Hold your breath: A 35 USD computer IS ON THE WAY

Ladies and gentle men, can you believe this a $35 computer has been introduced in India that will run on the Linux operating system. This machine will be the solution to low cost computing we all been looking for ands should a big leap in resolvring digital divide gap in many partsof the wotrld, Laos is including.
This computer is a touch-screen tablet looks like an iPad and will be Internet accessible, have web browsing, basic word processing and video chatting. To cut manufacturing costs, the device uses a memory card instead of a hard disk, and buyers will be able to purchase a solar power add-on. "This is our answer to MIT's $100 computer," Kapil Sibal, India's human resource development minister, told the Economic Times.
A prototype of a $100 laptop was introduced in 2005 by Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. India rejected this model because it was too expensive.
Sibal hopes to eventually get the cost of the $35 Linux device down to $10 after initial launch.
It is unthinkable where US have tried couple of times anfd failed becuase parts were quite expensive. what a solution and remarkable ways that IIT engineers have come with. Cheers!! I can't wait to get my hands on this machine and put Laonux on it.

My first cell phone

Well...almost everyone has a story to tell. This is my story of having the cell phone. That was around 1989 when I was still in the college in upstate New York, USA. The cellphone was only the beginning at that time and it was a hot commodity. People seemed to be quite fasinated of this new technology including myself. So I decided to get one and it was a car cellphone from Motorola where long antena has be attached to the rear of the vehicle and that cellphone is attached permanently to the long wire. This seems to be alright; however, the fees that incurred for this was outraged compare to nowdays. Fro example it was 300 USD to install, $300 for the phone, and you have to sign 2-year contract with the service provider. There is no flat rate fee for calls if my memory serves me. The calling rate depends on time and place you made the call and was around 0.50-1.50 USD. Go figure.

In Laos, a friend once said. In 1993 or so, If you owned a mobile phone, it means you either rich or you are crazy. To own a mobile phone, 20 grams or so, you have to spend at least 2000-3000 USD which meant that cell phone cost around 2000 USD, the SIM card priced at 500 USD, and some other accessories that service provider able to drain your pocket.....my, my....I thought it was tough call for my to make in New York but in Laos as even harder ...that was then and this is now where SIM card is just pennies. Time flies and changes so fast in 20 or odd years.

Android gains martket share

Believe it or not Android with its two years existence has gain market share from Apple and the rest of the smartphone market.
Google's Android platform grew by 44 percent from February to May, according to a report released Thursday by ComScore. During the three-month period from December to February, Android commanded an average of 9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. In the next three-month period, from March to May, it had shot up to an average of 13.

Now, it goes without saying that 13 percent is still a relatively small piece of the pie. But the overall trends are what we're watching here -- and, gauging by a wide range of data from numerous sources, Android is showing consistent growth at a pace its competitors can't match.