News and Notes Roundup: April 13
It’s Monday and that means NDItech is back with our weekly news and notes roundup. After an eventful weekend with hit shows “Silicon Valley” and “Game of Thrones” making their season premiers and the cherry blossoms in full bloom, its time to get your daily dose of tech news. This week we look at how digitization is the key for establishing a transparent government plus an interesting perspective on how data collection can improve humanitarian response.
This week in Tech History starts 15 years ago to the day, when the rock and roll group Metallica sued Napster, a website that popularized downloading music for free, over copyright infringement. This lawsuit was historic in that it led to the shut down and bankruptcy of Napster. However, Napster left a legacy so large that it completely changed the online music industry. It opened the door for many sites to give away free downloads of music illegally and presented a challenge to music industry leaders that echoes to this day. Also of note, today marks the 45th anniversary of the explosion of an oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 which prompted Astronaut Jack Swigert to famously announce “Houston, we’ve had a problem here”. Against all odds, the three astronauts on board were rescued after being stranded in space about 200,000 miles from Earth for four days.
Popular Tech News
- The NSA is looking into split “crypto keys” to access locked smartphone data when needed
-Is traditional cable TV more reliable than newer internet-based TV options?
-Paypal was supporting an individual known to have sold nuclear technology to North Korea
http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/12/behind-paypals-foreign-assets-violations/
-Capitol Hill’s leaders gossip on an anonymous and exclusive forum via an app
-The biggest tech companies target their new devices to the home services market
ICT and Development
- Digitization is the next step for transparency in the developing world
-Innovation technology can help support forest governance
-Data collection is the key to improving humanitarian response
-The potential for mobile money in the developing world
-South Koreans send in balloons of the movie “The Interview” with the goal to inspire change and protect freedom of speech
Mobiles
-Women are being left behind in the mobile revolution
-Do mobile surveys work in poor countries?
-East African governments agree to lower roaming rates
-Smartphones can be early earthquake warning systems
-A summary of mobile technology and mHealth in Africa