“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time.” William Shakespeare wrote that.
Sure, Billy, but what about yesterday? And don’t give me any of that “lighting fools the way to dusty death” crap, I’m talking about the short term view. Sure, we’re all going to die bitter, meaningless deaths someday, but until then, it’s nice to know what the heck is going on.
With that in mind, here’s the news of the week!
Charlie’s pick:
China Censorship Special
So this was a big week for censorship news in China, with cases ranging from not too surprising to fairly baffling and before finally sliding into total self-parody. It wasn’t a great week for freedom of information in China, and it was a terrible week for fans of things like powerpoint, US Consulates, and the truth.
Steven’s pick:
China’s SARFT to Censor Original Internet Video, Criminalize Rainbows, Ban All Fun
There has long been a huge disparity between the blandness of China’s tightly-controlled TV channels (oh great, a history lecture at 10pm; that’s just what I needed) and the brightness of its online streaming content. In recent years, sites like Youku, Tudou, Baidu’s Qiyi, and Sohu TV have brought in lots of licensed TV shows and movies from China, South Korea, and the US. It was all so much fun. But that can’t be allowed to continue. This week we got the first official confirmation from China’s multimedia regulator, SARFT, that stricter rules are coming to streaming video sites.
Rick’s pick:
Kickstarter Project Plans to Measure Beijing Pollution Using Kite Sensors
So this really isn’t big news. It’s not a big corporation launching a big product, nor is it an underdog startup turning red bull and muffins into a round of venture capital. This is just emmer-effin’ clever. And I like it a lot. Perhaps the biggest reason that I like it is that it reminds me of the way Safecast.org gathered radiation data in Japan by building geiger counters, thus creating an alternative to government data that many people mistrusted. It’s just a couple of kids. And it’s just a couple of thousand of dollars. But it’s bad ass.
Willis’ pick
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