Gizmos & Gadgets – A Computer on a Thumb Drive

January 4, 2015 – I am involved with the Global Learning XPrize Community. In my weekly information digest I learned about an invention that is democratizing computer usage in the Developing World. It takes advantage of the millions of nearly obsolescent personal computers and laptops in this world that have USB ports.

The invention is simple. using a thumb drive (USB key) and costing $7.00 USD, the technology can bring the benefits of computers and software to the nearly 5 billion on the planet today with little or no access.

Called the Keepod (the Hebrew word for “porcupine”), each thumb drive contains a special version of Google’s Android 4.4 operating system and room to store up to 8 Gigabytes of personal files. Each Keepod is unique to the user and password protected. Users can download content from the Internet and create and encrypt their own files.

It is simple to use. Find an open USB port on an old computer and plug it in. Turn the computer on and the Keepod becomes the computer’s operating system essentially turning it into a state-of-the-art machine.

Keepod is the creation of Nissan Bahar of Israel and Francesco Imbesi of Italy. Their mission is to give those without access the opportunity to experience personal computing through the sharing of the limited number of computers that are available in these parts of the world. They have focused on children in classrooms in Nairobi, Kenya, giving each “a stick with an operating system on it.” A single computer can serve up to 30 children.

To bootstrap their invention Bahar and Imbesi funded it using an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in 2013. Since then they have had requests to bring Keepods to 130 sites in 50 countries.

Each $7.00 Keepod generates about $2.00 in profit. In Kenya all profits from Keepod sales get channeled back to support education and public health including the acquisition of used computers that can become the learning hubs for the children and community.

“Providing….refurbished computer and Keepod devices for each child will gain them access to tools that will help kids learn reading, writing, math and technology, in turn providing them with a change for a better future,” states Bahar.