empowerment in the palm of your hand

For some inexplicable reason I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I see project information georeferenced on Google Earth. Must be the anticipation of what we could really do if we got serious about it. Here's a map of projects that use cell phones in developing countries to provide mobile access to services or data. Seems to me there are more phones than people in developing countries, so this has got to be a way to help empower poorer communities. [via Patrick Burnett]