Silent Tsunami

The worldwide outpouring of grief and aid since a huge tsunami killed more than 150,000 people in Asia and Africa last month has stirred hope here that the same wellspring of empathy can be tapped for what Professor Sachs called "the silent tsunami" of global poverty that kills more than 150,000 children every month from malaria alone.

Think Common

Ok, I was wrong to think that Apple would not change its strategy since the return of Steve Jobs. But at least, I wasn't the only one surprised.

NYT: Apple Changes Course With Low-Priced Mac

That's both good and bad news. In general, I like the new computer and I have nothing to say about the specs (although I know some complained about the lack of Blootooth built-in capacity).

But it's a bit of bad news because the company has now losed part of its focused regained under Steve Jobs II. He then killed not only the clones, but many Apple computers in order to simplify the product line and make choice easier for customers. This is gone. He then advocated that computers clugged with cables were evil. This Mac Mini looks like an octopus once plugged to its peripherals. He said that Apple wasn't in the cheap computers business, that he was in the market for buyers who are willing to pay a premium for quality. No more.

Because of this, I feel that Apple has become less exceptional and so less interesting. There's less to be said about Apple strategies in my opinion - or at least it's the beginning of this decline. What to say about a computer company that sells a lot of the same products as the others? Not quite the case right now, but we might be getting there.

Hand in the bag

It's tempting to rejoice since it unveils Republican manoeuvers, but it's mostly very bad news for the media in general.

[$241,000 ] That's the sum that television and newspaper commentator Armstrong Williams received from the department for agreeing to promote the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind education reform legislation. Williams says that the contract he signed with Ketchum Inc., a public relations firm hired by the Education Department, not only paid for advertisements during his show but also to "regularly comment on the No Child Left Behind act during the course of his broadcasts" and to encourage other producers to do so as well.

Ugly. Let's hope other journalists got the message.

Philadelphia Freedom

Beside Geneva, Philadelphia is also considering building a wireless network over the whole city. I am surprised that the cost could be as high as US $16 per user. I guess that must be the set up cost, but I'd be surprised if it's the annual cost.

Fingers Crossed

Tsunami 'won't divert Africa aid'

Microsoft Wisdom

Hilarious!

[Microsoft] also intends to launch an antivirus tool to supplement existing antivirus software. The antivirus tool can be downloaded from January 11 and can be updated with new virus definitions on the second Tuesday of each month.

What better way to make it useless than a fixed update? Hackers know exactly what day to launch their viruses. And after all, what harm can a virus do in a single month?

No overall increase of generosity

BBC asks interesting questions and share relevant figures about private donations, following the flood of "generosity".

Massive appeals in the past, such as the Live Aid appeal for Ethiopia, have failed to make a long-term impact on our giving habits. It was similar with the 9/11 appeal in America, which raised $2bn from the public. Year-end figures revealed overall donations in the US did not rise significantly, says Ms Pharoah. Instead people simply diverted cash earmarked for one charity to the 11 September families.

So, there will be more victims of the tsunamis, but these will likely be unheard of: those who won't receive the money diverted.

A whole city asleep

It seems like I'm not the only one disappointed with Geneva. Time calls Geneva "The City that always sleep".

America is cheap!

Quick! this article will only be online for 7 days. Excerpt:

But the bottom line is that this month and every month, more people will die of malaria (165,000 or more) and AIDS (240,000) than died in the tsunamis, and almost as many will die because of diarrhea ( 140,000). And that's where we're stingy.

Yes, America is cheap and refuse to share its wealth. Problem is, about every rich nation is. Even the most generous only give about 1% of their GDP in official development assistance.

52 tsunamis ahead this year!

From BBC News:

Romilly Greenhill, policy officer for ActionAid, said death as a result of poverty and preventable diseases in Africa amounted to the equivalent of the tsunami death toll every week.

And also this, from Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister):

Earlier this week Mr Brown agreed there was a danger effots to tackle the aftermath of the tsunami disaster might absorb resources that were previously bound for Africa.

I came to think that this guy really cares about world poverty. Whatever if it's self-importance or real empathy, if he achieves what he promises, it could be a huge step forward.

Too much of a good thing

1... 2.. 3... ok, I tell it: I am pissed off at the attention and outpouring of aid for the victims of the asian tsunamis.

Yes, it's awful what happened there. Yes, they really need our help. And yes, it is beautiful to see how humanity can come together. What pisses me off, is that it took such an event to make things happen.

First, long-term development money is increasingly diverted to those high-profile humanitarian and emergency events. "Generous countries" like the attention they get for being so sensitive to misery - and they're right to notice that they get too little for their day-to-day interventions. And they know that if they don't do it, they'll get more than their money's worth of criticism. But the fact remains that rich countries still don't give a mere 0.7% of their GDP to official development assistance and the United States are the worst.

Second, money comes from rich countries, Germany for example, who lost the most nationals in this disaster - and most of them are still missing right now. This private money is not clear of plain self-interest, like it appears to be.

Third, there is so much money and so much attention mixing together, that won't take long for a financial scandal (corruption, diverted aid) to arise. Then, people will dismiss international aid as if perfect attribution and honesty was possible in such a human world.

Suddenly, there is people in need in the world and we can show how generous we are, how open-hearted, how we are so willing to help those in need. But we're just not. We refuse to look at ongoing catastrophes.

• 27.9% of people in low and middle income countries live on less than 1$ a day.
• 36 million adults and 2 million children live with HIV/AIDS.
• Darfur (Sudan) is burning.
  

And it could go on almost forever, since these are just the most well-known. What about Columbia civil war (what happened to Ingrid Betancourt?), human rights in Chechnya, the fighting in the "Democratic Republic" of Congo?

It seems like the best thing that could happen to those people is a tsunami. In the meantime, let them eat cake.

Cheap shot

I'd be surprised if Apple launches a cheap Mac next week, at Macworld. They have been rumored to do so for years, but never have. And it seems to be a Steve Jobs decision, if not obsession. Maybe he fears to lower the prestige (and appeal) of Apple. It's always been a mystery to Mac fans who are desperate for a larger market share (less than 5% right now) and hope to gain some credibility out of the new adopters.

Come back in a week to see if I'm wrong.

Unchained City

Woah. Some people wanted to cover the whole Geneva with free, wireless Internet. While The Economist suggests that the Internet may become more expensive, this failed initiative suggests that it might become less expensive, if not virtually free (I know, there is no free lunch...). How much would it be, per person, to wire an entire city? Not much. What if a more visionary organisation or city decides to take the lead? Geneva would have been perfect, being rather smll, but "world-class" and full of visitors who can't or don't want to pay for a temporary Internet access.

Play boy

As if the iPod wasn't hot enough. It's rare that sex doesn't drive innovation, but follows it. Apple must be moving really fast.