I am helping Dieter Zinnbauer to distribute this press release from APDIP. I will be helping them to build up resources on theme area on IDN for them. Please sign up if you like to contribute to the Internet Governance discussion.

Priorities in Internet Governance for the Asia-Pacific Region (IGOVAP): An Online Forum

UNDP’s Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) is organising an online debate to facilitate discussion about Internet governance issues and the concerns and needs of AP region stakeholders.

Regional perspectives developed in this debate will help target future research efforts and provide input to the World Summit on the Information Society process and the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) established by the United Nations Secretary General. The debate is an integral part of and sets the stage for APDIP’s Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance (ORDIG). Other major activities under ORDIG, which is supported by the International Development Research Centre of Canada and in which the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UN-ESCAP), the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and DIPLO Foundation are partners, include a regional multi-stakeholder survey and a community-managed portal on Internet governance priorities for the Asia-Pacific region, as well as research on best practice policies and the development of Internet governance training materials.

APDIP invites all Asia Pacific region stakeholder from government, business and civil society to join the online forum, participate in the conversation and help identify priority concerns and best practices in
Internet governance for the Asia-Pacific region. The forum will be launched on Jan 13 and run for five weeks to Feb 17. An interim rapporteur’s report of the debate will be directly forwarded to the second meeting of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance in Geneva in mid-February. The ideas and resources suggested during the forum will also inform the resource collection for the Internet governance portal that will be developed in parallel to the forum.

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Have you been in situation where you hunt around for power outlets? (via Slashdot)

Every day, millions of people are finding themselves scurrying about in search of wells of electricity they can tap so their battery-powered mobile devices can remain mobile. Dependence is growing on laptops, cellular telephones, digital music players, digital cameras, camcorders, personal organizers, portable DVD players and the latest hand-held gaming devices – most of which operate on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries – and finding available electrical outlets away from home and office has become more urgent.

I know I do very often, especially during travelling. Ever since switching to Powerbook for my daily use, the one I missed most is the 8hrs battery life I got from my previous Toshiba. (not to mention the lighter weight). It is common for me to end up in MacDonald or Starhub while hunting for a power outlet, and if I am lucky, have some of their Wifi too.

FastCompany has an entry about no for most part few animals were killed in Tsunami. Actually, I heard of the ‘story’ from a friend of a friend of a friend which of cos I dismissed it as just another urban legend but perhaps there are some truth in that.

But more interesting is a link to another story from one of the commenters about how five aboriginal tribes in India survived the Tsunami by listening to the birds.

The tribals get wind of impending danger from biological warning signals like the cry of birds and change in the behavioural patterns of marine animals. They must have run to the forests for safety. No casualties have been reported among these five tribes,” ASI Director Dr V R Rao told PTI today.

It could be another urban legend but heck, it is pretty cool. And God bless them.

Game Theory at Work by James D. Miller

Yohoo! Finally .sg is open for 2nd level domain name registration :-)

SGNIC announced in August last year that it was opening the second-level ‘.sg’ domain names to create more choices and a vibrant Internet environment in Singapore through the proliferation of such domain names. Second-level ‘.sg’ domain names like xyz.sg are shorter and easier to remember as compared to its third-level counterpart e.g. xyz.com.sg. Registration for second-level domain names is also simpler, is open to both locals and foreigners alike and requires no documentary proof.

This is the result of the hardwork of many people over an year so congz to all those folks involved particularly my colleagues in SGNIC¹. Yes, it took so long because it comes with several policy changes including dropping the documentary proof requirements. We couldn’t succeed in reducing the pricing yet tho but hey, S$50 (~US$35) per year arent too bad now for a start.

So go grab your .sg from your favourite registrars. I already got mine seng.sg registered² so okay, you can stop asking me why I am using .cc.

¹ I play a small role in making little recommendations here and there only aka kapo’ing.

² I use Vooju. It is a company setup by my friends, ex-i-DNS folks so please go give them your support.

From Telecom.com

The operator said the 4G equipment employs variable-spreading-factor spread OFDM radio access and multiple-input-multiple-output multiplexing techniques, achieving 1Gbps data transmission with 100MHz bandwidth in the downlink. DoCoMo said it achieved 100Mbps and 20Mbps data rate transmission in the downlink and uplink respectively in outdoor tests moving at speeds of about 30km/h.

Oh yea, I caught a bluetooth virus on my trip thru Malaysia. We were stopping at a small town in Malaysia for food and drink when my N-Gage notify me of an incoming bluetooth message. I rejected it (suspecting foulplay) but it just refused to go away until I click ‘Ok’. I did and a few second later, I got a CARIBE.SIS file in my message and prompting me to install. :P

Anyway, I save a copy of it. Will dissect it when I have the time back in the office. Would be interesting what it does.