WWW Turns 25; Saving Lives in South Africa’s Slums

Posted August 23rd, 2016 at 12:06 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - World Wide Web founder Tim Berners-Lee speaks during a news conference in London Dec. 11, 2014. (Reuters)

FILE – World Wide Web founder Tim Berners-Lee speaks during a news conference in London Dec. 11, 2014. (Reuters)

Happy 25th Birthday to the World Wide Web

Yes, it’s been 25 years already. On August 23, 1991, Switzerland-based computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee deployed the World Wide Web (WWW), where all documents and web pages are stored, for the first time. Berners-Lee, who worked for CERN – the European Organization for Nuclear Research – invited users outside of the organization to join the web, making August 23, 1991, the official anniversary for the birth of the WWW.

US Plan to Collect Social Media Info From Visitors Faces Fierce Opposition

Tech advocates and civil liberty groups are pushing back against a move by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to collect social media data from visa-waiver visitors to the country. Critics argue individuals who pose a threat to the United States are unlikely to disclose their social media data and presence on travel and entry forms.

Lumkani Can Save Lives in Slums

After a January 2013 fire destroyed about 800 shacks and left thousands homeless in Khayelitsha, South Africa, Francois Petousis came up with an answer. The Cape Town University electrical engineering student and five co-founders created a little blue box called Lumkani. The device is the world’s first networked heat-detector designed for slum environments.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

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