KoKoRo. -P2P, i-mode, mobile gadget and game biz in Japan- [NewsIsFree: Recent Additions]

Seoul leads in city e-government.

Seoul has been ranked the top city for e-government in a survey of the web sites of 100 cities. The study, conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University in the US and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University in Korea, claims to be the first to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world. The survey assessed the e-government Web site of the biggest city in 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, along with Hong Kong and Macao. The sites were evaluated in terms of security and privacy, usability, content, services, and citizen participation. The top 10 cities in digital governance worldwide are:

1. Seoul (73.48)
2. Hong Kong (66.57)
3. Singapore (62.97)
4. New York (61.35)
5. Shanghai (58.00)
6. Rome (54.72)
7. Auckland (54.61)
8. Jerusalem (50.34)
9. Tokyo (46.52)
10. Toronto (46.35)

[via ElectricNews.net]

[ITU Strategy and Policy Unit: E-Government]

Broadband in Iceland.

Iceland has the 7th highest broadband penetration in the world according to the ITU's September 2003 Birth of Broadband report (free Executive Summary (PDF)). Today in Reykjavik, the Digital Reykjavik conference is underway (XML news feed). Why Iceland is a success in deploying broadband is described in an ITU case study (PDF, Word) presented this year at an ITU workshop on broadband strategies.

[ITU Strategy and Policy Unit: Broadband]

10M Americans pay for music downloads in Q2. Before launch of Windows services [The Register]

Samsung's robovac. A new robotic vacuum cleaner, this one from Samsung. The VC-RP30W looks like the Roomba (and just about every other robotic vacuum cleaner, for that matter), but does do things a bit differently. The Samsung bot creates a 3D map of the room it's cleaning in order to more quickly and efficiently cover the area, and can also be controlled from a PC over a wireless connection and be programmed to clean only at specific times. And to top it all off, the VC-RP30W also has a built-in digital camera so you can see what it sees while it's cleaning and a built-in negative ion air filter so it can purify the air as it moves about your house. Read... [Gizmodo]

Instant Messaging Goes Public. [DailyWireless] Instant messaging is taking over the funtions of more cumbersome teleconferencing software and adding new features such as GPS tracking. Case in point: NetMeeting. Infoworld reports that: Microsoft is retiring its six-year-old NetMeeting, [Feedster RSS Search Results for infoworld]

Telecom theory. I’ve recently been reading The Goal, a classic business book in novel format (love story included, no extra charge). It explains how traditional cost accounting leads to irrational decision making. Many of the metrics and decisions of enterprises are creating... [Telepocalypse]