Some of the world's brightest technologists hail from this south Indian city, burnishing Bangalore's reputation as the Silicon Valley of the East.
Yet for most Indians, whose average income is US$450 a year, a computer is a foreign word. Ownership is a distant dream.
PHOTO: AP
A group of seven Indian computer scientists think they can help.
They've built a simple, inexpensive handheld computer -- they call it the Simputer -- that in the words of co-developer Vinay Deshpande "could truly take the benefits of information technology to the underserved of the world."
Fewer than 1 percent of India's more than 1 billion people have personal computers.
More than 40 percent of the population is illiterate, and one in four Indians lives in abject poverty.
The idea for the Simputer, which is slated for launch by year's end, emerged from the India Institute of Science and Encore Software Ltd after both were asked by the government to devise ways to deliver information technology's benefits to rural India, where some 75 percent of the country's population lives.
Inspired by the transistor radio, which opened an information spigot to India's villages in the 1970s, the team designed a 7.5cm by 12.5cm telecommunications-ready machine.
They envision Indian farmers using it to get on the Internet via public telephones and check produce prices, government tax and land records.
Although it was designed with Indians in mind, the hope is that the Simputer will be attractive to governments, banks, relief agencies and schools in other developing countries.
"It is a big boost for Indian pride," said Deshpande, the chairman of Encore Software, one of two companies that hold the manufacturing license.
"It proves what we've been saying all along: That we can do it here. This is 100 percent India."
Swami Manohar, another of the developers and a computer science professor at IIS, said the Simputer's initial price would be around US$320. Eventually, they intend to sell it in volume at US$190.
That's still expensive for most Indians.
So the Simputer would accommodate smart cards, which each cost about US$4.25. That would enable farmers, villages or schools to share a single device, and use individual smart cards to store data.
The Simputer runs on a version of the Linux operating system, whose source code is free on the Internet. It has a 320-by-240-pixel monochrome display, is powered by a 200Mhz StrongArm processor and has a hard polymer shell.
The current prototype has 32MB of random access memory, runs on three AAA nickel metal hydride batteries, includes a built-in speaker, a microphone and a telephone jack, and USB and smart card connectors. Into the software bundle are a built-in Internet browser, e-mail program, MP3 player and a modem.
Because it runs on Linux, programmers working through the nonprofit Simputer Trust can improve on the machine's codes and capabilities. On their Web site, the developers say the trust aims to promote the Simputer "as an evolving platform for social change.''
Since many of its users would be illiterate, the Simputer has text-to-speech capability and voicemail.
It is designed to break down written words into basic sounds, then put them back together and speak out in English, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada.
Users can also enter text on a soft screen keyboard, one character at a time, or with a stylus using a handwriting recognition program the designers call "Tapatap"' -- (akin to Graffiti in the Palm OS).
The Simputer Trust does not intend to manufacture the device, only license its design. It plans to charge US$25,000 to commercial producers in developing countries and US$250,000 to manufacturers in developed nations.
"This is a world-class product, ahead of anything being done anywhere else in the world," said Kenneth Keniston, director of the India Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Simputer is not, however, the only cheap computer out there.
In Brazil, computer scientists at Federal University of Minas Gerais have developed a prototype of a PC for the people -- dubbed the Volkscomputer -- which they envision will sell for US$300.
But it's not portable, making it more difficult to share among communities.
The Simputer's developers scrounged for grants and credit the university for giving them lab space and research and development time.
And they don't pretend they don't hope to get rich off the Simputer one day.
The men who built the handheld put in much of their own time and money, and the four computer scientists at the Indian Institute of Science, considered the MIT of the East, earn some US640 monthly and have put most of their other research on hold.
"Not to mention that we haven't seen our families," said V. Vinay, one of the professors. "We're not looking at the retail market, but we're not going to ignore it either."
Deshpande, the software and marketing man of Simputer, agrees: "We hope to make money in the long run."
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS