Reading blogs #9
I have very little time to blog these days, but I do have some drafts and more so thoughts about some ongoing developments. In the meantime, here is another digest of things I’ve encountered on the web.
As always, please feel free to comment!
Interesting reports, numbers, and visualizations
A set of numbers from around the globe about the state of telecom progress; most of them showing growth in the use of mobiles, penetration of the broadband, etc. – “Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in Balkans (West)” – “Broadband user base tops 250,000-mark in 2008 (Belarus)” – “Number of mobile phones in Lithuania tops five million” – “Qatar mobile subscribers now top 1.5m” – “China’s mobile phone user base increases to 633.84 Mn in Nov’08” – “South Korea subscriber base totals to 45.6Mn in Dec’08” – “Phone users in Uganda reach 7Mn” – “Assessment of 2008 (Brazil)” – the only country that seems to face a (marginal) decline in the use of mobile at the moment is Pakistan – “Pakistan’s mobile subscriber base drops by 0.1%“.
“Of Shackled Strides and Missed Opportunities” – ‘Gbenga and his colleague are reviewing the Nigerian ICT developments in 2008; slightly deterministic, but interesting view on Nigeria, from Nigeria, and by Nigerians.
“TeleGeography report” – is out and it supposedly has some interesting data; I wish I had access to the full text of the report (just a few thousands of US$), but in the meantime we can guess about what is inside based on some graphics available online, such as this one:
“Internet Advertising Revenues in Q3 ”08 at Nearly $5.9 Billion” – Some numbers that show that there was more online advertising in 2008 compared to 2007.
“Kids Motivated By TV and Print To Visit Web” – A Media Post post (thanks Norman) summarizing a recent “MRI’s 2008 American Kids Study”.
“Online video consumption grows 34 percent” – In itself this may not be very revealing as this is one of the main arguments in the ongoing debate over net neutrality in the US, but it is always interesting to attach some numbers. Here is another piece of this puzzle – “YouTube still rules online video, U.S. viewing time leaps 40 percent“. Having said that, the professionally produced content is still the king (and not the user produced one) – “Cisco study: U.S. wins TV and mobile-watching world olympics”
“Facebook’s traffic growth leaving rivals in the dust” – Some recent number about FB growth, yet I still think it is an advanced address book.
“Post-Election Voter Engagement” – A new 11-page report from PEW showing that Obama’s campaign has set a standard for participation and communication, which people are expecting to continue into the new administration.
“Israeli students are the most technological…” (HE) – Thanks to Michael who pointed out this Haaretz article which summarizes a WHO report on youth. The report showed that 50% of 11 years old spend two or more hours a day using computers for activities other than games (compared to the world average of 23%) and 55% spend two or more hours a day on games (compared to the world average of 31%). I hope the Israeli youth realize how lucky they are. The report also showed that the Israeli youth are lazy and drink a lot, but that is probably for a separate post.
“Israel 2008: One computer per 15 pupils” (HE) – Another Haaretz article that seems contradictory or less relevant in light of the previous one. It suggests that there are fewer computers in schools today compared to the beginning of the millennium. It does make me wonder if the model of computer classes in schools is simply passing away and it also makes me wonder about the vision of the OLPC project.
Interesting thoughts, ideas, opinions, and discussions
“We Need a New Appropriate Technology Movement” – John Daly is calling for a discussion about the ways to appropriate technology for socioeconomic development in light of the contemporary trends.
“Boosting public broadband, one library at a time” – Andy Carvin is writing about Gates Foundation funded initiative to wire libraries.
“The Problems with One Laptop Per Child” – It seems that discussions of OLPC are making it into the academic realm and it is met with criticism; I am certain (and hopeful) that there will be more research coming out/along with this project; at the same time I am becoming more and convinced that OLPC are not very good in communicating their philosophy to the world. On the top of it, OLPC has created a market for ultra-portable simple PCs and Asus continues innovating in that realm – “Asus T91 convertible touch netbook exposed.” Same goes for Intel, who just revealed a new version of their classmate – “Intel’s Craig Barrett touts help for developing nations.” And as if that was not enough, here are some really sad results of the recent G1G1 campaign by OLPC – “The Real OLPC Bust: G1G1 2008 XO Laptop Sales” – 93% decline in interest compared to the last year.
There was a little drama surrounding the issue of net-neutrality in December. The Wall Street Journal published a story about numerous proponents of the cause have changed or softened their positions. Google, Lessig (1 and 2), and others (1 and 2) reacted, and WSJ published a followup article. I think this is an interesting case where we can see an attempt to re-negotiate the meaning of a concept that has became central to the ICT policy debates (at least in the US).
“EU Adopts New Safer Internet Programme: € 55 Million to Make the Internet a Safer Place for Children” – I was really glad to see that almost half of that budget is supposed to go to educational activities.
“Internet providers scramble for slices of broadband pie” – Related to the previous story is a short debate about what “broadband” should mean in the US.
“Consumer Welfare in Public and Private Broadband Network Investment” – Larry Darby’s thoughts about some aspects of implementation of Obama’s broadband plan. And another item on the subject – “What Does ‘Universal Broadband’ Really Mean?”
“FCC’s free wireless plan now includes porn” – It looks like porn is an important driver of the economy.
“India Sleepwalks Into a Surveillance Society ” – One more country joins the movement, giving surveillance a very liberal interpretation in the name of fighting the consumption of porn (thank you, Leonichka, for the link). It looks like China is also increasing it efforts to filter porn – “China to punish Baidu, Google, others for ‘pornography’,” but those are met with a grain of skepticism – “How significant is China’s new crackdown on pornography?”
“Azerbaijan Bars Foreigners From Use of Its FM Band” – Azerbajian is taking media control to new “highs” (thank you Leonia); I wonder though, how do you technically enforce such a ban?
“Worst venture liquidity in five years” – Anthony Ha of VentureSource summarizes the 2008 in VC sector.
“After a Dreary 2008, Venture Capitalists Are Cautious” – More on the same subject from NY Times.
“Google Grabbed Most of Obama’s $16 Million in 2008” – Just an interesting fact.
“Upside of disappearing newspaper advertising” – Robert Picard shares some thoughts on the changing media landscape (more about it in the “new media” section).
“Wikipedia raises $6.2 M, exceeds 2008 fundraising goal” – This is probably old news for most of you reading this blog, but I still find this fact fascinating.
“Who Writes Wikipedia?” (via neatorama) – Kind of old news about Wikipedia being written by a few hundreds of dedicated volunteers, but still relevant and has some numbers attached to it (thanks to Erik for bringing it to my attention).
“Internet Tops Newspapers As News Source” – A brief summary of PEW survey results. In light of that, the following (lengthily) discussion is interesting – “If the New York Times dies, does the news die?” – What do you think about it?
“What’s the Value of a Facebook Friend? About 37 Cents” – A new advertising campaign from Burger King, where you can trade FB friends for a burger; bizarre, but it is working.
Simply Interesting, Fun, and Coll Stuff
“Interview with Vint Cerf of Google” – An interesting interview done by Siva Vaidhyanathan, who is writing a book about Google.
In case you were ever curious about the “Second Life” and the thinking that went into it, you may want to listen to its founder, Philip Rosedale, talking at TED:
“Browser Wars – A New Take on Streamgraphs” – A nice representation of the contemporary history of web browsers.
