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IBM and Canonical partner on software package for Africa
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| The Wall Street Journal broke the story this morning of a
| partnership between IBM and Canonical to provide a software
| package for users of netbooks and other thin clients in
| Africa. The package, which can be configured in several ways
| to provide both netbook-based and cloud-based software, is
| expected to drive new business for local partners by taking
| advantage of open standards, file sharing, email, and social
| network capabilities.
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http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=4288
IBM Markets Wares to Africa
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| International Business Machines Corp. will try to sell a new
| package of low-priced computer desktop applications to
| companies and governments in Africa, challenging Microsoft
| Corp. and other rivals in the region.
|
| IBM, which has been pushing into developing markets like
| Africa and Asia as mature markets slow, said the package --
| which includes basic programs like word processing and email
| -- would be made available to customers via remote "cloud
| computing" facilities, meaning users could access the programs
| from the Web. It would cost $10 per month per user, and can
| run on so-called netbook computers, or low-cost PCs priced
| around $300.
|
| IBM is working in collaboration with London-based Canonical
| Ltd., which makes Linux software and was started in South
| Africa.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125367155287932855.html
Recent:
Weapon against epidemics: Cell phones
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| Many global health institutions are now encouraging the use of advanced
| methodologies such as smart phones and open-source software as the next
| generation of data transmission, said Dr. Ramesh Krishnamurthy, an
| informatics scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
`----
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/06/16/cellphones.health.disease/
Ending Africa's Hunger
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| The preference for private sector contributions to agriculture
| shapes the Gates Foundation's funding priorities. In a number
| of grants, for instance, one corporation appears repeatedly--
| Monsanto. To some extent, this simply reflects Monsanto's
| domination of industrial agricultural research. There are,
| however, notable synergies between Gates and Monsanto: both are
| corporate titans that have made millions through technology, in
| particular through the aggressive defense of proprietary
| intellectual property. Both organizations are suffused by a
| culture of expertise, and there's some overlap between them.
| Robert Horsch, a former senior vice president at Monsanto, is,
| for instance, now interim director of Gates's agricultural
| development program and head of the science and technology
| team. Travis English and Paige Miller, researchers with the
| Seattle-based Community Alliance for Global Justice, have
| uncovered some striking trends in Gates Foundation funding. By
| following the money, English told us that "AGRA used funds from
| the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to write twenty-three
| grants for projects in Kenya. Twelve of those recipients are
| involved in research in genetically modified agriculture,
| development or advocacy. About 79 percent of funding in Kenya
| involves biotech in one way or another." And, English says, "so
| far, we have found over $100 million in grants to organizations
| connected to Monsanto."
|
| This isn't surprising in light of the fact that Monsanto and
| Gates both embrace a model of agriculture that sees farmers
| suffering a deficit of knowledge--in which seeds, like little
| tiny beads of software, can be programmed to transmit that
| knowledge for commercial purposes. This assumes that Green
| Revolution technologies--including those that substitute for
| farmers' knowledge--are not only desirable but neutral.
| Knowledge is never neutral, however: it inevitably carries and
| influences relations of power.
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http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/patel_et_al
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