CCI

ICTD2009 Call for Papers

The 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies 
and Development (ICTD2009) will be held 17-19 April 2009 at Carnegie-Mellon's 
state-of-the-art campus in Doha, Qatar (http://www.ictd2009.org ).  This conference will act 
as a focal point for new scholarship in the field of ICT and international development.  
Confirmed speakers include a keynote by 
William H. Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation.

We invite submission of papers for ICTD2009, the third of an ongoing series of conferences, 
which follows successful events at Berkeley in May 2006 (http://sims.berkeley.edu/ictd2006), 
and Bangalore in December 
2007 (http://research.microsoft.com/workshops/ictd2007)

IMPORTANT DATES
June 15, 2008                   Last date for informal feedback
September 22, 2008              Submissions due
January 15, 2009                Final decisions sent out to authors
February 20, 2009               Camera-ready papers due
April 17-19, 2009               Conference

Microsoft Joins Effort for Laptops for Children

By STEVE LOHR

Published: May 16, 2008

After a years-long dispute, Microsoft and the computing and education project One Laptop Per Child said Thursday that they had reached an agreement to offer Windows on the organization’s computers.

Microsoft long resisted joining the ambitious project because its laptops used the Linux operating system, a freely distributed alternative to Windows.

The group’s small, sturdy laptops, designed for use by children in developing nations, have been hailed for their innovative design. But they are sold mainly to governments and education ministries, and initial sales were slow, partly because countries were reluctant to buy machines that did not run Windows, the dominant operating system.

Education ministries want low-cost computers to help further education, but many see familiarity with Windows-based computing as a marketable skill that can improve job prospects.

see full NYTimes article by following this link.

HP Unveils Small Laptop for Schoolkids

April 8, 2008 - 7:34am
By JORDAN ROBERTSON

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - One more of the world's biggest technology companies is clamoring to enter the growing market for pint-sized computers targeted mainly for pint-sized customers. Hewlett-Packard Co., the No. 1 seller of personal computers worldwide, said Tuesday it's throwing its weight behind a new class of miniaturized laptops, a fledgling market already populated with products from Intel Corp., the world's largest semiconductor company, and Asustek Computers Inc., the world's largest maker of computer motherboards.

The machines are so new the industry hasn't settled on a name for low-cost and scaled-down laptops used primarily for surfing the Internet and performing other basic functions like word processing.

Intel has labeled them "netbooks," and it expects more than 50 million netbooks to be in circulation by 2011.

HP executives say their new machines, which go on sale later this month, are an important piece of the Palo Alto-based company's effort to build market share in schools, where machines had to be smaller and cheaper without losing too many functions.

The companies also expect adults to cotton to the idea of buying two laptops _ a lightweight one just for Web browsing on the go and the full-power machine for the home or office. But industry executives acknowledge that the market is untested and that no one knows what demand will be once the machines are deployed widely.

HP's foray comes in the form of a new computer called a "Mini-Note" that weighs less than 3 pounds with a screen that measures 8.9 inches diagonally. The machines start at under $500 for a Linux-based model. Prices go up for Windows Vista models with faster processors.

The processors HP is using are made by Via Technologies Inc., the distant third-ranked player in the microprocessor space, and come in clock speeds up to 1.6 gigahertz. The inclusion is a big win for Via, which trails Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. by a wide margin in the microprocessor market.

HP executives say the only major feature its Mini-Note lacks is an optical drive for ingesting DVDs and CD-ROMs, which can be bought separately. But they say many schools requested the drives be left out to prevent students from playing unauthorized games.

The Mini-Note will compete primarily with Intel's Classmate PCs _ which are designed by Intel and feature Intel chips but are built and branded by other companies _ and Asustek's Eee PC.

To a lesser extent, they also will go up against the XO laptop from the Cambridge, Mass., nonprofit One Laptop per Child, which is intended primarily for schoolchildren in developing countries.

Intel says it has sold "tens of thousands" of Classmate PCs since they went on sale last year. And OLPC says it has sold hundreds of thousands of the XO. Figures were not immediately available for sales of the Eee.

Everex CloudBook

9 Inches, 2 pounds, 5 hours of battery life. Surf, email, blog, IM, Skype, compute. Cloud computing makes it simple and easy for everyone.

Based on the latest gOS Rocket operating system, the ultra-mobile Everex PC comes with popular applications from Google, Mozilla, Skype, OpenOffice.org and more.

Additional Preinstalled and Linked Software
Mozilla Firefox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Wikipedia, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xing Movie Player, RythemBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3 (includes WRITER, IMPRESS, DRAW, CALC, BASE)

Hardware Specifications
1.2GHz, VIA C7®-M Processor ULV, 512MB DDR2 533MHz, SDRAM, 30GB Hard Disk Drive, 7" WVGA TFT Display (800 x 480), VIA UniChrome Pro IGP Graphics, VIA High-Definition Audio, 802.11b/g, (1) 10/100 Ethernet Port, (1) DVI-I Port, (2) USB 2.0 Ports, (1) 4-in1 Media Card Reader, (1) .3MP Webcam, (1) Headphone/Line-Out Port, (1) Microphone/Line-In Port, (1) Set of Stereo Speaker, (1) Touchpad, (1) 4-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery

Price: $399

See: http://www.everex.com/

Nimbus Cloud Computer

February 15, 2008 - Entrepreneurs Launch New Computer-as-a-Service with a Breakthrough “Freemium” Subscription Model to Open Wider Access to Computers for both New and Multi-Computer Homes

Serial entrepreneurs Vern Kennedy, John Crowley and Vijay Das, are launching the nimbus cloud computer (www.nimbuscc.com) today. The nimbus cloud computer offers a familiar computer desktop environment that is fully internet enabled and is delivered to home users by servers located in multiple data centers via a proprietary ultra-thin client. ScreenPC, Inc. is offering the basic service at an affordable monthly subscription rate of $19 per month or as an ad-sponsored service with no monthly charge.

see http://www.nimbuscc.com/buzz.html

Immigrant, librarian team up for literacy
by Mike Meno - Gazette.net

A partnership between a 19-year-old immigrant from Eritrea and an employee at the Takoma Park Maryland Library could soon provide people learning English with a tool to improve their reading, writing and conversation.

Abreham Tsefaye moved to Montgomery County two years ago from the African nation Eritrea, where he had taken English classes since he was 7 years old, and was able to speak English better than his parents and four siblings, he said.
When he enrolled at Montgomery Blair High School, where he is now a senior, Tsefaye was told that as part of the state’s student service learning program, he had to complete 40 hours of nonprofit community service work to graduate. But in order to support his family, Tsefaye had committed his weekends to working part-time, and he didn’t know how he’d find time to complete the graduation requirement.

Phil Shapiro, a public services librarian and self-proclaimed ‘‘public geek” at the Takoma Park Maryland Library, provided the answer.

Shapiro had met Tsefaye’s younger brother, Henos Tsefaye, an eighth-grader, at the library and one night went to the family’s home in Takoma Park to install a donated iMac computer. When he met Abreham Tsefaye and heard about his dilemma, Shapiro decided to help.

‘‘Abreham had this need,” Shapiro said. ‘‘I didn’t want to just have him do something where he’s not going to learn.”

Super-speed Internet satellite blasts off in Japan

(CNN) -- Japan launched a rocket Saturday carrying a satellite that will test new technology that promises to deliver "super high-speed Internet" service to homes and businesses around the world.

The rocket carrying the WINDS satellite -- a joint project of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries -- lifted off its pad at 5:55 p.m. (0855 GMT).
If the technology proves successful, subscribers with small dishes will connect to the Internet at speeds many times faster than what is now available over residential cable or DSL services.
The Associated Press said the satellite would offer speeds of up to 1.2 gigabytes per second.
The service initially would focus on the Asia-Pacific region close to Japan, a JAXA news release said.
"Among other uses, this will make possible great advances in telemedicine, which will bring high-quality medical treatment to remote areas, and in distance education, connecting students and teachers separated by great distances," JAXA said.
The rocket was launched from Japan's Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center.

UNESCO releases a user's guide to community radio

07-01-2008 (New Delhi)

“Community Radio: A user’s guide to the technology” is a guide to technical parameters of community radio in India. Produced for potential community radio operators, this technical manual takes into account the intention of the Government of India to establish 4000 community radio stations by 2008.

The publication aims to accompany interested organizations in the demystification of each piece of equipment usually found in community radio stations, its role and function within a wider social context, advantages and disadvantages of its usage. For others, who dare to be technically more adventurous, detailed notes on equipment are also provided.

The guide in PDF format can be donwloaded here.

A PC for peasant farmers? China targets digital divide.

China's computermakers tap vast rural market with simple tools and local officials' support.

By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the September 28, 2007 edition

Langfang, China - Visitors to the annual agricultural fair here this week were treated to something more than the corn harvesters and feedstuff pulverizers that usually grace such events.

They got to gawk at an item that its makers hope will become the Chinese peasant's next must-have piece of agricultural machinery: a $199 computer.

Lenovo, the world's third-largest computermaker and China's best-known global brand, chose this northeastern town to launch its assault on the growth frontier for PC sales – villagers in developing countries – and start bridging the digital divide between urban and rural citizens.

To tempt farmers into high-tech territory, Lenovo executives explain, they have tried to make their machine easy to use, cheap, and robust. But its key feature, they say, is its software, dubbed "Road to Riches," that helps peasants search for agricultural information that will boost business.

Wang Shunxiang, a fungus grower and the first customer to buy the computer, thinks he can see the potential.

. "If this helps me know more about market prices and find more dealers to sell to … it won't take me more than a few days to make back the money I am spending," he predicts.

Lenovo's President for Greater China, Chen Shaopeng, sees profit in the "Tianfu" (Heavenly Prosperity) model too, as he eyes 250 million households in the Chinese hinterland. "The rural market in China is huge," he points out, "and computer penetration is practically zero. This is a totally new market to be explored."

That novelty brings challenges: Electricity supplies are not always reliable in the Chinese countryside, phone lines reach only 47 per cent of rural homes according to government statistics, and even $199 is beyond the means of millions of peasants.

Lenovo's new product will also be competing with another low priced PC just launched by another Chinese producer, Haier. "These are very much early days," cautions Wang Jiping, an analyst with the US research company IDC. "They are still at the investment and ground-laying stage."

Still, the trend is there. While only 0.3 per cent of China's 162 million Internet users live in the countryside, their numbers are doubling every six months, according to the officialChina Internet Network Information Center.

Lenovo's ambitions to tap this trend take the shape of a chocolate-box-sized computer that plugs into a TV screen, controlled by a touchpad keyboard and buttons laid out like a remote control.

Using the machine is more like watching television – a familiar experience for most Chinese peasants – than sitting in front of a computer.

Simple controls take the user around a range of functions from online education and entertainment services to agricultural information portals, and also allows him to choose specific sites or send e-mails and instant messages.

Simputer
The Simputer is a self-contained, handheld computer, designed for use in environments where computing devices such as personal computers are deemed inappropriate. Due to the low cost, it was also deemed appropriate to bring computing power to the developing countries.

The device was designed by the Simputer Trust, a non-profit organization formed in November 1999. The word "Simputer" is an acronym for "simple, inexpensive and multilingual people's computer", and is a trademark of the Simputer Trust. It includes text-to-speech software and runs the GNU/Linux operating system. Similar in appearance to the Palm Pilot class of handheld computers, the touch sensitive screen is operated on with a stylus; simple handwriting recognition software is provided by the program Tapatap.

Read the full article in Wikipedia