HTC One Smartphone Wins At T3 Gadget Awards

By Stuart Duggan, at the T3 Awards

HTC was the big winner at the T3 Gadget Awards with the company's HTC One smartphone picking up three prizes.

The Android handset beat both the Apple iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 to win Phone of the Year - and also claimed Gadget of the Year and the T3 Design Award.

The Sky+HD 2TB set-top box won entertainment gadget of the year.

Samsung, Apple, Google and Sony were also recognised at the seventh annual T3s at Old Billingsgate in London.

Apple won two awards: Tablet of the Year and Computer of the Year for the iPad Mini and the Mac Book Air 11 inch.

Felix Baumgartner won Tech Moment of the Year

Sony also got two prizes: for Digital Camera and TV of the Year.

Google took home Innovation of the Year for Google Glass while Samsung was named Tech Brand of the Year.

Other winners included Netflix, who won Digital Media Service of the Year.

Tech Moment of the Year was awarded to Felix Baumgartner for his daring skydive from the edge of space a year ago.

On any other year his fellow nominees would have had a very good chance: the Curiosity Rover reaching Mars, Gangnam Style hitting one billion YouTube views, goal line technology being introduced in football, the battle between the Xbox One and PS4 at E3 and the UK launch of 4G.

The iPad Mini won the award for Tablet of the Year

But it's difficult to compete with a man who fell to Earth from 128,097 feet.

"Fearless Felix" broke the sound barrier during his sky-dive in October last year, free-falling for four minutes and 19 seconds before landing smoothly in New Mexico.

T3 gave a new award last night with TED curator Chris Anderson getting their first ever Tech Legend prize.

Meanwhile, Michael Acton Smith, the creator of Moshi Monsters, won the Outstanding Contribution To Tech prize.

T3 magazine's editor-in-chief Kieran Alger said: "Chris Anderson's TED initiatives provide inspiration for a generation of enquiring tech minds while Michael Acton Smith's army of Moshi Monsters has brought fun to a mind-boggling 80 million people across the planet.

"They're both hugely deserving recipients."

Jason Bradbury from The Gadget Show was named Tech Personality of the Year.

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Twitter IPO: Company Hopes To Raise $1bn

Twitter has unsealed the documents for its initial public offering of stock, saying it hopes to raise up to $1bn.

The company revealed that it lost $69.3m in the first six months of 2013, compared with a loss of $49.1m for the same period last year.

The losses come as Twitter rolls out a massive infrastructure and staffing expansion programme.

Meanwhile it said revenue more than doubled to $254m (£160m) from $122m (£72m).

Total 2012 revenue was $317m (£196m) - with 87% of its revenue comes from advertising.

Last month Twitter announced that it had filed confidential initial public offering (IPO) papers to start the process of going public.

On Thursday, the San Francisco-based social network unsealed the papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The documents showed that private investors have ploughed $759m (£470m) into the company and it still has $375m (£230m) cash reserves remaining.

Twitter did not say which stock exchange it plans to list its shares on, however the company said it intends to use the ticker symbol "TWTR".

The micro-blogging site said that at the end of June it had 218 million active users, which was up from 10 million in 2010.

The underwriters of the offering are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and CODE Advisors.

The IPO has been long expected. The company has been ramping up its advertising products and working to boost ad revenue in preparation.

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Carpetright Boss Quits Amid Profit Warning

High street furnishing chain Carpetright has issued a profit warning and parted company with its chief executive.

The firm said CEO Darren Shapland will step down from his role with immediate effect, replaced by chairman and founder Philip Harris.

Mr Harris will become full-time executive chairman.

The firm added that as a result of a combination of a softer UK market and a further step down in the Netherlands, it was likely full year profit will be significantly below previous expectations.

In the 10 weeks to September 29 sales at stores open over a year were down 2.5% in the UK and down 7.6% in the Rest of Europe division - made up of the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland.

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O2 Owner AEG To Appoint New European Chief

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The owner of the O2, the site in southeast London that has become one of the world's most popular entertainment venues, is poised to name a new boss of its European operations.

Sky News understands that Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) will on Thursday appoint Tom Miserendino as the president and chief executive of AEG Europe.

Mr Miserendino has worked for AEG for more than a decade, most recently as the head of AEG Live, the group's touring and concert arm.

He is expected to take over the company's operations in one of its most important regions outside its home US market on December 1, insiders said on Wednesday.

AEG's flagship venue in Europe is the O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula, which will next month host the season-ending ATP World Tour tennis championship, in which the top eight players in the men's game will compete for the final trophy of the season.

The company also owns a number of other sites in Scandinavia and Germany, which Mr Miserendino will oversee.

He will take over from Jay Marciano, one of AEG's top executives, who relocated to the group's Los Angeles headquarters earlier this year when he was promoted to the role of chief operating officer.

The management reshuffle followed an aborted attempt to sell the entire company for as much as $10bn, a sale process which attracted interest from bidders around the world.

Philip Anschutz, AEG's founder, said the auction had failed to attract offers of sufficient value.

Outside Europe, AEG owns and operates venues including the Staples Center in LA and the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai.

It also owns sports franchises such as the Los Angeles Kings National Hockey League outfit and the Major League Soccer team for which David Beckham played during his time in the US, LA Galaxy.

AEG was unavailable for comment.

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Payday Lenders Facing Unlimited Fines

Tougher controls on payday lenders could see unlimited fines for companies which break the rules.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which will take over regulation of consumer credit from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in April 2014, said the sanctions were among a host of proposed new rules that would go out to consultation.

The organisation, which will cover tens of thousands of firms offering services such as overdrafts, credit cards and debt advice, was formed six months ago with the promise of strengthening protection for consumers.

Among its other recommendations: Limiting to two the number of times a payday loan can be rolled-over, banning misleading adverts and compulsory affordability checks for all loan applicants.

Payday loan firms have come under intense scrutiny in recent months after a damning report by the OFT found "deep-rooted" problems.

The Competition Commission is carrying out a full-scale investigation of the industry and will reveal its findings next year.

The OFT, which referred the £2bn industry to the commission, is worried firms are emphasising the speed of the loan over cost and are "skimping" on affordability checks.

There have also been complaints of payday firms unexpectedly draining people's bank accounts through a type of recurring payment called a continuous payment authority.

Payday firms would be limited to doing this twice per customer under the proposals.

The FCA's chief executive Martin Wheatley said: "Today I'm putting payday lenders on notice: tougher regulation is coming and I expect them all to make changes so that consumers get a fair outcome.

"The clock is ticking," he added.

Payday lenders have said they have been working to improve standards and ensure loans are given only to those who can afford them.

Russell Hamblin-Boone, chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association (CFA), which represents many short-term lenders, said: "The CFA and its members have always supported well-designed, well-implemented regulation in order to protect consumers and drive up standards.

"Our tough code of practice and independent monitoring, which is unique in the industry, has paved the way for FCA regulation, so we look forward to seeing the detail of the draft rulebook."

The FCA has asked for feedback from consumers as well as lenders before implementing its rules next year.

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US Shutdown: White House Talks Inconclusive

President Barack Obama has held talks with congressional leaders over the partial US government shutdown, but there was no breakthrough and both sides blamed each other.

The hour-long meeting at the White House came on the second day of a shutdown that has halted federal services and left many government workers unable to go to work.

Mr Obama stood firm on his demand that Republicans agree to reopen the government and raise the debt limit.

"The president remains hopeful that common sense will prevail," a White House statement said.

The shutdown has closed iconic monuments and parks across the US

Funding for much of the government was cut off on Tuesday after a Republican effort to halt a health care law known as Obamacare stalled the spending bill.

House Speaker John Boehner described the White House talks as polite but said no progress had been made.

"All we're asking for here is a discussion and fairness for the American people under Obamacare," he said.

However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the President and Democrats in Congress will not accept changes in the health care law in order to pass spending legislation needed to reopen the government.

Some 800,000 federal employees are unable to do their jobs

"We're locked in tight on Obamacare," he said.

Public anger has mounted as the shutdown closed some of America's most popular tourist attractions and forced 800,000 employees - nearly a third of the federal workforce - to stay at home.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress the shutdown was damaging the ability to guard against threats.

With no solution in sight, it was not clear how long the shutdown might last.

The shutdown could go on for another two weeks

And an even a bigger showdown looms over raising the nation's debt ceiling.

A historic default on the national debt would occur if Congress does not agree to raise the $16.7trn debt ceiling by an October 17 deadline.

In an interview with CNBC before the meeting, an "exasperated" Mr Obama said he would not negotiate with Republicans until the government is reopened and Congress votes to raise the debt limit.

He said: "If we get in the habit where a few folks, an extremist wing of one party, whether it's Democrat or Republican, are allowed to extort concessions based on a threat (to) undermine the full faith and credit of the United States, then any president who comes after me, not just me, will find themselves unable to govern effectively."

Mr Obama, who met with bank chiefs on Wednesday, said Wall Street should be worried about the debt ceiling.

"I think this time's different. I think they should be concerned," the president said.

"When you have a situation in which a faction is willing potentially to default on US government obligations, then we are in trouble."

A short-term shutdown would slow US economic growth by about 0.2 percentage points, Goldman Sachs has estimated.

A weeks-long disruption could weigh more heavily - 0.4 percentage points - as furloughed workers scale back personal spending.

Mr Obama has scrapped stops in Malaysia and the Philippines as part of a planned trip to Asia as the shutdown heads into a third day.

Since the last shutdown in 1996, Congress had passed more than 100 temporary funding bills, almost all of them without controversy.

The streak was broken because Republicans have held up the current measure in the hope of derailing or delaying Obamacare.

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US Shutdown Is 'Ideological Crusade' - Obama

President Barack Obama has urged Republicans in Congress to reopen the government, saying "one faction of one party" does not get to "hold the economy hostage over an ideological crusade".

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden more than 12 hours into a government shutdown, Mr Obama said the longer an impasse continues, the worse the impact will be.

America woke up to the shutdown after a deeply polarised Congress failed to agree a new budget in a dispute over Mr Obama's signature healthcare law.

Mr Obama blames the shutdown on the Republicans

The president said shutting down the government will not accomplish some Republicans' stated goal of "rolling back efforts to provide health insurance for those who don't have it".

Earlier Tuesday, Mr Obama sent federal workers a letter lamenting that they had become "punching bags" in Washington's partisan fiscal fights.

"This shutdown was completely preventable. It should not have happened," Mr Obama said in the letter.

As the shutdown entered into force, "closed" signs and barricades sprang up at the Lincoln Memorial, museums and federal workplaces across the country.

Some of America's most famous tourist attractions, such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York, and Alcatraz Island near San Francisco were closed to the public.

Almost all of Nasa shut down, except for Mission Control in Houston. Even the National Zoo's popular panda cam went dark, shut off for the first time since a cub was born there in late August.

The shutdown affects national parks such as Yellowstone

Up to 800,000 government employees are furloughed, and more than a million others could be asked to work without pay.

Meanwhile, workers classified as essential government employees, such as air traffic controllers or Border Patrol agents, continue to work. 

Republicans in the House said on Tuesday they would push for a series of small funding bills aimed at reopening portions of the government, including national parks.

The White House rejected the plan, saying it showed an "utter lack of seriousness" on funding the federal government.

The government's return to full operation will depend on how long it takes politicians to bridge their differences - and there was no immediate sign of compromise on Capitol Hill.

For now, Democrats and Republicans keep blaming each other.

The Republicans had insisted on delaying the healthcare reform - dubbed Obamacare - as a condition for passing a bill.

But this approach was rejected by allies of the president in a series of back-and-forth moves between the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-dominated Senate.

House Speaker John Boehner said Mr Obama refused to negotiate

The Democrats accused the Republicans of succumbing to the Tea Party hard-line conservatives and seeking to gain political advantage at the expense of citizens.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "The government is closed because of the irrationality of what's going on on the other side of the Capitol."

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, said he did not want a government shutdown, but added the healthcare law "is having a devastating impact ... Something has to be done."

Meanwhile, Obamacare itself was unaffected and enrolment opened for millions of people shopping for medical insurance.

The House of Liberty can be seen only from a distance

Online insurance marketplaces at the heart of the healthcare overhaul struggled to handle the volume of consumers on Tuesday, resulting in some glitches.

The shutdown, meanwhile, is likely to further alienate citizens already largely disillusioned by their ruling class and for the most part disappointed with the president's performance, according to the latest polls.

The political dysfunction on Capitol Hill also raised fresh concerns about whether Congress can meet a crucial mid-October deadline to raise the government's $16.7trn debt ceiling.

This would force the country to default on its obligations, dealing a potentially painful blow to the economy and sending shockwaves around global markets.

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Cameron: 'We'll Boost Aspiration With Reforms'

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

David Cameron will round off the autumn party conference season with a pledge to create a "land of opportunity" in Britain.

The Prime Minister will vow that the Conservatives will "finish the job" the coalition has started in "clearing up the mess" created by Labour.

In his speech at the end of the Tory conference in Manchester, he will promise to boost aspiration with sweeping reforms of education, welfare and the economy.

After major announcements this week on Help-to-Buy, welfare, GPs' hours and a petrol price freeze, Mr Cameron will call for a second term with a Tory majority.

"This party at its heart is about big people, strong communities, responsible businesses, a bigger society - not a bigger state," he will say.

"It's how we've been clearing up the mess. And it's how we're going to build something better in its place. So let's stick with it and finish the job we've started."

David Cameron wants to point towards a more positive future

Mr Cameron will begin his speech by declaring: "Our dreams are about helping people get on in life, aspiration, opportunity. These are our words, our dreams.

"I believe it is the great Conservative mission that as our economy starts to recover we build a land of opportunity in our country today."

But he will say finishing the job is about more than clearing up the mess, adding: "It means building something better in its place.

"In place of the casino economy, one where people who work hard can actually get on.

"In place of the welfare society, one where no individual is written off.

"In place of the broken education system, one that gives every child the chance to rise up and succeed.

"Our economy, our society, welfare, schools, all reformed, all rebuilt - with one aim, one mission in mind: to make this country, at long last and for the first time ever, a land of opportunity for all."

Mr Cameron will say it makes no difference whether you live in the North or the South, are black or white, or a man or a woman, what school you went to, what background you have, or who your parents were.

"What matters is the effort you put in, and if you put the effort in you'll have the chance to make it," he will say. "That's what the land of opportunity means. That's what finishing the job means."

On aspiration, Mr Cameron will say: "You don't help children succeed by dumbing down education. You help them by pushing them hard.

"Good education is not about equality of outcomes, but bringing the best out of every single child.

"You don't help people by leaving them stuck on welfare, but by helping them stand on their own two feet.

"Why? Because the best way out of poverty is work - and the dignity that brings."

In a strongly pro-business message, Mr Cameron will say: "We know that profit, wealth creation, tax cuts, enterprise - these are not dirty, elitist words, they're not the problem.

"They really are the solution because it's not government that creates jobs, it's businesses.

"It's businesses that get wages in people's pockets, food on their tables, hope for their families and success for our country."

Mr Cameron will say there is no short cut to a land of opportunity, no quick fix and no easy way to do it.

"You build it business by business, school by school, person by person, patiently, practically, painstakingly," he will say. "And under-pinning it all is that deep, instinctive belief that if you trust people and give them the tools, they will succeed."

And in a rallying call to his party to fight for an outright Tory victory in 2015, he will say: "It requires a strong government, with a clear mandate, that is accountable for what it promises and yes, what it delivers.

"And let me tell everyone here what that means. When the election comes, we won't be campaigning for a coalition.

"We will be fighting heart and soul for a majority Conservative Government - because that is what our country needs."

:: Watch David Cameron's speech live on Sky News from 11am.

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Tesco Confirms China Deal And UK Progress

Tesco is to pay £345m to secure a joint venture with a state-backed retailer in China and confirmed progress in restoring growth to its core UK business.

However shares in the UK's biggest retailer were the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 - losing 4.5% of their value in the first hour's trading on Wednesday - after it confirmed continuing troubles

While it reported a 23.5% drop in group pre-tax profits to £1.39bn in the six months to August 24 amid tough times in Europe and Asia, Tesco said its performance in the UK had strengthened, particularly in food.

Chief executive Philip Clarke has been spending £1bn overhauling the group's stores to arrest plunging like for like UK sales.

That decline was stopped in the last half year, Tesco said, with sales measured as flat against the same period in 2012.

Tesco becomes a solo operator in China to a minor stakeholder

It announced the investment in its UK stores after being accused of taking its eye off the ball in the country - instead concentrating on a diversification of its UK business and looking abroad for growth.

It recently got out of the US and confirmed today it was folding its 134 stores in China into a partnership with China Resources to become the second-biggest player in the market there.

Tesco is to hold a 20% stake in the venture having struggled to get to grips with the demands of the Chinese consumer.

The deal allows Tesco's boss to devote more efforts to the battle to retain its leading market share of over 30% in Britain.

Sainsbury's is growing its UK market share

Rival Sainsbury's continued to pile on the pressure as it reported like-for-like sales excluding petrol rising 2% in its second quarter.

The UK market - while dominated by Tesco - has witnessed a surge in competition with the likes of Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose challenging the other major players Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Asda.

Philip Clarke, chief executive of Tesco, said: "Despite continuing challenges, we have made further progress on our strategic priorities.

"Our performance in the UK has strengthened through the half, particularly in our food business, as we have continued our work to Build a Better Tesco," he added.

The group suffered a 71% tumble in European trading profits to £55m and admitted the hit was worse than expected after conditions worsened in countries such as Ireland, Turkey and Poland.

Profits also fell sharply across Asia, down 12.4% to £314m, excluding China.

Tesco admitted the overseas woes would offset some of the benefit of its UK profits improvement over the full-year.

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Foreign Banks Warn Over Bonus Cap Exodus

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Some of the biggest foreign banks operating in the UK have warned London's main banking watchdog that a European cap on bonuses would lead to an overseas exodus of their senior managers.

Sky News understands that a number of US and other banks headquartered outside the European Union have warned the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) that the imposition of an enforced pay ratio has already prompted senior executives to demand a relocation away from London.

Officials say that the warnings have prompted serious alarm at the PRA, which is concerned that major banks could be denuded of much of the senior management expertise required to operate under the regulator's aegis.

News of the overseas banks' warnings comes just days after Sky News revealed that the Chancellor, George Osborne, was taking legal action at the European Court of Justice to try to overturn the bonus cap.

Despite the challenge, banks operating in London will be forced to adopt the new rules from next year pending its outcome.

The PRA has already made clear its opposition to moves to restrict bonuses to - at most - 200% of base salaries, arguing that it risks increasing instability in the banking system by driving up fixed costs.

British-based lenders have also criticised the cap, saying that they will have little choice but to inflate basic pay if they are to compete with rivals unaffected by the new restrictions.

George Osborne is taking legal action to try to overturn the bonus cap

Andrew Bailey, the PRA's chief executive, said earlier this year that the cap would "reduce the discipline in the system but it won't reduce overall remuneration" and warned that it "will institute an unhelpful culture of banks spending their time finding ways to get around the rules".

Without a successful legal challenge, UK regulators have little scope to overturn or ignore the cap despite the fact that regulators and many Westminster-based politicians agree that it will be potentially counter-productive.

A PRA consultation paper on the latest European Capital Requirements Directive will be published in the coming weeks.

Douglas Flint, the chairman of HSBC, has paved the way for Europe's biggest lender to increase salaries in time for the introduction of the new ceiling.

Last week, a Treasury spokesman said the new rules would "make banks themselves riskier rather than safer [and] may undermine responsibility in the banking system rather than promote it".

"Regulation of pay in this manner goes beyond what is permitted in the EU Treaty. That's why we are challenging these rules in the European Court, to ensure the legislation respects the EU Treaty and actually achieves what it's meant to: a more stable banking system that serves the economy, businesses and consumers."

The PRA declined to comment on its discussions with overseas banks on the issue.

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