Look Ma! I’m on TV!
That and in print and on the radio too!
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So I have this really cool job, Program Manager for IESC/Geekcorps, where I get to pontificate about technology while sending geeks to do good works overseas. I’m in print regularly, from The Guardian, one of London’s largest papers, to Wired magazine, United Press International, and even MIT’s Technology Review. Just set up a Google Alert for Wayan + Geekcorps to track my yapping. Sometimes I even get the multimedia upgrade. A while back I gave an interview to BBC Radio’s “Up All Night”, which was quite interesting in that it was live late night in the UK and mid-drink-a-thon in DC. Breaking from the bar, I gave a quite lucid interview even though I was hunkered down in a schoolyard play set, trying to stay dry from the rain and shield the phone from the sounds of fire truck sirens seemingly converging on my setup. Follow this link and skip ahead till the counter says 21:16 Recently, I’ve got the TV Holy Grail. First it was a two minute interview on the BBC News that was so quick I didn’t get a chance to record the session. I did wander around the office enough for a photograph in the BBC DC studio. That DC White House background – its fake. Next came a full 7 minute studio session curtsey of VIA Technologies. Geekcorps is using VIA’s new high-efficiency computer chips to design low power/high performance radio station digital editing studios for radio stations out past Timbuktu in Mali. When VIA found out, they paid for me to meet up with reports in DC and NYC to talk our work and the ensuing Geekcorps/VIA partnership up. One interview session was with the ABC News program “Ahead of the Curve” where John Yang interviewed Richard Brown, the VIA VP and I about the program. Lucky enough, I was able to score a copy of our interview and I’ve uploaded it here for posterity. Or at least for laughs. While Richard looks the total Geek part, yours truly is showing bad hair and worse posture. At least we are on message through the whole show and if you watch it, you might just learn something about what Geekcorps does daily and why I’m so proud to be the uberGeek. |
Wayan,
Congrats on all the press and on spreading connectedness around the globe. But holy mother of god — you are right about your bad hair on the abc interview. Even Ramana had better hair then that … 🙂
Happy New Year…
Using high-performance low-power computing technology – cool interview.
How do you pick the countries for Geekcorps projects’ focus? – Some countries (want to always) control access to info.
Also, why that technology was discussed only in the context of countries where power generation infrustructure is poor? I thought power-saving is important for any country.
So, with time, once priority countries (those that are poor and lack power infrastructure) are covered, the technology will be distributed to a wider range of countries including developed countries?
Â…I am totally ignorant of IT, so forgive me if these questions don’t make sense.
IESC, the parent company, responds to USAID requests for assistance, we are reactive to where tech help is asked, for they are our main revenue source. I personally look to other sources for additional Geekcorps funding, but my efforts are minimal.
Power saving is integral to the global economy, but at pennies per kilowatt, here no one cares so much about electricity draws of computers. There, they will be the main electrical appliance.
And yes, once Mali moves up the economic ladder, we can redistribute tech to other places, but as Mali is the 4th poorest country worldwide, I don’t think this will be in my lifetime.