Imagine if Half the World Had Internet Access

According to Advance Micro Devices (AMD), in ten years you may not have to if they succeed in an initiative they have launched called "50 x 15". I’m certain that none of us can imagine not having access to the Internet, even though in relative terms most of us–if not all–didn’t use this technology on a daily basis 15 years ago.

AMD says that only 15% of the world’s population has access to the Internet currently. They state, "the 50×15 initiative is a bold and far-reaching effort to develop new
technology and solutions that will help enable affordable Internet
access and computing capability for 50 percent of the world’s
population by the year 2015. With the global population estimated to
reach 7.2 billion people in 2015, there is tremendous potential for
50×15 to bring billions of people into the digital age."

One solution–the PIC, or Personal Internet Communicator. The PIC is a low-cost, consumer-friendly, managed device that will put
technology into the hands of first-time technology users in high-growth
markets around the world.

Perhaps there is potential for using this to address the digital divide we face across the nation as we work to address disparities related to our goals in the fight against cancer. AMD provided one PIC to each conference participant, so we’ll try it out and see what the opportunities may be. Stay tuned…