Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Ashleigh.
1. Jurassic World breaks record by taking $511m during opening weekend
The latest film in the Jurassic Park series, Jurassic World, has become the first film in history to take more than $500 million at the box office in its opening weekend.
The film was released globally this weekend and was the most popular screening in the 66 countries in which it was shown – a massive success after the last film they released, Jurassic Park III, was a bit of flop compared to the two films before it; Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
The Universal Pictures release had the second-highest grossing opening weekend in the US, after Marvel’s The Avengers, that was released in 2014 and took $207.4m. Jurassic World was close behind with $204.6m.
Will this reignite the Jurassic franchise? We’ll have to wait and see. It’s certainly inspired zoo keepers around the world to get creative with the way they herd their animals:
2. Magna Carta for the Digital Age?
Monday was the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and The British Library has therefore revealed the current top 10 clauses people would like to see in a digital version of the Magna Carta.
Around 3,000 10-18 year olds had a debate about the issues and came up with 500 clauses they’d like to see in such a document.
The top 10 of these were:
- The Web we want will not let companies pay to control it, and not let governments restrict our right to information
- The Web we want will allow freedom of speech
- The Web we want will be free from government censors in all countries
- The Web we want will not allow any kind of government censorship
- The Web we want will be available for all those who wish to use it
- The Web we want will be free from censorship and mass surveillance
- The Web we want will allow equal access to knowledge, information and current news worldwide
- The Web we want will have freedom of speech
- The Web we want will not be censored by the government
- The Web we want will not sell our personal information and preferences for money, and will make it clearer if the company/Website intends to do so
3. Nearly 50% of people in Britain have trouble with their mobile signal at home
A survey carried out by a network testing company has revealed that nearly half of the people in Britain have trouble making and receiving calls on their mobile phone, whilst at home.
The company surveyed 2000 mobile phone users and found that 40% had reception problems at home.
However, the situation is set to improve, “…as operators are using different frequencies to provide coverage,” according to telecoms analyst Matthew Howett.
Many phone network providers offer solutions for those that do have issues, which allows customers to use their broadband connection instead.
Also, O2 has pledged to provide indoor 4G coverage to 98% of the population by 2017 so you’d hope that people would have better phone signal by then too.
4. Ever wanted to build your own Mario levels? Soon you will be able to…
This September Nintendo is set to launch Super Mario Maker, a ‘game’ that allows users to create their own levels in Super Mario Bros 8-bit graphics or 3D style and then play them afterwards.
Cool eh? Here’s the trailer:
5. Waitrose allows myWaitrose card holders to choose their own offers
In a bid to gain marketshare from discount giants like Lidl and Aldi, Waitrose has launched ‘Pick your own Offers’.
Described as ‘game changing’ by the supermarket, the scheme allows myWaitrose card holders to choose which groceries they would like discounted. It allows them to pick 10 items out of a selection of nearly 1,000 products, that they wish to save 20% on.
However the supermarket, along with a few of the other big players, have been under scrutiny from consumer watchdog Which?, calling their offers “dodgy” and confusing to customers.
