Cheap browser that speaks in your own language

Hi folks,

Here's a story about a new Indian invention, the Simputer, that tackles two
accessibility problems - illiteracy and poverty.

It's a handheld device that can browse the Internet and turn English text
into Hindi, Kannada or Tamil speech. It can be expanded to other languages
too.

It will cost about 9000 Indian Rupees which is about 190 U.S. Dollars, 220
Euro or 140 British pounds. A single Simputer can be shared by individual
users who plug in their own smartcard which cost only about 50 Rupees each.
The smartcard contains all the personal information needed to customise the
Simputer to that user.

The URL is
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4218095,00.html

Mark

Received on Wednesday, 11 July 2001 12:24:27 UTC