A (pretty) major study of the online world

In the UK 43% of people are "highly engaged" when it comes to digital activities

From infographics to statistics websites, data design works best when it’s both useful and appealing to the eye.

That the Digital Life study, released last month by research firm TNS, would rate strongly in usefulness is expected. It is after all billed as “the largest ever online research” and involved almost 50,000 interviews across 46 countries.

But what really caught my eye was the interactive website that lets you sample the study. As well as informative, the site manages to be both pretty and fun – not the most obvious attributes for a market research project.

The EU’s online popularity push, UK ponders ‘digital by default’ public services, online music picture mixed

The European Union has decided the way to the Great British public’s heart is to appeal to their self-interest by highlighting how the country actually benefits from ‘those faceless bureaucrats in Brussels’ (copyright: half the British press).

They may not have given us the aquaduct, but a new website, The EU – What’s In It For Me?, points instead to improving ferry services in Cornwall and job training schemes in Yorkshire among projects that have helped every area of the UK.

Meanwhile, from bans on scones at country fairs to renaming the English Channel the ‘Anglo-French Pond’ the site also collects everyone’s favourite Euro-skeptic myths – though this is unlikely to stop certain sections of the press from passing them off as truth.

Webcast – Multichannel sales and marketing

The webcast I moderated yesterday is available to view in an archived form on InPharm.com.

Making Multichannel Sales and Marketing Work For You featured presentations from Jean-Francois Delas (Kinapse), Richie Bavasso (Exploria SPS) and Carl Engelmarc (Refreshed Wellbeing).

The Beatles ♥ Apple, The UK’s open internet, Facebook Messages

There’s nothing like the warm glow you get when multimillionaires kiss, make up, and agree to rake in yet more money.

Steve Job’s gushing announcement that The Beatles’ catalogue is now available on iTunes is certainly good news for Apple, the band and their record label EMI.

The downloading public also seem in favour of the deal and untroubled by the cynicism widely voiced in tech circles. As of yesterday the Fab Four’s songs accounted for nine of the top 100 best-sellers on iTunes in the UK, led by Let It Be at number 32.

Google – doing good with languages

For some time now Google has been making a determined effort to increase online access to languages.

Just last week it added the ‘underrepresented’ language Zulu to its Voice Search application, taking another step forward in the area, the like of which you don’t see from other companies.

Personally, the tools I’ve been most appreciative of are those for writing and translating Bengali, a language I’ve been learning for a few years now.

Google Vs Facebook, Digital Economy Act, Net Neutrality

Just a few days ago the Google-Facebook data sharing spat looked liked a bit of sabre rattling between two of the web’s biggest operators. Then rumours that tomorrow would see a Facebook email launch started gaining momentum.

Widely referred to as a ‘Gmail Killer’, it’s not hard to see why Google would be concerned by Facebook email.

It’s certainly over-shadowed Google’s original gripe about ‘data portability‘, which is a shame – if only because it highlighted the existence of the search giant’s Data Liberation Front.