What's going on here?!
WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Hands-On Leapfrogging: "Wireless Networking for the Developing World is a how-to guide for building, deploying and maintaining wireless information networks in rural parts of the developing world. Written by Tomas Krag, O'Reilly editor Rob Flickenger and a wide assortment of wireless hackers brought together by the Wireless Roadshow last October, the book is now available as a download under a generous Creative Commons 'share alike' license (which means you can do whatever you’d like with the text, so long as you share the output -- allowing people to translate the text into local languages, for instance.) In the near future, the book will also be available in a print-on-demand format."
Leapfrog technology - The gist is this. The western world has developed along a path (ie - wheelbarrow -> horse cart -> horseless carriage -> tractor trailer -> ? -> flying cars (next year)... What if we could help the developing world (Africa, Southeast asia, South Carolina, etc) skip the tractor trailer and go right to the flying car. We all see that if everyone with a horse cart gets a Ford expedition, we are screwed - unless you sell Expeditions, and / or oil, and / or don't care about living on the freeway, in traffic, with smog, with a broken, soft body ....
This post is getting to be depressing. It's not and neither is leapfrog technology for the developing world. Wikipedia to the rescue!
Leapfrogging is a theory of development in which developing countries skip inferior, less efficient, more expensive or more polluting technologies and industries and move directly to more advanced ones.
A frequent example is countries which move directly from having no telephones to having cellular phones, skipping the stage of landline telephones altogether.
Speaking of cell phones (and this really is the depressing part of the post) Both my and Angies cell phones were STOLEN! (plus her bookbag and palmpilot!) So I've spent the week without phone and trying replace stuff. Angie got a new Palm, the LifeDrive (4Gs with a big ole' screen) and we are negogiating with Cingular about replacing the phone (I'll have to ask my manager if we can allow you to use a different phone).
Sorry for the rambling post! Remember to leapfrog whenever possible. Don't leave your cell phone in the car.
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