We need to change how we consume and share media as Sir Tim Berners-Lee warns us about privacy and ‘fake news’

Paul Clarke/CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37435469 Above: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. Earlier this month, Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote an open letter expressing his concerns about the evolution of his invention, the World Wide Web. (Interestingly, he writes the term all in lowercase.)    It wasn’t just about ‘fake news’, which […]

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Selling Opel: what’s good for China is good for General Motors

Above: The Opel Astra K: on the roster. I’m not so sure that GM going into talks to sell Opel and Vauxhall to PSA (Peugeot–Citroën) is that big a surprise.    We obviously hold a lot of nostalgia for these brands, and it’s only right that we perceive GM as selling its family jewels. Opel […]

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Autocade passes 10,000,000 page views

Some time in the last couple of weeks, Autocade managed its 10,000,000th page view.    I was too busy to notice when it hit 9,000,000, but a quick calculation when views hovered around the 9,500,000 mark suggested it made the milestone some time around August 2016, keeping the growth rate at around 1,000,000 every five […]

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Fifty editors at Wikipedia ban Daily Mail based on some anecdotes

How right Kalev Leetaru is on Wikipedia’s decision to ban The Daily Mail as a source.    This decision, he concludes, was made by a cabal of 50 editors based on anecdotes.    I’ve stated before on this blog how Wikipedia is broken, the abusive attitude of one of its editors, and how even luminaries like […]

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Don’t let the bastards divide you, USA

From Prof Heather Richardson, a professor of political history, and republished with her permission. We have social media, we can gather together. It’ll be important for people in the US, whether they are Republican, Democrat or have another political leaning, to show that they’re not going to get suckered in by what’s happening in their […]

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Avon walling

A week ago, Avon found an inventive way to get its brand noticed in peak-hour traffic.    I could make this about how people don’t know how to drive these days, or about the media fascination with Asian drivers when the reality does not bear this out, but let’s make it all about Avon—since they […]

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A farewell to Tim Kitchin

For the second time in two months, I found myself announcing to the members of Medinge Group another passing: that of my good friend Tim Kitchin.    Tim passed away over the weekend, and leaves behind three kids.    I always admired Tim’s point of view, his depth of thinking, and his generosity of spirit. […]

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Why the next Holden Commodore will have a traditional boot

Above: The Holden Commodore SS-V, facing its last year of manufacture. The current wisdom appears to be that when the Holden Commodore VF leaves production in 2017, it’ll be replaced by the liftback version of the Opel Insignia B. After all, the only big sedan Ford Australia’s offering in place of the now-defunct Falcon is […]

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An expatriate’s view of Occupy Central and what Hong Kong wants

Equal access: an audio recording of this blog post can be found here. I know I’m not alone among expats watching the Occupy Central movements in Hong Kong. More than the handover in 1997, it’s been making very compelling live television, because this isn’t about politicians and royalty, but about everyday Hong Kong people.   […]

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