This Week in Global Mobile | March 4, 2011

Submitted by Samhir Vasdev on 3/4/11

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

  • A portion of the U.S.’ $150 million aid package to Egypt will be spent on “digital training,” Secretary Clinton’s Senior Advisor for Innovation Alec Ross told Fast Company.
  • This interactive visualization indicated that the United States’ share of the online population has declined dramatically since 1990, falling behind China in 2008.
  • The Chinese government plans to monitor the movement of the 17 million mobile phone users in Beijing, reported The Next Web.
  • Intel Corporation announced the World Ahead Program, a partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Education to promote “the transformation of the education system” to the 21st century.
  • San Francisco’s mayor rolled out an application that allows residents to report graffity, potholes, and other problems to officials via Facebook.
  • The U.S. Army launched a new iPhone app that allows soldiers on the ground to upload, blog, and share information as part of the “Army Strong Stories” initiative. More on mobile in the military here.
  • TIME journalist Abigail Hauslohner revealed how SMS messaging was the key tool for communicating reporters’ stories from Libya to the U.S. media.
  • Pew released a study about peer-to-peer health care, indicating that the Internet has emerged as a valuable tool for patients to teach each other medical information.
  • Ahead of expected protests on March 11, Internet connections in Azerbaijan were restricted, allegedly to prevent protesters from organizing via social media.
  • The Philippine authorities announced a proposal to register all laptops in the country in an effort to reduce cyber crime.
  • Researchers at the University of Illinois proposed a new paradigm for spreading information which involves sharing short animations about important information (such as cholera prevention) on mobile phones in the developing world.
  • 20 percent of all divorces in the U.S. are caused by a Facebook feud, reported the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in a recent study.
  • Mobile apps will rake in $38bn by 2015, reported Forrester Research, representing an increase from $4.5bn in 2011.
  • Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad reached out to his young followers on Facebook, asking them to suggest people to fill the seats of his new cabinet.
  • A record number of people in Southeast Asia turned to online banking in 2010, with visitation to e-banking services increasing as much as 35% in Vietnam, reported ComScore.
  • An Egyptian human rights group announced plans to sue various mobile phone companies and ISPs for cutting of service during the recent unrest in the country.