CafeTouch RSS http://www.cafetouch.com Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:02:14 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.cafetouch.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.cafetouch.com CafeTouch RSS CafeTouchhttp://feedburner.google.com http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/tibet-on-the-net.html Freelance journalist Ron Gluckman was recently in Tibet and spoke to several Internet cafe managers who are involved in the risky business of providing bandwith to the locals.“Because of the Internet, we in Tibet aren’t isolated from the rest of the world. That’s been our fate for centuries, and was one reason China could take over,” said the manager of one Internet cafe in the capital of Lhasa. “This has totally turned things around for Tibet. Before, nobody knew about us or cared. Now, we’re connected, free.” Read more at Asian Pacific Post (http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c441953646401195896b9f70079_Tibet_on_the_net.do.html) Blog - Blog entries Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:55:17 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/mobile-no-threat-to-internet-cafes.html [ Johannesburg, 10 April 2008 ] - The ability of low-income people to access e-mail through their mobile phones will not hurt the growth of SA's Internet café market, says mobile phone giant Nokia.World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck notes that access to e-mail through a mobile phone reduces the time and money users spend to go to an Internet cafe.However, it does not replace the need to go to an Internet cafe to access broader Internet services, he says. SA still has a need for Internet cafes, especially in townships and rural areas, he adds.Goldstuck also says that Internet cafes face big financial challenges as owners' business margins are low, yet the best local locations are expensive. Read more at ITWeb (http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2008/0804101034.asp?O=FPTOP S=Broadband A=BRO) Blog - Blog entries Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:39:51 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/iraq-iraqis-surge-onto-the-web-through-internet-cafes.html “In the days of the former regime, there were only a few Internet cafes in hotels,” said the owner of “Centre Baghdad” cybercafe, who would be named only as Ali. “All of them were subject to monitoring and some websites were blocked,” he added.Today these restrictions are gone and Iraqis in their millions are using the Internet for chatting, doing research, dating, keeping abreast of current affairs and to access social networking sites such as Facebook and Hi5. Cybercafe owner Ali said most of those using his 16 PCs were young people aged between 17 and 35.“They mostly use Yahoo Messenger for chatting or checking their e-mails but some download antivirus updates or do research for their studies.“Our peak hours are from 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm, but the cafe is open until 10:00 pm,” said Ali.Read more at The Times (http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=732730) Blog - Blog entries Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:48:49 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/all-around-the-world-internet-cafe-users-to-reveal-their-identity.html This week I have found few articles about 3 different countries with almost the same title: authorities have ordered Internet cafe owners to spy on their users.In Jordan (http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/alerts/3178-jordan-internet-cafe-users-be-monitored): the Jordanian Ministry of the Interior increasing restrictions on Internet cafes in Jordan, on the pretext of maintaining security, by installing cameras to monitor users of these cafés. In addition to the cameras, the new security measures oblige Internet cafe owners to register the users' personal data such as their names, telephone numbers and time of use, as well as the IP number of the café and data on the websites explored by the users.In Beijing, China (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080312-beijings-net-cafes-real-names-or-no-access-for-you.html), you will soon be required to register with your real name and a photo before logging on. Internet cafes, which used to be a refuge in oppresing regime, are becoming more and more to be controlled by the authorities. The reason is always the same: Homeland security. Blog - Blog entries Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:25:37 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/usage-of-technology-and---internet-cafes-in-thailand.html Gina Trapani Shares her tips on the usage of Technology and Internet Cafes in Thailand: In the popular tourist areas in Thailand, there were internet cafes on almost every street, and usage was super-cheap: often 10 Thai Baht (30 cents) for 10 minutes. All the machines at cafes that I saw where Windows XP PCs, most equipped with headsets with Skype pre-installed, as well as chat applications like AIM and ICQ and some even with Firefox. Read more at Lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/362895/getting-things-done-traveling-through-southeast-asia) Blog - Blog entries Sun, 09 Mar 2008 03:21:22 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/cuba-only-one-internet-cafe-remains-open-in-old-havana.html Cuban officials have long limited the public’s access to the Internet and digital videos, tearing down unauthorized satellite dishes and keeping down the number of Internet cafes open to Cubans. Only one Internet cafe remains open in Old Havana, down from three a few years ago. Hidden in a small room in the depths of the Capitol building, the state-owned cafe charges a third of the average Cuban’s monthly salary — about $5 — to use a computer for an hour. The other two former Internet cafes in central Havana have been converted into “postal services” that let Cubans send e-mail messages over a closed network on the island with no links to the Internet.“It’s a sort of telegraph service,” said one young man, shrugging as he waited in line to use the computers at a former Internet cafe on O’Reilly Street.Yet the government’s attempts to control access are increasingly ineffective. Young people here say there is a thriving black market giving thousands of people an underground connection to the world outside the Communist country. Read more at NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/world/americas/06cuba.html?_r=1 ref=world oref=slogin) Blog - Blog entries Sun, 09 Mar 2008 03:03:46 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/china-targets-web-sites-internet-cafes-in-crackdown-on-overly-violent-online-games.html Unlicensed Internet cafes, known as black Web bars, will be closed down and supervision will be tightened over legal cafesInternet cafes have been repeatedly targeted for breeding juvenile crime and promoting truancy, despite widely ignored rules barring anyone under 18 from admission. Located in towns and small cities throughout China, internet cafes mainly offer online games that are popular among young people. Authorities have blamed the cafes for Internet addiction and for encouraging juvenile crime as a way to earn money to play online games. Read more at ABC News (http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/GadgetGuide/wireStory?id=4276715) Blog - Blog entries Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:32:15 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/philippines-3000-internet-cafe-owners-in-the-2nd-internet-cafe-congress.html The 2nd Internet Café Congress took place last year in August 10 and 11, 2007. 84 companies that catered to I-Cafés showcased their products and services to over 3,000 plus I-Café owners and 4,000 other visitors that trooped to Megatrade Hall .On March 8 and 9, 2008, the 3rd Internet Café Congress will take place and would not only be just another tradeshow, we will also have the I-Café Business Conference to be held in a separate function room that will showcase speakers from various disciplines covering topics from software, business development, hardware and the internet. These topics would aid them in improving their business.Read more at INQUIRER.net (http://business.inquirer.net/money/announcements/view/20080214-118857/3rd-I-Cafe-Congress-and-I-Cafe-Business-Conference) Blog - Blog entries Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:23:32 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/brazil-ifpi-raids-hundreds-of-internet-cafes.html the IFPI announced today that the music industry organization conducted 335 raids on Internet cafes in Brazil, making good on its threat to step up its antipiracy efforts there.According to the IFPI, the raid was a success. Some 2,339 computers were seized, and more than one million illegal audio tracks were found. Despite this, only one (!) arrest was made. The raid, which consumed intense human resources, sends a message to Internet café owners in Brazil and elsewhere: we can show up and take your stuff, so you should really police your own customers better. An impressive show of police power, more than 600 Special Ops police were involved. Read more at Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080128-ifpi-raids-hundreds-of-internet-cafes-600-cops-one-arrest.html) Blog - Blog entries Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:31:46 +0100 http://www.cafetouch.com/blog/blog-entries/internet-cafe-in-chinahot-and-noisy.html Many in China, especially young people, gather at Internet cafes, mostly for recreation. Let me tell you something about these Internet cafes and their users, writes business consultant Paul Denlinger in the blog China Vortex. The people who go there are young, single, low-income males. They do not bring their dates there. The places are smoky, dingy and poorly lit. They sell some basic food and beverages in the front, and also charge people a fee to sleep overnight on the dirty, bug-infested, stained futons which pass for couches. If you want a truly terrible experience, visit their bathrooms. ... The characters are sad characters; if they were living in England 150 years ago, Charles Dickens would be writing about them. From the Chinese perspective, although games and the Internet are highly addictive, Internet cafes serve a useful purpose. Otherwise these people would be on the street, unemployed. The Internet cafe today in China is what gin and beer was to England's working class in the mid-19th century when Karl Marx was writing Das Kapital about the evils of class exploitation. Denlinger, reached by e-mail, focuses on Internet startups. Deborah Fallows, a senior research fellow with the Pew Internet and American Life Project, has spent the past 18 months in China and concurs with the flophouse description for many Internet cafes, but says the Internet is having its own sizable effect in China.Read more at The Baltimore Sun (http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-id.blog03feb03,0,866860.column) Blog - Blog entries Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:04:28 +0100