Tag: 2008OLYMPICS

The Olympics are over, which means all the discussion and controversy over China's filtering of the Internet are over too, right? Well, not quite. It's been discovered that China and its "great firewall" have decided to block access to the entirety of Apple's iTunes, likely over an album dedicated to freeing Tibet. The album is a benefit for the Art of Peace Foundation, a non-profit founded by the ...

The Chinese government has booted NYC resident Noel Hidalgo from the country after he took part in a protest of China's occupation of Tibet in Tiananmen Square. While Hidalgo is far from being the only person to be deported in response to protests during the Olympics, he is the only person who has covered his arrest and deportation live on Twitter and via the video streaming service Qik (the ...

Any time something major and well-publicized/media-covered happens in the world, there always seems to be a pack of cyber-criminals hanging around like a pack of vultures waiting to take advantage of unsuspecting and careless 'Netizens. An international event as huge as the Olympics is, of course, drawing its fair share of attention, from innocent, enthusiastic fans and ruthless online ...

After all the drama leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Tibetan demonstrations, the censorship, and the bogus tickets, it seems some news organizations couldn't let the amazing opening ceremonies themselves pass without trying to stir up a little more drama. The show went off without a hitch on Friday night, but some are complaining now that one particularly impressive portion of the ...

The 2008 Olympic Games are getting underway right this very moment. Yes, right now, even though your television listings say that all the action kicks off late tonight. You see, Beijing is a full 12-hours ahead of the eastern coast of the U.S., so while you're still sipping your morning cuppa here, thousands of folks are screaming in Bird Nest Stadium for their nation (or nations) of choice. ...

Oh, 2008 Beijing Olympics, is there anything you can't get wrong ahead of the opening ceremonies? As if the stories over censorship, pollution, and human rights violations weren't enough, now comes word from Reuters that Internet ticketing scams for this year's Olympics are at an all-time high, leaving many people who paid good money for (supposedly) good seats with nothing. Many of the online ...

The pre-Olympics censorship debacle continues, and, unfortunately, it's still not completely resolved. Earlier this week, it was discovered that despite earlier pledges of Internet freedom for journalists during the games, many sites (like Amnesty International) were still blocked. There was, naturally, a global uproar, especially against the International Olympics Committee (IOC), the Olympics ...

If your definition of computer is a beige box with a keyboard and mouse sprouting out of the back, then prepare to have your horizons expanded a bit. Back in 1900, a device called the Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in a ship's wreckage near a Greek island of the same name. For years researchers weren't really sure what the thing did, but recent examinations -- published on Wednesday in ...

During the build-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics earlier this summer, it was revealed that China had plans to maintain its censorship of the Internet during the games, stepping away from earlier pledges of "complete freedom" of surfing for journalists. Now, with the Opening Ceremonies just over a week away, the full implications of censorship are becoming apparent as media arrive on the scene and ...