Azerbaijani Bloggers Jailed

Two Azerbaijani bloggers (Adnan Hajizade, 26, and Emin Milli, 29) have been arrested and face up to five years in jail for uploading a video of one of the bloggers in an oversized grey suit giving a press conference. The video shows the donkey at the head of a table surrounded by journalists. The video is a parody of one of Azerbaijan's notorious "news-conferences" that act as propaganda pulpits for the government. This is the latest example of the Internet crackdown that has been seen across the ex-Soviet state.

The two youths have been officially charged under hooliganism laws, and the police say that the pair were also involved in a "scuffle at a restaurant". Independent reports have indicated, however, that the "scuffle" is simply an excuse to hold the pair under a two-month pre-trial detention order. There is no question that it is a political arrest. Their trial is scheduled to begin in Baku on September 4.

Speaking to the BBC, Elsa Vidal - Europe desk officer with Reporters Without Borders - said that press freedoms in Azerbaijan were almost non-existent, making it "one of the black spots of the former USSR. The situation is still severe and local public servants enjoy virtual immunity from an investigation from the press when they try and expose corruption. There are no grounds for the bloggers to be prosecuted. They should be released and all accusations should be dropped. The authorities have more to lose in jailing the bloggers than in freeing them, but who knows what will actually be said at the trial?" she added.

The UN Human Rights Committee has also raised similar concerns, saying there are "extensive limitations to the right to freedom of expression in Azerbaijan". A statement from the lawyer for Hajizade and Milli says that it was them who were attacked by two men and when they went to a local police station to file a complaint they were arrested on hooliganism charges. "This incident is definitely politically motivated. My clients did not beat anybody, quite the opposite," said the lawyer, Isakhan Ashurov.

Hajizade, the co-founder of the OL (To Be) youth movement and Milli, a co-founder of online television channel AN Network, are both Western-educated and central to a growing movement of young people who are using the Internet to criticise the Azerbaijan government. The main focus for these movements is Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Much of the criticism toward the government lately, has surrounded a new law in Kazakhstan that allows the closing of a website for three months if it is deemed to have intentionally published illegal information.

The arrests have gained a large amount of online and offline coverage and many of Hajizade and Milli's supporters have taken to creating even more online content through both blogs and Social Networking sites; including a Facebook Page with over 900 supporters and an online video petition.

In response to the growing support, a senior advisor to President Ilham Aliyev, Ali Hasanov, has said "People are not arrested in Azerbaijan because of political activity.... There was a scuffle between some young people and some of them were injured". He added, "Law-enforcement agencies are investigating the case and will give an impartial assessment".

The Friday Tweet - A Round-Up of What's Happening in the Tweetosphere

The US Open Says No To Twitter!
The Guardian carried the story on Wednesday that the US Open has official banned all Tweeting by it's competitors. According to the article, signs have been placed in the player's lounge and locker rooms, reading:

"Important. Player Notice. Twitter Warning. Many of you will have Twitter accounts in order for your fans to follow you and to become more engaged in you and the sport – and this is great ... However popular it is, it is important to warn you of some of the dangers posed by Twittering as it relates to the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program Rules."

Many of tennis's top stars are understandably annoyed at the development but it looks unlikely that the Open's Authorities will back down.


Yahoo! Meme Set For Launch
Yahoo!'s Twitter rival, Yahoo! Meme, is reportedly ready for launch. Yahoo!'s micro-blogging Twitter-rival has already rolled-out in Spain and Portugal and news has surfaced that an English-language version is nearly complete. At the moment the service is by invite-only but it seems likely that Yahoo! will launch a fully functional version as part of the company's main social media strategy for Q4.

Meme allows users to post 100 character updates, photos, mp3s or videos (by a links). Just like Twitter the service features "reposts", that allow users to pass on the updates of their friends. Yahoo! have been very secretive about all launch details and there is no no official statement confirming its arrivals.

You can request an invite for Yahoo! Meme from here.


More Tweeters Then MySpacers in the UK
According to Hitwise Twitter now has more UK internet visits than MySpace. For the week ending 29th August, Twitter caught 1 in every 400 UK internet visits and climbed up to the 27th most visited site in the UK, a position ahead of MySpace. In relation to Social Networking, Twitter still falls short of Facebook, YouTube and Bebo.

It is important to note that Hitwise doesn't include data on users who access Twitter with their mobile phone or a third party application. This would imply that the actual numbers Tweeting are even further ahead of MySpace then expected and rapidly closing in on Bebo.


How Can Twitter Avoid #FAILure
The always brilliant eConsultancy posted a great article on Wednesday about the 5 things Twitter needs to do to prevent it #FAILing. To be honest, I could summarise this one for you but you really should head over and check it out yourself. While there, check out the rest of the blog - I highly recommend it!

13,957 People Dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller

13,957 people recently came together in Mexico to dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller and set a new world record. I bet those 1,500 inmates at the Phillippine prison feel pretty bad now!

Augmented Reality: Contact Lenses

Without a doubt, Augmented Reality has captured my attention this year in a big way. I've blogged about AR Business Cards, an AR Museum Guide, AR Games and even an AR Music Video. For me, Augmented Reality technology represents the first major technological convergence with serious potential for both entertainment and real world application. So here I present to you the most cutting edge use of Augmented Reality I've seen to date - Augmented Reality Contact Lenses.

Our eyes are one of the most astonishing organs in our body. They allow us to see millions of colours, seamlessly adjust between shifting light conditions, and they can transmit all this information to your brain at a faster speed then your broadband internet connection. Your retina has a static contrast ratio of approximately 100:1, however your is capable of adjusting its exposure both chemically and by the iris. In this way your eye can achieve a dynamic contrast ratio of about 1,000,000:1. Even more phenomenal is that the process is non-linear and multifaceted, so even if your field of vision is exposed to bright light, the process simply starts again, without any ill-effect.

So what if you could do even better? What if you could augmented this incredible organ?

Imagine a world akin to the novels of Vernor Vinge, in which characters utilise contact lenses that allow them to access global information banks through graphic interfaces right before their eyes. This is the world of Augmented Reality Contact Lenses, and it's a world that may not be too far away.

Consider what would be necessary to achieve such technologies - microelectronics, nanocomputers, transparent synthetic conductors. The truth is, these things are not science-fiction and are already being not only developed, but tested, in labs around the world. One such lab at the University of Washington is at the forefront of what may be the next giant leap in mobile computing.


Admittedly the lenses that they have so far developed are quite limited, but they have achieved building a lens with a micro-LED powered wirelessly through RF. The team there are taking conventional contact lenses and turning them into functional AR systems with integrated control circuits, communication circuits, and miniature antennas. there next step will eventually be to include hundreds of LEDs, which will form images in front of your eyes. These could be anything from words to photographs.

So how close are we? Well, I may have exaggerated slightly, being able to pop in your AR Contact Lenses that allow you to fully access the web is a bit of a way off. Don't despair though, there are a number of extremely practical applications that are likely to happen long before that. Firstly, the technology does have the potential to provide vision enhancement to those that suffer from vision impairments, and it could even act as a simple warning system for those that are hearing impaired giving directional information about loud noises etc. Of course in the beginning the most likely situation is that the display and interface lenses will rely on a wearable portable-device that would feed the actual information through to the lenses.

Anyway, this is seriously exciting stuff in my opinion both in the short term and long term.


For further information see here

Wispa Gold Where Have You Been?

Cadbury are bringing back Wispa Gold! That right folks, on the back of user-generated ad campaign, Cadbury are relaunching that oh so delicious caramel cousin of the Wispa. Having been off the market for so time now, Cadbury have teamed up with Fallon to bring Wispa Gold back in some serious style. Through the wispagoldmessages.com microsite, users have the chance to put messages up on billboards around the UK.

The campaign, which goes live on the 7th September, will give the public an opportunity to create custom messages that can be submitted for the chance to sit on one of hundreds of 48 sheets that have been specially purchased just for this campaign. The website itself boldly declares that "We've decided to give our advertising space to you guys as a thank you for all the love you've shown to Wispa. We have bought thousands of billboards all over the UK and Ireland so that you can share your special messages with the world. Yes, that's right, you let us know your special message and if it gets selected we will post it on a real billboard in the location of your choice. So if your mum lives in Birmingham you could post her a special message, say a poem, and we'll try to give you a site as near to her as possible."

The 48 sheets in question are located in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Cardiff, Nottingham, Belfast, Plymouth, Brighton and Norwich.

Fallon have said that the whole idea for the campaign stems from their 2008 social media campaign that brought back the Wispa. The campaign in question resulted in the following TV ad starring hundreds of Wispa fans:



For your message, Cadbury want you to do anything except hold back. As they put it "If you want to do the creative bit yourself, that’s great". However, even if you're not the arty type, they have a team of people ready to take messages and turn them into lovely posters.

Entires can be submitted via email or online, but all entries must be in by 19th October.

Cadbury Wispa are also on Facebook and YouTube