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Internet & technology
RSS FeedAfrica: Bids open for '.africa' Internet domain name
2011-11-03, Issue 556
The international organisation that governs top-level Internet domain names is taking bids on the creation of '.africa'. Supporters say it will promote African businesses better than individual country names such as ‘dot-ke’ for Kenya or 'dot-za' for...
Africa: Making sense of mobile apps for Africa
2011-10-26, Issue 554
This report by Balancing Act analyses the nascent apps ecosystem in Africa while providing an analytical framework allowing African mobile operators or other stakeholders to decide on what strategy to adopt regarding mobile apps....
Ghana: Developers nurturing big dream for African languages
2011-10-13, Issue 552
Tucked away in Kumasi, Ghana’s second city, is a small office manned by four ambitious software engineers promoting African languages and cultures around the world through publishing downloadable phrase books for study. 'It started as a dream but thr...
Global: Do new social media create new forms of citizen action?
2011-10-17, Issue 552
Is ‘citizen action’ anything other than the struggle of people to right what they perceive as wrongs and limit the power of the cruel and the unjust? Participants at a conference in the Hague, organised by Hivos, under the title 'The Changing Face of...
Africa: No quick remedy for internet gap
2011-10-05, Issue 551
Prior to the 2010 South Africa World Cup, submarine fibre optic cabling was laid to improve the speed and reliability of broadband. Despite this, Internet World Statistics reports that only 11.4 per cent of Africans have internet access, far below th...
Global: India launches $35 computer
2011-10-05, Issue 551
India has launched what it says is the world's cheapest touch-screen tablet computer, priced at just $35 (£23). Costing a fraction of Apple's iPad, the subsidised Aakash is aimed at students. It supports web browsing and video conferencing, has a thr...
Cameroon: Google Cameroon elections 2011 page
2011-10-06, Issue 551
This Cameroon Elections 2011 page from Google displays which party leader people are searching Google for the most and which issues are most important in the election campaign....
Global: A civil rights-based framework for the Internet
2011-10-06, Issue 551
One of the striking features of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is that it is mainly being signed by Western/'developed' countries, says this post from www.techdirt.com ACTA is the last-gasp attempt of the U...
South Sudan: Google puts South Sudan on maps
2011-09-28, Issue 550
Google has updated its maps to include the newly independent nation of South Sudan. The move follows a campaign by a South Sudanese journalist, who posted an online petition calling for the new nation to be marked on web maps. He said his country was...
Global: Human rights online: New issues and threats
2011-09-29, Issue 550
This Connect your Rights! policy issue paper from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) outlines the state of human rights online and the major challenges facing activists and human rights defenders. As levels of censorship and surveil...
Kenya: Information as aid in East Africa’s famine
2011-09-20, Issue 549
In any emergency, be it natural disaster or man-made, long- or short-term, people’s lives are turned upside down. Knowing what’s happening, where to go for assistance and who to call for help is crucial to their survival and recovery. As famine is de...
Africa: Mobile technology vital in east Africa’s fight against hunger
2011-09-20, Issue 549
How can technology be used to fight food insecurity in a region as large and diverse as east Africa? Karen Peachey, the British Red Cross’ east Africa representative, gives a few ideas: 'Mobile phones are everywhere in east Africa, even in many remot...
Africa: Android invasion
2011-09-20, Issue 549
Mobile phone manufacturers, operators and Google have started a big push of the Android operating system into Africa this year. Samsung, HTC and Huawei are moving Android phones into the market and some operators are starting to subsidise Android han...
Global: Google Maps now available on 40+ new country domains, 6 in Africa
2011-09-22, Issue 549
Google has added more than 40 new domains on Google Maps, including six African countries: Somalia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Lesotho, Mali and Niger....
Africa: Using social media in citizen engagement
2011-09-14, Issue 547
It is now common knowledge that ICTs play important roles in the development process. In West Africa, projects such as Esoko, Grameen MoTech and Project ABC are confronting the challenges of development from different angles. Another interesting area...
Africa: Making the most of mobiles
2011-09-15, Issue 547
While mobile phones are ubiquitous in Africa, the internet has nothing like the same penetration and is almost non-existent in rural areas. Ken Banks, founder of Kiwanja.net, advocates going back to basics – using mobile phones rather than the intern...
Africa: Africa leads solar-powered laptop revolution
2011-09-15, Issue 547
The world’s first solar-powered netbook, Samsung Electronics’ NC215S laptop, is the ideal product for a continent where electricity access can be limited, but sunlight is never in short supply. The solar-charging capability means that it is also the ...
Africa: A bright future
2011-09-15, Issue 547
E-applications and value-added services will see Africa emerge as a major contact centre hub, with significant concentrations in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius and South Africa. This was one of the micro-trend findings that emerged at a Frost & Sulli...
Africa: Home-grown innovations can boost maternal, infant health
2011-09-16, Issue 547
Sub-Saharan African countries should scale up innovations that utilise internet, cell phones and other modern communication gadgets to national level, to benefit a critical mass of women and children in need of quality healthcare. Tore Godal, the Spe...
Africa: Mobile internet in Africa
2011-08-30, Issue 546
This schematic diagram based on figures from On Device Research shows that for African internet users, well over 50% have mobile internet as the sole access method. In contrast, only 20% of UK mobile internet browsers never or infrequently (once a mo...
Africa: Surfing the African technology wave
2011-08-31, Issue 546
The Frontier Strategy Group finds that the adoption of new forms of communication in Africa over the past decade – both mobile telephone and internet – has been nothing short of revolutionary. The continent is estimated to have produced over 316 mill...
Africa: Low cost cellular telephones aid Africa mHealth development
2011-09-05, Issue 546
Low price cellular telephones are helping advance mHealth opportunities across Africa, prompting developers to examine possible applications to address public health challenges. One application being developed for the Kenyan market provides symptom c...
Global: Mobile connections to surpass 6 billion by year-end
2011-09-08, Issue 546
Total global mobile connections are set to surpass 6 billion by year-end, according to the latest Wireless Intelligence forecasts, a landmark which would mean the industry has added the last 1 billion connections in just 16 months. Wireless Intellige...
Africa: Are social media providing new platforms for democratic debate?
2011-08-16, Issue 545
This article form Fesmedia Africa assesses the role of new media in social change in Africa. 'New media platforms are changing how people communicate with each other around the world. However, there is great variation in both the kind of communicatio...
Global: Research study on sex, rights and the internet published
2011-08-16, Issue 545
Over the past three years, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) carried out exploratory research in five countries from different continents on the internet’s role in accessing information about sex education, health, fighting sex dis...
Global: ICTs, informal online activists and civil society organisations
2011-08-16, Issue 545
When talking about ICTs and the relationship between informal online activists and civil society organisations, the key question, says this article, is: how can traditional civil society organisations capitalise from and build on an almost organic pr...
Africa: Did you know - mobile stats for Africa 2011
2011-08-18, Issue 545
This animated YouTube video compiled by the Praekelt Foundation presents an overview of the mobile technology landscape in Africa, with statistics and facts about mobile phones and their use on the continent....
Africa: Banking in Sub-Saharan Africa to 2020: Promising frontiers
2011-08-18, Issue 545
This report from the Economist Intelligence Unit claims that African countries south of the Sahara are poised to enjoy a surge in growth in their banking systems during this decade. The three main drivers in this development will be generally very hi...
Global: Three reports on circumvention tool usage, international bloggers, and internet control
2011-08-21, Issue 545
The Berkman Center has released three new publications as part of their circumvention project. Over the past two years, the Center has carried out a number of research activities designed to improve our understanding of the knowledge, usage, and effe...
South Africa: Broadband comparison service launched
2011-08-11, Issue 544
South Africa now has a website offering where broadband customers can enter their phone numbers and find the cheapest broadband offering in their area....
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