Aakash! The World's Cheapest Tablet

On Wednesday October 5^th India launched the world’s cheapest tablet, the Aakash.  The government will be giving away 100,000 tablets for free to students and the first 500 given to the launch attendees.  Once it goes on sale students will receive a subsidized price of $35 and the rest of India will pay only $60.

The new device will have 2 USB ports, support video conferencing and have a three-hour battery life.  The first 500 testers had mix responses to the device; with some saying it was slow.  Most people would agree that the speed of the device will not affect their decision to purchase.  Most will be going from no technology to the Aakash so they feel it’s already an improvement.

Suneet Singh, DataWind CEO, has discussed that in future versions of the tablet they would include a mobile phone connection which will make it even more useful in rural areas.  When this is implemented people in rural India will now have access to more of the world than ever before.

StanaCard wants to help celebrate this fantastic jump in technology for India, so we have lowered our rates.  Now you can call India for 1.89 cents per minute.  That means that $5 gives you 265 minutes.  So take advantage of our no fees policy and great voice quality, Sign up today!

5 News Snippets From Around the World

India: For once, a Wikileak that is actually helping foreign relations.  A cable of former US envoy to New Dehli David Mulford was released recently, in which Mulford praises India’s 150 million Muslims and the way they have been able to create a culture which shuns extremism and shields children from recruiters.  Mulford acknowledges the fact that Indian Muslims do face discrimination and poverty, but commends their strong spirit and says that he believes that the education system in India does a superior job of integrating Muslims into the country’s culture.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-and-its-Muslims-get-a-thumbs-up-from-US/articleshow/7118795.cms

Bangladesh: Bangladesh will honor over 500 foreigners for their assistance in the 1971 Liberation War at its 40^th Victory Day celebration next year.  Included in the honor will be 226 Indians and 40 Pakistanis.  Those who are honored will receive a gold crest and honorary Bangladesh citizenship.

http://www.sify.com/news/bangladesh-to-honour-226-indians-for-support-in-1971-liberation-war-news-national-kmrn4effjbb.html

Nigeria: Femi Babafemi of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency EFCC said that the country has dropped charges against former US Vice President/CEO of controversial company Halliburton Dick Cheney and Halliburton owned company KBR.  Looks like Cheney and the rest of the folks at KBR/Halliburton may have known that the bribery charges wouldn’t end will for them in court, as they settled outside of the court for about $250 million.  Nigeria charged that KBR executives had paid over $180 million to obtain illegal contracts for the $6 billion construction of a natural gas plant. 

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/93407/20101217/nigeria-cheney-corruption-bribery-halliburton-kbr.htm

Brazil: While the rest of the world is drowning in economic turmoil, somehow Brazil has been absolutely thriving in these tough times.  Today it was announced that their unemployment rate has hit a record low for the fourth straight month.  In November, Brazil’s unemployment dropped to a ridiculously low 5.7 percent, a .4 percent drop from October and a 1.7 drop since November ’09.  The Brazilian government says that they expect the economy to grow by 7.5 percent this year alone.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/headline_news/article.jsp?content=b5436786&utm_source=markets&utm_medium=rss

Kenya: Staying ahead the worldwide green movement, Kenya Power and Lighting is teaming with Standard Bank to develop clean energy projects to sell through the UN clean energy initiative.  In this initiative, companies in developing nations receive carbon credits for creating ways to prevent the release of carbon dioxide.  The project has already prevent 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the environment by giving out 1.25 million free energy saving light bulbs across the country.  Ultimately, the carbon emissions saved through the project could earn the company over 100 million shillings according to KPLC’s CEO Joseph Njoroge.

http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE6BG0B720101217

By @StanaMark

President Obama Discusses Pakistan

As President Obama makes his rounds in Asia, he hopes to bring peace and prosperity between India and Pakistan.  In a town-hall style speech he said, “The country that has the biggest stake in Pakistan’s success is India.  I think that if Pakistan is stable and prosperous, that is good.”  His speech was well received. 

"My hope is that over time trust develops, and dialogue begins," Obama also said. "The U.S. stands to be a partner in that process, but can't impose that."  Communication is always key, on every level imaginable.

Shortly after hearing word of the speech in India, Pakistani Ambassador Husain Haqqani wrote on Twitter, 

“Pakistan looks forward to President Obama's visit in 2011 and hopes that his trip to India will create opportunity for lasting peace in the region.”  Hopefully that was also well received.

Like Obama, we believe that communication is necessary and so is the creation of dialogue.  Through StanaCard’s services, this is even easier and cheaper than ever, because we have lowered the rates to Pakistan: 5.35¢ per minute!  Click here to check it out!