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Indian language fonts soon on PCs
In a bid to enhance penetration of computers and Internet in the country, the Government is planning to make it mandatory for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to load fonts in 23 Indian languages onto the computers sold in the country. It (lack of local language computing) is a hindrance in proliferation of computer and Internet. We have to keep in mind that in India less than 5 per cent of the people speak English and therefore we need to make these fonts freely available in ...
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- The Hindu Business Line
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Is the IT industry losing its edge?
Sridhar Mitta, Managing Director and CTO, e4e India The old way was about cost reduction, but the new way is to create new markets. I see brand new companies, young start-ups, new business models, new technologies all coming up and a market that is broad based compared with what we see as IT now. In next few years, anything that is of economic value and amenable to conversion into digits is open to offshoring. Geography is not the limitation anymore, nor is the space: fro...
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- Business Standard
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Maran’s dream: PC at Rs9999
Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran today said the government-industry Committee on Improving PC Penetration would work on bringing out a Rs 9,999 [$229] desktop to achieve the target of 65 PCs per 1,000 people by 2008. PC penetration will drive broadband. However, PC prices are not competitive enough. The committee will meet periodically and besides other issues, also work on low-cost PCs to fuel penetration in the country, he said after accepting the recommendations of t...
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- Sify
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Down to the bottom dollar, by Wendy Frew
Neelamma, from the town of Kuppam in south-east India, is one of the US computer giant Hewlett-Packard’s least lucrative customers. But she has become one of its most valuable customers in terms of public relations. The 27-year-old rents a digital camera and printer from the company at market rates, and makes a living charging about 90 cents to take pictures of fellow villagers. Although Neelamma is from one of the poorest regions in the world, she is presented as the future of Hewlett...
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- The Sydney Morning Herald
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Why $100 computers are on the way
?by John G. Spooner What’s the next step for AMD in emerging markets? Are you going to continue with the Personal Internet Communicator or are you working on the mythical $100 PC? Ruiz: The PIC was our first attempt to do something different. I think that will continue to morph into a new generation of products. We have a PIC2 and a PIC 3 on the road map. All those products will improve the (computing) power and value, while at the same time lowering the cost...
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- CNET News.com
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Selling to The Poor: There is a surprisingly lucrative market in targeting low-income consumers
The floodplains of Soc Trang Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta are a maze of rivers and canals dotted with villages so impoverished that local farmers earn less than $ 1 a day. It is not an obvious place to seek a fortune, but capitalism finds a way. Steering his ramshackle boat along the Ke Sat River, Nguyen Van Hon operates a floating sundries distributorship. The wooden hold of his boat is heavy with boxes containing small bars of Lifebuoy soap and single-use s...
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A Fragile Success in Africa
Teetering on the verge of success, but with failure always threatening to knock at the door, Ghana has lately taken up the mantle of what passes for a success story in Africa. It is the new darling in the halls where donors like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United States and Britain talk about making sure foreign aid does not end up in the hands of corrupt regimes. What they have in mind are people like Kofi Asare, who labors mightily on his modest farm high in the ...
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- The New York Times
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NamITech First to take EMV Technology into Africa
NamITech (Pty) Limited, a member of the listed Altech group, has secured a contract for the supply of EMV (Europay, MasterCard and VISA) compliant bank cards into the Republic of Rwanda. The contract is significant for NamITech as it is the first EMV deal outside of South Africa for the company and is ground breaking in terms of the deployment of EMV technology into Africa. The contract is with SIMTEL, a consortium of seven banks, that has been established by the Rwandan government to mode...
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- Balancing Act
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