London 2012 + more news

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London 2012

London 2012 brought into sharp focus the high cost and low benefit of hosting the Olympics. The Olympics has a low to negative economic impact. London 2012 was a way of seizing land for redevelopment that benefited a few investors. To do this the organising committee of London 2012 closed down a plethora of small businesses and a previously affordable London neighbourhood was priced out of the reach of many Londoners.

So, you thought London 2012 was for spectators? Wrong | guardian.co.ukIn 2005 the International Olympic Committee passed a 109-page document to the British Games organisers in which they described, in mind-bending detail, how Lord Coe and his colleagues at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) should run the media strategy for London 2012. “The preparation period is likely to be the most difficult for Locog in terms of communications,” it explains. “Popular support may decline … soft targets should be identified … Meanwhile, there will be an enormous range of milestones that can be taken advantage of to demonstrate positive progress.” We are now well into what the document calls the operational readiness phase, during which every celebrity “honoured” to carry the Olympic torch has helped Locog satisfy their requirement to show “positive progress” with the Games. The torch run is a truly inspired PR tool. Alas, the hourly stories of its ponderous progress have not yet drowned out all coverage of those “soft target” stories which, with equally ponderous regularity, are beginning to reveal who may stand to benefit most from the Olympics – the corporate sponsors and the IOC themselves. – Not terribly surprising, just emphasises how huge a  mistake of having the London 2012 Olympics was. However The Guardian misses the big picture. The Olympics sees the city captured by a non-governmental body that answers to elites of a criminal or authoritarian nature. They dictate media laws, traffic laws and planning laws. They provide a detailed guide on media manipulation like the example quoted above for London 2012.

Dazed Digital | East London 2012: Is It Dead? – to give an idea of how London 2012 is facilitating a real estate ponzi scheme: Reuters reported that Shoreditch was on course to become a “mini Bond Street” that would welcome luxury retailers eager to capitalise on Shoreditch’s “edgy image”. Property values in areas such as gallery-strewn Redchurch Street have doubled in the past decade, and have the potential to do so again in the next five years as the retail giants move in. For those stores that chose east London as a cheaper, dirtier alternative to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the unthinkable has happened – the east is now mimicking the west

Consumer behaviour

Japan: The Country Where 59% of Households Still Have a Fax – The Atlantic because it works

Study: First-Time Moms Spend More Time On Facebook After Giving Birth – AllFacebook – it makes sense, keeping in touch and support networks

Design

How Products Are Made – does what it says on the tin

Ken Shirriff’s blog: Apple iPhone charger teardown: quality in a tiny expensive package

Economics

The “American Dream” Is Now A Myth – Business Insider

China exports show big increase | RTHK – Chinese imports also increased. Reversed pattern of (relatively) weak exports

Fed’s Fisher welcomes China FX moves but caution needed| Reuters – according to top Fed official

Price has grown steadily as the primary driver of U.S. consumers’ purchasing decisions, – to 66% in 2012 from 60% in 2010 (paywall)

HK economy shows ‘first signs of fissure’ | SCMP.com – due to weak Eurozone and declining Chinese economic growth (paywall)

Finance

Moody’s downgrades German lenders – FT.com

How to

Test your IPv6.

Download Any File or Web Page by Pasting Its URL Into Firefox’s Download Window

Ideas

A Celebration of Brandvation | Nigel Scott – new money for old rope well presented

Is there a terminal velocity for youth and digital? Will we burn out kids out? | The Wall Blog

Innovation

Corning Willow Glass announced, enables flexible displays

Japan

Oshima’s win in AKB48 election big news in Japan ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion – Japanese youth do not believe they can change real politics, where old politicians hold a tight grip on power, but they believe they can change AKB48

Sony market value slumps to lowest since release of Walkman | TechEye

Korea

Potential of US-South Korea FTA Extolled – WWD.com (paywall)

Luxury

China’s reluctant tourists puzzle officials – FT.com (paywall)

China’s frugal millionaires: moving beyond bling? | beyondbrics

Exclusivity is not a criteria for luxury” – FT.com

European Luxury Union flexes political muscle | Material World

Media

Why growth is the least of Facebook’s problems – Nigel Scott on his own version of Facebook Is A Dead Man Walking

Parents call for ban on Facebook advertising to children – Telegraph

Slate doubles down on podcasts, courting niche audiences and happy advertisers » Nieman Journalism Lab – charging audience entry to tapings

Google Makes Renewed Grab for the Rest of Online Advertising – Forbes

Don’t Mean To Be Alarmist, But The TV Business May Be Starting To Collapse – Business Insider

Online

‘Facebook tax’ could make web companies pay for usage outside the US — Engadget – could also nuke start-ups

Facebook And Twitter Shares Closely Linked With High Google Search Rankings Says New Research – according to research by Searchmetrics

Retailing

Improving Product Returns Presents Biggest Opportunity for Retailers – low-hanging fruit in e-commerce

Security

Flame espionage malware issues self-destruct command | Ars Technica

Germany agency to mine Facebook for credit worthiness info | TechEye

Ad Networks Bypass iPhone Privacy Rules – WSJ.com – (paywall)

Software

App Developers Signal Apple Allegiance Ahead of WWDC and Google I/O

Samsung Joins Linux Foundation as Platinum Member | The Linux Foundation

HTC to offer Sony Playstation games on smartphones – Campaign Asia-Pacific – HTC one-ups Samsung in war of content; Flipboard versus PlayStation games

Why I left Google – Spencer Tipping – probably getting more attention than its worth at the moment, but an interesting point-of-view none the less. Interesting how Google’s engineering culture in some ways conflicts with trying to build a social application / platform

Technology

The giants keep getting larger and stronger | EETimes – on technology sector structure

Sharp, SEL Revamp IGZO TFT — Tech-On!

Web of no web

E3 2012: Wonderbook: Book of Spells Features Writing from J.K. Rowling – PlayStation Blog – really impressive print / console game integration to create a web-of-no-web experience makes more sense than mobile augmented reality like Layar

New Technology Adds Keyboard Feel To Touchscreens – BYTE

Wireless

Sharp, Hon Hai to make smartphones for China ‹ Japan Today

IDC: Nokia moved just 2.2 million Lumias this winter, but stay tuned — Engadget – explains why Microsoft maybe pushing HTC out, to leave room for Nokia

HTC Said to Be Shut Out of Next Version of Windows – Bloomberg – sounds a bit deja vu

Communities Dominate Brands: Smartphone Markets Shares in 2012, some relevant illustrations to understand the Bloodbath

TI OMAP 5 kicks iPad 3 GPU butt

Face To Face: How Airtime Will Re-Humanize The Internet | TechCrunch