In a sharp contrast to just a few years ago, offices are quickly losing their austerity and are becoming fun environments to work in.Leading the way in this revolution in the workplace is search engine giant Google.They have turned the old fashioned ideas on their head and provided a fun place for their staff to work in, and have proved that this makes people want to come to work, resulting in high performance and low absenteeism.

If you think your office space needs a make over, and want to go down the Google route, it is a lot easier to accomplish than you may think. While you may not be able to install fireman’s poles, slides and Swiss chalet style meeting pods, the objective of achieving a bright and airy workspace can be accomplished without a great deal of outlay. A good starting point is to ask your staff for their realistic ideas as to how the workplace can be improved and then to take a look at furniture hire in London to see what is available and how it matches up..

Dismiss the ridiculous and the outlandish and concentrate on the doable. Also look at the specific areas they have said need the most improvement. The communal staff areas where breaks and lunches are taken are one of the most important, and a few comfy chairs and TV will no longer cut the mustard. Wi- Fi is always a plus, and if there is room for a few games consoles, or even several hand held ones for them to use.

Seating is all important after several hours in an office chair; bean bags, a few chaise lounges and comfy chairs and sofas are the orders of the day. Vending machines offering both drinks and snacks are popular, bright colours, decorative items and prints on the wall all add up to a welcoming ambience that staff will enjoy entering. We create this type of atmosphere in our homes, and our workplaces should be no different.

The head of CIC (China Investment Corporation), Lou Jiwei, stated that they are thinking about ways to invest in the UK’s infrastructure development as are they interested in investing in other private/public partnerships in other countries that are developed as well.  This is good news for the British government which has been looking for ways to upgrade their transportation network to help promote growth. The CIC is the main sovereign wealth fund in China.

Lou stated that the CIC believes that a proper investment, that has commercial principles behind it, would offer a great solution for all parties. There have been many concerns about the economy slowing down on a global scale due to the European debt crisis that appears ongoing and the lowered rate of growth in the US, which is faced with unemployment rates that continue to increase.

Lou addressed this issue by stating that as the issues continue to reduce growth economies that are developed, their investment could help boost their infrastructure spending to help increase demand. He also suggested that authorities need to get more investment into their countries by offering bank loans to applicable lenders at discounted rates and reducing the amount of taxes imposed on oversea investments.

If this were done, he said it would increase demand for the manufacturing of equipment helping to get more people jobs and reduce the amount that overburdened governments are paying out on unemployment spending. David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the UK has already promised to get infrastructure projects started.

The deadline for Zynga’s first public opening is fast approaching and the online gaming company that has created both Mafia Wars and Farmville is ready to get the IPO roadshow on the road starting this coming Monday, according to a source that was close to the company. The San Francisco based gaming company known for its many Facebook games is expected to file a new prospectus by the close of the week with plans to officially go public by the middle of December.

Zynga is known as easily the largest social gaming company on the internet, with over 227 million regular monthly users. In fact, over the first nine months of 2011 the company had already made an astounding $828.9 million in revenues which is almost double the amount it made during the same period in 2010.

In terms of profit, the company is estimated to have pocketed about $121 million since the beginning of 2010, making it a very desirable IPO. Many internet companies are waiting to see how the Zynga offering goes before dipping their own toes into the water due to the lacklustre opening of Groupon, which has discouraged other internet companies from going public.

A great deal of internet companies have seen strong debuts followed by heavy losses making them less desirable stock options. It is likely that Facebook will also be watching the IPO offering of Zynga as the company is getting ready for its own public IPO to be announced sometime next year.

With the current economic climate and the experts warning us that there is no real end in sight and things are likely to get worse before they get better, it is highly unlikely that we are going to see the emergence of the number of new markets that we saw in 2011. That said, there are always surprises in the world of finance, and there are early indicators that a few could be on the cards.

The eurozone crisis looks likely to continue for some time to come, which is good news for the likes of India and China with the likelihood being that they will start to play an even bigger role in global manufacturing. Whilst trading has only just re-started after the holidays, those which were open make interesting reading.

Although the MXEF, MSCI Emerging Markets Index, slipped by 0.3% to 914.1 on the 2^nd January 2012, India’s  Sensex index and Brazil’s Bovespa recorded rises of 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. While these aren’t large gains, any gains are welcome at this time. It was also good news in Poland where there stocks  rallied to a higher level than they have been at for over a month.

It is difficult to gauge the full effect of these figures with so many emerging markets being closed, but it is likely that these are three countries are likely to benefit from the current economic clime and are certainly worth watching in 2012. The news that the German factories well exceeded predicted production in December is also somewhat of a surprise, and this is hoped that the prospects will also be improved for trading partners in central Europe.

Another market to watch is Hungary, as their BUX stock exchange has also recorded a rise of 0.9%, and they could well be one of the emerging markets to make themselves known in 2012.

TalkTalk and its UK subsidiary Tiscali UK have been slapped with a £3m fine from Ofcom for inaccurately billing around 65,000 customers for services that they did not actually receive. The regulator told the firm that the large fine was handed out in an effort to show TalkTalk just how serious their billing mishap was. To date, the fine is the largest that Ofcom has handed out to any company. TalkTalk expressed disappointment in the size of the fine stating that it was the result of purchasing the Tiscali UK branch and not purposefully done.

Since the billing errors were discovered the phone and broadband giant has already issued over £2.5m in goodwill payments and refunds to customers that were affected. Ofcom stated however that the fine was actually reduced due to this compensation, and had TalkTalk not taken these measures then the fine would have been even higher. In particular, customers that closed their accounts with TalkTalk between the dates of January and November of 2010 were affected. Ofcom discovered the ‘errors’ after receiving over a thousand complaints and give the company until December of 2010 to rectify the problem but admitted that while they did take some steps, an additional chunk of consumers still considered to receive higher bills.

The weekend was pretty good for Lenovo execs as the company revealed its Q1 earnings report that shows almost a doubling in profits on their oversees clubs not to mention a handful of other great profit reports as well. In fact, the revenues for the company jumped by almost $5.90 billion over the last quarter which comes out to be a 15% increase for the company when compared to the first quarter results of last year. Their global PC sales saw increased growth of 50% jumping up to $108m from just $54.9m during the 2010.

COO Rory Read commented at an earnings conference after the quarter profits were released that the Ultrabook sector may have helped boost sales with the news that the company may be reducing the price tags on the popular items soon in order to open up the market. Reed also stated that Lenovo will continue to be a leader in the Ultrabook market adding that prices will become much more affordable as next year goes on opening up their potential to a new crowd of potential consumers that likely will also boost sales again.

The behaviour of those who use search engines on their phones differs from how they typically use search engines on their computers which has forced advertisers to change their techniques in order to attract attention from those who consistently use search engines while on the go. This is due to the fact that while it may be simple to find a product or location while on the go, finding streaming or video can be a bit more complicated and advertisers that want to corner this market have to alter the way they create their campaigns.

For the most part, the largest searches from mobile phones consist of searches for locations or for products and where they might be sold, as most people who are out on the go want information about where they are heading to. Given this fact, advertisers should take location tracking software into account and consider search engines such as Google that offer this option. After all, if you want to entice someone into your store the best time to do so is when they are already in that area.

However, there is also an increasing number of searches for more specific services and applications thanks to the increasing accessibility of online platforms. Financial topics such as spread trading options in the UK can be researched on search engines and then accessed online through relevant financial providers. Developments in smartphone internet browsers and applications have allowed these once complex platforms to be available on the go.

The same can be said for products, since one understandably has to be in said location to purchase the product most of the time, and aiming advertising at them at a time when they can do so is really the best chance of getting a consumer to try a product. With this in mind, on the go advertising needs to change to meet mobile requirements, but the rewards are endless.

Apple, like many tech companies, started small… very small. In fact the first Apple computers were actually made in the original founders garage! After creating and selling their first few computers the open market began to see what kind of quality that Apple stands for. To this day Apple stands by its claim that no Apple made laptop or desk top will become infected with a PC virus. No viral protection is required with an Apple because the computers coding is written in a different codex than regular PC’s, making the Apple quite desirable in consumer eyes. Why, because consumers love guarantees.

After Apples humble beginnings they soon started selling computers all over the country, first to schools and the military, then to individual owners. The only reason that logic was followed was because of the enormous cost of a computer in the pre 1970′s and 1980′s. This wide sale market to the public sector , schools and government, helped to increase demand and lower the prices for all their products, giving Apple an even further push in the direction of huge profits.

In the 1990′s Apples biggest competitor was born, Microsoft. Since Microsoft has hit the market Apple died off almost completely until a sudden resurgence in the early 2000′s. Apple hit back as hard as they could, lowering prices and improving quality, which in effect started the computer price wars we see daily in today techno-environment. Last Tuesday Apple finally surpassed MS and every other big name company… anywhere on the planet covering all fields of business. On August 8th, 2011 Apple even surpassed Exxon oil which had been the worlds biggest business for longer than most would like to remember.

Dell saw its sales flatten last quarter as the government cut its spending allowances and the company saw low margin customer sales as well, but despite this fact the company still saw its net income increase by a very healthy 63%. Despite the increase in net profits, shareowners still felt that the future looked shaky for the company and the share price dropped by almost 8% in trading after hours, and fell to a low of $14.55 per share.

The company stated that net income for the quarter that closed on July 29^th rose by .48 cents per share which is a total of 28 cents higher than it was the same time last year. In terms of total revenue, Dell claims that it grew by about one percent rising from $15.53 up to $15.66. This was actually better than most analysts predicted, even though the total revenue still came in lower than most shareholders had hoped to see. It was expected that revenue would increase up to $15.76 billion.

Chief financial officer for Dell, Brian T. Gladden, stated that the flat revenue was the result of the company choosing to drop its low-margin products and instead focus on pairing its computer with software from different companies to help balance costs. Gladden also recognised the fact that Dell has been hurt by the downfall in the economy because, with a lower demand in general for computers, there is a bit more uncertainty for everyone in the technology world.

Groupon is one of the fastest growing companies on the internet as the first, and current leader, of the online discount sector. Based on the premise of social networking, Groupon allows its users to search for internet coupons that offer them massive discounts on local attractions and events if enough similar users also purchase the deal.

The way that Groupon works is simple, and very user based as the company is known for its quirky everyday use of slang to help keep its image modern and young.  In fact, the Groupon voice, as it is often referred to, is something that keeps the company’s image fresh and appealing to those that use it. The voice fulfills the descriptions of each deal as and makes the offers sound much more enticing, while also telling users the exact details and any conditions of the coupons.

Every day, the company posts two to three offers in each city that it works, which can encompass anything from discounts on a salon visit to discounts on tickets at the local concert hall. Groupon members then have 24-48 hours to purchase the internet voucher to get the deal.  In order for a deal to be ‘on,’ a quota of purchases must be made.

However, in the larger market it seems that reaching the quota is not a large factor as the popularity of Groupon has made it so that almost every deal is ‘on’ within just a few hours of posting.