kingdom

Google should be investigated by the U.K. tax authority HM Revenue and Customes over its tax affairs, according to a parliamentary watchdog.

The search giant came under heavy criticism from the U.K. Public Accounts Committee today for only paying $16 million in tax to HMRC on turnover of $18 billion between 2006 and 2011.

Google achieved this by basing its operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in Ireland, which has a corporation tax rate of 12.5 percent, less than half the 28 percent rate in the U.K. It then reduced its Irish tax liabilities … Read more

Kingdom Chronicles for Mac is a port of a popular action strategy game on other platforms. Available as a free download from the App Store, there are in-game purchases that add levels over the base game. Kingdom Chronicles for Mac installs easily.

Kingdom Chronicles for Mac is about an adventurer who has to retake his homeland from a greedy villain. To do this the hero must work with the people in the occupied villages to fight back and retake the land one small area at a time. By controlling the individuals in a city you take on the role of … Read more

Retailer point-of-sale systems may be at risk of malware that steals credit card data.

Israel-based security firm Seculert has identified a strain of malware, dubbed Dexter, which it asserts has infected hundreds of point-of-sale (POS) systems across 40 countries in the past two to three months. English-speaking countries appear to be a prime target, with 30 percent of infections in the U.S., 19 percent in the U.K., and 9 percent in Canada.

Rather than targeting thousands of individual machines through traditional Trojans or phishing emails, the custom-made malware targets specific POS systems. The malware injects itself into the … Read more

Residents in an additional 17 towns and cities in the U.K. will have the option of signing up for EE's 4G LTE network by March 2013.

Everything Everywhere -- a collaboration between mobile operators Orange and T-Mobile -- launched the United Kingdom's first 4G network in October this year. Although these two carriers still exist, for next-generation data speeds EE is one of the only options currently available.

In addition to extending 4G coverage, the company said it plans to upgrade its 3G network to DC-HSPA, which will result in faster speeds for non-4G customers, including those … Read more

Less than a week after Apple was rumbled by Reddit users for including code to hide a court-ordered apology to Samsung on its U.K. Web site, the code has now been removed.

The code forced visitors to scroll down the page in order to see an apology that Apple was ordered to display on its U.K. Web site for one month, by resizing the central image of the new iPad mini and "sticking" four separate product advertisements at the bottom of the browser window.

This meant that no matter how tall their browser window is or … Read more

While most classical concert halls deliver the best of Mozart, Beethoven, or Bach, the Boston-based Video Game Orchestra plays tunes from the annals of beloved franchises such as Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, and others.

The eclectic musical group -- which weaves a Mannheim Steamroller-esque synthesis of classical music and a rock -- played to a packed house yesterday at the Boston Symphony Hall and completed a major milestone on Kickstarter by generating $40,000 in donations to launch an album recorded from the performance. … Read more

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has pledged to invest $2 billion (£1.3 billion) in the U.K. economy, in an apparent bid for goodwill as the U.S. Congress opens a probe of the company's relationship with the Chinese government. (See the embedded press release below.)

Huawei will plow $1 billion (£650m) into its U.K. research and development efforts. It said  that will generate more than 700 jobs in the country, and pledged to spend a further $1 billion on U.K. procurement over the next five years.

The telecom giant, which already employs 800 … Read more

Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North is a game that pulls users in by letting them become heroes in the story. While we wished there was a bit more instruction offered, it proved to be an engaging game.

The game launches with a short introduction to the story to draw you in, followed by a tutorial to show you the basics of game. The necessary tools are just a tap away and there are on-screen tips to help you be successful in your mission, but users with less gaming experience will probably need some time to get used to … Read more

Netflix can now count 1 million subscribers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Membership ranks hit that number just seven months after the video service debuted in the two countries. Combined, that earned them a record for the fastest growth among all regions worldwide, according to Netflix.

Users are spending more time catching TV shows and movies online, says a YouGov survey commissioned by Netflix. A full 10 percent of people in the U.K. spend at least two hours each day watching their favorite shows via the Internet.

Comedy and drama are the top hits among Netflix members in … Read more