· June, 2012

Stories about Technology from June, 2012

Cuba: Clicking Towards the Future

  30 June 2012

Havana's recently concluded Festival Clic, which was designed to discuss Internet and Society in Cuba, has got several bloggers talking about technology and the role it can play in the country's future.

China: Bridge Blogger List

  25 June 2012

DANWEI has presented its annual Model Worker Awards 2012, a list of the best specialist websites, blogs and online sources of information about China.

Egypt: Introducing the MorsiMeter

After 32 years of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has a new president and a new application to monitor the performance of its newly elected president Mohamed Morsi and the progress in the achievement of the 64 main promises he made during his election campaign.

South Korea: Broadcasters’ Battle for Fair Journalism Continues

  24 June 2012

In South Korea, an indefinite strike by broadcasters has continued for almost five months in the nation's largest TV network, MBC. Journalists and producers are urging the company president to step down, accusing him of incapacitating investigative new programs that criticize the government by firing or reprimanding reporters and producers.

Tajikistan: Blogger Translates Mobile Games into Tajik

Tajik blogger Khurrshed has translated a number of popular mobile games into Tajik. Khurrshed explains [tj] that he did the translation in order to make mobile gaming accessible to young people who have cell phones but do not speak English or Russian. Another Tajik blogger recently wrote about the importance of the...

Hungary: New Freedom of Information Tool

Vastagbőr blog [hu] is promoting the use of atlatszo.hu's new website KiMitTud [‘WhoKnowsWhat’], which allows users to send freedom of information requests to any institutions responsible for spending public funds in Hungary. Vastagbőr wrote: “Those who have ever asked themselves these questions, ‘I wonder how much this cost?’ or ‘Who...

Debate Over South Korea Forcing Blizzard to Give Diablo III Refunds

  22 June 2012

South Korea’s Fair Trade commission raided online game maker Blizzard’s headquarters in Seoul after receiving complaints about the availability of Diablo 3. It has started a debate in a game community website Massively about Blizzard's decision to offer affected users a full refund, but with a few conditions attached.

China: Space Missions or Social Development?

  22 June 2012

On June 16, China successfully launched its Shenzhou-9 capsule into space. Some netizens have criticized the government's excessive spending on a space mission whilst basic social needs are still lacking in many parts of the country.

Azerbaijan: Musical Talent on YouTube

Gultekin Garadaghly continues to post her own renditions of well-known songs on YouTube, including those from this year's Eurovision Song Contest held in her native Azerbaijan. The young singer living in Baku, who also covers Azerbaijani folk songs, has even been featured in the local press with 1news.az [RU] reporting...

Nepal: Justice For Amar Bahadur Bam

  20 June 2012

Nepali worker Amar Bahadur Bam was wrongly accused and convicted for a crime in Dubai in 2003 and was tortured to give a false confession. He is currently on a death row and his family had no knowledge of him for years. Save Amar Bahadur is a Facebook campaign which...

Afghanistan: Women Leaders on Twitter

Ahmad Shuja, an Afghan blogger and political commentator based in US, has put together a list of 15 must-follow Twitter feeds by Afghan women leaders. Shuja explains: “I thought I’d try and share with the world the wonderful work Afghan women do everyday, often in extremely difficult and dangerous circumstances”.

Ethiopia: Disconnecting Citizens From the Future

  19 June 2012

"Well we Ethiopians have never had dragons in our mythology and folklore like Chinese but so far there has been attempt by Ethiopians to bring on dragons to our culture in the most nauseating manner – internet censorship," writes Endalk in his analysis of the controversial bill which criminalizes the use of internet services such as Skype and Google Talk.