Stories about Technology from January, 2013
Google Maps of North Korea Has Caught World's Attention
Within less than few days since its release, Google's new, crowd-sourced map of North Korea is gaining traction worldwide. There are even fake reviews of North Korean gulags and many bloggers,...
Zambia: Interview with BongoHive Co-Founder
BongoHive, a Zambian-based innovation hub, has captured the attention of computer and internet technology enthusiasts in the country. Global Voices recently caught up with Simunza Muyangana, one of the four co-founders, who explained what BongoHive is all about.
Japan Gears Up for the Open Data Revolution
Following the death of Aaron Swartz, an open data activist, the issues around open access and data ownership have been reignited around the world. But for Japan, the seeds of open data just started being planted in the beginning of 2013.
Free Mobile Phones for Nigerian Farmers?
The Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture made public its plans to provide free mobile phones for rural farmers. This has triggered many reaction in the Nigerian blogosphere.
Google Debuts Crowd Sourced Map on North Korea
Google revealed on Jan 29, 2013 its newly revised, crowd-sourced map of North Korea. There are drastic changes of Google's North Korea map and instant web reactions have followed.
Google Maps Targets Hermit Kingdom, North Korea
Google debuted its Google Maps program for one of the world's most secretive countries, North Korea, as part of its crowd sourcing map initiative. North Korea Tech blog posted several pictures of...
Regional Winners of Developing Latin America 2012
Finally we get to know the regional winners of hackathon Desarrollando América Latina 2012 (Developing Latin America 2012), chosen among 22 applications, in turn, winners of the hackathon in each country.
Where Russia's Honest Ones Go to Die: Dolmatov's Suicide
On the morning of January 17, Russian political refugee Alexander Dolmatov was found having hanged himself in a solitary cell of a Dutch deportation center. Dolmatov left Russia last summer, believing himself to be under observation by Russian security forces and in danger of arrest for participation in a May 6, 2012, Moscow rally that turned violent.
Museum of Ancient Greek Technology
Ever wondered how ancient temple gates would opened automatically after altar sacrifices?
Bangladesh: Missed Call – A Tool For Protest?
An intentional missed call is a widely used method in developing countries to save money or mobile minutes. In Bangladesh this is being proposed as a way to protest and reduce the price of mobile internet. A Facebook event of a proposed protest by using "miss call" has gone viral.
India: Penalizing ISPs For Poor Broadband Service
Nikhil Pahwa reports that India’s telecom regulator TRAI has updated its regulations to penalize Indian internet service providers that fail to meet the quality standards.
Cuba: Internet Change Coming?
If you took a poll in our streets about Cubans’ most serious problems, the youngest…would list…lack of access to the Internet. They want to dive into that sea of kilobytes!...
France: NGOs Condemn Privatisation of Public Domain
Seven European free culture associations issued a statement [fr] protesting against a public-private partnership between the French National Library BNF and Proquest database [fr], whose aim is to digitize a...
Free and Open Source Software
We received an email from Richard M. Stallman (RMS), after publishing the article about the Egyptian demonstration calling for the government to adopt Free Software. Tarek Amr digs deeper into open source software and arguments in its favour in this first post of a two-part series
Jamaica: Hitting the Paywall
I hear Swartz and others who maintain that information can and must be free. But to simply equate academic articles with useful information is misleading…these are issues we need to...
Peru: Government Renews Concession Agreement with Telephone Operator
The blog Globalizado [es], by Global Voices in Spanish editor Juan Arellano, collects different reactions following the announcement of the renewal of the concession agreement with Telefónica for an additional...
Cuban Filmmakers Take Over Digital Technologies
In Cuba, filmmakers and new directors have started to take over new technologies to keep down the costs of production of audiovisual effects, and to tell stories that would otherwise not have seen the light of day.
Google CEO's Trip to North Korea, From Schmidt's Daughter's Blog
Google CEO Eric Schmidt visited North Korea last month and his daughter shared in her blog what the delegation saw in the hermit kingdom. Some of highlights from the blog: [describing...
An African Platform for Open Access Academic Articles
On January 24, the official launch of Hadithi, a platform for hosting open access academic content will take place in Nairobi, Kenya. Various scholars and digital players will get together to discuss digital open...
Volunteers Settle Dispute Over Size of Moscow Protest?
No Russian opposition rally is truly over, it seems, until there has been an Internet flame war over the strength of its attendance. After the last protest march three groups have used independent approaches to produce a realistic headcount.
