Archive for category: Technology

Information and stories about technology news.

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Facebook Helps Eliminate Health Care Barriers in Africa

eliminate health care barriers
As part of a trend to eliminate healthcare barriers for the poor, Facebook is helping to provide free access to advantageous websites to impoverished women in Africa. Some of these websites target pregnant women and advocate and educate for better maternal health.

At this point, inaccessibility to expensive data plans has been a large barrier between women and the internet. With a new mobile app that the company unveiled this past week, women will have free access to websites like MAMA (Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action) and WRAPP, which advocates for women’s rights. The application was designed in coordination with local government groups to fill in some of the communication gaps that persist.

With the first initiative scheduled for Zambia, the pilot program has the potential to branch out to other developing countries. Though the program is accessible to both men and women, women will be disproportionately helped through this program. With Zambia having a significant gender inequality gap, women will be able to gain more from having access to healthcare information and job postings that will now become more accessible.

As part of the growing technologies industry looking to expand their market to the estimated five billion people without internet access, Facebook is reaching out to the underexposed in Africa. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said of the project, “I believe connectivity is a human right.” With the motivation to connect and network users of the application to other parts of the country and the world, Zuckerberg is well on his way to an integrated global community.

The application is a game-changer for women’s rights, particularly in traditionally oppressive governments. With support from many international women’s rights groups as well as vocal laudation from the Executive Director of U.N. Women, the Facebook app has the potential to create a social revolution around the world.

– Kristin Ronzi

Sources: The Telegraph, Tech Crunch
Photo: TechCrunch

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How Carbon Can Power Solar Energy

According to the World Bank, renewable and efficient energy are key to overcoming global poverty. Researchers have recently found that carbon-based materials can offer some of the most effective sources of renewable solar energy.

The first source is an all-carbon solar cell developed by researchers at Stanford University. As the name suggests, the cell uses carbon to replace traditional silver and indium tin oxide, which are far more expensive.

What proves most beneficial about the cell is the consistency. The prototype is a thin film, and because of this, it can be placed on top of existing equipment to gather energy. This means new windows or panes do not need to be retrofitted to the new design. Instead the film can simply be placed on top and the energy will generate.

The product is still in the developmental stages, thus not yet reaching the levels of silicon solar panels. This is partially because the carbon-based material needs infrared light to function. While this is problematic, researchers are confident that they can adjust the material to make it a potent form of energy that can be used around the world.

Another carbon-based material has also been found as an excellent steam generator. Solar-powered steam is effective for electricity, but there are other uses that make it ideal for areas of the world whose only natural resource is sunlight. These include refrigeration, sterilization, chemical purification and waste treatment.

Despite its many beneficial uses, it will be hard to pass these on at a commercial level. While it might take a while, it seems that the researchers at MIT are confident about solar energy.

The verdict on both of these carbon-based materials seems to be similar: they can be quite effective but are still in nascent stages. However, the research that has happened up to this point has proven to be very promising. Researchers have looked into several different solutions to each of the unique problems posed.  The big incentive backing it should be enough cause to act.

– Andrew Rywak

Sources: The Economist, Scientific American, Gizmag
Photo: Gizmag

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UNDP and Microsoft Partner in Ethiopia

The United Nations Development Programme in partnership with Microsoft East Africa Limited, has a launched an initiative to support the continued development of entrepreneurship activities in Ethiopia.

The initiative, which is a part of Microsoft’s 4Afrika Initiative, will bring mentoring and support to around 200,000 young entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs will also have access to Microsoft’s BizSpark program, which provides free software to start-up entrepreneurs, helping them to launch their products and gain global recognition.

To date, there are 625 start-ups supported through this program. In addition, specific assistance geared toward micro and small business entrepreneurs will be included through a ‘Build Your Own Business’ training program.

Ethiopia has a population of 96 million, the second largest of all African countries. With over 40 percent of those 96 million between the ages of 0-14 and 20 percent between 15-24, creating an entrepreneur program geared toward younger people interested in business can have a powerful long-term effect.

As UNDP is Ethiopia’s first private sector partnership, there are high expectations on all ends. However, UNDP and Microsoft have successfully worked together and built programs in the past which now promote sustainable development, work to eradicate poverty, advance women’s rights agendas and encourage good governance.

This newest program is focused on empowering citizens and preparing them to join both their local and the global workforce. Based on the belief that technology can and will have a big role to play in Africa, the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative provides one step forward in empowering local people through practical skills.

Microsoft has been active in Africa since 1992 and currently has 22 offices in 14 countries. It has also been named one of the top employers in Africa in both 2012 and 2013 by Certified Top Employers.

Empowerment through skill training is a good way to provide Africans a way to enter the global marketplace, contribute their ideas and raise their level of income and that of those living around them. Eradicating poverty is a battle that can be fought on many different fronts and the new partnership in Ethiopia is one step toward making eradication in that country a reality.

 – Andrea Blinkhorn

Sources: Biztech Africa, BERNAMA, Microsoft 1, Microsoft 2, Microsoft 3, The Borgen Project, CIA
Photo: Africatime

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Using Satellite Technology to Eradicate Polio

To date, there have been eight attempts to eliminate polio, along with a score of other infectious diseases around the world, but only the elimination of smallpox has been successful. Using modern day smartphone and satellite technology, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) can better locate remote areas where polio is still a threat.

Polio has been eradicated in all but three countries: Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The disease is spread by direct person-to-person contact, as well as indirect contact. Insecurity, poor health care and lack of proper sanitation are all reasons as to why these countries still struggle with a preventable disease that is only a distant memory to many countries around the world.

Polio is an disease that can lead to paralysis and even death if not treated. Unfortunately, there is no cure for polio once the infection takes hold, only treatment to make living with it more bearable. However, 100 percent of cases are preventable if every child under the age of five receives a vaccination. In countries like the U.S., the polio vaccine is mandatory.

In order to locate remote communities in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, WHO workers use geographic information systems (GIS). GIS involves transmitting satellite images to a computer in order to map an area. In the past—as little as ten years ago—those who wanted to map an area of land would have to fly over it and take pictures. GIS is an improvement on this, as it is remote and allows for more land to be mapped more quickly.

By using GIS, those at WHO can determine the location of extremely rural villages where children need to be vaccinated for the first time, or maybe even the fourth or fifth time, as certain remaining strains of polio are stronger and require multiple vaccinations.

This technology can also be connected to WHO members’ smartphones and allow the organization to track the location of employees, volunteers and patients. This has allowed for an increase in the number of vaccinations, as well as better supervision on the part of the WHO. It is extremely difficult for volunteers to slack off or lie when the operation is being monitored so closely.

Before this collaboration of satellite imaging and smartphones, it was extremely difficult to know which households had been vaccinated and educated on polio prevention and which had not. But since 1988, polio has been reduced by 99 percent, with cases down from more than 350,000 a year to only 406 in 2013.

However, 99 percent is not 100 percent. Technology and dedication may not be enough to completely eradicate the disease, as distrust of western medicine instigated by propaganda from groups such as the Taliban have made it difficult for workers to administer the vaccine.

– Taylor Lovett

Sources: Information Week Health Care, Global Polio Eradication Initiative, World Health Organization
Photo: Lasker Foundation

Microsoft to Launch $25 Phone

$25 phone
In a bid to introduce itself to emerging markets, Microsoft will soon be launching a $25 phone for new consumers in Africa and Asia. The Nokia 130 will be available later this year in select markets like Egypt, India, China, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines. The technology titan describes the low-priced phone as an attractive choice for people looking to purchase their first mobile phones.

More than an estimated 1 billion people worldwide still lack mobile phones, as mainstream options that cater to the already industrialized world are too costly. Simultaneously, there is a growing demand in both high-growth and mature markets for dependable backup phones. Microsoft touts the Nokia 130 as perfect for both scenarios, calling it “an ideal handset for first-time mobile phone buyers, or for people seeking a reliable backup phone to complement their existing smartphones.”

“As demand in the affordable mobile segment continues to grow, Microsoft remains committed to delivering market-leading mobile innovation at each and every price point,” said Microsoft’s corporate vice president for phones, Jo Harlow.

According to the company, an annual 300 million phones are sold in the under-$35 sector. Shipments of low-end smartphones are projected to reach 1.1 billion in just four years at an annual growth rate of over 19 percent.

The Nokia 130 is a basic phone with limited features and no internet capability, sacrifices that were required in order to achieve its low price tag of $25. However, it does include several more advanced features like music and video playback, content sharing through Bluetooth, SD card, or USB and a flashlight. The music player will provide up to 46 hours of playback on just a single charge and the battery can last for more than five weeks on standby.

“With handsets like the Nokia 130, we see tremendous potential to deliver the experience of a ‘mobile-first’ world to people seeking their first device, and we continue to invest in ultra-affordable devices that will introduce people to a ‘cloud-first’ world,” said Harlow.

Though the cheap handset business is uncharted waters for Microsoft, Nokia is a veteran of this market. Microsoft acquired the latter’s handset business previously this year and hopes that reaching consumers of developing nations will build a new audience base.

Nokia once reigned mighty in the mobile business, but its market share has deteriorated in recent years. However, the recognition and credibility that is still associated with the Nokia brand will help attract consumers to Microsoft’s new phone, and the easily affordable $25 phone will introduce new consumers to Microsoft’s other services, like Bing and OneDrive. Eventually, when these new consumers decide to upgrade beyond basic phones, they may be inclined to choose a Microsoft smartphone.

“Microsoft doesn’t have any other project that can reach these consumers,” said Harlow. “These consumers will create a Microsoft account and become part of the Microsoft ecosystem.”

– Annie Jung

Sources: Market Watch, PC Mag, CNBC, Recode
Photo: PCMag

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GSBI Accelerator: Meet the Enterprises

GSBI
From August 14th to the 22nd, Santa Clara University will be hosting the 12th annual Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI) Accelerator program. Each year, the GSBI Accelerator invites a group of well-established “social enterprises,” nonprofit organizations or for-profit businesses, that focus on addressing social and environmental issues. The organizations’ objective is to showcase their businesses to potential investors.

The 10-month program started in February, pairing one leader from each enterprise with start-up experienced Silicon Valley executives. These executives mentor the leaders on how to overcome business challenges like ‘scalability’—the ability to grow a business by reaching new clients and capacity to handle the growth, without a decline in service quality.

For six months, the organizations’ leaders and their mentor partners (two for each enterprise) work closely with GSBI staff who tutor and advise the enterprises in preparation for the investor showcase, which is being held on August 21st.

This year’s cohort of 16 enterprises is being touted as one of the best yet. They include several enterprises that are using new innovative technologies to help their target markets alleviate poverty. Among these are:

Buen Manejo del Campo, dba Sistema Biobolsa

Revolutionizing small-scale agriculture with ‘biodigester technology,’ which converts animal and organic waste into natural gas and organic fertilizer.

Eco-fuel Africa Limited

Empowering African communities using ‘green charcoal’—a cooking fuel made from converted, locally-sourced, municipal waste.

Ecofogão Ltda

Created to serve low-income markets with innovative, ecologically clean and efficient stoves that will replace woodstoves for daily cooking.

IkamvaYouth

Enabling young disadvantaged South Africans to educate themselves and each other with after-school tutoring three times a week.

iKure Techsoft Private Limited

A chain of rural health centers that are using innovative technology to ensure patients are receiving high quality, primary healthcare in their communities. They do so by affording community members access to doctors and medicine.

ITA Social Business Bangladesh Limited

Empowering women through networks of enterprises that create more employment opportunities and access to markets.

Komaza

An agro-forestry enterprise that provides African dry land farmers with training, maintenance and planting inputs “to cultivate a life-changing income for farmers, curb rampant deforestation and earn investor returns.”

Mali Biocarburant SA (MBSA)

The first company in West Africa to produce biodiesel, empowering farmers by making them shareholders in the company and helping develop local economies.

Medical Technology Transfer and Services (MTTS)

Developing, manufacturing and distributing intensive newborn healthcare devices, focused on the needs of low-resource countries.

One Earth Group Ltd. (Brand Name: One Earth Designs)

Collaborating with governments and corporations to deliver renewable energy solutions with their solar cooker designs, developed alongside nomads in the Himalayas. The organization helps combat fuel scarcity and air pollution.

The mentors are as equally impressive as these enterprises. The group includes venture capitalist and Netflix board member Time Haley, President of An Hour and A White Board Taia Ergueta, VP of Finance and Administration for Ion Torrent Jamie Kole and CEO of Officer Pie Digital INC John Orcutt.

One of the most impressive elements of the GSBI Accelerator program is that the mentors are as enriched by the experience as the mentees. Says Time Haley, “The obstacles that [the social entrepreneurs] have to overcome and the dedication required to succeed, compared to what we have here…the contrast is incredible. It’s pretty inspiring.”

In the coming weeks, the Borgen Project will feature several more articles on the GSBI Accelerator program, including spotlights on several of the entrepreneurs and comments from the investors about what brings them to the showcase. Stay tuned.

– Pedram Afshar

Sources: Santa Clara University, Business Wire
Photo: Flickr

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FotoKonbit: Stories Through Photography

To an outsider, Haiti is often synonymous with natural disaster and despair. FotoKonbit is determined, however, to show that Haiti’s society is much more rich and complex than its façade of poverty and turmoil. As a grassroots nonprofit organization, FotoKonbit is a photography workshop designed to give Haitians the freedom to tell their stories through images.

Popular media defines Haiti as a nation in crisis, which isn’t far off from the truth. According to the World Food Programme, even before the earthquake 1.9 million people were ‘food insecure,’ meaning they needed assistance to ward off hunger. Some 55 percent of the nation’s nine million people live below the poverty line of U.S. $1 a day.

Though the statistics are undeniable, the founders of FotoKonbit claim that while Haiti certainly faces challenges, it has a beautiful yet untold culture and history. They have thus made it their mission to ensure that this story is told.

In 2010, a group of American and Haitian educators, photographers and artists founded the organization. The project began in Northern Haiti with a group of adult participants, both men and women, from around the region. With a camera in hand, these citizens used skills acquired from the workshop to capture a story of their culture, still unexposed to the outside world. Noelle Therard, one of the founders, took students to various historical sites to snap photos of the grounds on which Haitian heroes fought for independence.

Since its establishment, FotoKonbit has worked with over one hundred students from nine different communities. They are currently working with five diverse communities: a group of adults in the southern agricultural town of Camp Perrin, adults in the fishing village of Labadie, children in the cities of Jacmel and Cap Haitien and a weekly class at the Zoranje school just outside of Port-au-Prince.

Photos taken by students have been featured on National Geographic’s Instagram account, an achievement that the founders did not foresee. However, this type of renowned coverage is exactly what the organization’s founders had envisioned. The stories of local villages, of Haitian fishermen and farmers, are now accessible to a global audience. With the power of social media, FotoKonbit has a bright future.

Images now have a certain potency that they never once had: they can reach millions of people around the globe within seconds. FotoKonbit is painting an alternative history of Haiti for the world to see – one that is indubitably stricken with poverty, but rich with a resilient population.

– Samantha Scheetz

Sources: Kickstarter, FotoKonbit, World Food Programme
Photo: Kickstarter

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NGOs in the DRC Reject Drones

Drones buzz through the skies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to monitor this mineral-rich country that has been racked with war for 20 years. The U.N. Stabilization Mission, or MONUSCO,  a peacekeeping operation with over 21,000 personnel, brought two of these Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into action in the DRC last April. MONUSCO then offered to share drone-collected information with humanitarian NGOs working in the DRC.

The offer was emphatically rejected.

The NGOs reject drones because MONUSCO is a military operation. International NGOs are humanitarian and as such are bound to the principles of “neutrality, impartiality and operational independence.” Using drones for both military and humanitarian information gathering compromises these principles.

A July 14, 2014 statement released by NGOs working in the DRC pointed to the potential for data gathered with a humanitarian objective nevertheless informing combat operations.

2006’s guidelines for how humanitarian actors and MONUSCO are to coordinate has recently been revised, but IRIN reports that a final draft “does not directly address the use of info gained through drones.”

NGOs are concerned that they have no guarantee the info will come from non-drone sources.

Drones have served both military and non-military purposes in the past. For example, while one drone might use its infrared camera to search for people congregating at night (a sign of an attack brewing), another drone might be tasked with monitoring the geological activity of a volcano.

On May 5, 2014, drones in Rwanda that were flying over Lake Kivu relayed information indicating a ferry had capsized, leaving 20 people in the water struggling for their lives. Rescuers saved 14 people who probably would have drowned otherwise.

However, the issue here is not whether drones are capable of serving a non-military function; humanitarian organizations know they would find information gathered by drones helpful. The issue is that, according to certain core principles, humanitarian NGOs cannot take sides in a war.

The drones’ many uses could embroil the NGOs in the conflict because MONUSCO might use “humanitarian information” for military purposes.

The region these drones patrol is highly unstable, with many armed groups fomenting conflict there. Last June, members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a militia group with a large presence in the DRC, proclaimed their desire to disarm and negotiate. Provided the offer to disarm was genuine, some thought this might stabilize the region to a certain extent.

However, recent attacks on barracks in Kinshasa by a separate group highlight how one party’s exit from the conflict can hardly be used to foretell an end to the larger conflict. Because of this, drones will remain a fixture in the DRC’s skies.

-Ryan Yanke

Sources: IRIN, BBC News, The New York Times
Photo: BBC

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Nasal Spray May Save Snakebite Victims

Researchers are working on a new nasal spray that could save thousands of people from severe snakebites in India. The nasal spray is the first attempt of its kind to save victims from one of the most unrecognized killers in the world.

Snakebites kill up to 84,000 people worldwide every year. They are most prevalent in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. However, India has the highest number of venomous bites and deaths, with more than 75 percent of snakebite victims dying before they can reach a hospital.

Currently, the most popular treatment for snakebites is an injection of antivenom, but this method has proved to be unreliable. Antivenom can vary in effectiveness depending on the snake species, the snake’s diet, geographical location and the time of year.

The nasal spray is an attempt to standardize treatment for snakebites. If administered soon after the attack, the spray — which is extremely cheap compared to antivenom — could prevent paralysis that is caused by the bite. It is easy to use and can be self-administered, unlike the injection of antivenom.

The two researchers leading the development have high hopes for the nasal spray. Matthew Lewin from the California Academy of Sciences and Stephen Samuel from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland have worked tirelessly to test the spray on mice. The mice were injected with fatal doses of Indian cobra venom, and then some were treated with the spray while others were not. The study proved that mice given the spray outlived the control group. In many cases, they survived.

“It would be one ingredient primarily directed against rapid onset paralysis — one of the causes of fast death following snakebite,” Lewin explained. “It is inexpensive and available everywhere in the world.”

In general, snakebites are often an ignored health problem around the world. The numbers, however, indicate that some research should be going toward developing a treatment. If the nasal spray proves to be an effective treatment, then people around the world will have a much higher chance of surviving these attacks.

– Hannah Cleveland

Sources: The Guardian, Science Development
Photo: The Guardian

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Random Hacks of Kindness

random hacks of kindness
Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) is an inventive global initiative “involving over 6,000 innovators in more than 35 countries who make the world a better place by developing practical, open source technology solutions to some of the most complex challenges facing humanity.”

The initiative was created in 2009 when representatives from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! convened at a panel in Washington, D.C. to discuss ways in which technology could be used in the midst of global crises. Each of these top technology companies recognized the immense impact they could have if they stepped into the world of crisis management.

However, they needed a way to circumvent their usual competitiveness, a way to bring their employees together around a common goal.

Random Hacks of Kindness was the solution. The project aims to bring together expert volunteer employees and humanitarian leaders to create solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. The World Bank and NASA, along with the aforementioned Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, became founding partners, creating an altogether outstanding mix of expertise in many different fields.

From the beginning, RHoK has stressed how important their specific method is to their success, a process which requires a significant amount of teamwork between different sectors. “The RHoK process — engaging with experts to define strong problem statements, collaborative rapid prototyping through hackathons and creating clears paths for the sustainability of effective solutions — enables the volunteer community of thousands to create impact through their efforts.”

The first step is to collect extremely detailed and well-defined problem statements from people in the field. Users from all over the world can submit descriptions of problems in their local communities to the RHoK website, allowing anyone anywhere to benefit from the talent of RHoK volunteers. These reports are then scrutinized by field professionals and are revised to best fit the sector’s needs.

Developers are the stars of the second step: global hackathons at which prototypes of possible solutions are created during coding-intensive weekends.

Unlike other organizations of its kind, Random Hacks of Kindness volunteer technologists are able to tackle global issues with help from field specialists. “Having an expert on hand at a hackathon to work with the teams and provide real-world experiences and knowledge is [an] invaluable piece of the puzzle when working to build a solution with realistic impact potential.”

The third step involves RHoK’s Sustainability Project, which aims to take the most promising prototypes created at the hackathons and successfully execute them. Through the initiative’s efforts, the prototypes are able to receive the proper funding and support needed to make them a reality.

Random Hacks of Kindness has worked with noteworthy humanitarian organizations like OXFAM and Amnesty International as well as small local communities. It is led by an intensely motivated volunteer community trying to make the world a better place through technology and teamwork.

“Using existing, and freely available, documentation of best practices, and empowering the community to further develop and iterate on them through community-led, individual and organizational initiatives, RHoK continues to remain at the forefront of creating impact through hacking for social good.”

– Emily Jablonski 

Sources: Crisis Commons, Geeks Without Bounds, RHOK
Photo: Technical.ly