Category: Technology

The December issue of Far Eastern Economic Review has an article in Internet censorship; how the filtering is done, which western companies are supplying the technology, as well as a grass-roots effort to try to bypass the filter.

An interesting passage in the article deals with the difference in censorship of local and foreign language sources:

The ONI [OpenNet Initiave - an organization mapping Internet censorship] has also documented a more concentrated effort among states to target content in local languages, such as Vietnamese, Mandarin, Arabic and Farsi. […] Although determining the motivation for such variation is difficult, one might surmise that political authorities may want to target that web content which hits closest to home while leaving English speaking visitors to the country (e.g., journalists, Western human-rights activists) with the impression that censorship is rare.

It is indeed very easy to forget the censorship when you can reach most any English language web site you want to (Wikipedia being a notable exception). You simply don’t see it. It’s sometimes good to get a reminder.

(The Economist also recently published an article on the subject, with a few more examples of methods to bypass the filter.)

• Gadgets’ new label: Made for China. No more dumping last year’s devices on the Chinese market.
• The Plot To Hijack Your Computer. About the $2 billion disrespect-for-users spyware business.
• How your product can inspire The Nod.

Microsoft is offering an Office 2007 Beta 2 test drive web site, where you can take the new Office, now in beta 2, for a spin inside your web browser. You need to install a plugin, but that doesn’t take long.

You may or may not like the product (my personal opinion: awfully cluttered!) but getting the opportunity to test them like this, without downloading the full thing, is great!

More software companies should do this.

• From the July, 2006 issue of Business 2.0, a list of 50 people who matter now. Cool to see David Allen on the list.
• Internet partly to blame for your lack of close friends. I knew this thing was bad for us.
• Boeing Connexion may be shut down. Too bad, the service is great. Back to watching movies on an envelope-size screen?
• The Chinese tourists are coming! But they spend nothing on hotels and food, apparently saving up for the Hugo Boss discount store (?).

• Changing the World One Video Game at a Time (from PoliticsBlog). Campaigners turn to video games to reach out with their messages.
• Getting money via Skype (Skype Journal). Now we’re starting to see where Skype is heading after eBay acquired it. Ring tones and avatars seems to be part of their future too.
• Xu Jing Lei dethroned from Technorati 100 (Sam Flemming at China Word of Mouth Blog), and back again. Could it be that Technorati is trying to add Sina.com.cn to their index? If so, will the top 100 be dominated by Chinese blogs?
• Lego Factory (from The Long Tail). A lot more fun than putting together your Dell online. A great example of customization, as well as how to make the most out of a classic product using online tools.

• The myth of “keeping up”. Good thoughts on how to cut the fat from your information diet. But most importantly, it’s about why it’s such a bad idea to compare your own productivity to that of several other people combined. You just can’t win that comparison.
• Microsoft’s China Card (Business Week). They are clearly, as the article puts it, “trying to make up for lost time” in their relations to China. But will they be able to break Chinese piracy? Maybe, with a little help from their newfound friends.
• The Times Emulates Print on the Web (Technology Review). The headline in one of the screenshots says it all: “Microsoft Software Will Let Times Readers Download Paper”. If that’s what you’d like to do I’m sure this will be great!

Steve Rubel writes a insightful post on why we won’t be carrying more and more devices, and why there won’t be more than three “screens” for marketers to target. We’re simply out of pockets.

Read Steve’s post here: We’re Out of Pockets.

But there are more reasons we won’t be carrying e-paper devices in the long run. The same reason the cell phone, PDA, camera and mp3 player are not separate devices any more. It’s because they can converge and because they can do more together. (And also - because there’s a limited number of battery chargers one can bring on a trip.)

In fact, screen one (the TV) and three (the cell phone) is now becoming a single screen, as mobile TV seems to be the next big thing in cell phones. And a lot of content for screen two (the computer) has been able to reach our cell phones for a while. What marketers need to think about is the way the context where messages reach us is changing. I’m no longer necessarily in my sofa when that ad hits screen one.

But then there are the early adopters, and that’s the reason new technology is going to end up in stand-alone devices. After it has been proven successful in the market, it will end up integrated into our limited pockets.