Un-metered Lives 3  Yours is the World

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The Deaf Teddy (visual training aid for the deaf) and Cellular water tank (inexpensive water storage) available free on the soapbox community page

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2012 - Lots of up-dates, Major Website Change and cool new stuff coming - 2012

The Un-metered Lives Project Among other things it offers a working solution for bridging the digital divide in Africa. There is a great need to create awareness of how you can generate Universal Internet access (especially in Africa) This can be done using WAP enabled Cell-phones running the free Internet browser Opera Mini. For example people can look up the meaning of five words using an on-line-dictionary at the cost of only one Cent (ZA) People can also read and send emails for Two Cents, even look up items in on-line encyclopaedias, search engines and normal websites for just a few cents more. It is inexpensive and works in even the remotest areas If ever there was a subject that should be taught at schools it should be setting up Opera Mini. The future promises many things, this is available now and is growing fast Opera Mini users grew from 30 Million last year to 50 Million this year - The mobile Internet is the next big Gold rush and is expected to be two to three times bigger than fixed line

Seeing is believing: Here is a Video of Opera Mini working on a Motorola V360 See how it is possible to look up the meaning of five words for the cost of One Cent (ZA) compare this with another service that charges Two Rand an SMS and you can quickly see what a great advantage this would be, people could look up a thousand words for the same amount of money – This is something that we should be shouting from the rooftops

Opera Mini Video 5 Words for 1 Cent (only 2.8 Megs) Left Click to play Right Click and Save As to download

But wait there’s More… Phones can also be used as modems for computers

To prove a point we hooked up a Pentium One 75Mkz to a Motorola V360 Cell-phone. The computer was running Windows 98 (with Internet explorer 5) 16 Meg of RAM and a 630 Meg Hard Drive It connected to the Internet and it worked Believe it... coz its true

V360 on P1 Video (only 1.8 Megs) Left Click to play Right Click and Save As to download

What is Opera Mini The browsers on most mobile phones are not that great and a lot of the time you need to go to sites that are written for mobiles. Opera Mini on the other hand is a free Web Browser that will run on most WAP mobile phones. Download it onto your phone and you will be able to look at normal websites and not just the mobile sites. As a bonus by making things smaller for the phone it greatly reduces the amount of data transferred, as most users pay for data used you pay less… a lot less. Visit sites like Facebook, Myspace, eBay, Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia and also News sites. Read and reply to emails using the Opera Mini browser. Did you know that for over a year South Africa has been one of the top ten countries worldwide using Opera Mini, sometimes ahead of Great Briton and Germany. Last month saw fellow African country Nigeria break into the top ten

We need your help. We are totally convinced that this is one of the best working solutions for bridging the digital divide and accessing valuable information, and openly challenge anyone to prove otherwise. It does not require any special equipment or infrastructure everything is in place right now, the Cellular network is there and people already have the phones, all that is needed is for people to know about it. It does not require people to sign monthly contracts it can be done on pre-paid, has anyone ever stopped to think that those people at the bottom are not really candidates for monthly contracts. It will create jobs for people enabling the phones, connecting PCs and doing email accounts. Access to information will open doors and create new opportunities never thought possible, sadly this concept has yet to gain a foothold into mainstream media, so at this point its up to you and me. If you are in the mainstream media WAKE UP

How can you help? Spread the word, tell as many people as you can. News, information and communications are vital components for living but access to the Internet in Africa has been restricted by financial constraints. Using cell-phones running Opera Mini is the best and most economical way of bridging this gap. The Cellular network is already established, even in the most remote places, phone prices are relatively small as are their power requirements which are also better suited for use in remote areas and people can better afford a pre-paid service. Feedback is nice, remember this whole thing is self funded and runs on a little budget and too few people

How do you get it: Your phone has to have WAP If it has WAP it should have a browser, using this browser you go to www.operamini.com if your browser fails to operate you need to contact your service provider to see how it can be enabled. Once you are on the Opera Mini site it will normally work out the best version for your phone, download it and install. It is a small file, just under 100K but it does a lot and its data crunching can save you plenty. For more information as well as a list of over 500 phones that will run Opera Mini Check out the Bridging the Digital Divide Thread

What we are doing. We have done the Un-metered Lives shows at the 2008 and 2009 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown (SA) outlining our ideas, also handing out a free CD which can be copied and distributed further. It contains articles and information on how to set up Opera Mini, access the Internet plus tons of information on PC repairs etc  In 2009 we gave away a DVD as we found great truth in the saying ' a picture tells a thousand words ' We are happy to report that Opera Mini is catching on in a big way in South Africa and Africa SA has been in the top ten world counties for nearly a year, sometimes beating the UK and Germany. Have a look at this story from the IDG News service Opera Mini Surges in Africa A comprehensive Guide on Mobile Phone connections (and problems) can be found on the ELIAC site also Bridging the Digital Divide on the Soapbox site

Other News is a simple, cheap water collection system called the Cellular Water Tank that we would like to create awareness of as it will help people collect drinking water in rural areas at little expense this could be of particular help to people in Zimbabwe. There is currently a water shortage in the Eastern Cape this would help people who would not be able to afford to buy Water Tanks. While this idea is given freely to the people, there is still plenty of scope and business opportunities for making the infrastructure, like the housing crates and funnel arrays Direct link Here

The Un-Metered Lives Band: Is a three piece band available to play live. We like to create awareness of key issues like affordable telecommunications, universal access to information, basic needs and rights and support worthy causes. There are a few demos available on this site, you can find them on the Songs and Download pages, songs, like I think Eskom Sucks‘ ‘Free Local Calls‘ and Robbing Africa‘ The band should record some of the songs before the end of this year, check the news link for further details

Our Lives should be Un-metered and Free: True empowerment is through Information, Knowledge and Wisdom, these are the tools of the future. The apple is eaten, the box is open and the Genie is not going back into the lamp no matter how hard you try. Today we are money slaves, if you have seen The Zeitgeist Addendum you might have a better understanding of this, someone figured it was cheaper to give slaves their freedom paying them just enough to stay alive... after all it costs money to house, guard and feed them, but perhaps the game is up... the pea is not under the shell, its in the palm. Unbridled greed must be the financially rape of everything in sight, forsaking all others. This financial coup d'état has been justified in whatever manner possible be it serving some greater good or the belief that everything will work out in the end as Thomas Jefferson said The price of Freedom is eternal vigilance

Regarding this and the ELIAC site: Some people have asked why the low-tech appearance of two sites - The answer is simple, it is to cut down on bandwidth and to make each page as simple as possible. Typically you will find most pages are only a few Ks in size - while a lot of other sites can be anything from 200k to two Meg a page. This is fine if you are on Broadband but or target audience are mobile users paying anything from R2,00 to 60 cents a meg.  Even the Message Board takes only about 100 - 50K a page, this is because there are no adverts or banners, we are privately run, and we receive no funding  We are hosted in the UK because of the shameful prices charged for hosting in South Africa – In the near future we will be hosting other bands and Artists on this site  If you would like to contact me my email address is paul_wiggins(at)dragonlogos.co.uk - use the @ sign instead of (at)  Damn the spam

Topics are available in more detail on the message boards http://www.dragonlogos.co.uk/soapbox

Junk TV - at the moment just a pilot name, people making Videos of local events, a local band plays a number, interviews with people, even there own soapies and stuff, as many people doing it, in as many languages as you like, then they can also add in some standard video clips that can downloaded from here or other peoples site and add to their show, like Opera Mini and mobile Internet technology, music videos, road safety videos etc  - One of the reasons that this has become important is that while in Grahamstown it became obvious that people did not realise the value of running Opera Mini on their phones, or the huge advantages and savings they could make by getting rid of dial-up for Internet access, and using their Cellphones instead, however once we loaded it for them, and showed people PCs working via the phone, they were bowled over, and we also realised that seeing is believing and that Junk TV needs to be fast tracked ASAP  April 2009  Well it looks like great minds think alike, the idea of micro movie makers is catching on fast, there was even a TV program about how local people are starting to make their own movies... having talked to a few people about it the idea seems set to take off

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident - Arthur Schopenhauer

The goals of Un-metered Lives:  To have some fun and entertain you, to raise awareness, to campaign for un-metered local calls, skills development, saving money and resources with information, bridging the Digital divide with Mobile technology and Opera Mini and also raising awareness on the Schools and Education institutions 50% discount, in fact this idea needs to be scraped altogether... what really needs to happen is for prices to come down, they are still way too high

Well if you have read through that lot… WELL DONE and thanks for taking the time