Aside

Sevgili Dostlar, My piece on the Mesut Özil and modern Turkish-Germans aired on The World yesterday. In it, I interview Prof. Dr. Claudia Riehl of the University of Cologne, Susanne von Würzen (thanks, Courtney!), Mehmet Aydan (thanks, Begum!), and Cem Özdemir. Also, don’t forget my editor Patrick Cox’ language podcast, The World in Words! [audio:http://cyrusfarivar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/062820105.mp3]

After many months of nearly no information about the status of Hossein Derakhshan, various Iranian websites and his family are reporting that his trial began on Wednesday in Tehran. Very little new information has been released beyond this fact, although I managed to get this quote via email from an source close to Derakhshan’s family: “One trial session was held and although no family members were allowed in, but the family remains optimistic that no serious issues exist in his…

Since earlier this year I’ve wanted to change the theme of this blog. I felt that it was time for a change — after all I’ve had this blog on WordPress for around five years, and mucked around with Moveable Type before that. Way back in the day I started blogging on LiveJournal — heck, I didn’t even hear the word blog for the first time until Fall 2000. And so now, with major help from Chirag Desai I managed…

So I get that people want the iPhone. I get that it’s a really sexy, really popular handset. I’m not convinced that I’ll buy one just yet, but I signed up for T-Mobile’s email updates about it, and just yesterday got this: But seriously T-Mobile (Germany’s exclusive iPhone provider), do you really need SEVEN different plans? In fact, there’s so many, that they need two pages to fit them all. Here’s the first four: I won’t go over all of…

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…