Stories about Technology from February, 2008
Bahrain: Stupid Blogs
Bahraini Mohammed Al Maskati rants about stupid blogs in this post.
Editorial Transparency in Qatar
A misunderstanding around the safety of bottle water in Qatar (it's fine!) has led to an interesting conversation about the quality of the English language press in Qatar. Comments were passed back and forth between between a commenter on Qatar Living (tallg) and the Managing Editor of a local English newspaper in Qatar, writes Mohamed Nanabhay.
Palestine: Internet is Racist
“So, someone sets up a blog about things white people like one month ago, and already it is getting more hits than our blog, which is basically about what Arabs like. It just lists anti-white stereotypes such as their supposed affinity for natural medicine (which the Arabs invented), recycling, and...
Kenya: What is wrong with local web hosting?
“Dennis Wambugu is a very disappointed man. He is disappointed because Kenyans do not seem to host most of their websites at the local Internet Service Provider (ISP),” writes Rebecca Wanjiku from Kenya.
Zimbabwe: Is Dr. Simba Makoni a puppet?
Is Dr. Simba Makoni, Zimbabwe's former finance minister, a genuine contender for the presidential election in Zimbabwe or simply part of a political ploy to keep President Robert Mugabe in power? Is the electoral process in Zimbabwe ready for a free and fair elections? These are some of the hot issues and questions in the Zimbabwean blogosphere.
Japan: Indoor Cultivation
Japundit has a short photo essay discussing the potentials of indoor cultivation.
Ethiopia: Goodbye Ferenge Addis Blog
After going back to the US from Ethiopia, this is Marc's last post on his blog, Ferenge Addis Blog: “Having moved back to the US a couple of weeks ago, I'm sad to now say goodbye to the FAB. I've made some friends through contacts made here. And the comments...
Philippines: A Tale of Corruption and Bribery
Filipino bloggers react to the testimony of a whistleblower who testified against corruption and bribery in government. The revelation could prove damaging to the Philippine president whose husband was implicated in the controversy.
Kenya: The digital activist class
Ethan Zuckerman discusses “the digital activist class” in Kenya: “There’s a strong overlap between the emerging middle class in the developing world and the world of citizen media. Bloggers in Africa are highly educated, and generally are wealthier than the average African. (It’s not cheap, in African terms, to afford...
Ghana: Ghana Elections 2008 Blog
Ethan Zuckerman posts a link to a special Ghana Elections 2008 Blog: “The beginnings of a project to monitor Ghana’s upcoming presidential and parliametary elections via blogs, mobiles and community radio.”
Amit Gupta: A self confessed geek
Amit Gupta is a software engineer who works as a web applications architect in India and is a self confessed geek, in other words, someone who literally lives, breathes, sleeps and talks the Internet. With such a high tech profile, it doesn't come as a surprise that he has been...
Abu Dhabi: Site Blocked
Tom Gara, who usually lives in Cairo, was in for a rude awakening in Abu Dhabi – where he discovered that Flickr was blocked.
Iran:100 Hottest Perisan Blogs/Websites
Kamangir has published a report on “statistics of the Persian Blogosphere“.Thanks to his project, he discovered a lot of interesting information about Iranian blogs.
Egypt: Free Moroccan Fouad Mourtada
“The arrest and brutal treatment of Fouad Mourtada, the young man who create a fake Facebook profile of Morocco’s Prince Moulay Rachid, is a sad testimony to the fact that things have not changed as much as the regime would like you to believe in Morocco,” notes The Arabist, from...
Ghana/Nigeria: Electronic payment linking West Africa
Oluniyi writes about an electronic payment network linking Ghana and Nigeria: “A news item on Vanguard’s website indicates that Nigerian-issued Etranzact cards can be used on Etranzact-linked ATMs in Ghana and vice-versa…”
South Africa: Showcasing lesser known bloggers
Mike decides to showcase South African lesser known bloggers: “So I want to flip the lid on this one. It would be great to showcase some of the lesser known quality blogs in SA and get more of us nasty self-interested circle-jerking elitists talking about them and linking to them....
Dominica: Information Overload?
“Dominica is still at a primitive stage when it comes to information technology,” writes Dominica Weekly, providing some tips on how to “recognize the disadvantages the information age brought to our daily work ethics.”
Ecuador: The Cost of Cell Phone Service
Danny Ayala Hinojosa of El Federalista [es] questions why cell phone service is so high in Ecuador and provides some possible reasons.
Ecuador: President's Website Hacked
Christian Espinosa of Cobertura Digital [es]
Japan: Filtering going global
Blogger and social activist Sakiyama Nobuo [ja] (see earlier coverage) picks up a number of recent news stories and predicts that it may not be long before Chinese filtering policy is no longer thought of as “another country's problem” [ja]. He points to the launch of the Mobile Alliance against...
Serbia: Web Journalism School
Ljubisa Bojic announces the launch of the first Serbian Web Journalism School.
