Freelance Projects, Design and Programming Tutorials
We run www.flippingcribs.com and are looking for designer to layout wordpress template customized for online TV show. We want really come up with something he online video needs to be the primary aspect of the website and may would be cool if it popped up in a light box when play is pushed.
Also I would love it if users were recommended to input their name and email before watching an episode.
Send me a sample mockup and/or examples for consideration of your bid.
Please send quotation of complete services and integrations.
Features:
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1. Modern Web2.0 Designing
2. High Configuration CMS
3. Shopping Cart with Enquiry Cart. (By Enquiry Cart we mean, it will help a shopping cart act like an enquiry (inquiry) cart, where customers can select products, add to cart and then checkout to enquire about the prices. No shipping and payment process be asked for. Also it will help the prices not to be seen on the site nor the buy now button. So while adding the product through an admin panel, one can add any price and it will not affect the cart.)
4. Microsoft Dynamic CRM integration (http://crm.dynamics.com/)
Technology:
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ASP.Net
MSSQL Database
XHTML and CSS pages with W3C Validated pages.
DIV Based Table-less Design.
Windows OS with IIS Server
write articles 450 words with keyword density
content optimized seo for websites
build some landing pages and/or website headers and/or templates
Terry Jones says he doesn’t think backing down is the “right thing” A US pastor says he is not “backing down” from plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11, despite international outrage.
“We are not convinced that backing down is the right thing,” said Terry Jones of 50-member Florida church, the Dove World Outreach Center.
The group’s plan has sparked condemnation from Muslim countries, Nato and the top US Afghan commander.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the plan “disgraceful”.
On Monday, General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Afghanistan, warned troops’ lives would be in danger if the church went through with its bonfire.
The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, called the idea “idiotic and dangerous”.
But organiser, Pastor Terry Jones said on Wednesday that his plan to burn the Islamic holy book is intended to draw attention to his belief that “something’s wrong.”
“It is possibly time for us in a new way to actually stand up, confront terrorism,” Mr Jones told reporters.
He acknowledged Gen Petraeus’ concerns, but claimed to have been contacted by a special forces officer who told him US troops were supportive of his plan.
“So on September the eleventh we shall continue with our planned event.”
The Dove World Outreach Center may only represent a handful of people, but its incendiary plans haven’t emerged out of nowhere.
The role of Islam in America has become a hot button issue with social and political implications.
While most Americans would probably take issue with exhortations to burn the Koran, there is clearly widespread concern about the influence of Islam.
Protests over the planned location of an Islamic centre close to Ground Zero in New York, and similar controversy in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, have highlighted popular anxiety about Islam in America.
Earlier this year, an opinion poll found that 53% of Americans view Islam unfavourably, with only 42% viewing the religion favourably.
Reports about young American Muslims being radicalised on the internet have helped to stoke fears about the nature of a religion indelibly associated, since 9/11, with a violent assault on the US.
Far from subsiding over time, anxiety seems to have deepened. As a result, American Muslims say they feel more isolated than at any time since the 2001 attacks.
The controversy comes at a time when the US relationship with Islam is very much under scrutiny.
There is heated debate in the country over a proposal to build a mosque and Islamic cultural centre streets from Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 attacks, in New York.
Gen Petraeus said on Monday that the bonfire could cause problems “not just in Kabul, but everywhere in the world”.
“It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems,” he said in a statement.
Pastor Jones – author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil – has said he understands the general’s concerns but that it was “time for America to quit apologising for our actions and bowing to kings”.
The Vatican, the Obama administration and Nato have also expressed concern over the plan.
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen blasted the plans, telling reporters that burning Korans violated the Nato alliance’s “values”.
Muslims consider the Koran to be the word of God and insist it be treated with the utmost respect. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the holy book is deeply offensive to them.
An interfaith group of evangelical, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim leaders meeting in Washington on Tuesday condemned the proposals as a violation of American values and the Bible.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mrs Clinton said the Obama administration’s foreign policy was working US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has declared that a “new American moment” has arrived in global politics.
Speaking at a Washington think tank, Mrs Clinton said the model of American leadership “offers our best hope in a dangerous world”.
The speech comes amid renewed US efforts to broker Middle East peace.
But the Obama administration has been criticised over a perceived lack of progress on its international goals.
Critics argue that Iran and North Korea maintain nuclear ambitions, the security situation in Afghanistan continues to be perilous and Israeli-Palestinian relations have yet to improve.
But Mrs Clinton said that US had “begun to see the dividends of our strategy.”
“We are advancing America’s interests and making progress on some of our most pressing challenges,” she said.
Mrs Clinton also noted that the world continues to look to the US for leadership in times of crisis, calling that both a responsibility and an unparalleled opportunity to seize upon.
“The world is counting on us. When old adversaries need an honest broker or fundamental freedoms need a champion, people turn to us,” she said.
But she stressed the importance of international partnerships.
“This is no argument for America to go it alone,” Mrs Clinton said.
“The world looks to us because America has the reach and resolve to mobilize the shared effort needed to solve problems on a global scale – in defence of our own interests, but also as a force for progress. In this we have no rival.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 workers and injured 17 Contractors who worked for BP on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon oil rig have criticised the company’s report into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Drilling firm Transocean branded the report “self serving” while cement contractor Halliburton said it contained “omissions and inaccuracies”.
BP blamed a “sequence of failures involving a number of different parties” for the spill.
It faces billions of dollars worth of compensation claims over the disaster.
Transocean dismissed BP’s report, accusing the oil giant of having designed a “fatally flawed” well and making “cost-saving decisions that increased risk – in some cases, severely”.
“This is a self-serving report that attempts to conceal the critical factor that set the stage for the Macondo (well) incident: BP’s fatally flawed well design,” the Swiss-based group said in a statement.
Halliburton also hit back at the 193-page report.
“As we continue to review BP’s internal report published earlier today, we have noticed a number of substantial omissions and inaccuracies in the document,” it said.
“Halliburton remains confident that all the work it performed with respect to the Macondo well was completed in accordance with BP’s specifications for its well construction plan and instructions, and that it is fully indemnified under its contract for any of the allegations contained in the report.”
The rig exploded in April, killing 11 people, and an estimated 4.9m barrels of oil then leaked into the Gulf.
The well was capped on 15 July, and an operation to permanently seal it is due to take place in the coming weeks.
BP leased the Deepwater Horizon rig from Transocean, and its cement contractor was Halliburton. The BP report was critical of the processes and actions of teams from both firms.
The report, conducted by BP’s head of safety, Mark Bly, highlighted eight key failures that, in combination, led to the explosion.
BP said that both BP and Transocean staff incorrectly interpreted a safety test which should have flagged up risks of a blowout.
“Over a 40-minute period, the Transocean rig crew failed to recognise and act on the influx of hydrocarbons into the well” which eventually caused the explosion.
BP criticised the cementing of the well – carried out by Halliburton – and repeated previous criticism of the blowout preventer.
Among the other findings, the report said:
There were “no indications” that Transocean had tested intervention systems at the surface, “as was required by Transocean policy”, before they were deployed on the well”Improved engineering rigour, cement testing and communication of risk” by Halliburton could have identified flaws in cement design and testing, quality assurance and risk assessmentA Transocean rig crew and a team described as “mudloggers” working for Halliburton Sperry Sun may have been distracted by what are described as “end-of-well activities” and, as a result, important monitoring was not carried out for more than seven hoursCrew may have had more time to respond before the explosion if they had diverted escaping fluids overboard.
“To put it simply, there was a bad cement job and a failure of the shoe track barrier at the bottom of the well, which let hydrocarbons from the reservoir into the production casing,” said outgoing chief executive Tony Hayward.
“The negative pressure test was accepted when it should not have been, there were failures in well control procedures and in the blowout preventer; and the rig’s fire and gas system did not prevent ignition,” he said.
The blowout preventer that failed was recovered from the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday. It will be placed in the custody of the US Justice Department and examined.
BP’s incoming chief executive Bob Dudley said the report proved that the explosion was “a shared responsibility among many entities”.
The company said it had accepted all the recommendations in the report, and would implement them worldwide.
“We are determined to learn the lessons for the future and we will be undertaking a broad-scale review to further improve the safety of our operations,” Mr Dudley said in a statement.
BP says dealing with the aftermath of the spill has cost $8bn (£5.2bn), and it has already paid out about $399m in claims to people affected by the spill.
A national commission is expected to submit a report to President Barack Obama by January. A Congressional joint investigation will submit a report later than month.
The US justice department is also investigating the disaster.
19 April – ‘Bad’ cement pumped down casing to stop gas and oil leaking into wellbore20 April – Gas and oil leak through shoe track barrier and float collar20 April – Tests carried out on the rig incorrectly suggest pressure is at a safe levelThe crew do not recognise there is a major problem or act to control it until the hydrocarbons are flowing rapidly up the riserThe crew close the blowout preventer and diverter, routing oil and gas to the mud gas separator (MGS) system rather than diverting it overboardThe MGS is overwhelmed by the force of oil and gas which leaks into the rig’s ventilation systemThe heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is thought to have sent a gas-rich mixture into the engine rooms2149 local time There are two explosions, killing 11 menApril 21 – 22 – The BOP designed to work automatically failed to seal the well as control pods and cutter (blind sheer ram) were not working
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Music prompts a range of emotions for the listener Patients could be prescribed music tailored to their needs as a result of new research.
Scientists at Glasgow Caledonian University are using a mixture of psychology and audio engineering to see how music can prompt certain responses.
They will analyse a composition’s lyrics, tone or even the thoughts associated with it.
Those behind the study say it could be used to help those suffering physical pain or conditions like depression.
By considering elements of a song’s rhythm patterns, melodic range, lyrics or pitch, the team believe music could one day be used to help regulate a patient’s mood.
Audio engineer Dr Don Knox, who is leading the study, said the impact of music on an individual could be significant.
He said: “Music expresses emotion as a result of many factors. These include the tone, structure and other technical characteristics of a piece.
“Lyrics can have a big impact too.
“But so can purely subjective factors: where or when you first heard it, whether you associate it with happy or sad events and so on.”
So far the team has carried out detailed audio analysis of certain music, identified as expressing a range of emotions by a panel of volunteers.
Their ultimate aim is to develop a mathematical model that explains music’s ability to communicate different emotions.
This could, they say, eventually make it possible to develop computer programs that identify music capable of influencing mood.
“By making it possible to search for music and organise collections according to emotional content, such programs could fundamentally change the way we interact with music”, said Dr Knox.
“Some online music stores already tag music according to whether a piece is “happy” or “sad”.
“Our project is refining this approach and giving it a firm scientific foundation, unlocking all kinds of possibilities and opportunities as a result.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Pregnant women take folic acid to prevent neural tube defects Scientists have begun a study to determine if an everyday vitamin supplement could help prevent one of Britain’s most common birth defects.
Every year about 100 children in the UK are born with spina bifida and other neural tube defects.
Prospective mothers are advised to take folic acid as a way of preventing the condition.
However, scientists think the vitamin inositol, taken with folic acid, may be more effective at preventing defects.
Despite taking folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, some woman still go on to have children with neural tube defects.
Many more pregnancies are terminated when the condition is diagnosed by ultrasound scan.
Scientists think inositol could prevent these extra cases.
Tests on mice suggest it stimulates tissue growth in the embryo to prevent neural tube defects.
Dr Nick Greene is one of the researchers working on the project at the Institute of Child Health, University College London.
“Inositol is a naturally occurring molecule a bit like glucose”, he said.
“It’s in meat, fruit and vegetables.
“We don’t think the women are deficient in inositol in their diets but from our experimental work we know inositol can stimulate cells in the developing embryo to proliferate more quickly, and that corrects the defect that would develop in spina bifida.”
Anne Marie Hodkinson’s daughter, Yasmin was born with spina bifida, despite the fact Anne Marie took folic acid for two years before getting pregnant.
“In all the books I had read, I read about spina bifida and then read about folic acid and turned the page, thinking, ‘that’s fine, done that’, so it was quite a shock”
Anne Marie Hodkinson Mother
She said: “We went for the 22-week scan, and it was quite a long scan, and at the end of it they told me that there was a problem.
“They said the baby had spina bifida.
“In all the books I had read, I read about spina bifida and then read about folic acid and turned the page, thinking, ‘that’s fine, done that’, so it was quite a shock.”
When Anne Marie decided to have another baby she enrolled in the clinical trial and is now seven months pregnant.
Although she doesn’t know whether she’s been taking inositol or a placebo, antenatal tests have shown her second baby is free from the condition.
“Everything’s fine, which is lovely,” she said.
“Had this little one had spina bifida as well, we’re pro’s now so it would have been fine, but nobody wishes that on anybody so it’s lovely that this one’s ok.”
Dr Greene is now looking for more women from all over the UK who’d be willing to take part in the trial.
“We’ve invited women who’ve had a pregnancy affected by spina bifida or another neural tube defect and who are planning another pregnancy to contact us.
“The trial is conducted by telephone and e-mail so people don’t need to come to us in London to take part.”
Further trials are needed but if the evidence suggests inositol can prevent spina bifida, it could be combined with folic acid as a simple and cheap supplement available to all women of childbearing age.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
By Brian Taylor
Boundary changes could have affected Holyrood’s political make-up in 2007 Boundary changes for the next Scottish Parliament elections suggest a possible electoral boost to the Conservatives, according to expert analysis.
Professor David Denver’s study said that if the new constituencies had been in place at the 2007 poll, the Tories might have won three extra seats.
However, the Scottish National Party would have remained the largest party.
Next year’s Holyrood elections will be fought on re-drawn boundaries designed to even out seat sizes.
Nearly all first-past-the-post constituencies are changing, most substantially.
It is calculated that one in six electors in Scotland will now be in a different seat as a result of the re-drawn boundaries.
There are also smaller changes to the top-up regional seats as a result of constituencies being moved to different regions.
An expert report for the BBC and the Press Association has calculated the potential impact.
Prof Denver of Lancaster University said that if the new boundaries had been in place last time the Tories might have taken 20 seats rather than 17.
The Liberal Democrats would have been up one, on 17 rather than 16.
Labour would have been two down, winning 44 seats in total rather than 46 and the SNP would have been one down, with 46 seats rather than 47.
Overall, that implies a slightly improved net lead for the SNP over Labour.
Professor Denver, who is an acknowledged expert in this field, reckoned the Greens would have had one seat, instead of two and the Independent MSP Margo MacDonald would still have won.
However, the academic stressed that caution must be taken in interpreting the results. He pointed out that constituencies were now built from much larger, more diverse council wards, making it very difficult to offer projections.
PDF download Prof David Denver’s boundary changes study in full[218 KB]
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In addition, he noted that he calculated what might have happened in 2007, had the new boundaries been in place then.
He pointed out that he was not offering a forecast for next year’s elections which would be influenced by political developments since Holyrood last went to the polls and issues like the incumbency of sitting members.
Prof Denver estimated seats which might have had a different political colour by contrast with comparable previous constituencies.
Seat changes
He calculated that the Tories might have taken both Eastwood and Dumfriesshire ahead of Labour.
He suggested that Aberdeen Central might have been won by the SNP rather than Labour while Stirling could have been Labour, not SNP.
The new Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale seat, he reckoned, would have been SNP, not Liberal Democrat.
The study classed certain constituencies as “new” in that they have experienced the greatest change.
Among these, he concluded that Glasgow Southside would have been Labour, not SNP. That seat includes a large part of the Govan seat presently held by Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP deputy leader.
In this category, the professor also calculates that Edinburgh Central might have been won by the Liberal Democrats, over Labour.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The plight of Commonwealth Games workers in Delhi
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A £50,000 reward is on offer for information leading to Jessie’s killer The family of a 15-year-old schoolboy shot dead in south Manchester continue to suffer “unimaginable grief” four years on, police have said.
Jessie James was shot several times as he cycled through a park in Moss Side in the early hours of 9 September 2006.
His mother, Barbara Reid, has urged those who know his killer to “do the decent thing” and come forward.
A £50,000 reward is on offer and police said they could protect the identity of witnesses who come forward.
Det Supt Jane Antrobus, senior investigating officer, said: “Jessie’s family have suffered unimaginable grief for the past four years, as they have had to live with the knowledge that the person who killed him has not been caught.
“They deserve to see his killers brought before the courts and I know someone out there has the vital piece of information that will help us to do this.
“In the past four years there have been huge reductions in gun crime and a number of high profile trials, assisted by testimony from protected witnesses, have seen gang members jailed.
“Those people who may have previously been reluctant to come forward can now see what their evidence could do.”
In a statement issued through Greater Manchester Police, Jessie’s mother said anyone with information had a responsibility to contact detectives.
“You may say Jessie James is not your family, you are not getting involved, or it has nothing to do with you, but you are wrong,” said Mrs Reid.
“Jessie is your responsibility, he was a member of your community.
“After all, you are your brother’s keeper and therefore you are responsible for each and everyone in Moss Side and beyond.”
On the night of his death, Jessie had been out with a group of friends who were refused entry to an event at the West Indian Centre.
As the group got to the middle of Broadfield Park, they heard shots and the boys dispersed.
Police were called after Jessie’s friends re-traced their steps and found his body. They had been calling his mobile phone as they walked through the park and heard it ringing.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mercury was set up as a competitor to British Telecom The xx may still be basking in the glory of taking home the Mercury Prize 2010 – one of Britain’s most prestigious music awards. But what of the company it was named after?
Officially it’s the Barclaycard Mercury Prize, the fact much of the music industry still uses its shorthand title demonstrates how well-established it has become during its 18 years.
Similarly, the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards are still commonly referred to under their long-time moniker of the Perrier Awards.
But while plenty of people can still crack open a bottle of the French fizzy water, you would be hard pushed to make a call from a Mercury phone box these days.
When the first Mercury Prize was carried off by Primal Scream in 1992, its sponsor was at the cutting edge of the rapidly-expanding telecoms sector.
Formed in 1981, Mercury Communications was one of the early products of the Thatcher government’s introduction of competition to state-owned utilities.
“It was an excellent choice of name because the Greek god Mercury was the messenger of the gods,” says Nigel Linge, a professor of telecommunications at the University of Salford.
However, early consortium partners Barclays and BP soon pulled out, leaving Mercury under the full control of the UK’s established global communications giant Cable & Wireless – itself undergoing privatisation.
“Cable & Wireless had wired up the world but had no domestic footprint because it had been a Post Office monopoly,” says Prof Linge, who head’s the university Computer Networks and Telecommunications Research Centre.
The early 1980s saw rapid change, with Post Office Communications rebranded British Telecom and – from November 1983 – the creation of a duopoly.
Mercury initially launched in the City of London, offering corporate clients cheap and modern services.
Later, the firm’s US-style sleek glass phone booths began to spring up close to their traditional red rivals on Britain’s streets.
Mercury used eye-catching designs for its new call boxes “They had some odd designs,” recalls telecoms consultant Peter Walker.
“Mercury definitely went out to break the mould. Some were really quite eye-catching and one or two have been preserved because they were iconic in their own way,” he says, pointing out that each booth was actually wired to a BT line.
Eventually residential customers could join the revolution.
Again, Mercury avoided the costly business of digging up land or rigging poles to install lines to homes, says Prof Linge. Instead, it used existing infrastructure for a fee in a similar way to firms like Virgin Mobile “piggybacking” other providers today.
Meanwhile, the newly-privatised BT was forced to meet traditional obligations of offering universal service and a sufficient number of public call boxes.
However, Mr Walker says Mercury did not have things all its own way. It invested heavily in long-range infrastructure, such as microwave masts and fibre-optic cables alongside British Rail tracks.
Its new domestic phones featured a blue button which sent a code to the local exchange to identify Mercury callers, who then had to wait while the handset pulsed out their account number before eventually dialling the receiving number.
“It was a hard sell into the residential market in the early days because it required you to do things which were more difficult than just staying with BT – having a special Mercury phone and changing number,” says Mr Walker.
“It might not have been as successful as some would have hoped but it led the way for everything that came behind it”
Peter Walker Telecoms consultant, Hollyer Associates
The latter also proved difficult when trying to sell services to companies who considered their number part of their brand, says Mr Walker, who has spent 40 years in the industry – including 10 at former regulator Oftel.
However, by dint of being “leaner, meaner and cheaper” than BT, Mercury was able to gain a foothold and its market share grew. Once its rival had responded by becoming more competitive, however, it struggled to look “sufficiently different”, says Mr Walker.
The seven-year duopoly of BT and Mercury had been intended to create a strong competitor to the established giant. However, Mercury drew many of its staff from either BT or Cable and Wireless – itself a national operator in Hong Kong, the Caribbean and parts of the Gulf – and Mr Walker feels they wasted a chance by competing on too many fronts.
“They were trying to be a ‘little BT’, which wasn’t that clever.”
However, Prof Linge credits Mercury with some key advances – notably, as Mercury One-2-One, launching the world’s first digital mobile phone network which would revolutionise communications through text messaging and enable handsets to become ever smaller.
By 1997, the Mercury name had disappeared in an amalgamation of UK operators, although its work lives on through its successor Cable & Wireless Communications.
Mr Walker says that Mercury’s legacy is not just in the music prize.
“It might not have been as successful as some would have hoped but it led the way for everything that came behind it,” he says.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A business jet came close to a mid-air collision with a Turkish Airlines passenger plane after taking off from London City Airport, a report has said.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) study described the near-miss over London as a “serious incident”.
The Citation 525 jet was about 100ft to 200ft below and half a mile away from the Boeing 777 passenger plane, heading to Heathrow with 232 people on board.
The near-miss happened on 27 July when both aircraft were at about 4,000ft.
The report said the control tower at London City Airport had cleared the German-owned business jet to climb to 3,000ft but when the flight crew acknowledged the instruction, they said they would be climbing to 4,000ft.
This instruction from the plane – a “readback” mistake – was not noticed by the controller at the tower, the AAIB said.
Meanwhile, the Turkish flight had been cleared to descend to 4,000ft as it approached Heathrow Airport in west London.
If the planes had come close during bad weather “the only barrier to a potential mid-air collision” would have been built-in collision-avoidance systems as the aircraft would not have been able to see each other, the AAIB said.
But the report said that when the aircraft came close the Turkish flight crew had not “followed the commands” of three on-board collision-avoidance warnings and the Citation jet did not even have the equipment, known as TCAS II.
It was a pilot sitting on the observer seat of the passenger plane who saw the business jet, carrying two crew members and one passenger, “pass west of them at an estimated 100 to 200ft below”, the report said.
In its account the Citation’s captain said he had the passenger plane in sight “all the time” and at first thought his jet would be “well above” it.
The AAIB suggested authorities should consider making the TCAS II equipment mandatory for planes flying in the London area.
It also suggested instructions from the control tower at London City Airport be given separately from the rest of the take-off instructions and be followed by a separate response from the crew.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The amount of cash withdrawn from machines has fallen The number of cash machines in the UK has fallen and withdrawals have dropped as shoppers turn to cards, figures show.
As retail stores closed, the number of ATMs fell by 440 between April and June compared with the previous three months, the Payments Council said.
Withdrawals from cash machines fell by £1.6bn compared with a year ago, a dip of 3.2%.
Cheque usage also slumped as people used debit cards for daily purchases.
The Payments Council has set a target date of October 2018 for the phasing out of cheques, if adequate alternatives are developed.
“We use cash less where there is an easy alternative, but we are years away from cash falling out of fashion,” said spokeswoman Sandra Quinn.
The figures also reveal the effect of the ash cloud disruption on card bookings of air flights.
Card spending on airline tickets fell by 13% in the second three months of the year, compared with the same period a year earlier. Revenues dropped by 18% in the first half of the year in airport shops.
Meanwhile, spending rose on rail (8%), bus (14%), and sea transport (16%) in the first six months of the year compared with the first half of 2009.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.