A not very testing techniques related entry.

My wife and I completed a trip to India due to our winning a charity auction for a “partner expedition” with Unitus.  Bandhan is the partner we visited. 

We spent one day with rural micro-entrepreneurs and one day in the slums of Calcutta (Kolkata) with urban micro-entrepreneurs.  These women borrowed small amounts of seed capital to buy a manual (treadle) sewing machine, or a large bag of rice they could sub-divide and resell in daily portions, or re-selling saris, or making battery casings by hand.

Coincidentally the concept of Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) made the news in a big way: Press Release: Unitus Congratulates Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank on Winning the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.  See an example MSNBC article.

We also toured the sights in Calcutta, Agra (Taj Mahal) and Delhi (e.g. the Bahai’ “Lotus” Temple).

Later in the month, I was in Beijing teaching and attended a MS sponsored Computing in the 21^st Century Conference where Ed LAZOWSKA  mentioned using cell phones to collect the micro-payments (related paper)