I’m a huge fan of TED Talks. I watch them obsessively. In case you aren’t familiar, TED is an annual conference where some of the world’s most amazing minds gather to talk about Technology, Entertainment and Design. You can watch all the videos online, it’s a world class education for free.

Two TED Talks about mobile recently caught my attention. The first one is about how cellphones play a daily role in people’s lives all over the world. The second one is about how aid actually hurts countries and new mobile banking systems are empowering people in developing nations. When I was in East Africa last year on an exploratory mission to figure out how to design a social network to combat the spread of infectious disease, one of my huge takeaways was how integral mobile phones were to African life. So both of these videos really hit home for me.

Jan Chipchase: Our cell phones, ourselves

Iqbal Quadir: The power of the mobile phone to end poverty

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