If the first OLPC XO laptop was considered a fashion item, just think how popular this thing will be. Of course, at the moment it’s only a little bit more real than fairy dust, and the idea that it will cost $75 in 2010 is laughable, but you have to admire the project’s ambition. At half the size of the original OLPC, the new XO DS (as I’m calling it) will sport dual touchscreens… → Read More
The XO Laptop (or the OLPC, whatever you want to call it) will now run Windows, giving children around the world the opportunity to dislike Microsoft as much as we do. I think we alluded to the sort of problems they’ll have in last week’s Sweater Friends. OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte said the use of Windows “enhances [its] ability” to “transform education,”… → Read More
Microsoft has unveiled a plan under which a somewhat crippled version of XP will be made available to the makers of low-cost PCs like the Eee PC and XO laptop. I’m not sure how I feel about this; at $25 it’s practically free, but the arbitrary hardware limitations Microsoft is imposing are, I think, kind of despicable: the PC vendors that make ULPCs must limit screen sizes to 10.2… → Read More
The XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child project was originally supposed to make inroads into the developing world and low-income areas for the free and open source community. But OLPC’s founder thinks that the Sugar OS is scaring off investors and buyers alike. He says: "One can be an open-source advocate without being an open-source fundamentalist." Which is true, but I think… → Read More
It was just a matter of time before someone overclocked the hell out of one of these things. Thanks to a user named bdleonard over at the OLPC News Forum, you can really kick that 433MHz AMD Geode up a couple notches. One user was able to get his humming along at 566MHz, although he did report that the back of the screen got “noticeably warmer.” Anyway, it’s not for the faint of… → Read More
Actually, this is the Austrian OLPC group’s booth. Nothing to see here but it’s cool that the Germanics are taking an interest in this project. → Read More
Move over OLPC, here comes another “ONE.” That was terrible, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Coming February 28th to the toughest, meanest industry show in all of the United Kingdom (Education Show 2008), the ONE is setting up to bear its lower-power, open-source fangs for all the world to see. Details include this beautiful stick-figure-computer photo, a £99 price tag (about… → Read More
Ever a trustable resource, The Register has completed its full review of the OLPC XO laptop. The verdict? I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Actually, I do: they are pleased, but cautious and critical of several bits. The browser is lacking somewhat (though Opera has an XO port), the flat file browsing scheme (no folders or containers) is unintuitive for most people who have grown up with… → Read More
The OLPC is setting up base in DC and looking to get their low cost laptops into the hands of America’s youth based on three major factors. I never knew patriotism had anything to do with empowering youth with the Internet, but that’s one reason the OLPC is coming to America. By bringing the project stateside, they’ll be building ‘critical mass’ as the development… → Read More
A week ago, Intel announced that it was leaving the OLPC project due to various disagreements between the two groups. OLPC software and content president Walter Bender doesn’t seem too misty-eyed about it. When asked by ABC News what effect Intel’s departure would have on the program, Bender replied, “Zero. Intel had contributed nothing. They contributed nothing to our… → Read More
Mary Lou Jepsen, former chief technology officer of the One Laptop Per Child project, has spun off a company called Pixel Qi in the hopes of creating a $75 laptop. Jepsen was the brains behind the OLPC’s sunlight-readable display and had a hand in the development of various power saving features. Pixel Qi and the OLPC project will work amicably, as Pixel Qi has offered to “give OLPC… → Read More
One of the fun things about expos like CES is seeing what kind of crazy Wi-Fi networks show up. Right now, we’re in the Blogger’s Lounge using one called “BLOGGERS” (yesterday it was “BLOOGERS”). Earlier, I found an OLPC mesh server, but sadly I didn’t have the password → Read More
[photopress:olpcintel.jpg,full,center] The first OLPC story of 2008 isn’t exactly positive. It seems Intel has left the initiative, claiming the OLPC camp, lead by the cocksure Nicholas Negroponte, wanted it to stop producing chips for its own low cost PC and for other companies’ low cost PCs (like the Eee PC by Asus). Intel wanted none of that so it left. Exactly how true this is we… → Read More
Nigerian company LANCOR is suing the OLPC project for infringing on their Nigerian keyboard design, causing us to wonder if some sort of 419 spamming virus hasn’t infiltrated the Nigerian judicial system, rendering completely useless. The suit holds that the OLPC uses extra keys to allow users to type using the Nigerian alphabet. While this is clearly a case of insane people suing a charity… → Read More
The OLPC XO laptop seems to be a hit in Peru. The country placed the largest order for the machines (272,000) and it’s already enjoying success in many of the smaller rural villages. One village in particular, Arahuay, is featured in an Associated Press article published on Monday. It’s an interesting read about how the computers are being used in daily life and how positively the… → Read More
Dear Foreign Couple in this Video: This is the OLPC. For you to read the instructions and wonder what this “does” and hoot in mad-eyed wonder when you see a colored man on the screen makes me puke a little. You should be able to turn this thing on and make it work, mostly because it’s made for kids who have probably never touched a computer in their lives. Your failure hurts all… → Read More
The OLPC XO isn’t the only tiny, small, dwarven laptop making news this month. the Eee PC is the most wanted laptop under trees this year, and other manufacturers have taken notes, if not exception, with the popularity. Everex, makers of all Peecees super-cheap, has what it thinks is a competitor on its blueprints. They’re calling it the Cloudbook, and it’s pretty hot, in a… → Read More
We’ve been paying a lot of attention to the OLPC project, and the resultant XO laptop. That’s because the project is ambitious as it is important, putting laptops into the hands of those who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them, thus bridging the digital divide. They’ve been in design, in theory, in limbo, and now, finally, in the hands of students who they’re meant… → Read More
Photo from this guy’s Flickr. Microsoft is hard at work porting Windows XP for the XO Laptop. That’s good news for any number of reasons, not least of which because it gives an air of legitimacy to the laptop. (Reports have suggested that some governments are weary of the XO because it runs Linux. For better or worse, the perception is that you need to run Windows.) It’s not easy… → Read More
Now with free carrying case. How did I miss this? One of our favorite curmudgeons, John C. Dvorak, hits the nail right on the head with his assessment of the OLPC — send $200 of rice to poor countries, not a $200 computer. The inventors and backers of the OLPC project trust and believe in education as a way out of dire circumstances. Fine, but isn’t a laptop a bit useless if you… → Read More
All day we’re inundated with news about this One Laptop Per Child project. I write up story after story about how these do-gooders are spreading technology to the third world, how interconnectivity and self-organizing networks will change the way these people communicate and allow otherwise deprived children to grow up capable of interacting with computers and thriving in a modern… → Read More
Whuh oh. There’s something called the Konyin keyboard that basically has a second shift key function which allows its typist to use the different letters and symbols of Latin-based alphabets from around the world. The company that developed the Konyin keyboard, Lagos Analysis of Nigeria, is now claiming that Nicholas Negroponte and the OLPC project bought a pair of the keyboards "with… → Read More
LAPTOP has thrown the OLPC and Eee into a battle of wills and found that (sorry to spoil it for you) the Eee is the superior machine for the money. Just barely, though. The OLPC takes the cake for the Design, Connectivity, and Pricing categories while the Eee cleans up in the User Interface, Learning Curve, Applications, and Specs/Performance departments. OLPC XO vs. Asus Eee PC 701 [LAPTOP] → Read More
Whatever the reason — lackluster sales or a true "outpouring of support from the public," according to Nicholas Negroponte — the One Laptop Per Child project will be extending its Give One, Get One program until the end of the year. For $400, you can buy two OLPC machines. You get one, and a deserving child in a far away land gets one. I think it would make sense to just keep… → Read More
Ah, the gift of giving. And getting. ‘Tis the season (for buying), and those savvy philanthropists at the One Laptop Per Child project have decided to extend the length of their one-for-me, one-for-you, tax-deductible computer sale. Still haven’t decided whether you want one of these sweet little gadgets? Well, now you’ve got a little more time to cogitate, ruminate, and… → Read More
Watch out, kid. OLPC is gunning for you. Wait a minute, people. I know babies need their laptops, but the OLPC program is charging $24.95 for shipping. In fact, ZDNet blogger Larry Dignan got “hit” with the shipping charge, leading to mass hysteria over at the old Dignan house while daddy Dignan raged through the basement looking for his hidden whiskey and meth while Mrs. Dignan and… → Read More
AP image Five years after it was announced, mass production of the One Laptop Per Child/XO laptop/thisweeksnewname laptop has finally started. The laptop, which was originally promoted as a $100 computer that would change education in the developing world, now costs around $188. Uruguay purchased 100,000 laptops last month, much to the chagrin of its mortal enemy Swaziland. Would you Give 1 [to]… → Read More
Feeling generous? T-Mobile will give anyone who participates in the OLPC “Give 1 Get 1 Program”—for $399 your child and a child in the developing world gets a OLPC laptop—a free year of hotspot access. From November 12 to November 26, should you choose to drop the $400 to give two kids the gift of lolcatz, you’ll get the T-Mobile HotSpot service. That way, you can… → Read More
Real life kids have been getting their hands on the highly anticipated (?) OLPC. And you know what? For all the nay-sayers out there, the kids like it. According to one twelve-year-old who writes better than pretty much all of us here It was cleverly designed, imaginative, straightforward, easy to understand (I was given no instructions on how to use it. It was just, “Here. Figure it out… → Read More
You know those $100 laptops part of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program? You know, the ones that are supposed to generate clean water and optimal living conditions with the turn of a crank? In less that two years they’ll only cost $50, according to the initiative’s CTO. Good news, everyone. I’m not even going to pretend to know anything about non-profits. So I will sit here… → Read More
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