For the July Technology Salon, we're returning to the cellular technology world, with a twist. We'll be discussing mobile banking, m-Banking, but we'll move beyond the handsets and the hype to discuss the legal frameworks required to make it a reality.

In some countries, text messages cannot be used as evidence in court - a problem if that's all you have to show for a money transfer. In other regions, cross-border and multi-currency transactions is the domain of banks, not mobile operators. In either situation or more, what is the development community's response to facilitate m-Banking?

Please join Michael Tetelman of AED, and Ann Casanova of CARANA, at the UN Foundation headquarters for a vibrant discussion of their work in overcoming legal and regulatory barriers to make local and intra-regional m-Banking a reality in the developing world.

July Technology Salon: Empowering m-Banking, Legally
Tuesday, July 15th, 8:30-10am,
UN Foundation Conference Room
1800 Mass Avenue, NW, Suite 400,
Washington, D.C. 20036 (map)

Do note that seating is limited and the UN Foundation is in a secure building. So the first dozen (12) to RSVP will be confirmed attendance and then there will be a waitlist.

About the Speakers

• Ann Casanova is a lawyer with fourteen years of combined experience in multilateral trade negotiations, institutional strengthening, and management of USAID and IDB projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. Ms. Casanova joined CARANA Corporation in 2004 as Vice President of the firm's Trade Practice.
• Dr. Michael S. Tetelman is director of the dot-ORG program at the Academy for Educational Development (AED), and designs and manages innovative ICT infrastructure and applications projects that stimulate economic growth and improve the service delivery of governments and other institutions.

About the Technology Salon

Wayan Vota hosts the Technology Salon, an intimate and informal discussion around emerging trends in technology and international development, with a focus on both:

• technology's impact on donor-sponsored technical assistance delivery, and
• private enterprise driven economic development, facilitated by technology.

Active participation with your ideas, opinions, and predictions is actively encouraged, and Power Point presentations are banned. If you'd like to join us, please subscribe to get invitations.

There is much talk about One Laptop Per Child, Nicholas Negroponte idea of a "$100 laptop" empowering education in the developing world. Yet the focus tends to be on the XO laptop itself, not the overall impact of the program on both technology and education.

For the next Technology Salon on June 3 at 5:30pm, we'll move pass the headlines and into the field with two special guests:

• Aaron Kaplan, of OLPC Austria, will talk about how he's leveraging wireless mesh networking initiatives to facilitate one laptop per child
• Rabi Karmacharya of OLE Nepal, will explain how he is developing lasting educational advantages within the Nepalese school system

We'll have an hour of free-flowing conversation and debate around the topic and its impacts, followed by open-ended informal discussions between practitioners, in an intimate and informal setting:

June Technology Salon
Tuesday, June 3 @ 5:30pm
Hosted by RTI International - DC
Main Conference Room
701 13th Street, N.W.
Suite 750 (map)

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Mobile phones have established themselves as the communication and networking platform of choice for billions of the world's consumers, most of whom are at the base of the global economic pyramid. Worldwide, mobile phone subscribers outnumber Internet users almost 3 to 1, with much of that gap coming from skyrocketing mobile phone use in Africa, India and China.

Yet new mobile computing platforms, such as the XO laptop from One Laptop Per Child and the Asus Eee PC promise to radically change Internet access with breakthrough portability, performance, power and price. Does "4P Computing" pose a challenge to mobile phone dominance, or does each approach blend into the other?

Please join David Lehr and Wayan Vota in a lively discussion of how this technology dissemination is transforming economic development at the Base of the Pyramid. Active participation with your ideas, opinions, and predictions is strongly encouraged.

About Your Hosts:

• David Lehr recently authored Going Wireless: Dialing for Development for the Acumen Fund and focused on cell phones for farmers as a Reuters Fellow with the Digital Vision Program.


• Wayan Vota is editor of One Laptop Per Child News and previously as Director of Geekcorps, promoted computer-based economic development.

Conversation Logistics:
Wednesday, April 305:30pm-7pm
Mercy Corps Conference Room
1730 Rhode Island Ave NW
Suite 809 - 8th Floor
Washington DC - map

One year ago this week, One Laptop Per Child changed its mission, dropping its invitation for lower-cost alternatives to the XO laptop. Was that a reaction just to Intel's Classmate PC, or amazing foresight?

Either way, a year later we are witnessing a dramatic change in the low-cost laptop marketplace. New low-cost laptops, or as I am now calling them, 4P Computing (Power, Performance, Portability, Price) are popping up daily with entrants from the practical Asus Eee PC to the seemingly comical Van Der Led.

In the midst of all this action, I'd be honored if you could join me in an intimate and informal discussion on:

• What will all these low-cost laptops (4PC's?) means to developing world markets?
• Where might all this take us, both as "first-world" producers and consumers?
• How can we influence 4PC growth as leading voices in the technology for the developing world space?

Be ready to share your ideas, opinions, and predictions. At the last meetup in August, I predicted G1G1, which sounded crazy at the time. Also, please bring examples of 4P technology if you have it - I'll have an XO or two of course.

Inveneo has graciously offered to host us in their new offices in San Francisco and Vital Wave Consulting is donating lunch.

4P Computing Meetup
Saturday, April 19
11am - 1pm
at the new Inveneo Offices
972 Mission Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA
map: http://tinyurl.com/5e2owj
Parking is available

Please feel free to invite others who would be interested and interesting, just let me know so I can keep a headcount.