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Sunday Service: Malaria versus the internet

This week’s sermon comes from the laid back beaches of the Dolphn Coast, where the low rumble of waves provides a pleasant aural backdrop to the rising spring sun and the sense of relaxation that only comes with a three day break. Happy Womens’ Weekend all, hope the extra day off has put you in the mood for kicking back and catching up with some of the better stories you may have missed over the last seven days.

  • Aid. What is it good for? This week the African Union says it must eventually come to an end, but there’s a spat growing in technoland as to the best way to invest cash on the continent. Bill Gates says ideas like Google Loon are indeed lunacy, and damagingly expensive too. Focus your funds on things that matter, he cries, like making malaria a thing of the past. A noble call to rally behind perhaps, but Eric Hershman of iHub et al says we can and should do both.
  • Speaking of Kenya, I’ve never been to Kibera but the more I read about it the more I want to find out what it’s really like. There’s been a steady stream of stories lately which attempt to humanise and contextualise Africa’s biggest slum. A lot of them talk about the way technology is producing successful entrepreurs who in turn, having made it, are surprisingly reluctant to leave. Abigail Higgins’ account at NextCity.org is the meatiest piece of writing yet on the subject, and one you should read here.
  • In non-tech writing, a visit to former slave port Goree Island in Senegal is a shorter read if you’re pushed for time. But you really shouldn’t rush it all the same.
  • It never ceases to amaze me how little discussion there around data privacy in South Africa. As a reminder of what goes on in the rest of the word, The Verge has an excellent feature up which looks at the aggregation of surveillance cam pictures post-Boston bombings in US cities.
  • And while we’re having a paranoid moment, The TOR Project says that if you want to protect your privacy, you’re best off ditching Windows and JavaScript, because that’s how its Firefox client got compromised by the FBI when it went after child pornographers in Ireland.
  • Another link from The Verge I’m afraid, but Werner Herzog’s documentary on the dangers of texting and driving should be required reading for all driving back on SA roads today.

And your bonus story this week? Ars Technica dissects the bonkers $1m special edition of up and coming Saints Row 4 (includes gun, Lamborghini and flight into space) and deduces it’s not very good value for money.

Until next week.

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