Stories about Technology from March, 2007
Zimbabwe: living under a dictatorship
Zimpundit on life in Zimbabwe, “In Zimbabwe, a nation dominated by government owned media, keeping up with the political realities is an impossible and risky undertaking. Media in Zimbabwe is dominated by a state owned daily newspaper, and state owned radio and television. All reports carried by state media are...
Egypt: Arrested Activists and Bloggers Released in the Desert
Bloggers Roam the Desert Egypt today released bloggers and other activists arrested in an anti-Mubarak rally in Cairo held the previous day in the desert, according to bloggers. Blogger and journalist Hossam El Hamalawy, who has been closely following the developments, writes: Police released the remaining Kefaya activists in custody...
Romania: Internet Use Stats
Information Policy reports on Romania's Internet use statistics.
Egypt: Free Kareem Rallies and What Kareem Wrote
A call has gone out for a second round of worldwide rallies to pressure the Egyptian government to free detained blogger Abdulkareem Nabeel Sulaiman, a 22-year-old former Al Azhar University student, who has been sentenced to four years in prison for articles he wrote on the Internet. On February 22,...
Oman: Copyright Law
“Today, the local newspapers carried an advertisement from the Ministry of Telecommunications prohibiting the use of counterfeit or pirated material including computer programs that are either sold, lent, given, shared, or otherwise,” writes Omani blogger Sleepless in Oman. “Given the seriousness of this issue in the current time and stage...
Bahrain: Mobile Mess?
Mobile phone woes anyone? “It took a whole year, two phones and a good BD 200 (US 530) for me to realize that there is absolutely nothing “smart” about the so called “PDA Smart Phones”. I just dumped my Sony Ericsson m600i yesterday, exchanging it alongside my late imate KJam...
Belize: Flush and Be Happy
“I always feel relieved in more ways than one when, after long travels, I once again visit a public toilet in Belize.” Simone Angel thinks all the bells and whistles of “top of the range” toilets are a symbol of progress gone mad: “Progress is not always about going faster...
Uganda: 2006 Best of Blog Awards
Jackfruity announces the winners of the 2006 Uganda Best of Blog Awards: The goal of the 2006 Uganda Best of Blog Awards was to recognize the incredible writing and art in this community, and all of our nominees are certainly emblematic of the talent that exists in the Ugandan blogosphere....
China: Will Baidu Japan be Blocked in China?
Baidu has launched its Japan version. Its content includes Japan's Porn Images. Jeremy Goldkorn from DANWEI asked: Will porn get Baidu Japan blocked in China?
Malawi: Malawians are talking, are you listening?
Victor Kaonga publishes an article about blogging, Malawians turn to the blogosphere, in the Sunday Times and Nyasa Times, “When a young Mzuzu-based Malawian by the name of Mangaliso Jere died on January 18 this year, the number of non-Malawians who learned of his death probably surpassed that of Malawians...
Burkina Faso: woodless construction
Under the Acacias writes about woodless construction in Burkina Faso, “Woodless construction is an approach to building in the sahel that uses traditional building techniques to build houses entirely out of mud, including the roof. Such houses save on scarce wood, encourage local industry by using local skills and materials,...
Africa: potential uses for twitter
Soyapi Mumba discusses the potential uses for Twitter in Africa, “So the launching of Twitter provides a good alternative considering that the use of mobile phones is much higher than that of computers. In Malawi for example, there are about 50,000 Internet users against about 700,000 mobile phone users out...
Kuwait: A Week Goes by
The Kuwaiti blogosphere has it all this week – from business developments to the opening of a new mall, the death of a bookshop and segregation at Kuwait University. Q, back at Kuwaitism, talks about the shift of business power and how other businesses around the Gulf region are acting....
Kuwait: Are Bloggers Such a Threat?
This was the question posed by a Kuwaiti blogger following the sudden axing of a popular television programme The Diwaniya, which was aired on government-run Kuwait Television Channel One (Arabic). The Diwaniya literally translates to a room common in Kuwaiti homes, in which people gather to discuss their everyday lives,...
Nepal: Roar against Internet Shutdown
The decision of the Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAN) to shut down internet services for two hours – one each in morning and evening – didn’t have good effect on bloggers. The shutdown was a part of the protest program announced by the Nepal’s industrialists against the Maoists’...
China: Homeowners hold their ground
How does China's landmark, much-blogged about new property law relate to the average citizen? An illustration comes with the decision by two residents of central China's Chongqing Municipality to hold their ground when the land upon which the house they purchased had been sold, then dug up, by a developer...
Philippines: Internet Star
Mike Abundo has a post on Christine Gambino, a Filipina nursing student in the U.S. Gambito is giving up her nursing career to pursue her online career. “With one fell swoop, Christine has singlehandedly begun the viral transformation of the Filipina global image: from lowly-paid nurse to social media maven.”
India, Pakistan: Google and Local
I, Me, Myself on how even as organisations cater to an international audience, they don't always get the local preferences right. “The text on the Google Pakistan page in Punjabi has been written in the Gurmukhi script, which most Punjabis in the Pakistani part of Punjab can not read (except,...
Arabisc: Rebelling Bloggers from Syria to Tunisia
Ever heard of the rebellious bloggers? Well, this is what some bloggers in the Middle East refer to themselves because they are breaking the norm – speaking their minds on blogs without censorship or editing but paying the price for the consequences of free speech later on. Tunisian blogger Sami...
Mexico: Regulation and Rural Broadband Penetration
Gilad Lotan reviews an article arguing for telecom regulation reform in Mexico in order to increase broadband penetration.
Honduras: Privatizing Hondutel
Mario Posas runs through the pros and cons of privatizing Hondutel, Honduras’ state-owned telecommunications monopoly. Update: From a reader: “This Honduran article that you wrote about appears to be a translation of a 1995 article??? It talks about President Reina and who is going to run for president in 1997....
