Slashdot Mirror
Mobile Phone Technology and Developing Nations
angry tapir writes "Mobile Operator Tata Teleservices is testing technology that allows farmers to use their mobile phones to remotely monitor and switch on irrigation pump sets in far-flung locations. The technology, called Nano Ganesh, is being tested in two villages in the Indian state of Gujarat. In India, where the electricity supply is erratic, farmers often walk several kilometers to where their irrigation pumps are located, only to find that there is no electricity available. By dialing a code number from a mobile phone to a wireless device attached to the pump, farmers can now remotely monitor the electricity supply, and also switch the pump on and off. It's just the latest example of how mobile phone technology is being employed in novel ways to solve problems in developing nations. For example in Kenya, GSM technology has been used to help tame marauding elephants."
In most of the Developing economies mobile phones are the first and mostly the only computing devices people have. How much can they realize the potential of such devices is upto the developers and innovators. Having a computing device gives people a lot of leverage. The challenge to us as developers is, can we use it solve real world problems ? Can we make people's lives better with technology ? Or do we continue to waste time in iFarting and Pulling the Fingers ? Or in having a flame-war about OSes and Vi over Emacs ?
Kudos to Tata Teleservices.
Now the problem is covering all these poor countries areas with cell antennas.
At least here in Brazil, that's a big problem in rural areas, much worse than electricity.
Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.
True, asterisk is powerful and convenient, but you need a whole computer to run it, and a computer in that area is a real magnet for thieves, unless you put it in a wall and cover it with bricks and mortar.
A phone, on the other hand, can be powered by a solar cell and a charger, and takes time to find, especially if hidden well in a big place.