Cyrus Farivar

I’ve just flipped through the International Telecommunications Union recently released executive summary of their Telecom Reform 2008 report. The ITU says that there are now 1.5 billion Internet users worldwide, and 4 billion mobile phone users. Oh, and then there’s also this: ITU’s Internet and broadband data suggest that more and more countries are going high-speed. By the end of 2007, more than 50 per cent of all Internet subscribers had a high-speed connection. Dial-up is being replaced by broadband…

SF Chronicle: But [Stephanie Reyes, senior policy advocate with San Francisco’s Greenbelt Alliance] and other advocates acknowledge that the importance of SB375, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in late September, lies as much in the tone it sets as in what it will accomplish, which remains unclear. Essentially the law, which will take years to implement, uses incentives and requirements to encourage local governments and builders to concentrate growth in urban areas or close to public transportation hubs…

Scott Carney, an American journalist friend living in Chennai (nowhere near Mumbai), describes the situation as “unbelievable,” adding that this is the “first time that there has been real urban warfare in the country.” He points me to the SAJA Forum for some good online resources and a hastily organized series of webcasts. There’s also a bunch of info floating around Twitter. My thoughts go out to all those affected in Mumbai, India and throughout the world. Also, a big…

This is exactly why Santa Monica was a great place to grow up, but why I have no desire to live there again. NYT: That warning the other day was among hundreds that have been issued in a culturally tumultuous crackdown by Santa Monica officials against violators of a city ordinance, rarely enforced till now, that bars congregating on traffic medians. The target is increasingly loud, littering and generally intrusive groups of exercisers who gather from dawn until dusk along…

I had the honor of being interviewed by Jesse Brown on his CBC show, Search Engine (now sadly relegated to just podcast status), to talk about the whole Hossein Derakhshan situation. You can download the 15 minute podcast here. As of Thursday, I got a call from Ottawa, saying that the Canadian government had put in a request to their embassy in Tehran to find out if in fact, Derakhshan was arrested. I will check back in with them today.

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on the possible arrest of Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan will be airing today. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern –…

Ok, so it actually launched nine days ago. Still, big ups to my buddy David Cohn and his new community–funded journalism site, Spot.us! I’ll let him explain: Spot.Us is a nonprofit project of the Center for Media Change. We are an open source project, to pioneer “community funded reporting.” Through Spot.Us the public can commission journalists to do investigations on important and perhaps overlooked stories. All donations are tax deductible and if a news organization buys exclusive rights to the…

Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein “Hoder” Derakhshan may or may not have been arrested recently in Tehran. One Iranian site, Jahan News, is reporting that he has been — citing “reliable sources” — and up until now, that’s all we have. And yet, UPI, the Jerusalem Post, Ha’aretz, The Guardian and others are all treating this as fact, using one possibly dubious Iranian newspaper as the sole source. It’s even made the Iranian equivalent of Digg, Balatarin (“Highest”). For the record, NPR…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on Inveneo will be airing today. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern – WGBH – 89.7 FM – www.wgbh.org San…

It’s a quiet, early Sunday morning in Lyon. I probably should head down to the baker, buy a couple of perfectly balanced crust and crumb baguettes and get my day started. I looked outside my window and all I see is fog. I didn’t even know fog existed this far inland. I take in a pasty white ambling mass of fuzziness and cold just hovering above and beyond the houses a short distance from my window. I can’t see towards…