Digital Digest: 30/08/2010

The Best Of The Web



Politics



NewStatesman.co.uk


Ed Balls is widely thought to be the best number-cruncher in the Labour leadership contest: but does he measure up as far as bigwig American economist Irwin Stelzer is concerned? And does Balls have the clout to give David Cameron a run for his money at the dispatch box? Stelzer gives his verdict in this profile:



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Society

Wired.com

It's an amusing concept: an off-line social network involving physical conversations between “real-life friends” who group according to interests. In places called “bars”, while “waitresses” offer things called “menus” offering tasty food and drinks. Read this satirical take on online social networking here:

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Music

RobbieWilliams.com

The latest news is that Robbie Williams’ return to Take That might just be for one album and one tour. If that’s true then fans should make the most of this. The single “Shame”, from Williams’ forthcoming greatest hits album, sees Gary Barlow strip to the waist along with his former boy band cohort. See the video here:

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Film

FirstShowing.net

The trailer is out for Stephen Frears’ latest film, Tamara Drewe starring Britain’s most ubiquitous young actress, Gemma Arterton. The movie’s based on a cartoon strip featuring in a national newspapers. The word is that the movie is both funny and entertaining. Watch it here:

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Environment

NationalGeographic.com

Stuck at home on the bank holiday? Or – worse – stuck at the work? Get away from it all with this enchanting and informative video from National Geographic. Packed full of scientific facts, it offers an educational virtual tour around Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Truly majestic.

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History

NYMag.com

Princeton history professor Sean Wilentz publishes Bob Dylan in America next month, a comprehensive study eagerly awaited by Dylanologists. Not that Wilentz is one of them. “Yuck,” he replies when asked. Here he takes New York Magazine’s Boris Kachka on a tour of the muscian’s old Greenwich village haunts:

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Food

MSNBC.com

Danish restaurant Noma surprised the foodie elite when it was voted World’s Best in the San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants. So how did they pull it off? MSNBC’s Today programme recreates one of the restaurants dishes to try and shed some light on the situation. Watch it here:

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Independent Comment
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News in pictures
World news in pictures
Life & Style blogs

How can the mortgage market recovery be helped?

Guest post by Richard Sexton, business development director of e.surv chartered surveyors

Where do most millionaires live in the UK?

Plus lateral thinking and living on London's waterways

Wandsworth tops aspiring young professionals hotspot list

Other popular areas include Didsbury, Clifton in Bristol, central Cambridge and West Bridgford

       
Independent
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    Day In a Page

    National archives: Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

    Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

    Newly unearthed papers reveal a shocking extra dimension to the constitutional crisis over monarch’s abdication
    Sent down at the Old Bailey: A tour of the world's most famous court

    Sent down at the Old Bailey

    A tour of the world's most famous court
    Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

    Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

    The Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis’s date for his movie premieres isn’t arm candy  – it’s his 87-year-old friend who he saved from homelessness
    British football scores an own goal

    British football scores an own goal

    Many managers barely survive a year in post. Martin Baker talks to experts who make a case for clubs using forensic business skills to find the best staff
    James Lawton: Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again

    James Lawton

    Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again
    Dylan Hartley: Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong

    Dylan Hartley talks tough

    Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong
    Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

    Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

    A meeting of global power brokers in a Hertfordshire hotel is exciting conspiracy theorists, but what are they really about?
    'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console

    'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system'

    Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console
    Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men

    Plenty of sleaze

    Dating website pulls intimate 'hook-up' section to curb harassment
    Inferno author Dan Brown 'honoured' to be invited to join the Freemasons

    The Freemasons’ Code

    Dan Brown reveals the message that told him door to the lodge is open
    Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

    Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

    Nick Buckles survived the Olympics débâcle and a £5bn bid fiasco but a profit warning finally triggered his downfall
    How to say ‘I’m a sellout’: Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar

    How to say ‘I’m a sellout’

    Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar
    Why clubs are keen to take a stand

    Why clubs are keen to take a stand

    There's a real desire around the grounds for safe standing. But will the authorities listen?
    In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

    In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

    Disillusion with a siege mentality and negative playing style made change inevitable
    James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

    James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

    British driver was fascinating man whose epic duel with Niki Lauda in 1976 was typical of an era of glamour and glory – but also the ever-present threat of death