UK national and regional newspaper publishers have called for the BBC's digital news operation to be curbed to allow commercial players to flourish at home and abroad. The NMA, which represents most major newspaper publishers, is calling on the government to implement 10 changes to the BBC's objectives and governance. These include "specific controls" around the scope of BBC news online, partnerships with news brands instead of replicating content or launching competing services, and improved transparency.

London's iconic black cabs have decided to defend the streets of the capital against the likes of Uber by fighting fire with fire. As of today, cabbies have confirmed they will be offering off-peak discounts on journeys over six miles through the Gett app. Available on both Android and iOS devices, Gett will give travellers in London up to a 30% discount when riding in black cabs.

Google's decision to switch off Flash ads in its Chrome browser appears to have caught many brands "by surprise," according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which says the decision is "long overdue." The move means interactive digital ads that use Adobe's Flash technology will no longer play automatically. Instead they will show an empty grey box with a "play" button in the middle. Google says it made the decision to help speed up Web browsing and conserve battery life.

The Silicon Valley giant will release a new version of its video streaming service with an assemblage of advanced features that will compete with game consoles, traditional set-top boxes and online streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Its new box will include a built in microphone for Siri support, redesigned remote control and an app store that will allow developers to run programs on it. The new controllers have real and touchpad buttons as well as motion sensors which will make playing games easier.

The average Briton actively spends nearly three hours online a day across different screens, according to a study designed to act as the official industry standard, which aims to dispel much of the confusion around how much time people are actually spending on the internet with the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) and UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM) both hailing 2 hours and 51 minutes as the "definitive" measure.

Contactless technology has been built into a jacket to allow payment at the sweep of a cuff. Barclaycard and its contactless bPay technology has partnered with fashion brand Lyle & Scott to create the "world first" jacket. It can be used to make payments in the same way consumers would use a contactless card. The jacket -- which is going on sale online and in the brand's Carnaby Street store -- has space in the cuff for a contactless payment chip, like those found in debit and credit cards.

As part of a multimillion-pound strategy to find new ways of connecting consumers with content, the launch of Cosmopolitan UK will be viewed as a prelude to its other titles, such as "Good Housekeeping" and "Harper's Bazaar," joining Snapchat too. The UK version will publish up to 12 stories a day on Snapchat. The magazine will also undergo what the publisher calls a "dramatic" new look in its October issue (on sale today). The magazine will also be available in a 'midi' size format for the first time.

Two ads from Vodafone have been banned after the ad watchdog warned the mobile carrier not "to imply they performed as well as other mobile network operators on call connection and dropped calls," following a complaint by rival Three. An independent study backed Vodafone's claims of an unbeatable signal in ads by Grey Advertising. These were featured on the Vodafone Web site and in the national press. The ad watchdog found the findings to be flawed however, thus scuppering the ads.

An unlikely alliance of national newspapers -- from the "Sun" and "Mirror" to the "Mail," "Telegraph" and "Guardian" -- will launch a multimillion-pound ad campaign promoting the power of news brands. The UK's six national newspaper groups have come together to run a GBP3m ad campaign across their 18 titles, which will run for eight weeks from Wednesday.

World-renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz has partnered with UBS in a new "transformational" brand campaign for the investment bank. Leibovitz -- who is perhaps most famous for her portrait of John Lennon coiled naked next to his wife just hours before his death -- is collaborating with the bank as it launches a "significant", multimillion-pound rebrand. The global campaign will span TV, digital, print and branded content collaborations and kicks off today, "Marketing" reveals.