· December, 2011

Stories about Technology from December, 2011

Online Highlights from the Portuguese-Speaking World in 2011

  31 December 2011

2011 has been another year in which bloggers and activists from a number of Portuguese-speaking countries have come together to report, translate and promote blogs and citizen media from all over the world. This article selects the highlights in the coverage of Lusophone countries on Global Voices over the last year.

Argentina Tech Blogger Looks into ‘Death’ of Blogs

  30 December 2011

Technology blogger Mariano Amartino [es] reacts to the post “The Golden Age of Tech Blogging is Over” by Jeremiah Owyang. He points out the irony that posts about “the death of blogs” are written in blogs, and asks: who defines what is or isn't ‘a blog'?

China: Police border control servers got hacked

  30 December 2011

Feng37 from the Nanfang.com reports on the hacking of the Entry-Exit Department of the Guangdong Public Security Bureau (PSB) which has resulted in the leaking of 4.44 million pieces of information on the legal names, passport and ID numbers, dates of birth, home addresses and telephone numbers of those who...

Kyrgyzstan: Ravshan Jeenbekov and the Facebook Generation

  29 December 2011

Of all the divides in Kyrgyzstan’s fractious political society, one too often overlooked is the divide between generations. Unlike the famed North/South schism, which manifests itself in elections and street-protests, the generational split is subtle in its complexion; existing within political factions rather than between them, as members of a younger, tech-savvy elite...

China telecommunications market

  29 December 2011

Tricia wang discusses about the anti-monopoly infringement investigation against the China Telecom and its implications on the China telecommunications market.

Macedonia: Health System Software Vendor Lock-in

  29 December 2011

Novica Nakov warned [mk] that the state discriminates against users of operating systems like GNU/Linux or Mac OS X, purporting vendor lock-in by forcing medical doctors to use the latest version of Windows as the only platform for the obligatory e-health card software [mk] by the Fund for Health Insurance...

Puerto Rico: Investigating Monsanto

  28 December 2011

The Center of Investigative Journalism published a three-part series on the little known operation in Puerto Rico of the multinational biotechnology corporation Monsanto, the principle producer of genetically engineered seeds.

‘Developing Latin America': Open Data Projects

  27 December 2011

The 'Desarrollando Latin América' (Developing Latin America) competition, a public hackathon for creating technological solutions to education, security and budgetary problems in six countries in the region, took place on the 3rd and 4th of December. Juan Arellano, who acted as a judge in Lima (Peru), summarises the results and the reactions from the participants.

Taiwan: Crowd-funded investigative journalism website kicks off

  27 December 2011

weReport, a Taiwan media project that tries to boost disappearing investigative journalism using crowd-funded and crowd-sourced mechanism, kicks off today with its first fully funded proposal proposed by China famous blogger Zola. His proposal to investigate the situation of registration fee for cross-strait marriage derives from his personal experience.

Armenia: Fans of Facebook Cocktail Bar

  24 December 2011

Global Voices’ Caucasus Editor snaps a photo from mobile of a new cocktail bar in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The bar is called ‘Fans of Facebook’ and there's of course a group page on the popular social networking site.

Russia: Opposition Faces Online Communication Problems

RuNet Echo  23 December 2011

The ability to broadcast the events of December 2011 in Russia live online, has made people around the world and in the country the spectators of a truly historical event – the December 22 gathering of some 100-150 opposition activists, who represented thousands of the netizens and millions of not-connected Russians.

Jamaica: election language

  22 December 2011

With a general election swiftly approaching in Jamaica, OwenSoft shares an online tool for comparing the frequency of words and phrases in the official election manifestos of the country's main political parties.

Kuwait: Online Advocacy for the Stateless Bidoun

  22 December 2011

Since hundreds of Kuwait's 100,000 strong Bidoun were attacked by police for protesting in support of others detained earlier in the year, a number of bloggers and international organizations have been stepping up their support for the stateless people in the hope of drawing attention to their plight.

Pakistan: Politics 2.0

  21 December 2011

Over the last couple of days, people in Karachi were overwhelmed to receive a 30-second phone call from the famous politician Imran Khan inviting them to a political event. Teeth Maestro weighs on this innovative move.