Stories about Technology from November, 2011
Latin America: A Conversation With Santiago Hoerth about Open Technology
Juan Arellano chats with Santiago Hoerth, founder and coordinator of Código Sur, about his organization, issues related to neutral Internet exchange points (IXP) and free networks, and the current state of free software in Latin America.
Russia: Creators of Election Violation Map Come Under Attack
With a week to go until Russia's parliamentary elections, the Golos election monitoring association has been experiencing unprecedented pressure, including a break-in by a television team, accusatory articles in major newspapers, and a call for the organization's closure signed by three parliament deputies.
Cuba: Under “Survey-lance”
“As far as many Cubans here are concerned, it is not necessary to have survey results to verify the high levels of discontent and uncertainty we live under”: Without Evasion explains why she's sceptical of surveys.
Sri Lanka: Project Roku
Murshid introduces Project Roku, a next generation conversation system born in Sri Lanka.
ActionAid: halve world hunger by 2015
“Let's fight climate change & hunger. Together” is a new video released by ActionAid & produced by the LatteCreative team, to support the world food crisis campaign and keep the ‘pressure on governments to deliver on their promise to halve world hunger by 2015′.
Trinidad & Tobago: Online Safety
Mark Lyndersay writes an enlightening post about online child safety, here.
Barbados: Response to Crime Affecting Tourism?
Barbados Free Press questions the role of the local police “in what has become an all-too-familiar story of covering up crime against tourists.”
Jamaica: Sabina Park & Lawrence Rowe
Active Voice gives a Twitter follower a tour of Jamaica's famous Sabina Park, and makes a plea for the powers-that-be to bring back the Lawrence Rowe Players Pavilion.
Venezuela's Slow Internet
Luis Carlos Díaz blogs [es] about Venezuela's slow internet broadband, reporting that Venezuela ranks 163 out of 174 countries in download speed. Luis Carlos argues that Venezuelan netizens are settling for too little, and that anyone who aspires to the presidency for the 2012 elections should add this issue to...
Trinidad & Tobago: Blogging Tips
TECHTT has some advice for blogging, here.
Japan: WordCamp Tokyo is Tomorrow
WordCamp Tokyo 2011 will be held November 27th. The organizers are running a relay blog [ja] that describes why you should go and what's happening behind the scenes.
Iran: Social networks blamed for terror plots
Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Police says social networks have been used for terror plots in Iran. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam has urged ECO countries to establish a unified intelligence system to thwart these crimes.
North Korea's Cellular Network Surpasses 800,000 3G Subscriptions
The North Korea Tech wrote about a surge of new sign-ups for Koryolink, North Korea’s nationwide 3G cellular network. It is believed 809,000 North Koreans have subscribed to Koryolink whose 75 percent of stake is owned by the Egyptian company, Orascom Telecom.
South Korea: Judge's Facebook Post Criticizing Free Trade Deal Went under Fire
A judge's Facebook post criticizing the current President and the free trade agreement with the United States went under fire. The Supreme Court has decided to refer him to the ethics committee for violating political neutrality. Some citizen journalists have secured the judge's deleted post [ko] in their blogs.
Kenya: Meet Kenyan Innovator Daniel Njuguna
John Karanja blogs about Kenyan innovator Daniel Njuguna who has managed to integrate his mobile phone with home made appliances and gadgets that perform a number of domestic functions: “This innovation is a precursor to what has been described as the internet of things where appliances and gadgets will soon...
Kenya: Mapping Mobile Money
Mapping mobile money in Kenya: “CrowdPesa is a Web and Mobile application with a mapping system that allows businesses to locate themselves in a map and facilitate users to find the location of the nearest financial service on their mobile phone.”
Ethiopia: Online Platform to Discuss Sustainable Technologies
GreenTech Ethiopia is an online platform to learn about and discuss environmentally friendly and sustainable technologies suitable for the Ethiopian context.
Ghana: Startup Weekend Accra
Mac-Jordan blogs about Startup Weekend Accra: “Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketeers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups! Startup Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs find out if their startup ideas are viable.”
Ethiopia: Is Ethiopian Blogosphere the Smallest in the World?
Markos wonders whether the Ethiopian blogosphere is the smallest in the world: “A few months ago Joern and I made a little research and we found out that Ethiopia had less than 20 bloggers in the country. This is rather shocking stats compared to 160,000 (July 2008) Bloggers in Egypt....
Video: Stop Motion using Google Street View
The Theory's short film Address Is Approximate features a desk toy who escapes the confines of the urban office in the only way he can, using a toy car and Google's Street View application to go on a road trip to the Pacific Coast.
Pakistan: Plans to Filter Around 1,500 Words in SMS Traffic
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is the center of attention of the country's social media junkies and human right groups these days, for its infamous leaked list of banned obscene words and phrases for SMS traffic. Pakistani bloggers react.
