Its cheap, its clever and it speaks your language: the Simputer. Indian scientists have invented a handheld device with text-to-speech tanslation software. This means access to information for illiterate and/ or non-English-speaking people in developing countries. The device is produced for a fraction of the cost of a PC and uses IML (Information Markup Language). With smartcards, it can be used by more than one person. One of the striking advantages of the Simputer (SIMple comPUTER) is that it is designed for use over a long time. Not much hardware is designed with that in mind... but then, most hardware is not designed with the developing world in mind either.
Recommended: http://www.simputer.org/