In The News

Africa Struggles to Get on the Internet

Ron Nixon August 6, 2007
Four years ago, the firm Terracom signed a contract with the Rwandan government to provide 300 schools with internet access. Rwandan officials had planned on equipping schools with the internet as a way to modernize the rural economy. But as of mid-July, only one third of the schools had been connected. That rate is better than that for Africa as a whole, with only 4 percent of the continent...

Changes in Innovation Ecology

William A. Wulf July 19, 2007
Innovation flourishes in settings that promote curiosity, respect and vision. Education, research, science, investment and good-government practices contribute to innovation. But societies must also introduce, apply and distribute the best ideas – and the infrastructure in the US that produced so much innovation during the 20th century is now broken, warns William Wulf, president of the National...

Text Messages Giving Voice to Chinese

Edward Cody July 10, 2007
Zhao Yufen, a scientist at Xiamen University, organized a petition protesting the construction of a chemical factory and expressing concern about potential accidents, health risks and environmental damage. Local officials supported the factory, which could potentially double the city's gross domestic product, so national officials ignored the petition. Then a blog published Zhao's...

For Chinese Filmmakers, Success Can Sting

David Barboza July 9, 2007
The world is curious about Chinese culture, and so China's film industry and the government hope to produce blockbuster movies that can be exported around the world. Low-budget Chinese films have long attracted praise from critics, but only small audiences. Instead, foreign films from Hollywood and Hong Kong saturated the domestic movie market. In 2000, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,...

At IBM, A Smarter Way to Outsource

Steve Lohr July 5, 2007
As information-technology jobs are outsourced, companies like IBM adapt by doing more complicated and personalized jobs for clients. In the process, the IBM team determines exactly what should and shouldn't be outsourced. For example, IBM works with a Texas utility company, CenterPoint Energy, on a “smart grid” project to improve service and save energy. IBM divides the tasks into those...

Expert View: Outsourcing Is Out – It's a Political Cold Potato

Chris Walker June 28, 2007
Companies began outsourcing tasks, including payroll processing, in the 1960s. As the information-technology sector grew, so did the number of outsourced jobs. Today, all types of jobs, from low-level data entry to the transfer of intellectual property, are outsourced from high-wage to low-wage areas. Experts estimate that in India, call centers employ more than a million people, which some...