It’s been widely reported that digital technology has become indispensable to the popular uprisings in the Mideast, but it isn’t just a matter of heading down to the Verizon store for a new I-phone.
As regimes under attack try to shut down the Internet or block cellphone services, The Economist reports, tech-savvy revolutionaries have turned to homemade devices to circumvent the blackouts. One example: A directional antenna made with a tin can and a few dollars worth of hardware that can extend Wi-Fi range far beyond normal, allowing dissidents to communicate with each other and the outside world.