26th April 2014

1) Bill Shakespeare’s was 450 this week. Here are 50 everyday phrases that he bequeathed us … and for all fans of the Bard, I rather liked this word that I picked up on this week – a Bardalator – someone who idolises Shakespeare. 

2) From Technology Review – which of the current technological developments are likely to stand the test of time? Agricultural drones, Maps of the brain and Agile Robots all make the list.

3) Anyone who has seen the film Gravity, will understand the destructive impact of random items orbiting the earth at speed. Apparently there are 135 million pieces of junk which are orbiting Earth at 18,000 mph – and U.S. space dominance is in danger of being ripped to shreds.

4) People Magazine’s most beautiful person in the world is Lupita Nyong’o. Lupita had a difficult childhood which she addressed with great poignancy in a recent speech on race and beauty. 

5) This chart shows which Social Channels are really good at driving traffic ( and which are not ) ‘Pinterest drives 7.10% of Web traffic that sites receive, second only to Facebook (21.25%), and leagues ahead of other social sites like Twitter, Reddit, StumbleUpon and LinkedIn. In the first quarter of 2014, the company drove 48.36% more traffic than it did at the end of 2013.’

6) Seems that some (big and high profile) organisations are still making mistakes when it comes to social media. Here The New York Police Department took to Twitter to solicit photos of police officers in the community, but the move fell flat with people instead posting images of alleged police brutality.

7) Not too long ago there were considerable fears that the internet and reliance electronic devices would separate and isolate individuals in society. Quite the opposite seems to be happening – the connectedness provided by the web has made new and surprisingly strong connections between devices ( and people) The positive power of the web nicely extrapolated here – How Airbnb and Lyft got Americans to finally trust one another. 

8) Charting deaths on Mount Everest. As the Sherpas threaten strike action following the avalanche that killed 16 people, an interesting perspective from Outside’s Grayson Shaffer : ‘If, say, 1 percent of American college-aged raft guides or ski instructors were dying on the job (the mortality rate of Everest Sherpas) — the guiding industry would vanish.”

9) Which celebrities are your kids looking at on their mobile phones? The NYT takes a look at the Weird World of Internet Fame. 

10) Google Street View now lets you go back in time. 

And finally, a fabulous cockney birds eye view : East London from the Air.