Internet analysis company Renesys reported recently that Hong Kong-based PCCW is hosting most of the Internet traffic to and from Syria, according to the Associated Press.
In an article from Computer World, a Renesys spokesman pointed out the irony in China — a country known for stifling the flow of information on the Internet — facilitating communications both within Syria and between Syria and the outside world.
Other telecommunications companies have withdrawn from war-torn Syria, leaving PCCW as a major thoroughfare for rebel communications and news. Turk Telecom, for instance, went black on Aug. 12. As the AP points out, Turkey has opposed the Syrian regime while China has remained an ally.
Kindle to Heat Up India
India will be the next country to sell the Amazon Kindle, according to Cnet.
Amazon has launched a new India Kindle Store and has teamed up with Croma, an Indian electronics dealer, to sell the Kindle at its outlet stores, according to the report.
Amazon’s India Kindle Store will have more than 1 million titles, including a handful of India’s top authors. Amazon has also launched a Direct Publishing platform in India.
Earlier this week, Barnes and Noble announced that it would release its Nook e-reader tablet in the UK.
Indian Government Gets Heavy-Handed With Twitter
Twitter could face legal action if it doesn’t heed the Indian government’s request to censor sensitive messages, according to The Times of India.
India’s government, which has been collaborating with Google and Facebook on the issue of “hate content” coming from Pakistan, has been on a censorship kick of late. Earlier this week the country blocked more than 150 websites and restricted bulk text messages, according to Cnet.
The efforts comes on the heels of violence between Muslims and indigenous communities in northeast India, according to another article from Cnet.
Foxconn in the News Again, but This Time It’s Good
Foxconn, the Apple supplier that’s found itself in the spotlight in recent months over its treatment of workers and employee suicides, has been lauded for its steadily improving working conditions.
The Fair Labor Association, which was among the first to lambaste Foxconn, issued a report stating the company has been making good on its promises to improve.
The report, discussed here by Computer World, said that the factory is reducing overtime hours and updating maintenance and safety policies.
At perhaps the height of the row over Foxconn, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited a plant in China, bringing yet more attention to Foxconn and perhaps catalyzing some of these improvements.
RIM Taps New UK, Ireland Exec
Rob Orr will take over as Research In Motion’s UK and Ireland managing director on Sept. 1, according to ZDNet.
The move is designed to make sure that RIM’s European operations are “optimally structured” for selling the existing BlackBerry 7 smartphone and for the early 2013 release of BlackBerry 10, a RIM spokesperson told ZDNet.
The UK has been one of RIM’s few bright spots of late. The Canada-based company said that UK sales account for about 10 percent of its total revenue. As of last November, RIM had more than 8 million British subscribers.
RIM currently has a roughly 11 percent market share in the UK.
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