Technology and politics ~ The signal and the noise

http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21695198-ever-easier-communications-and-ever-growing-data-mountains-are-transforming-politics

Ever easier communications and ever-growing data mountains are transforming politics in unexpected ways, says Ludwig Siegele. What will that do to democracy?

http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21695195-safeguard-democracy-use-data-should-be-made-transparent-possible-data

“Remarkably touchy lot, designers”

https://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2016/february/remarkably-touchy-lot-designers/

James Greenfield suggests that the mainstream media’s knee-jerk and ill-informed reaction to logo design is an insult to one of our strongest creative exports. Graphic design needs to fight back.


http://www.quietroom.co.uk/santa_brandbook/

Mark Rylance and Emma Thompson pose nude with fish for marine protection

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/actors/mark-rylance-and-emma-thompson-pose-nude-with-fish-for-marine-pr/

Ukraine in graphics ~ Crisis in Ukraine

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8547435182963011287#editor

Russian foreign policy ~ A hollow superpower

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21695003-dont-be-fooled-syria-vladimir-putins-foreign-policy-born-weakness-and-made

Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy is born of weakness and made for television

The Baltic Elves Taking On Pro-Russian Trolls ~ Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/20/the-baltic-elves-taking-on-pro-russian-trolls.html


Putin later admitted that Russian conventional forces, mainly those that had already been garrisoned in Crimea under a preexisting treaty with Ukraine, but added to by incoming Special Forces and intelligence officers, did indeed stage a near-bloodless takeover of European soil. But rather than an Anschluss, Putin cast this act of aggression in a purely defensive light. (Hitler had done much the same thing in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1938.) This physical siege was both preceded and accompanied by a psychological one.

iPhone SE specs, price and release date: What you need to know

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/03/20/iphone-se-specs-price-and-release-date-what-you-need-to-know/

The new phone will be smaller than the last two generations, the iPhone 6 and 6s and their "Plus" companions, being targeted at those who want the modern features of the latest iPhones but at a cheaper price point, or want a smaller screen size.

The propagandist’s translation dictionary ~ How Russia’s pro-Kremlin media ‘translates’ the news

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2016/03/17/the-propagandist-s-translation-dictionary


Earlier this month, the newspaper Izvestia ran a story titled “Obama Says Putin is ‘Polite, Honest, and Punctual,’” based on Jeffrey Goldberg's piece, “The Obama Doctrine,” published in the Atlantic. But Obama never uttered this phrase. (What the US president actually said is that Putin is “scrupulously polite, very frank,” and “not completely stupid.”) Curious translations like this one, moreover, are anything but rare in Russia's pro-Kremlin media. At Meduza's request, Alexey Kovalev, the man behind the propaganda-busting website Noodleremover, presents some other notable examples of the Russian media's creative approach to translating news reports.

Facebook, Google and the race to sign up India

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/91539fc4-ebc5-11e5-888e-2eadd5fbc4a4.html
©Susana Bates/AFP/Getty Images

Indian PM Narendra Modi and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg hug after a meeting in California last September

The Silicon Valley giants are vying for the loyalty of more than a billion potential users

Russia's Wars ~ A strategy of spectacle

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21694997-his-willingness-and-ability-act-abroad-gives-vladimir-putin-big-boost-home-strategy

Louise Minchin complains about decision to hand Dan Walker plum position on BBC Breakfast sofa

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/12195121/Louise-Minchin-complains-about-decision-to-hand-Dan-Walker-plum-position-on-BBC-Breakfast-sofa.html

Presenter understood to have raised concerns with producers over decision to give the new host the 'more senior' left-hand seat vacated by Bill Turnbull