Stories about Technology from November, 2010
Serbia: Air India Pilot's Family Reacts to Leaked Media Report
Six months after the May 22 Mangalore plane crash, which claimed 158 lives, an investigation report blaming Serbian pilot Zlatko Glusica for the country’s worst air disaster of the last decade was leaked to media. Sasa Milosevic reviews media coverage of the case and talks to Mr. Glusica's family.
Brazil: Bloggers react to wave of violence in Rio de Janeiro
A recent wave of violence has frightened residents of Rio de Janeiro and reignited a familiar public debate on security in the city. A great wave of panic, in part brought on by the mainstream media, also brings to the fore a new problem: the great proliferation of false rumors on the internet.
Africa: Announcing a new knowledge resource for Africa
Oluniyi announces the launch of a new knowledge resource for Africa: “Today 25th November 2010 marks another milestone in the quest for putting African information online. A new website has launched. It is aptly named Africa Portal, and aims to be an authoritative knowledge resource for Africa”.
Korea: Artillery Shots Heard From South Korean Island
Sounds of artillery shots were heard inland of North Korea this afternoon, audible from South Korea's YeonPyeong island. Although the firing was not directed at South Korea, it has successfully frightened many South Koreans. Some Twitters sarcastically commented [ko] as ‘North Korea is taking advantage of the unprecedentedly high level...
Brazil: President today, blogger tomorrow
Outgoing Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) was interviewed for the first time this week by a range of progressive bloggers, an event seen by many as a major step in the ongoing push for a more democratic media system in the country.
Ukraine: Entrepreneurs Renew Mass Protests
@Matteush reads tweets marked with the #kat_ua hashtag, concludes (UKR) that “the whole country has risen to protest bandit tax code”: rallies and strikes by entrepreneurs are taking place in (UKR, RUS) Chernivtsi, Rivne, Odessa, Lutsk, Kharkiv, Lviv. In Kyiv, some 30,000 are said to have gathered at Maidan, and...
Lebanon: Blogging Lebanon – the Convention
“After its unfortunate cancellation last May due to student protests at the American University of Beirut, AUB's Online Collaborative is announcing the relaunch of AUB's First Lebanese Bloggers Convention, now renamed to Blogging Lebanon,” writes Moudz, who posts details about the event.
Korea: Paulo Coelho Joined the #Prayforkorea in Twitter
After North Korea's artillery shelling on a South Korean island, killing two marines and two civilians and wounding at least a dozen people, twitterers, both local and international, have joined the #prayforkorea discusssion. Paulo Coelho, the Brazilian star writer, tweeted “On the verge of a war: Twitter can do nothing, but prayers can. #prayforkorea #importantnews”
Pakistan: Winner Of The Best South Asian Blog Award
Owais Mughal and Adil Najam informs that popular Pakistani groupblog All Things Pakistan has been named the Best South Asian Blog in the Seventh Annual Brass Crescent Awards 2010.
Cameroon: Meet Ebot Tabi, founder of Geofeed.me
Activ Spaces interviews Ebot Rabi from Cameroon, the founder of Geofeed.me: “Today we spotlight Ebot Tabi, a startup pioneer who joins us this month. Ebot is the founder of a location-based service called Geofeed.me which allows people to connect and share information about places they visit…”
Africa: African Hackers Featured on Hackerspaces
African hackers are profiled on Hackerspaces: “The interview contains two talks, the first with Erik Hersman from the iHub in Nairobi, Kenya and a second one with Valery Colong from our own ActivSpace here in Buea, Cameroon.”
Russia: Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Facebook Account Banned and Un-Banned
On November 20, 2010 Facebook has suspended Mikhail Khodorkovsky‘s private account allegedly due to usage violations. It took four days to convince the social network to un-ban it. Anton Nossik once again noticed [RUS] how anonymous reporting and suspension of the opposition accounts becomes a new censorship technique, even more...
Russia: Bashkortostan President Meets Loyal Bloggers
JournalUfa comments [RUS] on the recent meeting of Rustem Khamitov, the new president (governor) of Bashkortostan republic, with the bloggers. Only loyal bloggers were allowed to come, plus several controversial moments were cut from local TV-coverage, blogger petroffvalerij claims [RUS]. In general, Bashkortostan-based community expressed confusion [RUS] about this attempt...
Russia: LiveJournal Suspends Another Independent Blogger
LiveJournal abuse team has suspended account of Stanislav Sadalsky, an actor and a popular independent blogger. Sadalsky claims he can access his account but can't post new posts at stanis-sadal [RUS]. So far the blogger launched a new account at sadalskij.livejournal.com. It is the third LiveJournal suspension of the political blogger...
Ukraine: Social Media Play Crucial Role in Covering Anti-Tax Code Protests
On Nov. 22, several thousand Ukrainian entrepreneurs from different regions gathered in Kyiv to protest against the new tax code approved by the Ukrainian Parliament last Thursday. While the country’s traditional media failed to produce timely and balanced coverage of the events, social network users and bloggers kept Ukrainians well-informed about the latest developments.
Turkmenistan: Musical culture heritage online
Turkmen entrepreneurs have launched Turkmenistan’s first online social music service, TolkunFM, but this is not just a rip-off of Western-style sites, writes Annasoltan.
Iran: We are all Computer Criminals
Iran's government has a law at its disposal that make it possible to label almost any Internet user a criminal. The “Law of Computer Crimes” was approved by Iran's parliament in January 2009. It has been instrumental in the prosecution and repression of several bloggers, but its articles have never received much public attention or scrutiny.
India: The 2G Spectrum Scam
Roger Reports writes in details about the recent 2G spectrum license scam, which resulted in huge loss of the Indian government.
Tanzania: NGO 2.0: Reflections on the year of blogging
Daraja is a Tanzanian NGO, which aims to make local institutions more responsive to the needs rural communities in Tanzania. The mission of Daraja is to empower communities and local institutions, and build their capacity to work effectively together to reduce poverty in Tanzania. After blogging for one year, Ben Taylor, the Executive Director of Daraja, decided to reflect and share with the world the lessons they have learned.
Russia: New Portal Launches WebCam Discussion On Police Reform
“Talking heads,” a new socio-political portal, presents a debate on police reform in an unusual format: expert webcam chat. The idea of the website is to make a cultured, person-to-person debate available for others to watch and contribute.
Brazil: President Lula grants blogosphere first-ever interview
Outgoing Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva will tomorrow (24th November) be interviewed [pt] for the first time by a range [pt] of progressive bloggers regarding Brazil's changing media system. Renato Rovai, editor of liberal current affairs magazine Revista Forum [pt], called the event a “celebration of informational diversity” [pt]. The interview will...
