The digital satellite TV service has launched Sky Go Extra, which lets Sky customers in the U.K. and Ireland download movies and TV shows over WiFI for offline viewing on mobile devices and laptops. Sky Go Extra is GBP5 per month for existing Sky customers and builds on Sky Go, the company's on-demand service for mobile and connected devices (which is free to subscribers). Customers who sign up for Sky Go Extra can also watch on-demand streaming video on four devices, up from the two allowed under Sky Go.

Manchester Evening News has today unveiled its new website, which aims to be "less cluttered", and offers new features such as "mobile and tablet friendly" photo galleries and a "Your Area" section to surface content based on specific geographical areas. The Trinity Mirror-owned news outlet said the design aims to place "greater emphasis on new and recently updated articles" with a clearer publication date or time stamp on each article, as well as new markers to highlight stories which are updated, exclusive or live.

WPP's audience buying company Xaxis has launched a programmatic buying product for targeting global audiences in the digital radio market, called Xaxis Radio. Xaxis Radio enables advertisers to buy online and mobile radio inventory via its real-time bidding technology. The service is fully integrated into Xaxis' Data Management Platform.

According to Vogue, the account has been boosted by more than 250,000 new followers since the relaunch of its website in September 2012. Vogue becomes only the second UK magazine - after The Economist - to break the 1 million mark, according to Press Gazette research. And although The Economist has more than 2.7 million followers, and is a UK title originally, it serves a worldwide readership.

It claims that handing the European Commission oversight of media councils would open the door to Brussels interference In its most recent editorial the paper states: "Proposals published this week by an independent panel charged with examining press freedom ring alarm bells. Though the report carries no legal weight, it has been endorsed by the European Commission as the starting point for discussions that could eventually lead to new regulations.

The European Union has stepped into the debate over the future of press regulation issuing a report suggesting that all EC countries should have media councils following a set of Europe-wide criteria to enforce standards. Among its recommendations, the report says: "All EU countries should have independent media councils with a politically and culturally balanced and socially diverse membership. Nominations to them should be transparent, with built-in checks and balances.

Like the magazine, Primary Times TV will feature a range of material aimed at families with primary school age children, but through videos rather than print. "It's filled with handy tips ranging from dealing with head lice to where to take the children on that wet weekend," says Steve Edwards, managing director of Primary Times. "It's simply a way of giving readers more free content - a product extension through video. But it is also a showcase for advertisers wishing to target parents".

The foundations of Newsmodo began when Australian television journalist Rakhal Ebeli noticed his role as a reporter increasingly included acting as "a third-party broker" between the newsroom and members of the community offering user-generated content. Ebeli's first step was to start work on creating newsme.com.au, which set out with aims of being a "basic site" where people could submit user-generated content and a team would then "broker that content to news networks on behalf of the uploader".

The government's chief scientist has published a report saying that social networks are 're-defining' social identity. Professor Sir John Beddington says that over the next decade, the fabric of society will change, with identity in its traditional sense becoming less important. The changes will be fuelled by nearly constant access to the internet, a phenomenon that the report called 'hyper-connectivity'. The changes could serve as a positive force in society, but if ignored, could fuel exclusion.

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 30% of 1,000 members of the general public surveyed and 33% of 200 members of the "informed public" trust the media. The informed public are defined as university educated, top 25% earnings bracket individuals who are engaged in business news and public policy. At a panel discussion to launch the report, the Financial Times website's managing editor Robert Shrimsley said that the media's "shrillness" is partly to blame for the overall decline in trust.