Blocked websites + more news

2 minutes estimated reading time

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

China Mobile a step closer to buying Vodafone stake