Battle for control of Earth's unconnected souls moves to SPAAAACE Tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon could sign deals with Boeing for high-throughput satellites in order to reach internet-less regions this year, as part of the data movers' respective bids for world domination, according to a report. Jim Simpson, vice president of business development and chief strategist for …
Did I miss a story about poverty, famine and disease having been eradicated from across Africa? I only ask because one has to assume that major problems like those would have been sorted before expending time and effort on bringing web access to those such afflicted.
Expecting to see Facebook updates like "OMG - my malaria has gotten worse" or "Dengue fever again! FML"
To be fair providing access (and sharing) of information on techniques and technology to improve sanitation (e.g. how to make a bio-toilet, how to use malaria nets efficiently or prevent the breading of mosquitos), farming (irrigation methods, accurate weather forecasting, prices in the local (or not so local market), and poverty reduction (solar lights, access to new markets, how to effectively reuse the materials around you) are all things that will contribute to the above. What balance between on the ground and the costs is of course an important question.
Mobile internet access would also open up opportunities for remote medical services which could make a very direct impact on the physical lives of the people receiving care. After health and hunger issues are addressed, they can switch from being people to being products, so win-win, right?
I only ask because one has to assume that major problems like those would have been sorted before expending time and effort on bringing web access to those such afflicted.
But how will our all powerful overlords respective government agencies invade their privacy keep them safe from terrorists, paedophiles and pirates if they aren't given access to emailz, facebookz, twitterz and lolcatz?
Poverty, famine and disease has not been fully eradicated from the UK, so would you be in favour of suspending all Internet and mobile phone access until it is? Maybe you should visit Africa and live in a rural area for a few months, and you would then have a far better idea of what would and what would not improve the quality of life in those regions. I have done so, and IMO the single thing that would have the most *long term* benefit is for the rural population to become familiar with life and events outside their own small locality. It is lack of knowledge and education that keeps isolated communities stagnant. Together with the unnecessary ignorance of most people in the "First World" about what life in the 3rd World is really like, so they get sold down the river by people who are acting with the best intentions who think they are helping the situation when in fact they are making it 100 times worse. Hands up all those people who were happy to see Ian Smith forced into handing over Rhodesia to Robert Mugabe, because it would "obviously" be better for the poor natives to have democratic self government? It may have seemed the right thing to someone who has lived all their life in the UK, but it was perfectly obvious how it would turn out to those of us who were raised and were living in the region. Africa != England
"I don't like this expression 'First World Problems.' It is false and it is condescending. Yes, Nigerians struggle with floods or infant mortality. But these same Nigerians also deal with mundane and seemingly luxurious hassles. Connectivity issues on your BlackBerry, cost of car repair, how to sync your iPad, what brand of noodles to buy: Third World Problems.
All the silly stuff of life doesn't disappear just because you're black and live in a poorer country. People in the richer nations need a more robust sense of the lives being lived in the darker nations.
Here's a First World problem: the inability to see that others are as fully complex and as keen on technology and pleasure as you are."
-Teju Cole.
So you see, Hans, that while you might think you're being all sensitive and politically-correct by arguing to defer all other solutions in favour of eradicating poverty and starvation, in fact you are showing your ignorance and bigotry by assuming that people in Africa are only concerned with basic survival, rather than communication and wanting to be a part of the larger world.
For even higher throughput, they could set them up with physically wired connections rather than flaky wifi. The satellites would need to be geostationary with the wires just hanging down though, otherwise we'd all have to run along behind them just to stay plugged in.
Commerce needs web access in order to flourish in those regions. The lack of that access is an impediment to those small businesses advertising, communicating, using micropayments, banking, determining prices, etc. This same web access could help dispel rumors about vaccinations and other health issues and educate the populace.
Internet access also provides the user with the ability to find new markets. Getting peoples products directly to market while eliminating the "middleman" will go a long way towards providing an income for them, thus helping to bring them out of poverty, famine and disease.
Then it makes a great way to cover all the empty spots where cell coverage doesn't. Not just Africa, but all those places in the US that are uncovered and probably never will be covered. Even if it just did voice that would mean never being out of service. Well, less out of service, since buildings, tunnels and depending on the frequencies used and SNR a tree canopy might still block the signal.
"Then it makes a great way to cover all the empty spots where cell coverage doesn't. Not just Africa, but all those places in the US that are uncovered and probably never will be covered. Even if it just did voice that would mean never being out of service. Well, less out of service, since buildings, tunnels and depending on the frequencies used and SNR a tree canopy might still block the signal."
Congrats, you've just summed the concept and failings of the Iridium constellation! :)
DS: "I'm hoping two decades of improvements mean Iridium 2.0 will be."
You're about to be disappointed.
Iridium mark I is 5% of dial-up speeds. 2400 bps.
Iridium mark II (IridiumNEXT) is supposed to be "up to 1.5 Mbps", but reportedly not really even that. With a small and simple low gain L-band antenna, might be only several times dial-up speeds.
It is kinda slow for The Year of Our Lord 2015/2016.
Tim Worstall wrote a few weeks ago about how mobile phones improve the lives of poor fishermen. The mobile phone has been a significant enabling technology in the developing world, and it's an example of how intermediate technologies such as land-line are skipped. The fact that we had to live through the era of dial-up modems and acoustic couplers doesn't mean that it's not more realistic to go straight to wireless.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
