4 July 2009

Stories from 4 July 2009

Brazil: “President Lula is a nerd”

  4 July 2009

After his speaking for the first time against the proposed Digital Crimes Bill, hugging Pirate Bay’s spokesman Peter Sunde, defending the use of open source software and inviting Internet users to chip in and contribute to his soon to be launched government social media initiative, the blogosphere concludes: "Brazilian president Lula da Silva is a nerd". Or is it just because 2010 is an election year?

Mexico: The Campaign to Protect the Vote

  4 July 2009

"Cuidemos el voto" [“Let’s protect the vote”] is a project that plans to protect the votes of Mexicans during the July 5 election from “old enemies”: violence, false IDs, damage to ballot boxes and other obstacles to reach transparent elections. Its weapon? Text messages, Twitter and the web.

Bahrain: Fast Justice

Bahraini blogger Ali Abdulemam wonders how four Emirati citizens who were allegedly attacked by a group of Bahrainis received a rapid official response, including a visit from the Bahraini Prime Minister: “This is how fast the justice is, we don't need courts, we don't need story details.”

Bahrain: The Michael Jackson Phenomenon

In Bahrain, Ashish Gorde comments: “I really don't know Michael Jackson and, for that matter, neither does any of the scribes who have written loud commentaries on his life, his career, his legacy. What I know of him is what the media presented to the world. And now it is...

Honduras: Was it a Coup?

  4 July 2009

The political crisis in Honduras reached its highest levels last Sunday with the arrest and subsequent expulsion of the now ex-president Manuel Zelaya, which was carried out by the Honduran Armed Forces. The response to the aftermath has accentuated the divisions within the country and there are citizens taking a side in the question, "was it a coup or not?"

Bahrain: Pros and Cons

Bahraini blogger Evil Odd doesn't like Bahrain: “I feel like enough time has passed since my last visit to Bahrain to write a fair description of what I thought of the country. Basically, the place sucks.” But Tom Carter disagrees.

Iran: Myth and reality about Twitter

International media coverage of the Iranian protest movement in the past weeks has widely celebrated ‘Twitter power' as a tool of organizing and reporting on protests, but the reliance on Twitter has had both positive and negative results in this crisis. We look at some of them here to demystify the actual degree of impact.

Syria: Blogging Pains

After three months of work behind a computer screen, Syrian blogger Hossam Akras visits Old Damascus with his family. Find out why he was putting in nine to 12 hours a day for all that period, in this post I am translating from Arabic today.

Japan: Gundam 30th anniversary

  4 July 2009

This year is Mobile Suit Gundam‘s 30th birthday. While a giant statue of the robot stands in Odaiba's park (in the Tokyo bay area), in a theatre of northern Tokyo, blogger/actress Rie Takahashi [ja] and her crew pay tribute to the animated television series in stage play Robot.

Japan: On How to Perceive the Japanese Web (Part Three)

  4 July 2009

Continued from Part Two. As examples of the Japanese web that it isn't ‘disappointing’ at all, many bloggers referred to the success of the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga. A-list blogger Dan Kogai pointed to the recipe site Cook Pad (which went public a few weeks ago) and Yahoo!...