KATE BARKLEY WRITES – Pens, apples, and pineapples were ordinary items until they came to comprise a PPAP or Pen Pineapple Apple Pen in DJ Kosaka Daimaou’s viral video. Posted almost over a month ago on August 25th, Japanese comedian/DJ Kosaka Daimaou sings about combining fruits with pens in a…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES —You’d think Australia — a rich, resourceful, forward-thinking country surrounded by Asian neighbors — would have broadband speeds comparable to or better than most. Sadly you’d think wrong. It wasn’t quite enough of an issue to push the ruling coalition out of power in Australia’s recent federal…
SABRINA VERDUZCO WRITES – Smart Sheriff, the most widely used child-monitoring app in South Korea, has been pulled from the market and public sphere altogether, after issues with privacy and security raised concerns about the program’s safety. Initially, the surveillance app was created with the intent to serve as a pseudo-babysitter, where parents…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – How is it that a North Korean refugee, who just five years ago did not know what the Internet was, is now learning how to code? Thanks to a new partnership between Coding Dojo and Link (Liberty in North Korea), there is renewed hope that North…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES– If a hotel in Pyongyang catches fire and the media doesn’t mention it, does it still burn? Of course it does! Last Thursday, the Koryo Hotel, one of the tallest and best-known buildings in North Korea’s capital, caught fire. In a city populated by approximately 3.2 million…
YVONNE EPPS WRITES— Vietnam has come a long way since the start of the year. We’ve seen major progress with the acceptance of social media and dips with press freedom, but the road is still jagged and, if they don’t watch their step, they might end up hurt. The Economist reported…
MICHELLE VARINATA WRITES – Poverty and wealth; primitive and modern; religious and secular. Indonesia is Asia’s most enigmatic (and somewhat bi-polar) nation filled with socio-economic contradictions. Despite the disparity in wealth, the country has one thing that bonds everyone from all walks of life: technology. Recently, Indonesia has built a…
TREVOR ISBELL WRITES – The sexual abuse of young Filipino children has long been an income source for some of the country’s poorest inhabitants. The country’s National Crime Agency (NCA) stated that “Extreme poverty, the increasing availability of high-speed Internet and the existence of a vast and comparatively wealthy overseas…
YVONNE EPPS WRITES- Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, they just did. Vietnam’s war on peaceful protest has reached guerrilla warfare of the monetary kind. Hey, Uy’s atrocities were unforgivable, so why not take the rest of the Internet down, right? Two decrees have been posed against social…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Rumors flew recently after several musicians in North Korea’s Unhasu Orchestra were executed for allegedly making porn. Because those killed reportedly included President Kim Jong-Un’s former girlfriend Hyon Song-wol, North Korea watchers said it may ultimately have tied back to the beloved leader’s current wife, Ri…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – South Korea enjoys some of the world’s most advanced technology. In addition, the country enoys nearly ubiquitous and extremely fast broadband. Still, one thing keeps South Korea from realizing its full online potential: Heavy-handed government regulation. This may be about to change. In South Korea, the…
AUSTIN SZABO WRITES – The front page of Pakistan’s only LGBT support website, Queer Pakistan, reads “Don’t Hate Us, Know Us!” The Pakistani government said no. In another attempt to impede social progress in Pakistan, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (the PTA) censored the website, saying “Surf Safely! This website is…
AUSTIN SZABO WRITES – If you live in India, expect a “friend request” from your local representative. The upcoming 2014 election will see an explosion of social media campaigning, according to The Times of India. India’s Bharatiya Janata and Congress parties are scrambling to woo internet users. From local politicians getting in touch directly…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Everything you type can and will be held against you. Microblogging has become insanely popular over the past few years in China, much like Twitter here in the US. Many critics on these micro blog sites have become online superstars whose millions of followers read, debate…
KIARA BRAMASCO WRITES – Ladies clad in pink and blue uniforms on bikes are appearing in Bangladesh’s remote villages, bearing the gift of the Internet. These women, called “info ladies” ride their bikes across the countryside with laptops ready to hold Internet sessions for the disconnected. The Guardian newspaper reports…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – On July 16, web fiction author Sollong passed away from literally working himself to death. Known only by his Internet pseudonym, which translates to “Snowfall for Ten Years,” Sollong’s real name is a mystery to everyone, except the management at Qidian.com, where he was employed as…
