Stories about Technology from April, 2009
Belarus: LiveJournal Blogosphere
Andrei Khrapavitski writes about the Belarusian LiveJournal blogosphere: “Do you know that the Belarusian population of Livejournal is bigger than that of a mid-sized regional town? Oh, yeah, there are MANY of us out there. And we do like to argue. Flipping through my Livejournal friends’ feed is so much...
Russia: Internet Market
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes this about internet market in Russia: “… the most irritating trend here is how clones of various successful US projects turn into market leaders here while the original products ignore the market entirely and only enter it when it is already too late.”
South African Elections '09: There is only one story to be told
Following the national and provincial elections on Wednesday in South Africa, grubstreet believes that there is only one story to be told: the election results and how the online media is responding. In this post we are going to look at reactions from the web about the 2009 elections in...
China: Plurk is blocked
Erick Schonfeld from Techcrunch reported that plurk has been blocked in China. The question followed is will twitter be the next in the ban list?
Russia: Weekly News and New Blogs
Siberian Light re-introduces Russian Weekly News section – and continues to promote blogs that focus on Russia and other former Soviet states: a review of The Russian Store Blog (“The History of Pisanki” is one of the recent posts there) and a roundup of blogs of British ambassadors to Belarus...
Ukraine: Bulgakov Museum's Blog
The Uncataloged Museum links to “one of Kyiv's first museum blogs”: Mikhail Bulgakov Museum (UKR).
Ukraine: Chernobyl Photo Exhibit
The 23rd anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe is in two days, and Chernobyl and Eastern Europe Blog posts a press release for Michael Forster Rothbart‘s photo exhibit that opens in Kyiv today – “Inside Chernobyl: life goes on.”
Kuwait: Blackberry Lunches, Arab Sex Talk and Election Responsibility Plea
From the censorship of video games to discussions about Kuwait's upcoming parliamentary elections on May 16, the Kuwaiti blogosphere offers a mixed bag this week. Also in this post, by Amer Al Hilal, a concern raised by a Kuwaiti female blogger about Arab women talking about sex in public.
Moldova: If Voronin Had A Twitter
If Vladimir Voronin, Moldova's president, had a Twitter account… – by Cezar Maroti: “[…] Change Moldova @Voronin I'm glad u read my tweet. Why don't you see that people don't want you? You should retire now, before you cause more damage! […]”
Lebanon: Pervert Online
Lebanese blogger +961 takes issue with a photographer's work on photography site flickr and shares his views in this post.
India: India Bloggers Directory
Rajesh Lalwani informs that the first edition of the India Bloggers Directory, a pocket guide to Indian blogs, will be published soon. “The book will also have a select listing of Twitter users from India.”, he adds. If you are an Indian blogger, you can submit your details here.
Kosovo, Ukraine, Russia: Social Media and Politics
Blogging Balkanistan writes that Kosovo’s PM Hashim Thaci is planning to join Facebook and that “several leading opposition party candidates already have accounts.” Petro's Jotter explores the Ukrainian political Twitter-sphere, here and here. Siberian Light explains how to connect with Twitter users interested in Russia. Window on Eurasia believes that...
Sri Lanka: Internet Strengthens Democracy
ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) comments: “the Internet and web can and will be used for democracy and human progress and that more, not less, information in the hands of citizens strengthens democratic governance.”
Egypt/Morocco: New Technical blogs in Arabic
Recently the Arab blogsphere witnessed the launch of two unique Arabic blogs – One by Moroccan blogger Mohamed S. Hjiouij, which focuses on professional blogging; and Techno-Media by Egyptian blogger Mohamed El Gohary, who's also a Global Voices Online Arabic lingua contributor, which specializes in explaining Web2.0 technologies and linking...
Egypt: Excuse for Syrian ban of Facebook “Stupid”
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia is not convinced with a Syrian Minister's excuse for the banning of Facebook – that it was banned to protect Syrians. She writes: “I do not know how she invented this stupid answer that shows a complete ignorance with the internet and the facebook not to mention...
Bahrain: Submissions for Bitfilm Open
Mideast Youth has been named a partner in the Bitfilm Festival for Digital Film and New Media, which will be Hamburg and Tel Aviv, writes the site's Bahraini founder Esra'a. The deadline for submissions is July 1.
Liberia: Fellow Bloggers, Please Assist Me…
A Liberian blogger, Denna Gibson, is asking for assistance from fellow bloggers so she can be able to blog consistently, “IT IS NICE TO BLOG CONTINOUSLY BUT U CAN NOT DO SO IF U DO NOT HAVE A LAPTOP TO YOURSELF. I AM APPEALING TO MY FELLOW BLOGGERS TO PLEASE...
Morocco: ABC Blogging Book Available Online
Moroccan blogger Mohammed Saeed Hjiouij has published the second edition of his book ABC Blogging [Ar], which can be freely downloaded here.
Paraguay: Open-Source Software Festival
Guri of Paseando con Guri [es] writes about the upcoming open-source software installation festival to be held across Paraguay on April 25.
Russia: Hyde Park; WinRAR; Hot Water; etc.
A few links to recent posts at IZO: president Medvedev “to create a Russian Speaker's Corner, based on Hyde Park”; a Russian ad agency shows “how the WinRAR data compression utility shrinks files” – “bad idea, badly executed”; a useful link for Moscow-based readers who'd like to know when there'll...
Estonia: “The Fog of Cyberwar”
IZO links to the Guardian piece on “NATO's cyber-defence headquarters in Estonia.” Evgeny Morozov links to his own piece on it on Newsweek.com.