Telephone service as military tool for Hizballah

"Although Hizballah is known for its massive Iran-funded social welfare system that provides everything from soup to education, construction materials and matchmaking services for Lebanon's Shi'ite underclass, cell-phone service is not part of the package — except for those who join its guerrilla army. One of the world's most technically advanced and resourceful guerrilla organizations, Hizballah had some time ago installed its own, in-house dedicated fiber-optic telephone network, connecting its headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut to its offices, military posts and cadres as far south as the Israeli border. During the summer 2006 war, Israel had jammed cellphone signals throughout south Lebanon and monitored the Lebanese telephone system, but Hizballah's internal communications channels had survived thanks to its private fiber-optic system. Since the war, however, Hizballah has expanded the network to cover its new military frontline north of the United Nations–patrolled southern border district, and into the Bekaa Valley to the east. Part of the system incorporates a WiMAX network allowing long-distance wireless access for the Internet and cell phones."

A Cell Phone Civil War in Lebanon - TIME via UNDP Observatory

Hey! I was obliquely cited on CNN.com!

Arranged marriage gets high-tech twist - CNN.com: "The rise of cell phones has made long-distance courtships easier. A small 2006 study from a University of Washington researcher found that young Indians living in Bangalore used cell phones to get to know partners introduced to them by their parents."

yeah, that's my research!

A bad romance gets worse over mobile phone

The non-Latin letters that are in some languages have much significance. In this case, a substitution of a closed Turkish i with Latin i in an SMS was deadly. Who would have thought that a misspelled text message could cause such harm?

"The surreal mistake happened because Ramazan's sent a message and Emine's cellphone didn't have an specific character from the Turkish alphabet: the letter "ı" or closed i. While "i" is available in all phones in Turkey—where this happened—the closed i apparently doesn't exist in most of the terminals in that country.

"The use of "i" resulted in an SMS with a completely twisted meaning: instead of writing the word "sıkısınca" it looked like he wrote "sikisince." Ramazan wanted to write "You change the topic every time you run out of arguments" (sounds familiar enough) but what Emine read was, "You change the topic every time they are fucking you" (sounds familiar too.)"

From an email list at work: Localization Problems: A Cellphone's Missing Dot Kills Two People, Puts Three More in Jail

When the Ex Writes a Blog, Dirty Laundry Is Aired - New York Times

People who fight back in a divorce over the internet. Tricia Walsh Smith makes a YouTube video; others blog.

When the Ex Writes a Blog, Dirty Laundry Is Aired - New York Times

Happiness is a clean inbox

I read my email today! happiness is...

Sex workers go Web 2.0

In response to the Spitzer sex scandal, sex workers "organized a media blitz through blogs, Tumblr, Twitter and shared Google Docs. They kept tabs on which reporters approached the topic with respect and which didn't. And perhaps for the first time, they made their voices heard in mainstream venues like Fox News and CNN -- organizations that cannot be dismissed as fringe or adults-only media."

Sex Drive: IPhones, Twitter Let Sex Workers Spread Their Gospel

Being Human: Human-Computer Interaction in the Year 2020

Microsoft Research thinks that we'll be closely integrated with machines in the future (= cyborg!).

From BBC News:
"A Microsoft-backed report that draws from discussions with 45 academics from computing, science, sociology, and psychology predicts that by 2020 fundamental changes in the field of human-computer interaction will increasingly integrate humans with machines, and machines will be able to anticipate what we want from them. The keyboard, mouse, and monitor will be replaced by more intuitive forms of interaction and display such as tablet computers, speech recognition, and touch-operated surfaces. Devices will be embedded in everyday objects, clothing, and our bodies. Our digital footprint will increase as we share more and more aspects of our lives through digital photography, podcasting, blogging, and video, raising questions about how much information we should share and store about ourselves. An always-on network will channel mass-market information directly to us while analyzing our personal information. The report calls this the era of hyper-connectivity and predicts that it will lead to a growth in "techno-dependency." The report compares the widespread introduction of the calculator, widely blamed for a fall in mental arithmetic abilities, with what may happen as computers become more intelligent and take on new responsibilities. "Without proper consideration and control it is possible that we---both individually and collectively--may no longer be in control of ourselves or the world around us," the report warns. The report, "Being Human: Human Computer Interaction in the Year 2020," is available at http://research.microsoft.com/hci2020/download.html."

Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK)

Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK) - New York Times: "Savannah said she sends a text message to her father at least two or three times a day. “I can’t ask him questions because he is too slow,” she said. “He uses simple words.”"

Interesting article about the social world that teens and young people craft for themselves through personal technology, especially mobile texting.