Archive for category: Technology

Information and stories about technology news.

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Microsoft: Internet Access in Africa Using TV White Space

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The Wi-Fi networks we use at home or in cafés have a limited signal reach of about 100 square feet.

To manage the problem of Internet connection, IT companies and Microsoft Corp. are utilizing TV white space. The technology is a spectrum of broadcast frequencies, typically used to transmit TV channels from one location to another, harnessed for wireless networks.

Through the 4Afrika initiative, Microsoft collaborates with local universities and IT companies including those in Namibia, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania, to bring the internet to unconnected parts of Africa. Microsoft launched the initiative in February 2013, with the latest project this year in Botswana.

TV white space makes broadband internet access in Africa affordable for most users in isolated parts of Namibia that could not otherwise access using typical café Wi-Fi. The distance of the frequency waves from the TV towers is much farther than a basic modem signal radius.

Namibia is an example of a large-scale white space project that covers a 38.5 by 94-mile area. The regions of Oshana, Ohangwena, Omusati and 28 schools in Northern Namibia are now connected to a broadband network.

One of the purposes of connecting secluded areas is to ensure that schools can communicate with other schools, businesses and nations.

Namibia is not an exceptional country grappling with access to the internet. Many African schools and hospitals outside of urban areas require the internet to provide learners and patients with the best education and health care.

In Ghana, tablets and other electronics are used to connect students to a broader academic and business community. Orlando Ayala is chairman of emerging markets at Microsoft.

He says that “We have to be an active participant in ensuring that by empowering this young human resource, that translates into innovation and creation of jobs. Hopefully, Tech Start-ups come from not only Africa but beyond Africa.”

Broadband Internet connection in Limpopo, South Africa also links secondary schools to a larger education community. Mountain View secondary school teacher Simon Matlebjame says that “We will be able to interact with other countries. Learners will be marketable and employable.”

The Internet gap between some parts of Africa and other communities is often referred to as the “digital divide,” or Africa’s economic and technological relationship to the rest of the world.

Another one of 4Afrika initiative incentives is to enhance Africa’s global economic value.

Microsoft looks at Africa as an investment in the future of technology. The company’s message is that the “Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative is built on the dual beliefs that technology can accelerate growth for Africa, and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world.”

By focusing on world-class skills, innovation and access, the company aims to provide the tools for success in the global market. Beyond economic opportunity, the initiative brings quality health care to African countries.

Project Kgolagano connects hospitals and clinics to allow easy transmission of medical records and patient access to specialized medicine through telemedicine. In partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, Botswana government and other IT companies, Microsoft helps join specialized health care and hospitals.

Director of the Botswana Innovation Hub Marketing, ICT and Registration, Dr. Geoffrey Seleka says that “there is currently a lack of specialized care in remote hospitals and clinics in Botswana.” The specialized care using photo and video transmissions between hospitals will make quality health care realistic.

A 2012 U.N. Human Rights Council resolution declared that Internet access is a basic human right.

Hospitals all over Botswana and Africa are, or are in the process of being, connected. By the efforts of local educators, IT companies and the 4Afrika Initiative, hospitals will have easier access to crucial medical records and students will have easier time learning.

The overarching goal is that people in Africa will share medical, educational and technological innovations with the rest of the world.

– Michael Hopek

Sources: Penn Medicine, Microsoft, UW Electrical Engineering, 4Afrika Microsoft 1, 4Afrika Microsoft 2, 4Afrika Microsoft 3, 4Afrika Microsoft 4
Photo: The Guardian

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The Role of XPRIZE in Ending Poverty

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Lack of access to sanitation and agriculture; the inability to maintain infrastructure or attend school—these are just some of the issues addressed by non-profit organizations aiming to combat global poverty. XPRIZE, one such non-profit, comes at the problem from a different angle by focusing on what the organization believes to be a need for ending poverty and spurring development: competition.

According to the organization’s website, “an XPRIZE is a highly leveraged, incentivized prize competition that pushes the limits of what’s possible to change the world for the better.” This group believes that innovation can solve the world’s problems, and competition created by the website and sponsors will foster this innovation.

There are eleven highlighted prize competitions listed on the website: Adult Literacy, Global Learning, Qualcomm Tricorder, Google Lunar, Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health, Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, Ansari, Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander XCHALLENGE, Progressive Insurance Automotive, Archon Genomics and Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup XCHALLENGE.

Some of these have already had winners selected, some are just beginning and some have finalist teams chosen. These competitions each fall within one of the “grand challenge” categories, which are Energy and Environment, Exploration, Global Development and Learning and Life Sciences.

A number of competitions involve using technology to improve access to education or healthcare. The Ansari XPRIZE was the first competition in 1996 and was awarded in 2004 to Mojave Aerospace Ventures for the creation of an aircraft capable of private space flight.

This competition relies on public participation, as well. People around the world can go online to see the current competitions and the guidelines for each and can vote for which competitions they would like to see in the future. Furthermore, anyone can join or create a team, with the idea being to have experts and amateurs in fields working creatively to produce solutions to global issues.

Through this unique approach, according to its website, XPRIZE is “spurring innovation and accelerating the rate of positive change.” By creating competition, problems caused by poverty are being and continue to be solved and brought to public attention.

– Rachelle Kredentser

Sources: Forbes, Philanthropy, XPRIZE 1, XPRIZE 2, XPRIZE 3
Sources: Global Learning XPRIZE

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Cheapest Smartphone: Productivity and Connectivity for All

Cheapest_Smartphone

Global mobile carrier, Orange, has just launched the world’s cheapest smartphone. By doing so, they have opened up countless potential opportunities for low-income individuals and their families.

The new device is called Klif and runs on Mozilla’s Firefox 2.0 mobile operating system. Retail has been set at $34, or the equivalent exchange rate in countries where American dollars are not used. Features of Klif include a two megapixel camera, Firefox web browser, an FM radio and full Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth integration.

While smartphones are readily available to Africa’s upper and middle classes, those in lower income brackets are typically unable to afford the devices, let alone the sky-high data plans required to run them. Klif includes a data, text and voice plan, and can be run immediately after activation.

Klif marks a key milestone in the greater tech revolution already occurring across Africa. The device allows for thousands to afford Internet access, and increased connectivity has been shown to increase economic income and output. It also allows for thousands to now contact friends and family in a moment’s notice.

With smartphones and certain apps, farmers can check the weather, nurses and doctors can receive patient updates and students can supplement their learning. As Orange expands its network, even more people will be able to reap the benefits of increased data access.

Orange has released Klif in 13 countries across Africa and the Middle East, with the hopes to enter more markets in the near future.

Executive Vice President of Connected Objects and Partnerships for Orange, Yves Maitre, said of Klif, “By scooping up all the costs into one, incredibly priced digital offer, we hope that critical access to the mobile internet and all the opportunities that that opens up, will be within reach of many more people.”

With Klif and increased mobile access in general, developing countries have more potential to catch up with the top nations of the world.

— Joe Kitaj

Sources: CNET, It News Africa
Photo: Wired

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NASA and USAID Partnership: Mekong River


What do you think of when you think of NASA technology? “Space” is probably going to be the answer most people give, unless they’ve heard of SERVIR, the result of a partnership between NASA, USAID, the World Bank in Washington, and several other organizations.

Daniel Irwin, the director of the program, knows this better than anyone. “When people think of NASA,” he says, “they think of Mars Exploration Rovers or finding water on the moon, but a big part of our mission is to study earth from space, to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs.”

SERVIR is actually not an acronym – it is taken from the Spanish word meaning “to serve,” because the goal of the initiative is to do just that.

By combining NASA’s technology and humanitarian groups’ understanding of what areas need what resources and what would benefit people the most, SERVIR is able to better serve the needs of populations.

The NASA website says that the resources developed by SERVIR can help governments and other agencies to more effectively “respond to natural disasters, [improve] food security, safeguard human health, [and] manage water and natural resources.”

SERVIR has hubs at locations throughout the globe, ad just this August, SERVIR-Mekong was launched in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Mekong river is located in Southeast Asia that acts as a major trade route to China. Depending on the seasons, the Mekong sometimes floods the surrounding area, leaving the residents of the Mekong area in severe need.

This is one of the reasons why Mekong was chosen as a location for this SERVIR project.

The Mekong center in particular was the result of NASA and USAID partnership with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC.) This is a partnership that will work to make land use more sustainable and to monitor and (hopefully) decrease the effects of climate change.

For example, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is something that can be monitored with NASA technology. It is an indicator that comes from the amount of light reflected off of the surface of the earth based on the quantity and quality of plant life.

Areas that have lots of healthy vegetation will have a high NDVI and vice versa. Understanding the NDVI of an area can provide everyone from small farmers to forestry service personnel a better understanding of where to plant crops, develop urban centers, and more carefully preserve vegetation.

The power to help individuals and populations all over the world better respond to the effects of climate change extends to areas of food security and water resourcing as well. It truly is a remarkable innovation.

NASA technology can also be used to chart the course of natural disasters. For example, in the past, during hurricanes, it has allowed scientists to map out the paths of mudslides, which allowed them to understand which areas would be most affected and need the most help.

SERVIR’s track record has been vastly successful. Its team has worked with over 200 institutions in over 30 countries to develop local solutions, and to link local offices all over the globe in a network of ideas and innovations. Over 40 custom tools have been developed through the work of SERVIR.

It’s an excellent example of many of the tenets of humanitarianism: utilizing technology, creating partnerships, thinking big (even beyond the global scale) and dedicating existing resources towards a worthwhile cause.

As Irwin says, NASA technology and USAID’s resources together are helping to create “real time, real world applications that are changing the lives of people where they live.”

– Emily Dieckman

Sources: USAID, NASA, Servir Global, Washington Post
Photo: AmericaSpace

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Top 50 Technologies Fighting Poverty


There is no question that the technology revolution of the past 40 years has had an immense effect on human health and development, but many have wondered if there is a single, specific innovation that has proven to be the most impactful.

The answer ends up being that there are many necessary technologies and innovations crucial to human development: 50 to be exact.

The Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies at the Lawrence Berkeley National Research Laboratory (LIGTT) has recently published a report called, “50 Breakthroughs: Critical scientific and technological advances needed for sustainable global development.”

The Berkeley Lab, as it’s commonly known, was founded in 1931 at UC Berkeley, and is now owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Energy. A subdivision of the lab, the LIGTT’s mission is to “identify, develop, and deploy, the next generation of breakthrough technologies for sustainable global development.”

The report ob 50 technologies fighting poverty comes after two years of intense analysis and research. The project was funded in part by USAID’s Global Development Lab.

USAID’s Dave Ferguson, who serves as the Director of the Center for Development Innovation, said “We believe science, technology, and innovation can deliver transformational results, and the 50 Breakthroughs study is an extremely valuable contribution in this endeavor.”

The study is divided into nine different categories and aims to give aid organizations and agencies a map of where to invest their time, funds and resources so as to have the greatest impact.

The categories are global health, food security and agricultural development, human rights, digital inclusion, water, access to electricity, gender equality and resilience against climate change and environmental degradation.

The report finds that water is the most important and needed breakthrough. Director of the study, Shashi Buluswar, said, “Water will be the defining problem of the next 50 years. It’s probably the single most important thing that needs to be solved.”

Other breakthroughs include greater access to vaccines, improved and highly efficient fertilizer and increased water filtration capacity.

Buluswar states that the Berkeley Lab is capable of working to implement many of the breakthroughs but encourages organizations both domestically and around the globe to contribute to their further development. You can read the report here.

– Joe Kitaj

Sources: Berkeley Lab 1, Berkeley Lab 2, LIGTT
Photo: desalinate4kids

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Field Ready Uses 3D Printing to Create Disaster Relief Supplies

Field Ready Uses 3D Printing to Create Disaster Relief Supplies
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) calculates that 2.9 billion people have been affected by disasters between 2000 and 2012. According to UNISDR, 1.2 million were killed and $1.7 trillion in damages sustained. Natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies are a profoundly influential part of the global human experience.

Unfortunately, recovery from disaster can be just as costly, both to governments supplying aid and victims of the disasters themselves. In the aftermath of floods, earthquakes, conflict and other emergencies, access to basic items needed for survival is severely limited and expensive. NGO Field Ready understands this struggle.

“In a humanitarian disaster, simple items can mean the difference between life and death,” the organization’s website explains.

However, the site goes on to state, “A bucket, for instance, essential for health and hygiene, may only cost a few dollars in a capital city but supply chains and support costs mean that in reality this simple item is expensive and can take weeks or even months to arrive in the hands of disaster victims.”

The good news? 3D printing technology may just be the solution. Field Ready specializes in using the technology to meet the needs of disaster victims and provide humanitarian relief.

Following the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Field Ready worked with other relief organizations to print products like mosquito-net closures and tools for aid workers, TB patients, newborn babies and maternal care. The organization’s efforts established safer patient areas and workspaces, as well as reducing the risk of mosquito-borne disease.

During their first stint in Haiti, Field Ready’s members were especially struck by the shortage of maternal health equipment. Although nurses and doctors could sometimes improvise makeshift tools such as clamps for newborn children’s umbilical cords, Field Ready sought a better solution.

They were able to print clamps on 3D printing presses, reducing the risk of neonatal umbilical sepsis. Field Ready also trained Haitian staff to use 3D presses to ensure that they would have a permanent alternative to importing costly equipment from more developed areas at additional expense. Instead, health workers are now able to print parts and tools when needed.

Field Ready also printed a prototype for a prosthetic hand, assembled from only five parts, and proved the capacity for 3D presses to produce items needed to maintain and improve the printers themselves.

In total, Field Ready’s efforts in Haiti assisted a dozen aid workers and 60 medical patients. The organization has since set its sights on improving conditions in Nepal.

“In the coming weeks, an assessment will be carried out to determine how Field Ready can best contribute to medium and long-term recovery and reconstruction efforts,” the organization promised.

These efforts, they believe, will likely focus on repair and capacity building, with an eye to help the Nepalese spearhead their own recovery and development.

“Even in crisis situations, people need more than just ‘stuff’ […] they need the skills and knowledge that will empower them to look after themselves and those around them,” the organization asserts.

Field Ready seeks to give disaster victims that tool for empowerment through technology. Through training disaster survivors in developing areas, the organization is able to leave a lasting impact. Trainees learn skills they can use to generate income and continue to develop solutions to supply issues facing marginalized regions.

Field Ready has an eye to expand, with the goal of a worldwide network of 3D printing technicians and kit designers. Linked by the Internet, this network would have the potential to share designs and solutions instantaneously on a global scale.

– Emma-Claire LaSaine

Sources: Sci Dev Net, Field Ready, UNISDR, Relief Web
Photo: 3D

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Humanitarian Data Exchange Speeds Up Relief Efforts

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Humanitarian relief projects involve massive undertakings, and often organizations employ hundreds or even thousands of aid workers to get the job done. It’s no surprise then that relief efforts require huge amounts of logistic planning and coordination.

This can be difficult to achieve accurately and quickly as communication infrastructure may be downed or poorly developed to begin with.

Further, it is difficult to track the individual efforts of aid workers across large developing, or vastly affected regions. As a result, relief may be slow, disorganized, and ineffective. In order to deliver aid more quickly and efficiently, the UN has teamed up with San Francisco based tech company Frog to develop the Humanitarian Data Exchange, or HDX for short.

The goal of the project is to streamline humanitarian data. In the past, relief workers compiled thousands of documents and data points in a variety of formats. The HDX standardizes the methods in which data is entered and collected, thus making finding specific data points easier with less crucial time wasted.

The HDX contains numerous data points, most complied by aid workers on the ground. The network can be accessed from any computer or mobile device with an Internet connection. Users then search for a specific dataset using a basic search engine.

The data includes region-specific populations, available medical services and their inventories, national poverty indexes, the number of homeless in the area, and hundreds of others.

The UN first implemented the HDX in West Africa during the Ebola epidemic. Currently, aid workers coordinating earthquake relief efforts are most actively using the HDX in Nepal.

The HDX has currently 76 different datasets for Nepal; many of these include maps and topographical information, as remote Nepalese regions are difficult to traverse due to limited infrastructure.

Nepal is not the only country benefitting from more efficient aid; the HDX lists data in 244 locations. Data is available to the public as well, and can be found at their website.

– Joe Kitaj

Sources: Forbes 1, Forbes 2, RW Labs
Photo: Forbes

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A Bright Future for Kenyan Slums with Addition of Electricity

electricityAs we stumble into a dark room, it is only natural that our hands reach for the light switch — a motion that takes only a moment before we are bathed in artificial golden rays illuminating the enclosed space in which we stand via electricity.

In our homes and about our daily lives, we do not place a schedule around the daylight hours; with a generous supply of electricity, we can be productive at any time.

We neglect to think about the children who cannot finish their homework each night, the markets which cannot operate in the evenings, the businesses which can’t get off the ground or the schools and clinics which fail to provide the most basic services in areas without electricity, laments a video by the World Bank which describes the harsh reality of living in such circumstances.

When we think of places that have no electricity, often images of remote villages come to mind, but surprisingly, many of those who are lacking access to power are those living in urban slums.

Two years ago in the slums of Nairobi, as many as two million people lived in “informal settlements” which were not equipped with power, or if they were, they were unsafe, unreliable and illegal connections prone to catching fire or causing electrocutions sold by local cartels. This unsafe environment was not desirable and for any change to occur, the Kenyan community would have to embrace the notion of safe and affordable electricity.

At first community members were skeptical of Kenya Power, Kenya’s national utility which focused on taking down illegal connections in the slums from 2011-2013. Community members associated Kenya Power with dismantling their source of electricity, despite how unsafe it may be they were unhappy, often putting up another illegal connection within days.

Kenya Power adapted a community approach and conversed with people, opting to leave the illegal connections alone and just focus on providing safe electricity. In just one year, the number of legal connections would grow from just 5,000 in May 2014 to 150,000 and counting in May 2015.

With the reliability and affordability of such a system in place, its usage has become contagious, “Most consumers use pay-as-you-go scheme, buying pre-paid chits, available at any corner store, and paying for electricity in small increments.

In fact, many of the former vendors of illegal electricity are now in the (legal) business of selling Kenya Power chits,” says the World Bank, which provides funding for Kenya Power and also offers a South-South Knowledge exchange including Kenyan workers and experts from utilities in Brazil, Colombia and South Africa.

Support from the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid and World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program are also a part of the given support and part of a much larger $330 million World Bank project to help Kenya Power expand, modernize and light up its cities’ slums.

– Nikki Schaffer

Sources: World Bank, Kenya Power
Photo: World Bank

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Students Work on Prosthetics to Help World’s Poor


Providing prosthetics in developing countries can be challenging because of the lack of technology and support. Two students at Texas A&M University may have the potential to make prosthetics quicker, cheaper and more accessible.

On campus, Brandon Sweeney and Blake Teipel have discovered how to make prosthetic body parts using a 3D printer.

“With a typical 3D printed part, it’ll just peel apart between the layer, so it’s a pretty fragile piece, but for this technology, with the coating, as you print the layers you heat up the whole part and cause fusing to happen all across the entire component,” says Teipel.

Their new invention is increasing in demand. Teipel says, “Globally, every 30 seconds, there is a new amputee.” Most prosthetic options, however, are extremely expensive, sometimes $50,000 or more.

With their new discovery, they believe prosthetics should not be this expensive. “At the very basic level, the materials cost and the time it would take to make it? $20,” says Sweeney.

As products become more affordable, it is that much more possible to make them accessible for those in developing countries.

“Next generation materials are making it possible for us to address problems that have so far been too expensive to technologically advanced, especially for the world’s poor,” says Teipel.

Several large companies are interested in their technology and the pair hopes to team up with one who is socially conscious and believes in doing good.

– Kelsey Parrotte

Sources: KBTX, TSRHC, JMU
Photo: Flickr

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Kenyan Bitcoin Startup Receives Gates Foundation Funding

gates_foundationThrough innovation and funding, Kenyan bitcoin startup Bitsoko promises to revamp the way commerce is conducted in bustling markets in Nairobi and cities across Africa. The company has invented a digital wallet that employs blockchain technology to allow a smoother, cheaper transfer of funds between individuals.

Used in Bitcoin, blockchain technology saves and encrypts transaction records that allow for safe, speedy monetary transactions at a low cost.

This form of technology expands access to financial services for merchants and their customers. For sellers, such programming allows them to view and track customer payments while aggregating this data to produce complete financial and stock records, customer invoices and receipts, financial statements, and tax returns.

The acceleration of blockchain technology will also make transferring funds between individuals cheaper, encouraging mobile commerce.

Developments such as this will provide an alternative to inconvenient, slow transactions using cash or credit cards and will follow at the heels of the economic boom occurring in Africa. Such technology will foster economic growth and pair customers with suitable goods and services in a more efficient way.

According to Allan Juma, co-founder of Bitsoko, the brand hopes to be a leader in mobile finances, noting how “the financial structure in Kenya and throughout Africa has changed rapidly since the birth of mobile money by M-Pesa. We believe that this will only continue to grow”.

The company has recently attracted attention from international investors and organizations as well. It was recently awarded $100,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the Global Challenges Explorations, an initiative providing support to groups working toward solutions to global problems.

Programs such as this one provide an incentive for entrepreneurs who have experienced societal challenges to develop efficient, sustainable strategies for improvement.

With its GCE funding, Bitsoko plans on expanding its access internationally, bringing mobile banking services to Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone in a project co-founder Daniel Bloch has named “Enable Universal Acceptance of Mobile Money Payments”.

Bringing this technology to new countries will spur economic growth and technological innovation that has been heating up Africa in recent years. With increased transactional accessibility, sellers can expect to create a larger, more diverse consumer base and enhanced output.

Partnerships between international organizations such as the Gates Foundation and local businesses can lead to far-reaching global solutions that empower entrepreneurs and their communities.

– Jenny Wheeler

Sources: Disrupt Africa, Grand Challenges in Global Health, Bitsoko
Photo: Coin Telegraph