National Bureau of Statistics of China, has release some figures about telephone usage in China. Figures are self explanatory and may give some Vertigo to European operators.

In end of March 2008 they were 574 millions cellphone users in China (+94 mio in 2007), a 20% increase compared to last year. It also mean that 40% of the Chinese population own a cellphone.

The NBS reveals that in March 08, 58 billions SMS were sent (nearly 700 billions/year !)

28% of Chinese population (361 millions) uses a fixed telephone, but landline operators are losing customers (minus 4 millions for the 1sr quarter 08) as calls from mobile phones are cheaper than through landlines.

China Mobile, the first Chinese mobile phone operator has 377 millions customers at end of January (+22.6%) while Unicom China only has 181 millions customers.

I found the article below on "The Register" site and asked myself the following question: 

If connecting to Internet using an open and unsecured wifi access point is considered as a crime, why authorities do not apply the same principle to other services (mainly electricity and water) we often use without any formal agreement of the owner ?

 " More than half of computer users have illegally stolen Wi-Fi connections, according to The Times - but only 11 alleged offenders have been arrested in the UK, as the police seem to think those deploying Wi-Fi should be more careful about securing their connections.

The data was collected from a "Have Your Say" survey on the website of security-specialist Sophos: apparently 54 per cent of the 560 people who responded admitted nicking bandwidth from insecure Wi-Fi routers.

This might say more about Sophos customers than the general population, and extrapolating the results to every computer user in the country is probably a crime against statistics: so that's exactly what The Times has done.

…

Anyone caught stealing a Wi-Fi connection can be fined up to a grand, even if it's left unsecured, so make sure you ask nicely next time you're looking to log on, and if the person next to you has never stolen a Wi-Fi connection then we have to assume that you have. "

What is your opinion about accessing open wifi ? Do you think it is a crime ?

Source: The Register

At least one third of the population in developing countries has no access to safe drinking water. The lack of adequate water supply and sanitation facilities causes a serious health hazard and exposes many to the risk of water-borne diseases, This situation led to about 4 billion cases of diarrhoea each year, out of which 2.5 million cases end in death. Every day about 6000 children die of dehydration due to diarrhoea.

INDEX 2007 Award winner Solar Bottle created by italian designers Alberto Medo and Francisco Gomez Paz uses the SODIS (Solar Water Disinfection ) process, developed by the Department of Water and Sanitation at the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Research. SODIS principle works with the sun to allow UV-A radiation and increased temperature to destroy pathogenic microorganisms in drinking water.The Solar Bottle is made of slim PET, contains 4 liters of water and can be arranged back-to-back for carry. The handle allows balanced transport and is used as stand to provide optimal solar incidence.

Indeed, a less fashionable version of SODIS process using simple ordinary plastic bottles works well too but they are more difficult to carry and the surface exposed to sun radiations is lots smaller.

More about the Solar Bottle on InHabitat
More about SODIS on Eawag.

Sources: Inhabitat & Index