egypt

Libya's Internet links have been severely disrupted as chaos spreads across the country, with a defiant Col. Moammar Gadhafi today vowing to die a "martyr" rather than relinquish his grip on power.

As reports describe portions of Libya as a "war zone," and the country's deputy U.N. ambassador is saying "genocide" is under way, inbound and outbound Internet traffic has plummeted to a fraction of what's normal. Over the weekend, traffic appeared to be following a "curfew" pattern, with more restrictions imposed in the evenings, and YouTube is … Read more

Some people have undoubtedly forgotten that in the years before Facebook's fast ascent, social media was dominated by anonymity: handles worthy of CB radio, vintage AOL screen names trailed by strings of numbers, LiveJournal IDs bookended with the x's and o's of emo-kid culture. And there was a sense that in this odd and very public new medium, it wasn't safe to use your real, full name.

Thanks to Facebook, and founder Mark Zuckerberg's personal philosophy, that's changed. What Facebook did, with a policy that requires proper names and the initial restriction of access … Read more

It's a charming reminder that new life grows even after the hardest times. An Egyptian baby has been named "Facebook" to celebrate the importance of the Web in the struggles of Egypt's people as its citizens cast off long-standing oppression.

The Internet proved an invaluable tool to ignite protest into revolution in Egypt in January. Social-media services such as Facebook and Twitter were used by brave protesters to organize dissent, while services such as Flickr and YouTube allowed Egyptians to show what was happening at street level even when the government attempted to shut down the … Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Windows Phone 7 is scheduled for its first update since the mobile operating system launched last fall

The iPad 2 may not launch until June and may have some kind of smart bezel

The next generation of MacBook Pros may have a new wireless connection technology

Apple may be working on a television product other than the Apple TV

Toyota is going to start selling hybrid car chargers in 2012

Former Senator Chris Dodd may soon be named chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America

Twitter shut down third-party Twitter clients for … Read more

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said yesterday that he's "very, very proud" of the key role that employee Wael Ghonim played in the recent Egyptian protest movement.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Schmidt addressed the topic of Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, who used Facebook and other online tools to help spark the protests in Egypt.

"They were able to use a set of technologies that included Facebook, Twitter and a number of others to really express the voice of the people," Schmidt said, according … Read more

With freedom--both in the real world and online--much in the news lately, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech in Washington, D.C., yesterday that cautioned nations that try to block the Internet and other vital services as a way of stifling their citizens.

In her address at George Washington University on Internet freedom, Clinton pointed out that Egypt's efforts to control the protests of its citizens by cutting their lines of communication ultimately failed. Instead, people continued to protest, the government turned the Internet back on, and in the end, former President Hosni Mubarak was forced to … Read more

There were two critical masses that led to the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Friday: One was the horde of protesters who flooded Tahrir Square in the country's capital of Cairo for two weeks. The second was the fusion of millions of observers, pundits, and supporters around the world into a sort of leaderless digital watchdog, an unwavering force that ensured the international eye would not stray from Egypt.

It's the latter where we can credit social media.

We shouldn't go so far as to call this a social media revolution, but it nevertheless is … Read more

Clothes, even when black, need still to be classy. The same goes for humor, even when black.

So I wonder how the Incorrect Collective might feel to hear that Kenneth Cole, he who makes those shoes worn by people who don't like to get dirty, sent out a tweet about Egypt.

According to reports, it read: "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online."

Cole has a habit of putting the initials "KC" after his tweets, just so his rapt followers know that this one'… Read more

The Egyptian government of President Hosni Mubarak forced Vodafone to send out prescripted, propagandistic text messages during the country's recent unrest, the carrier said today in a statement on its Web site.

A text message by someone identified as "Vodafone" was sent to an Associated Press reporter in Egypt on Sunday appealing to the country's "honest and loyal men to confront the traitors and criminals and protect our people and honor," according to an AP report.

But Vodafone said the Egyptian government can use its emergency powers under the country's Telecommunications Act to … Read more