Digital Day » Society

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) / PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) blackout

[vladi] — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:09:34 +0000

Currently, there’s a new threat cooking in Washington. The big Internet companies like Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, the Cheezburger Network and many others are opposing the bill and some of them are considering a day of blackout in order to raise awareness in the general public on the severe consequences of this bill – a bill that threatens the foundations of Internet and its free spirit, democracy, innovation and progress. So, if on Wednesday, January 18th, your favorite website is not working – well, it’s just a preview…

Tech Blackout to Protest SOPA

Stop Online Piracy Act (Scary Facts)

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet

Biden on Internet Freedom

WTF is SOPA ? aka The American Government trying to ruin the internet

Related: Innovation and its enemies

Innovation and its enemies

[vladi] — Sun, 29 May 2011 03:24:21 +0000

The 2011 G8 summit in France has risen some technology-related questions, among which the “New common challenges: the Internet, innovation (…)”. Here is the Keynote speech e-G8, given by Lawrence Lessig, explaining why the government regulation is a really bad idea for the prosperity of society and innovation.

Keynote – e-G8 from lessig on Vimeo. (via @yovko)

Please, share it with your friends, because it is important.

Earth Hour 2011

[vladi] — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:25:58 +0000

This year’s Earth Hour starts at 8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet Earth, Saturday 26 March 2011.

http://www.earthhour.org

UK to create the European Silicon Valley

[vladi] — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:05:46 +0000

The UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron announced the ambitions of the UK government to create a new technology center in the eastern part of London. The East London Tech City, as the project is called, is going to be an innovation and high-tech business incubator, rivaling the Silicon Valley in San Jose, California. Although there are certain questions and concerns, the technology and financial worlds seem to be excited about the idea. Support has already been declared by tech companies like Google, Facebook, Cisco and Intel, academic institutions and R&D centers like Imperial College London, University College London and Loughborough University, and financial institutions like Barclays, Vodafone and Silicon Valley Bank. Building a world-class technology hub right next to the one of the world’s financial capitals is definetely a strong move.

The plan is also backed by a very clear message to the brightest minds on the planet:

In every classroom or laboratory where a bright idea is born, every bedroom where a business case is put together, if you’ve got an idea, if you want to create jobs, and if you have the ambition to build a world beating company here in the UK, We want you; we’ll make it easy for you; we’ll put out the red carpet for you. With our new Entrepreneur Visa we want the whole world to know that Britain wants to become the home of enterprise and the land of opportunity.

YouTube Video Volunteers

[vladi] — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:00:01 +0000

Video Volunteers is a simple way for you to help raise awareness for causes you care about, and compete for recognition of your work on the YouTube homepage.

Each month, the channel will feature a different relevant issue on the Video Volunteers channel with a new guest curator, and you could have the opportunity to showcase your work (and your favorite org) to a huge audience. [YouTube]

Earth Day

[vladi] — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:06:17 +0000

22^nd of April is the Earth Day and this year it is the 40^th anniversary of the celebration of this day.

It is a celebration, meant to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. It was started by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970.

YouTube has put it in the spotlight for today:

The Bay vs. The Bag

The Unravelling: Eggs, String, & Climate Change

Social networks

[vladi] — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:17:11 +0000

A friend asked me today: “Do you have a Facebook?”
My quick answer was: “Of course not, I am a geek!”

Then it made me think, what is it that makes geeks hate the new social networks hype? It’s not like we are unfamiliar or feel uncomfortable, come on, we create these things for breakfast! And there definitely is an issue with geeks and social networks – all my geek friends avoid them, at least the fashion ones. It does not matter where everybody is, I just don’t care if I get a thousand invitations to Facebook, MySpace, Hi5, etc. And it is not like we don’t have social contacts also. It’s more like “you go into that fancy place and mingle with the fancy people. If you want to contact me, come where I am”.

So far so good. But then again, where am I? And most importantly, what makes it different from the other places where people communicate on the Internet?
I am on Twitter, I even have 2 accounts – one personal and one for the blog. I am on LinkedIn. I am on Jamendo. I may even be on some, or even most of the other social networks, but I am not really on them.

What is common between all of these places – they are not commercial. Even though Twitter is so popular, it is somehow clean. No marketing, no spam, no SEO bullshit. It got out of nowhere, some people were just having fun, others thought it is fun too. Another thing common is privacy – you are not bugged 20 times a day with invitations for mindless activities, fake causes and not embarrassed by someone, who thought it is very funny to share a picture of you when you had a bad day. Without asking you do you mind, or giving you any choice. And it is more personal too. You are not part of the crowd, it is like going out with friends.

What do you think about it? How is it for you? And don’t forget to share this within your social network!

[Image by Davide Guglielmo, taken from www.sxc.hu]

Earth Hour 2009

[vladi] — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:39:52 +0000

Switch off the lights, 8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet Earth, Saturday 28 March 2009.

This is the initiative that makes you take an action to show that you care for global warming. To make a stand. It started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, as a display of the people’s position on global warming issues. For a third year in a row, it is organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) with the support of many NGOs, governments and corporations. The Earth Hour’s message, at www.earthhour.org and www.voteearth2009.org:

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

Help spread the word and vote by switching off the lights – 8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet Earth, Saturday 28 March 2009!