Facebook sees sharp drop in profits

Facebook has reported a sharp drop in profits, partly due to increased spending on research and development.

The social network site made a profit of $64m (£41m) in the final three months of 2012, compared with $302m a year earlier.

Revenue was up 40% at $1.6bn, largely due to a big jump in advertising revenue, a quarter of which came from mobile platforms.


Shares in Facebook fell by almost 6% in after-hours trading in New York.

The shares launched on the Nasdaq stock exchange in May at $38, and had halved in value by September.

They have since recovered to stand at $31 at the close of trading on Wednesday. The drop in after-hours trading suggests the shares will fall back again when full trading resumes on Thursday.

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Biggest full HD smartphone

A South Korean firm has unveiled the biggest smartphone to date with a screen capable of showing 1080p high-definition video at full resolution.


China's Huawei recently unveiled a 6.1in handset, but it was only a 720p display.
They add to the so-called "phablet" category, as manufacturers test how big customers are willing to go.

When Samsung helped pioneered the format with its 5.3in Galaxy Note in 2011, many analysts suggested its size was too large to find favour.
Dell had previously released a 5in phone - the Streak 5 - but had ended up discontinuing the line to focus on a larger 7in tablet.

But the Note proved a success for the South Korean firm, leading Samsung to announce a larger successor last August.

In recent months other firms, including Sony, LG, HTC and ZTE, have unveiled smartphones with 5in and larger screens. More super-sized handsets are expected to be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which begins on 25 February.

Sony Wipeout veterans create studio

A group of video games developers from Sony's defunct Liverpool operation have created a studio in the city.

Sawfly Studios plans to release its first game - targeted at smartphones and tablets - within the next couple of months.

About 100 people lost their jobs when Sony closed what was one of the UK's oldest games developers last August.

The unit was responsible for the Wipeout racing series, but dated back to 1984, when it was called Psygnosis.

Toyota reclaims number one title

Japanese carmaker Toyota has regained its slot as the world's biggest vehicle maker, capping a year of a dramatic turnaround in its fortunes.

 Toyota said it sold 9.75 million vehicles in 2012, a jump of more than 22% from a year earlier. General Motors, which was the biggest vehicle maker in 2011, sold 9.29 million vehicles in 2012.

Toyota's sales in 2011 were hit by natural disasters in Japan and Thailand which hurt production at its factories.

UK GDP - I didn't think getting a job would be this hard

"I never thought I'd walk out of college into a job, but I didn't think it would be this hard."

Thirty-seven-year old Sean Stroud's frustration with the job market in Swindon is a human echo of the UK's bumpy "recovery".

Like a thousand other skilled assembly line workers, Sean left Honda's huge car factory in Swindon in 2009 when the company was "reshaping" its workforce.

Sean went on to retrain, doing a BTech in Information Technology. IT, he reasoned, was full of jobs.
But 18 months on, Sean is still looking. And now another 1,000 Honda workers will be joining him in the job centre.

Two weeks ago, the Japanese car firm announced its first ever compulsory redundancies in the UK. Some 800 staff, another 300 agency workers, and at least 350 people working for companies that supply Honda will be out of work by 1 May.

That is a total of nearly 1,500 people looking for work. There are only 3,861 people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in the whole town, according to the latest figures, so this is a substantial increase.


"The Honda decision was a disaster," remarks Emma Faramarzi, who chairs the Federation of Small Businesses in the town.

"Not only for the direct workers, but for every small firm that supplies catering or IT or delivery services. They'll all feel the chill."

The factory is such a big employer in Swindon that its decisions ripple across the town. Amanda Franks, who runs a recruitment agency, felt the impact immediately.
She said, "The instant Honda announced their news was the instant jobs went on hold. What it does is it removes confidence across the board.

So can Swindon recover from a shock like this?

The town's fortunes echo the whole country's economy. Swindon's average wage is £26,300. Average wages across the UK are £26,900. House prices here hover around £175,000, the national average.
Ian Larrard, director of a business group called The Swindon Initiative, is hopeful.

UK GDP

The UK economy shrank by 0.3% in the last three months of 2012, further fuelling fears that the economy could re-enter recession.


The economy had grown by 0.9% in the previous quarter, boosted by the London 2012 Olympic Games.

For the whole year, growth was flat.

The ONS said that the "bumpy economy" was on a "sluggish trend".

Manufacturing fell by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, the services sector was flat, but construction output rose by 0.3%.

British people must "have their say" on Europe

David Cameron has said the British people must "have their say" on Europe as he pledged an in/out referendum if the Conservatives win the election.

 The prime minister said he wanted to renegotiate the UK's relationship with the EU, before asking people to vote.

 The British people would face a "very simple choice" either to accept the result of the talks, or to leave the EU altogether, he said. Labour's Ed Miliband said PM was "weak" and being driven by "party interest".