africa

IBM has unveiled a new Netbook software package designed to help businesses in Africa.

Partnering with Ubuntu Linux sponsor Canonical, IBM announced on Wednesday that its new software package will use a Linux-based operating system and cloud computing, offering users in Africa an alternative to conventional and costly PCs and applications.

With traditional computers often too pricey, many businesses in Africa have opted instead to equip their employees with low-cost Netbooks. The IBM Client for Smart Work takes advantage of that trend by providing a collection of open-source software specifically for Netbooks and other thin clients, said IBM.

Running on … Read more

In many parts of the world, electricity is a luxury. People spend hours gathering firewood to cook their dinners or warm their homes. In Uganda, only 10 percent of the population has electricity, the vast majority doesn't have microwave ovens, computers, or televisions. People don't have access to the latest information on disease outbreaks, weather forecasts, or soccer championships. But this may soon change.

More than a third of Uganda's population, about 10 million people, own a cell phone, and many more have access to these phones through family members and neighbors. Cell phones can be found … Read more

For those who don't speak Zulu, Project Masiluleke may be hard to pronounce. But the concept behind it is easy enough to understand--harness the 90 percent cell phone penetration rate in South Africa to deliver crucial information about two crippling public health crises there: AIDS and tuberculosis.

Meaning "to give wise counsel" and "lend a helping hand," Project Masiluleke (Project M for short) is bringing together a coalition of partners--including Frog Design, Nokia Siemens, and National Geographic--to create an interdisciplinary system that relies on mobile technology to encourage testing and treatment of the diseases, as well as deliver low-cost diagnostic tools such as saliva and blood tests.

In its first phase, the program is sending out about a million text messages per day urging mobile phone users to contact HIV and TB call centers. Trained operators then provide callers with accurate healthcare information, counseling, and referrals to local testing clinics. The program will eventually include anti-retroviral therapy support, at-home HIV testing, and "virtual call centers," where teams of highly trained HIV-positive counselors will field calls remotely.

Project M was officially announced at the Pop!Tech 2008 ideas summit, which took place in Camden, Maine, last week. The project arose from the Pop!Tech Accelerator program, a social-innovation incubator designed to foster breakthrough, interdisciplinary solutions to major global challenges.

It's well-known that Africa is suffering a debilitating AIDS crisis. South Africa has more HIV-positive citizens than any country in the world, according to Project M materials, and in some provinces, more than 40 percent of the population is infected. Yet statistics show that only 2 percent of South Africans have ever been tested for HIV. Of those who test positive, just 10 percent are receiving anti-retroviral therapy--leaving 90 percent untreated, infectious, and likely to die. … Read more

I will be attending the Pop!Tech conference in Camden, Maine this week. For the twelfth year, Pop!Tech will convene a network of 600 remarkable thinkers, doers, leaders, and global change agents in science, technology, social innovation, business, environmentalism, globalization, media, education, and many other fields for a four-day exploration of ideas shaping the future.

This year, the organizers will pay particular attention to the 21st century dynamics between systems based on scarcity and those based on abundance, in areas ranging from digital social networks to biology to peacemaking. Among the speakers are Chris Anderson (Wired, "The Long … Read more

Our No. 404 fanboy Dee Wren takes time out of his busy filming schedule to bring some positivity to our Monday morning. After revealing some news about the upcoming Google Android release tomorrow, we talk about the weekend box office, touch on Facebook porn, and make an overall attempt to shade ourselves from Jeff's rays of hate (unsuccessfully). Happy Monday!

To make up for all the lives we've ruined with The 404, we invite our buddy Dee Wren into the studio to pimp his philanthropic project, From Us With Love. It's a nonprofit organization that supplies aid to children in South Africa and Dee is helping to shoot a documentary on their efforts to send a group of them to Australia for the Homeless World Cup. We'd love for you to contribute as much time, money, and resources as you can to their foundation. The best part of this endeavor is that For Us With Love is already corporate-sponsored, so the full 100 percent of your contribution will go directly into the project, no filters. It's a very noble cause, please check out the Web site and do what you can to help!

James Ray joins us to talk about being "wealthy," the great missing penis mystery and growing your own meat fo rizzles. Don't hate.

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The SuperMoneyMaker Pump sounds like something that Billy Mays might offer on cable TV, but it's an agricultural tool that's encouraging economic sustainability in Africa.

The device, which won Martin Fisher the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT award for sustainability, can pull water 30 feet below, in a well, and then push it through a pipe to irrigate two acres of land.

The idea is to allow farmers to grow crops continuously throughout the year, rather than concentrate on a single, seasonal crop. Potentially, the pump enables land to be used more efficiently and lets farmers grow more food.

The … Read more

He's one of the fathers of the new economic growth theory, and he's been on the short list for a Nobel price in economics. He's founded companies, including online teaching firm Aplia.

Now, Professor Paul Romer of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business is leaving the campus to pursue a new, somewhat startling private endeavor. Using Western know-how and bureaucracies, he wants to build modern metropolises in one of the most challenging areas of the world: Africa.

"I am embarking on a whole new direction in my career," Romer said during a recent meeting … Read more

It seems to be the latest fad among the SAP crowd. First, Shai Agassi raises $200 million for Project Better Place, which hopes to install electric charging stations and kick start the electric car industry.

Now Hasso Plattner, SAP's founder, has raised a fund, approximately worth $45 million, to invest in start-ups in South Africa, according to publications in that country. A portion of the funds will go to clean-tech companies. Originally from Germany, Plattner currently owns golf courses in South Africa.

Like many nations (Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, the U.S., China, and Japan), South Africa … Read more