Last night we heard that the One Laptop Per Child program would be showing off its long-awaited XO-3 tablet at CES. We’ll be getting a hands-on then, but they were kind enough to send out a couple pictures of the device this morning, and they seem worth sharing. → Read More
After years in the making, the One Laptop Per Child program’s XO-3 tablet will be shown in more or less final form next week at CES, according to the project’s founder, Nicholas Negroponte. The latest image of the tablet is shown here, though it is from some time back and may no longer be representative.
The price of the tablet will in fact be under $100, he said, though various options will put it over that. It has an 8-inch screen — traditional LCD, though it may be upgraded to a Pixel Qi display for power savings and e-paper-like capability. If they stuck to their original specifications, it will also be waterproof, durable, and about a quarter of an inch thick. The version they’re showing will run Android, though what version was not specified. → Read More
In a recent interview at the MIT Media Lab, OLPC chairman Nicholas Negroponte said that they would not in fact be able to show off their new XO-3 tablet at CES, but had been delayed 45 days (he used the exact number) by their search for an unbreakable material, presumably for the display. → Read More
http://o.aolcdn.com/videoplayer/AOL_PlayerLoader.swf I haven’t been a big supporter of the One Laptop Per Child project but the goal – to offer children in horrible situations a window on the world and a tool that the average first world kid takes for granted – is a noble one. Besides, who couldn’t love it when the founder, Nicholas Negroponte, makes such a cogent argument for the rise of the robots. All hail our metal overlords! via TVSquad → Read More
The One Laptop Per Child program has made another step towards the tablet they plan to release… well, sometime in the future. They’ve received a $5.6 million grant towards development of the platform, which will likely include much hardware from Marvell. → Read More
Good news for OLPC users, the software engineering team announced today that they have built in multi-touch support into the next version of the OS. The new OS, code name “Sugar” will be appearing on the new XO-1.75 child notebook. → Read More
The One Laptop Per Child program’s leader, Nicholas Negroponte, showed off some renderings of the XO-3 tablet, and announced several new details. The occasion for the presentation was a partnership with Marvell, whose extremely low-cost Moby tablet design surfaced a few months ago. They’re working with Marvell (and Pixel Qi, reportedly) to produce this new tablet, which they are hoping will cost only $75. → Read More
Good news all around. An initiative in the West Bank has an order for 500,000 PCs from the One Laptop Per Child organization. Several thousand have already been delivered, and the rest are hoped to arrive over the next couple years. Not in a hurry, I perceive: by then we’ll likely see the rumored OLPC tablet with Pixel Qi screen. But these kids aren’t gadget hounds, they’re kids, and hopefully the suite of activities and tools that comes with the OLPC will help the teachers there get some teaching done. → Read More
I tried a few ways of making that familiar playground taunt work syllable-wise, but it was not meant to be. Slightly more propitious is this agreement between the ambitious (but troubled) One Laptop Per Child initiative and Pixel Qi, maker of innovative hybrid displays. Pixel Qi’s sunlight-readable display technology (seen most recently in the Notion Ink Adam) was spun off more than two years ago, but they just couldn’t keep themselves apart. How romantic! I guess sometimes you just know you’re destined to be together. → Read More
I was pretty bullish on the One Laptop Per Child program for quite some time, and even participated in the ‘Buy One Give One’ program. I recognize that OLPC represents a long-term project, and that the fruits of that project are not likely to be visible for years. While we’re waiting, we can watch One Kindle Per Child, an initiative from Worldreader.org to improve literacy in Africa through the use of Amazon Kindle e-readers. → Read More
The One Laptop Per Child project has seen mixed success. With competition from similar, but more familiar-looking items from Intel and others, the OLPC found itself suddenly competing in a market it had no intention of entering. But they’re out there, they’ve had some serious orders, and despite some other speed bumps, has certainly lent a hand in increasing computer literacy in the developing world.
You may remember that the sequel to the XO laptop, as the OLPC hardware was actually called, was spied at Davos in January after its initial debut in May of 2008. It was noted at the time that there was some doubt as to whether it would be made, and now those doubts have come to glorious anti-fruition. The XO-2 is dead — but only because Negroponte decided it should be a tablet. → Read More
One of the issues with the OLPC project has always been power. There’s just not electricity in all the parts of the world where the OLPC is intended to be used. There is a solution available, however, and it’s being tested in Afghanistan. We have just seen pictures of the first pedal power conversion for the OLPC. → Read More
Got an old sack o’ crap laptop or desktop gathering dust? Sugar Labs has just made its OLPC-friendly “Sugar” operating system into a USB-bootable version called Sugar on a Stick. You’ll need a one-gigabyte thumb drive and about twenty minutes of spare time. → Read More
While this is more a sociological issue than a technological one, it’s still interesting. Pilot programs in Ethiopia with the OLPC XO laptop have hit a major roadblock: teachers resent the device and consider it a toy. The reasons for this are complicated, but in essence it’s the nature of the educational system there. Imagine a school here in the US where the kids are learning design, coding, and a bunch of other interesting stuff but fare poorly on the SATs.
It’s a lot like that, except more so; the Ethiopian schools are very much about memorization and basic scholastic functions, while the OLPC is all about exploration and individual learning. It’s a classic horse and water problem. → Read More
India recently signed an agreement to purchase 250,000 XO laptops from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. Given India’s lukewarm reception to the concept in the past, it’s surprising to see that they are starting to buy into the concept.
Perhaps the success of the pilot program in 2007 has convinced them that this is a good idea. And while an Indian company has attempted to create a $10 alternative, their efforts have had little to no results. → Read More
The OLPC project, Hydra-like in its many initiatives, has given birth to a new project, focused on making an extremely versatile display with multiple modes, allowing consolidation of technology and (one hopes) reduction of total cost. After all, if a device is being used as an e-book, it shouldn’t be using TV technology to display the text; it’s both wasteful and less effective. So PixelQi is working on creating a display that’s good enough to work as both a high-definition LCD and a high-contrast e-paper surface as well. → Read More
Good news from the One Laptop Per Child program: the successor to the ambitious, but ultimately outmatched XO laptop will be open source hardware. Hopefully that will encourage adoption, imitation, and customization, leading the XO-2 to be hopefully more of a success than the XO. → Read More
Here we have the first image of the new OLPC netbook which may or may not actually ever come to market. Tariq Krim and Michael saw it at Davos today. → Read More
True to its word, Amazon is throwing its global retail reach into the OLPC XO mission this Christmas season. The site is now offering buy-one, send-one to a developing nation notebook program. Or if you as a seasonal philanthropist choose, Amazon will ship one to a child of your choice. ‘Tiss the season of giving, folks. via PC World → Read More
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