Stories about Technology from November, 2007
Syria: Even Amazon is Blocked
Egyptian blogger Zeinobis lists some of the sites blocked in Syria – which include Amazon, hotmail, Skype, blogger and Facebook.
Bahrain: Narrowing Digital Divide
Bahraini blogger Esra'a writes about the narrowing digital divide in the Arab world here.
Egypt: Activist's Yahoo Account Suspended
Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas, whose YouTube account has recently been suspended, suffers a new blow (Ar) – this time from Yahoo – which has since disabled his Yahoo email account.
Taiwan: Any Blind Spot in Blogsphere?–Blogblind
An experimental website was born in Taiwan in Nov 20, 2007: ‘Blogblind‘ (It was closed in two days). The main concept is digging (as in Digg) blogs that people do not like and tagging them with comments like ‘copy machine’ or ‘self promoting stuff.’ When most people leave flattering comments...
Russia: Minor Attacks on the Opposition
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis posts another pre-election update that covers some virtual and real-life attacks on the opposition.
South Africa: Bliksem: A South African Facebook App
Nick is excited about a new Facebook application, Bliksem: “Anyone who knows me knows that I hate blogging about Facebook. This time, however, there is a reason for me to do so. It’s called Bliksem. Bliksem is the Superpoke for South Africans.”
Guyana: Chit-Chat
According to Guyana-Gyal, chatting, or “gyaffing” is “what we live for here…and cellaar-phones ring in the best thing for extra-communication in my lovely native land.”
Japan: Robot Award
Edo from Pink Tentacle introduces the list of nominees for the 2007 robot award in Japan.
Ecuador: Ultimas Noticas Collaborative News Site
Ultimas Noticias [es] is a new collaborative news site that seeks to attract participation from citizen journalists in Ecuador.
Argentina: Mar Del Plata Blog Day
Mar del Plata, Argentina, recently celebrated its Blog Day and its blog recaps the day's activities with reactions from bloggers.
Madagascar: Building a wooden boat
Ruth explains how people build wooden boats in Madagascar: “Jean finished building his latest boat 2 weeks ago. It’s a traditional wooden boat built using methods passed down from older fishermen in his district…”
China: Digg Model Won't Work?
Gomain points out that Chinese internet user is more keen on comment rather than voting for a post and the digg model hasn't been very popular so far[zh].
Israel: Syria's Official Page on Facebook
Amir Mizroch, the News Editor at The Jerusalem Post, posts what Syria's profile would look like if it had an official page on Facebook.
Egypt: YouTube Disables Activist's Account
A storm is brewing in the Egyptian blogosphere after video hosting site You Tube removed several videos featuring policemen torturing victims from their site. "This is by far the biggest blow to the anti-torture movement in Egypt," writes Wael Abbas, an award winning blogger, whose videos capturing the torture of victims at the hands of police were removed from You Tube. What are the other bloggers saying?
Syria: A Protest Against Censorship
To crown the two months of rapid internet censorship, last week the Syrian government decided to block Facebook (The popular social network site) and Shabablek, a very popular local forum for young people, among other websites. Now, cyberactivists are defying the challenge and demanding their freedom of speech.
Ghana: Ghana ICT Journalists on Facebook
Ghana ICT Journalists Association is on Facebook: “Reminder to join the FACEBOOK Ghajict group.”
Innovative Tools: Live Bicycle Radio
Innovative tools in Colombia and Bangladesh are bringing internet access to communities that would otherwise be disconnected. We take a look at wi-max bicycles in Medellin and mobile phone internet kiosks in Bangladesh.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Social Networking
“As the saying goes familiarity breeds contempt,” writes Abeni, as she wonders about the suggestiveness of profile pictures on social networking websites.
Philippines: Teacher-blogger tries out ‘Wu Wei 10′ with students
Akomismo introduces Wu Wei 10, a classroom game and merit system based on the principles of Taoism where:”students are rewarded with Chi points for the tasks they fulfill, and they use these Chi points to level up and cast spells. The objective of the game is to eliminate all the...
Armenia: Election Campaign Site
Nazarian reports that the first official campaign site has now been established for former president Levon Ter Petrosian. Unzipped goes on to note that the site also features a blog.
Kenya: Kenya's Second BarCamp
White African on Kenya's Second BarCamp: “I’ve been impressed to see the developers and bloggers from Kenya and South Africa taking the time to create gatherings where they can pass on knowledge – everyone ends up profiting from the experience. The techies in Nairobi have just concluded their 2nd BarCamp...
