How to ruin entire nations and destroy untold millions of lives, as explained to me by a slender young man with a pencil moustache, a furtive look, and a machete dangling in a braided leather scabbard on his hip, in a jungle drug laboratory — two benches covered with a plastic tarp — a day’s walk from the nearest road, in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountains:
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA—This is a seriously schizophrenic country. On a recent morning I went from a briefing at Doctors Without Borders’ local headquarters, where I learned about a skyrocketing refugee count from newly emerging groups of narco-terrorists, and massacres where the killers played soccer with their victims’ severed heads; then I went across town and discovered an terrific made-in-Colombia technical innovation that just might change a whole lot of lives for the better.
The company is Gemalto, and the innovation is banking from your mobile phone. From any mobile phone, so long as it’s GSM (the standard used by most of the world, including Rogers, Fido, T-Mobile, Cingular, and AT&T.) Their key innovation was miniaturizing their software so that it fits entirely onto a SIM card — that little notched chip which is your phone’s removable soul, as opposed from its Nokia or Motorola body.
(Technical detail, for those so inclined: their lead designer German Martinez actually managed to stuff a secure Java applet into 18 kilobytes, which, take it from this former software engineer, is the programming equivalent of nailing a quadruple axle through flaming hoops in a tiger cage.) (more…)
Bestselling novelist Jon Evans begins his third-world tech blog, exclusive to walrusmagazine.com
COLOMBIA—Welcome to World Fast Forward’s inaugural post!
In honour of the event I have instructed my editor to break a bottle of champagne on the server rack. I’m sure he wouldn’t dare disobey. [Ed. note: Jon's new around here.]
Hi. My name’s Jon Evans. I’m an author, an engineer, and a bit of a travel junkie. I write novels, journalism, and now, World Fast Forward — a blog devoted to exploring how technology is revolutionizing the developing world.
Don’t look now, but we’re in the midst of one of the most amazing transformations in history. No, I’m not talking about the stock market. Think bigger. When the historians of the future write about this era, the Great Crash of 2008, the invasion of Iraq, and the fall of the World Trade Center will be seen as irrelevant sideshows. (more…)
The Walrus HOOPP Pension Debate
Be It Resolved That Canadians Are Incapable
of Saving for Their Retirement Needs Alone
12 pm, Wednesday, May 30 at
Hart House Debate Room, Toronto
The Walrus Glenbow Debate
Calgary’s Cowboy Culture:
Living Legacy or Just History?
6:30 pm, Thursday, June 7 at
Epcor Centre: Max Bell Theatre, Calgary
Contact · Customer Care · Digital Edition · Tablet · E-Newsletter · Privacy Policy · RSS · Subscribe for $2.98 an issue · Subscriber FAQ · Support
The material on this website may not be cached, distributed, reproduced, transmitted, or otherwise used without the prior permission of The Walrus Foundation
© 2012 The Walrus Foundation. Walrusmagazine.com is published by a registered non-profit charity. Please disarm ad-blocking software on this website
