Tech Genius Working to Bring Internet to the Poor

Umar Saif received a very coveted award this week from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his groundbreaking project to bring internet access to those who cannot otherwise afford it. Saif’s project is centered primarily around poor families in his home country of Pakistan where many people are struggling to afford food; let alone a computer and internet access. Saif says that he hopes his revolutionary project will unite the people with the one technology they all have; cell phones.

Like so many revolutionary projects Saif says he got the idea following the earthquake disaster in Pakistan in 2005; ever since then he has been working on this internet style communication system for cell phones all around the world. The idea may not have brought full internet to the people of the region but he says it will likely be able to save thousands of lives by connecting everyone to a unified source of information.

The project is remarkably simple as well; which is part of why he received the away from MIT. Saif’s project is simply a computerized system that allows users to join the network using a cell phone number; should an emergency or other major issue break the computer will be able to easily and quickly communicate important information to anyone who has joined the cell phone social network. The best part is that the entire system works with even the oldest and most out of date phones so Saif hopes that everyone will eventually be able to benefit from this potentially life saving device.

New California Law Allows Companies to Be Socially Responsible

This week the state of California approved a new bill which will likely become a law that strives to achieve something that no other laws have done. The bill is the first of its kind in that it allows companies to be socially responsible regardless of what shareholders say or vote on. Previously shareholders controlled and could influence nearly any major corporation’s decision and legally the company was obligated to follow that vote but this new law will change all of that.

The so called social responsibility law is exactly what it sounds like; it is giving the power to companies to become socially responsible regardless of shareholder opinions. The idea is that it will convince companies to act in manners that benefit or help society and the environment even if it might mean slight losses for the company’s profit margin. Obviously this was often avoided before because shareholders cared much more about making money but now that they have been removed from the picture legally it is entirely up to the company itself.

No word on when exactly the law will be officially instated or completed but many are hopeful that it will in fact make a difference in terms of social responsibility. As always only time will tell if other states are going to follow suit but for now it is simply good to see that one major state in the United States has stepped up to the plate to allow socially responsible companies to prosper.

Facebook Announces Much Needed Security Revisions

Facebook and user privacy have become separate ideas in the last few years as Facebook grows ever larger and security grows ever less useful. Fortunately today millions of Facebook users got the good news that some new security and privacy controls are finally being given to Facebook users. Thousands of Facebook users rejoiced publicly on Facebook today after the good news broke.

The Facebook security features announced today are not as restrictive as some people would have hoped but nearly everyone is happy to have gained at least a little control. The controls will finally give users control over who sees what which should help make it significantly easier for users to cut down on privacy loss. Analysts around the world agree that it was about time for Facebook to roll out some new privacy features and that is exactly what they are finally beginning to do.

The great news about a new security feature broke, as expected, on Facebook’s official blog. This announcement is welcome news for all Facebook users and not only are Facebook users getting more control over what is distributed; they are also getting easier control. The announced security controls are expected to be significantly easier to use than the current system which means users will in fact be able to actually control what they want to be available. At this time Facebook is rolling out the security features but not everyone will have access to them quite yet so be patient.

Facebook and Twitter Used to Clean up After London Riots

The riots in London that broke out this week were originally organized and planned through communication outlets like Twitter and Facebook. These sites are obviously not actually responsible for what was done of course but the negative impact of the sites definitely didn’t create any good publicity for the sites. Today however we know that Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks can in fact be used for good.

Facebook and Twitter were both being used today to schedule and organize multiple clean up programs around the area. The communication system used to organize the riots is clearly being used in order to clean up the entire mess as well which shows great promise for the future of social networking. The cleanup organization is also showing officials that despite the chaos people do still have the desire to make things right.

Overall experts say it is quite refreshing to see that these social media networks can be used for good and not just malicious acts. As more examples of this begin to surface it is likely that Facebook and Twitter will eventually be seen as a useful communication tool for mass messaging rather than just another network. For now few organizations base their entire communication on Facebook or Twitter but in the future it seems likely that Twitter or Facebook could become official channels of communication for officials or government agencies in times of emergency or other critical events.