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Facebook's Oversight Board orders a post criticizing the Myanmar coup to be restored
Content reviewers mistakenly thought the post criticized Chinese people, rather than the state.
Facebook and Instagram ban Myanmar's military
'We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw on Facebook and Instagram are too great.'
Gogoro and Bosch launch electric scooter-sharing service in Paris
The Gogoro EV Smartscooter is headed to France. A fleet of 600 scooters will be available starting this summer for short-term rentals via Bosch's Coup Mobility service. This is the second city -- Berlin being the first -- that Coup and Gogoro have teamed up in.
How to hack a government
Last month members of the Turkish military experienced an attempted coup to oust president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The overthrow attempt was quickly thwarted, but it might have succeeded if Chris Rock (the security researcher, not the comedian) had had a hand in it.
Gogoro brings on-demand scooter rentals to Berlin
Taiwan-based electric scooter company Gogoro is expanding its reach and business model. Today it announced a partnership with Coup (a subsidiary of automotive-parts supplier Bosch) to bring 200 on-demand rental scooters to Berlin.
Turkish president interviewed via FaceTime during military coup
As Turkey's armed forces seized control of the country today, an odd scene unfolded on CNNTurk as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared live on the screen of an iPhone. News reports indicated he was safe but did not confirm his location, while Erdogan called on the public to support him in public squares and airports. Being forced to rely on internet communications like FaceTime is particularly notable for Erdogan, who has been described as "One of the world's most determined internet censors," for repeatedly shutting down access to services like Twitter and YouTube.
Facebook is the latest coup victim in Thailand, where the selfie reigns supreme
Foreign governments have been blocking Twitter and Facebook off and on for years, and now Thailand's responsible for some social service downtime. The country's Information Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry disabled access at the military's request, taking the site offline for about 30 minutes yesterday afternoon. According to a Reuters report, Surachai Srisaracam, an ICT official, said the action was intended to "thwart the spread of online criticism of the military" following the recent coup. The official added that the government planned to meet with other social sites, such as Instagram and Twitter, "to ask for cooperation from them." Meanwhile, many Thai citizens are using sharing sites for more innocuous purposes, such as posting selfies with soldiers, which they are once again free to do. Update, May 30th: That meeting between social networks and the Thai military? Guess what. No one showed up. [Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Weibo services 'punished' for Beijing coup rumors, comments temporarily disabled
For a country who doesn't really do April Fools' Day, you know China means business when it lays the smackdown on its weibo services. Here's the background story: about a week ago there was a rumor on the Chinese web about a military coup on one of the main streets in Beijing, and coincidentally I was in town around the time (for the Windows Phone launch). Funnily enough, I wasn't aware of this at all until my taxi driver in Hong Kong asked me about my visit, as he claimed that the passenger he picked up beforehand was actually a Chinese military officer who had several intense phone calls about said coup.But of course, nothing actually happened. In fact, the guards at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were pretty relaxed when I visited on that very day. As for the rumormongers, the Chinese government announced through Xinhua that 16 websites have been shut down and six people have been detained, while local microblogging platforms Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo have been "criticized and punished accordingly," though it didn't elaborate on the details. All we know is that comments under each weibo post are now disabled until local time 8pm on April 3rd, during which these two companies can, in their own words, clean up the mess. Well, at least we now know where to draw the line for China's April Fools'.
CollegeHumor reveals Bowser minion coup d'etat
It was bound to happen. One day, the minions of Bowser would stand up and ask, "Why won't you let us kill The Mario?" That day has come, my friends. The minions of Bowser have revolted against their king and are ready to take the issue of killing The Mario into their own hands, paws, mouths and assorted tools, once and for all. Witness CollegeHumor's astounding footage after the break. There will be blood!
Japanese software sales, August 21 - August 27: coup d'etat edition
Last week, in the land of the rising run, the DS reigned supreme. Unfortunately, however, Nintendo of Japan has one weakness: Role Playing Games. 1. Phantasy Star Universe - PS2 - 120,202 | NEW 2. New Super Mario Bros. - NDS - 72,763 | 2,974,027 3. More DS Brain Training - NDS - 46,662 | 3,119,857 4. Final Fantasy III - NDS - 45,949 | 549,001 5. Tingle RPG - NDS - 45,496 | NEW 6. Nintendo DS Talking Cooking Navi - NDS - 35,689 | 419,733 7. Mario Hoops 3-on-3 - NDS - 34,001 | 267,763 8. Animal Crossing : Wild World – NDS – 32,605 | 3,181,735 9. Rhythm Tengoku - GBA - 28,361 | 123,432 10. Tamagotchi Connexion Corner Shop 2 - NDS - 27,540 | 458,474 Yes, an RPG invariably ends up on this list upon its release in Japan, no matter how clichèd or unoriginal it may be. Final Fantasy III performed a similar feat last week, but looking at the impossibly attenuated sales, one can only assume they're running real short on copies over there. Oh well, we can't be kings forever, right? (This post in no way bashes Phantasy Star Universe or any of its fine publishers or developers. It's just that the game can't possibly be as cool as any other on this list. No hard feelings.)
