Archive for category: Technology

Information and stories about technology news.

Internet.org

Currently two-thirds of the world’s population, a staggering 5 billion, live without access to basic internet. A lifestyle difficult to imagine here in the U.S. and other countries that have integrated internet into virtually every aspect of our daily lives. Internet.org, a group of powerful allies, is dedicated to utilizing their combined resources to change this.

Internet.org is an innovative partnership spearheaded by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook,who is  committed to reducing the cost of bringing internet access to the world. The plan is to provide universal access to internet by lowering the cost of serving data by tenfold and reducing the amount of data required to run basic apps by the same amount. These major cost reductions are the keys to reducing the cost of internet access 100-fold. This is the amount of cost reduction that would make it possible to for a worldwide internet providing infrastructure to exist and this group is determined that it can be achieved through technological innovation.

According to Internet.org, providing universal internet access is a fundamental step in the struggle for global resource equality. Access power is so valuable today because the internet is “the backbone of the knowledge-based economy.” This statement recognizes the global shift currently taking place since the advent of the internet that is moving society from a mainly resource-based economy to knowledge-based economy. By providing another 5 billion people across the world to the knowledge economy an unprecedented change could take place., driving the economy up, and impacting poverty worldwide.

“The internet’s impact on global growth is rising rapidly. The internet accounted for 21% of GDP growth over the last five years among developed countries… the internet is also a catalyst for job creation,” according to McKinsey & Co. While this kind of economic growth may not be immediate, the plan has potential to stimulate economies worldwide.

In order to achieve this feat, Internet.org is delving into some large-scale innovative projects to combat even larger technological and socal challenges. Some of these include high-altitude, long-endurance planes, satellite systems and even lasers.

The founding members of this group are impressive, including tech giants Ericsson, Mediatek, Opera, Samsung, Nokia and Qualcomm. Looking at this short list of big names, it is not surprising that some have immediately questioned whether there are purely capitalist motives for these companies that are being disguised behind a humanitarian agenda.

However, in Deloitte’s study on the “Value of Connectivity” they found that “expanding internet access in developing countries to levels seen today in developed economies, we could increase productivity by as much as 25 percent, generating $2.2 trillion in GDP and more than 140 million new jobs, lifting 160 million people out of poverty,” while also having the ability to “deliver critical information on nutrition, hygiene and disease prevention. Once connected, people gain access to basic tools like health information, financial services and education that can help them live fuller, better lives and join the worldwide economy.” With the promise of this kind of massive economic benefit in the developing world, many believe that the motives behind this cooperative effort are somewhat irrelevant.

The concern over hidden agendas may provide the project with the high level of visibility both from those who are critical and those who are supportive. Ultimately, time will be what tells us if this project is able to have the kind of success that will drive the change that it expects.

– Leonna Spilman

Sources: Internet.org, McKinsey & Company

Photo: La Nacion

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Facebook Sends Drones to Africa

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When you think of robot drones, what is the first image or information that comes to mind? If you are like me, your brain probably imagined military drones patrolling the Middle East, gathering intelligence and firing missiles. This type of drone has become popular thanks to our recent military engagements and the push by drone manufacturers to utilize them for domestic law enforcement purposes.

Let us put these images of militarized drones aside and come back to a happy place where instruments are used for peace. This is precisely what U.S. technology companies are trying to do with their investments in drone manufacturers. Google made headlines when it announced its new adventure, Project Loon, which seeks to provide internet and network capabilities using balloons in the stratosphere.

Not to be outdone, Facebook, Inc. has plans to buy a drone manufacturer in hopes to use the high altitude crafts to send network signals to communities across the African continent. With two- thirds of the planet currently without internet, technology companies are now racing to conquer these untapped markets.

Facebook’s effort is a part of a larger project called Internet.org. Founded by Ericsson, Mediatek, Opera Software, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung and Facebook, the group believes in bringing internet to every person throughout the planet. The group, moreover, feels this is too much responsibility and too important a goal for one company or government to achieve alone.

Utilizing Facebook’s Connectivity Lab, groups of scientists and engineers are designing drone satellites that can fly over remote areas and send network signals to the people living there. Cruising at about 65,000 feet, Facebook estimates that a satellite-equipped drone can provide signal to a city-sized area of territory with a medium population density. Furthermore, solar panels will allow the drone to store energy during the day and use its batteries during the night.

Although this project is in its early stages, companies such as Facebook and Google are providing hope for the millions across the globe still stuck in poverty. A study by Deloitte illustrates the potential and value for internet connectivity. Out of the 4.7 billion people currently living without internet, a majority are in poor and many disadvantaged regions. The report estimates that economic activity as a result new internet connectivity could generate $2.2 trillion in additional GDP and 140 million new jobs.

The benefits of spreading internet technology around the globe are too great to pass up. While most governments are stuck in a state of austerity and can’t spend on research and development, private industry and non-governmental organizations are picking up the slack. With time and greater investment of resources, the world is poised to become more connected than ever.

– Sunny Bhatt

Sources: Internet.org, Deloitte, Business Insider
Photo: Liberty Beat 

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Monopolies in Mexico


The Federal Telecommunications Institute (FTI) of Mexico has taken a tough stance on three monopolies in the telecommunications and TV industries sector. Phone companies Telcel and Telmex, and Mexican TV firm Televisa were told to open up the industries to competition from foreign and domestic competitors.

The FTI demanded that competitors and companies share their infrastructure, lower the prices they charge for their services, and that the services they offer such as broadband and pay television be widely distributed to diminish their power.

The owner of Telcel and Telmex, Carlos Slim, is Latin America’s richest man, worth about $72 billion in 2013. Through América Móvil, Slim control approximately 80% of Mexico’s landline phone market and 70% of its wireless market through Telcel, an associated company.

Emilio Azcárraga, a TV magnate worth about $2.6 billion, owns Televisa, which controls about 70% of the broadcast TV market and 56% of the cable and satellite markets put together. The new law only allows for up to a 50% market share cap for both TV and telephone companies.

According to a press release by Televisa following the FTI’s ruling, under the new ruling the company will be required to let competitors use its infrastructure in the form of broadcast towers for a fixed rate.

But limits on the use of infrastructure also extend to América Móvil. The company could face competition in the mobile phone business if Mexican authorities auction off high-speed radio spectrum to its other rivals, allowing competitors an advantage against the telecommunications giant.

The IFT was created in 2013 after a push by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to introduce competition and regulation in the TV and telecommunications sectors of Mexico, notorious for their widespread pressures against regulators and other proponents of de-monopolization. Hopefully this is one step forward in the push against the powerful monopolies that have stifled growth in Mexico’s economy for so long.

– Jeff Meyer

Sources: Forbes, The Economist, Wall Street Journal
Photo: Orientamos

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Pedal Power: Maya Pedal’s Bike Powered Water Pump

The groups parted ways officially in 2004 so that Maya Pedal could be an independent local organization. Now, Maya Pedal “works with a number of local groups, working to implement community-based projects using pedal technology.”

Maya Pedal takes donated bikes from the United States and Canada and refurbishes them to sell locally. However, their main claim to fame is their bicimanquinas, or “pedal powered machines,” which are composed using locally available materials.

These bicimanquinas have several benefits:  since they do not require electricity, they can be used practically anywhere, even in places where electricity is not accessible. Additionally, unlike most human-powered machines, they are pedal powered rather than hand powered, requiring far less effort.

While Maya Pedal is based in Guatemala, they have composed and provided fact sheets and step by step instructions on their website so that the machines can be used worldwide. Their designs for bike-powered water pumps have been used as far away as Malawi, providing sustainable access to water that anyone can use.

Maya Pedal has designed both a stationary and smaller mobile form of bicycle-powered water pumps. The stationary version is able to access water from wells and boreholes up to 30 meters deep, 18 meters deeper than electric pumps and is capable of pumping water at 5-10 gallons per minute making it useful for communities or homes.

While the mobile version is less powerful, only capable of accessing water up to 5 meters below the pump, it is designed with the added capability of moving the water after it has been pumped, making it ideal for watering and irrigating crops, or moving water from tank to an elevated area.

The pumps utilize locally accessible materials, many of which are recycled including old bike tires, construction rebar and electric water pumps with broken motors. In addition to providing sustainable, electricity-free access to water, the pumps repurpose materials that would often be thrown away, saving money and resources.

Additionally, the simple construction of the water pumps makes them accessible to anyone, and can be modified to suit the specific needs of a situation in a way that the more expensive standardized electric pumps cannot.

Maya Pedal’s bicimanquinas, especially their water pumps, are revolutionary, offering sustainable machines that anyone can build and use. In places where water and electricity are not readily accessible, these pedal-powered water pumps offer a crucial link for communities to survive and thrive.

– Cameron Barney

Sources: PEDAL, Maya Pedal, The Permaculture Research Institute, Maya Pedal (2), Maya Pedal (3), Worldwide Cycling Atlas
Photo: World Cycling Atlas

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What is Social Change?

Social_Change
Social change is defined as “the alteration of mechanisms within the social structure, characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behavior, social organizations or value systems.”  Such changes affect our way of life on both a macro and micro level, with the former involving major social institutions, and the latter our value and belief systems.

Collaborative efforts between groups or organizations are becoming major sources of social change by establishing social solidarity, pooling of resources and empowering larger scale and more long-term efforts for reaching specific goals.

A multitude of factors can cause social change, including:

  • technological and economic changes
  • social structure/modernization/urbanization
  • bureaucratization and institutions
  • conflict and competition
  • political and legal power
  • ideas/ideologies/attitudes/values
  • physical environment
  • population changes
  • isolation/contact

Activists for social change are no longer relegated to traditional outlets such as television, radio and newspaper.

Some use direct grassroots avenues such as “state and local ballot initiatives, electoral politics, lobbying and advocacy, direct action, media events and litigation.”  Others are achieving previously impossible endeavors by reaching millions of people globally through online and social media activism.

For example, Breakthrough, a United States and India-based non-profit human rights organization, uses “media, arts, pop culture and technology to reach mass audiences, challenge norms and make human rights real and relevant.”  Among its unique projects for social change was the launch of “America 2049” via Facebook games.

The game pits the player into the role of a special agent tasked with capturing a fugitive.

The player then faces a series of events forcing him or her to make tough decisions about pressing international issues.  The fugitive is played by Harold Perrineau, an American actor most known for his role in the television series “Lost.”  Perrineau talks about the importance of America 2049’s message, stating, “I hope that through playing America 2049, young people in particular will be inspired to help stop institutionalized hatred and intolerance – today.”

Alternately, there are those who are bringing social change by “injecting market principles into funding” and utilizing the strength of the business and economic sectors.

Toby Eccles, founder and development director of Social Finance, has pioneered such business models for change.  Social Finance is a United Kingdom-based non-profit organization that operates under the belief that “if social problems are to be tackled successfully, organizations seeking to solve them need sustainable revenues and investment to innovate and grow.”

Eccles developed innovative outcomes-based contracts known as Social Impact Bonds and, more recently, Development Impact Bonds.  In a talk he gave at Technology Entertainment Development Global in June 2013, Eccles said, “If you make the economic case, then the value of doing something would be completely compelling.”

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) “aim to improve the social outcomes of public services by making payment for those services conditional on achieving independently measurable outcomes.”

The bonds allow for private investments to provide upfront funds for prevention and early intervention services to be delivered by seasoned service providers; the public sector only pays back if the intervention is successful.  Development Impact Bonds are the newest SIB spinoffs, where instead of governments being responsible for paying back investors, the onus is placed on international donors or development agencies.

– Rifk Ebeid

Sources: TED Talks, Encyclopedia Britannica, Sociology Guide, Social Finance, Salon
Photo: Be Social Change

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Uruguay Pioneers One Laptop Per Child Project

One Laptop Per Child
Uruguay was the first country in the world to provide a laptop to every primary school student. Plan Ceibal, Uruguay’s national One Laptop Per Child project, provided an XO laptop to each of the 395,000 children in first through sixth grades. The acronym Ceibal stands for Basic Informatic Educative Connectivity for Online Learning (Conectividad Educativa de Informática Básica para el Aprendizaje en Línea).

One Laptop Per Child, a non-profit based in Massachusetts, strives to provide each child in developing nations with a low-cost, low-power laptop. Through this technology, children become more engaged in their education and more connected to one another. The laptops are designed to be highly power efficient, with the ability to use solar power, generators, wind power or water power.

“This is not simply the handing out of laptops or an education program. It is a program which seeks to reduce the gap between the digital world and the world of knowledge,” Miguel Brechner explained, director of the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay and in charge of Plan Ceibal.

In Uruguay, the Plan Ceibal program has a cost of $260 per child, including maintenance costs, equipment repairs, teacher training and internet connection. The total figure represents less than 5 % of the country’s education budget.

The XO laptops, with Linux operating software, can connect directly to one another, meaning that a single point of access can be shared among a community of XO users.

Education in Uruguay is among the best of the Latin American countries. Uruguay has one of the highest adult literacy rates of all of Latin America. Elementary education is mandatory and free; secondary and technical education are also free. As the first country to implement a One Laptop Per Child program, Uruguay is setting the model for other countries, such as Rwanda, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru, which have all adapted a One Laptop Per Child program.

– Haley Sklut

Sources: One Laptop Per Child, Sources: BBC
Photo: Kit Guru

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Covert Drone War Has Killed More Than 2,400

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The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has released a comprehensive look at the United States’ drone program from 2009 to the present. Sketching its missteps and apparent successes, the United Kingdom-based nonprofit relates the story of the Barack Obama administration’s relationship with drones and brings clarity to an otherwise opaque issue.

Drone strikes began after 9/11, after the passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF.) This law enables the president to “take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the (U.S.).”

Since the act’s passage, both the George W. Bush and the Obama administrations have launched hundreds of attacks on foreign soil.

By their count, over 390 covert drone strikes have killed more than 2,400 people thus far since Obama took office. Targeting Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Both civilians and militants have been killed.

Barack Obama first made use of drones just three days after the start of his presidency. While initial reports deemed it a success, information gathered later indicated that at least nine civilians were killed in the strike while the one 14-year-old survivor was blinded.

Instead of hitting a Taliban hideout, as intended, the drone struck a family household, killing a tribal elder and members of his family.

Although Obama was reportedly dismayed by the news, he has continued using drone strikes in much greater excess than his predecessor, although with greater rates of accuracy.

Under Obama, drone strikes have killed “six times as many people” than under Bush, but the casualties per strike has dropped from eight to six. Similarly, the civilian deaths have decreased as well, from three casualties per strike for Bush and only 1.43 casualties for Obama.

Some argue that drones help more than hinder anti-terrorism campaigns. As one Air Force officer expressed in the New York Times, “using them to go after terrorists not only was ethically permissible but also might be ethically obligatory, because of their advantages in identifying targets and striking with precision.”

Beyond their perceived benefits, mistaken drone strikes still rattle those who consider them immoral. In 2006, CIA drones killed at least 68 children located in a madrassa, or religious school.

Last month, drones attacked a convoy escorting a bride to her wedding. The U.S. has yet to comment on an attack that killed more than 15 civilians.

In September 2013, a law professor’s study found strikes harm global security and encourage other states and terrorist organizations to likewise arm themselves with unmanned weapons. As interest and concern over drones grow and the debate over their moral and unethical merits rage, the U.S. will carefully need to consider the cost of its continued employment.

– Emily Bajet

Sources: The New York Times, Justice, The Bureau Investigates, GPO, The Guardian
Photo: RT

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Tech Hub for Rwanda Startups

Tech Hub for Rwanda Startups
To make positive change in the world, we don’t just need tons of money, popularity or political influence, we need the right tools.

By getting the right people together in one place, specifically one that fosters intellectual development and creativity, we can make great things happen.

This is the belief of kLab, a tech hub in Rwanda where young people can bring their startup ideas and receive free Wi-Fi, workspace and mentorship from professors, business owners, and community leaders.

kLab – which stands for “knowledge lab” – has been operating for over a year and was officially launched in October 2013. The center is funded by the Rwanda private Sector Federation, the Rwanda Development Board and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

“The knowledge lab is an innovation center where fresh and young graduates come to work on their projects, especially in the tech industry,” said Jovani Ntabgoba, kLab’s general manager, at the launch.

kLab currently offers the services of 21 different mentors to its over 80 tenants. The startups at the center range from online shopping websites to improved medical technology. The mentors offer these young people the ability to truly flesh out their ideas and turn them into much more.

“The culture is collaboration, but it’s not just collaboration; it’s positioning oneself at an age where you receive the best mentorship that you cannot find anywhere else in Rwanda,” Ntabgoba said. “At kLab we have all of the knowledge that is required for a tenant to develop their business.”

The power of this collaboration has led to the beginning of many bright futures for startups that focus on the vision of the country of Rwanda: to turn the nation into a knowledge-based economy. However, young Rwandans are challenged daily by a lack of skills due to the fact that the educational curriculum is not yet “innovation-oriented.”

One of the more recent kLab successes is GIRA ICT – a startup that combats a large roadblock to widespread internet usage in Africa: hardware prices. By partnering with big name manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, HP and Lenovo, GIRA ICT allows consumers to pay for their devices in monthly installments in order to increase hardware ownership across the country.

“We started as a group of five entrepreneurs, so we came into kLab and they gave us a free space to work in. We could enjoy internet… they provided us with mentors,” said project supervisor Alphonse Ruhigira.

GIRA ICT has also been collaborating with the government to supplement the One Laptop per Child program. Founded by Nadia Uwamahoro, this effort provides teachers with laptops that they can pay off over a span of four years. So far, this has helped about 100 teachers to attain laptops and the number is steadily increasing.

“It’s a brilliant innovation and she is doing brilliant business,” says Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Rwandan Minister for Youth and ICT of Uwamahoro. “She’s taken computers to places where they were seeing and touching them for the first time by lowering the affordability challenge.”

Through efforts such as GIRA ICT, kLab is pushing Rwanda towards its goal of becoming a middle-income country by the year 2020.

“I want you to understand the uniqueness of this kLab compared to many other iHubs in the region. The uniqueness of this one is that you are in this building and you are not alone in this building,” said Michael Bezy, associate director of Carnegie Mellon University in Rwanda, who works with kLab in order to provide mentorship to its tenants.

“You look at that and you say ‘I have entrepreneurs here, I have a world-class university, I have IT businesses and I have IT infrastructure.’ That looks to me like a mini Silicon Valley,” said Bezy.

– Samantha Davis

Sources: Wired, kLab, Wired
Photo: Wired

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Not Impossible Foundation

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The impetus for the trail-blazing Not Impossible Foundation took place when Mick Ebeling befriended the gifted street artist Tony “Tempt One” Quan, who was suffering from the onset of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Lou Gehrig’s would eventually paralyze his entire body, stripping Tempt of his ability to communicate through artistic expression or any other means of expression other than the careful movement of his eyes.

Moved by the tragedy of Tempt’s situation, Ebeling recruited a team of talented individuals from Graffiti Research Lab, Free Art and Technology Lab and other hackers to create a device that would enable Tempt to create artwork again. In April 2009, after seven years of laborious research, experimentation and refinement, Ebeling and his team presented Tempt with their creation, the EyeWriter. The EyeWriter is an astonishingly innovative device that allows paralyzed individuals to communicate using only his or her eyes.

Recounting his perseverance in creating the EyeWriter, Ebeling said, “When I feel a spark, I commit wholly to the idea, without necessarily having a sense of how, or if, I will be able to complete it…when presented with a challenge, I find it incredibly hard to back down.”

Not surprisingly, after the launch of the EyeWriter, Ebeling and his team were soon the recipients of multiple honors in the technological world. For instance, Time Magazine honored the device by declaring the EyeWriter as one of the 50 best inventions of 2010. The recognition that Ebeling and his team received after Time’s illustrious title enabled the launch of Ebeling’s next endeavor, the Not Impossible Foundation.

The Not Impossible Foundation provides a self-description so to-the-point and succinct that it is composed of a mere six words. The Foundation Having establishes itself as a technology-oriented lab by breezily describing itself as “technology for the sake of humanity.”

Adhering to the standard of innovation and promise of the 2009’s EyeWriter, Ebeling and his team is tackling the previously impossible by working to create smart canes for the blind along with 3D-printed prosthetic limbs for amputees. The Not Impossible Foundation strives to construct new yet affordable technology to revolutionize healthcare.

– Phoebe Pradhan

Sources: Atlantic Meets Pacific, Not Impossible Labs, Mick Ebeling, BBC
Photo: Facebook: Not Impossible Fund

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Predicting the Worlds Disasters

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Imagine having the ability to know that something drastic was going to happen before it ever took place. Some might call it being psychic; others call it science.

Over time, technology has steadily risen and become more advanced. Recently, a team of neuroscientists “published a paper claiming it has developed a mathematical calculation that could potentially predict the tipping point of any massive event.”

These events would vary from market crashes, all the way to someone having a brain seizure.

This would be accomplished through a working system of nodes. During this, one neuron inside the brain would “ignite a stream of connected activity – a web-like chain reacting that unfolds in seemingly unpredictable ways.”

Scientists, however, have discovered that events can in fact be predicted with the proper information. A group of professors at the University of Sussex, along with colleagues working in psychology and physics, are conducting experiments that replicate monitored brain activity.

This team has also formulated an equation that disclosed the effects of information being flown between multiple nodes. Lionel Barnett, one of the leading authors on the paper, discovered that all of the elements “casually influence each other.”

Barnett’s discovery will enable scientists to differentiate between when a node is dependent upon its own behavior, and when it is dependent upon all other nodes.

“The dynamics of complex systems – like the brain and the economy – depend upon how their elements casually influence each other; in other words, how information flows between them,” said Barnett.

Since the system is this complex, how is it possible to be able to predict something so sporadic?

The team of researchers proposes that it is manageable to measure when a system reaches its “tipping point,” as it alters from a healthy system to one that shows immense change.

The theory was tested using a model that physicists use to predict “phase transitions” in standard systems. This, accompanied by supercomputers at the Charles Sturt University in Australia allowed the team to find the “global transfer entropy flow.”

This basically means that scientists have discovered that certain flows reach peaks repeatedly, right before a tipping point. If the possibility of this major scientific discovery is plausible, the world as is known will be altered entirely.

According to Anil Seth, the co-director of the Sackler Centre, “This would change the course of the dynamics and prevent seizures.” This was before Seth further suggested that the application could be used for financial, climate and immune systems.

Seth explained, in depth, that he believes this possibility is really feasible, in spite of the systems being so vastly diverse. On the other hand, although there is faith in the project itself, there are many factors that come into play.

For example, human error and factors such as interference from mathematically-drawn conclusions as a result of errors, could affect the results. Through further research, the team hopes to make exciting revelations in this field.

– Samaria Garrett

Sources: The New Yorker, Wired
Photo: Severa Rules