And now for something different....

Monty python released tickets this week for their first show in 30 years. When ticket sales relied on people going to the ticket office and queueing obviously sales were slower but the ticket sales for these shows are amazing. The first batch sold out in under a minute with all the tickets snapped up in 44 seconds by fans of the comedy legends. The speed at which the tickets for the July 1st show is amazing and really shows the speed at which technology allows us and companies to work now. 

.London

In 2014 London is getting its own domain name with businesses in the capitol being able to get rid of .UK and take on .London suffix. The city is the first to be awarded its own domain name by ICANN who over see the internet. The new domain name will mean that businesses can fully take advantage of the branding of the city. London as a global brand is amazingly powerful and allowing companies to associate themselves with that brand. 

Christmas in London

When we visited London this week to launch our new brief, London was dressing up for Christmas. London is famed for having some of the best Christmas decorations in the world and this year they haven't disappointed. The usual suspects, Oxford Street, Carnaby Street and Covent Garden, have all gone for simple but fun designs. Carnaby Street has opted for a red robin theme with giant cut outs hanging between the buildings and in the trees. Convent garden has created its usual giant Christmas tree in red and gold and Oxford street has beautiful silver balls hanging down the street and on the trees. And of course all the shops have gone to town with their own window displays.

Mrs Cardinal?

Rumours are surrounding the Vatican and spreading through the catholic community that Pope Francis, known for being a little more liberal with his views than past leaders, may be considering a woman for the role of cardinal early next year. This would be the first ever female cardinal but considering that 70% of church goers are female isn't it about time?

Considering it is so difficult for women to rise to power in the catholic church, it might not be surprising there are only 5 real contenders for the post. Two are Irish (one married!), one an academic in Rome, one a left wing who thinks the church needs a overhaul and one is the head of the women's section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Quite a range of women but for all it will open doors currently closed to them and the rest of the female catholic population. 

Drug stalling

Former government drug advisor Professor David Nutt has said that drug testing legislation is making the development of important drugs that could stop Parkinsons disease from being possible. British drug laws are preventing vital research into how the brain works which means the development of drugs is being stopped. 

Parkinsons and depression, the other disease this research could help, are diseases that affect thousands of people in the UK and abroad. Both diseases are believed to start with the loss of certain nerve control in the brain but scientists can't prove or disprove this idea without research.

Professor David Nutt has complained that the UK lead the discovery of over 100 different substances that make up Cannabis and yet the research labs have not been able to use any of them in their research because its just too difficult to get the permission. 

This is a huge issue as these are diseases that have a huge affect on people's lives everyday and by hampering the progress of these drugs just because some illegal substances are included in the research, drug companies are unable to improve these people's life experience. 

Twitter advertising plans

Twitter has revealed that they are going to try to reach more companies by widening its advertising. This is a huge risk as it means more adverts for customers which, considering this has been decided by the advertising department of the company and not asked for by customers, could cause a backlash from users. 

The other problem is that Twitter is targeting big and small companies and the smaller ones may not have the facilities to defend themselves against Twitter trolls; Twitter are going to have to get the right balance as this could badly affect both the customers and advertisers. Twitter trolls are more of an issue for smaller companies as they won't have the same loyal customer base as bigger companies and so can be easily attacked. The main thing Twitter needs to focus on is that they work for themselves and the advertisers and do not just plunder them for revenue. 

Facebook rape

Police in New Zealand have started to track down a group on Facebook who call themselves 'Roast Busters' who use the site to boast about luring girls as young as 13 into meeting them, getting drunk and having group sex with them. The men have even named some of their victims in videos posted to the site. 

Bullying and grooming online has been a problem for a long time but it is becoming more common in the news and is now forcing the government and companies to rethink how the internet social sites are monitored. 

The New Zealand PM John Key said that the behaviour of the group was abhorrent but like most crimes committed or bragged about online it's hard to have any hard evidence and therefore hard to prosecute.

 New laws are going to be put in place however that allow the police to prosecute those who attempt to sexually humiliate victims online which I think is a really positive move forward because if a embarrassing video or image or anything gets put online, it can quickly go viral and have a huge impact on the victim's life. 

Adverts based on you

Tesco has decided to start using in all their petrol stations face scanners that can tell age and gender. Despite how it sounds this is actually to help them decide what adverts to use. The retailer will introduce the OptimEyes screen, developed by Lord Sugar's Amscreen, to all 450 of its UK petrol stations, in a five-year deal, according to The Grocer magazine. The screen scans the eyes of customers and then runs tailored advertisements.The technology also changes adverts depending on the time and date, as well as monitoring customer purchases, The Grocer said. The screens are predicted to reach a weekly audience of more than five million adults.

Simon Sugar, chief executive of Amscreen, told the industry magazine: "Yes it's like something out of Minority Report, but this could change the face of British retail and our plans are to expand the screens into as many supermarkets as possible." 

The main issue, pointed out by Nick Pickles from Big Brother Watch, is customers are not being asked for their consent. The stores are assuming that customers are happy for their faces to be scanned whilst they are waiting to pay. It has been suggested as well that if the public are told that they are being scanned when they go into certain shops or buildings it will have a huge impact on the companies people decide to use.

Mobile Christmas

John Lewis have predicted a 'mobile Christmas' this year after mobile visits on tablets or phones accounted for 40% of all visits to their website. Last year there was a lot of talk of christmas shopping all being done online and this shows with John Lewis as 50% of customers shopped online with them last December 25th. 

A huge migration from shopping in actual shops to just going online has been seen recently and those of us who still visit the shops will often check on our phones when we see a product we want to know if we could get it cheaper online. John Lewis reported that 78% of all fashion department products were bought from a phone or tablet over the last year and its no surprise as it is quicker, often less frustrating and just more convenient to go online now. It's very often cheaper as well. 

I think it will be interesting to see how accurate this prediction from John Lewis is and how many of us decide to avoid the shops altogether this year.