OFT to investigate hotels online booking industry

"Allegations of collusion between hotels and online booking operators to keep room rates artificially high are to be formally investigated by the Office of Fair Trading." Consumer wins. FT

Europe according to stereotypes

Europe as seen from France. More maps by alphadesigner.

Facebook overtakes Google on time spent

Internet users now spending more time on Facebook than Google (including Gmail, Youtube...). CNET.

Paul's extreme sound stretch

Create your own ambient epic soundtrack with Paul's extreme sound stretch. It makes pre-teen idol Justin Bieber sound like Vangelis. Read on Lifehacker. Mac version here.

Strategic Online PR and Media Relations Forum Asia

I am speaking at the Strategic Online PR and Media Relations Forum Asia (23 – 25 August 2010) in Singapore on how brands must move from advertising to advocacy to succeed with social media.

Can Facebook fail?

It seems that Facebook fatigue combined with the sudden re-discovery of basic concepts such as "privacy" are weighting down on Facebook's exponential growth. While I am not cheering for the demise of the platform that allows me to stay connected with otherwise too loose connections to bother sustaining, I am of course concerned about who gets hold of my status updates. And it seems that I am not alone. The BBC is running a good article summing-up why Facebook should worry and highlights a number of promising alternatives such as Diaspora.

Social networks urged to 'raise ad rates or die'

"Datamonitor's Business Insights study predicts that charges for advertising on social networks will have risen steeply by 2015 (...) the report predicts social networks will only make £4.14 per user per year (US$6.03)". Looking at the backlash against Facebook's move to make its platform more advertiser friendly, fair to say that it will be a tough battle to convince users to gobble more ads and let go of more personal data, and to convince advertisers of a premium ROI.

Full article on Brand Republic.

Russian study shows GM soja causes infertility, genetic defects

This 2 years study will be published in July unless it is "killed-off" before that. Truly frightening when we know of the considerable resources deployed to suppress any scientific paper showing harmful side effects of GM food consumptions. The issue is that GM crops contaminate natural crops thus reducing consumer choice. The GM food industry has also been successful at aborting government initiatives to label food containing GM ingredients as such.

Eat organic whenever possible.

Huffington Post

Comprehensive article in French here.

Toyota battling Chinese bloggers

"Toyota Motor Corp.'s recall of millions of cars globally has created a PR fiasco for the Japanese car company. In China, the company now has one more thing to worry about..." Bloggers!

AdAge

Watch US TV shows outside the US

http://tvgorge.com

US teens don't blog, don' twitter.

Only 14% blog and 8% tweet. 73% use social networks. Speaking of Twitter, a Pew researcher commented that teens may have a "reluctance to put their thoughts on such a public forum when they can post them to their Facebook page instead". Didn't Mark Zuckerberg announced the end of privacy?

Forget tablet PC, here comes "sixth sense" technology.

"Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his Sixth Sense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop". Originally read on the Economic Times, on the recommendation of Professor Rao.

Food 2.0.

Looks that the World will not run out of food due to overpopulation after all. Dutch scientists grow artificial meat. Telegraph.

Climate change: Are you thinking in rows or columns?

Decision science applied to climate change. You can't argue with logic. A must watch video for all the skeptics.

The Trafigura debacle

When ethics and PR collide, a lesson for business and communication students: Own up to your mistakes and proactively remedy the situation you created instead of attempting to conceal it. That stuff worked when we had a handful of TV channels and a few newspapers, not with millions of citizen journalists. Great account on the Guardian.

Climate Cover-Up by Oil lobby

The American Petroleum Institute increased its lobbying budget by 82 percent in the second quarter of 2009, relative to 2008... Makes you think.

Climate Cover Up: the crusade to deny global warming

In his new book, 35-year public relations veteran Jim Hoggan chronicles the history of unethical PR through the years, using the attack on climate change science as the most relevant, contemporary example. Watch this video interview where Jim talks about what he calls the "Philip Morris theory" – a strategy corporations use to cloak their spin with the legitimacy of science.

Federal Trade Commission to force bloggers' endorsement disclosure

"Bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service." At last... BBC News. Disclosure: I have no connection with the FTC or the BBC.

Top 10 bizarre wine names

This was sent to me by my friend El Blogador. In order of bizarreness?

• Fat Bastard (I tried the Shiraz. Quite good and affordable)
• Bitch
• Le Vin de Merde ("the shitty wine" in French...)
• Oops
• Arrogant Frog
• Elephant on a tightrope
• Frog's piss
• Cleavage Creek
• Mad Housewife
• Blasted Church (this is probably banned in the US. See my next post).
  

Full post and label pictures available on Oddee.com.

Carrier pigeon beats Internet in race to transmit data

Fantastic PR stunt from a South African IT company frustrated with their local ISP.