In The News

In Threat to Internet’s Clout, Some Are Starting Alternatives

Christopher Rhoads January 31, 2006
Since the advent of the commercial internet more than a decade ago, the US has overseen the administration of that global resource. Now, however, alternatives to the internet are emerging in other nations—a development that is in part a reaction to US control. As other nations push for a greater say in how the internet is run, competing networks start up for political, business, and cultural...

E-Waste@Large

Elizabeth Royte January 27, 2006
Computer recycling is meant to keep hazardous materials out of incinerators and landfills, reusing components to avoid the pollution and energy use required to obtain new materials. But recycling is also expensive and hazardous. So many companies, rather than disassemble the machines, chose to export them to developing nations, where they are not repaired or sold, but dumped. Each month, 400,...

No Booze or Jokes for Googlers in China

Declan McCullagh January 27, 2006
By launching its search engine in China and following Chinese government censorship laws, Google has sparked controversy. But the controls seem more haphazard than just dictated by political consideration, according to a CNET News.com survey of the new search engine. Sites opposing the Communist government do not show up in Google searches, but can be reached through links and foreign-service...

Prerequisites of Renaissance

Khwaja Masud January 4, 2006
Modern science emerged in 16th and 17th century Europe with the Renaissance and the Reformation. Prior to this, scholasticism dominated intellectual inquiry in an atmosphere of dogmatism and intolerance. By contrast, the Renaissance and the Reformation established a society in which rationalism, pluralism and tolerance thrived. Professor Masud analyzes the history in search of an inherent...

Ogre to Slay? Outsource it to Chinese

David Barboza December 9, 2005
Online gamers with money to burn, who have neither the time nor patience to battle their way up to the higher levels of games such as World of Warcraft and Magic Land, are willing to pay others to do it for them. A business known as "gold farming" has appeared in China, in which young men, mostly with dim employment prospects, spend hours playing online games, accumulating points,...

A Party Girl Leads China’s Online Revolution

Howard W. French November 25, 2005
In early July, a Shanghai blogger introduced herself to China as an aspiring “Web cam dance girl”. Today, the 25-year old Communist Party member is regarded as the most popular blogger in China – thousands of avid fans tune in for her provocative dances and ironic political commentary – and one of the pioneers in a trend that is challenging government censorship. Chinese Web logs have exploded...

India Concern to Design IBM Chips

Saritha Rai November 21, 2005
India is already well known as the center of software development outsourcing, but following an I.B.M. agreement, it may soon be recognized as a hub for microprocessor design as well. I.B.M. has announced that the first design center for Power Architecture chips outside of the company’s walls will be HCL Technologies, an Indian outsourcing company. The move is part of a strategy to set up...