· October, 2008

Stories about Technology from October, 2008

Carbon Footprint Calculators

  28 October 2008

Last month, GV environment looked at Maps, online communities and carbon footprint calculators. Since then there have been more calculators released, and in this post we list some of these new tools for the public to calculate their CO2 emissions. PEIR – Personal Environment Impact Report PEIR is not only...

Barbados: MSM & Democracy

  28 October 2008

Barbados Underground says that “the current fast food diet of journalism being served up by the local media” poses a threat to the country's democracy.

Pakistan: Dealing with unwanted calls and sms

  27 October 2008

Take Back Pakistan tells: “There is a great trend in Pakistan where little kids, and I do include immature men in that category, like to call people at odd hours and ask them to ‘make friendship with them’.” The blog suggests how to deal with them.

Morocco: Barça Fan Jailed for Superlative Statement

  27 October 2008

Many bloggers were shocked last week to learn that a young Moroccan man had been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for what seemed like such a minor "crime." The young man, a Barça (FC Barcelona, a soccer team) fan, allegedly wrote “God, Nation, Barça” on the blackboard at his school. Morocco's motto is "God, Nation, King."

Climate Analysis of Rihanna's ‘Shut up and Drive’ Video

  27 October 2008

Empivot is an online green media aggregator, or as its tag line says, it is the ‘Online Network for Green Video’. Members can upload video, browse channels such as Renewable Energy Business Watch, YesterMorrow – Design/Build School, Green Tv and others. An interesting video that was posted on the Brighter...

Turkey: Blogspot.com Banned

  26 October 2008

In another long string of website services blocked in the Republic of Turkey, yet another blog service has been blocked Blogger/Blogspot.com. A court in Diyarbakir Turkey has banned Blogger in relation to an intellectual property infringement case. Adam Klempner, translates some of the Turkish bloggers' reactions.

Jordan: Qwaider Planet Celebrates

  26 October 2008

Qwaider Planet kicks off its third year, boosting the number of blogs it aggregates posts from 250 last year to around 400 this year. The aggregator was set up by Jordanian Samer Qwaider, who is also responsible for Jordan Blogs and GirlyGator.

Ukraine: Accident Training in Chernobyl; Virtual Pripyat

  26 October 2008

Chernobyl and Eastern Europe writes about a recent radiological accident training at Chernobyl Power Plant, and shares a link to the English-language section of Virtual Pripyat, “a new project associated with Pripyat.com […], a site that acts as an address book/directory of Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.”

Sri Lanka: Debate on Peace and Conflict

  24 October 2008

“The events that surround the history of the Sri Lankan conflict, their impact and interaction with other events are still highly contentious.” The Peace and Conflict Timeline (PACT) project helps to gain a deeper understanding of the conflict's roots and promote discussions and debates on the issue, according to their...

Japan: Top 100 Hot Entries on Hatena Bookmarks

  24 October 2008

Blogger id:ramyana posts a list [ja] of the top 100 bookmarked items on the Japanese bookmarking service Hatena Bookmarks [ja]. In first place, with 5370 bookmarks [ja], is a page explaining how to write a good graduation thesis [ja].

Zimbabwe: Freedom Fone Project

  24 October 2008

Brett blogs about Kubatana's Freedom Fone Project in Zimbabwe: “It involves providing radio-like audio content via interactive menu response by use of phones. Users can call up the service, and choose from a menu, to access audio items they with to listen to: news headlines, a feature, music and inspirational...

Brazil: Blogging to get a voice

  23 October 2008

On introducing his blogs to friends, Brazilian blogger Alexandre [pt] has to continually answer to the question about why he blogs if it brings him no money. His answer is always: “I get a “voice”! It is very cool to be able to debate ideas, share view points, have a...

Caucasus: New Media Blog

  23 October 2008

Azerbaijani new media specialist Emin Huseynzade (interviewed by Global Voices Online here) has launched a new English-language blog. Caucasus New Media will detail the growth of blogs, as well as video-sharing and social networking sites, in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. In the first post, the blog looks at the impact...

Japan: The Illegal Download Explained, on 2-Channel

  23 October 2008

Over the last years, the sometimes raucous nature of the Japanese Internet has repeatedly come under fire over concerns about issues such as harmful content and copyright infringement. Now the spotlight is back again, with news that legislation to ban downloads of copyrighted content is moving ahead as planned, despite earlier delays.

Kelele '09: African Bloggers’ Conference

  23 October 2008

Kelele is the Kiswahili word for noise. It is the name given to a gathering of African bloggers in the tradition of historical African societies where everyone has a voice. With too many voices marginalised or simply ignored in Africa society today for a variety of reasons, the organisers believe that the Internet in general and grassroots media tools such as blogs in particular represent the most powerful way in which to give Africans back their voice.