As Silicon Valley fights for talent, universities struggle to hold on to their stars

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21695908-silicon-valley-fights-talent-universities-struggle-hold-their


THAT a computer program can repeatedly beat the world champion at Go, a complex board game, is a coup for the fast-moving field of artificial intelligence (AI). Another high-stakes game, however, is taking place behind the scenes, as firms compete to hire the smartest AI experts. Technology giants, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Baidu, are racing to expand their AI activities. Last year they spent some $8.5 billion on research, deals and hiring, says Quid, a data firm. That was four times more than in 2010.

Apple at 40: privacy, software and new device frontiers are key challenges

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/01/apple-at-40-privacy-software-new-device-frontiers-key-challenges

Memorable culture bust-ups

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/feuds-fights-rows-controversies/


Rows on twitter, rows over musical differences, rows over film roles: the culture arena is famous for its bust-ups. Here, we look at 30 memorable arts spats including Madonna, Morrissey and Miley (above), right up to actor Laurence Fox's foul-mouthed clash with a theatre heckler.

Instagram update: keep calm and don't turn on notifications

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/29/instagram-update-keep-calm-and-dont-turn-on-notifications

Changes to Instagram’s algorithm will present photos out of chronological order. But users should not rush to change their preferences just yet

Leninism and Lennonism aren't that far apart. Some thoughts on the Rolling Stones in Cuba

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/03/leninism-and-lennonism-arent-that-far-apart-some-thoughts-on-the-rolling-stones-in-cuba-.html

Capitalism has not defeated communism in a triumph of Christian conservatism. It has merged with Communism in a bizarre synthesis of Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping, in which it is glorious to get rich, personal morality is more or less irrelevant, the state monitors minds and regulates all, but yet takes no responsibility for anything, & the freedom of the market entails no freedom of thought, but there are lots of consumer goods and self-indugences to make up

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/25/rolling-stones-cuba-historic-concert-diplomacy

Drunk passenger charged £102 for £15 journey after Uber driver takes 20-mile detour around London

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/03/29/uber-driver-charges-drunk-passenger-102-for-15-journey/

After waking up at his destination, he switched on his phone to give his driver a star rating and said “I nearly spat out my tea laughing at the route”

THE LITVINENKO INQUIRY VERDICT COULD REIGNITE THE COLD WAR

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/alexander-litvinenko-inquiry-verdict-could-reignite-the-cold-war

The murder of Alexander Litvinenko damaged already strained Anglo-Russian relations. In our December 2015 issue, before a High Court ruling on the 2006 killing found that Vladimir Putin "probably" approved his killing, GQ examined the roles of Vladimir Putin, MI6 and the mafia in an act of nuclear terrorism with consequences that reach far beyond the streets of London

http://www.oliverbullough.com/index.html

50 documentaries you need to see

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/27/50-best-documentaries-alex-gibney-joshua-oppenheimer-james-marsh

Penthouse magazine axes print edition

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jan/20/penthouse-magazine-axes-print-edition-playboy


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2984506/Geoffrey-Edelsten-s-fianc-e-Gabi-Grecko-pays-tribute-Seventies-Farrah-Fawcett-hair-sultry-photo-shoot-Penthouse.html

Social media now play a key role in collective action

http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21695192-social-media-now-play-key-role-collective-action-new-kind-weather

Digital advertising ~ Invisible ads, phantom readers.

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21695388-worries-about-fraud-and-fragmentation-may-prompt-shake-out-crowded-online-ad

Fraud and fragmentation may prompt a shake-out in the crowded online-ad industry

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

Stalin, Russia's New Hero ~ New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/opinion/sunday/stalinist-nostalgia-in-vladimir-putins-russia.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
Photo

School textbooks and state television programs, even if they briefly mention his human rights abuses, celebrate Stalin as a great leader.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_of_Sorrow

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bykivnia_Graves

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyń_Memorial_(Jersey_City)

Politics: stranger than fiction

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/c764675e-e6c7-11e5-a09b-1f8b0d268c39.html


How can television shows compete with the sensationalism of real-life political drama?

The future of computing ~ The Economist

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21694528-era-predictable-improvement-computer-hardware-ending-what-comes-next-future

The era of predictable improvement in computer hardware is ending. What comes next?

The Economist explains ~ Why fashion week is passé

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/03/economist-explains-5


As soon as models sashay down the runway, photographs are posted online and shared endlessly through social media. Fast-fashion brands copy designers’ styles (though the industry prefers the euphemism “interpret”), often stocking look-alikes in their shops before designers’ own clothes make it to department stores. When designers’ clothes do arrive, they seem stale . It is no coincidence that the world's top two retailers are TJX and Inditex. TJX buys brand-name clothes from stores that can't sell them at full price, then offers them at a deep discount. Inditex owns Zara, the pioneer in fast fashion.

Meet the People of Transdnistra, a Stuck-in-Time Country That Doesn't Exist

http://www.wired.stfi.re/2016/03/meet-people-transnistria-stuck-time-soviet-country-doesnt-exist/?sf=ybdryy

TRANSNISTRIA IS A thin strip of land wedged between Moldova and Ukraine. It is home to more than 500,000 people and has a parliamentary government, a standing army, and its own currency. It has all the trappings of an independent nation—but isn’t

Nike suspends relationship with Maria Sharapova after she fails drugs test - live

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/mariasharapova/12186863/Maria-Sharapova-fails-drugs-test-at-Australian-Open-live.html

Nike suspends relationship with Sharapova

The first of her sponsors has gone public with a decision. Nike is suspending its relationship with the star while the investigation continues. In a statement the company said: 

We are saddened and surprised by the news about Maria Sharapova. We have decided to suspend our relationship with Maria while the investigation continues. We will continue to monitor the situation.

Europe’s new cold war turns digital as Vladimir Putin expands media offensive

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/05/europe-vladimir-putin-russia-social-media-trolls

Russia is deploying social media trolls in an attempt to effect political change, and Britain is not immune

 

10 years on Twitter ~ FT

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/930b3e7c-e070-11e5-8d9b-e88a2a889797.html

Its 320m users include pop stars, politicians and revolutionaries. So why does the site’s future look so unsure?

Podcasts create golden age of audio ~ FT

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cd1b444a-e160-11e5-9217-6ae3733a2cd1.html?siteedition=intl#axzz425BqNjSc

The low-cost medium has allowed niche-interest communities to thrive in a way old media never could

Organisation that runs internet address book to declare independence

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21693922-organisation-runs-internet-address-book-about-declare-independence-we

Premier League clubs 'meet to discuss breakaway super league'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/news/12180296/Top-Premier-League-clubs-meet-to-discuss-breakaway-super-league.html


Executives from Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal 'met American billionaire Stephen Ross to discuss joining competition for Europe's elite'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/champions-league/12171643/Nine-reasons-why-the-Champions-League-is-a-bit-rubbish-anyway.html