From Poland With Love for Great Britain

Generation Like

In this eye-opening follow-up to FRONTLINE’s classic documentary The Merchants of Cool, author Douglas Rushkoff returns to the world of youth culture.
He explores how the perennial teen quest for identity and connection has migrated to social media — and how big brands are increasingly co-opting young consumers’ digital presences on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
“Today’s teens don’t need to be chased down by corporations,” says Rushkoff, who interviewed everyone from actor and social media superstar Ian Somerhalder to YouTube sensation Tyler Oakley

Merchants of Cool - How Teens run the Economy

They are the merchants of cool: creators and sellers of popular culture who have made teenagers the hottest consumer demographic in America. But are they simply reflecting teen desires or have they begun to manufacture those desires in a bid to secure this lucrative market? And have they gone too far in their attempts to reach the hearts--and wallets--of America's youth?

Take a closer look at the complex world of selling "cool" in a Frontline documentary. Click here to watch ->

For source go here.

Remember When Nokia Also Made Paper, Galoshes and Gas Masks?

Nokia started as a paper company. It was 1865, and the mining engineer Fredrik Idestam established a wood pulp mill next to the Tammerkoski Rapids in the southwest of Finland. A few years later, he opened a second mill, this one located on the banks of the Nokianvirta River — a river, apparently, named for an animal: a small mammal related to the weasel and the wolverine.

Yahoo wins battle over Prism court papers

Details of the official justification for the US National Security Agency's wide-ranging Prism surveillance programme look set to be revealed.

Yahoo has won a legal fight that will see papers from a key 2008 court case declassified and published.

The 2008 case is widely seen as pivotal in letting the NSA establish Prism and start gathering data on web use.

Cult of celebrity 'is harming children'

The cult of celebrity is producing a generation that believes education and hard work are not important in achieving success, claims the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

A survey found that more than 70 per cent of teachers in primary and secondary schools said the cult of celebrity was perverting children's aspirations and expectations.

About 37 per cent of teachers believe their pupils want to be famous for being famous.

They fear that many youngsters do not realise how hard their idols have worked to earn their fame.

To earth with love...

The world's first "social media astronaut" returns to earth as Channel 4 News tracks the story of Commander Hadfield's out-of-this-world tweets.


For source go here.

Malicious phone apps on the rise

Co-CEO of NQ Mobile Omar Khan discusses the rapid increase of malicious apps hacking into personal phone data. 

For source go here.

Micropayments: Would you pay 20p to read an article?

How much is an online article worth to you? After reading the first few lines, would you pay a bit of money to read the rest of it? 

A plethora of titles - but for how long? Without devising a fresh way to make money, newspapers will continue to suffer from falling sales

Consider this as a future: paying small amounts to read, watch and listen to content online. 20 pence (32 US cents) for a feature here, 10p for a news story there. 

It's a system called micropayments, and some believe it is the future for supporting journalism, and other creative content, on the internet.
The likes of Google and Paypal have begun to roll out and promote their technologies, and there are a number of smaller players hoping to break-through.