Cyrus Farivar

Ethan Zuckerman: Aid dollars donÕt eliminate poverty – integration into a global economy does. (South Korea and Ghana had approximately the same per capita income when Ghana gained independence in 1957. South KoreaÕs income per capita has increased roughly fifteen times in constant dollar terms, while GhanaÕs has fallen slightly. You may notice that we buy a great deal more from South Korea than we do from Ghana.) If the goal of Live 8 were to help people see the…

WashPost: The CIA declined comment on Alliance Base, as did a spokesman for the French Embassy in Washington. Most French officials and other intelligence veterans would talk about the partnership only if their names were withheld because the specifics are classified and the politics are sensitive. John E. McLaughlin, the former acting CIA director who retired recently after a 32-year career, described the relationship between the CIA and its French counterparts as “one of the best in the world. What…

Macworld Editor-in-Chief Jason Snell is on the MacMania cruise in the Baltic Sea. Earlier today they stopped off in Tallinn, where he met up with Veljo Haamer, of WiFi.ee fame. Jason’s photos here. (My Estonia photos are here.)

CS Monitor: Saturday, 10 cities around the world will host some of pop music’s biggest names as part of the “Live 8” concert series (www.live8live.com). Organizer Bob Geldof hopes large turnouts will pressure the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations, meeting in Scotland next week, to help put “an end to poverty” in Africa. He also hopes the rock shows will boost awareness about Africa’s plight – and how the wealthy world can help. The Monitor decided to find out…

Sumana: I mentioned my corporate Slate vs. indie Salon analogy, where Slate is a woman who’s gone right from her father’s house to her husband’s, but Salon is a strong, independent woman who’s been raised by wolves. Ummm, except that Slate has a graduate education and is upwardly mobile, while Salon is still floundering in the forest. I’m sorry, Jack Shafer, Chris Suellentrop and Christopher Hitchens vs. Eric Boehlert, Farhad Manjoo and Mark Benjamin.

Has anyone else noticed that the Powell BART stop (along with ads on the Powell Cable Car) is now covered in Dove’s new ad campaign, which sports curvaceous women decked out in bras and underwear? I mean, I’m all for women as much as the next guy, but it just seems a bit overkill? I mean, c’mon. It’s a *soap* ad.

For those of you who’ve downloaded Google Earth, the guy at the demo booth showed me a minor easter egg in it. When you’re in the view mode, press CTRL-G, and you’ll enter a flight simulator mode. It’s pretty sweet. 🙂

Dave, you’re a great guy, but sometimes, I just wonder — do you read your own blog? BTW, I’ve been watching for any evidence of acknowledgement from Apple, haven’t seen any yet. and then this: The San Francisco Chronicle is podcasting. Interesting that their feeds use the category element. You don’t often see this. Thanks. Dude, I emailed you that link last night, and blogged it. Way to acknowledge me. 😉 And on another note, are you really comparing podcasting…

SF Chronicle: The San Francisco Chronicle is expanding its offerings of online content today by providing podcasts on its Web site, SFGate.com. Podcasts are radio-like shows that people can automatically download off the Internet and listen to on their computer or portable digital music player. “We are pleased to provide this new way for Chronicle readers and Gate users to get useful and compelling information about the San Francisco Bay Area that they cannot find anywhere else,” said Chronicle Executive…

Wade Roush: In fact, I’d guess that in this age of digital imaging and mapping, San Francisco has become the world’s most thoroughly documented city. I’m reminded of The Illustrated Directory: Vol. 1, San Francisco, an 1894 guidebook shown to me recently by David Rumsey, a private collector of historical maps. This beautiful and extremely rare volume, full of artists’ engravings of each block of San Francisco’s business district, was unique for its time — and about 110 years ahead…