Cyrus Farivar

Dear Friends, My piece on the one-year anniversary of last year’s controversial election in Iran is airing today. In the piece, we hear from two young Iranians who talk about their frustration with what’s happened since June 12, 2009, and from Mohammed Sadeghi, the Iranian-German behind Mousavi’s Facebook page and from Golnaz Esfandiari, the Iranian-American reporter with Radio Free Europe in Prague. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): NYC – 3 pm Eastern…

Yes, we were married one year ago today.

So it’s a holiday here in Germany, it’s a beautiful day outside and I’m still in my PJs, scrolling through my RSS reader, and two Reuters headlines scream out at me: “Nokia unveils 4 cheap phones” and “Nokia unveils bicycle mobile charger“. Sadly, Reuters doesn’t provide any details, but CNET’s Crave blog does: C1 phone (far left): Two SIM slots, only one line active at a time, six-week standby time (longest by far of any Nokia handset). Built-in LED flashlight!…

Step one: Order a new free SIM card from NetzClub, a new MVNO from O2. Select the “Handy Internet Flat” option. The catch is they provide you with free Internet in exchange for text advertising. Step two: Buy an O2 Surfstick. I bought mine directly from their website for €34 shipped. It’s unlocked. It comes with an O2 SIM card, and five free days of 3G access — otherwise it’s prepaid €3.50 per day (midnight to midnight). Step three: Download…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my piece on getting my 88-year-old grandmother her first cell phone is on Spark this week! It will be available on CBC Radio 1 at the following times: Sunday afternoons on CBC Radio One at 1:05/1:35 NT (4:05 PT) Tuesday afternoons on CBC Radio One at 3:05/3:35 NT If you find yourself outside the reach of the CBC’s antennae, feel free to listen to it online, here, or of course, via podcast. [audio:http://cyrusfarivar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/plus-spark_20100523_spark114d.mp3]

[The following post is about the final episode of Lost, so if you haven’t seen it yet, consider yourself warned.] Rebecca and I got home from our weekend trip to Hamburg around midnight, and then we stayed up to watch the finale on Hulu. And we were both disappointed. Ok, so the island may not be the afterlife (unless you’re Michael), but the flash-sideways timeline is? What a cop-out. This last season has been frustrating to say the least. After…

Caption contest!

I don’t know if Barrett Sheridan wrote his Newsweek piece, “The Internet Helps Build Democracies” in response to or independent of Evgeny Morozov’s recent piece in Foreign Policy (Think Again: The Internet ; May/June 2010). Still, it sort of amazes me that this techno-utopianism (or as Evgeny puts it, “iPod liberalism“) still persists, at least amongst smart, internationally-minded journalists like Barrett Sheridan. I mean, I get why popular opinion might come to this conclusion, and maybe even some well-intentioned policymakers.…

Meine FreundInnin, I’m pleased to share with you my latest piece on the new WiFi-free Weekend policy at Actual Café in Oakland. This was one of the last pieces that I did before leaving the Bay Area. It has just aired on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation — the first time I’ve been on the radio down under! Or, you can just listen here: [audio:http://cyrusfarivar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fte_20100415_0840.mp3]

Dear Friends, My piece on the release of Haystack, the new anti-filtering software for use in Iran will be on today’s show. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): NYC – 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…