The Asia Pacific is the most dynamic digital landscape in the world, home to the fastest adopters of new technologies and the largest concentration of mobile and social media users. An escalation in online activism, changing cyber dynamics, developments in digital diplomacy and the exploitation of big data are shaping the region's engagement with the world.
- A National Geographic photographer captured his recent trip to North Korea via Twitter’s live video Periscope app. The results are extraordinary.
- Local volunteerism and online collaboration is shaking up the status quo in Nepal following the country’s devastating earthquake.
- What Silicon Valley can learn from Seoul.
- China's cyber police are coming out 'from behind the curtains' and joining social media. With more than 25 accounts from Shanghai to Xinjiang and Tibet launched on Weibo so far, the move seems designed to encourage citizen reporting and will almost certainly tighten the state’s control over the internet.
- New technologies are providing tools for empowerment, yet democracy is stagnating. What’s up?
- 478 million people in China listen to music online but companies aren't making much money. Chinese internet giant Tencent is planning to change that.
- How the internet has exacerbated the tug of war over Thailand’s cultural values: one feature in this NY Times Magazine piece on digital imperialism.
- As the death toll from a capsized cruise ship on China's Yangtze River continues to climb amid strict online censorship, some Chinese netizens are angry at how local media is glorifying 'handsome' rescuers.
- India's first advertisement featuring a lesbian couple is making waves on social media, with the video raking up more than 3 million views in 10 days.
- Indonesia is using drones to catch tax cheats. (H/t @JohnMGooding.)
- Investigators have admitted Chinese hackers may have obtained the names of Chinese citizens with ties to US officials. While the compromised data wasn't encrypted, officials have argued the attacks were so sophisticated, encryption might have made no difference.
- Trending hashtags #DespiteBeingAWoman and #S?rt?m?z?Dönüyoruz ('we are turning our backs') are taking aim at alleged sexist remarks made by India's prime minister and Turkey's president:
[Taken from the Facebook page of the Indian National Congress]