This time there are some links related to the comments on the FCC stand on net neutrality, some stats summarizing 2009 as well as some regional stats, a number of provoking ideas on database security, digital collectivism, and more, a little bit on media and environment, and of course some fun stuff.  Enjoy!

Recent news related

One of the (not so) recent topics on the agenda of the US telecom industry is net neutrality.  Back in October the FCC proposed net neutrality rules and recently there was the deadline for submitting comments.  For example, the wireless carriers did their best to distinguish themselves from the wired networks operators.  Skype argued against allowing content discrimination, Amazon argued for allowing it as long as it does not harm other content (more on that).  A think tank Digital Society supported a more nuanced approach to net neutrality claiming the “smart” networks are at the basis of truly neutral web.  Nicholas Bramble of the Yale Information Society Project compiled a nice sample of comments from the various stakeholder.

Also, a lot has been written about the role of technology in Haiti relief efforts, so here is my very small contribution to this discussion – a collection of post disaster shelter solutions published by the MAKE magazine.

Interesting reports, numbers, and visualizations

“Internet 2009 in numbers” (via @rafik) – Spam, webpages, and much more… enjoy :)

“BuddeComm’s 2010 Global Telecoms Industry Snapshot” – Usually I don’t like posting forecasts here, but this one contains some interesting numbers about the past decade, so here it is.

“International Phone Traffic Growth Slows, while Skype Accelerates” – A blurb of a report from Telegeography (you need to buy the complete report).

“Evolution of Storage” (via Bob) – A nice visualization of how far we have gone in terms of storage for music, photos, and data.

“Report: 44% Of Google News Visitors Scan Headlines, Don’t Click Through” (via Tech.Blorge) – I think the title speaks for itself; it is an interesting observation in light of all these debates about the relationships between the “old” and the “new” media.

“Heritage Foundation: Index of Economic Freedom 2010” (via @infopolicy) – I have not read the entire analysis in depth, but I think there is not much revolutionary in it; what I found particularly valuable is that they make their dataset publicly available.

Some location-specific stats:

• Asia – Mobile broadband
• Belarus – Twitter usage (in Russian)
• Russia – Search queries
• South Africa – Internet penetration
• Switzerland – Broadband
• USA – Broadband speed
• USA – Seniors online

Interesting thoughts, ideas, opinions, and discussions

I think many have heard about Apple and AT&T not allowing VoIP in their environment and about the broad criticism of this move.  So, it was interesting to see some alternative views as well: “The iPhone & the Lack of Voice Over 3G: Alternative Theory” and “More level headed analysis of VoIP over 3G“.  Unfortunately I don’t think I have enough technical knowledge to judge these stands, so I would love to hear from those of you who can do that.

“Large databases can never be secure” – An opinion article from Guardian, which is particularly interesting to me in light of the biometric database debates in Israel.

Tarleton pointed out an interesting discussion about “digital collectivism.”  On the one hand we have Jarod Lanier who, in clearly a PR act for his forthcoming book, makes an argument against web 2.0-ish digital collectivism.  On the other hand, we have Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and now Hatch, defending the collaborative spirits of netizens while making a plug for her companies.

Speaking of Tarleton, he just gave an interesting talk at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society on the “politics of platforms“.

“The Future of Communication: Theory and Methodology?” (via @JamesShanahan) – Dietram Scheufele shares some thoughts about the field of communication at the crossroads raising more questions than providing answers, as its title may suggest.  What do you think?

Digital Divide

“Framing the Digital Divide in Higher Education” – Ismael Peña-López publishes a monograph summarizing some recent thought on the digital divide.  I have not read the entire thing, but it seems like an interesting read.

MICT regulation

“Hungary introduces mandatory open standards for public institutions” – I think this is interesting and also important development for encouraging competition in the MICT industry and accessibility to information.

MICT business

“The New York Times to start charging for online content, again – this time, metered” – I am sure there will be much more information about this as the implementation time approaches, but the move itself is interesting.  Here is Guardian further speculating about what it may look like: “How will a New York Times paywall work?“

“Rock Band opens to user-created songs” – This is quite an interesting move in the 2.0-ish direction.  I wonder if it will take off.

“New” media

“Environmental impact of media” (via @JamesShanahan RT @mediatwit) – An interesting conversation about the environmental impact of “old” mass media vs. “new” mass media, specifically print vs. digital; the overall gist is that print can be actually more environmentally friendly compared to the digital publishing.

Simply Interesting, Fun, and Coll Stuff

“Lego router” (via Sean) – A guy built a case for Linksys router out of Lego.  He also built a computer case in a similar way.  It all is probably useless, but really cool.

“The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures” – If you are in the online dating scene, this may actually be useful.

“Linux-powered digital guitar with touch screen interface” – MAKE magazine has some really cool projects published on their blog.  I think this one is a nice example:

And finally, a tribute to Veronica:

:)

Recently I started playing with Twitter, which turned out to be a good source of interesting information.  However, many times there is a gap between the time I open a link posted on Twitter and the time I actually read the item and add it to the digest.  As a result, I think a number of items here are missing attribution.  Not sure how I am going to deal with it, but if you have any ideas, please share.  In the meantime, I just put “via Twitter” by those posts.

Interesting reports, numbers, and visualizations

“OECD Communications Outlook 2009” – A new report was recently released by OECD and it is accessible online.

“In the blogosphere, Afghanistan emerges as a hot topic” (via Twitter) – A report from the PEW Excellence in Journalism project looking at the content of the blogosphere; pretty interesting and I wonder if they would keep up with it on a regular basis.

“Government Sites Serve 42% of Online Americans” (via Twitter) – Some stats about how Americans interact with the numerous website the new administration has set up.

“Nigerian scams evolve, but motive still money” (via @evgenymorozov) – A Chicago Tribune article surveying how the original “Nigerian” scam has evolved playing off Western arrogance and highlighting that online tacit knowledge is probably as important as skill (or maybe even more important).

“Where Google Is Really Big: India and Brazil” (via @evgenymorozov) – On average around the globe people spend 9.4% of their online time on one of the Google’s services; in Brazil it is 30% and in India it is 29% (note how they got the URL wrong – China, Brazil… what’s the difference).

Some country specific info:

• Australia – Mobile broadband
• Nigeria – Mobile market.
• Slovenia – Telecom market regulation.
• Solomon islands – Telecom market.
• South Korea – Telecom market.
• Uganda – Telecom market.

Interesting thoughts, ideas, opinions, and discussions

“As Internet Turns 40, Barriers Threaten Its Growth” – Usually we hear about the opportunities or the threats stemming from the wide adoption of the internet; this article is about the threats and challenges that the medium itself is facing.  Here is another opinion on the same occasion – “Happy Birthday, Internet!”

Digital Divide

“Corruption adds to African IT costs, insiders say” – Something that is rarely mentioned in the debates about the digital divide.

MICT regulation

“Access and the Internet” (via Information Policy) – An editorial in NY Times; is net neutrality becoming another face of the digital divide?

“Govt may block all Internet telephony services” (via Twitter) – This article is about India; when it happened in Russia, the analysts agreed that it was a government move to assist the local telcos and the security argument was just an excuse; no such argument here.

“US Broadband stimulus package” – Good and accessible analysis of the US broadband stimulus package.

“Microsoft pushes for single global patent system” (via @evgenymorozov) – I think the title is descriptive enough and I wonder if this is a beginning of a trend regarding issues that are inherently global, like the internet.

“‘Social control’ better than legislation” – The point is interesting as is the example from Philippines.

“Israeli bloggers trying to wrest control of ’secretive’ Web group” (via @guysoft) – Thanks to Guy for bringing this entire issue to my attention and supplying me with a constant flow of link; this is the first of what I think will be a number of articles on the subject and although this one is not the deepest one, it does present the issue.

ICANN public comment – I think ICANN has launched a new forum platform for public consultations.

MICT business

“Yahoo! makes a big move in the Middle East – buys Maktoob” – Yahoo! follows Goolge and expands into the Arabic language internet; an analysis.

“Electronics Reach Out to the Ends of the Age Spectrum” – I think this is quite a logical step; the next one could be greater emphasis on developing countries.

“300 Million and On” – Mark Zuckerberg’s post about Facebook reaching 300 million users, but most interestingly it now has positive cash flow.

“New” media

“Games lessons” – A short piece from the Economist discussing the use of computer games in education.

“Technorati To Start Competing with Bloggers” – I am not sure I would subscribe to the title, but this item is about the next move of Technorati, which is trying to formulate a business model on the platform it has created.  I am not sure I necessarily see the competition with bloggers component, but it is too soon to tell.  In the meantime you may want to take part in Technorati’s survey of bloggers.

MICT and politics

“Russia: Medvedev launches YouTube channel” – I wrote before about Medvedev adopting some technologies even before the technologically-savvy President Obama; this time he is a latecomer.

“Democracy 2.0 Awaits an Upgrade” (via Twitter) – a nice article from NY Time that presents the two opposing opinions on technology and democracy.

www.presidentassad.net (via @jilliancyork) – Syrian “President of Just & Comprehensive Peace” is trying to follow the footsteps of Obama and Medvedev by setting up a website.  Not sure how new it is, but I wonder if it is another face of the digital divide.

Simply Interesting, Fun, and Coll Stuff

If you are into building websites, here is a short explanation of the basic principles :)

In fact, it seems like this guy has realy found himself a niche.  Check out this video on social media and this one on paid search… :)

And if you are feeling nostalgic, take a look at – “The FSA and the Dawn of Kodachrome” – for a set of old color photos capturing the US in early 20th century.