New UK Fiat website

Fiat re-launched its UK website with sleek 3D flyovers. Nice work from AKQA. I am waiting to see what is in store for the re-launch of the Fiat 500.

Fiat is a Digital PR client in Italy.

Preserving our collective memory in the digital age

The BBC is running a warning from the Chief executive of the UK National Archives: "Unless more work is done to ensure legacy file formats can be read and edited in the future, we face a digital dark hole."

Think about it, we can still read 5,000 years old Egyptian hieroglyphs or medieval manuscripts but we can't access a file on a floppy disk, read a Betamax tape or a Philips CD-I... There is a danger of loosing our collective memory because we record it on highly perishable media. And the pace of change drives the cost of re-recording it again and again for national archives, who are often poorly funded.

I reckon that in 10 years time, it will be fashionable to handwrite letters again, just because it involves efforts and makes the recipient feel special. And your letter will be preserved for hundred years for posterity, unlike that "reply all" email.

BBC article

Funny Hansaplast condom ad

The world's most expensive external hard disk

As seen on Amazon.co.uk this morning. Usually I prefer typos to go the other way.

Are search engines responsible for the content of the websites they link to?

Brian Retkin, a UK businessman is suing Google over claims that the search engine directs people to 'deeply offensive and commercially damaging' material about his companies on the internet.

If the case is successful, any search engine accessible in the UK could be liable for defamation suits.

From VNUNET.com and Tech.blorge.com

Just one in five customers getting broadband service at speed advertised

From Thisislondon.co.uk.

Jason Lloyd, Head of Broadband at the survey commissioner: "I urge all people to check what deal they are on and then ask their broadband provider for a free upgrade".

I will follow that advice as my own broadband provider delivers me speed of up to 20Kbps at present...

Bob Thurman: Becoming Buddha -- on the Web

From Ted.com

Myspace v. Facebook? Social sites reveal class divide in America

Finally, something interesting to blog about: The BBC reports on a 6 months research project from Danah Boyd (I used some of her work for my own MBA research project and I value her insight). Her paper: Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and Myspace concludes that Facebook users come from wealthier backgrounds are are more likely to attend college - which makes sense since Facebook was initially restricted to those with a college/uni email address. Myspace users are more likely to be "non-hegemonic" teens. Now if we were to throw A Small World into the mix...

Hamster powered phone charger

From Ananova.

Le blog de Valéry Giscard d'Estaing gives me a French lesson in blogging

81 years old ex French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has opened a blog. It gave me the opportunity to learn how to translate blogging vocabulary into French. By using the following words on your blog, you too could add some French flair and sophistication to your daily "billets" (postings).

French blogueurs vocabulary:

• A blogger = un blogueur. Plural: blogueurs
• A blog post = un billet. Plural: billets
  
• A comment = un commentaire. Plural: commentaires
  
• A trackback link = un retrolien. retroliens
• RSS feed = fil des billets

Merci Monsieur le President.

G8 summit, Nicolas Sarkozy and treacherous vodka shots

French President Nicolas Sarkozy looking worst for wear (and late) at a press conference after a lengthy meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.




Via Guy who saw it on The Register

iGoogle

Customise your Google homepage with dozens of widgets through iGoogle. I like the fact that I can access my Yahoo!, MSN Hotmail and Gmail accounts on one page. This type of personalisation has been around for a decade and most "portals" provide it but somehow iGoogle has the extra "cool" factor that will make me use it past its novelty factor.

Steve Jobs: Stanford's commencement speech

Very inspirational.

Online adspend up to more than £2bn in UK

UK advertising expenditure on the internet increased by almost 50% in 2006 to over £2bn, while most other media suffered a decrease in revenue. Via BrandRepublic.

Engadget send Apple's shareprice tumbling

Neville Hobson posts on how an incorrect memo about iPhone and Leopard's delays leaked from Apple employees and found its way to Engadget, causing Apple's shareprice to dip momentarily (yet dramatically). I don't have information as to whether Engadget's post was solely responsible for that, or whether the memo reached investors through other channels, but it's a startling reminder of disapearing boundaries between internal and external communication and of the influence of blogs on corporate matters.

Via an email from El Blogador.

Youtube water and whisky experiment highlights failings of science teaching in the West

How to transfer the content of the glass of water into the glass of whisky and vice-versa, without an additional glass?

What's even more entertaining is to read comments to that simple physics experiment: "it's magic!", "it's a fake!". This is a nice segway to this article that compares science curriculum for 14 years old students in the UK and China.

MIT Scratch

Scratch is a free programming tool developed by MIT that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks.

Flickrvision

Flickrvision is a mashup between Google maps and Flickr. Watch pictures based on their origin in real time, as they are posted. Pretty cool.

Via El Blogador

New MBA online community

MBAmarket.com is a brand new online community for potential MBA students, current MBA students, and MBA alumni. Just been launched by a Kellogg alumni. He is looking for some users to help test and populate the site.

France has spoken...

... and has given Nicolas Sarkozy with over 53% of votes a mandate to reform France (click "Watch Sarkosy speech"). Congratulations Monsieur le President!