Red Cross

The devastation in Haiti seems to be extensive.

The devastation in Haiti seems to be extensive.

by Sam Kean

Had a great opportunity to meet Frank Eliason from @comcastcares and Wendy Harman from @redcross at a local Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA) event last night. Frank, Wendy and Mimi Chan from AT&T all had very different and very interesting stories to tell about how their Big Brands are Using Social Media.

Had a great opportunity to meet Frank Eliason from @comcastcares and Wendy Harman from @redcross at a local Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA) event last night. Frank, Wendy and Mimi Chan from AT&T all had very different and very interesting stories to tell about how their Big Brands are Using Social Media.

Chinese Web surfers are being asked to stay off the Internet on July 1 to protest the Chinese government's demand that blocking software Green Dam Youth Escort be installed on all PCs sold in China.

That is the date the software filter sold by Jinhui Computer System Engineering is due to debut. All PCs sold in China on and after this date must have the software. It's also the anniversary date of the founding of the Communist Party in China.

Mark Danner in the New York Review of Books:

In an era of dazzling battery-powered portable devices including iPods, computers and cellphones, it's hard to imagine what it's like to be unable to catch the news and entertainment anytime and anywhere we want.

But millions of people who own portable televisions, including those who depend on them when they flee their homes or lose power during hurricanes and other emergencies, may soon return to the dark ages.

For the most part, the callers were calm, patiently asking for the fastest path out of New Orleans or some other Gulf Coast city as Hurricane Gustav twisted its way to the northwest.

They started calling General Motors Corp.'s OnStar service by the thousands early Saturday, and by Sunday their numbers had grown to more than 3,000 an hour.

As more than 2 million people tried to outrun the deadly storm, OnStar beefed up its staff to around 500 and put emergency plans in place at three call centers in Pontiac, Mich.; Oshawa, Canada; and Charlotte, N.C.