One Laptop Per Child - Tablet PC

One Laptop per Child is teaming up with Marvell to create a tablet PC for children in the developing world to use.  They expect it to have a glass screen next year.  Within two years they believe they will meet their goal of a plastic device that is rugged and durable.  It will also be very inexpensive at $75.00 per unit per
OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte.


This kind of technology can have a major impact on the education available and resources available to children around the world.

Technology and Answers Come to Impoverished Bangladesh Villages Via the InfoLadies.

The infoLadies ride bicycles from village to village in Bangladesh bringing answers and solutions to the problems people are facing. They have a phone, netbook computer, some medical devices like blood pressure monitors and pregnancy kits. They help people get information that they wouldn't be able to get otherwise.

For instance if someone has a pest problem with their crops, the infoLadies can search to find the information they need to solve the problem. They also can help people medically by doing blood pressure checks and other simple medical tests. If someone appears to have a common skin disease, the infoladies can find solutions.

Initially, the infoLadies were considered somewhat of a "scandal" but are now enthusiastically received in villages. One man wanted to get a job in technology but had never had a computer course. He was able to take a crash course on Microsoft office on one of the infoLadies' netbook computers. He had only seen computers previously in books.

This is another way that technology can be used to improve the lives of the poor. Knowledge is power and with a simple netbook there is a large library of knowledge available that would not be available otherwise. This information can be used for improving crop yields to improving people's health. This kind of concept should be expanded among poor communities around the world.

Original Story and image from Gizmodo   Source story by Kyle VanHemert

Safe Clean Drinking Water -Round Two - The Lifesaver Bottle

Michael Pritchard has invented a relatively low cost water filtration system to render polluted water safe to drink.  The smallest virus is approximately twenty-five nanometers across.  The filter for the Lifesaver bottle filters down to fifteen nanometers, meaning viruses and bacteria can't get through.  Per Michael, his Jerry Cans which use the same technology can provide safe drinking water for a family of four for three years at a cost of about a half a cent per day.  He makes an excellent point.  Instead of shipping in bottles of water in disasters, where there is water (though not safe) available, it would be more beneficial to distribute these lifesaver bottles.  Each basic lifesaver bottle can purify approximately 4000iters, that's about 1000 gallons.
Check out Mr. Pritchard's TED talk:

Clay Water Filters for Poor Nations and Communities

Potters for Peace and other organizations are producing clay pot water filters that can turn contaminated and polluted water into 99.9 percent pure water that is safe to drink

Essentially, a clay pot or filter is formed with a mix of fifty percent clay and fifty percent sawdust.  When the clay pot is fired the sawdust is burned up leaving small holes and paths for water to seep through.  This filters out most foreign matter.  The pot is coated with colloidal silver.  The silver kills bacterial and viruses the pot is put into a larger container that catches the clean water seeping out of the clay pot.

These filters are inexpensive, can often be made locally and are extremely effective changing polluted water into water that is safe to drink.  The result is the reduction or elimination of most water borne illnesses.  This can help people in poor areas live much longer healthier lives.

Potters For Peace

Anil Gupta on Innovation Among the Poor

Anil Gupta spoke at TED India about innovation among the poor.  He also talked about how they are often exploited.  They come up with ideas, others use them in some way but don't give credit where credit it due.  That kind of must stop.  So he has a honeybee network where innovators among the poor can connect, and be known and credited with their innovations.

Anil has some wonderful examples like  Md. Saidullah, a seventy year old man, who created an amphibious bicycle.  He shows Sheikh Jahangira, who uses a two wheeler to carry a small powered grinder and washing machine around selling it as a service.   It's a great example of how the poor can be the answers to their own poverty.

Time For A Better Way- It's Time to Get Serious About Renewable Energy

The Gulf Oil leak continues pouring millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and BP can't stop it.  This means there are not enough safeguards to prevent disasters.  Who knows when they'll get it stopped or how much damage will be done to the environment, or to business and commerce?    How much will the cleanup end up costing.

It's time to focus our efforts on renewable energy sources like wind and solar.  Yes, they are more expensive in the short run, but solar and wind costs are actually dropping quite dramatically.  It's time to move away from our dependence on fossil fuels and more toward a more sane energy policy.  It's time to get the oil  industry's influence out of the process.  Let's face it, they serve or care about nothing but their bottom line.  They don't care about Americans except how much they can get out of their pockets. 

If  we don't start taking action now on this issue, we can look forward to more disasters in the future.  It's time to move beyond  this polluting, limited resource and toward resources that make far better sense over the long haul.

Time for the Medical Profession to Come in to the 21st Century

I had to go for a follow up visit to the Doctor today and I'm not impressed with what I saw.  My file was a folder with sheets for each visit attached and the Doctor (not my usual) was working her way through the pages to see where I was and what I was in for.  It was bulky.  It was cumbersome and took longer than it should have.

Why isn't the office networked.   Why can't the Doctor's see your history at a glance?  Why can't the nurses who take the vitals enter them real time. Frankly, I didn't have much confidence as the Doctor  tried to figure out what the previous Doctor had done what drugs I was taking, how often, what the dosages were.

Even Wal-Mart's automotive department has portable networked scanners where your car id is entered in, what you are there for is entered in and everything is done electronically.  Yet Doctor's offices remain in the 19th century.  Come on Doctors - it's 2010.  Network your offices and get some IPADS and join us in the 21st century.

Jawhorse Reviews: Great Looking Gift for the Do It Yourself Crowd

I'm always on the lookout for great gifts.   Check out Jawhorse Reviews for a great gift idea.   I think I found a great gift for Father's Day or my Dad's Birthday.  I've checked out reviews of the Rockwell Jawhorse and it is pretty impressive.  It's a combination workbench, clamp, tool mount all in one.  My dad is a serious do it yourself proponent so this little gem looks like it is just the ticket.

It's extremely sturdy looking.  It can be used to replace a couple of sawhorses and clamps.  It looks likes the perfect gift for the do it yourself guys who don't always have an extra set of hands around to try to hold things down for cutting, welding or gluing.

Anyway for a possible Father's day gift idea check out  Jawhorse Reviews.

Search Amazon.com for jawhorse

Shipping Container Housing - First Day of Conversion

This video is from the first day of converting a steel shipping container into a housing unit.  My friend Dale Parker is the owner of Good Castle Specialty Housing.  The idea is to convert steel cargo containers which can be found in abundance all over the world into affordable housing.  Dale has plans for turning them into emergency shelters in disasters, to mountain cabins, mobile medical units and family home.  Check out his website for more information.