Tech in Far-Off Lands

I first encountered Marie Javins (@mariejavins) online sometime back in December of 2005. I was totally impressed by her 2001 solo trip by land and sea around the globe. We met up for breakfast in New York once, and have traded messages as we’ve moved on to live in Europe (me) and the Middle East (her). As she describes herself on her site: Marie Javins is an award-winning writer, comic book creator, traveler, and blogger who alternates between roaming the…

Archived talk is after the jump. Thanks to all those who watched/participated!

خدا با ماست / او را هم فیلتر میکنید؟ God is with us / Are you filtering him too? Geeks Around the Globe Rally to Help Iranians Online By CYRUS FARIVAR in San Francisco | 8 July 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] In his converted loft apartment in the semi-sketchy-meets-startup SoMa neighborhood, Austin Heap, 25, spends most of his time in front of his computer — a PC tower that he built himself and hacked to run Mac OS X. Heap didn’t…

I first encountered Evgeny Morozov about a year and a half ago when researching a story for Foreign Policy‘s back page, Net Effect. Over the last several months (and increasingly in the last few weeks), I’ve seen his name pop up all over the Internet. He’s one of the smartest researchers and thinkers about the Internet’s effects on the world at large that I know of. I’m thrilled that he’s just been selected to run Foreign Policy‘s new Net Effect…

So I’m at Lift today in Geneva, covering it for CBC’s Spark. I’ve met and had great conversations with Mark A.M. Kramer, Vittorio Mischi, and Lee Bryant. All truly, truly fascinating people. This is the best conference, bar none, that I’ve been to in a long time. If you’ve just started following me on Twitter, or saw/met me here at the conference, come say hi!

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…

WSJ: An entrepreneur’s quest to use satellites to bring high-speed Internet service to poor, remote countries is nearing liftoff with a major investment from some big names, including Google Inc. On Tuesday, O3b Networks Ltd., founded and run by 38-year-old telecommunications entrepreneur Greg Wyler, is expected to announce plans to launch as many as 16 satellites that could provide service to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Latin America by the end of 2010. The undertaking, expected to cost…

The New York Times Magazine: [Jan] Chipchase is 38, a rangy native of Britain whose broad forehead and high-slung brows combine to give him the air of someone who is quick to be amazed, which in his line of work is something of an asset. For the last seven years, he has worked for the Finnish cellphone company Nokia as a “human-behavior researcher.” He’s also sometimes referred to as a “user anthropologist.” To an outsider, the job can seem decidedly…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on overseas electronic voting systems 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…