Posted by Bonnie Bogle on Jun 11, 2006
Cell phones have added $650 million to Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) and created almost 240,000 jobs in the country. On top of that, most of the jobs pay significantly more than the average job, a recent study by the international firm Ovum found. Grameen Phone, and its Village Phone program, should be given a lot of credit for this.
Posted by mstein63 on Jun 05, 2006
Joe Trippi, the pioneer of Internet political campaigning with Howard Dean's 2004 presidential bid, shares his views on the next frontier in campaign technology for mobilization and fundraising in a May interview in Newsweek which is published on the MSNBC.com website. "I think text messaging is going to be more important than ever. Look at the success of the pro-immigration campaign. We may be talking about the Great Text-Messaging Campaign of 2008, not the Great Blog Campaign."
Posted by mstein63 on Jun 05, 2006
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Jun 04, 2005
Donga.com, the Korean news site on technology and the internet, has this little tidbit of an article:
21st Century's Democracy Comes From Citizens
The
democratic movement in the Middle East, the democratic revolution in
Central Asia, and China;s anti-Japanese protests. These events are
weighty incidents that have shaken the world this year. Behind all
these incidents are mobile phones and the Internet. In other
words,mobile power; and Internet power; made people power.
If the print media led a modern revolution and TV pulled down the
Berlin Wall, the thumb revolution,represented by text messages from
mobile phones and the Internet, is currently destroying the wall of a
controlled society after emerging as a new kind of political power.
Experiencing
the recent candlelight protest around Gwanghwamun organized by high
school freshmen, the rally against the impeachment of President Roh,
and the group of extremely supporters of President Roh in the 2002
presidential election, Korea is already a developed country
in terms of mobile phone demonstrations.
Posted by Simon Pavitt on May 13, 2006
According to the BBC,
there was recently a row in the Iraqi parliament over a mobile phone ringtone.
The speaker of the Iraqi parliament (Mr Mashhadani, a Sunni) was being interviewed in the lobby of the parliament when a mobile phone belonging to the bodyguard of another MP (Ms Saadi, a Shia) twice played a religious tune, prompting security staff to attack the bodyguard.
The speaker later turned off cameras and microphones and stormed out of the assembly when the MP demanded an apology.
Posted by kiwanja on May 08, 2006
I've just been reading about Vodafone's new plans to build 3G capability into laptops:
"Vodafone has partnered with world leading notebook manufacturers to make Built-in 3G broadband available to you in a notebook to suit your needs. 3G broadband is an evolution of 3G that delivers a true mobile broadband experience and by integrating it into notebooks it requires nothing to be installed or set up"
This 'new' move towards integrating mobile services into laptops and notebooks themselves could set a new trend (I don't know if Vodafone are the first).
Up until now at the very least the user has needed to install a GSM PCMCIA card or set up a Bluetooth/IR connection to a handset, or connect via a USB/serial cable. If mobile comms becomes a mainstream feature of new laptops (if 3G is available then it goes without saying that an additional bit of software would be able to control SMS) then a whole new world of opportunity could open up. Applications like FrontlineSMS wouldn't seem quite so crazy if that were the case.
Posted by kiwanja on Apr 27, 2006
I recently made a presentation at a Conference hosted by Technologies for Conservation and Development (t4cd) at Microsoft's Research Centre in Cambridge, UK.
The Conference, which I helped organise through my work with the lead project partner - Fauna & Flora International - brought technologists and conservationists together to try and join the dots in this 'mini digital divide'. My talk was on the growing use of text messaging within the conservation and development communities, and more generally in wider society.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Apr 27, 2006
From our colleagues at Donor Digital:
Mobile Text to Give for Amnesty and UNICEF
If you're one of the 100 million people with a PayPal account, now you can use your mobile phone to donate to Amnesty International USA and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Just register your cell phone at PayPal, then text AMNESTY to 78787 and you'll donate $10. Text WATER to 78787 and you'll donate to UNICEF.
Imagine you're at a baseball game or a rock concert and you're invited to get out your cell phone and donate $5 or $10. It may be another year or two before this gets big. PayPal's service is brand new and just launched its "Text to Give" tool. Verizon, Cingular, and Sprint take 40% off the top.
Try it out.
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Apr 18, 2006
Description:
International Festival of Mobile Creativity in Brazil (September 2006)
english
Submission deadline of proposals:
May 11th, 2006
Festival Internacional de Arte e Criatividade Móvel
português
Prazo para o recebimento de trabalhos:
11 de maio de 2006
