In todays pre-budget report the Chancellor introduced a reduction in VAT rate from 17.5% to 15% to help kick start the economy and increase consumer spending.

VAT has been set at 17.5% since before ecommerce was invented and this latest change is going to cause a huge headache for ecommerce websites.

Some systems are likely to have VAT hard coded into the ecommerce systems but even advanced programs will still need to be adjusted to reflect the new rates.

A number of retailers without a retained website development company will be unlucky enough to have the VAT rate hard-coded into their CMS. This makes price changes before next Monday almost impossible.

Read more about VAT reduction will it cost more than it saves

Comments (0) Nov 27 2008

Introducing Passclicks

Passclicks is a new way to login to websites without users having to remember their old style textual password.

Studies have revealed that humans are better in remembering visual things than textual things.

With passclicks your normal textual passwords are replaced with a sequence of clicks on an image.

Read more about Passwords that you can now see

Comments (0) Nov 25 2008

The closure of a web hosting firm that is believed to have had spam gangs as clients has led to a drastic reduction in junk mail.

Two US internet service providers have pulled the plug on the firm McColo following an investigation by the Washington Post newspaper.

Anti-spam firm Ironport has seen junk mail levels drop by 70% since McColo was taken offline on 11 November.

But, it warned, it will be a temporary respite from the menace of spam.

Read more about Less SPAM in your diet

Comments (0) Nov 18 2008

Microsoft has unveiled a cloud computing service, in which data and applications will not be stored on individuals’ computers.

The new platform, dubbed Windows Azure, was announced at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.

The platform was described by Microsoft’s chief software architect Ray Ozzie as “Windows for the cloud”.

The framework will be offered alongside the next Windows release, Windows 7.

Read more about Storms brew for cloud computing

Comments (0) Nov 13 2008

Businesses have been urged to turn to the internet to help beat the effects of the economic downturn. Small business advice organisation Business Link said businesses concerned about the credit crunch, or just looking to grow, should consider whether they are making the best use of the web.

Read more about Sharpen up your website to beat the economic downturn

Comments (0) Nov 03 2008

New versions of the two most popular web browsers have burst onto the scene. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is due to appear by the end of the year, while Mozilla Corporation’s Firefox 3 (Fx3) was released on June 17. The ‘public beta’ version of IE8 was made available on August 27 and can be downloaded from the Windows IE8 Home Page. Both browsers claim to offer significant advancements to the web-browsing experience. In addition to these two new browsers, search giant Google have recently launched their own browser, “Chrome“, which they hope will eat into IE’s share of the market and become a base for more complex Web 2.0 applications. We have used this in the office and like it alot!

Read more about Browser Wars

Comments (0) Nov 03 2008