2 Billion people expected online by end of 2010

Today I'm going to continue talk about INGVIP, the owner of the website is an English tips' partner, Fúvio C. Perini is a Brazilian interpreter-translator, teacher and Brazilian blogger, we have something in common, we both promote the VOA's website, but only texts, biographies you can find different sorts of videos with different accents, Friends' Series, English course and much more visit his website and practise a lot English it's a resourceful not only for Brazilian but Students worldwide have been visited there keep practising, keep studying hard. Access INGVIP http://www.ingvip.com/texto/2-billion-people-expected-online-2010.htm


  This is Alex Villarreal with the VOA Special English Technology Report, formerly(1) called the Development Report(2), fromhttp://voaspecialenglish.com | http://facebook.com/voalearningenglish 

   1- Before(3) we changed(4) the name, we went on our Facebook page and asked for(5) story ideas. Some of you suggested(6) that we talk about ICT, information and communication technology.Well, the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency,released(7) its latest ICT Facts and Figures(8) report in October.

       2- Since two thousand five, the number of Internet users worldwide(9) has doubled to more than one and a half billion people. At least(10) two billion are expected to be online by the end(11) of this year.    

      3 - The ITU says more than seventy percent of new Internet users(12) this year will be in developing countries(13). Still(14), only twenty-one percent of the population of the developing world is online -- compared to seventy-one percent in developed(15) countries.

      4 - Susan Teltscher is head(16) of the agency's Market Information and Statistics Division in Switzerland(17). She says there are still(18) very huge(19) divides when it comes to(20) accessing the Internet, especially high-speed Internet.

      5 - In Africa not even(21) ten percent of the population is using the Internet.Fewer than(22) sixteen percent of homes in developing countries are wired for the Internet. But, on the other hand(23), Ms. Teltscher says mobile phone usage(24) has reached sixty-eight percent in developing countries.

     6 - The world has almost(25) seven billion people. Nine out of ten(26) now have access to mobile networks(27). The ITU estimates that mobile subscriptions(28) will reach five billion three hundred million this year. The majority(29) are in the developing world. And Susan Teltscher says more and more(30) people in developing countries are using their mobile phones to connect to the Internet.

    7 - Ms. Teltscher says mobile technology is already improving lives(31) in developing countries. She points to(32) examples like banking by phone, e-health services and farm reports by text messaging. And the possibilities will only grow(33) as broadband(34), or high-speed, connections become(35) more widely available(36).

    8 - ITU Secretary General(37) Hamadoun Toure calls broadband "the next truly(38) transformational technology." He also(39) calls it the most powerful tool(40) available in the race(41) to meet(42) the Millennium Development Goals(43) by twenty fifteen(44). For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal. Join us online at voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook or Twitter at VOA Learning English.

Vocabularies in English-Portuguese

1. Formerly = anteriormente
2. Development Report = Relatório de desenvolvimento
3. Before = antes
4. changed = mudássemos
5. asked for Pedimos, solicitamos
6. suggested = sugeriram
7. released = lançou, liberou
8. Figures = Números
9. worldwide  = mundialmente, no mundo todo
10. At least = Pelo menos
11. by the end = até o final
12. users = usuários
13. developing countries = Países em desenvolvimento
14. Still = ainda assim
15. developed  = desenvolvido
16. head  = chefe
17. Switzerland = Suíça
18. there are still = Existem ainda
19. huge = imenso(a)
20. when it comes to = Quando se trata de
21. not even = Nem sequer
22. Fewer than = Menos do que
23. On the other hand = por outro lado
24. usage = utilização
25. almost  = quase
26. Nine out of ten = Nove entre dez
27. networks = redes
28. subscriptions = assinaturas
29. majority = maioria
30. more and more = cada vez mais
31. improving lives = melhorando vidas
32. points to = aponta para
33. grow  = crescer
34. broadband = banda larga
35. become = tornar-se
36. widely available = amplamente disponível
37. General  = geral
38. truly = verdadeiramente
39. also = também
40. the most powerful tool = a ferramenta mais poderosa
41. race  = corrida
42. meet  = encontrar, alcançar
43. Goals  = objetivos
44. twenty fifteen = 2015

The net isn’t as important as we think

The net isn’t as important as we think

source: palavrasmentais.blogspot.com


Source: www.speakup.com.br

Ha-Joon Chang, born in South Korea in 1963, is an economist based at Cambridge University specializing in development. He is the author of several books, including Kicking Away the Ladder (2002) and Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008). In his new book, 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism (Alen Lane) Chang debunks many myths about the free market. In one chapter, he says. “The washing machine changed the world more than the internet.”

Is it really true that the washing machine has changed the world more than the internet? 

When we assess the impact of technological changes we send to downplay things that happened a while ago. Of course, the internet is great –I can now Google and find the exact location of a restaurant in Liverpool, or whatever. But when you look t the impact of this on the economy. It’s mainly in the area of leisure.

The internet may have significantly changed the working patterns of people like you and me, but we are in a small minority. For most people, its effect is more about keeping in touch with friends and looking up things here and there.  Economists have found very little evidence that since the internet revolution productivity has grown.

And the washing machine was more transformative?

By liberating women from household work and helping to abolish professions such as domestic service, the washing machine and other household goods completely revolutionised the structure of society. As women have become active in the labour market they have acquired a dfferent status at home –they will leave them and make an independent living. And this had enormous economic consequences. Rather than spend their time washing clothes, women could go out and do more productive things. Basically, it has doubled the workforce.

The washing machine is just one element here. Other factors have contributed to the liberation of women – feminism, the pill and so on.

Yes, but feminism couldn’t have been implemented unless there was this technological basis for a society where women went out and worked. Of course it’s not just the washing machine, it’s piped water, electricity, and so on.

Do we tend to overestimate the importance revolutions?

Not always. The invention of the printing press was one of the most important events in human history. But we overestimate the internet and ignore its downsides. There’s now so much information out there that you don’t actually have time to digest it.

SPEED

But what about the sheer speed at which it allows us to do things?

That is exaggerated too. Before the invention of the telegraph in the late 19^th century. It took two to three weeks to carry a message across the Atlantic. The telegraph reduced it to 20 to 30 minutes –an increase of 2.000 - 3.000 times. The internet has reduced the time of sending. Say, three or four pages of text from the 30 seconds you needed with a fax machine down to maybe two seconds – a reduction by a factor of 15. I can’t think of anything where it’s really so important that we send it in two seconds rather than a few minutes.

Do we fundamentally misunderstand the nature of capitalism, as the title of your book implies?

Let me start by saying that I am an advocate of capitalism. To paraphrase Winston Churchill. I think it’s the worst economic system except for all the others. So I’m not an anti-capitalism to work. But the version of capitalism that we have practised in the past two or three decades is a very extreme free market version which contrary to the claims of many economists, is not the only or best way to run things. There are many different ways and in the book I show that countries that I have run capitalism differently – even if they practise free-market capitalism today – have done much better.