Matt McAlister, who serves as director of digital strategy at Guardian Media Group, had a vision for collaborative, crowdfunded journalism that would facilitate two different kinds of communities. That vision has become Contributoria, which allows independent writers to pitch stories that are supported by people who like their ideas. And the finished result ends up not just online - but in a popular print magazine.

Connected DVR maker Simple.tv just launched a new feature that will make it easier for users to share TV shows with their friends and family - and in turn possibly get Simple.tv a few new customers. Owners of Simple.tv's DVR for cord cutters can now set up guest passes to let others access their DVR recordings over the internet.

Summer in the City is the largest UK event dedicated to YouTube content creators and users. YouTube video creators with millions of subscribers - including Tyler Oakley, Zoella, Sorted Food and Vsauce - explain why they're attending the event at Alexandra Palace, north London, as well as other huge conventions such as VidCon in the US and VideoDays in Germany. Is YouTube about to replace TV, or is it just an online community for people with niche interests?

While the belief that 'if it bleeds it leads' - that bad news sells - is still very much out there, the idea of 'solutions' or 'constructive' journalism is built on the basis that people want more from the news they consume. Constructive reporting aims to produce stories that give the audience a more comprehensive look around the issue at hand, focusing on solutions for problems rather than just the problems themselves.

A former Times journalist who admitted hacking a Yahoo email account in order to unmask pseudonymous police blogger Nightjack has been given a caution. The news that Patrick Foster will escape trial comes more than two years after his arrest on suspicion of breaching the Computer Misuse Act and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

While Amazon and Hachette's contract battle drags on in the U.S., a similar fight is taking place in Germany between Amazon and book publisher Bonnier. Now 1,188 German, Austrian and Swiss authors have taken a cue from their U.S. counterparts and signed an open letter to Amazon, accusing the retailer of "using authors and their books as leverage" to force larger discounts on ebooks.

David Cameron has confirmed plans to enforce an age rating system for online music videos. The British Prime Minister announced the pilot scheme during his speech at The Relationships Alliance Summit earlier yesterday. "Helping families with children and parenting shouldn't stop at childbirth," Cameron is quoted by The Guardian as saying. "To take just one example - bringing up children in an internet age, you are endlessly worried about what they are going to find online.

A pro-union blog post on the Scottish Better Together campaign website has been removed after author Yvonne Hama's "completely unacceptable" views emerged. The Scottish pro-union Better Together campaign branded Hama's views unacceptable after social media users unearthed retweets of former BNP leader Nick Griffin on what appeared to be her Twitter account. Her blog, titled 'Why I'm saying No Thanks' - which was posted on 17 August - was soon removed from the Better Together website after a social media storm erupted.

Academic researchers will be granted unprecedented access to the data of major social networks including Imgur, Reddit, and Twitch as part of a joint initiative: The Digital Ecologies Research Partnership (Derp). Derp - and yes, that really is its name - will be offering data to universities including Harvard, MIT and McGill, to promote "open, publicly accessible, and ethical academic inquiry into the vibrant social dynamics of the web".

The Economist is the UK magazine title with the most digital edition sales, according to figures for the first half of 2014 released by ABC. The current affairs title has a paid-for print circulation of 139,629 in the UK and adds a further 21,780 a week thanks to sales of the digital facsimile of the magazine.