14 February 2007

Stories from 14 February 2007

Japan: powder RFID chips

  14 February 2007

Edo at Pink Tentacle reports that Hitachi had unveiled a tiny, new “powder” type RFID chip measuring 0.05 x 0.05 mm which they aimed to begin marketing in 2 to 3 years.

South Korea: artificial beauty

  14 February 2007

Michael Hurt from Scribblings of the Metropolitician maps the changing notion of beauty with the development of plastic surgery in South Korea.

China: greenify

  14 February 2007

Peijin Chen from Shanghaiist shows how local governments “greenify” the landscape.

Guyana: Digicel has landed

  14 February 2007

“Guyana is abuzz like we have never seen before for a product or service,” writes MediaCritic in his report on the frenzy which has enveloped Guyana in anticipation of today's launch of the new cellular service provider Digicel.

Haiti: Carnaval preview

  14 February 2007

Karlito previews this year's carnaval celebrations in Haiti, predicting that singer Sweet Micky, “will rock Champs de Mars”. He also reports that the new web site http://www.haiticarnaval.org/ will carry a live feed and frequently updated photos for “the diaspora’s viewing pleasure.”

Jamaica: Moving back

  14 February 2007

Francis Wade posts an email from a reader who wishes to return to Jamaica but is concerned about crime, along with his response.

Russia: Article on TV and LJ

  14 February 2007

Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow translates a 2005 article by Yuri Saprykin on the Russian TV and blogging: “Of course, I can't say I agree with all of the author's conclusions, and maybe not even with his main point. After all, I'm not one to criticize people for sitting in...

Russia: Kaliningrad Restoration

  14 February 2007

Copydude continues to write about the attempts to rebuild Kaliningrad: “Kaliningrad is a complete paradox. After the war, while German prisoners of war were rebuilding whole Russian town centres like Novgorod completely in the elegant German style, Russians were busy reprocessing Konigsberg into the poured concrete, Soviet mould.”

Latvia: “Halves”

  14 February 2007

Peteris Cedrins, a Latvia-based blogger who took this picture of a house in Daugavpils, writes: One house, two worlds. Many of the older houses in Daugavpils are being transmogrified by cheap plastic windows, poor cores wrapped in the dull facades of a poor and tasteless modernity. Daugavpils is the second-largest...

Iran:Ecstasy in Tehran

  14 February 2007

Kourosh Ziabari says that easily you can find and consume ecstasy in Tehran[Fa].He shares his experience where a friend of his invited him to a ecstasy party.The blogger did not consume ecstasy but got surprised to see how easily you can get it.

Guinea: Conté Declares State of Siege

  14 February 2007

Senegalese blogger Alex Seck resumes his watch of Guinean developments (Fr): “Dictator Lansana Conté has … appeared in a radio and tv broadcast during which he announced a Presidential decree instituting the state of siege until Feb. 23 … In short, Conté is choosing escalation … All evidence indicates that...