SAO PAULO, Brazil--Brazilian journalist Gilberto Dimenstein walks down an alley in the Villa Madelena neighborhood showing how what was once a haven for drug dealers has been transformed into a canvas for artists.
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Dimenstein's vision, to turn a rough neighborhood into a 24-hour center of learning, has been largely realized. In one building, craftsmen create violins from bare wood, while in another an artist weaves scraps of cloth into a placemat. In the Aprendiz cafe, Dimenstein's centerpiece, seniors learn to use the Internet while people flock in from more affluent parts of the city to enjoy the restaurant's fine foods.
It's not perfect. Shortly before CNET News visited Aprendiz last fall, thieves had broken in and stolen a number of computers. That said, the PCs were quickly replaced. It took Dimenstein just a phone call to find a donor.
Dimenstein is nothing if not creative when it comes to both his project and how he pays the bills. A wealthy school pays for its students to volunteer with the seniors. At the same time, Dimenstein uses some of that money to offer a stipend to students from less well-off schools that volunteer at Aprendiz.
Brazil: Tech powerhouse, but gaps remain
Among those working at Aprendiz is Marina Rosenfeld, who started out as a student and now works at the project.
"I was not a good student," she recalls.
"You were a terrible student," Dimenstein interrupts.
Rosenfeld said she got something from Aprendiz she wasn't getting from school.
"When I came here, I think people believed in me," she said. "It was very different from a traditional school (where) they just think you are good if you get good grades."
And, like all the students in the Aprendiz project, she went to college. "Everyone has to go to college," Dimenstein said. "There is no discussion."
While pen and paper is still the most important gear for any reporting effort, I did use a bunch of other technology in making this series possible.
1. Panoramic lens from 0-360.com
This was the piece of gear I was most excited about. Basically, it allows an immersive panoramic movie to be created from a single still photo. (The folks at 0-360.com were kind enough to lend a review unit for CNET to use on this trip.)
The specialized lens and mirror attachment allows immersive panoramas to be created from a single image file
(Credit: 0-360.com)It's a custom lens that fit on top of my Canon Digital Rebel XT. To achieve the effect, the lens has a mirror on the end. Instead of pointing at a subject, the camera is aimed straight up in the air and takes a picture of what's seen in the mirror.
It takes a little practice to learn how to use the lens and get things in decent focus, but I felt like it really did help give a sense of what it was like to be there.
My biggest issue is that the lens, when placed in its clear cylindrical container doesn't look like the sort of object one wants to take with them through airport security. Only once, though, did security really seem all that interested in it.
2. T-Mobile Dash
I didn't fall in love with Windows Mobile, but my T-Mobile Dash did allow me access to work e-mail and the Internet in many--but not all--places in Colombia and Brazil.
As I did with my Treo, I wrote the occasional short post on the device and also used it to jot down ideas. Microsoft's ActiveSync technology sufficed, but I was still quite happy to be reunited with my Palm OS-based Treo and its GoodLink software upon my return.
3. Flip Video camera
I wanted something to easily take video, knowing that I would be juggling multiple responsibilities. The Flip performed well, although the audio quality at times leaves something to be desired. Also, I had with me the first-generation model, which lacks the tripod mount that would have come in handy.
I used some of the video as it was shot, but also used the Flip footage as b-roll (background matter) in the piece I did with CNET TV's Kara Tsuboi.
4. IBM ThinkPad T42
With the exception of one hiccup in Colombia, my years-old IBM ThinkPad proved trusty and reliable, adapting to whatever form of Internet access that I managed to wrangle.
I did miss the Sprint card that I usually take on domestic reporting trips, but found plentiful if pricey Wi-Fi at the hotels in Brazil and Colombia.
SAO PAULO, Brazil--Enter the midrange Extra department store and it is easy to find the PCs--they are right in front, just as customers enter the store.
What's harder to find is the total price of said machines. Sure, there's a price sticker next to each machine. But the featured price is not the total, but rather the monthly payment, when the price of a computer is spaced out over 10 to 20 months.
It's not a trick. It's just that for the folks who shop at places like Extra, Casas Bahia, and other stores, that's how purchasing decisions are made.
PCs from Brazilian maker Positivo at a local retail store. A large sign touts that the computers can be paid for in 10 monthly payments without interest.
(Credit: Positivo)If one looks closely enough at the fine print, the total price is listed, as well as whether the product is being offered with or without interest. Interest on some models at some stores can be as much as 40 percent a year, with the highest rates often attached to the cheapest models. That said, retailers often give credit to those even without any proof of income.
The move to offer financing has been a boon to the Brazilian PC industry, now the world's fifth largest market. Computer sales here grew 40 percent last year, with 10.5 million computers sold in 2007, according to Gartner.
The PCs themselves are fairly expensive by U.S. standards, particularly for those sold by global brands like HP and Dell. However, the ability to finance PCs has made them affordable enough to be attractive to many of those in Brazil's middle classes.
"Credit has changed dramatically," said Gartner analyst Luis Anavitarte. "Retailers in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Mexico are becoming banks."
Not all stores are set up that way. At the high-end Fast Shop, the store lists total prices, though it too offers customers the option to buy in installments.
It's not just the pricing that varies depending on the type of retailer, but also the kind of computers. At low-midrange store Casas Bahia, all the desktops are from Brazilian maker Positivo, while at Fast Shop, it is the multinational brands like Sony and HP and even Macintoshes that dominate the prime real estate, with a few models from Brazilian brands like Itautec placed in the back.
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As for the machines themselves, the cheapest model I saw was a Positivo for 699 reais ($422). It included a 15-inch monitor, CD burner, 40GB hard drive, and 256MB of memory and used Windows XP Starter Edition. While this model was both underpowered and dated, there were plenty of low-end models with much more standard feature sets.
On the high end, Fast Shop's shelves were stocked with the latest models from HP and Sony as well as brands like Philips and LG that aren't known in the U.S. for their computers. The Mac models there were also the latest, but a 20-inch iMac with a 320GB hard drive sold for $3,620 and a MacBook Pro with 2GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive fetched $3,923.
Positivo also went fairly high-end, including a $1,810 desktop that included a 22-inch wide screen, 2GB of memory, a Core 2 Quad processor, and a 320GB hard drive.
Another striking fact is that there is also a far broader range of operating systems to be found on the machines there than in the U.S. At the middle-class shops, it was common to see a mix of Linux, Windows Vista Starter, and Windows Vista Basic.
And despite the range of operating systems that were offered, it typically wasn't one of the items mentioned prominently in the marketing of the machine. That's probably because most of the machines that aren't running a full version of Windows typically get "upgraded" with a pirated version of the operating system.
Positivo, for example, sells machines with Linux and the Starter edition of Windows, but its chief executive said the choice in operating system is usually to hit a particular price or to satisfy government officials as opposed to actual consumer demand for those products. Brazil's government has a program that provides subsidized financing for low-cost computers, but requires that they use (or at least be sold with) open-source software.
About 70 percent to 75 percent of the people who buy Linux convert to Windows--usually a pirated copy, said Positivo CEO Helio Rotenberg. Of those who buy a machine with the Starter edition of Windows, about two-thirds convert to full Windows, he said.
Others put the figure even higher.
"Ninety percent of them, if not more, are converted to Microsoft in less than a day," Anavitarte said. He noted that one Latin American retailer did a survey and found that a month after their sale, 95 percent of the machines sold with Linux were running Windows.
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Reporter Ina Fried, just back from Latin America, shares her observations about Brazil's PC market with Leslie Katz. Why is the market there growing so fast?
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SAO PAULO, Brazil--At a high-end computer store in Brazil, you'll find the same kinds of Dell, HP, and Sony models you'd see anywhere in the world.
But in the department stores where Brazil's middle class do their shopping, a homegrown brand, virtually unheard of outside of Latin America, dominates: Positivo.
Positivo has the lion's share of Brazil's retail market, accounting for nearly a third of retail sales and selling more than a million PCs last year. At one key retailer, Casas Bahia, Positivo's desktops are the only ones on the shelves. Overall, Positivo says it sells more computers at retail than the next three players combined.
In large part, the company's growth has paralleled that of the country's middle class.
"Positivo was at the right place at the right time," CEO Helio Rotenberg said in a telephone interview on Monday. "There are a lot of families that have the desire to buy their first computer and now they can."
Part of Positivo's success has been creating products that make sense in the local market. For example, it has a Media Center PC, dubbed PCTV, that combines the functions of a computer and TV.
Unlike U.S. models, which tend to be relatively high-end, Rotenberg said his company aimed for a low-cost machine that can serve dual purposes as a second TV and a first computer in moderate-income households.
"We tropicalized this concept," Rotenberg said.
One of the company's latest pushes is the "family PC" concept, which adds onto the computer a portal with everything from recipes to homework help to personal finance information.
Rotenberg notes that for customers in its target market, the PC is not a personal device, but rather one shared by the whole household. "Each part of the family, they are a part of the computer."
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The cheapest of Positivo's desktops can be had for 50 reais ($30) a month, with financing from the store.
At that price, Rotenberg says it's possible to start reaching some in the next lowest economic segment, those whose monthly income is around $270 a month. Construction workers and those who clean houses are starting to buy computers, he said.
These are "not big numbers in this moment, but they are beginning to buy," he said.
Positivo is also trying to aim a bit higher on the pyramid. It now makes its own laptops, ranging from models that cost about $800 to models costing more than $2,000, including a stylish white model aimed at the upper segments of the market.
The bulk of the company's energy, though, remains on the growing middle class, Rotenberg said. "It's exactly where the growth is," he said. "It's exactly where we put our weapons."
Those weapons are growing. Positivo has started manufacturing its own motherboards and LCD screens, in addition to expanding its plant in Curitiba to up its capacity to 225,000 PCs a month.
"We are very happy with the market," Rotenberg said. "We think we are in a very good phase."
SAO PAULO, Brazil--Microsoft on Monday shifted the leadership of its emerging market unit, placing former unified communications chief Anoop Gupta at the helm.
Orlando Ayala, the Microsoft executive who had been leading the unit (and with whom I had been traveling with in Colombia) is shifting to a new role inside Kevin Turner's sales unit, while Microsoft veteran Will Poole is retiring from Microsoft this fall. Poole, who had been heading the unit with Ayala, is a former top Windows executive, while Ayala had been sales chief and head of the midmarket group at Microsoft, prior to joining the company's Unlimited Potential effort.
Anoop Gupta
(Credit: Microsoft)Gupta will report to Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer.
"The mission of (the Unlimited Potential unit) is one that fits naturally with Craig's charter to develop the long-cycle research, innovation, and business incubations that will impact the future of technology--and the role it can play in addressing societal needs in areas like health care, education, and scientific discovery," Microsoft said in a statement.
Gupta plans to hire two new corporate vice presidents to oversee Microsoft's educational and emerging market products, Microsoft said.
Poole will report to Mundie until he leaves in the fall, while Microsoft called Ayala's job an expanded role but offered only vague indications of what he is doing, saying he will be involved in "external evangelism, field engagement, and direct input on strategy."
BOGOTA, Colombia--In one corner of a massive warehouse, workers pick through bins of computers, keyboards, and mice, painstakingly cleaning each part.
There's a special room where peripherals such as mice go for washing and another where they go for drying. Once the hardware is reassembled, often with a few new parts added to the mix, the first set of testing takes place, to make sure all of the hardware functions as it should.
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In another area, the newly rebuilt systems get their collection of software--Windows 2000 and a several-generations-old version of Office. Then the machines go through another round of testing to make sure they are working properly, before being wrapped and packed in broken-down Styrofoam and being shipped out to destinations throughout the country.
Even printers are refurbished--and not just inkjet, but years-old dot-matrix printers that have long since been pushed out of the commercial market. It's all part of a project known as Computadores para Educar, which refurbishes thousands of computers each year for Colombia's schools.
Although the effort has given more than 9,500 schools their first PCs, some have begun to question whether the approach is the best way to go. Even the nonprofit agency itself has started to supplement the 20,000 or so computers it refurbishes each year with a separate manufacturing line that creates new machines.
One of the greatest strength's of the program is the rigor of its refurbishing process. Microsoft officials who toured the plant this week said the facility was among the best they had seen. Program officials say that a recent study found that the mean time before failure of their machines compares quite well against new machines, even though theirs are far older.
Among the criticisms is the fact that it costs about $160 to refurbish a PC. That figure is lower, say, than in Africa, but higher than in some other countries. It also is no longer so much less than a new PC, which can be had, sans software, for as little as $280.
One factor in the high cost for the program is the fact that the demand for the computers is so high that the program refurbishes nearly every donated PC that meets its minimum specifications--at least a Pentium II processor and 128MB of memory. As a result, the organization often has to supplement old parts with new. The parts that most frequently need replacement are system memory and hard disks, although new speakers and floppy drives (yes, each machine has a floppy) are often needed as well.
Other say the machines are just too slow. Among those with that view is Dario Montoya, who heads the national SENA job training program.
In an interview after graduating a new crop of students from its SENA's IT skills program, Montoya said the refurbished computers won't help the country get the software developers it needs to truly compete.
"At this very table six months ago, I had the minister of communication and the minister of education," Montoya said. "I told them that Computadores para Educar must change."
Although the program has distributed around 100,000 computers, he said that 60 percent are now more than 6 years old. "They are obsolete," he said. "We cannot continue to fool ourselves that was a good model."
Cecilia Maria Velez, Colombia's education minister, said she thinks a mix of technologies is best. "We think that it's very important for quantity to use refurbished computers but we think it is also important to have other kind of machines," she said.
The Internet question
For her the question boils down to whether or not the machines can connect to the Internet. "The point is connectivity and capacity to use connectivity," she said. "That is the line."
Velez pushes back when she gets complaints that the machines are too old." I fight with them," she said. "Before you haven't anything; now at least you have this slow thing."
A teacher from the Funsa school, which has benefitted from the program, brought some students to see the facility here on Tuesday. Asked about the debate of old versus new, he said it all depends on the students. With elementary school students, he said, it's all about getting more time to interact with the machines. In those cases, more machines is better, even if they are older. By high school, though, he said the needs of students are simply outpacing the machines.
Maria del Rosario Guerra, an economist by training and now the country's communications minister, said she wants Computadores Para Educar to hit a critical mass of schools with their first computers in the next couple of years. "After that, Computadores para Educar must move to work toward new strategy."
A herd of cattle blocks the road toward the rural village of Corinto.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)CORINTO, Colombia--It was easy for the kids at the rural school to see I had arrived.
Even if they didn't see the van carrying myself and Microsoft executive Orlando Ayala, it was hard to miss the 20 or so soldiers that accompanied us in a convoy.
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The military escort was not just a sign of the esteem that Ayala is held in--though the Colombian native is something of a favorite son here--but rather an indicator of the danger that remains in the area in an around Corinto. Though its just 30-some miles from Cali, the area is not far from rebel strongholds.
At one point on our way there, the road was blocked by a herd of rather skinny cattle. Though on its face amusing (and definitely a Kodak moment), their presence was unsettling to even some of the Colombians in the van. Such incidents can be a diversion to initiate a kidnapping. Thankfully the cows were just cows.
Though the trip into the countryside had some risk, it feels important to write about people that are trying to move forward, even as the conflict remains close to their homes. The visit was particularly powerful for me, having known someone in high school, Terry Freitas, who was later kidnapped and killed near the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
In Corinto, I saw students thrilled by the opportunity to use decade-old technology and a mayor and principal pleading for the more modern computers that could make an even greater impact. I was also struck by the teacher who helped the students with the computers--a zoologist who moved back to Corinto to help improve the education in the town where she grew up.
I also had a chance to tour the factory where workers painstakingly refurbish the computers that end up in places like Corinto. The program, Computadores para Educar (Computers for Education) refurbishes more than 20,000 computers a year. Although the machines are typically a few years old (the minimum specs are machines with Pentium II processors and 128MB of memory), a government study found that the computers the program refurbishes have roughly the same time before failing as new PCs, in part because of its rigorous process of cleaning and testing.
However, that painstaking process is costly, and the program often has to supplement donated computers with new parts. As a result, some say the $160 it costs to refurbish a computer may not be the best use of funds, when new machines, capable of running the latest software, can be had for around $280. It's a fascinating debate, and I plan to describe the program and its challenges more in a post that will go up in the next day or so.
I also doubt I will forget the torrential rain that came out of nowhere as we visited the peace park in Medellin, started by well-known Latin singer Juanes, who is also from Colombia. The rain was probably the hardest I have seen in my life, but lasted just five minutes or so. A few minutes later, the kids taking tennis lessons at the park were back outside playing around.
A Colombian boy plays in a heavy rain at Juanes de la Paz park in Medellin. The downpour lasted just five minutes.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)CORINTO, Colombia--The small rural town of Corinto is trying to stake out a new role for itself, but the challenges are significant.
At the crossroads of guerrilla-held territory and with a budget a quarter of the size of what it needs, the town is still known best for the quality of its marijuana. It is a place that the armed groups see as sympathetic to the army and government, and that mainstream Colombia thinks of as in the hands of the armed groups. But by investing in its local school, the city hopes to change both reality and perception.
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The school works hand in hand with a program called Vallenpaz that aims to offer those in rural communities enough hope and opportunity that they don't see the need to either move to a city or join with a rebel group.
During the 10th and 11th grades, students at Instituto Educativa Nucleo Escolar Rural-Corinto work on a specific project aimed at demonstrating the power of growing the right crops in the right way. Students use computers to research crops like red beans and tomatoes, to learn about organic fertilizers, and to study ways to combat insects. They plan a schedule for their crops and make reports on their progress.
And they do this all on a handful of HP and IBM computers that, in some cases, are only a few years younger than they are. The school gets its limited Internet access through a program sponsored by the national ministry of education. The government has been gradually cutting the amount of Internet access it gives to the school, first from 24 hours a day to eight hours a day. At this point, the school gets just two hours a day--and even that is scheduled to go away in October.
Instituto Educativa Nucleo Escolar Rural-Corinto students work in the computer lab.
"The model of sustainability has not been established," said Orlando Ayala, senior vice president of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential program, which provides software and training to various efforts around the globe, including the computer lab here.
To compound the technical challenges, the lone server at the school is broken, meaning that the majority of the computers in the lab--and the only ones from this decade--lack Word and the rest of the Office suite that Microsoft has donated. Instead, students using those computers write their documents in WordPad.
Nor is it the case that this school is at the bottom of the pyramid when it comes to technology.
"You can go a few kilometers and find one with even less infrastructure," Ayala said. Indeed, the principal of another school in the region said his school lacks Internet access entirely, with kids forced to walk two hours to get to the nearest Internet cafe that charges $2 an hour and then walk two hours back.
The need for technology here is huge. In this rural agricultural community, technology can make the difference between barely making a living and improving one's life. More importantly, for those youths that don't see a future, there are two bad options: move to a city or join with the guerrillas.
Students outside their school, the Instituto Educativa Nucleo Escolar Rural-Corinto.
The local education secretary noted that just 10 percent to 20 percent of students graduate, leaving a whole lot to turn to illicit actions.
Leaders in this community say more resources are badly needed. The cornerstone of their education is the project for the 10th and 11th graders in which they study their particular crop and its challenges and then grow and market it. But because they don't have enough land, the exercise is just a demonstration. If the school could acquire a nearby farm it could turn its effort into a profitable operation that could improve the lives of many of the area's families.
The effort to have the students research and grow crops is tied to a broader program by Vallenpaz to a help those in Corinto make their crops more profitable. By greater planning and working in collectives, farmers can see a return several times than what they might otherwise get. The students at the school are seeing firsthand the role computers and the Internet can play in aiding that.
On the computer front, school officials dream of a one-to-one computing project, or at least more computers in the lab to give students more access to the PCs. When Ayala went to talk with one of the students, she was less than eager to chat. She gets only one hour a week in the lab and had a handwritten report she needed to finish typing. "She was like, 'Go away'," Ayala said.
And of course, better Internet access is also needed. Although Corinto is just 50 kilometers from Cali, the school's limited Internet access is pokey even by dial-up standards. It can take 10 or 20 minutes to load a single page.
But to many of the students that attend this school, even a modest chance to use computers is a great opportunity.
Diana, an 11th grader, noted that her two brothers were not able to finish school, while she has had the opportunity to learn much about growing crops. "It was a dream to study in this (school)," she said. "The school has taught me how to grow a crop and to handle a computer."
While one brother cares for a family of his own and another carries sacks of coffee on his back, Diana feels she has an opportunity to bring a better life to her family. "My family, they are giving me all the support to develop myself. I want to show them they have not lost their investment and they can count on me. "
MIAMI--In the basement of a Catholic church, a woman loudly shouts the word "three," and a chorus of seniors repeats the word several times as part of their regular English lessons. A few yards a way, a small flea market features a display of clothes and other items. But next door to the flea market is the crown jewel of the Gesu Senior Center: its computer lab.
Click here to read all of the stories in The Borders of Computing series.
What began last year with only a couple computers in a corner, now consists of two enclosed rooms packed with PCs. This past Friday, about thirty Spanish-speaking seniors learned how to use the computers to make greeting cards. Seniors come to the lab three days a week for the lessons and two other days a week the lab is open for people who want to send e-mail and keep up with friends and family.
Among the first seniors to use the lab when it opened was Maria Rico, 77, who moved to the United States in 1978. As a volunteer at the church that houses the senior center, Rico heard about the class and signed up without hesitation.
Despite having only received six months of formal education, Rico has been one of the lab's most dedicated users, relying on it to keep in touch with her grandchildren in Colombia, who pay to use an Internet cafe to respond to her notes.
A number of seniors look on as they get computer training at Miami's Gesu Catholic Church and Senior Center.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)In another corner of the room, Beatriz Gomez signs in to check her e-mail. The computer allows her to connect with her brother, nieces and nephews, and many friends back in Colombia.
"It shortens the distance," she said.
But many of the economic and social barriers that existed in Colombia have also manifested themselves in Miami. Despite the wealth on display on Miami's beaches and a wave of investment that has modernized the downtown skyline, the city of Miami remains one of the nation's poorest.
The senior center is one component of a citywide program called Elevate Miami aimed at offering educational opportunities to citizens of all ages. Another part of the program called "Rights of Passage," offers all sixth-graders in the city the opportunity to earn a free computer, provided they maintain decent grades and maintain the respect of their teachers. Parents are also required to complete a session.
Maria Rico, who moved from Colombia to the United States in 1978, was only allowed to go to school for six months as a child, but has been an avid participant in the computer classes at Gesu since the lab opened last year.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)"When we've looked in some of our particularly disadvantaged neighborhoods, we see computers in less than a third of houses," said city of Miami CIO Peter Korinis. "We see Internet connections in less than a quarter. Clearly these families and these households are going to have an uphill fight to take advantage of all that a computer has to offer, whether its education or health care or jobs."
In 2004, Miami wired the first of its city parks for Internet access. The city had planned to add parks methodically, but the demand proved tremendous and it connected more than 20 parks that first year with anywhere from a single PC to labs with a dozen or more computers. As of January, the city had 43 parks hooked up with 293 computers in total.
But the city was careful where it put its dollars, Korinis said.
"These are not sumptuous computer centers," he said. "In many cases, these are multipurpose rooms. They roll out the mats and do gymnastics, then they role back the mats and roll out the computers."
The most important things the parks offer is proximity to the people who need computer access most. "That's why we chose these places," Korinis said. "It's safe and its close."
For the PCs, the city found a willing donor: itself.
In the past, the company had auctioned off its outdated but working machines for as little as $5 apiece. Microsoft provided new software for the machines, while AT&T and Comcast are providing Internet access for the parks and senior centers.
Irma Orfila, another of the regulars at the Gesu senior center, said she had never used a computer until the lab opened.
"I always was afraid," she said. "Today you have to do it, to feel alive, to feel younger."
MIAMI--In two separate speeches on Friday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made the case that businesses need to see serving the poor as part of their mission and that governments need to see private businesses as potential partners.
Bill Gates shakes hands with Hernan Rincon, Microsoft's vice president for Latin America, before speaking at the Government Leaders Forum in Miami.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)One of the big topics for both audiences was the notion of microfinance--improving the access to credit and banking to the poor.
"The idea of how they create loans for the poorest is part of it," he said at the Government Leaders Forum. But although today microfinance has focused on loans, there is more to it. "We need to get savings and even some insurance products."
Gates talked about how technology can play a role, noting that when payment is tied to the cell phone, it offers the potential for lower interest rates.
In every industry, Gates said, businesses need to start thinking about how they can use some of their energy and resources, say 6 percent, to expand their reach to poorer segments either in their own country, or globally. Food companies need to focus on micronutrients, while drug companies should devote some energy to diseases that affect largely the poor, such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Click here to read all of the stories in The Borders of Computing series.
Already, he said, there are examples of companies in each industry doing this.
"Cell phone companies, banks, energy companies, technology companies, food companies, we have a lot of good examples in each of those industries," he said at the Inter-American Development Bank meeting.
But while there are a few leaders who are onboard, Gates acknowledged that his notion of creative capitalism has not been uniformly embraced. "Many of the companies are skeptical," he noted. "As we have examples of success we can overcome that."
Education was another key topic, with one questioner at the Government Leaders Forum asking Gates about whether computer labs or one-to-one computing projects are the way to go.
"The costs of moving to a one computer per child are fairly high and yet in the long term that's what we recommend," Gates said. With computer labs, Gates said, the most enthusiastic students tend to gravitate to the machines, monopolizing their use, while students who need the practice the most fall behind and never catch up.
He noted that many countries have already set up pilot programs, with one region in Spain providing laptops to 10,000 students. At the same time, he said such projects require years of planning
He also talked up the potential of one of his favorite technologies--the Tablet PC.
"Today that machine is something like a $1,000 machine," he said. "Over the next three or four years that will become a $400 machine."
He noted that his daughter uses one instead of textbooks at her school, and can forward her homework to her dad.
"I can help her out on anything where she's confused," he said. Assignments are turned in electronically and returned by e-mail. "It's just so natural for her."
