The phenomenal impact of the opensource movement has spread during the last five years. Among the successful ones are Mozilla Firefox (which has more than half a billion downloads at the end of February), OpenOffice, and Ubuntu Linux. But besides that, the open-source movement has not only created good softwares, it challenges the way we used to think, work, and live. This movement is an invitation for people to give and receive. The results of this movement can and have made an impact on people’s lives. Visit FreeRice.com or The Hunger Site and see for yourself. The collective power and wisdom of the human family has the power to combat and overcome hunger, poverty, violence, war, and any obstacles that may prevent the human person from reaching our true dignity. You, as one person in the human family, can make a difference in the lives of someone by just a click. Be the change.
I came to know Ted Williams, the homeless man with a golden voice, at the beginning of the year through the media. He said this in one of the many interviews he gave:
“The difference between my successes of years gone by is that I didn’t acknowledge the Lord or thank him for anything before. This time around, I have God in my life, acknowledging him on a daily basis. I’ve found a new sense of spirituality now.”
Here is an example of how the media, when well used, does go a long way to promote and celebrate the small and great victories of ordinary people in life. I think the media should not only be used to serve only one particular group, ideals, or only show the sad or negative news in the world.
Imagine, if you have 30 seconds or a minute to tell the world audience, what would you say or want to tell?
Is God in the center of your life? Who is the most important person in your life right now? What are you grateful for?
After reading a review about a new VoIP service called gHome that allows you to use Google Voice without a computer, I was introduced to another product called the Obi110, created by Obihai Technology. This company is located near my home. For less than $50, you have a device that allows you to talk using Google Voice, including outgoing caller ID, and any other SIP/VoIP providers you choose to. Plus, it has a mobile (iPhone and Android support) and PC apps too.
What do you think of this devices/services? What device do you use that serve most of your communication needs?
I first saw this on AlJazeera’s Witness on Monday’s afternoon here in Mozambique. This is the story of one man’s quest, who is about my age, to bring sustainable and affordable solar power to remote communities in Mali. Like him, I am at an age where I have decided that I have to give back to my community because time is running out. Either do something or it will be too late. Leaving things for tomorrow is not good enough when it can be done TODAY.
Duration : 0:22:49
Description: Twenty-six-year-old Daniel Dembele is on a mission to bring light to darker parts of Mali with his recycled solar panel business. Daniel is equal parts West African and European and looking to make his mark on the world. He has returned to his homeland Mali to start a local business building solar panels – the first of its kind in the sun drenched nation. His goal is to electrify the households of rural communities – 99 per cent of which live without power – and he is training locals to join him. We track the start of his shaky start-up company into ‘Afriq-Power’ in the tiny village of Banko.
The fact that you are reading this now, or that you can post a reply to this post means that you are one of the richest person in the world because you have one or more of the following:
1) electricity
2) water (or even CLEAN, running water)
3) a computer
4) access to an Internet, or a faster than most
5) your health
6) your family and friends
7) and time to say thanks to a million other things in your life!
As a person who enjoys communication, and the different technologies that allow us to be connected, I have been following the progress of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocal) over the past five+ years.
I remember about twenty years ago, my family had to go to the post office of the largest city in Vietnam, across from the Nhà thờ Đức Bà Sài Gòn, in order to receive a long distance call from my dad in the U.S. It must have cost my dad a ton to make that short call.
As a child, I enjoyed playing the transmission game on one of the camping trip in which tin cans and strings were connected together to deliver the message.
Mapping the Unmappable: Visual Representations of the Internet as Social Constructions
My grandfather often makes this comment after making a call to Vietnam when he was living with us here in the U.S.: “How does the telephone know which hole to crawl out and transmit my voice to the other side of the world?”
Today, I was reading the responses of readers on DSLreports.com to an article about people ditching landlines , based on a new study by the Center for Disease Control. I came across a member who shared the experience of switching to a VoIP company call VOIPo. I did some research, and came across the post of their founder and CEO, Timothy Dick, communicating the status and progress of the company. I was surprised to see how well they are doing. They must be doing something well in this competitive market, competing against the giants like AT&T, Comcast, among others.
If you have service with them, or other VoIP company, what is your experience? Have you ditched your landlines to VoIP?
Have you ever had a file that you wanted to send someone through email, only to find out that the file was not accepted by your email provider because of its size or the file type?
Here is a quick and easy solution. Use one of these easy service and add it to your email:
FileDropper
This service is easy, and allow you to upload up to 5GB. Yes, it is easy and is the only one I know which allows the large file size of this kind. The uploaded file is displayed on a bar showing the progress of the upload. Once your file is uploaded, a URL and an embed link is provided for you to share with others. Can’t get easier than this!
Sample of an embedded file:
Ramya Raghavan, a nonprofits & activism manager of YouTube, made that presentation with NTEN to show the recent developments of YouTube and how you can use YouTube to aid your organization.
Every once in a while I receive emails from friends and family about a poem, a story, a picture, or a song that touches my heart. Here is one of them. A good song for reflection during the season of Lent.
Want some hear some inspirational talk? Well, J.K. Rowling, the author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, will not fail you in her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association in June of 2008.
