The Google Africa Team published a blog entry detailing the successes of the AITI/Google collaboration:

http://google-africa.blogspot.com/2009/10/update-on-university-outreach-in-kenya.html

The AITI Extension course at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) has reached the SMS (txt)-based services unit.  They are using AITI’s SMS infrastructure and materials.  You can follow the class by reading their blog:

http://discoverjkuat.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/jkuatmit-aiti-x-sms-applications/#more-80

AITI has posted the followup report for our summer 2009 program in Kenya.  You can find it here.  If you have been following this blog closely, you will find little new in the report

Thanks to Bryant Harrison for sending me this article that describes some of the challenges that mobile entrepreneurs face in Africa due to the closed nature of the mobile networks:

http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/25/africas-sms-crisis-and-how-to-stop-it/

Yesterday I appeared on the TV show “Maximizing Progress” with host Joost Bonsen.  The show runs live every Wednesday at 6pm on Cambridge Community TV.  The show has been on the air for approximately 10 years, and it focuses on technological innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in the context of development.  Each week one guest is interviewed.

Joost is a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab, and he seems to have his hand in everything related to developmental entrepreneurship at MIT.  He currently teaches the D-Lab class Development Ventures at the Media Lab.  Previously, he was Program Director at MIT’s Legatum Center.

We discussed AITI, my experiences in East Africa, and the general subject of mobiles in Africa.  Here is the show:

Michael Gordon on Maximizing Progress from MIT AITI on Vimeo.