· January, 2014

Stories about Technology from January, 2014

Japan Scores Well on Internet Freedom Status Report

  17 January 2014

U.S. based watchdog organization Freedom House compiled a report on Freedom on the Net 2013 and included the report on Japan for the first time. Japan was evaluated as “Free”,  where the constitution protects all forms of speech and prohibits censorship, and Internet and digital media freedom are generally well established. For...

Facebook Teams Up with Russia's Top Search Engine

RuNet Echo  16 January 2014

Scholars and researchers of the Russian Internet can rejoice this week, for Russia's leading search engine, Yandex.ru, is now the second website in the world, after Bing in the United States, to gain access to Facebook firehose data [ru]. This means that Yandex can now search Facebook's streaming API and provide live...

BBC's North Korean Broadcast Plan Hit a Snag

  16 January 2014

It is not the first time BBC's ambitious plan to reach out to one of the world's most reclusive countries has been thwarted. Back in June 2013, BBC World Service’ plan to air programmes in North Korea was curbed by government cuts to its budget. This time, BBC has concluded...

China's Viral Sex Education Videos

  15 January 2014

A small team has released a collection of one-minute childhood sex education videos on China's youku, China's YouTube. The videos, involving topics such as “Why Are Boys Different from Girls” and “Where Do Babies Come From?”, have become the second most popular search on Baidu and have drawn over one...

China's Train Ticket Website Sparks Fury Again

  15 January 2014

As millions go online to buy train tickets home for Chinese New Year, which falls on Jan 30 this year, users are shocked again at how inconvenient and inefficient the site is. Many have been complaining about the site since its debut in 2010, but it hasn't been improved. Many have...

Young Egyptian Journalist Uses Indiegogo for Help

  13 January 2014

Menna Alaa, Egyptian journalist who was assaulted by angry mob earlier in 2013 losing her camera during her reporting, is using Indiegogo calling for help to buy equipment to help her document the ongoing events in Egypt. The appeal reads: Menna Alaa is a Cairo based freelance journalist and student...

Iran: Tech Bloggers in Jail

  12 January 2014

Jadi remembered and tweeted on Saturday, 11th of January, about jailed tech bloggers in Kerman province.The technology news website Narenji.ir in Kerman reported on December 3, 2013 that seven of their writers and technical staff were suddenly arrested with no information about where they were taken. Today is 40th day...

Hacking Global Voices Special Coverage

  10 January 2014

How could we make Global Voices complex, ongoing stories more beautiful, accessible and useful? MIT Media Lab’s Center for Civic Media invited a diverse group of technology and storytelling mavens to a full day of hacking, using the example of our recent special coverage of the #Shahbag protests in Bangladesh...

A Mobile Phone Based Virtual School System In Pakistan

  8 January 2014

Sri Lankan blogger Nandasiri Wanninayaka writes: Rehan School is a mobile phone based virtual school system that allows anyone who has a mobile phone access the prerecorded video lessons free of charge. With expanding mobile coverage in Pakistan, this will be an exciting way to reach the rural illiterate communities....

Why Rape And Sexual Violence Continue

  5 January 2014

“I will not forget what happened today, one year ago” This video was released by Video Volunteers on December 16, 2013 to commemorate Nirbhaya, who died in the 2012 Delhi gang rape incident. The incident was the only conviction of 706 reported cases of rape in Delhi that year. Statistics...

Iran: What is the Next Stage of Filtering?

Milad tweeted with irony that the next stage of filtering in Iran is cutting the electricity to prevent everyone from using any technology. فاز بعدی فیلترینگ قطع برق هست. که دیگه کلاً نتونیم از هیچ تکنولوژی ای استفاده کنیم :))) — Milad (@miladsafarzadeh) January 2, 2014

Innovation: A Solar Energy-Powered PC Made in Mali

  2 January 2014

As part of our series on innovation made in Africa, we recently showcased the 3D printer made from E-waste in Togo and a spell checker for Bambara language. Today, we present the first low-power PC made in Mali. The PC called Limmorgal (Calculator in Peul language) is the brainchild of...

China's Top Searches in 2013

  2 January 2014

China's search engine Baidu releases an annual list of their most searched terms. Here are the top searches this year: Weather Taobao (China's online shopping website) Wu Dong Qian Kun (an online novel from Li Hu) The Tang Door  (online novel) Mang Huang Ji (online novel) Zhe Tian (online novel) Double Chromosphere (a...