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China puts moratorium on new internet cafes


The Chinese government has announced its latest futile attempt to hold back the tidal wave of free digital information that is bound to flood the country sooner or later, placing a ban on the licensing of new internet cafes for 2007 while officials investigate supposed breaches of their restrictive rules. Specifically, the thought police want to find out how widespread the illegal renting of licenses and failure to register customers really are, as part of a larger crackdown on internet culture that began in April at the behest of President Hu Jintao. Let's just hope this moratorium is lifted before next summer, because with the lack of 3G availability by the time the Summer Games hit, it would seem that already-crowded cafes may get pushed to the breaking point as tourists fight one another in a rush to check their MySpaces and get their photos on Flickr.

Good Bytes Cafe gives internet, computer access to the disabled

In an attempt to bring the computing universe we privileged folk know and love so well to those with limited mobility, Goodwill Industries has opened a free internet café in San Antonio, Texas where wheelchairs are more than welcome. The firm, most commonly associated with its numerous thrift stores and handicapped job placement services, hopes that the normal looking café will take off and encourage disabled / elderly individuals to come and learn about computing skills that can assist them in their daily lives and with locating a job. Good Bytes Cafe, as it's so aptly-named, features the same standard layout of any coffee house, but features a bevy of highly sophisticated PCs for users with limited reach and movement capabilities. Thanks to a $125,000 grant from the local AT&T branch, users have access to software that "magnifies and reads aloud to help those who are visually impaired," joystick mice that are easier to control, an optical-based mouse that controls the cursor with your eyes, and even a minuscule face-mounted controller that directs the cursor by simply moving one's head or nose. Folks attending the grand opening were more than pleased, and one deaf individual went so far as to deem the hangout "absolutely awesome." Rebecca Helterbrand, marketing vice president for Goodwill Industries of San Antonio, is proud of the opening, but hopes that they'll be far "from the last."



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