4 minutes estimated reading time
Siberian meteor burst
I know that there have been 500 people with minor injuries, but the Siberian meteor burst felt like I was living in a Jerry Bruckheimer film. The best observation I saw about it was in Vice magazine’s email newsletter which asked why so many drivers in Russia had managed to film the asteroid rather than keeping both hands on the wheel? The reason for the multiple recordings of the Siberian meteor burst is driver cams used to help with car accident disputes. The Siberian meteor burst brought back memories of the Tunguska event in 1908 which levelled large swathes of Siberian forest.
Business
“Physically Together”: Here’s the Internal YHOO No-Work-From-Home Memo | AllThingsD – I could see a post coming on from Becky McMichael about the benefits of remote working and flexible hours etc etc
PrivCo | LIVINGSOCIAL $110M Debt Infusion From Existing Investors With Oppressive Terms – I wonder what implications this will have for GroupOn
Consumer behaviour
HBO: The Weight of the Nation interesting site on obesity in the US
Culture
So there has been extensive character redesigns and different actors will be voicing some of the main protagonists, but I am super-excited that Production I.G are returning with another installment in the Ghost In the Shell series of anime. Arise looks amazing judging by the trailer footage now available on YouTube. More Japan related content can be found here.
The Cover Art to Watchmen No. 1 Sells for Over $150K | Wired.com
Economics
Who Supplies Apple? (It’s Not Just China): An Interactive Map | ChinaFile
The loss of Britain’s triple A credit rating won’t make much difference | Left Foot Forward
Surprise UK retail sales drop fuels triple-dip recession fears | guardian.co.uk – not that surprising really
Finance
Yorkshire invests to consolidate M&As – FT.com – interesting contrarian position to spur growth
How to
Using social media monitoring for market research | Econsultancy
What to Do if Your Client’s Site Goes Down | ClickZ
Free Wireframe GUI Toolkit for Web and Mobile Apps | GUI Toolkits
Ideas
Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning About a Highly Connected World By David Easley and Jon Kleinberg is a free read that I would recommend anyone in digital should check out.
Can the Republicans Be Saved From Obsolescence? – NYTimes.com – rather like the Conservatives at the start of New Labour
Innovation
MIT Technology Review’s List of 50 Disruptive Companies for 2013 | MIT Technology Review
Korea
Korean lawmaker who exposed Samsung corruption forced from office | The Verge – the infamous Korean x-files
London
The shadow power list | The New Stateman – an interesting list of UK power brokers
Luxury
Luxury goods key to status and social power for Chinese women: Ipsos survey|WantChinaTimes.com
Media
The New Multi-Screen World | Think with Google – the decline of print media
Reeva Steenkamp’s corpse was in the morgue, her body was on the Sun’s front page | Marina Hyde | Comment is free | The Guardian – ‘If you put a picture of Caprice on page 1 – and any old stock one was fine as long as she had very little on – you could guarantee a 30,000 uplift in sales. Nell McAndrew would get you 20,000. Geri Halliwell would do 10,000’ – the scary math of media circulation
Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) Beta Introduction – iCrossing
Facebook wins in German privacy challenge – RTÉ News
When Mayer Called Yahoo’s Mobile Revenue “Nascent,” She Wasn’t Kidding – AllThingsD
Online
How Graph Search Works for Young People – presumably not Google for cyberbullies then
Microsoft’s “Scroogled” Campaign Against Gmail Wins 0.002% Of Users – Danny Sullivan’s critique of the campaign
Twitter Now Reducing Some Tweets To 117 Characters
Quality
Study Shows iPhone 300% More Reliable Than Samsung Smartphones
Retailing
The Marketplace Fairness Act (S.336 / H.R.684) official website – the US internet now plays sales tax
Security
Google asks journalists to tone down story of “massive” Google Play security flaw
“Frost” Attack Unlocks Android Phones’ Data By Chilling Their Memory In A Freezer – Forbes
Software
Is Excel the most dangerous piece of software in the world? – funnily enough this echoes the introduction to Robert X Cringely’s Accidental Empires
No Plan B for Microsoft’s mobile ambitions: CFO | Reuters
Technology
With PlayStation 4, Sony Aims for Return to Glory – NYTimes.com
Telecoms
Skype calls now equivalent to one-third of global phone traffic | Ars Technica
Web of no web
Google Looks to Make Its Computer Glasses Stylish – NYTimes.com – interesting design challenges for both wearable computing and digital health / quantified self
Wireless
4G shortfall raises questions over Osborne’s deficit pledge | Westminster blog
UK auction comes in well under target – Rethink Wireless – surprised it was as high as £2.34 billion
4G fails to lure customers to EE | PC Pro – not terribly surprising: poor 4G coverage, no compelling reason and pricing
The newest overhyped mobile industry buzzword: LTE-Advanced — GigaOM