wireless

This post contributed by Ashley Metz Cummings.

Across the globe, the computers used in underfunded schools share similar characteristics.  Outdated hardware grumbles to a start each morning to serve classrooms crowded with children.  Slow processors and limited storage space confine the possibilities for learning computer skills and using the Internet.  The students in these classrooms have never dreamt of owning their own PCs and cannot fathom the world on the other side of an Internet connection – they have enough on their minds at home.

Yet in many of these places, the speed of the Internet connection is ample for mainstream computing purposes and children are eager and excited to learn.  WiHood, a name originating in the phrase, The World is Your Neighbor, offers a virtual personal PC that overcomes the physical barriers to digital learning by making clever use of cloud computing and modified USB drives.

Deadline Feb. 1, 2010

Apply for up to $650,000 for "Wireless Projects Demonstrating Promise Of Solving Critical Global Issues and mHealth." The Wireless Innovation Project identifies and rewards the most promising advances in wireless related technologies that can be used to solve critical problems around the globe. Although projects may be global in scope, applicants must be nonprofits, educational institutions or social entrepreneurs based in the United States. Up to $650,000 will be awarded to wireless projects demonstrating exceptional promise to solve a critical global issue in the following fields: education; health; access to communication; the environment; or economic development. Final winners will be announced on April 19, 2010 at the annual Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, California.

Find complete detailed information about eligibility and an application here.