Stories about Technology from August, 2011
Global Voices Partners With Ashoka on Citizen Media Competition
Global Voices is proud to be partnering with Ashoka Changemakers on its ‘Citizen Media Innovation Competition' with Google. Four winners will be awarded US$5,000 each for citizen media projects that make the world a better place.
Uganda: Minister Claims Opposition Using Social Media to Prepare for War
Uganda’s Minister for Security claims that Ugandan activists are using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to wage a campaign against the country's security forces and to prepare young people for war.
Online Gaming Hackers, North Korea's Next Major Income Source.
Edward Castronova from the Terra Nova commented on allegations that North Korean army of online gaming hackers have breached the servers of popular South Korean online gaming sites to raise badly needed cash.
Bulgaria: Mapping Crime and Electoral Violations
Bulgarian blogger Boyan Yurukov has set up Bulgaria's first Ushahidi-based site, Crime.bg, whose goal is to collect signals of crimes and irregularities, via the site itself as well as through mobile applications, Twitter and Facebook. On his blog, Yurukov explained the reasons [bg] for creating Crime.bg: “1. People's lack of...
Peru: New Bills for a New Congress
Miguel Morachimo in Blawyer [es] comments on two bills currently being discussed by Peru's new Congress. One is “another attempt to change the Penal Code to establish the dissemination of private conversations through the media as a crime”, and the other seeks to create a “Computer crime law” which adds...
Puerto Rico: Blogging & Ethics
Gil the Jenius grades himself on his blogger ethics.
Trinidad & Tobago: Tweeting for Anya
“trinidadian beauty queen turned superstar designer anya ayoung-chee is mashing up the competition and she needs our support”: inkblot*photography is drumming up online support for Trinidad and Tobago's hopeful in Season 9 of the fashion reality show, Project Runway.
Russia: New Legislation to Allow “Creative Commons” License
Russian Communication Ministry submitted to President Medvedev a project for legislation update that would allow using “Creative Commons” (CC) copyright license in Russia, newspaper Vedomosti reports [ru]. The project is a follow-up to a meeting between Medvedev and leaders of Russian Internet community [en] where the president promised to support...
Lebanon: 3G Internet Not Before 2012
Najib posts that the long anticipated internet connection speed upgrade in Lebanon will not take place in the next few weeks as was previously reported. He mentions that Lebanon will not be getting 3G technology before 2012 and after passing through three stages which he lists.
Japan: Computers as a social and communicative tool
In Japan's Former Computer Lag, Néojaponisme looks at the development of the Internet and computers in Japan from the perspective of infrastructure and as a social and communicative tool.
Cuba: First “Gay” Marriage
This past weekend, a gay man and a trans-sexual woman, got married. In Cuba - on the same day that Fidel Castro turned 85. Bloggers weigh in on the landmark event, including Cuba's most well-known netizen, Yoani Sanchez, who acted as matron of honour.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Woman Killed, Victim of Domestic Violence
As yet another young woman becomes a victim of domestic violence, Abeni says: “A weariness fills my soul…and within my weariness is a growing despair that we are a long way from turning around this situation. Sometimes it is hard being a woman.”
Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Twitter Lit Wit
Annie Paul is impressed at the “Bolt-like capacities” with which Trinidadian netizens took on the Twitter hashtag #bookswithalettermissing. Check out her post for some real gems.
Zambia: Netizen Launches Vlog Ahead of Elections
As Zambians are getting ready for the country's September 20 tripartite elections, a Zambian political activist has decided to put across his political and socio-economic messages through videos. He shares his videos on YouTube.
Google Logos Celebrate Indian and Korean Independence Days
BuzzInTech posted about Google's celebrations of South Korean and Indian independence days on August 15 by using its special logos in their countries’ Google main search page.
Japan: How to Unplug Your Life and Save Electricity
People in Japan have been unplugging their lives as electricity-saving measures have been implemented to cope with power shortages. The effectiveness of the measures is yet to be proven but many have taken this opportunity to change their power consuming life style.
Portugal: A Guide for Digital Literacy
With the aims to “increase digital literacy and citizenship”, the Portuguese blog Sobre Literacia Digital (About Digital Literacy) [pt] by Ricardo Santos Silva, provides tips, a range of examples, and step-by-step exercises on how to verify sources and find facts and people, among other internet related subjects [pt].
Pakistan: Google Doodle Celebrating Independence Day
Spring Of Autumn celebrates the fact that Google had put up a special doodle for its search page on Pakistan's Independence day.
Japan: Indie service GoogleSatTrack used by NASA
Isana Kashiwai, developer of GoogleSatTrack, is astounded [ja] to see his software being used in NASA's Mission Control Center. He had happened to be watching the Atlantis return to Earth on NASA-TV.
Thailand: Student blogger ‘witch hunted’ on Facebook
Suluck Lamubol writes that the first student blogger who was charged with Lese Majeste in Thailand was ‘witch hunted’ by a Facebook group called Social Sanction. The group's objective is “to increase public awareness of corruption and create pressure to combat it and to stop the crime of lese majeste”.
Arab World: The Twitter Vs Facebook Debate Continues
A discussion is raging on Twitter tonight, comparing the micro-blogging site where users can post messages in 140 characters to social networking site Facebook. Here are some of the observations from Twitter users in the Middle East.
