Today’s twin bombings in Jakarta—their implications for Indonesia aside—should bring home to conventional media that social media is a multifaceted force, one that is evolving so quickly it’s fast becoming the primary channel that users tune in to for urgent news. Some conclusions to draw from Jakarta (or are reinforced by the sad episode): Social… Read More »
The ‘Wrong Guy’ story just keeps going. The Congo-Brazzaville man who was interviewed on the BBC mistakenly as a computer pundit back in May could have his own movie, according to the BBC: The incident involving Guy Goma is the basis for a film being planned by Alison Rosenzweig, who produced the 2002 Nicolas Cage… Read More »
Folk ask why I live in Indonesia. Here’s why. The Associated Press reported today that villagers in the South Sulawesi town of Watampone were protesting Tuesday outside the local police station demanding action against a local man they accused of practising black magic when it started raining. The police invited the protesters to shelter inside.… Read More »
The story of electronic voting machines, and the company that makes many of them, continues to roll along. I wrote in a column a few weeks back (Beware E-Voting, 20 November 2003, Far Eastern Economic Review; subscription required) about Bev Harris, a 52-year old grandmother from near Seattle, who discovered 40,000 computer files at the… Read More »
Viruses still plague many networks and not everyone is taking it lightly: U.S. colleges are getting tough on students with infected PCs, unplugging them and fining them, Associated Press reports. Back-to-back waves of devastating infections that spread quickly across the Internet during August crippled some college and high school networks just before the start of… Read More »