To go with AFP story by Francois Bougon: LIFESTYLE-CHINA-US-IT-INTERNET-GOOGLE
A woman works online in her cubicle at an office in Beijing on February 4, 2010. China’s homegrown social media sites like Weibo are booming thanks to their better knowledge of the world’s largest Internet market, and the censorship stifling foreign rivals like Facebook, Twitter, and Google-owned YouTube. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/2010 AFP
With millions of Americans tuning in to watch the 2012 London Olympics on NBC and many streaming coverage online from the “comfort” of their drab, beige cubicles, U.S. companies may eventually have to write off $650 million in lost productivity, according to digital media company Captivate Network. That’s because for every worker faffing around during the badminton or trampolining qualifiers, there’s also that much less bandwidth for all their hard-working colleagues to use. One possible scheme to minimize the amount of wasted company time: turn it into an Olympic-style sport, with gold, silver, and bronze medals (or just money) awarded to whoever goes the longest without visibly swooning over British diving heartthrob Tom Daley.
