Stories about Technology from September, 2010
Saudi Arabia: Licence to Blog!
Saudi Arabia first announced plans to have all web publishers and online media, including blogs and forums, to be registered with the government. The following day, it backed down following a storm of protests, saying that only electronic newspapers were expected to register. Saudi netizens have their say.
India: Banning Non P2P SMS
Rajesh Jain at Emergic criticizes the ban on all bulk SMS and MMS in India to prevent mass mobilization of people before and after the Ayodhya verdict.
Humorous Web Reactions to Thursday's Facebook Outage
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 500 million users. The website was offline for a few hours on September 23, 2010. Several jokes about the Facebook outage were soon streaming on Twitter, with many of them being re-tweeted by hundreds.
Israel: Facebook Tags
David Bogner, from Israel, asks: “Am I the only one who is completely tired of receiving email notifications saying that [insert name of someone you kinda/sorta know] has tagged a picture/video of you on Facebook?”
China: The Most Awesome Train Door
The Youku video shows the most awesome subway train door in Beijing city.
Italy: Social Media Week in Milan and Worldwide
Social Media Week is an eclectic, multi-city event (Sept 20-24) aimed at connecting people, content, and conversations about emerging trends in social and mobile media.
Philippines: Official twitter account of the government
govph is the twitter account of the official gazette of the Republic of the Philippines
Vietnam: ‘No Firewall’ website
Pro-democracy group Viet Tan has launched the No Firewall website which aims to “assist Vietnamese internet users learn about circumvention techniques and digital security.” The Vietnam government has been accused of intensifying its internet surveillance activities to restrict dissent in the country
Africa: Africa Media Leadership Conference 2010
Dibussi blogs about the Africa Media Leadership Summit. Tjis year the summit will focus on finding “Sustainable Media Business Models in the Digital Age”.
Russia: Microsoft and Suppression of Dissent
Reactions to the Sept. 11 New York Times’ story about Microsoft and raids on advocacy groups by the Russian security services – at Oleg Kozlovsky’s English Weblog, Streetwise Professor, and Robert Amsterdam's Blog.
Nigeria: Nigeria's President Campaigns on YouTube
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is campaigning on YouTube, Solomon reports: “Another presidential aspirant, current president Goodluck Jonathan, has released a series of music videos as part of his campaign strategy. The videos, available on YouTube, feature different musical genres.”
Russia: Medvedev's “Chutzpah”
At The Huffington Post, Simon Shuster urges PM Putin to ask himself where President Medvedev got “such chutzpah”: “[Medvedev] is seen as having his own agenda for reforms, independent and vaguely appealing, a westernizer, you see, like a fun-sized Peter the Great.”
Azerbaijan: Bloqosfer 2010
Bloqosfer 2010, an event bloggers in Azerbaijan had been looking forward to for about two months, was held on 10-12 September in the resort town of Nabran. Over 100 established bloggers took their place beside emerging ones, new media specialists and Internet experts, business stakeholders, and representatives from civil society as well as the authorities.
Serbia: Minister Takes e-Government from Virtual to Real
The Serbian online community has been a-flutter this evening after what seems to have been a small, laid-back, yet groundbreaking event earlier today in Belgrade: a meeting with Jasna Matic, the Serbian Minister of Telecommunications and Information Society, organized mostly through Twitter and Facebook.
Egypt: Did Gamal Mubarak Order a Blog Block?
Zeinobia, from Egypt, reports that political activist and blogger Amr Osama's blog was allegedly blocked, following a complaint from Gamal Mubarak‘s office.
Sri Lanka: Social Good Day In Colombo
Amitha Amarasinghe informs that Social Good Day Colombo will take place on the 23rd of September at Refresh Colombo, which is the monthly meet-up of Colombo’s web and technology enthusiasts’ community.
Tanzania: Running for office using Kanga and social media
A Tanzanian politician uses kanga and social media to campaign: “The fact that Zitto Kabwe is reporting via Twitter, blog, Flickr and Facebook from Kigoma North, while at the same time operating an election campaing with traditional elements – like the ngoma and the kanga – is a clear fact...
Argentina: Citizen Journalism in La Plata
Letra Compartida [es] is an online citizen news website from La Plata. Citizen journalists can register on the site for free and upload text, photos, audio and videos.
Guyana: Twitter & Book Marketing
“If it weren't for…her often unbridled twit-icisms on all aspects of life, and her occasional spats with followers, which have brought her seemingly closer to us in all her entertaining complexities…I probably would not have bought Terry McMillan's new book”: The Signifyin’ Woman blogs about book marketing on Twitter.
South Korea:Seoul Hit Hard by Downpours, Twitter reported
Heavy downpours battered Seoul today, flooding roads and buildings and causing power outages. Twitterers reported the worst downpour Seoul had in 103 years live by twitting pictures of chaotic scenes and re-tweeting this Youtube video.
