Ministers’ homes at the new capital, Pyinmana Burma has shown us that we’re not as clever, or free, as we thought we are. It’s a sign of how the Burmese generals don’t really understand things that it took them so long to cut off the Internet: Reporters without Borders and the Burma Media Association reported … Read more
Is business networking site Congoo resorting to spam to build its user base? I suspect it is. Congoo is on one hand a good idea — a place to gather and monitor content on your industry, including content that is usually subscription only (like WSJ.com, who publish my weekly Loose Wire column.) But it’s also … Read more
I really hate being asked for lots of private details just to download a product. In short: People shouldn’t have to register to try something out. An email address, yes, if absolutely necessary. But better not: just let the person decide whether they like it. It’s the online equivalent of a salesperson shadowing you around the shop … Read more
Young hospital worker using her cellphone in a phone booth, Jakarta, April 2007 Either she uses the phone booth out of habit from her pre-cellphone days, or else she’s making use of a privacy feature of old technology — the sound-proofing booth — her new technology doesn’t offer. Tags: indonesia, privacy, cellphones, technology, booths, soundproofing
Until recently I’ve tended to recommend YouSendIt for folk who want to send large files to each other. But not anymore. I found myself inundated with two full-page casino pop-ups and those awful bouncing ‘alerts’ when I had to download a file just now, which doesn’t impress me. In fact I noticed that I was … Read more