The $20 tablet that will revolutionize the world

[RAMA]

This is an addendum to my earlier posts on the subject of the "rising billion" poor in the world and the affects of technology(smartphones, tablets, wifi) in it, with dematerialization, education, and improving the local economy.

http://qz.com/26244/how-a-20-tablet...llions-and-transform-computing-as-we-know-it/

 

[gturner]

Somewhere on Youtube is a talk about the washing-machine barrier. Most of the world's women still have to wash clothes by hand, which can take several hours a day of hard labor. That's the big leap that revolutionizes the world for most people. So if they get a $20 tablet, they should look up washing machines.

 

[Amaris]

I got my tablet for $39. It doesn't run the latest OS, but it runs Android 2.2, and I can watch YouTube videos, surf the internet, update Twitter and Facebook, play a number of games, listen to music, and much more. I could have never imagined, even a year ago, when a tablet PC would be so inexpensive. By this time next year, my tablet will probably be given away to kids just for buying some kind of game or somesuch.

 

[EmoBorg]

The current Indian government, which is left leaning, wants to narrow the gap between the poor and the rich in their country. One way is through technology. The Hand Phone technology has allowed for numerous homes to get connected. Before that it took years for a family to get a land line under the Byzantine bureaucracy of the Indians.

Now the aim of this inexpensive tablet is to bring internet and computer access to millions of poor Indians, who can not afford laptops and desktops.

 

[RAMA]

Somewhere on Youtube is a talk about the washing-machine barrier. Most of the world's women still have to wash clothes by hand, which can take several hours a day of hard labor. That's the big leap that revolutionizes the world for most people. So if they get a $20 tablet, they should look up washing machines.

This is somewhat related to my posts on drinkable water, and the time it takes for the poor to find and acquire water, plus man-hours lost to disease that could be spent working, making a living and improving quality of life. The Slingshot is a real solution to the problem:

http://www.sustainablebrands.com/ne...-water-purification-system-developing-nations

 

[Crazy Eddie]

The overtaxed cell network in India is a bit of a dealbreaker; if this really goes to market, it'll make the problem 50 times worse.

This is the point where the Indian government should seriously think about getting its space program up and running (or throwing some money at SpaceX to put some satellites into orbit). Despite the fact that these tablets are basically glorified smartphones (or maybe smartphones are under-appreciated tablets? ) they won't be all that useful in a standalone mode.