In The News

In Mexico, Tweeting on Drug War to Fill the Void of Traditional Media

Justin Ellis March 22, 2013
The drug wars in Mexico have targeted traditional journalists and blocked investigations. But a research study is showing that Twitter users “are spreading the word on shootings, arrests, and clashes between the cartels and police,” reports Justin Ellis for Neiman Journalism Lab. “And, researchers say, they’ve developed a kind of media-esque ecosystem that values traits like sourcing and...

US Demands China Block Cyberattacks

Mark Landler, David E. Sanger March 13, 2013
A speech by the US national security adviser has emerged as the first public demand that China end the theft of data from US computer networks. China repeated its own denunciations of such attacks and denied that its military is involved in wholesale cybertheft from US corporations and government agencies, report Mark Landler and David Sanger for the New York Times. A spokesperson for the Chinese...

GitHub Revolution: We’re All in Open Source Now

Mikeal Rogers March 8, 2013
Open source software is freely available to all, and new potential is discovered daily by companies, cities, and individuals ranging from artists to developers who work with software code. GitHub, an open software platform for collaboration, “is doing to open source what the internet did to the publishing industry,” explains Mikeal Rogers, an advocate for open source programming, for Wired. “As...

The Virtual Middle Class Rises

Thomas L. Friedman February 5, 2013
The poor around the globe may still live on a few dollars per day. But price pressure on electronics like smart phones and computers have lowered costs of education and communications and increased the ranks of a virtual middle class. Expanded numbers of people connecting via the internet will have political and economic repercussions, notes Thomas L. Friedman in his column for the New York Times...

Cultural Revolution

February 1, 2013
From “cultural backwater” to trendsetter – that’s how the Economist describes the transformation of the Nordic region in just two decades. Immigration, globalization and the internet have contributed to the region’s burst of innovation in the high-tech, entertainment, restaurant and other industries. “The bigger reason why the region’s writers and artists – and indeed chefs and game designers –...

Hackers in China Attacked the New York Times

Nicole Perlroth January 31, 2013
Hackers attacked the New York Times after the newspaper reported on an investigation suggesting that relatives of former Premier Wen Jiabao had accumulated a fortune of billions while he was in office, a report based on public US records. The hackers routed the attacks through US universities, sending malware to individuals, before entering the system and obtaining passwords. Computer security at...

Cuba First High-Speed Internet Connection Activated

January 29, 2013
Cuba is now connected to the global internet with high-speed cable, and that could invigorate public debate and political criticism. The country has delayed the rollout to control connections and also blamed the US trade embargo for failure to hook up to US cables. Venezuela shipped the $70 million cable nearly two years ago, reports BBC News. “Investments will first have to be made in Cuba'...