Technology Report - Smartphones in Space: a Really Long-Distance Call for NASA

Listening and Doing Exercise:

Select Play button. Listen and fill in the blanks with suggest words

$125,000.	Alex	Cameroon	Getting	Internet	Mr	Ushahidi	card	company
connection	could	device	in	is	it	make	problem
router	technology	the

and staying connected to the Internet is quickly becoming very important Africa. A team of Americans and Kenyans have developed an Internet made especially for the continent. They say it can keep the available even in areas with undependable electricity and Internet service. The is called Brck. It can plug into an electric outlet, but can also be battery powered. Al Banda is a blogger in . He saw the device for the first time at an information conference in Berlin, Germany. Mr. Banda said Brck could solve a he has experienced. He says in his community in Cameroon electricity not dependable. Also it is very difficult to get access to Internet even with an Internet service provider. Mr. Banda says Brck an African answer to an African problem. The Kenyan-based nonprofit technology Ushahidi developed Brck, after raising money through the funding website Kickstarter. official Erik Hersman says the router is able to move among networks. He says if there is a problem with the Internet , the device will look for a 3G network with its SIM . He says the Brck can be taken anywhere. Erik Hersman says Brck will go into production as soon as the company raises Ushahidi has collected about half that so far. It plans to up to 1,500 devices at first, mainly for Africa and India. . Hersman expects each device to sell for about $100. The Brck be a solution to Internet connection problems in Africa, but it also find uses in developed countries. For VOA Learning English, I'm Villarreal

SCORE: