy having created over 2,000 jobs."
