Tag Archive for Lord Sugar

Troll given celebrity contact ban

July 11, 2012 admin Uncategorized


11 June 2012
Last updated at 11:00 ET


Frank Zimmerman

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Frank Zimmerman, 60, from Gloucester, was given a six month jail sentence, suspended for two years

An internet troll who sent a threatening email to MP Louise Mensch has been banned from contacting her or her husband.

Frank Zimmerman from Barnwood, Gloucester, has also been barred from contacting celebrities including Lord Sugar and a former British Army chief.

Last year Zimmerman, 60, emailed the MP for Corby telling her to stop using Twitter or face the consequences.

He was given a six month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

In April, Zimmerman was convicted of sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene, menacing message or matter.

He failed to attend court on that occasion, blaming agoraphobia and depression.

He failed to attend sentencing on Friday and was arrested on Monday for breach of bail and taken to court by police.

‘Terrified’ for children

At Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court earlier, Zimmerman was given a restraining order which prevents him contacting Mrs Mensch, her husband Peter and her ex-husband, property developer Anthony LoCicero.

He is also prevented from contacting Lord Sugar, businessman and star of The Apprentice television show, and Terence Blacker, a columnist with the Independent newspaper and Zimmerman’s former neighbour in London.

Louise MenschZimmerman has been told not to contact Mrs Mensch or her husband

Zimmerman is also barred from contacting General Sir Mike Jackson, the one-time head of the British Army and David Petraeus, former US Army commander in Iraq and Afghanistan and now director of the CIA.

At a previous hearing, the court was told Zimmerman emailed Mrs Mensch after she suggested social networking sites could be closed by police during last summer’s riots.

In the email he said the mother-of-three faced “Sophie’s choice” – a reference to a novel in which heroine Sophie has to choose between the life of her son or daughter at a Nazi concentration camp.

Mrs Mensch called the police and arranged security for her family.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mrs Mensch said: “I was terrified on behalf of my children.”

The email was traced to the IP address of Zimmerman’s home computer who blamed hackers for sending it.

District Judge Martin Brown told Zimmerman that if he breached the restraining order, he could be jailed for up to five years.

Zimmerman was also given a four-week sentence for the breach of bail, which he admitted, to run concurrently to the 26-week sentence, and ordered to pay £300 prosecution costs.

The district judge said he had decided against banning Zimmerman from using a computer.

“It had been my intention to prohibit him from using a computer and I accept the human rights angle and I accept the problems of policing that,” he said.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-18391970#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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VIDEO: Alan Sugar makes his YouView pitch

July 4, 2012 admin Uncategorized

YouView – an internet TV service that combines the UK’s Freeview channels with on-demand content – has been formally launched.

Users will have access to programmes broadcast over the previous week from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five, as well as the ability to pause and rewind live TV.

The project had originally been scheduled to begin in 2010.

Lord Sugar is the chairman of YouView, and he spoke to the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones about why he thinks the device will set a new standard in television.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18712490#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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YouView net TV service launches

July 4, 2012 admin Uncategorized


4 July 2012
Last updated at 11:30

YouView interfaceUsers can use the service to access programmes they missed broadcast up to seven days earlier

YouView – an internet TV service that combines the UK’s Freeview channels with on-demand content – has been formally launched.

Users will have access to programmes broadcast over the previous week from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five, as well as the ability to pause and rewind live TV.

The project had originally been scheduled to begin in 2010.

Some analysts have said the delay might have harmed its prospects.

Lord Sugar, the project’s non-executive chairman, showed off a set-top box made by Humax which will allow users to access the service.

He said it would cost £299, but added that he would not be surprised if that fell to £99 in a couple of years.

It is being made available in two ways:

  • From retailers with no further subscription payments necessary. They will begin stocking set-top boxes later this month.
  • From internet service providers (ISP) as part of one of their broadband packages. BT and TalkTalk – who are among the service’s backers – said they would shortly unveil packages which would include additional content.

Sky has said it would add its Now TV product offering access to movies, sport and entertainment at a later date.

STV, Scotland’s ITV franchise, also plans to offer on-demand content soon.

Opportunities

YouView was first announced in 2008 when it was called Project Canvas.

It offers access to more than 100 digital TV and radio channels – some of which are in high definition. YouView said a further 300 content providers have expressed interest in joining the system.

They include Amazon’s Lovefilm service which has announced that TalkTalk subscribers would get 12 months access to its movie and television library.


Alan Sugar

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Sir Alan Sugar makes his YouView pitch to Rory Cellan-Jones

Some industry watchers have said that the subsequent launch of smart TVs with similar features may weigh on demand.

However, Ian Watt from Enders Analysis added that it should still help the ISPs involved, giving them another tool to discourage customers switching to rival’s all-in-one packages.

“I’d say it’s better late than never,” he told the BBC.

“For players in the telecoms space such as BT this move represents an attempt to level the playing field with Sky and Virgin Media.

“They can piggyback the success of Freeview and offer lower cost entry points into the pay-TV market, providing an opportunity to attract more subscribers than they had been able to do with products such as BT Vision.”

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

When I spoke to Lord Sugar after the launch, he was in typically combative mood, amazed that I could possibly think that the YouView box was a bit expensive and a bit late”

End Quote

image of Rory Cellan-Jones

Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent

  • Read more from Rory

BT recently agreed to pay £738m for 114 Premier League football across three seasons from 2013.

Analysts have suggested the firm needs to treble its number of TV subscribers if it is to break even.

Technical limitations

The initial Humax box does not include wi-fi meaning some customers may need to buy additional equipment if they do not have wired internet connections in the same rooms as TVs they wish to attach.

“Anything that comes along requiring extra bits and pieces at extra expense is going slow penetration into the market,” said Paul O’Donovan, principal research analyst at tech consultants Gartner.

“It’s a great mistake that they haven’t integrated wi-fi into the hardware at this stage. The future is all about integrating handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets with a TV and you can’t do that without a wireless connection.

“This gives Sky, Virgin and the Smart TV markers an opportunity to stay ahead for the foreseeable future.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18699924#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Apprentice runner-up gets funding

June 30, 2012 admin Uncategorized


28 June 2012
Last updated at 18:37

Nick HolzherrNick Holzherr said people had been in touch after the show keen to use his food website

A runner-up in television series The Apprentice has secured funding for his food website after being turned down by Lord Sugar.

Nick Holzherr has secured £170,000 to launch Whisk, a service that creates online shopping lists based on recipes.

In the TV series, Lord Sugar told the entrepreneur that he was not convinced the website would be useful.

Mr Holzherr told the BBC his new investors were “knowledgeable” about tech, and he had a “scalable business”.

Mr Holzherr reached the final round of the reality series in which Lord Sugar whittles down a pool of potential business partners before finally investing in the winning idea.

His proposal was to create a website which would allow customers to convert recipes automatically into shopping lists within online supermarkets.

Users could either print off these lists and go to their local stores, or buy directly online with one click. Whisk would take a cut of the online transactions.

Speaking of Mr Holzherr’s plan, Lord Sugar said on the show: “It’s achievable, I get that. But so’s sending a man to the Moon. What are we going to get out of it at the end?

“Who could be bothered with it?”

‘Untapped space’

Mr Holzherr said he had overcomplicated his proposal during the show.

“I explained it too technically, too many details – it meant it wasn’t really understood,” he told the BBC.

He said since the show he had had significant interest from members of the public – “particularly mums” – who were keen to see the project get off the ground.

Also interested were four investors who stumped up the funding which Mr Holzherr said would be spent on hiring new staff and developing the platform.

One of the site’s investors, Midlands-based entrepreneur Doug Scott, said: “Quite simply, blending recipes with online shopping is a space in the online world which remains untapped, but certainly won’t for much longer.”

Mr Holzherr said he hoped the site would launch in 2-3 months’ time.

“I was trying to stress to Lord Sugar and his advisers that you don’t need a lot of money to build this,” he added.

“We’re hoping we’ll be able to generate revenue quite quickly.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18630628#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Apprentice loser secures funding

June 29, 2012 admin Uncategorized


28 June 2012
Last updated at 18:37

Nick HolzherrNick Holzherr said mums had been in touch after the show keen to use his food website

A runner up in television series The Apprentice has secured funding for his food website after being turned down by Lord Sugar.

Nick Holzherr has secured £170,000 to launch Whisk, a service that creates online shopping lists based on recipes.

In the TV series, Lord Sugar told the entrepreneur that he was not convinced the website would be “useful”.

Mr Holzherr told the BBC his new investors were “knowledgeable” about tech, and he had a “scalable business”.

Mr Holzherr reached the final round of the reality series in which Lord Sugar whittles down a pool of potential business partners before finally investing in the winning idea.

His idea was to create a website which would allow customers to convert recipes automatically into shopping lists within online supermarkets.

Users could either print off these lists and go to their local stores, or buy directly online with “one click”. Whisk would take a cut of the online transactions.

Speaking of Mr Holzherr’s plan, Lord Sugar said on the show: “It’s achievable, I get that. But so’s sending a man to the moon. What are we going to get out of it at the end?”

“Who could be bothered with it?”

Mums’ interest

Mr Holzherr said he had overcomplicated his proposal during the show.

“I explained it too technically, too many details – it meant it wasn’t really understood,” he told the BBC.

He said since the show he had had significant interest from members of the public – “particularly mums” – who were keen to see the project get off the ground.

Also interested were four investors who stumped up the funding which Mr Holzherr said would be spent on hiring new staff and developing the platform.

One of the site’s investors, Midlands-based entrepreneur Doug Scott, said: “Quite simply, blending recipes with online shopping is a space in the online world which remains untapped, but certainly won’t for much longer.”

Mr Holzherr said he hoped the site will launch in 2-3 months time.

“I was trying to stress to Lord Sugar and his advisors that you don’t need a lot of money to build this,” he added.

“We’re hoping we’ll be able to generate revenue quite quickly.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18630628#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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