“Text 62262 to contribute $10 to Obama” – both campaigns launch donations by text message

If you want to be a politician then you have to get online. Not just with a website but a million social media personalities and a smartphone app. To put it another way, you have to be cutting edge. It’s no surprise, then, that the Obama campaign is open to accepting donations via text message: …

Farmers markets continue strong growth – 10% this year, 151% this decade

In the past few years, the USDA has started paying more attention to farmers markets. They now conduct a yearly survey asking all market managers in the country to stand up and be counted:   It’s safe to say that farmers markets are booming. They have more than doubled in the past decade (151% growth), …

Web stats for the London 2012 Olympic Games

Just a small slice of the 70-page, London 2012 Olympic Games – Digital Report Web stats: 431 million visits 109 million unique visits (on average, each person visited four times) 15 million app downloads 4.73 billion pageviews (on average 11 page views/visit) 4.7 million followers on social networks Data: 1.3 petabytes of data served 117 billion …

Don’t forget about the Paralympics – they’re on from Aug 31 – Sep 9

  I really enjoyed the Olympics, particularly seeing Oscar Pistorius compete in his carbon fibre Cheetah foot. Now, I’m looking forward to seeing some of the more exciting Paralympic events: Following his historic appearance at the Olympic Games – where he was the first male athlete with a disability to compete at the able-bodied Games – South …

To build the artificial river for the Olympics, designers used large lego-like blocks

Did you have a chance to see the white water sports at the Olympics, like kayaking and canoeing? If so, you probably noticed that the entire venue was artificial. The Lee Valley White Water Centre in the north of London was created out of a vast expanse of flat land. The designers, including a firm …

London 2012: women earn more medals, compete in more events, and represent more countries

Clearly, the U.S. has the best women in the world. As the London Olympics near their end, one of the biggest, most significant storylines is the dominance of America’s female athletes. There’s no other word for it. It’s because of the women — not the men — that the United States stands atop the medal …

Is there prize money given with olympic medals?

There’s no pay from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) when they win a medal. But many countries Olympic committees pay their athletes for winning medals. Among them, The U.S., Russia, Canada, China & Italy and many more countries. $20K-$50K per gold medal is typical in bigger countries. The smaller countries actually tend to pay more, …

Maps of where Olympic athletes are born and where they move to

The map above shows the birthplace of the 500 athletes the United States sent to the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The break down: 9 percent (43 athletes) – are from Los Angeles 3.6 percent (17) – are from the Bay Area 3 percent (14) – are from greater New York 2.3 percent (11) from …

A brochure from the Olympics – the map from the London Tube

  I’ve got two maps for you. The first is the slippy map above from London Town: I like the…hand-drawn feel of the map. Venues are shown in indicative locations rather than being geographically correct, as the details of London between the venues are missed out. This makes it a very poor map for navigating …