Word: fibers
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...seen unspooling thousands of meters of black cable into freshly dug trenches along the city's roads. The flurry of work was all done in anticipation of what was heralded as the dawn of a new era: At long last, East Africa would be connected to an undersea fiber-optic Internet cable, and with it, to the planet's cheap, high-speed information superhighway...
With the arrival of SEACOM, which cost some $600 million, East Africa will no longer be dogged by the rather ignominious distinction of being the last place on Earth without access to a high-speed submarine fiber-optic cable. Until now, it has had to rely on vastly more expensive - and less dependable - satellite connections for Internet and international phone service. (Read: "Kenya's Mobile Gold Mine...
After famine, now comes the flood. SEACOM is the first of three fiber-optic cables that will connect East Africa, via the Kenyan port of Mombasa, to the rest of the world. Analysts say that could lead to a more than 90% reduction in the cost of Internet access in years to come. The high price of using the Internet has up until now crippled the region's nascent tech sector, denying jobs to millions of well-educated young Africans. (Read: "Kenya's Blackboard Jungle...
...ventilation systems, and are reportedly large enough to allow large vehicles to drive through them. The projects have been nicknamed "tortoise shells" by the government - the often brutally repressive regime intends to use North Korea's subterranean savvy to man a network of underground command centers, linked with fiber-optic cable, that can rule Burma in times of emergency and quash any civilian uprising...
...possible - but few Americans are doing it. Toilet paper containing 100% recycled fiber makes up less than 2% of the U.S. market, while sales of three-ply luxury brands like Cottonelle Ultra and Charmin Ultra Soft shot up 40% in 2008. Compare the U.S. desire for an ever plusher flush with the more austere bathroom habits of Europe and Latin America, where recycled TP makes up about 20% of the at-home market. Recycled material simply can't match the level of comfort that virgin fiber provides - and that U.S. consumers have come to expect. "They...