Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

16 Aug 2011 20:10

tags

Tech, World: A growing market: Kenyans buying $80 Android phones left and right

  • This isn’t the fastest Android phone you can buy. Nor does it have the largest screen — in fact, at 2.8 inches, it’s downright tiny. And battery life is reportedly so short that it can cause problems for those without nearby electrical sources. But the Huawei IDEOS has a major advantage for Kenyan consumers — it costs just $80 without a contract. The result? In a country where 4 in 10 people live on less than $2 per day, they’ve sold in the hundreds of thousands. The moral of the story? There is a huge market in the developing world for phones like these — region-specific apps, too. Other companies, including Apple, are rumored to be trying for this market. But can they hit an $80 price point with their phones? That’s the real question. source

14 Nov 2010 12:09

tags

World: Haiti’s cholera outbreak tops 900, spreads throughout country

  • 917 the current death toll from waterborne cholera in Haiti as of Friday
  • 14.7k the number of hospitalizations caused by the outbreak
  • six of the country’s ten provinces have had cholera outbreaks source

13 Apr 2010 20:29

tags

World: Microfinance: Once a charitable goal, now a big business

  • $60B the size of the microfinance industry, which offers small, easy-to-pay, loans to the third-world poor
  • 60% the percentage of the industry run by the banking industry, not non-profit charities (which run 35 percent)
  • $74M the amount CARE USA,
    an American charity, made when it sold its microfinance business to a bank source

24 Mar 2010 10:23

tags

World: Is the radicalized Somalia ready to turn a major corner?

  • I’m not saying Somalia’s going to be a modern state, but it won’t be a radical Islamic state either.
  • An unnamed U.S. official • Speaking about the current status of Somalia, a country that has spent most of the last 20 years under a militant radical Islam leadership. But a corner seems to be turning, and many people (particularly the weakened Somali government) are starting to fight back against the Shabab militants. Could this be the beginning of the end of the anarchy that’s peppered the African nation? source

29 Jan 2010 09:48

tags

World: Bill Gates has a nice little gift to offer the third world

  • $10 billion to make vaccines over the next ten years source

21 Oct 2009 22:00

tags

World: The world’s running out of food, experts say

  • 50% more food is needed in 20 years to feed more people source

12 Aug 2009 10:45

tags

World: The world’s population is bursting at the seams

  • 7 billion the world’s expected population in 2011, according to the 2009 World Population Data Sheet; that’s really fast source
 

08 Mar 2009 21:16

tags

Biz, World: When it comes to bailouts, don’t forget the third world

  • $700 billion might be needed; at least they’re not AIG. source

05 Mar 2009 22:52

tags

Tech, World: One Laptop Per Child is part of the way there

  • 750,000 laptops for kids worldwide source

02 Mar 2009 08:57

tags

World: A leader’s death in Guinea-Bissau leads to chaos

  • Nobody knows who is in charge. Nobody knows what the army will do.
  • A diplomat • in response to the death of Guinea-Bissau leader João Bernardo Vieira, who was shot dead by soldiers early Monday morning. Some soldiers blamed Vieira for the death of General Batista Tagme Na Wai, who was killed in a blast Sunday night. The borders of the country were closed off in the wake of the deaths. • source