Eric Schmidt's 2014 predictions

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/31/eric-schmidts-2014-predictions-big-genomics-and-smartphones-everywhere

It's worth noting that Schmidt has a shaky track record on predictions. At Le Web in 2011 he famously forecast that developers would be shunning iOS to start developing on Android first, and that Google TV would be installed on 50% of all TVs on sale by summer 2012.

It didn't turn out that way: even now, many apps start on iOS, and Google TV fizzled out as companies such as Logitech found that it didn't work as well as Android to tempt buyers.

Since that, Schmidt has been a lot more cautious about predicting trends and changes - although he hasn't been above the occasional comment which seems calculated to get a rise from his audience, such as telling executives at a Gartner conference that Android was more secure than the iPhone - which they apparently found humourous.

How technology is changing our likes and loves

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10525691/How-technology-is-changing-our-likes-and-loves.html

Once upon a time, we worried about how much television we watched. It would destroy our relationships, stop us communicating and turn our brains to mush. How innocent that sounds now.

Today, if you peeked through the curtains of any living-room on an average night you’d find more than half of us focused not on our family, nor even the television, but on the other screen on our laps.

And it’s not just at home. Look down any Tube platform, or at any diner left alone when their partner goes to the loo, and you’ll see heads inclined, gazing at iPhones and Kindles. When you consider how much time we devote to them and how much we depend on them, it’s not hard to make a case that our relationships with phones, tablets and computers are becoming ever more important – meaningful, even.

Pirelli celebrates 50 years of its calendar girls with release of lost edition shot by Helmut Newton in 1986

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/pirelli-celebrates-50-years-of-its-calendar-girls-with-release-of-lost-edition-shot-by-helmut-newton-in-1986-9029390.html


As a previously unpublished edition shot by Helmut Newton for 1986 is released, we reflect on the publication's glamorous history

10 science and technology innovations coming up in 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/10539616/The-year-ahead-ten-amazing-science-and-technology-innovations-coming-up-in-2014.html

From the world's largest underground hotel to Star Wars-style holographic communication, the coming year is set to unveil an array of incredible advances in science and technology

Lean back’s must-reads of 2013

http://www.economistgroup.com/leanback/the-next-big-thing/must-reads-of-2013/

If you were reading Lean back over the last year, you would have been among the first to see the results of an AOL study that showed smartphones are displacing desktops as the online shopping hardware of choice among consumers. You would have picked up intelligence on treating your data right from Jim Davis, CMO of SAS. You would have gone behind closed doors to see the massive data management operations of IBM at theU.S. Open or ran around New York with our staff during Advertising Week. 

Yevgeny Chichvarkin's new life in London

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/dec/27/exile-mayfair-millionaire-yevgeny-chichvarkin

He thinks his frustration stems from his own childhood experience of deprivation, as Russia moved away from the Soviet system in the 80s. Although he was born to privileged parents (his mother was a government economist, and his father was an Aeroflot pilot) he grew up in a standard Soviet apartment block, far from the city centre. "I understand what an empty refrigerator looks like. I lived in Russia in 1989, where queues for chicken were four hours," he says. "No one who is not mad would want their kids to live in the Soviet Union."

When he was searching for the right business to create, he visited dozens of shops. He thought about starting a fast-turnover, cheap, high-fashion chain, but dismissed it. "I went to Primark, and thought: 'When I become poor again, I will start to work for lower middle classes the way I did in Russia.'

"If I spend all my money, or lose it, I will work for lower middle classes, because it's the biggest class. If you want to be rich, work for the poorest people. Twelve years I worked for middle and lower middle class in Russia. I had 5,000 shops – I know how it works. But life is not only the money.

Young users see Facebook as 'dead and buried'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10539274/Young-users-see-Facebook-as-dead-and-buried.html

A study of how teenagers use social media has found that Facebook is “not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried”, but that the network is morphing into a tool for keeping in touch with older family members

The Global Social Media Impact Study, which was funded by the European Union, observed 16- to 18-year-olds in eight countries for 15 months and found that Facebook use was in freefall. Instead, young people are turning to simpler services like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp which Professor Miller conceded were “no match” for Facebook in terms of functionality.

Crashing fertility will transform the Asian family

http://www.economist.com/news/21589151-crashing-fertility-will-transform-asian-family-baby-boom-bust

Russian Opera Star Says Anti-Gay Law Causing ‘Colossal’ Damage to Russia’s Reputation

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/12/26/russian-opera-star-says-anti-gay-law-causing-colossal-damage-to-russias-reputation/?mod=WSJBlog

Maria Maksakova, a mezzo soprano soloist with St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater,  is one of the few people in the Russian government to speak out in public against the controversial law that has been met with international condemnation.

“I am very sad to see that the Olympic Games in Sochi for which we have so long and anxiously prepared will come to pass with less brilliance and passion because of this unfortunate initiative that was so hastily — and I believe without thoughtful discussion – adopted by parliament,” she said.

Apps that can communicate touch, taste and smell: A taste of what’s to come

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/apps-that-can-communicate-touch-taste-andsmell-a-taste-of-whats-to-come-9025271.html

Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian philosopher of communication theory, famously used the term “global village” to describe the effect of connected media upon the world’s population; it has become overused, but Cheok believes that new sensory-communication channels will demonstrate how prescient that prediction was. “For most of human history, we didn’t have privacy,” he says. “Everyone knew who was doing what. And these developments will mean that we become more and more open – the end of secrecy, almost bringing us back to the way that life used to be in hunter-gatherer times. Except, of course, it’s now global. A lot more people will know.”

Better times for the music industry

http://www.economist.com/news/21589103-better-times-music-industry-here-comes-sun

2013: the media year in pictures

http://www.theguardian.com/media/gallery/2013/dec/24/2013-media-year-pictures

We look back at some of the biggest stories and most striking images of the past year

Is Galaxy Gear smart watch advert the worst commercial of 2013?

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/is-samsungs-new-galaxy-gear-smart-watch-advert-the-worst-commercial-of-2013-9022510.html

One man has a smartphone, which judging by his inability to operate it would appear to be made of super slippery eel skin, whereas the other gentleman has - you guessed it - a fancy new Galaxy Gear watch.

Eventually smartphone man loses his bizarre battle to hold onto his handset and drops his lively phone off the ski lift - dammit.

Meanwhile, smarmy Galaxy Gear man is shown operating the smart watch voice control features including the adding of contacts and the playing of music etc, with horrible smarmy ease.

Spoiler alert: the chap with the smart watch gets the gal.

Popular Demand - US Media in Numbers

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/23/business/media/23most.html?ref=media&_r=0

Christmas Day is a big day at the box office. This year has good opening-day potential, with “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” starring Ben Stiller, “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Grudge Match.”

MBA students ask 'what does the future hold?'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/10496658/MBA-students-ask-what-does-the-future-hold.html

The survey asked the students which of today’s global brands they believe will still be bankable in 2050. Just over three-quarters thought that Google would be in business, with McKinsey and Co scoring 60 per cent and Toyota 51 per cent. Facebook, however, polled a measly 25 per cent.

“The world will still be a lovely place, but every time you search for something on Google, you’ll have to pay a £1 charge,” says Bharat Gupta from Cranfield School of Management. “In 2050 Facebook and Apple will have a similar status to Yahoo and Nokia today.”

By 2050 the distinction between physical and virtual experience will have become thoroughly blurred, according to some of the MBA students interviewed. They also make numerous mentions of 3D interaction overtaking 2D in advanced social media, and voice-activation being replaced by thought-activation.

What 'viral' meant in 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/interactive/2013/dec/20/viral-news-year-in-review-2013#month-1

This is it: the final days of the Year of the Selfie. It's also the Year of the Snake on the Chinese calendar, appropriate if you consider the amount of times the internet nearly swallowed its own tail. 2013 was punctuated by news we couldn't ignore. How we dealt with it as humans is still up for debate.

What drives real-time content demand?

Speaking at the Activate New York Summit 2013, Ben Huh, chief executive officer and founder, Cheezburger explains how brands can capitalise on changing consumer habits (such as shortening attention spans) and a fragmented media landscape. Ben identifies real-time content as a key way for brands to build communities, but companies should not underestimate the resourcing needed to create this content.

Viral Video Chart: Kevin Spacey, Lady Gaga & Nigella Lawson

House of Cards rises again, Will Ferrell plays bingo and one lippy TV anchor man signs off and another dons his pyjamas

1. #Xmas Jammies - Merry Christmas from the Holderness Family! 
Pyjama games

2. KSN Wichita News Anchor Justin Kraemer: "Let's Get The Fu*k Out Of Here"
Signing off, signing on

3. House of Cards - Season 2 - Teaser Trailer - Netflix - HD
Another ace

4. DOCTOR WHO Christmas Special *Exclusive Extended BBC AMERICA Trailer* - The Time of The Doctor
Matt finish

5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Official Trailer | 20th Century FOX
Monkey business

6. You Shall Not Pass, Dog
Puss in cahoots

7. The Taste | Starts 7th January | Channel 4
Nigella's back

8. Google Zeitgeist - 2013 in Searches
It all clicks

9. Will Ferrell Innuendo Bingo
Water laugh

10. Lady Gaga & Christina Aguilera - Do What U Want (Live The Voice)
Girl power

Source: Viral Video Chart. Compiled from data gathered at 14:00 on 19 December 2013. The Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately 2m blogs, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Ad Break 2013 roundup: Channing Tatum for MTV, O2, Lego, Doritos

Watch some great comic campaigns and touching takes on family life in our selection of the standout work of the year

Nobody Knows Anything

Business in Tinseltown is as unpredictable as it was 30 years ago

“Hollywood is always in crisis,” jokes an unusually publicity-shy talent agent. Indeed, his office is in Century City, a district full of high-rises in Los Angeles that was once the backlot of 20th Century-Fox until it had to sell up because of the crippling cost of its 1963 epic, “Cleopatra”. Faced with bankruptcy 50 years ago, Fox might have been better off keeping the property and junking the film-making. The industry’s return on capital has been chronically anaemic. The media conglomerates that own the major studios grouse about the lousy economics of the business, particularly since DVD sales peaked in 2004 and then waned, with consumers shifting to lower-cost rentals and subscription services like Netflix. Technology should have helped Hollywood, by lowering the cost of distributing films, but it has also cost the industry dearly, as film-makers doll up their movies with expensive special effects, and negative social-media buzz kills films before they even open.

Today Hollywood tries to tailor its products to the tastes of film buffs in big emerging economies, especially China, which is now the world’s second-largest movie market. The farther a film can travel, the better, which means the studios are exporting films with fewer American elements. “Big Hollywood films have no national ideology attached to them today,” says Michael Lynton, the boss of Sony Pictures. Consider Fox’s four “Ice Age” cartoons, which together grossed around $800m. They are set in no identifiable time or place, and the characters can easily be dubbed into local languages.

The Writer Speaks - William Goldman

Seven media predictions for 2014

A panel of experts share their thoughts on the changes we can expect to see in media and advertising in 2014. They all agree on one thing – mobile is impossible to ignore

As we look ahead to the new year, we asked seven media execs for their predictions for media and advertising in 2014. Here's what they came up with.

2014 agency predictions

Quick-fire creativity and the ability to adapt to new situations quickly are the common themes outlined by a number of agency leaders in this 2014 agency predictions round up

As part of the Media Network's 2014 trends outlook, we asked a selection of leaders from different advertising and media agencies to predict the challenges agencies will face when doing business and creating great work in the future. Here are some of the predictions they made for the agency world in 2014

20 most popular TED Talks

What really makes this list so incredible is the fact that it spans so many areas of interest, from education to happiness, statistics to creativity, tech demos to illusions

1. Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity (2006): 23,510,221 views
2. Jill Bolte Taylor‘s stroke of insight (2008): 14,343,197
3. Simon Sinek on how great leaders inspire action (2010): 14,228,854
4. Brene Brown talks about the power of vulnerability (2010): 12,703,623
5. Amy Cuddy on how your body language shapes who you are (2012): 12,682,694
6. Pranav Mistry on the thrilling potential of SixthSense (2009): 12,068,105
7. Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do (2006): 10,425,014
8. David Gallo‘s underwater astonishments (2007): 10,266,221
9. Mary Roach on 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm (2009): 9,435,954
10. Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation (2009): 9.176,053
11. Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense (2009): 8, 363,339
12. Dan Gilbert asks: Why are we happy? (2004): 7,788,151
13. Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen (2006): 7,685,726
14. Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing your creative genius (2009): 7,593,076
15. Steve Jobs on how to live before you die (2005): 7,223,258
16. Susan Cain shares the power of introverts (2012): 6,807,240
17. Keith Barry does brain magic (2004): 6,371,778
18. David Blaine reveals how he held his breath for 17 minutes (2010): 6,359,084
19. Pamela Meyer on how to spot a liar (2010): 6,256,589
20. Arthur Benjamin does mathemagic (2005): 4,951,918

Facebook trials video ads in news feeds

Shares rise on news that company is testing adverts that automatically start playing without sound

Facebook says it has been testing the silent auto-playing videos for video content shared between Facebook users since September and has seen a 10% increase in the number of videos users watch, like, share and comment on.

Advertising has helped Facebook achieve enormous growth in recent years. Its revenue grew from $3.71bn in 2011 to $5.09bn in 2012, and to $5.29bn (£3.25bn) in the first nine months of this year.

Social media is dead

Long live social commerce

Earlier this year, Ad Age reported Coca-Cola found that social media “buzz” had no measurable effect on short-term sales. It isn’t that Coca-Cola thinks buzz isn’t valuable. It’s just that they were unable to draw a clean line between it and a lift in sales. Collectively, marketers responded that they aren’t going after sales. That they’re going after something everyone simply knows is valuable, namely awareness, stickiness, loyalty and brand engagement.

The days of social media for the sake of engagement are dead, or should be.  Social media can be a transactional engine, a hugely effective conversion machine. Flipboard, for one, just launched a catalogue feature that lets shoppers search for, curate and buy products right from their app.  

 It’s no longer about searching social media platforms for data we think we can use. It’s about determining what data we need to make something measurable and valuable happen, and then using that data to craft a strong offer, and delivering that offer when and where that customer is most ready to receive and act on it.

Waitrose goes live online with Heston Blumenthal

Supermarket hopes social media will 'open the brand to new people', while Sainsbury's uses food bloggers to push message

People who engage with brands via social media spend between 20% and 40% more with the brand than other customers, according to global consultancy Bain & Company. Of course, that number is partly self-fulfilling, because shoppers who like and use a brand are the most likely to "like" it on Facebook, follow it on Twitter or collect images of its products on Pinterest.

Such is the power of the internet that the likes of Marks & Spencer and Argos, as well as Waitrose, have kept shoppers interested in their Christmas ads using social media competitions. John Lewis kicked off its festive campaign by creating a small forest on London's South Bank and an unbranded trailer on ITV to help publicise its Twitter hashtag #sleepingbear before the launch of its £1m Disney-style ad. It has racked up a heady 10m views online, more than 10 times the number of its nearest competitors.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury's this week said it was ditching celebrity chefs in favour of food bloggers including Jack Monroe, writer of A Girl Called Jack.

Google: 'Zeitgeist' list reveals the most searched people of 2013

Figures who passed away dominate top ten trending people of the year

See the most searched for TV shows of 2013 here

See the most searched for terms of 2013 here

Daily chart - The coffee insurgency

The global rivalry of bean versus leaf

Throughout most of the West, the bean bests the leaf. Yet the British consume three times as much tea as coffee, despite an invasion by the American Starbucks. And tea fuels the fast growth of BRICS countries (save for coffee-producing Brazil) and dominates Asia.

New Beyoncé album smashes iTunes record

The new album from the singer Beyoncé has become the fastest-selling release in the history of iTunes, reinvigorating Apple’s music store at a time when streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer and Rdio have stolen some of its thunder.



Beyoncé's Marketing Strategy Worked for 3 Reasons

1. The unexpected release of 14 new songs—and full-lengths videos for each one—isn’t just surprising, it’s shocking. How could she have done all of this in secret with paparazzi and smartphone-wielding fans stalking her every move? Shock makes people talk and feel compelled to share the news with friends online and offline.
2. This strategy set her apart from her contemporaries and was different. This is not how albums from big musical acts are marketed. This year alone, the album launches from Gaga, Katie Perry, Britney Spears and Eminem were all carefully planned and involved advertising in multiple channels and touchpoints. Early news articles reference Beyoncé’s marketing strategy as “innovative” and the “future blueprint for the music industry.” Originality stands out and is the kind of thing that tends to spread via word of mouth.
3. The bold strategy was on-brand for Beyoncé. With 17 Grammys, she is known as a strong woman with a commanding presence that rules the music industry. She even has an alter ego named “Sasha Fierce.” She’s so electric that her performance can shut down a Super Bowl. Conceptualizing this “visual album”—songs and videos together—and releasing it straight to fans with no notice plays into her nickname, “Queen Bey.”

Expect More Anti-U.S. Venom in the State Media

President Vladimir Putin has destroyed RIA Novosti, Russia's largest news agency. With a single stroke, he has leveled a powerful brand that the government had spent about $1 billion developing over the past decade

Dmitry Kiselyov, who will oversee the liquidation of RIA Novosti and build a new state media empire in its place, is a notorious and bitter critic of the West, liberalism and the protest movement in Russia and Ukraine. By appointing Kiselyov as the new director of Rossia Sevodyna, the Kremlin has signaled a radical shift in its propaganda style: using the heavy ax of Kiselyov to replace the soft power of Mironyuk. The pro-Kremlin journalists Kiselyov will cultivate at Rossia Sevodnya will likely take on the same venomous anti-U.S., anti-gay and anti-liberal tone that is so prominent on Kiselyov's own news analysis program and talk shows on state-controlled Rossia 1 television. Kiselyov's media agency will whip up a new level of hysteria about the country being surrounded by enemies and anti-Russian U.S. conspiracies, which will be cynically presented as "news" and "analysis."

Death of the New Russian

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/survey-underscores-the-death-of-the-new-russian/491605.html?ask_mobile=Y

"The report basically shows that the middle class has become the main focus of retail and that the whole Novy Russki thing is now officially dead," said Ben Aris, editor of bne.eu, a business e-magazine that covers the markets of Russia and other former Soviet countries and assisted Landor in preparing the survey.

According to the survey, consumers are no longer enthralled by luxury. Only 17.5 percent of respondents preferred premium or luxury goods. Value for money was the key purchasing driver for 70 percent of those who participated in the survey.

But despite shifting attitudes, no one expects the luxury market to crash. As the country grows richer, industry specialists are confident about the potential of further growth and the adoption of new brands, according to another recent study by consumer market research firm Euromonitor International. 

Will on-demand kill the big TV get-together?

Christmas is a time to gather round the TV for seasonal specials. But will Netflix, LoveFilm and iPlayer make that way of watching a thing of the past?

Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, told me: "I certainly think we are in for a major paradigm change. Old-style network TV – and even cable TV, supported by adverts – is, if not on the way out, then in for a major sea-change."

And yet, apart from House of Cards and Breaking Bad, the two most talked-about dramas (in both traditional and social media) were classic moments of old-fashioned, scheduled TV: the final episode of ITV's Broadchurch in April, in which the killer was revealed; and, last month on BBC1, The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who.

Although both were supported by modern methods of consumption – online catch-up, box-set release, 3D cinema showings for the time lord – the majority of their audiences cancelled appointments and rushed home to watch at the same time as everyone else, in the way that viewers have done ever since TV became a mass medium. This evidence of the endurance of "appointment viewing" gives comfort to those who refuse to believe that, owing to Netflix, traditional TV drama is about to fall like a house of cards. Speaking to me, appropriately, in the John Logie Baird room at the BBC last week, Ben Stephenson, controller of drama commissioning at the corporation, said: "You only have to go into John Lewis and see the numbers of TVs on sale. TVs aren't becoming unfashionable."

Popular Demand - US Media in Numbers

The first color television sets began selling in America 60 years ago, and the first flat-screen televisions in the late 1990s. As with color television, market saturation for flat screens increased as prices dropped. Samsung dominates the plasma television market, but faces competition from other manufacturers — mostly Vizio — at the top of the LCD category. Vizio has the best-selling 60-inch LCD model.

The movie that will define the next decade

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10516654/Stand-aside-Minority-Report-the-movie-Her-will-define-the-next-decade.html

While the predictions in Minority Report took more than a decade to become almost-reality, the technology in Her is already with us and beginning to reach into the lives of everyday people, not just those basking in the Hollywood Hills or the gated mansions of Silicon Valley.

Voice-activation is here now, be it the voice of Siri on an iPhone or the ability to send text messages in a car while talking and driving. The upcoming 12 months will see a raft of voice-activation products moving into the mainstream.

While it was once unusual to see people talking to themselves in the street 20 years ago, the ubiquity of mobile phones means it is now unusual not to see people talking to themselves in the street.

So it will be with people talking to their internet TV and their cars... and that TV or vehicle being able to store, remember and even suggest the viewer’s preferences before the viewer has even thought about it. This is the end of the remote control as we know it; it will be a revolution.

The best (and worst) of Instagram in 2013

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/the-best-and-worst-of-instagram-in-2013-9004294.html

Instagram growing from strength to strength by launching new tools, such as videos, and capturing over 152 million users who upload an average total of 65 million photos every day.

YourTube - The internet is changing television habits

http://www.economist.com/news/21589085-internet-changing-television-habits-yourtube

...in 2014 online video will become a more influential cultural force, changing conversations, communities and what people watch. Several factors will speed up television’s move to the internet. Faster broadband will make it easier to watch videos delivered online without having to wait ages for them to load. People will buy more internet-enabled “smart” television sets, bringing websites once accessible mainly from laptops and tablets to bigger screens. In 2014 firms such as Sony and Intel will launch “over the top” services, which deliver television programmes over the internet. Apple’s long-awaited television offering may come to fruition.

At home, meanwhile, the dynamics will shift too. In 2014 more “cord-nevers” (youngsters forgoing cable) will start their own homes and opt for a cheaper online-video service and broadband instead of pay-television. These are not perfect replacements—with no live sports, for example—but many cash-strapped younger folk, who do not care about tuning in at prime time, will choose them. Beyond 2014, even more people will cut the cord. This drama of changing television-viewing habits will play out over many seasons.

The Worst Films of 2013 - Empire

http://www.empireonline.com/features/worst-movies-2013

Well, they can’t all be Gravity. This may have been a largely fragrant year for film, but there had to be some stinkers. The law of averages demands it, and, as laws go, that one's a stickler. Here are the dirtiest dozen of the films released in cinemas this year...

Ad break: Economist's Nelson Mandela tribute, Antonio Banderas

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/dec/13/ad-break-economist-nelson-mandela-antonio-banderas

The Economist: 'Mandela's Walk' (starts at 00:06) - UK

Perhaps Nelson Mandela's greatest legacy is the strength of the unity generated by the goodwill he invoked. So many people have spent the last 23 years naming him as their greatest hero that it's easy to forget he was a controversial figure throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The great re-evaluation after his release in 1990 made the recent tributes inevitable and – as this film for The Economist demonstrates – he has been fêted as much by the rightwing press this week as by those who agitated for his release from prison. 
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Director: Anders Jedenfors

Centrepoint: 'Doorway' (starts at 01:35) - UK

A powerful piece that manages to hit home hard without hyperbole or hysteria - the lack of melodrama makes it feel as though it was written by someone with true insight into this situation.  Although most of the 'goodwill to all men' dimension has been sucked out of Christmas in favour of a materialistic free-for-all, it does still seem to be a time for reflecting on the plight of the homeless and this film reminds us this with an equal measure of pointedness and compassion.
Director: Peter Montgomery

Pantene Pro-V: 'Double Standards' (starts at 02:39) - Philippines

We're all familiar with the stud/slag dichotomy which attaches very different values to male and female behaviour and this playful commercial from the Phillppines for Pantene reminds us that it isn't just in the bedroom that the same conduct can be viewed very differently according to whether it comes from a man or a woman.
Agency: BBDO (Guerrero)
Director: Simon Cracknell

Carlton: 'Hello Beer' (starts at 03:45) - Australia

This trio of Australian ads for Carlton was directed by Flight of the Conchords collaborator Taika Waititi. Apparently they just grouped together some lads of beer-drinking age and waited for the antics to begin – as you can see from the three short commercials we've compiled, the young Australian males didn't disappoint.  
Agency: Clemenger BBDO (Melbourne)
Director: Taika Waititi

Kaspi: 'Antonio Banderas' (starts at ) - Kazakhstan

This is a strange brew... to say the least. Spanish superstar Antonio Banderas has apparently been lured away from his Los Angeles villa to spend a day in a branch of a Kazakhstani bank. His presence appears to have attracted hundreds of locals but they – like us – must wait in vain for a punchline.
Agency: G Force Kazakhstan
Director: Jonty Toosey
 
Jason Stone is the editor of David Reviews

D&AD Awards 2013

A Yellow Pencil is awarded to the most outstanding work in each of the many categories. Published by TASCHEN, the Annual is the indispensible guide to the celebrated work from the D&AD Awards 2013. The book is considered to be the authoritative archive of advertising and design. Hotly anticipated within the advertising, digital and design industries, previous designers include Peter Saville, Bob & Roberta Smith, Neville Brody, Sir Peter Blake and Allen Jones.

Viral Video Chart: One Direction, Doctor Who, Sherlock and Godzilla

Watch 1D sing with the Anchorman cast, Sesame Street parody Lord of the Rings and the Doctor meet Sherlock in the Tardis

1. Anchorman crew and One Direction on SNL
Don't act like you're not impressed

2. Sesame Street: Lord of the Crumbs (Lord of the Rings Parody)
This takes the biscuit

3. The Hungover Games Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Hunger Games Parody Movie HD
Hang on in there

4. Godzilla Trailer - Official Warner Bros.
Will this be a monster hit?

5. YouTube Rewind: What Does 2013 Say?
All your favourites

6. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - OFFICIAL Trailer - In Theaters May 2014
Taster on the web

7. Grumpy Cat Stars in "Hard To Be a Cat at Christmas" Music Video
Santa Claws

8. WestJet Christmas Miracle: real-time giving
Giving takes off

9. WHOLOCK - Sherlock meets The Doctor!
Watch this space

10. Sherlock: Series 3 Launch Trailer - BBC One
We deduce he's back

Source: Viral Video Chart. Compiled from data gathered at 14:00 on 12 December 2013. The Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately 2m blogs, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Thinking outside the set-top box

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21591600-americas-largest-cable-company-becoming-more-firms-it-battling-against


“Television is going to change more in the next five years than it has in the last 50,” says Brian Roberts. Comcast executives talk about “apps” for the television and rolling out innovations every three to six months. The firm is paying particular attention to its user “interface”, or what, until recently, was called a TV guide. Comcast’s is now arranged not numerically by channel, but alphabetically by programme, by network and type of content. Couch potatoes even less inclined to effort can download an app to their iPhone and shout commands at it to locate shows.

Facebook's 2013 year in review unveiled

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/pope-francis-miley-cyrus-and-a-royal-baby-what-facebook-talked-about-in-2013-8994023.html

Top 10: Most talked about topics globally

1. Pope Francis

2. Election

3. Royal Baby

4. Typhoon

5. Margaret Thatcher

6. Harlem Shake

7. Miley Cyrus

8. Boston Marathon

9. Tour de France

10. Nelson Mandela

Ryanair's bikini calendar ad banned

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10513381/Ryanairs-bikini-calendar-ad-banned.html


A Spanish judge has reportedly banned adverts for a Ryanair calendar featuring female flight attendants in bikinis

YouTube's most popular viral videos 2013

A comedy video where a man mimics the way a number of wild animals eat took the top slot with 88 million views

How Disney reinvented the superhero

Disney has given us Elsa in Frozen, Merida in Brave and Rapunzel in Tangled. Forget Marvel – these are the new superheroes, says Anne Billson

From the 1980s onwards, Disney tried hard to make its heroines less weedy. Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Pocohontas, Mulan and Tiana in The Princess and the Frog are all stronger and more adventurous than their forebears. But rumour has it the studio blamed The Princess and the Frog's underperformance (it still made a ton of money, some £162 million) on the word "princess", so from this point on, it opted for bland one-word titles with no princessy connotations whatsoever: Brave, Tangled, Frozen.

Marvel and DC can go hang. If they can't give us superheroines, maybe Disney will provide them. Elsa's story is more beguiling and psychologically nuanced than anything the Marvel and DC universes have given us recently, so I'm sure the Mouse House can tackle other classic fairy tales in similar fashion.

Here's an idea: between 1889 and 1910, Andrew Lang published 12 volumes of fairy tales that are now in the public domain. They're all storyboards waiting to happen. And they're packed with potential superheroines.

Taking Pictures Ruins Memories

Students in an art gallery were more likely to forget the art they took pictures of, than those they were merely asked to observe

"When people rely on technology to remember for them — counting on the camera to record the event and thus not needing to attend to it fully themselves — it can have a negative impact on how well they remember their experiences," explains Henkel.

To test her hypothesis Henkel set up an experiment in the Bellarmine Museum of Art at Fairfield University, leading students on a tour of the museum and asking students to take note of certain objects by photographing them or simply looking at them.

The next day the students’ memory of the tour was tested, with the results showing that the subjects were less able to recognize the objects they had photographed compared to those they had only looked at.

Eating popcorn 'disrupts advertising'

Retail trends and predictions for 2014

A panel of retail, e-commerce and customer service pros share what they think will be the big talking points in retail next year

Video games - The meaning of "Doom"

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/12/video-games

The biggest innovation of "Doom" was something subtler. Video games, then and now, are mainly passive entertainment products, a bit like a more interactive television. You buy one and play it until you either beat it or get bored. But "Doom" was popular enough that eager users delved into its inner workings, hacking together programs that would let people build their own levels. Drawing something in what was, essentially, a rudimentary CAD program, and then running around inside your own creation, was an astonishing, liberating experience.

Being able to alter the game transformed the player from a mere passive consumer of media into a producer in his own right, something that is much harder in most other kinds of media. Amateur filmmakers need expensive kit and a willing cast to indulge their passion. Mastering a musical instrument takes years of practice; starting a band requires like-minded friends. Writing a novel looks easy, until you try it. But creating your own "Doom" mod was easy enough that anyone could learn it in a day or two. With a bit of practice, it was possible to churn out professional-quality stuff. "User-generated content" was a big buzzword a few years back, but once again, "Doom" got there first.

Russia's chief propagandist

Russia’s current propaganda is all the more striking in contrast to Ukraine’s own television coverage

Mr Putin’s decision to dissolve RIA Novosti shows that the Kremlin has become intolerant even to the modest liberalism within its own ranks.  Ever since the Kremlin started to centralise its control over the media, RIA Novosti became a shelter for journalists who were squeezed out of the private media space. The choice of Mr Kiselev as the face of Russian propaganda abroad is a sign that Mr Putin no longer sees any need to preserve even a veneer of European values. But it is also a sign of the extreme degradation of the Russian media.

In 1999 Mr Kiselev deplored such degradation. At the time, he moralised about TV journalists and their difference from “agitators”. A true journalist, he explained, is someone who shows the whole picture. “People will, of course, swallow anything. But if we keep lowering the bar and drop morals we will, one day, find ourselves splashing in the dirt like pigs and eating each other, along with this dirt, and then we would not be able to sink any lower”. Mr Kiselev’s appointment indicates that this day has come.