Cultural influence on technology
There was an interesting article on Genevieve Bell a cultural anthropologist employed by Intel, in The Oregonian last May. Bell spent the last two years looking into how Asians interact with technology. She turned up some interesting things.
Did you know for instance that LGE, a Korean company, produces a mobile phone with a built in GPS unit to allow the user to find out which direction Mecca is?
Or that some middle-class women in India classify themselves as regular Internet users, despite never having touched a PC, because they dictate e-mail for other members of their family to send to their children and grandchildren on their behalf?
The article is here if you are interested.