Andy Flower ponder his options ahead of England tour to Sri Lanka

Andy Flower ponder his options ahead of England's tour to Sri Lanka, London, March 10, 2012

©Getty Images

Andy Flower ponder his options ahead of England's tour to Sri Lanka, London, March 10, 2012

©Getty Images

London's iconic buses are back In London 21 February 2012

London's iconic buses are back In London 21 February 2012

The Routemaster design adds a hop-on hop-off platform at the rear, in addition to front and side passenger doors. (Transport for London)

London's iconic double-decker buses have gotten an update that looks uncannily like the past.
Seven buses with an open hop-on hop-off platform at the rear hit downtown streets on 20 February, running on route 38, between Victoria Station and Hackney, an east London neighbourhood.
Between the 1950s and 2000s, royal red double deckers sported distinctive open platforms in the rear. But in 2005, authorities took that Routemaster model out of service, replacing it with versions that only have an entrance at the front.
The city also added so-called “bendy", or articulated, buses, because they could carry more passengers, thanks to hinged midsections. But locals loathed the replacement vehicles. A common complaint was that the extended length of the buses snarled traffic on many narrow, twisting streets. So the city pulled that design off the streets in 2011, leaving regular double-decker buses in service and shipping the bendys off to other cities in the United Kingdom that have more spacious streets. Officials then ran a design competition to see if a better bus could be invented. The design that won, by Thomas Heatherwick and Wrightbus, restored the open rear platform.
The revived Routemaster design adds a second staircase to speed up passenger movement. It also claims to get a low 12 miles to gallon thanks to energy efficient engines and interior-heating systems. That efficiency means it produces 40% fewer emissions than the current double deckers, which run on diesel.
The success of this design depends on the outcome of this spring's mayoral election. If candidate Ken Livingstone defeats current mayor Boris Johnson, he may kill the new Routemasters, which are Johnson's pet project and cost about £1.3 million each, significantly higher than more prosaic models. A Johnson victory, on the other hand, may mean that hundreds of the buses are put into services within the next few years.
In the meantime, original 1950s buses with the open platform in the rear are still in service on parts of route 9, running between Trafalgar Square and Kensington, and route 15, running between Trafalgar Square and Tower Hill. Check the Transport for London website for route maps and schedules that say "heritage".







Source: BBC

London 2012: BBC to show men's 100m final in 3D

London 2012: BBC to show men's 100m final in 3D
Flagship contest, parts of opening and closing cermonies and nightly highlights to feature in experimental broadcasts

London 2012

The BBC is to air the London 2012 men's 100m final, featuring athletes including Usain Bolt, in 3D. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images
The BBC has been considering the possibility of broadcasting some of its London Olympics coverage in 3D since 2009, although the corporation has been cautious about committing to this as it means interrupting its core high definition TV service.

The men's 100m final at the London Olympics will be televised live in 3D as part of a summer experiment to test the public appetite for the new broadcast technology, the BBC has confirmed. The 3D coverage will be broadcast via the BBC HD channel.

Roger Mosey, the BBC executive in charge of the corporation's London 2012 coverage, said on Wednesday that the 100m final, parts of the opening and closing ceremonies and a nightly highlights package will be broadcast in 3D this summer.

"3D has spread more slowly than we perhaps expected in 2009 … but we do believe it's right for the BBC to go ahead with a 3D experiment this summer," Mosey said in a blog posted on the BBC website.

He added that the experiment was part of the "story of innovation" that goes with the broadcasting of Olympic events and that the "industry will only know what customers want if we have actual data on their use of 3D and there's no bigger stage on which to try this out than the Olympics".

Mosey said that the events were chosen "partly because they mark the pinnacles of the Games" but also that it will mean a minimal loss of HD coverage of other events when the BBC switches to the 3D feed.

"It's not yet clear how much of the ceremonies will be shot in 3D but otherwise opening and closing have the advantage that there's no competing sport, and therefore no loss of choice for HD viewers," he added. "But that wouldn't have been the case if we'd expanded our 3D coverage over the rest of the 17 days."

A spokesman for the BBC pointed out that the corporation is committing very little of the licence fee to 3D – in line with the small amount of public demand and uptake to date.

The summer experiments are designed to explore the editorial potential and customer reception to 3D broadcasting.

"The BBC has both a responsibility and a strong history of exploring innovation on behalf of licence fee payers," Mosey said.

The BBC has dabbled in 3D before, broadcasting the 2012 Wimbledon men's and women's finals using the technology.


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Source: Guardian

Acta protests: Thousands take to streets across Europe

Acta protests: Thousands take to streets across Europe
By Dave Lee
Technology Reporter

Marchers in London

Thousands of people have taken part in co-ordinated protests across Europe in opposition to a controversial anti-piracy agreement.

Significant marches were held in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta).

Around 200 protesters gathered in central London outside the offices of several major rights holders.

Demonstrators argued that Acta will limit freedom of speech online.

However the agreement's supporters insist it will not alter existing laws, and will instead provide protection for content creators in the face of increasing levels of online piracy.

The treaty has to date been signed by 22 EU members, including the UK, but has yet to be ratified by the European Parliament. A debate is due to take place in June.

On Friday, Germany delayed signing the agreement in order to, a spokesman said, "give us time to carry out further discussions".

'In secret'
Saturday's London demonstration was supported by the Open Rights Group, a vocal opponent to the treaty. The group's executive director, Jim Killock, argued that Germany's stance shows Acta negotiations were carried out "in secret" by EU "bureaucrats".

Continue reading the main story
What is Acta?

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is an international treaty aiming to standardise copyright protection measures.
It seeks to curb trade of counterfeited physical goods, including copyrighted material online.
Preventative measures include possible imprisonment and fines.
Critics argue that it will stifle freedom of expression on the internet, and it has been likened to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa).
Acta has been signed by 22 EU members, including the UK, but is yet to be ratified by the European Parliament.
"Three member states in Europe are now looking like they don't want to sign," he told the BBC.

"That shows that politicians are only really starting to look at this now. All of a sudden, the whole thing is breaking down."

Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have already delayed the process after significant pressure from mostly young people.

"The point today is to say Acta is undemocratic," Mr Killock added.

"It's lacked scrutiny, it's setting up dangerous new pressures to censor the internet to remove users and put pressure on [Internet Service Providers] to start policing for copyright."

More demonstrations were held in other UK cities, including Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Anonymous hackers
The anti-Acta movement has also been widely adopted by members of the Anonymous activist collective, which has claimed responsibility for putting high-profile government websites out of action, including that of the Polish prime minister.

Speaking at the London protest Loz Kaye, leader of the Pirate Party UK, dismissed worries that aligning closely with Anonymous - whose members carry out various illegal activities online - was harmful to their cause.

"What we've seen is a whole wave of people coming out on the streets right across Europe," he told the BBC.

"Some people have been called extreme, but equally, Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières have spoken out. Even The Economist, which is hardly radical, has described the treaty as potentially draconian."

'Greater transparency'
The BBC contacted several key rights holders prior to the demonstration - all of which declined to comment.

The UK's Intellectual Property Office has maintained that Acta "should not" mean new laws relating to internet use.

In a statement, Baroness Wilcox, parliamentary under-secretary for Business, Innovation and Skills, told the BBC: "It was important for the UK to be a signatory of Acta as it will set an international standard for tackling large-scale infringements of [intellectual property rights], through the creation of common enforcement standards and more effective international cooperation.

"During the negotiations, we continually pushed for greater transparency as we believed that this would have led to a better understanding of the agreement by the public."

Source: BBC

Lord's on a snowy day in London, February 6, 2012

Lord's on a snowy day in London, February 6, 2012

©MCC

snowy day in London

Lord's on a snowy day in London, February 6, 2012©MCC

Joao Havelange quits IOC - report

Havelange quits IOC - report

(AFP) – 2 hours ago  

LONDON (AFP) - Former FIFA president Joao Havelange resigned from the International Olympic Committee on Sunday, just days before he was to face an ethics inquiry, it was reported by the BBC.

The 95-year-old, who has been a member of the IOC since 1963, was under investigation for his links with FIFA's former marketing agency, International Sport and Leisure (ISL), which went bankrupt in 2001 with debts of around $300 million.

A BBC Panorama television investigation alleged in 2010 that the Brazilian had accepted payments from ISL for granting lucrative World Cup contracts.

Havelange was FIFA president between 1974-98 before he was replaced by Sepp Blatter.

The Brazilian, who competed at two Olympic Games in 1936 in Berlin as a swimmer and then in the 1952 edition in Helsinki as a member of the water polo team, is credited with turning football in modernising the sport into the moneymaking industry it is today.

He was also instrumental in bringing the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro and to South America for the first time when the International Olympic Committee elected the city as the host last year in Copenhagen.

Two other IOC members, International Association of Athletics Federations president Lamine Diack and Issa Hayatou, president of the Confederation of African Football, will have cases considered by the IOC on Thursday.

Joao Havelange