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December 2nd, 2010 by Abbie Waller

England 2018: What would you do?

#england2018 has been on tenterhooks all day awaiting FIFA’s decision on where the 2018 World Cup tournament will be held. At Speed Towers, we’re obviously all keeping our fingers crossed for an England victory but the question on everybody’s lips is how our esteemed MD’s would have handled the process.

Lucky for us, they were able to take a few seconds out of their hectic schedules to share their pearls of wisdom with us. View the comment for yourself below and have your say on the subject too (#ifiwasincharge)

NB. We had some technical difficulties uploading the videos to the site – @DavidBell76 Productions plc needs some more training – but you can view them on our YouTube channel (here is Wadds and here is Steve), or we’ve summarised for you below:

@mynameisearl said: if I was in charge, I wouldn’t have had gone at it like a bunch of lily-lizard left-wingers. I would have gone straight for the kneecaps like a good old fashioned Spanish centre-half

@wadds said: bid team did a fantastic job getting the Prince, Boris Johnson and the Prime Minister involved and choosing Newcastle as a host city. FIFA is looking a gift horse in the mouth

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September 8th, 2010 by Marie Efthymiou

How to screw a footballer . . .

It feels like recently we can’t get through a week without reading about another footballer screwing-up (off the pitch) and to be honest the whole thing’s become such a farce, that I secretly look forward to seeing which of our supposed ‘national heroes’ is gracing the front cover of News of The World each Sunday, just for light entertainment.

Captain Terry kicked off the recent flurry of indiscretions with his team mate’s missus Vanessa Perroncel. John was captain no more, she was blamed for England losing the World Cup (unlikely), but his wife stuck by him, aaaahhh isn’t that true love? Ashley Cole was at it again, and will forever be associated with the aptly coined word ‘sexting’ (and those vile greige boxer shorts). We all yelped with glee when our Cheryl filed for divorce.

Peter Crouch soon followed after being apparently caught at it with a teenage prostitute. Honestly, he must thank his lucky stars everyday for his talent as I can safely say no woman would look his way otherwise. Rumour has it that his punishment from  fiancé Abbey Clancy, was to buy her a more extravagant engagement ring (somebody please sit her down and explain ‘self-worth’). And to top it off, this week’s big story is that Wayne Rooney is stumping up the cash again. No he’s not back to romping with an old age masseuse, this time it is alleged she’s a teenage vice girl who’s claimed to have bedded up to 13 Premier League players (her parents must be so proud).

So we’re all in agreement, that if you marry an England footballer the chances that he’ll do the dirty on you are pretty high. A lot higher than them leading us to World Cup victory anyway.

Let’s be honest who feels sorry for the WAGS, anyone? Nope, nobody. Why? Because the benefits for these women when their partners cheat are endless. Look at Cheryl, in a space of two years she’s gone from being one fifth of a mediocre girl band and was known more for her apparent rant in the ladies loos of classy nightclub Drink in Guildford, to now being a national treasure.

So fear not Colleen, yes it’s sad and he’s humiliated you, but if we were to believe the tabloids he clearly has no desire to change for you or your son. Why not focus on making the most of this free publicity? Think perfumes, another clothes range perhaps, or a tell-all book? It’s your turn to screw him over, take half, walk away and don’t give him the satisfaction of looking back.

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June 24th, 2010 by Simon Matthews

How not to deal with ambush marketing

If you had asked me a fortnight ago if I had heard of Bavaria (the brewery not the region) I wouldn’t have been able to tell you, nor, I imagine, would a great many other people. Ask anyone now though (well, world cup followers at any rate) and they could probably tell you that they are the brewery that performed a very cheeky piece of ambush marketing involving 36 Dutch women in short orange dresses using ITV pundit Robbie Earle’s ticket allocation for the Holland V Denmark game. It is an example of a very successful attempt at ambush marketing. But this might not have been the case if FIFA hadn’t brought in the heavies.

FIFA, and all other organisers of big events, is bound to protect the advertising investments of official sponsors. This is not only for the benefit of the sponsors, but also for FIFA – if they didn’t actively attempt to protect advertisers then nobody in their right mind would want to spend millions to become an official sponsor

The big mistake that FIFA made was to publicise the fact that they had ejected the ambush marketers and launched a civil lawsuit against Bavaria. This is exactly what Bavaria wanted to achieve – free publicity. If FIFA had quietly ejected the women and issued proceedings with little fanfare the ambush marketing attempt would have been far less successful – instead they have generated hundreds of column inches for the brand globally.

(For example, New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, BBC, New Zealand Herald, USA Today, AFP and The Guardian)

The fines faced by Bavaria will probably end up much cheaper than an official sponsorship and the whole affair will have netted a significant amount of attention, a bargain at twice the price perhaps?

(picture source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/osde-info/4671127352/ – user osde8info)

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June 14th, 2010 by michael.frier

Daily News – 14/06

Vince Cable backs break-up of big banks

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has given official backing to recommendations that call for investment banks to be broken up.

The Daily Telegraph – Porn sites ‘easy target’ for cyber criminals

Visitors to porn websites are at serious risk from hackers and clickjackers, a security firm has warned. Researchers at International Secure System Lab analysed more than 35,000 pornographic domains, hosting 269,000 websites. They found that about 3.23 per cent of those websites were laced with adware, spyware and viruses, which visitors could inadvertently and unknowingly install on their computers, leaving them open to hackers and cyber criminals.

Computer Weekly – Will LinkedIn reshape the recruitment sector?

LinkedIn is already a recruitment tool for corporate’s looking for specialist IT staff, but will its increased focus on recruitment services leave a permanent scar on an industry still reeling from recession? The social networking site has appointed Ariel Eckstein as managing director of its Hiring Solutions service, with responsibility to expand LinkedIn’s European recruitment business and “increase the visibility” of its Talent Advantage Suite.

BBC – ITV HD viewers miss England’s first World Cup goal

ITV has apologised to its HD channel viewers after a “transmission problem” caused them to miss England’s first World Cup goal. Viewers did not see Steven Gerrard’s early strike against the USA in the 1-1 match. Some reported seeing an advert.

Computing.co.uk – Channel Five reveals intention to step up digital TV presence

UK TV channel Five has revealed plans to aggressively ramp up its online presence. Francois Chabat, the channel’s senior technology manager, exclusively told Computing that syndication of content is a key part of the strategy.

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June 1st, 2010 by michael.frier

Daily News – 01/06

The Register – Fraudsters limber up for World Cup themed scams

Football governing body FIFA has already warned supporters to be wary over various forms of scams that are likely to crop up in the run-up to the start of the tournament, which kicks off in ten days time.

SC Magazine – Importance of email retention clear after US bank is fined $700,000

A fine issued to a company for failing to retain emails demonstrates the importance of email retention as a compliance issue.

The Daily Telegraph – World Cup traffic could clog mobile networks

Analysts at consultancy firm Deloitte have suggested that the numbers of Britons watching TV on their phones could compromise mobile networks. The World Cup could lead to an increase in data usage on mobile phone networks and lead to the services becoming “oversaturated”, according to industry analysts at management consultancy firm Deloitte.

The Daily Telegraph – Google has mapped every WiFi network in Britain

Google has mapped every wireless network in Britain in order to use the information for commercial purposes, it has emerged. Every WiFi wireless router – the device that links most computer owners to the internet – in every home has been entered into a Google database. The information was collected by radio aerials on their Street View cars, which have now photographed almost every home in the country

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December 4th, 2009 by Lisa Francis

Daily News 04/12

Computing.co.uk – Giant data centre to heat London homes
An £80m green data centre under construction in east London will use 9MW of surplus heat created by racks of severs to power residential and business properties in the surrounding area.

BBC – Google set to offer property dimension to UK mapping
Google is set to launch a property dimension to its UK mapping system. The new service will allow estate agents and private sellers to put their property as an overlay on Google Maps.

BBC – World Cup games to be filmed in 3D
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be filmed in 3D for the first time, it has been confirmed.

IT Pro – Nokia to halve smartphone portfolio

The world’s leading handset manufacturer has announced it will cut its portfolio by half to keep on top of competition from other vendors.

The Register – Cell phones don’t fry brains, boffins say
A new Scandinavian study has been released, indicating that cell-phone usage doesn’t lead to an increased risk of brain cancer.

Total Telecom – Twitter founder squares up to m-payments market

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s new start-up, Square, is set to take an unusual approach to the mobile payments sector by enabling anyone with a touch screen smartphone to accept credit card payments.