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18 July 2012 | BBC

BBC releases Olympics app

BBC has released its latest Olympics app available for Android and Apple mobile phones. It is built on the same content as the Olympic mobile website that the news provider currently provides to consumers. This means that people will have access to a specific page for each of the 36 Olympic sports, where they can dust up on the rules and regulations of each event. Every athlete and country has their own page with medal tallies and related news stories, while you can keep up to date with live text commentary every day. You will also be able to see thousands of hours of live video during the Games and also highlights of the best moments.

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18 July 2012 | The Guardian

Developments in Politkovskaya case

Russian investigators accuse the former policeman Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov of his involvement in the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The case, which has come to symbolise the suppression of free speech and the corruption of the judiciary during Vladimir Putin's 2000-2008 Presidency, is now seen as a test for reform since his returned to the Kremlin in May. At the time of her death in 2006, Politkovskaya had been investigating human rights abuses in Chechnya as well as high-level corruption across Russia. Some of her dispatches had sharply criticised Putin, a former KGB spy. Pointing to her articles, investigators made a rare reference to a possible motive and the person behind the murder. The case is one of at least a dozen Russian journalists whose politically charged murders have gone unsolved.

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18 July 2012 | Mashable

Instagram to replace iconic sport images

‘Sports Illustrated’ commissioned a series of shots from contributing photographer Brad Mangin, which will appear in a six-page feature in the magazine. ‘Leading Off’ traditionally features notable photos from around the sports world, but this is the first time in Sports Illustrated history the magazine has printed images that were processed using Instagram. It is becoming a more prominent tool in the sports world at large, too. Major League Baseball recently launched an Instagram hub of sorts, and teams and athletes from other leagues are increasingly also using the network.

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18 July 2012 | The Guardian

Redundancies expected at the Guardian and Observer

The Guardian and the Observer lost £44.2m last year as investment in digital publishing – including iPad, Facebook and Android apps – which contributed to an increase of losses at the national newspapers that could not be offset by double-digit growth in digital revenues. The newspapers will aim to save £7m from editorial expenditure in order to help reduce the deficit, while the publisher will seek between 70 and 100 journalist redundancies from a workforce of about 650 via a reopened voluntary programme. "We will do less, less of what's called commodity journalism, so that we can do more on our core purpose and the type of journalism that we're here to do" - Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the titles said.

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18 July 2012 | Al Jazeera

Facebook app to enrol U.S. voters

Application on the social networking website will allow users in Washington State to register for the upcoming election. The State will have an application on its Facebook page that allows residents to register to vote and then "like" the application and recommend it to their friends, the state's office said on Tuesday. The State, Facebook and Microsoft have been collaborating on the project since last year, and it is expected to launch next week. Once it is live, Facebook users will need to agree to let Facebook access their information, which will be used to prefill their name and date of birth in the voter registration form. Users will still need to provide a driver's licence or state ID number to continue. Facebook would not collect details other than the voter's name and date of birth, and would not have access to the voter database, the State said.

Original source

18 July 2012 | The Guardian

Court ban on BBC riots docu-drama

The ruling from a judge has prevented the corporation from showing a dramatised film about the experiences of the rioters who took part in the 2011 disorder. Lawyers for the BBC are considering making a formal appeal against the court order. The programme, part of a two-part series, features actors who play anonymous rioters speaking about their experiences of the riots last August and is based on the testimony of interviews conducted for the Guardian and London School of Economics research 'Reading the Riots'. Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of Index on Censorship, said: "This is a disturbing move. The Reading the Riots project gives a valuable insight into the events of last summer in England. As we approach the anniversary of the riots, it is important that broadcasts and discussion about the events are allowed to take place. Censoring television programmes is not in any way helpful to our understanding of the important issues and factors underlying the disturbances."

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