BBC News – UK government tackles wrongly-blocked websites – yes its a complete screw-up. UK government has blocked websites for a wide variety of reasons from child porn to protecting Premier League match video piracy
Consumer behaviour
Data point: Holding on to tradition in a fast-changing world | JWT Intelligence
Ideological segregation and the effects of social media on news consumption – interesting and disheartening paper on news consumption
Finance
Former China official sees key local government deleveraging | FT – which should allay some fears, but also
FMCG
Diageo refocuses marketing spend : News from warc.com – moving marketing focus away from APAC and Western Europe to focus on premium in North America and general products in Africa
Hong Kong
New approach to the new year – Monocle Monocolumn / 2014 – good summary of Chinese New Year in Hong Kong
Luxury
Prada Opens Two Stores in China, Confirms Strategic Interest in Mainland Chinese Market : News : Fashion Times – interesting how brands are changing, presumably as consumers evolve
Where China’s Rich Choose To Go | SCMP – (paywall)
Media
Business Insider now bigger than The Wall Street Journal – Business Insider
Online
The Sky is Not Falling: Teens Still Active on Facebook | Social Media Statistics & Metrics | Socialbakers – just like Yahoo!’s unique user numbers keep rising
Academic Torrents – interesting move by open data fans
The Dark Side of Open Data – broadstuff
Retailing
Why UK retailers miss out on Chinese New Year spending – Brand Republic – great opportunity for UK retailers going begging
Sportswear Brands Underutilize Product Videos | L2’s The Daily
8 Retail Trends In China – WPP
Security
Eurocops want to build remote car-stopper, shared sensor network • The Register – which would be ideal for budding hacker-assassins
World threat assessment according to U.S intelligence community – thoroughly depressing reading
Software
Philippines Babble app enters OTT space – may pick up adoption through the Filipino diaspora, however I doubt it will break out to seriously challenge LINE, WeChat or WhatsApp
Web of no web
Mobile Payments At Starbucks Explode In 2013, Passing The $1 Billion Mark 2 – Business Insider
Wireless
Google Is Selling Motorola Mobility, But Keeping The Most Interesting And High-Tech Division | Fast Company | Business + Innovation – and the patents
Goodbye Moto! Google Flips Failed Motorola Mobility Unit To China’s Lenovo – ChinaTechNews.com