Twitter Empowers the People, But Iran's Mullahs Using Technology Too

Twitter Empowers the People, But Iran's Mullahs Using Technology Too

Twitter, Facebook and other sites show the power of technology to express the voice of the people and tear down walls between closed and open societies.
On the other hand, technology is also enabling oppressive regimes like Iran to exert greater control over what citizens can and can't do online. "Deep-packet" technologies provided by Siemens and Nokia have given Iran "one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet,"
Meanwhile, all PCs sold in China starting July 1 must have government-approved software called Green Dam Youth Escort. The software is ostensibly designed to block pornography but could potentially be used to censor political opposition and religious sites.

Call for Chinese web boycott against Green Dam 'censorship' filter

(Source Times Online)Chinese internet users have called for a one-day boycott of cyberspace in protest at a government plan to fit computers with a filter to censor sensitive information.
In a posting on Twitter today, the artist Ai Weiwei —an adviser on the design of the Bird’s Nest stadium built for the Beijing Olympics — appealed for a boycott on July . He wrote: "Stop any online activities, including working, reading, chatting, blogging, gaming and mailing. Don't explain your behaviour."
He hoped that the date, the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, could become a permanent memorial for lack of freedom on the internet in China.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6554801.ece

Carver skateboards

Carver skateboards

Carver skateboards // a mesurf review from mesurf on Vimeo.

Microsoft's Bing Draws Pre-Launch Kudos

Microsoft's Bing Draws Pre-Launch Kudos
6/2/2009

Can Bing boost Microsoft's market share against Google and Yahoo? After seeing the updated search engine in action, Barron's thinks it very well may.

Remembering Tiananmen

Remembering Tiananmen
(02:01) Report Reuters Video

Jun. 2 - Wang Dan, a former student activist in China, recalls the crackdown on Tiananmen Square some 20 years ago.

SOUNDBITE: Wang DanDeborah Lutterbeck reports.




Twenty years after Tiananmen
Silence on the square

Outside the Communist Party, memories of the 1989 massacre get hazy

(Source Economist.com) AMONG journalists at a Chinese newspaper, there has been some surprising talk of publishing a story to mark the 20th anniversary on June 3rd and 4th of the massacre of hundreds of Beijing citizens by Chinese soldiers. One journalist even told his colleagues he would be ready to go to jail for doing so. But such bravado, especially if it proves more than rhetoric, is likely to be rare. For many in China the nationwide pro-democracy protests of 1989 and their bloody end have become a muddled and half-forgotten tale.
This does not stop the Communist Party worrying about the issue. It fears that the efforts of even a small number of people to keep memories alive could be destabilising. The most senior official to serve jail time for his role in the Tiananmen Square unrest, Bao Tong, has been escorted by security officials from his Beijing home to a scenic spot in central China (far from muttering journalists) where he will spend the anniversary period. Mr Bao agreed to go, says a family member. But in China an invitation from the police can be awkward to refuse. Several other dissidents report heightened police surveillance.

This year’s anniversary has spurred a hardy few to pronounce on the massacre. A Beijing academic, Cui Weiping, told a gathering of intellectuals called to commemorate it that the party’s campaign to deter public discussion of Tiananmen, and public acquiescence to it, had damaged China’s “spirit and morality”. She posted her remarks on her blog.
Read Article...
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13754101&source=hptextfeature

Twitter: Pipe-dream or next big thing?

Twitter: Pipe-dream or next big thing?
8 million users can't be wrong. If only it made some money.

(breakingviews.com) -- What's the big deal with Twitter? The online instant update service has become a media sensation and a supposed target for the likes of Google and Facebook. But is it an over-hyped flash in the pan or a real business opportunity? The answer could be a bit of each.
Twitter lets people or organizations send messages to "followers" - fans, clients, employees or anyone who signs up. The updates, thoughts or reactions arrive instantly via cell phone or computer updates. They're limited to 140 characters each, so pithiness is vital. (All but one of the sentences in this article qualify.)

Twitter's 8 million users run the gamut from lovelorn teenagers to celebrities like Britney Spears to the New York Times. The last of these has more than 500,000 followers receiving its story links and news updates. Some members of the U.S. Congress use Twitter to fill in their constituents. A few have even been spotted tapping away on their mobile phones in the middle of President Barack Obama's speeches.
The celebrity presence has drawn millions of users and driven media attention, but it can seem pretty inane. British actor Stephen Fry has 382,000 followers tracking updates of his peculiar daily minutiae. One example: "Me in a sarong. The freedom and ease ... Mmmm could get to like x".

What Are You Doing? Media Twitterers Can’t Stop Typing

The TV Watch (New York Times Permalink)
What Are You Doing? Media Twitterers Can’t Stop Typing
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY Published: February 28, 2009
The Internet has revolutionized society by giving anyone — including journalists — an instant and unfiltered outlet for self-expression.