middle east
Networks
Undersea Telecom Cables Cut Again: India, Middle East and Asia Hit Hard
8:00AM Sean Fallon | Earlier this year two telecom cables located in the Mediterranean were severed by passing ships. This is an extremely rare occurrence, which is why a second incident is cause for major concern. More »
Random Stuff
Hacker Rips Off US$12,000 in Calls Using Homeland ‘Security’ Phone System
7:10AM Jesus Diaz | Knowing that the government can keep us safe against evil dildos and penis pumpers, I don’t really give much importance to the fact that a guy got into the U.S. Homeland Security Department phone system to make more than 400 calls to his buddies in friendly countries like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. According to security consultant John Jackson, the hacking was very low-tech and old school, which probably would make Steve “Blue Box” Wozniak proud, but it was an embarrassment for the agency:
Random Stuff
Infinity Tower to Twist by 90º Over Dubai Marina
12:12AM Addy Dugdale | For the record, I would like to state that I’m really bored of these outsized erections popping up all over the Arabian Peninsula. This one is going up in the Dubai Marina. It’s called the Infinity Tower (because that is how long it seems that we have been covering these giant penile substitutes that are currently littering the Middle East) and its USP is that it twists 90º. This is the blurb on the 1,000-foot, 80-story, twisted monstrosity. More »
Press
Five Undersea Cables Cut So Far
3:04AM Wilson Rothman | In this strange maritime epidemic, the number of undersea cables cut in incidents around the Middle East and South Asia now totals five, including Sea-Me-We 4 (in two places) and cables run by Flag Telecom located at Alexandria, the Dubai coast, and Bandar Abbas in Iran. (Insert not-so-funny-anymore Dick Cheney terror joke here.) [Khaleej Times via Slashdot] More »
Press
How To Fix a Mysteriously Ruptured Undersea Cable
2:10AM Wilson Rothman | Not a week after two massive undersea telecom cables were snapped—according to BBC News, most likely due not to Godzilla but a single tanker “dragging its anchor along the sea bed”—and the repairs are well underway. But how in the hell do you repair a nine-layer steel-reinforced cable located deep beneath the surface of the Mediterranean? More »
Press
Undersea Telecom Cables Mysteriously Cut, Digitally Stranding India and Middle East
2:57AM Wilson Rothman | One of today’s biggest stories is the fact that India and the Middle East had about 75% of their digital connection to Europe cut off when two cables on the floor of the Mediterranean snapped under mysterious circumstances. Cables get damaged all the time, but never have two gone out simultaneously. It will take days, or even a week to repair the cables. No one knows the cause—or do they? See update below. More »
Networks
Full Cell Coverage in the Middle of Dubai’s Desert (or Why Does Cell Coverage Sucks So Much in the US?)
7:00AM Jesus Diaz | Last weekend we spent some time driving buggies in the middle of the Arabian desert, 40 miles out of Dubai. After an hour of sliding up and down impossible dunes, we stopped to rest. I took out my cellphone to see if it had survived the craziness, which it had, and was surprised to see that I had service available. And not just one bar, but absolutely perfect coverage: the full five bars, EDGE and all. And, according to our friends James and Lu, it gets even better: More »
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