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io9Ocean Shows Up In The Middle of Africa
Click to viewAt the same time as Paraguay is drying up, Africa is ripping open, a slow process that will result in the emergence of a whole new ocean, according to Scientific American. The rip you see above can’t be resewn — as Eitan Haddock’s photographs document. Last year, scientists watched an 8 meter rip … Continued
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Tech News
Google and Friends to Bring Satellite Internets To 3 Billion People in Africa and Other Developing Markets
Today Google, along with HSBC and a few other investors, helped place an order for 16 low-orbit Thales Alenia satellites to begin the push for a massive broadband deployment in Africa and beyond that it hopes will help connect the 3 billion people in the world who are currently webless. It’s a noble plan, with … Continued
By John Mahoney -
io9
Kibera’s “Instant Farm” System Is the Future of Urban Agriculture
Click to view Kibera, a dense, 2.5 square km shantytown outside Nairobi, is the largest slum in Kenya. It’s estimated that possibly a million people live its maze of houses and outdoor markets. Now a group there has figured out a fast, efficient way to convert piles of trash into compost — and to convert … Continued
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io9Your Car Is Your Own Personal Spy
Click to viewA new mobile phone-based device called Block&Track, the result of several homebrew hacks by a young Kenyan inventor, acts as a quick and dirty car theft prevention gadget. The device sits in your car and sends a message to your cell phone when somebody starts the engine. At that point, you can send … Continued
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io9
African Scientists Set to Create a New Developed World
The traditional relationship between the developed world and developing one is about to be turned on its head. New scientific training programs will allow Africans to exploit their own national resources, rather than outside interests exploiting them. Millions of dollars in grants to several African science institutions will train local researchers lead operations to discover, … Continued
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io9
A View of Thunderheads Brewing from Space
These thunderheads are brewing over the midwestern United States, a region where thunderstorms can whip up pretty damn fast. Courtesy of NASA, this image is one of a series running on the Boston Globe’s website to celebrate the work done by the International Space Station. Want to see what this kind of cloud looks like … Continued
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io9
Dealing with Climate Change the Way African Farmers Do
While scientists and politicians in the developed world continue their tedious arguments about whether climate change is really happening, farmers in Africa have not only accepted it but are adjusting their entire lives to deal with rapid weather shifts brought on by global warming. Local environmental groups have been tracking dramatic seasonal changes in Benin, … Continued
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io9
Don’t Piss off the Wolverine Frog, Unless you Want to Taste its Claws
If you ever find yourself in central Africa, here’s a piece of advice: don’t mess with the frogs. As Ed Yong over at “Not Exactly Rocket Science” warns us, several species of them come equipped with a set of bony Wolverine-like claws that punch through their skin when threatened. Nature’s full of clawed animals, but … Continued
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io9
The Food Riots Are Getting Worse
Prices for cornmeal and rice have doubled in Somalia since January, and on Monday food riots wracked the Somalian city of Mogadishu. Thousands of people protested the insane prices for staple foods, and eventually police shot and killed two protesters. Earlier this year, food riots broke out in the African nation of Senegal as well. … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Smart Green Cell Station Makes Africa a Cleaner Place To Ask “Can You Hear Me Now?”
In an effort to clean up Africa’s dirty and diesel-reliant mobile network, Swedish start up Flexenclosure has designed a green version of a cellular base station. Called the E-site, it runs primarily on wind and solar power and utilizes an intelligent operating system that adapts to local conditions. The new design comes at the request … Continued
By Elaine Chow -
io9
Satellite-Eye-View of People Evacuating in Chad
This is what a mass evacuation from a city looks like from space. Using satellites orbiting over Africa, human rights groups published UNOSAT satellite imagery to show, in very simple terms, the human cost of violence in the Chadian capital city of N’Djamena. Over 10,000 people are crammed on a bridge, trying to escape into … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
Globalization and Its Malcontents: Mexico, India and Africa Will Be New Epicenters of Internet Crime
Computer viruses no longer come from the US or Europe; the hottest hotbeds of hackerdom may be in China and Russia now, but even that will shift. Soon, the most dangerous internet criminals might hail from Mexico, India and Africa, says a new study. Shouldn’t somebody call Nick Negroponte? Security specialists at F-Secure have drawn … Continued
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Tech News
This is Way Better than a Treehouse
No matter where you are on this planet, you will find throngs of people longing to get loaded—and they will often go to great lengths to do it. Case in point is this bar built inside a 72ft Baobab tree in Limpopo, South Africa. When Baobab trees reach 1,000 years old they begin to hollow … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech News
Kenyans Can Now Max Out Their Credit Cards Wirelessly
Those poor Africans. When they want to use their credit cards to go on a spending spree at Bloomingdale’s, they just can’t do it because there aren’t enough phone lines to handle all those credit card transactions. That’s where this Siemens BiasharaPhone MTT 1581 might bring African countries, specifically Kenya, into the 21st century. It … Continued
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io9
Toilet of Tomorrow Straps to Your Back
It’s called the Dignity Toilet, and it doesn’t just provide a comfy seat when you want to take a dump; it also has a strap so you can carry the full toilet on your back; and finally, its shape allows you to quickly turn your poop into fertilizer at your local field. The Dignity Toilet, … Continued
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Tech News
This Eco-Friendly Oven Stinks (Because It Runs On Garbage)
In the Kenyan slum of Kibera, outside of Nairobi, an oven fueled by garbage is now in testing. At its heart is a superheated steel plate that vaporizes drops of water. The oxygen released burns discarded sump oil from vehicles, reaching even higher temperatures up to 930° Fahrenheit. Garbage is then used to maintain the … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Hand-Crank Lighting For African Homes
With all of the emphasis on saving energy and eco-friendliness these days, hand-crank technology has seen increased use in devices ranging from cellphone chargers to the OLPC. If the Freeplay Foundation’s LifeLight Project has its way, this old school technology may soon be used to illuminate the homes of Africa’s poor. According to estimates, as … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech News
Donkey Powered Mobile Business Unit Comes Fully Loaded
The HAPV or “Human and animal powered vehicle” puts a high tech twist on the old fashioned donkey cart by adding a solar panel that charges a 12-volt battery under the driver’s seat. The power is then used to facilitate cell phone connectivity, front and rear emergency lights and a small neon tube at night. … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech News
Google Helps Themselves by Helping African Nations
Google has announced partnerships with both the Rwandan Ministry of Infrastructure and the Kenya Education Network to provide both institutions with Google Apps such as Gmail, Google Calander, Google Talk, and Google Docs. The governments and educational systems of the two countries will begin to freely use the Google online applications to communicate and organize … Continued
By Adam Frucci