I'm fascinated with how Western technology filters into the developing world and changes lives.

For instance. Back in the mid-1990s we had the idea of the "Internet Cafe." It would be flash, it would have broadband, it would have great food. We were crazy.

In the developing world, however, the Internet Cafe idea lives on (and on and on and on). There, though, it's a little shop with some PCs and basic connectivity. It's a lifeline to families, to markets. After the tsunami one was set-up quickly in the disaster area. It was a lifesaver.

Now we have cellular, or mobile service. (Whichever you prefer.) In the West, it means everyone has a phone, and they're on it all the time. Young girls drive like little old ladies. Guys look crazy seemingly talking to themselves, but then you see the little bud in their ear -- oh.

Then it filters down. Read how it filters down in Cameroon, from the Cameroon Tribune in Yaounde. (Then get the scene at the top of this item as desktop wallpaper, free, from Dane Jacob Crawfurd.)

When one has no airtime credit in his phone and wishes to make a call there is little to bother about because there are several young girls and boys all along the street and around busy areas to render such services at low cost. Most of them are seen under large umbrellas and little tables on which is written call-box at your service. With a cell phone and airtime, the business begins. Calls are made from CFA 150 and above.

This sort of thing is happening all over Africa. People invest in a phone and airtime, then they re-sell it when and where they can. Not only do they provide services, but they become entrepreneurs. They learn how business works, and if the prices they charge seem outrageous, there's competition to push them back down.

Fascinating. The customers benefit, the society benefits, the people providing the service benefit.

All because something we take for granted is, in fact, a miracle.