We
haven't been hearing too much out of the
OLPC camp for a while,
but they've been peddling their
green "concept
design" for long enough that we had begun to get used to it. Well, we still can't know for sure, but according
to Martin Varsavsky, who has recently met with project head Nicholas Negroponte, the pictures above are of the
"winning design." We're not quite sure what he means by that, and we're not even sure which one of these two
designs is supposedly destined for production, or if both are, but they do match up fairly well to most of the $100
laptop specs. We're also unclear on whether the fabled hand crank is present on either design, but we do know that they
hadn't worked out all the technicalities of that part, so maybe it got the kibosh for the "final" version --
if that is what we're really looking at.
[Via
Gizmologia]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
clicclic @ Mar 4th 2006 1:45PM
the one on the left looks like it has a crank. who knows...
Russ @ Mar 4th 2006 1:48PM
are they just trying to make it humiliating to have one of these?
Dennis @ Mar 4th 2006 1:54PM
I thought the hand crank was that thing on the X.
It has a kind of 1960's appliance of the future look to it. Unfortunately.
koo @ Mar 4th 2006 1:58PM
I thought the main purpose of these was to help children in underdeveloped countries. And if thats the case, function should dominate over form. I mean do these kids really have any concept of what "good design" is? They've never seen an iPod before. Well either way, I'm glad they're doing it.
Richard @ Mar 4th 2006 1:58PM
Humiliating to have one?
Perhaps you are not familiar with the project or who these laptops are aimed for, that being the worlds poorest of poor who can't exactly afford a new MacBook Pro but would greatly benefit from a computer.
Jackass.
SH @ Mar 4th 2006 1:59PM
Ugly, but I think that's part of the idea; they're extremely, uh, "distinctive" in part as a theft-deterrent. Also, consider the target audience: school kids, probably younger ones.
The hand-crank power supply thingie, ugly as it was on the prototype, makes some sense if you consider they're targeting developing world application, and in many cases the little darlings won't be able to just plug in a brick when they get home from school.
/SH
Alex @ Mar 4th 2006 2:11PM
Nicholas Negroponte described the design as a theft deterrent, saying "no one steals a mail truck." The idea is that if one shows up in a place it doesn't belong, it is immediately obvious to everyone that someone has stolen from a child.
DM @ Mar 4th 2006 2:22PM
#4, He (#2) probably means that they dont look as good as they could have been made out to be, & I think I agree to a certain extent... Why the light, faded & drab colours ?
knowledge @ Mar 4th 2006 2:22PM
these are fake
sracer @ Mar 4th 2006 2:29PM
The design is not really for theft prevention but for "import prevention". They want to make sure that these $100 laptops don't end up on eBay. And except for the curious, their appearance on eBay will be minimal.
That is of course that this notebook thing ever becomes a reality.
Moose Man @ Mar 4th 2006 3:17PM
http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/rim-ntp-settle-for-612-million-finally/
I think the way you folks kept up on all of the RIM/NTP issue was both informative and hilarious.
Moose Man @ Mar 4th 2006 3:19PM
BTW - Happy Belated Birthday.
Textbook Seller @ Mar 4th 2006 3:58PM
They just sweetened the deal on these, it's buy one OLPC, get one Infinium Phantom free, with an option for some beautiful Iowa beachfront property for the first 1000 who believe it'll exist.
It's lucky the MIT Media Lab dropped him when they did and got back moving toward some form of reality.
Brian Palmer @ Mar 4th 2006 4:10PM
I had the good fortune to hear Alan Kay speak on the OLPC effort last week, he and Negroponte are working together to make this a reality. I can't speak for the picture shown here, but he was very adamant that the hand crank was an important part of the design, so I don't think it's going anywhere. Also, touching on the childish look, Alex's post is correct. Kay's words were "people rarely steal a school bus". They are working very hard to come up with anti-theft measures. Considering the countries that these laptops are headed for, a black market on the laptops could destroy the project.
Ryan @ Mar 4th 2006 4:11PM
I guess they scrapped the green colored one.
--
-Ryan
CyberNet Technology News
http://www.cybernetnews.com
dj @ Mar 4th 2006 4:14PM
"are they just trying to make it humiliating to have one of these?"
Actually that is exactly the idea. One of the biggest problems the project is facing is the fact that the people who are receiving this will be ready to sell it to richer people, for money, just like it often happened with Tsunami aid. So the project hopes to make it sort of a 'social stigma' to own one, at least if you are an adult. If you understand 3rd world societies, this actually is one idea that might work.
About the hand crank, that might not be in the final version. At least for the first generation of notebooks.
The specs have been finalized actually, for the first gen.
Oh, and also there are no plans what so ever right now to make a commercial model.
Textbook Seller @ Mar 4th 2006 4:16PM
All joking aside this non-existant pile of wasted money is the result of the monumental arrogance and myopia of morons who are positive they know better how to spend $100 for people than they do themselves.
A couple of things they might choose to buy before deciding to go browse Wikipedia? Clean water, maybe a light. I shouldn't choose for them, though, because they know better than I do what they need. Which is precisely the reason "solutions" like this don't change anything. But they do make people feel good about themselves and their intentions, so that's a plus.
Brian @ Mar 4th 2006 4:19PM
I thought the X was a cigarette holder at first. I feel ashamed...
golden @ Mar 4th 2006 4:27PM
A $100 for a laptop ?!?!?!
Can it actually do something or is it just like those kiddy toy thingies for a 2 year old
SheriffDane @ Mar 4th 2006 4:38PM
17 -- speak and spell returns!!
NateL @ Mar 4th 2006 5:06PM
Looks like a purse to me closed...
fhornmikey @ Mar 4th 2006 5:12PM
Dear Textbook Seller:
Please inform yourself of the specifics of a project before posting your condemnation of it.
The point of the 100$ laptop is to provide an easy, reusable alternative to textbooks. Textbooks are incredibly expensive and simply not practical in developing nations.
These laptops won't be purchased by the families, or the students themselves. They are in fact being given to the students by the governments. The Chinese government has vowed to put a laptop in every child's hands.
The availability of a form of written/visual learning material to students in developing nations will make a HUGE difference, and to think otherwise is sheer ignorance. Not everyone is able to spend the $200+ a semester for textbooks. Our investment in our children and their education is an investment well made.
Please take your cynical attitude elsewhere.
Jonathan Dolph @ Mar 4th 2006 5:30PM
I got it. the hand crank is built into the screen hinge. You open and close the laptop to charge =P What an inovation! haha
Jeffrobodine @ Mar 4th 2006 5:42PM
I think Textbook Seller is worried about losing some market share to the $100 laptop :P
flooted @ Mar 4th 2006 6:15PM
Maybe they need a 20$ printer to go with them? Oh and then there is the network, the cables and server. Hmmn then the country will need a wifi network, and technicians to maintain it. Don't forget the technicians to repair the little computers. Can't forget the UN project managers to manage things, and the coordinators to coordinate, then the logisiticans to deliver, the trainers to train....then there's the visits by the media and executives to the little schools, to be sure the kiddies are grateful and the public back home know the project is a big success. I'm with the 'textbookseller' on this one.... I haven't heard of such a ridiculous project not since I witnessed WHO distributing refirgerators in Afghansitan to community doctors who had no electricity. Well at least the computer has a hand crank, which no doubt will be disassembled and resold to power radios... Cynicism aside, there is some absurdity in this project, some extreme naivity. But what optimism! Got to respect that...must be the idea of an American.
Josh Glaser @ Mar 4th 2006 6:32PM
I still like the idea that they should be commercially available for $200 - when you buy one, you'd put another one in a child's hands. And hey, for $200, it doesn't look like a bad alternative to that Origami deal. I can guarantee that every geek/electronics hacker will want one (or two) to play with, light blue and yellow or not.
emcee @ Mar 4th 2006 6:48PM
#25, you bring up some valid issues (like the hand crank "repurposing" lol), but forget both the laptop specs and the implementation of this particular project. Each laptop sets up an ad hoc network with other laptops around it. It's not designed for WWW use per se. This eliminates the need for servers and WiFi, to my knowledge. It's also being deployed mostly in places where paper is costly or otherwise useless, so you can take your $20 printer elsewhere. They aren't being given to children by the UN, they're being given to governments by the UN, who, according to program guidelines, will give them to schools. I guess you are with with textbookseller on this one, as both of you have exercised selective reading on this issue, and have forgotten what wouldn't make you cynical.
Optimism aside, if this turns into a three ring circus with the media and the technicians and whatnot, it'll devalue the entire goal of the project and debase us as a species.
R @ Mar 4th 2006 6:49PM
These computers look like they are for kindergarteners. What they need to do is reuse REAL computers that are obsolete in the US. Yes, you have to install the OS and all the software, BUT have you ever heard of a program called "Norton Ghost" that makes whole entire copies of hd's off a cd drive?
Zak @ Mar 4th 2006 6:59PM
While Textbook Seller is right that these kids and their families need access to clean water and food now, I think it's short-sided to not see the disparity in educational opportunity as another tail in the same whip of social repression.
If kids and/or parents need to take a turn cranking power for the Wi-Max transmitter - so be it. There was a time here in America when that wouldn't have been an immediate deal-breaker for the chance to advance education, and start a nation on the path to actually being competetive, or at least involved, in the new global economy. I'm a pretty lazy 21 year old - just a kid myself - and the idea that that may be gone from our culture scares me. This OLPC project is something we can do... it doesn't adddress the whole problem, but it certainly addresses a piece of it. Give these kids access to the world information community now, and I think we'll be surprised by how many of thier own problems, and maybe ours, they can solve as they come of age.
Adam @ Mar 4th 2006 7:05PM
"Perhaps you are not familiar with the project or who these laptops are aimed for, that being the worlds poorest of poor who can't exactly afford a new MacBook Pro but would greatly benefit from a computer."
Have you ever SEEN the "Poorest of the Poor"? A nurse I know does work down in Haiti and it's BAD there. If you have a tin roof, you're rich. The schools don't have PAPER. They need running water and housing before we worry about getting them iPods and Plasma TVs.
Brook @ Mar 4th 2006 7:47PM
Russ wrote: "are they just trying to make it humiliating to have one of these?"
Yes they are, to stop anyone stealing them and selling them on a gray market.
theone3 @ Mar 4th 2006 8:14PM
Source Photos are huge:
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=107402065&size=o
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=107402101&size=o
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=107402105&size=o
rurock @ Mar 4th 2006 8:48PM
i think they're cute - but i agree, food and water is a little more important.
nigeluno @ Mar 4th 2006 9:08PM
yeah! Textbook i know the people hes refering to,
kinda like those socialist snobs who use words
like "myopia".
Josh S. @ Mar 4th 2006 9:49PM
Can someone explain to me what the point of these laptops are?
If the whole point is to make it easy for kids to get school textbooks and thus become educated, then this will only help in nations where children can read and where there are functioning school systems. The really poor nations will have no benefit.
Besides, if they are selling them to governments, why can't these governments buy their children textbooks? I'm sure if there was a need, cheap textbooks could be printed.
I'd be glad if someone would prove me wrong, because right now this looks like a little bit of a waste.
Bryan Jones @ Mar 4th 2006 9:51PM
That thing dosen't look like it could live up to some of the conditions that it would be facing in underdeveloped countries. Who cares if it looks sleek. If it was up to me, the enclosure would be made from stamped sheetmetal with rubberized buttons and drive doors. Build the thing mil-spec, Cheap but able to take a beating.
Bryan Jones @ Mar 4th 2006 9:54PM
That thing dosen't look like it could live up to some of the conditions that it would be facing in underdeveloped countries. Who cares if it looks sleek. If it was up to me, the enclosure would be made from stamped sheetmetal with rubberized buttons and drive doors. Build the thing mil-spec, Cheap but able to take a beating.
Drew @ Mar 4th 2006 10:41PM
I have no problem Iwith the idea of this project; its great that kids will get these laptops. Hell, I could use one that is rugged and powered by crank. I even think the goverment could do that here. My problem with this entire thing is the local goverments, and maybe even some in the UN, could sell these off to god knows who. I'm not sure if these countries did sell off AIDS meds, like some stories I rember hearing, what would stop them from selling them?
Fortyseven @ Mar 5th 2006 12:12AM
#32, Go drink some Draino.
dave @ Mar 5th 2006 12:29AM
I hope these gadgets lead to cleaner water and better food.
dave @ Mar 5th 2006 12:33AM
dear fhornmikey
a textbook (math and literature)if taken care of properly can last 10 years easily.
do you think these fragile toys will be around in 10 years?
wasted money.
cory @ Mar 5th 2006 1:37AM
It's interesting to read ALL the comments everyone has posted. In some places, I can imagine that the "public" is not educated enough to understand the implications of some of the businesses that are ruining their water and poisoning their food. Rather than providing a multitude of stop-gap fixes like food and water, I think Negroponte is trying to do some forward thinking. With time, the students will grow up more educated, and will likely be better equipped to help solve the problems that plague their countries.
Hector Parody @ Mar 5th 2006 2:10AM
I think it's a conspiracy by the the tobacco industry to get kids to smoke. Check out the cigarette picture on the bottom left.
Pedro @ Mar 5th 2006 3:18AM
You guys are assuming that every 3rd world country is in miserable state with skinny little children running around without any food or water. I think it's a wonderful thing if these guys can pull it off and make this thing work. And as for food and water, I agree that some countries are in desperate need of basic necessities, so why don't we impeach Bush, pull out of Iraq, and spend the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars that are being wasted overseas to actually help humanity?
Jon Slate @ Mar 5th 2006 5:07AM
I can understand and appreciate the comment of wishing they could also be sold commercially for $200. I would like at least 1, just as a novelty. And knowing I was not only buying a $100 computer for $200, I was also paying for a needy child to have one too, would make me and most other good-hearted geeks I know feel good about helping out a worthy cause.
That's what I think could push sales (and I hate cliches) "over-the-top."
Frank @ Mar 5th 2006 5:36AM
@40
FULLY agree!
For each 200$ OLPC sold, one OLPC is shipped to a third-world country - my exact thought since I first heard about this project a few months ago.
"Get one, give one"
Foreplay @ Mar 5th 2006 6:33AM
Why not sell this to university students in north america. Considering that we need it the most and we are the future of the world, not some starving african kid. All I am saying, sell it worldwide, textbooks are a complete rip of, it's hard enough to go to University with tuition skyrocketing every year, but I also have to pay ridiculous amounts for textbooks. It is not hard to offer this laptop to everyone who wants it.
Miraj @ Mar 5th 2006 7:00AM
This whole project is laughable and total waste of money and resources. Here are some points to ponder:
a. How many of the millions of children in developing countries know good english to be able to even utilise these laptops.
b. how many of the teachers in the schools are tech-savvy enough to be able to help the students with the laptops?
c. who is going to teach the teachers in the laptop based instruction? who is going to create the contents and curriculums suitable for use through these laptops. who is going to maintan/repair these laptops. An most importantly who is going to bear the costs for the above-mentioned activities? MIT? The govt of the countries buying these laptops? or the UN?!
flooted @ Mar 5th 2006 10:03AM
Maybe one of the big problems in all this, is that the project is not going to be cheap. 100 dollars per laptop? I don't think so. It appears a small investment for a large outcome but it is not. There are hidden costs, enormous hidden costs, which someone will have to pay for. At this stage it looks that the governments will pay. So they will borrow money...no? Well why don't they borrow money to improve other aspects of the education and health systems? People are being forced in a cycle to buy into this project because of all the publicity around it, not because it is a good project.
They should be sold in the US for 200 dollars. People will thrown them away after a couple of months, then we can send them down to the 'third world' for the price of the container ship. I don't understand why old computers aren't already being dumped...maybe they need to be painted in bright colours.....with the addition of the cigarette holder...
44 @ Mar 5th 2006 11:05AM
@44. Totally right. The amount of computer waste North America is generating is pitiful. But as mentioned above, not all countries have the means for 300 watts per computer x millions of kids.