http://www.sdnp.undp.org/observatory/ Networking and ICTD Observatory for Developing Countries http://www.sdnp.undp.org/images/sdnpsmal.gif http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10668&action=view The new HP Consumer Buyback and Planet Partners Recycling Program is the latest initiative in the company's goal to reduce the amount potentially toxic -- and often valuable -- electronic waste that ends up in landfills or exported overseas for processing. The company is accepting all types of computers and monitors, as well as printers, PDAs and smartphones. http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10667&action=view Al Jazeera launched a new site today for citizens in Gaza to report incidences of various kinds in Gaza via SMS and Twitter. The deployment is using Ushahidi and Souktel's SMS gateway, one of the few able to deliver SMS in Gaza. In this latest citizen journalism effort, Al Jazeera is both mapping reports from its own journalists and incidences reported by the public. So far, there are few citizens texting in, however. http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10666&action=view A majority of Obama voters expect to carry on efforts to support his policies and try to persuade others to back his initiatives in the coming year; a substantial number expect to hear directly from Obama and his team; and a notable cohort say they have followed the transition online. http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10665&action=view Whatever your personal perspective on the rights and wrongs of the current Palestinian-Israeli war in Gaza, there's a second front being fought on the Internet. This form of warfare is a battle of words and often vivid imagery engaged by hackers from either side of the divide. The image shown below is a highly graphic example from a defaced Israeli commercial Website, hacked by "DNS Team" today. http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10664&action=view In the near future, the "greenness" of a gadget will have a big influence on whether consumers will buy it, suggests research published as the CES begins http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10663&action=view Putting a price on carbon would certainly reduce the use of conventional coal-fired power plants. Coal emits more carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, and its price would more than double. But natural gas would see only a modest change in price: in the short term, it would proba­bly replace coal as the chief source of power. Oil prices wouldn't change much, either. http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10662&action=view The discussion of cyberattacks and cyberwarfare is complicated by widespread disagreement over how to define these terms. Many cyberattacks are really examples of vandalism or hooliganism, observes Bruce Schneier, a security guru who works for BT, a British telecoms operator. A cyberattack on a power station or an emergency-services call centre could be an act of war or of terrorism, depending on who carries it out and what their motives are. http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10661&action=view There are two primary drivers of e-government: technology vendors and civil service. Technology vendors have succeeded in promoting e-government but to a limited extent. Their limitation is that their promotion of e-government is limited to their own technology. Civil service has also promoted e-government but to a much lesser extent. Its limitations are that it works under a rule-bound environment, is always caught napping in technology developments, and above all, has no motivation to promote e-government. Among the two, however, civil service has greater stakes in e-government as it is required to serve the government in power as well as citizens. http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10660&action=view Internet & Creation aims at giving a contemporary implementation to the rights defined in article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose 60th birthday we just celebrated. Article 27 defines two complementary objectives : the right of each person to freely participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits; and the right of each person to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. This article leaves entirely open the means by which these rights are to be implemented. http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?do=gpage&id=10659&action=view This inventory is an attempt to document all known innovative farmer advisory services or systems, currently in design, in existence or recently completed in Africa. Entries include projects using ICT solutions or implementing ICT-based activities, institutions/groups providing services using ICTs as well as ICT solutions software providers, both at the national and regional level. NIT Search keyword http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl