Stories about Technology from March, 2008
Kenya Back to Normal
Residents of Nairobi, who were adversaries and concerned about their ethnic background, are now united in attacking the local government minister for changing the public transport routes and forcing people to walk long distances. The ethnic hatred seems to have been pushed aside and now people are pushing a common agenda and pursuing economic survival. Online discussions also reflect the diversity, bloggers are concerned about the Initial Public Offer (IPO) of East Africa's largest and most successful Mobile phone company- Safaricom.
Brazil: LoveLive podcast
André and Luciana present their first podcast, LoveLive [pt]. The name is self explaining, but Luciana explains: “We do not want to be relationship gurus, no way. We are just people who prefer speaking up to silence”. “To start with, we debated the act of sharing among couples: sharing problems...
Japan: Ikeda Nobuo's Spectrum Japan Blog
Blogger and economics professor Ikeda Nobuo has started [ja] an English-language blog entitled “Spectrum Japan” focused on spectrum policy in Japan. In the first post, he explains that the Japanese government is planning to stop analogue broadcasting by 2011, and writes about closed meetings held to allocate the spectrum, a...
Kazakhstan: Stock Exchange As a Game
Lena B-va tells that a new educational game simulating Kazakhstani real stock exchange will go online in May-June this year.
Taiwan: Game Competition Video
I'm Vlog has a video spoofing the election advertisement for promoting an online game: “Let's change the future!”
Cuba: Blogs Blocked From the Inside
From Cuba, Generación Y [es] indicates that her blog and others on the Desde Cuba portal have been blocked within the island.
Argentina: Web Entrepreneurs in Palermo Valley
Web 2.0 entrepreneurs from Argentina gathered in a new Buenos Aires neighborhood called "Palermo Valley." The interest in these gatherings demonstrate that there are many projects in development, as well as many others who want to learn what it takes. These get-togethers attracted attendees who heard about the event through blogs and twitter messages, and also motivated others in Costa Rica and Chile to put on their own events for local entrepreneurs.
Cuba: Blog Access
Child of the Revolution reports that “the Castro regime has restricted (and in some cases, blocked) access to semi-critical blogs written from inside Cuba.”
Brazil: Mobile Filmmaking
Sérgio Amadeu [pt] is helping to spread the news about the next Filmobile festival happening simultaneously in April 5th in São Paulo and for the first time in London. Participants will talk about Mobile Filmmaking, Mobile Participation and Mobile Stories.
Poland: Warsaw; Online Forums
Among other things, Polandian writes about the Warsaw Ghetto in the final installment of “Inside Warsaw.” Also, there's a post on “why Polish people don’t smile” and a review of Polish-English online discussion forums.
China: Monitoring of Electronic Communication
Chinese Human rights defenders has a very elaborated report on the monitoring system in China concerning electronic communication [zh].
Japan: The New Era of Video
Last Friday, Japan's national broadcaster aired a special on the "New Era of Video" predicting changes in the industry of broadcast television that will shake the foundation of mass media. But why would a broadcaster as big as NHK air a TV special about the end of TV? Wouldn't that be against its own interests? Blogger Kobayashi Akihito asked if there wasn't more to the NHK special than meets the eye.
Kazakhstan: 6% of .kz Domain Works
KZBlog reports that according to a media outlet's research, there are 16 431 domains that end in .kz, but of those only around 1 000 are actually functioning. Many of the idle .kz domains were bought in the hopes of selling them.
Paraguay: Candidates Using Blogs to Reach Voters
Paraguay’s Presidential elections will be held on April 20, 2008. Many of the top presidential candidates, such as Fernando Lugo and Blanca Ovelar are using blogs as a way to communicate with potential voters. The blogs are published in one of Paraguay’s mains newspapers called Diario ABC.
Colombia: Campus Party Rescheduled
Cafe Gua Gua [es] is reporting that the Colombian version of Campus Party has been postponed a week due to many requests from participants.
Uruguay: File Sharing Site Closed
Martin Balao reports that the popular file-sharing site Fotos de Uruguay has been shut down [es], and speculates that it may have been due to legal complaints from record companies.
Blogger of the Week: Abdulrahman Warsame
Today's Blogger of the Week series features yet another global voice - Abdulrahman Warsame, who amplifies the reactions of Somali bloggers on Global Voices Online. A Somali born in Saudi Arabia, educated in Egypt and Australia, and currently working for Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar, as a Senior Analyst in New Media, Warsame shares his thoughts on blogging in his country and the rest of the Arab world.
Brazil: Blogs Blog this!
Wagner [pt] recommends a new “joined ownership” blogging platform for blogs in Portuguese. “BlogueIsso! Blogs is a “condominium” of blogs, a network currently made up by 18 of them, covering various subjects in many different styles and points of view of the world”.
Russia: Two Dagestani Journalists Killed
Ilyas Shurpaev, a Dagestani TV journalist who worked for a state-owned federal channel, was found dead Friday in Moscow. Later that day, Gadzhi Abashilov, director of Dagestan's state-owned broadcasting company, was shot to death in Makhachkala, the republic's capital. Below are a few bloggers' reactions to the murders, as well as the translation of Shurpaev's last blog post.
Cuba: Limitations on an Internet Cafe
Potro Salvaje [es] provides details on an internet cafe in Havana, Cuba with plenty of limitations such as, “It is not possible to use any item to store or transport data (CDs, diskettes, flash memory), the line to use a PC can take more than two hours, there is no...
Taiwan: Performance Via Video Blog
Ta-sha has a personal channel at I'm Vlog for sharing and performing songs that she likes.
