Cities are made for sauntering and every saunter needs its appropriate soundtrack. Over the past three months I have walked the streets of Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Ubud, Nairobi, Kampala, Nakuru, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Toronto, D.C., and New York City. According to my iPod, these are the tracks that most faithfully accompanied me. Enjoy.

Compared to our neighbor across the bay, Oakland typically doesn’t have too much to show off when it comes to innovative online media. Sure, there are a few great bloggers like George Kelley, Mari, Afrogeek, and Cyrus Farivar, and at least one excellent podcast by Britt Bravo, but simply put, we’re still no San Francisco. [...]

Via Boris, I discover this quote from William Gibson: The future is already here – it is just unevenly distributed. Just try flying from Delhi to Tokyo or from Singapore to East Africa and you’ll know exactly what he means. In South Korea they watch TV on their cell phones. In southern Kenya the Masai [...]

For my friends, it’s kinda become a running joke. “Don’t get mugged.” This is how they say goodbye to me now. Truth is, I’ve only been mugged twice in my life (not counting the incident with the Russian prostitutes in Athens – another story for another time). But both muggings were relatively violent and have [...]

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it … all night long. If you’re going my way, I wanna drive it … all night long. Crazy ass song to have stuck in my head on a peaceful fog-surrounded Saturday morning right? But there you have it. I’m not the one who puts these things in [...]

Here is the email I was going to send to Rehman Rashid, author of what I’m tempted to describe as the best book I’ve read this year, A Malaysian Journey. Dear Rehman, A few weeks ago I was invited to come speak in Kuala Lumpur on how governments around the world have responded to the [...]

I am grateful to Malaysian blogging pioneer Jeff Ooi and all the members of the ALL-BLOGS alliance for inviting me to speak in Kuala Lumpur about how various governments worldwide have responded to the opportunities and challenges posed by the rise of citizen media and the outspoken citizens and citizen groups it has empowered. I [...]

There is an inconsistency in my thinking. On the one hand, I agree with the truism that education (especially higher education) is the fastest road to both development and peace. And yet, I would also agree with anyone who says that formal institutions of education are now less relevant than ever. So, I don’t know [...]

“Jakarta’s Traffic This Morning” by Chandra Marsono. If there is one truth that has followed me from San Francisco to Seattle to Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Singapore, Nairobi, Kampala, Kuala Lumpur and now here, today, in Jakarta, it is what is all around me as I type this in the back of my taxi to the [...]

Few are the men who can lay claim to putting their arms around Miss Alicia Keyes. Of those lucky souls only one comes from Nakuru, Kenya and that man is Dennis Kimambo. Dennis is the founder of Repacted Kenya, a community group in Nakuru that uses participatory theater to teach young people about AIDS and [...]