incommunicado

... and a happy new year. Trend predictions abound, here's mine: open hardware, Soenke

Finally had time to take a closer look at the Roadmap that came out of the Open World Forum last week (sobering to see how incredibly well-networked the French F/OSS scene is, I did not know this).

APC presented the GIS 2008 at the Hyderabad IGF, Soenke

"[T]he recycling market has tanked almost in lockstep with the global economic meltdown. As consumer demand for autos, appliances and new homes dropped, so did the steel and pulp mills' demand for scrap, paper and other recyclables", writes Thomas Abercrombie, Soenke

"Physicist Les Cottrell is the meteorologist of Internet weather. His project tests the strength of Internet connections around the world—and finds Africa lagging farther and farther behind." Useful overview of "digital divide" issues in Africa in the September issue of symmetry, Soenke

PAE issue #47 is out, including Duhs' "Sen’s economic philosophy: The revival of economics as a moral science" and Shaffer's "New thinking on poverty", Soenke

Here is the MS-sponsored study on the TCO of proprietary vs free/open software in emerging markets, discussion at ZDnet et al, Soenke

Even as the Central Pollution Control Body seeks feedback on the draft guidelines on e-waste management in India, Delhi-based Toxics Link has released a pioneering study mapping the e-waste scenario in Kolkata, revealing that not only is the city fast joining other metros in e-waste generation, but is also emerging as a major centre for hazardous e-waste recycling in its residential areas that is being imported from overseas apart from other parts of India.