Ad break: Muppets for Lipton, Sky Sports F1 coverage, Tina Fey for Amex

Watch Kermit the frog up against a world of Animals and a celebration of motor racing in our review of new commercials

Adverts overtake porn as largest mobile security threat

Ne dites pas à ma mère que je suis dans la publicité… elle me croit pianiste dans un bordel

Malware delivered through adverts, known as malvertising, leaves mobile users vulnerable to security breaches and has now overtaken pornography as the biggest threat to phone security.

Back to the Future - An anti-gravity skateboard

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2014/03/anti-gravity-skateboard

Speculation is rife that the clip could be a promotion for a new film in the “Back to the Future” franchise, not least because it features Christopher Lloyd, the actor who played Dr Emmett Brown. But it could equally be a warm up for some new online game or app.

RadioShack - Dead brand walking

“The 80s called. They want their store back.” Then a host of 80s icons from Hulk Hogan to Chucky rip apart the typically tired RadioShack store, and make off in the time-travelling DeLorean from “Back to the Future”. The voiceover: “It’s time for a new RadioShack.”

Ask Americans under the age of 30 what they buy at “The Shack”, and you will be greeted with a blank look. For today’s younger consumers the brand isn’t associated with anything they need. The firm may have been one of the first retailers to sell mobile phones (back in the 1980s, naturally) and it may have sold 73m since then. But today’s consumers mostly buy their phones directly from the wireless carriers—or head for the Apple Store. On a recent evening in one of the Washington, DC, metro area’s biggest malls, the Apple Store was packed; RadioShack was deserted. This is bad news for a company that relies on mobile phones, computing tablets and related gadgets for around half its dwindling sales

Brands, technology & the changing face of retail

With customers wanting to order goods via mobile, desktop and in stores, how do retailers provide a seamless shopping experience while maintaining the integrity of their brand?

The Australian retailer Sneakerboy combines e-commerce with bricks and mortar – customers try on shoes in-store, then order via an iPad app to get them delivered to their home

• Technology is changing the way we shop. We buy goods online and via mobile phones as well as in stores

• Social media enable us to compare notes with other customers and criticise poor service. These developments put retailers under pressure to deliver a seamless shopping experience, where service and delivery are as good online as they are in-store
• With new technology coming on stream every few months, the challenge is growing. Retailers must structure their businesses to ensure they make shopping an easy and enjoyable experience through every channel. Those that get it right will reap the rewards. Others will become obsolete

Emerging technologies - What to watch

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2014/03/emerging-technologies

Every electronics show is now awash with wearable gadgets, such as Google Glass spectacles with built-in video, and smart watches like those from Samsung Galaxy Gear that connect with wearers’ smartphones (as seen above). These devices, says the Forum, will become less intrusive, particularly in the way they monitor health and fitness. Indeed, some companies are starting to use conductive fibres to weave electronics into clothing.

Many of the Forum’s other picks; better lithium-ion batteries, holographic displays, brain computer interfaces and predictive analysis, are old favourites for futurologists. 

Oscars TV ratings hit 10-year high of 43m viewers

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/04/oscars-gravity-12-years-a-slave-audience

The biggest Oscars audience since 43.5 million people watched in 2004, it was the highest-rating US entertainment programme since the finale of NBC's Friends, also in 2004, seen by 52.5 million people.

The three-hour broadcast on NBC was preceded by a Red Carpet Live! show of the stars arriving at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, which was watched by 33.3 million people.

What the debate over gay rights in Russia has taught global brands

The Winter Olympics highlight the difficulties global brands face when trying to wear different hats in different markets

In a recent consumer survey conducted by Landor in Russia, 63% of respondents thought Western brands pitched themselves "just right" for the Russian market, while 32% thought they were already too permissive or provocative. And almost a third of Russians (29%) feel that Western brands don't understand what's appropriate for Russian society, while almost half (45%) thought Russian brands understand what's right for Russians better than western brands do. Our results illustrate the challenges global brands face in Russia and the careful balance they need to strike.

Ellen DeGeneres' Oscars selfie beats Obama retweet record on Twitter

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/03/ellen-degeneres-selfie-retweet-obama

The selfie shows Hollywood stars including (from left) Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, DeGeneres, Kevin Spacey,Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o and her brother and Angelina Jolie (with her face half obscured). DeGeneres tweeted the picture on herown account and captioned it: "If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars".

It reached 779,295 retweets in approximately half an hour, and so beat a record previously held by the US president, when he tweeted an image titled "Four more years" at the point of his re-election in November 2012.

Within an hour, the DeGeneres tweet had claimed over a million retweets. The Oscars host later said that Twitter had temporarily crashed because of her actions and added: "We really just made history. We're all winners tonight."

Come the end of the ceremony, the figure stood at 2,070,132.

Russia, Ukraine and the West - How will the West read Putin’s playbook?

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2014/03/russia-ukraine-and-west



A military response to Russian aggression or the threat of fast-track NATO membership for Ukraine are unthinkable. So the West will fall back on lesser, diplomatic measures in an attempt to isolate Russia within the international community. First, all seven of the other G8 members could say they are not going to Sochi unless Mr Putin backs off. Secondly, the US Congress could substantially widen the application of the so-called Magnitsky Law to include Mr Putin and his Kremlin cronies. Thirdly, trade sanctions could be applied including work to begin freezing Russian banks out of the international financial settlement system. Fourth, a UN Security Council resolution could be prepared condemning Russia for aggression against an independent country that might attract the support of China (always first to denounce intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state) even though Russia would, of course, veto it. Last, the West needs to show ordinary Ukrainians that it will back the new government and that it, not Russia, can offer a path to prosperity.

The case for televised trials - By Clive Anderson

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/4445419e-9ee5-11e3-a48e-00144feab7de.html#axzz2uefuiZny

With or without TV pictures, the trial will serve up an intoxicating cocktail of celebrity and tragedy, guns and glamour in a courtroom drama more or less guaranteed to outdo anything in the world of fiction. With or without TV pictures, millions of people will be anxious to fathom how a world-renowned athlete came to kill his beautiful model girlfriend in their own home, in the middle of the night, whether by accident or design.