Technabob » bill gates

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Spend Millions for New Toilets

Hazel Chua — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:30:41 +0000

It might sound a bit weird at first, maybe even eccentric, but once you discover the reason why, then it will all make sense. I’m talking about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s recent call to have the toilet reinvented. You heard me: the toilet.

We’ve been going potty for decades on that thing and it’s been working fine so far, so why the call for a re-design? That’s because while we all have the luxury of flushing away our undesirable waste, ~~millions~~ billions of people in various parts of the world aren’t so fortunate.

People in developing nations across the globe don’t have access to a continuous supply of water, and therefore, don’t really have anything to flush their toilets with.

You can check out the video below by the Foundation about their new sanitation improvement initiative:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have decided to put in a generous $42 million in new program investments and strategies. But more than that, some of the funds will be channeled into efforts to develop sanitation technology and hopefully come up with a re-design for the toilet.

[via TechCrunch]

Flailing Around With Project Natal Not Limited to Xbox: It’S Coming to Windows

Alisha K. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:00:07 +0000

Fans of Minority Report, the interfaces in Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, and other future tech freaks take note: in an interview with CNET, Bill Gates says Microsoft hopes to incorporate Project Natal, revealed at this year’s E3 Expo, into Windows. Dedicated Technabob readers and people who’ve seen Microsoft operate over the past, well, forever shouldn’t be surprised.

As someone with a love-hate relationship with the mouse, this could be really exciting to me. I might even switch back to Windows! It might be worth it to be able to really flip through my music and photos when I flip through my music and photos, though the whole idea of manipulating nothingness would probably take some getting used to.

Just as with everything else Project Natal-related, there’s nothing concrete here, just an interview, a remark, and a dream, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

[CNET via Xbox-Scene]

More Bugs From Microsoft: Bill Gates Releases Mosquitoes at Ted 2009 Conference

Lambert Varias — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:30:48 +0000

If you were campaigning to put an end to violence, would you threaten to beat up your audience to drive home that “violence = badong”? No? That’s because you’re not a genius. From now on let such sublime logic be known as WWBGD – What Would Bill Gates Do? Microsoft’s chairman was at the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) 2009 conference to help raise awareness against diseases that plague developing countries.

One of those diseases is malaria, and so Gates was calling for support from rich governments to help fund efforts against the disease. Malaria has been eliminated in first-world countries in 1970 through the development of the drug quinine, but it’s still present in third-world countries. Hence Gates’ little joke: he opened a jar containing “more than a few, but probably fewer than ten” mosquitoes and said, “we’ll let them roam around the auditorium. There’s no reason only the poor should experience this…”

Techflash confirms the expected: the mosquitoes weren’t carrying malaria. But I think he still scared – and pissed off – a few people in the crowd. Up next: Gates campaigns for better internet security, aims to raise awareness about viruses… and trojans?

[also via Ethan Zuckerman's blog]

image via msnbc