As cataracts is the main cause for blindness, a phone accessory that diagnoses cataracts could cut down on blindness, particularly in the developing world. As shown in the video here, MIT's CATRA is a low-cost solution which not only detects cataracts, but also tracks the severity of them over time.

The problem with current wheelchairs? They're not versatile enough for developing countries' unpaved roads, steep hillsides and generally handicap unfriendly buildings. Enter the Leveraged Freedom Chair, a more powerful wheelchair controlled by levers that moves like a mountain bike.

With 260,000 phones being sold daily, someone out there is still buying Nokia phones. But who? And more importantly, why? Is it familiarity? Affordability? A belief that nothing else available is as good—or as suitable—for them?

Created by a team from MIT and Harvard, Egg Energy is taking the Netflix style subscription model and applying it to a very unique for-profit business: supplying energy for populations in developing countries.

Apparently, egg beaters are more than just a tool for making tasty omelets—these cheap contraptions can also be used as a quick and dirty centrifuge in developing countries. According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, taping a bit of plastic tubing to the end of a standard egg beater and a little elbow grease is all…

Nicholas Negroponte of MIT's Media Lab showed off the latest version of his $100 OLPC (One Laptop Per Child), the Linux-based laptop that will begin shipping to developing countries starting in April, 2007. The 2-pound laptop won't cost $100, though. Its price will actually be between $130 and $140 not including…

Designer Andre Minoli has created the hand-cranked Motorola PVOT phone, aimed at developing countries. It gives up a minute of talk time for every 25 turns of the crank, giving new meaning to the term "crank calls." All that cranking charges up a AA battery inside, powering a 125x125 dot matrix LCD controlled by a…