Myanmar
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Zuckerberg apologizes for Facebook's response to Myanmar conflict
Mark Zuckerberg has been accused of keeping too quiet on the many issues affecting Facebook recently, so Myanmar activists were surprised when they received a personal response from the chief exec following their open letter criticizing his approach to hate speech in their conflict-stricken country.
Facebook accused of supporting 'ethnic cleansing' in Myanmar
Facebook stands accused of censoring information related to the ethnic cleansing currently taking place in the Republic of Myanmar. The Guardian reports that the social network has essentially blacklisted posts from, or supporting, insurgent group the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Critics believe that this gives the appearance that the site is supporting the incumbent government, and by extension, its actions. The paper quotes activist Mohammad Anwar, who says that by suppressing dissent, Facebook is "colluding with the genocidaires."
EA temporarily blocks Origin access in all of Myanmar
Some gamers are learning first-hand about the dangers of trusting your game library to a copy-protected service: you're at the mercy of that service and its interpretation of the law. Players living in Myanmar have discovered that EA started blocking access to Origin in the country sometime in September. Even if you started your account elsewhere, you aren't allowed to either visit the Origin store or use any of your purchased games. You can use a virtual private network to get around the restriction, but that could easily bog down your connection while playing online. Thankfully, the headache is only momentary.
Eric Schmidt praises Myanmar's mobile efforts, but says North Korea hasn't called back
Google's Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, was at the Chinese University of Hong Kong earlier today to launch a local entrepreneurship program with the institute. As a man who believes in free and open internet to aid startups and innovation, the exec was happy to give an update on North Korea and Myanmar since he last visited there to promote better web access. For the former, Schmidt joked that no one called him back since the phones there still don't work for local folks. "North Korea is the most isolated country in the world. 23 million people, a million phones, they talk within the country but not out," Schmidt said. "You cannot get information in and out of the country, it's a terrible disservice to the citizens of the country." The exec continued that he can't tell if his visit had any impact at all: soon after he attempted to convince Kim Jong-un's government "to open up to a little bit of the internet," its recent territorial dispute with South Korea held back progress. "I think history will see if it gets better or not," Schmidt said.
HTC Droid DNA vs. J Butterfly vs. Butterfly: fight!
HTC made quite an impression when it launched the Droid DNA with Verizon a couple of months ago, and we're happy to say that its Butterfly variants on the other side of the world -- namely Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), India and China -- have achieved similar success, with some areas struggling to keep up with the surprising demand. Still, if you're in the market to pick up one of these 5-inch quad-core beauties, it's worth noting the subtle physical and technical differences between them. At HTC's Frequencies event this week, we had the rare chance to get all four (yes, four!) models side by side, so read on for our detailed comparison. %Gallery-178314%
NASA captures red sprite, puts it in a jar
Lightning doesn't always shoot downwards. Just occasionally, a thunderstorm will be accompanied by a red sprite: a huge, momentary electrical explosion that occurs around 50 miles high and fires thin tendrils many miles further up into the atmosphere. Sprites have been caught on camera before, but a fresh photo taken by arty astronauts on the ISS helps to show off their true scale. Captured accidentally during a timelapse recording, it reveals the bright lights of Myanmar and Malaysia down below, with a white flash of lightning inside a storm cloud and, directly above that, the six mile-wide crimson streak of the rare beast itself. Such a thing would never consent to being bottled up and examined, but somehow observers at the University of Alaska did manage to film one close-up at 1000 frames per second back in 1999 -- for now, their handiwork embedded after the break is as intimate as we can get.
Myanmar plans to open doors to foreign telcos for affordable cellular, internet service
Hefty price tags haven't exactly made cellphones ubiquitous in cash-strapped Myanmar. According to AFP, an estimated 96 percent of the nation's 60 million inhabitants don't own a mobile handset, but that might soon be changing. A new reform plan announced by Myanmar's Post and Telecommunication Minister, Thein Tun, lays out a strategy that could finally give said folks a crack at affordable cellular and internet services. If successful, the initiative will start a bidding process for international telcos to set up shop in the country, allowing the companies to partner with the state-owned telephone provider and the ISP Yatanarpon Teleport. There's no word on when the partnerships may coalesce, but here's to hoping that $200 SIM card registration fees in Myanmar soon become a thing of the past. Full details at the source link below. [Image credit: Shutterstock]
Mourning for China
Apparently it's natural disaster season in Asia. The massive cyclone that hit Burma () on May 3 has taken an estimated 78,000 lives with an additional 56,000 missing. Last week (May 12) an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale shook parts of china. The death toll for that quake has reached 34,000 with the body count expected to rise. Many of the quake victims have been children, as least 6 schools collapsed while classes were in session. It will take weeks, months, or even years to sort out the amount of damage caused by these events. The Chinese government has declared a mourning period for three days for those injured, missing, and passed. This includes the closing of movie theaters, web portals and television stations. The9, who services World of Warcraft in is participating in the blackout as is Shanda Interactive Entertainment, host of the World of Legend game. If you are helping out, there are a number of charitable organizations taking donations to assist in providing relief to victims in Asia. Studies show that making donations to such organizations actually help to boost your own mood in addition to helping those who are in need.
