Europe: Tourists check in Internet cafes

Darren M. Green in Chicago Tribune shares some interesting tips for Online Traveller . He recommends European travel expert Rick Steves's downloadable audio tours of various tourist attractions throughout the old country. It's a sign of the times when an iPod-toting backpacker can visit an Internet cafe, download Steves' audio tour for the Versailles Palace or Louvre, and enjoy his thoughts and musings on demand. You can even print out maps to carry along as you explore.

Russia: Photo labs or Internet Cafes ?

Moscow times reports on Photo Labs Competing With Snappy Service ,
after you request online ordering and home delivery of your photographic prints, doing the legwork yourself and actually visiting a photo lab might seem like too much trouble. The modern Photo labs are resembling to Internet cafes. They offer Internet-based printing , you can even pay to have the prints delivered to another city .

China: Man surfs the Net to death

When it comes to Internet Cafes, China's propaganda machine goes overboard
China daily reports :

A 27-year-old man died last week after he spent more than 15 hours continuously surfing the Internet in a cafe in Guangzhou's Yuexiu District, Guangdong Province.

Chen became faint and fell to the ground at about 5 am. He was sent to a local hospital where he died.

Doctors said Chen died from a heart attack. An employee from the Internet cafe said Chen had been in the 100-square-metre cafe for between 15 and 16 hours, and had eaten his lunch at the cafe the previous day.

China: Interent Cafes lead online games boom to $ 2.1 Bn

GameSpot.com discusses research report by Niko Partners, a research and consultancy firm that focuses on the Chinese gaming market, its findings for 2005 as well as predictions for the future--and it looks rich. The report exceeds even that of analysts' predictions from just last year, when DFC Intelligence projected that China's gaming market would be worth $1.7 billion by 2010. Niko predicts that by 2010, China well be home to a $2.1 billion gaming industry.

According to its findings, the market currently stands at $683 million, and will rise 24 percent per year. The proliferation of Internet cafes and broadband Internet connections in homes is cited as a major factor in China's growth

Sify expands i-way cyber cafe chain

Sify, a consumer internet provider in India, announced that it has expanded its I-Way cyber cafe chain from 95 to 153 cities during the past year. The company added 836 new I-Way cafes during the year.

Over the past year, Sify has begun to expand its chain to smaller cities and towns in addition to large urban centres, 'in keeping with our objective of taking broadband connectivy to the masses,' as Sify official Sushil Luniya put it.

Sify has also expanded the number of I-Way cyber cafes with services besides internet browsing. The number of I-Way cafes with internet telephony capabilities has been expanded from 1,500 to 2,500 over the past year, during which time internet telephony usage in the cafes has grown by about 60 per cent.

Sify has also doubled the number of PCs dedicatd to online gaming to 6,000, resulting in a 100 per cent increase in the number of gaming hours logged at I-Way cafes. The company also introduced online railway ticket booking this year, which has been very popular, the company said.

Malaysians rush to cyber cafe for filing tax returns online

The Star.com reports : Ever since Malaysia's Inland Revenue Department (IRB) has introduced the e-Filing system, enabling taxpayers to submit their forms via the Internet. It has gained wide acceptance. The busy incoem tax filers have found it convenient and so has made the IRB's job in verifying the tax returns . Users can access from home, Offcie or cyber cafes.

India, Bangalore Under 14? No entry into cyber cafes

Times of India, BANGALORE edition reports :
Saturday, April 15, 2006 11:40:35 pmTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
If the Karnataka government has its way, no child below the age of 14 years will be allowed into a cyber cafe unless accompanied by an adult.

To regulate the harmful influence of internet on children, the law department is in the process of framing rules and regulations for lakhs of internet browsing centres. "Not just cyber cafes but any other establishment which provides computer services to the general public for a cost will come under the ambit of the proposed law. The rules are before the scrutiny department of the government," official sources told The Times of India.

Read http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1491771.cms

Students are the largest group floking ot cybr cafes in Bangalore. It wont be easy to monitor only adding to selective harrasment to small cafe entreprenuers. An easy way would have been to install Internet filters at the ISP level .

Malaysia: Ministry Mulls Porn Filter At Cybercafes

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (Bernama)

The Housing and Local Government Ministry is considering the use of a pornographic filter on access to the Internet at all cybercafes.Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry Dr S. Subramaniam said it was part of a joint collaboration with the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry to identity an effective way of dealing with access to pornographic content on the Internet.He was replying to a question from Datuk Idris Haron (BN-Tangga Batu) in the Dewan Rakyat Wednesday.Subramaniam said all local authorities had adopted and enforced the guidelines on the control of cybercafes aimed at curbing the misuse of such premises.According to the guidelines, the activities of cybercafes had been limited to information dissemination and search via the Internet, he said."Other activities are not allowed at all, particularly those in the form of entertainment like video games, gambling, obtaining pornographic pictures and music, and sale of printed material with negative elements," he said.

Chile : Linux shops and Internet Cafes

The Linux Operating system has made some real inroads around the World in Recent years, slowly replacing Microsoft. However, after traveling around various developing countries for the last decade, it seems the real test of success for any technology is often how long it takes for its adoption on the fringes of the planet. We could count the printing press, cell phones, and coca-cola perhaps as examples. I don't think Microsoft, or even the personal Computer, would count. As common as MS is, it would not count for the simple reason that not everyone in the world has a computer, or the ability to buy a computer. A rather strange fact after 30+ years of mass production and marketing.From the looks of it, Microsoft might not get the chance, if the Linux and Open Source software community gets there first. In the context of Southern Chile, it is becoming increasingly less surprising to find Linux and Open Source software. Firefox is obviously the most common Open Source project encountered in Internet cafes in Chile. The Google payments for installing Firefox took care of that nicely. One or two Linux magazines in Spanish, with a free Open Source CD, is common at most newspaper stands on the streets. So far nothing too special. What caught us by surprise was when a shop called the “Tux Center” opened a block away in little Temuco, Chile. There was a series of posters advertising the Latin American Install fest in the window and the Penguin was everywhere. Pure curiosity took over. We spoke to the owner, Roy Alvear Aguirre. His says his goal is to offer a combination of an Internet cafe and classes in building and installing Linux systems. Advanced courses will be geared towards web and mail server installations. The Linux Internet cafe is a real gamble, considering that there are at least 10 windows based Internet cafes within three blocks, including two in the same building. He wants to give people a chance to get know Linux. The Latin American Linux install Fest Roy is also one of the local organizers of the Latin American Linux install fest. They managed to get Linux into 80 to 100 computers. The installs were mostly of the SUSE Linux persuasion, and a couple of Ubuntu installs. His weapon of choice is the SUSE 10 distribution, followed by Fedora, with some Ubuntu on the side.When we asked him what he would like help with the most from the international Open Source community, the answer was better documentation at all levels. Much of the Spanish documentation is behind the English version, or non-existent. They find themselves producing unofficial manuals for end users. I will leave it to the Open Source community to sort out the best solution to that problem, but better documentation seems a simple request. Also on the wish list, would be more open source repositories in Chile. Even with broadband, moving a DVD image from the other side of the Earth is still a slow process on the best connections.Edulinux in the South of ChileThe edulinux project has a local chapter sponsored by Universidad de La Frontera in Temuco and Chilean Ministry of Education ( www.edulinux.cl ). This is geared towards reconditioning old windows computers into Linux Terminal Servers for schools. They are planning installations in 1800 schools around Chile in 2006.Government OfficesThere is a large push in a lot of government offices in Chile. One example is The Institute for the National Youth (INJUV). Another would be the security systems at the international airport in Santiago. More offices are in the planning stages of moving.The computing environment in general in ChileChile has a unique problem compared with many other Latin American countries. Somewhere, along the way, a decision was made in the education system to only teach Microsoft centric technology. Thus, a whole generation of Chile's IT workers were trained only in Visual Basic and Windows Servers. Subsequently, not as many Open Source repositories or projects are to be found in Chile, compared to countries like Argentina or Brazil. Regardless of Microsoft's best marketing campaigns, very few computers in Southern Chile will be making the leap to the Vista Windows anytime soon (assuming there is such thing). Many computers still run some form of windows 2000 or windows 98, because even Windows XP is too expensive and ram hungry to upgrade. The price of new computer in Chile, with Windows XP installed, will easily run at least 30-50% more than a comparable computer sold in the United States. So looking to the future, Windows Vista will be helping to promote Linux in Southern Chile and much of Latin America for some years to come. It is hard to put an exact number on Linux users in Southern Chile. However, considering the number of users we have encountered just in little Temuco, along with the fact there it is only about 5 million people that live in all southern Chile, Linux seems to have a pretty good foothold. The Killer Linux App: The $100 notebook One of the things that has real hope for expanding the use of Linux in South America, and many places around the world, is the $100 laptop project at MIT. There are endless small towns and rural areas where the kids and the community, would benefit from every kid having one in the house. Students I am in touch with in China, have heard about it, and are excited. Chile on the other hand, is not as poor as rural China or India; however, there are still a lot of people that lack access to affordable computing and thus affordable information. Other than the items listed above, help with education, education, and more education is the key to Linux World domination. Yes, better applications are always needed; however, doing the public relations to get people to adopt those applications is key. Think of it as an investment in the next generation of Linux developers and Open Source projects. There are numerous places in the world where it is still 1990 in computing and Internet terms. These are places where people are not so much deciding to move from Windows to Linux but to their very first computer. What they find running on that computer will have a lot to do with the success of Open Source Software in General.

India, VSNL rolls out Aperto’s wireless broadband systems

VSNL rolls out Aperto’s wireless broadband systems
VSNL has completed the deployment of Aperto's PacketWAVE multi-service broadband wireless systems in over 65 cities across India. This is a part of the initial deployment phase with the goal of expanding the network to cover over 200 cities within twelve months.

Aperto's solutions for India are designed to meet the urban broadband needs such as wireless access for business—DSL to multiple-E1 levels, backhaul for Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular base stations and access for cybercafes. The solutions also meet the rural connectivity needs of e-choupal type initiatives, government offices (police station network, land record data), schools, hospital connectivity, remote banking, and tele-medicine.

India Rural UP on verge of a cyber boom

Arvind Singh Bisht
[ Friday, April 14, 2006 01:47:11 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

LUCKNOW: Now it is time for a cyber boom in rural Uttar Pradesh. If the state government's ambitious project for internet expansion with the held of private entrepreneurs takes off, around 50,000 villages will be able to log on to web by the end of this year. The project, conceived on the guidelines of the Central government, is aimed at bridging the digital divide by setting up rural internet kiosks (RIK) with private participation. Disclosing this, principal secretary, information technology, Zohra Chatterjee said: "The plan is being formulated for setting up common services centre (CSC) with private participation." Initially 16,424 CSCs would be set up and each one will cover six villages. Rural kiosks called village level enterprises (VLEs) will be set up in the connected villages. These VLEs will be charged monthly fee by the CSCs. This way the entire rural area of the state will be covered in the next two years. A kiosk in this scheme is much more than merely a cyber cafe. In fact, they will provide data-driven services, computer education and also function as a digital photo studio. In addition to this, subscription-based information services will also be provided by these kiosks with regard to specific queries about health, telemedicines, insurance policies, agri-data, matrimonial, astrology, citizen services, animal husbandry, environment, tourism, utility services, education and land and property, besides a host of other things.
As for the availability of the broadband connectivity throughout the state for this purpose, Chatterjee said that a Rs 165 crore project to erect state wide area network (SWAN) was being currently implemented in the state with the help of the National Informatics Centre (NIC). "We expect that by the end of this year, the network would be ready to cover half of the total villages in the state. While the major investment on setting up the CSCs will be borne by the private parties, the state will allow them to use its SWAN free of cost for five years. On an average, the total cost of the setting up a kiosk is estimated to be around Rs 90,000 to Rs 1 lakh. A major chunk of it is to be borne by the kiosk entrepreneur, who primarily will be a resident of the concerned village. The host company will share the remaining cost, which later would be recovered through a franchise fee and network fee from the service providers.
A well-operated kiosk, says Zohra Chatterjee will benefit all concerned. While private agencies make profit by franchising rural kiosks, the entrepreneur or the kiosk operator, will gain from a regular inflow of an average Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 per month.

Greece: Cybercafes consumer price inflation index

Cybercafes in, telegraph out in Greek price basket
Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:41 AM BST
ATHENS (Reuters) - Internet cafes will replace telegraph services in an upcoming revision to Greece's consumer price inflation basket, a government statistician told Reuters on Friday.
Every five years, Greece's statisticians revise the list of goods and services that make up the official basket used to measure the change in consumer prices.
But the relatively long gap between revisions mean that the basket also charts changes in Greek lifestyles and tastes. For example, manicures, cafe espresso and home exercise equipment are all making their debut.
And telegraph services have definitely been phased out.
"I mean, really, who sends a telegram these days," said the government statistician, who declined to be named.
Also gone will be video cassettes, some hard to find fruits and the increasingly rare three-spined stickleback fish.
Government statisticians expect the revisions to shave 0.1 to 0.2 percent off the inflation rate. Last year, Greek inflation rose 3.5 percent, the second highest rate in the euro zone.
According to statistical rules, the more time that passes from the base year of an index, the more that index tends to overstate the change.

© Reuters 2006

India : Under 14? No entry into cyber cafes

BANGALORE:
If the Karnataka government has its way, no child below the age of 14 years will be allowed into a cyber cafe unless accompanied by an adult. To regulate the harmful influence of internet on children, the law department is in the process of framing rules and regulations for lakhs of internet browsing centres. "Not just cyber cafes but any other establishment which provides computer services to the general public for a cost will come under the ambit of the proposed law. The rules are before the scrutiny department of the government," official sources told The Times of India. The rules also state that all establishments providing training to children through computers shall ensure mandatory installation of child-friendly safeguards and that no child below the age of 14 has access to internet facilities. The rules even restrict hotels and other establishments providing boarding and lodging from providing internet facilities for children without filters. Any objectionable material presented either through film/videos, disc players, cable or any other medium by that establishment is strictly prohibited too. What prompted this decision is the indiscriminate usage of the net and free exposure to unsuitable sites. "At present, there is absolutely no check on centres providing net facilities. Many do not block sites that are not suitable for children," sources said. To keep a check on browsing centres, a special advisory group comprising child counsellors, child psychologists and police officers will be set up. Also, special officers will inspect their net centres from time to time. The department has already completed the exercise of seeking public opinion on the proposed law. "At the meetings, parents told us that it is difficult to monitor their wards once they are outside home. Once the scrutiny department clears it, the rules which are a part of the Childrens’ Rights Bill will go before the cabinet," sources stated. Cyber cafe owners have welcomed the move. "It is difficult for us to police children. Often, we assume that they are using the net with the permission of their parents. With this rule, we can prohibit children from viewing sites which are not suitable for them," a browsing centre owner said.

Can community ICT initiatives increase social capital and improve the quality of life?

Ben Anderson and Mark Gaved discuss how ICT can help communities generate higher social capital and thus better quality of life while suggesting some policy priorities to address the social capital gap in society.
Read :
Can community ICT initiatives increase social capital and improve the quality of life?
By Ben Anderson, Chimera, University of Essex and Mark Gaved, KMI, The Open UniversityPublished Monday, 10 April, 2006 - 13:00

Brunei: Firewall For Cyber Cafés

Extracted from http://www.brudirect.com
Bandar Seri Begawan
Internet service and content providers have been told to watch content which goes against public interest, national harmony, decency and social morals.
The Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office said yesterday unhealthy and inaccurate content on the Internet could mar Brunei's image to the outside world and investor interest towards the country.
Pg Dato Paduka Hi Ismail also called on managers of cyber cafes to be extra vigilant in making sure that their users get registered in ensuring that the Internet is not abused.
Speaking on the Internet code of practice as stipulated under the Broadcasting Act at the Civil Service Institute yesterday, Pg Dato Hj Ismail who is also Director for the Broadcasting Act, said in the perspective of Islam, it would also be a sin shouldered by the regulators, operators and users.
Citing that the growth rate of ICT development has been phenomenal in the last 10 years, he said media helps to bridge mindset's molding process where we have a role to play.
He also said that the authority would try to share with the operators those boundaries that they are expected to operate within.
Speaking on cyber cafes which have been told to use a logbook for users, he urged them to install a firewall to ensure that students do not abuse the facility at the cafes.
Internet cafe owners and broadcasting licence-holders are advised to pay the annual licence fee on time, failure of which means they are operating without approval and could be charged under the Broadcasting Act.
The briefing was attended by over 50 operators in an awareness programme or refresher course for Internet cafe operators and Internet resellers to explain the importance of code of practice, and for Internet service providers to monitor the content.
Speakers from the Attorney-General's Chambers and Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AiTi) were invited to speak. Also present were Hj Abdul Aziz, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office.
Acts and Internet code of practice can be downloaded through the website www.pmo.gov.bn under business infoservice in haws of Brunei. Enquiries can be made through info (Pmo.Qov.bn or contact 2224645 and fax: 2228106.
In the class licence rules of the Broadcasting Act, it is outlined that, any licence holder that provides any broadcasting service must ensure that their service is not used or continued to be used for lottery purposes. It must also ensure that the service is not abused to advertise, supply or promote any religions besides Islam, any practice against the teachings of Islam or to attract customers for prostitution or any immoral acts.
As for audio recording, only the approved one must be installed while for film or video recording, it must be approved by the Censorship Board unless a film or video recording is not governed by the Film and Public Entertainment Censorship Act or Public Entertainment materials.
Meanwhile, the Internet code of practice stipulates that a licence holder must ensure that content is not against the public interest or country's harmony.
In particular, the content does not contain material-that brings hatred, insult or spark dissatisfaction towards His Majesty, the government or people in Brunei that attempts at reform unless through legitimate ways.
Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Rwanda: Rwanda Plans Massive Telecentre Investment

Rwanda Plans Massive Telecentre Investment Business in Africa (Rivonia) NEWSApril 4, 2006 Posted to the web April 4, 2006 Kigali
The Rwandan government has allocated 560bn Rwandan francs (about $1bn) to develop telecentres, said an official.
Dr Shem Ochuodhom, the executive director of the Rwanda Information and Technology Agency (RITA), said: "The money will be used (to) establish telecentres to enable people in rural areas access information vital for their development, from the rest of the world."
He added that the centres would also promote democracy and development by connecting rural citizens to government and the economy.
"Telecentres provide multi-purpose services through information, skills and consultancy, and business support by reducing the cost of doing business and business transactions between companies."
It is hoped that the project will increase both general and ICT literacy in the country, which will enable job creation and sustainable growth.
Copyright © 2006 Business in Africa. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

China's Ministry of Culture Disappointed In Growth Of Internet Cafe Market

China's Ministry of Culture (MOC) marketing department vice manager Tuo Zuhai said on March 29 that the expansion of Chinese Internet cafe chains has been slower than MOC expected, reports 21st Century Business Herald. China's Ministry of Culture licensed ten enterprises, including China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 762.HK), Read Online, CY Network Home, and Capital Network, to operate Internet Cafe chains in China in June 2003, but only five new licensed Internet cafe chains have been set up in the past three years, accounting for only ten percent of China's Internet cafes nationwide. An insider said the Ministry of Culture plans encourage more competition in China's Internet cafe market.

China : China May Ease Limits On Internet Cafe Licenses, (Rumor)

Rumor: China May Ease Limits On Internet Cafe Licenses
April 7, 2006
After a three-year ban, China may soon resume issuing licenses to non-franchised netcafes. As the oversight department of franchised netcafes in the country, the Ministry of Culture approved three years ago only ten companies to develop chain netcafes across the country based on a principle of "growing ten national netcafes and three provincial netcafes in each province". During this period, no new license was given to any stand-alone netcafes. The companies that were allowed licenses during this period include China Unicom, ReadChina.com, China Youth Network Home and Capital Network. Despite the priority that the government has given to chain netcafes, the chain netcafe business in the country has not developed very well. So far, only five of the ten designated enterprises have survived through the past three years. Tuo Zhuhai from the Ministry of Culture said at a recent forum in Wuhan that the chain netcafes have not reached the goal set by the Ministry of Culture and they only account for 10% of the country's total market share. It is not clear yet if and when this new licensing policy will be implemented.