Digital technology is evolving at stunning speed, slashing the prices of all sorts of digital gadgets and linking numerous countries through the ever-growing World Wide Web. But these developments fail to satisfy Kazuhiko Nishi, who wants tools created to tear down the technological and language barriers dividing the world's developed and developing countries.
Without such instruments, the rift will continue to widen and developing countries will have few opportunities to pursue their future prosperity, warns Nishi, 45, a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Without computers and the Internet, it will be impossible for (such countries) to catch up with advanced nations," Nishi said during a recent interview.
He is currently helping develop a possible solution -- a $100 single-chip personal computer equipped with a browser-based multilingual translation system. He aims to complete the PC, which will support 189 languages, by 2009.