Osama’s Column

Political exigency and technology efficiency may not go together : I firmly believe that the digital age can change our country ..... Read more Voices of a different breed : There is a large segment of population looking for sweeping societal and political .... Read more The march of digital media : With the emergence and rapid following of social media representing citizens voices.... Read more True Internet penetration in India is less than 10% : For a country where right to information is a law, India can’t become rightly.... Read more नए जमाने का मीडिया-’कॉम्यूनिटी रेडियो’ की शक्ति को पहचानने की जरूरत : आज भारत में जहां एक तरफ एंटरटेंनमेंट मीडिया हर साल तरक्की की नई नई ऊंचाईंयां छू रहा है, तो वहीं दूसरी तरफ एक बड़ी आबादी कॉम्यूनिटी रेडियो यानी सामुदायिक रेडियो के नाम से भी परिचित नहीं है। हालांकि इसकी वजहें कई हो सकती हैं। .... Read more डेंगू पर काबू के लिए तकनीक के साथ-साथ जागरुकता जरूरी : किसी ज़माने में मलेरिया बेहद खतरनाक बीमारी मानी जाती थी। जिसकी वजह से करीब 3 साल पहले यानी साल 2010 में दुनिया भर में 6 लाख 60 हज़ार लोगों की मौत हुई थी। लेकिन, आज नई तकनीकं....Read more

Recent activities

Changing digital landscape of India forever : This is a Case Book of W4C (Wireless for Communities). How the introduction of Internet and wireless has changed.... Read more

 

Wireless Internet introducing a new world to tribal community : The Saharia tribe has been living in Baran district of Rajasthan since centuries. It was cut off by .... Read more

 

Internet weaving a new world for Chanderi : Chanderi is a small town in Ashoknagar district of Madhya Pradesh. Only weavers lived there in their own secluded world before but since DEF and ISOC has started computer and W4C (Wireless for Communities) project things have changed rapidly and now the weavers are taking the help of computers to not only enhance their work but make their lives so much better for it. Please watch the video to see how it is impacting their lives... Read more

 

Words’ of Worth : The collective spirit of South Asian alternative media is a welcome springboard for a new decade. Today’s Alternative Media are given..... Read more

 

Weaving a Dream : Citizens must be prepared to make bold decisions to shake off some of the millstones around their neck. Today’s Alternative Media are given over to analysis .... Read more

 

Women Empowerment through Technology and Social Media : In Lebanon, and according to studies and articles, there are a small percentage of women who are .... Read more

 

GeSI SMARTer 2020 : The following materials were prepared exclusively for the Global e-Sustainability Initiative by a leading strategy consultant, The Boston .... Read more

 

Transforming K-12 Rural Education through Blended Learning : The mission of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is to ensure all students have access to a world-class education and quality blended and online learning opportunities that prepare them for a lifetime of success. iNACOL is a non-profit organization focused on research; developing policy for student-centered education to ensure equity and access; developing quality standards .... Read more

 

8 Global Champions in Sri Lanka announced! : The best of the best are found! The jury of the World Summit Award has announced the 8 best e-Content projects of 2013.... Read more

 

learning mHighlights from the 2013 Disco-tech : On 21 October, 2013, the Disco-tech brought together over 100 techies, human rights defenders and rights activists from ..... Read more

 

10 surprising superstars of Twitter : (CNN) -- Everybody knows the big-time accounts on Twitter belong to celebrities -- the Katy Perrys and Justin Biebers and Lady Gagas.... Read more

 

Africa still needs more ICT education and cheaper tech to grow a competitive knowledge economy : A report released today by the African Development Bank shows ..... Read more

 

The Sites We Love Right Now : As a wise-but-forgotten person once pointed out, any book you haven’t read is a new book. With websites, it’s the same thing..... Read more

 

Facebook 'likes': The thumb is gone : The biggest difference you'll notice straight away: the thumb is gone from the Like button. Instead, it will appear in the dialogue box ..... Read more

 

'Lover Spy' hacker makes FBI 'most wanted' list : The FBI says Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara ran a website offering customers a way to "catch a cheating lover" by sending ..... Read more

 

Apple releases fix to address Mavericks Mail and Gmail bugs : Apple has finally released an update to fix the issues many OS X Mavericks users experienced when trying..... Read more

 

Big Data’s Little Brother : (The company he co-founded, Premise, created a smartphone application that is now used by 700 people in 25 developing countries. Using guidance from Mr. Soloff and his co-workers, these people, mostly college ..... Read more

 

Smartphone to reach 5.6 bn, wireless to reach 9.3 bn by 2019 : Mobile subscriptions are expected to reach 9.3 billion by 2019, and more than 60 percent of these i.e. 5.6 billion – will be smartphones subscriptions as per Ericsson Mobility Report.... Read more

 

ट्विटर ने कैसे बदल दी दुनिया : साल 2006 में माइक्रो ब्लॉगिंग साइट ट्विटर की शुरुआत हुई थी. शुरुआती कुछ साल ढीले रहे, लेकिन आज लाइव चैटिंग की अपनी खूबी की वजह से ट्विटर ने पूरी दुनिया में लोगों की ज़िंदगी में बहुत अहम जगह बना ली है.... Read more

 

Social Media Is Giving Space To Many Opinions, But Leaving Many Behind: Here’s How : ‘These days everybody is on Facebook and Twitter‘, said a policymaker while counting blessings of social media to me. Such a sweeping generalization of India .... Read more

 

Online anonymity is dead! Long live online anonymity! : The India Conference on Cybersecurity and Cyber Governance -questions over online anonymity came to the forefront when Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari, made a statement .... Read more

 

Meet 7 startups that are innovating for the developing world : Every day, we are awash with news of the latest gadgets, product launches and strategic moves of Internet giants. In this climate, it’s easy to lose sight of the important role technology ....Read more

 

Angry Over U.S. Surveillance, Tech Giants Bolster Defenses : SAN FRANCISCO — Google has spent months and millions of dollars encrypting email, search queries and other information flowing among its data centers worldwide.... Read more

 

Helpouts From Google Connects People With Experts Over Live Video : A new product from Google, Helpouts, connects people with experts over video chat to give free or paid advice for tasks as varied as how to apply lipstick, how to treat ..... Read more

 

Internet in India : Eighteen But Yet to Mature : First-time voters would make up fifteen percent of the 800 million in the electoral list for the 2014 Parliamentary elections in India.With multipolar electoral contests being the norm rather than the exception.... Read more

 

Australian children in danger of spending more time in front of screens than at school : TECH-savvy kids now spend more time online or watching TV than they do at school and should be put on a "media diet'' of two hours a day, paediatricians warned.... Read more

 

Low telecom tariffs not sustainable, will start rising soon: Vodafone India MD : India's second largest telecom operator Vodafone expects phone call and other mobile services rates to go up every year, indicating that low tariff regime.... Read more

 

Internet penetration in India: Mumbai tops Internet users list with 12 mn, Delhi next, Bangalore falls off map : With 12 million active internet users, Mumbai has emerged as the city with the highest number of internet users in the country .... Read more

 

IRCTC पर नहीं करना पड़ेगा रेल टिकट के रिफंड का इंतजार : आईआरसीटीसी के पोर्टल के जरिये रेल टिकट कटवाने वालों को अकसर यह परेशानी होती है कि उनकी बुकिंग फेल हो जाती है जबकि पैसे कट जाते हैं. इसके बाद उन्हें पैसों की वापसी .... Read more

 

No morsel is too minuscule for all-consuming NSA : The NSA seems to be listening everywhere, gathering everything that might add to the US government’s knowledge of the world When Ban Ki-moon , the United Nations (UN) secretary-general.... Read more

 

TVs, mobile phones spearhead shift in rural India : New Delhi: Chanderi, a small town of 40,000 people in the Ashoknagar district of Madhya Pradesh, is best known for its weavers. A decade ago, the inhabitants would spend their evenings in the town square, chatting. There was little else to do. Such gatherings are rare now, says Quaiser Jehan Qureshi, a local school teacher..... Read more

 

After Angry Birds, Temple Run set for a big screen debut : Warner Bros. is said to be in negotiations to bring popular game Temple Run to the big screen. According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. has Harry Potter producer ..... Read more

 

Feeling down and need a little more joy in your life? : If the bad weather and onset of winter has left you feeling a little below par, a new app that claims to help you feel happy all week long could be just what you need. Developed by technicians.... Read more

 

Videocon Telecom launches M-health, mobile based Ayurvedic health service : Videocon Telecom from the Videocon Group has launched Ayurvedic mobile health, an IVR-based Value Added Service (VAS) service in collaboration with world renowned .... Read more

 

5 reasons to buy the Nexus 5 : I mentioned last week that I purchased the Nexus 5. I received the device on Monday morning and immediately got down to using it. I will admit that I bid a sad farewell to my Blackberry Torch 9800 which served me well .... Read more

 

Nokia 515 for Rs 10,500? You got to be kidding : How much would you pay for a Nokia handset with 64 MB RAM, 64 MB internal storage, and a 2.4 inch display? One friend of mine said it should not be more than Rs 3,000. But he was wrong like many..... Read more

 

Google announces Nexus 5, priced starting Rs 28,999 in India : Google has yet again worked with LG to come up with its next Android smartphone. The Nexus 5 sports a plastic shell with a silky textured finish. This smartphone features a 4.95 inch ....Read more

 

BlackBerry Z30 with 5-inch display, BB10.2 OS launched at Rs. 39,990 in India : The BlackBerry Z30 is the biggest smartphone in BlackBerry's portfolio and can be called the first phablet from the Canadian manufacturer. It comes with a 5-inch Super ..... Read more

 

Apple said to be developing curved iPhone screens, enhanced sensors : Two models planned for release in the second half of next year will feature larger displays with glass that curves downward at the edges.Two models planned for release .... Read more

 

Nokia Lumia 2520 and Nokia Lumia 1520 price revealed; launching on November 22 : Ever since Nokia showcased its wondrous device range at the Nokia World 2013, We have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Nokia Line-up especially .... Read more

 

ट्विटर: दोगुने हो गए शेयर के दाम : न्यूयॉर्क स्टॉक एक्सचेंज में माइक्रोब्लॉगिंग साइट ट्विटर का आईपीओ खुलने के कुछ ही मिनटों के भीतर इसके शेयर में 73 फ़ीसदी की उछाल के साथ 45.10 डॉलर प्रति शेयर पर पहुंच गए. इसका मतलब ये है कि कंपनी की क़ीमत अब 31 ख़रब डॉलर तक पहुंच गई है..... Read more

 

Bhutan Telecom launches 4G LTE service : Operating at 1800 MHz 4G LTE service will be available in Norzin Lam, Chubachu, Dzong, Kawajangsa, Changangkha, Ministers’ Enclave and other places around Motithang High School. With the launch of 4G .... Read more

 

Apple and RCom to Offer iPhone 5s & 5c for Free on 2-Year Contract [Updated] : pple seems to have managed to bring the hugely popular handset subsidy model to India. According to the Hindu Business Line (HBL), the Cupertino ....Read more

 

Indian economy: mobile phones to contribute $400 bn to GDP by 2020 : Indian economy is set for windfall gains as mobile phone users increasingly drive business forward. Mobile economy in India, world's second largest market by subscribers..... Read more

 

5 massive ways social media has changed the face of traditional PR : Most businesses are still only using traditional PR to build name recognition and awareness. The truth is that traditional PR doesn’t work as well and efficiently as it did back ..... Read more