PCtvt: Home entertainment to bridge the digital divide

You can argue back and forth whether the four billion people in this world who make less than $2000 a year really need a computer more than they need, say, better health care or clean drinking water, but Raj Reddy over at Carnegie Mellon University, with the backing of TriGem and Microsoft, has developed a wirelessly networked PC for the world's poor called the PCtvt.

The whole thing is supposed to cost less than $250 (which is still more than most people in the developing world can afford) and runs on a stripped down version of Windows CE that's specifically designed so that it can be used even by someone who can't read (sort of like the Simputer), but the basic idea is to get an inexpensive, bare bones computer into people's homes by giving them something that also doubles a TV, DVD player, and a videophone.

[Via OnlineBlog]