This Week in Global Mobile | July 16, 2010

Submitted by Samhir Vasdev on 7/16/10

At times its difficult to keep pace with all the latest global mobile developments. I hope this selection of news stories from the past week will help you navigate the ever-growing global network of connectivity:

  • To combat cyber bullying, Facebook introduced a “Panic Button” available on all youth’s accounts which will connect teens with resources hosted by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.
  • Australian researchers exploring mobile-to-mobile technology have developed software which reliably allows handheld devices to communicate with each other in areas without reception.
  • On Tuesday China verified that it had renewed Google’s license to operate its search engine in the country with a link available to forward visitors to Hong Kong’s unfiltered site.
  • Throughout the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Univision and ESPN streamed nearly 26 million hours of live online video. See more incredible digital world cup stats at our blog post here.
  • India mobile giant Bharti, the fifth-largest telecom company, announced a $150 million investment in the Keynan mobile network market.
  • The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled an unfair trial after a juror was found to be MySpace friends with the defendant. In its ruling, the Court called for a re-writing of current rules to accommodate 21st-century media.
  • TED and Nokia announced a partnership to pre-load TED Talks on new Nokia N8 phones sold in Africa.
  • Yesterday the FCC voted to push forward a proposal for a $400 million rural health care broadband fund, while IBM announced a $100 million health care initiative to develop new broadband technologies and processes for providers.
  • Kenya launched a free SMS alert system to monitor hate speech ahead of the August 4 constitutional referendum vote.
  • Kerala’s state government is set to give 60,000 teachers an 8GB DVD containing e-versions of all Year 8 and 9 school texts as well as a host of multimedia, user training, and presentation software.
  • Today the East Africa Submarine System (EASSY) goes live, bringing 1.5Tb of additional capacity as the first east coast system to connect traffic directly to Europe.
  • Google CEO Eric Schmidt has a growing sphere of political influence in the D.C. landscape. Read Politico's review of this unique and increasingly important relationship here.
  • Freedom House called for a major international response after the Chinese government abruptly shut down over sixty blogs this week in its latest bid to stem the growing tide of social networking.
  • Don’t miss today’s NY Times Magazine article about digital diplomacy featuring Jared Cohen and Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary Clinton.