Snippets: information on technology

Snippet # 1
The Washington Post -- Friday, September 10, 2010

Topic:
Mobile technology

Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/09/07/ST2010090703261.html?sid=ST2010090703261

Description:
This article illustrates collaboration between the Grameen Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to empower lives in many developing countries through the usage of mobile phone. It emphasizes the impact of mobile technology in countries like Bangladesh, Kenya, Philippines, Uganda, and Tanzania. These technology initiatives should, however, be considered as a mean to empower lives but not the end.

Why do I like it:
I immensely respect his tireless work of innovation and of combining technology with largely social issues to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh and in other developing countries. When I saw the collaboration between Grameen Foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve health issues via mobile technology, it immediately grabbed my attention.

Snippet # 2
The New York Times, Friday, September 10, 2010

Topic:
Social networking

Link:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/betaworks-and-the-times-develop-social-news-service/?ref=technology

Description:
The story focuses on yet another innovative way to capture the power of social networking. The New York Times in conjunction with a group of social network developer is currently developing a service to gather readers’ profile as to what they read. Based on this information, creators of this service can be able to provide targeted news to its users. This service will enable service providers to harness the power of “real-time” information about what the readers are reading. And the idea behind this is to create a niche for news consumption behavior of people.

Why do I like it:
I like this augmented innovative service because it will enable The New York Times to capture data on intellectual and meaningful reading.

Snippet # 3
Financial Times, Friday Sep 10 2010

Topic:
Net neutrality

Link:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ec465992-49b1-11df-9060-00144feab49a.html

Description:
This article illustrates the federal regulation and/or deregulation control and prevent monopoly by the large telecommunications companies. The net neutrality should be promoted among the large companies to allow free flow of information while maintaining competition in the market.

Why do I like it:
I like this article because net neutrality is one of the key emerging issues in technology. It has largely worked in Europe but not in the States. The discussion of the topic often brings out the symptom of the issue -- discriminatory practices by the large companies -- but not necessarily the cause of it -- lack of competition.