It’s tough to keep up with all of the news flowing out of Syria.

From Israeli air strikes to coastal massacres to chemical weapons to US and Russian Cooperation there is a huge amount of information streaming out of the region at all time.

Well, maybe not all times, that stream was abruptly cut off Tuesday when Syria’s Internet went down for nearly 20 hours.

Maybe no one should be surprised that the Web could shut down in a nation wracked by war. But as the conflict in Syria has become more dire, with a death toll near 90,000, the web has gained prominence as a way to distribute information, within the country and internationally.

How is the Internet being used in modern day conflicts?

So far both sides in the Syrian civil war have made pretty good use of the web. Rebel forces have hacked multiple government websites to post interactive maps and descriptions of atrocities committed by the government.

But pro-Assad forces would not be out done, and formed the Syrian Electronic Army, a force dedicated to rooting out dissent by tracking online communication. Even journalists, because they are barred from writing reports, use online video to update the world on what is going on.

 Internet is becoming more and more important to everyone, especially those wanting to exercise free speech.

his short outage caused a decent amount of strife, if this were to happen again for a longer period of time who knows what could happen?

The Device APIs Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation of HTML Media Capture. The HTML Media Capture specification defines an HTML form extension that facilitates user access to a device's media capture mechanism, such as a camera, or microphone, from within a file upload control. Learn more about the Ubiquitous Web Applications Activity.

An examination of simple cell-phone records reveals maps of poverty levels, ethnic divides, and the movements of sports fans.

Around the world, some mobile carriers have been releasing anonymized records of cell-phone data to researchers.

by Theo Gonzalves

In this Treehouse Quick Tip, Jason demystifies the concepts behind what a has many :through association is in Ruby on Rails. We’ll figure out what a join table is, how different models fit together, and the syntax needed to make it all work. Score one for Treehouse!

The post What is a has_many :through association in Ruby on Rails? | Quick Tip appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

It is amazing what controversy 2 words can create.

Google should know… each word typed into its search engine matters…

Then it should have been no surprise to Google the minefield they stepped into when it made a small change on its local home page in Palestine.

It announced that it has replaced “Palestinian Territories” with “Palestine”.  

In the hyper-sensitive world of Israeli-Palestinian relations the move triggered outrage.

The change was thought to infer that Palestine was now being legitimized as a sovereign state rather than disputed “territories”.

Israel has questioned the move, stating that it raises questions about the multinational company’s involvement in international politics and damages prospects for peace.  

As with the successful bid for upgraded status at the UN General Assembly (non-member observe state), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signaled Google’s move as a victory for Palestine and another step forward in their quest for liberation.  

Many seem to think Google has an ulterior motive, though they claim they are following the lead of the UN, the Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), and the ISO (International Organization for Standardization), and that they always consult a multitude of sources and authorities when naming countries.

Is Google seeking to legitimize the Palestinian cause? Or are they simply adhering to the new international norm?

Do they even have anything to gain from doing so?

Let us know in a comment below.