IT 6.01 – Tsunami Issue
Mmm, the magazine is out. This one was a bit of a kidney stone, but the content is improving. Think it reads a bit more human – there’s a debate between me and Mahangu on Intel CEO Craig Barrett’s comment that the $100 Laptop is a gadget. He’s pissed, but I’m saying market solutions may be better than devices governments buy in bulk. We also have a a controversial article on if Google ever could turn evil. I’d like to thank Doctor John from Flickr for the use of his cool wave photo for the cover. All he wanted in return was a link to his, er, pet project – Tsunami Animal Welfare Trust. The wave image isn’t actually in Sri Lanka, but the photographer suprisingly was. Anyways, here’s a PDF and the 4am editorial.
editorial…
Happy New Year, and welcome to IT 6.01. This issue is a bit more news and general interest heavy, tell us how you likes. We have one interesting debate on the $100 Laptop and the controversial comments the Intel CEO gave while in Sri Lanka, see page 6. We also have a rare critique of Google on page 18. Both of these topics should hopefully stir some debate. Is a $100 laptop a ‘gadget’, or could it really benefit Sri Lanka? Is Google becoming too powerful for its own good?
This month’s cover story comes after the recent tsunami anniversary. We have an interview with the blogger Morquendi, who was extremely active on the ground, getting the word out and using SMS to help with a scattered coordination effort. The focus, however, is on how Sri Lanka can move forward. One real way that IT can help is through a warning system, which Sri Lanka still lacks. In the case of a tsunami, 5 minutes warning means the difference between life and death. This infrastructure is sorely neglected, but in this issue we explore a working satellite radio implementation, and the general theory and problems of an effective alert system.
We’ve also reintroduced the software CD, this time with Microsoft’s support. We’re proud to offer a distribution of Visual Studio Express, a powerful development environment, along with our past issues and some goodies. Check page 64 for tips on how to get started on some really quick projects, like playing audio or making a web browser.
When 
I started off not really liking General Sarath Fonseka, him being part of the aggressive war effort. I didn’t support the war (largely cause I thought it would fail), and I thought Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Fonseka were gleefully stomping everything. Fonseka even came out and said “I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people,” in 2008 (
General Sarath Fonseka was arrested on a bunch of trumped up charges, but mainly for daring to threaten Mahinda in a Presidential election. Despite his poor health, Fonseka was arrested in February 2010 and sentence to three years. Word on the street now, however, is that he’ll be released soon. Like any day now. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told 
I’ve been testing a lot of apps. A very interesting one is iPlayboy, from Playboy magazine. It’s bad porn but a good magazine, especially since you can read issues from its cultural heyday – the Mad Men era of the 60s.
Intel is just pissed coz MIT fellows did not use their _oerpriced_ chips. And coz it is going to take away maket from them on the low end.
I think u got the link to the file wrong. It is http://indi.ca/wp-content/files/it-times-6-01.pdf. Also I ment to say _overpriced_ on my other post :)
The PDF file is not available .. :(
sor, buggered the link. Thanks for the fix Chamil
Super cool cover man…!
This is the best cover! :-)
Hi there.. I can’t open the article “Faith in science”… was it deleted?
thx
yes, one of the best covers i have ever seen!
and i too can’t read the faith-in-science post. have you deleted it?
sor, i accidentally drafted it. It’s very spacy and I was kinda nervous about it.
Nice design indeed. Typography and design is far better than the previous issues. Keep up the good work, Indi & all :)