The recent shakeups at the top of the OLPC hierarchy have apparently claimed another victim, as OLPC News is reporting that Software and Content chief Walter Bender has just left the project. Rumor is that Nicholas Negroponte is going to transition the OLPC XO entirely to Windows XP to spur sales soon, and Bender is reportedly unhappy about that. What makes this all the more interesting is that when security director Ivan Krstić left the OLPC project last month, he specifically said he was unhappy that the restructuring no longer required him to work with Bender, and said that he could no longer "subscribe to the organization's new aims or structure in good faith." Looks like something's afoot at OLPC, and the old guard isn't happy about it. What say you, NickNeg?

You'd think that with a name like "One Laptop Per Child," NickNeg and company would have stress-tested their laptop with some actual children, but it looks like everyone's favorite green machine just isn't up to the toddler challenge -- OLPC owners are reporting that the laptop's rubberized keyboard is easily destroyed by inquisitive kids, who are peeling the keys off like so many scratch'n'sniff stickers. Apparently the keyboards start to split above the U and J keys, and then Junior's off to the races. What's worse, OLPC doesn't appear to be shipping out replacement keyboards right now, leaving frustrated owners in the lurch. Not to fear, though: Instructables is to the rescue with a pretty sweet USB keyboard mod. Here's what we're wondering though -- if the OLPC can't handle the abuse of some ungrateful little yuppie larvae, how is this thing supposed to hold up in the developing world?

[Thanks Sanjay; photo courtesy of Niels_Olson]

Read - Thread about OLPC keyboards
Read - Instructables keyboard modd

It's safe to assume that if you're using one of OLPC's XO laptops, you're not exactly a speed demon. Still, you probably wouldn't mind squeezing a little more power out of that innocuous Geode CPU -- and now there's a way to do it. The cats and kittens over at OLPC News have discovered a way to (relatively) safely overclock your system using a shortcut at the open firmware prompt. At least one reader reports a 21.8 percent boost in system speed, and claims that bumping the 433MHz processor to 588MHz, and the 166MHz RAM to 233MHz has resulted in a much smoother ride with Ubuntu. Of course, if you decide to try this, keep in mind that just like overclocking the big boys, you could explode your system, restart the Cold War, or attract tons of vampires.

According to a report in the New York Times today, a spin-off of OLPC is planning to launch a competitor to the company's $200 XO laptop. Mary Lou Jepsen, former CTO of the Nicholas Negroponte-led company, claims that her new organization, Pixel Qi, can do it cheaper and better. "Spinning out from OLPC enables the development of a new machine, beyond the XO [laptop], while leveraging a larger market for new technologies," Jepsen wrote on the company's website, adding, "Besides, I need that extra $125 for laundry and stuff." Jepsen claims that the cost of a device like the XO can be reduced by, "Allowing multiple uses of key technology advances." If you'll recall, the original target price for the XO was $100, back in the hazy, optimistic days of 2005. Using an advanced abacus coupled with a complex system of levers and pulleys, we've determined that when and if the Pixel Qi laptop makes it to market, the cost will be no less than $150, and Nicholas Negroponte will say something crazy about it.

Don't fret, that feeling you've just been overcome with is nothing more than a harmless dose of déjà vu. Nearly a year ago to the day, we were hearing these same types of talks, and while the whole "XP on XO" conversation has been one of on-again / off-again nature, the switch has apparently been flipped to "go" once more. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is slated to test out Windows XP on OLPC XO laptops starting next month in the US, India and possibly Romania. James Utzschneider, general manager of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Group, noted that it "wanted Windows to run on the XO and [that it was] investing significant energy and talent" to make sure it happened. Granted, Microsoft will have to be mighty pleased with the results before any of this goes commercial, as Mr. Utzschneider concluded by stating that the company "wants to [ensure] a quality experience before [making a] commitment to governments."

[Via PCWorld]

If you (or your kiddo) just happens to be a first through eighth grader in Birmingham, Alabama, you (or your offspring) will soon be playing with an XO during regularly scheduled class time. Mayor Larry Langford has recently announced that a $3 million deal was signed in order to bring in one laptop per child for the aforementioned grades, or 15,000 XOs in total. Apparently, the schools will become the first in the nation to receive heaps of the low-cost lappies, which were sold to the district at $200 a pop. As for logistics, students can expect to receive their machine on April 15, 2008, and while pupils will be allowed to take 'em home, the school system can and will disable any that inexplicably "disappear."

[Image courtesy of OLPCNews]

Yes, that's "Buy One, Give One" for those out of the loop, and for the sect willing to fork out $399 in order to claim an OLPC XO of their own and have one donated too, T-Mobile is announcing that it will give you a solid year of HotSpot access gratis. The partnership is hoping to encourage participation in the philanthropic campaign, but this is most certainly not the first time T-Mobile has handed out free WiFi in order to get its name out there. Nevertheless, if this tidbit somehow pushes you into the buyers' camp, you can place an order between November 12th - 26th and calmly anxiously await your new machine along with "information on how to activate the one year of complimentary HotSpot service." Go on, you know it's the perfect excuse to pull the trigger, and besides, that warm, fuzzy feeling you'll have will totally justify the hit to your checking account.

[Via DailyWireless]

A lot can change in a year -- tastes, moods, the value of one's currency... -- and apparently, India's stance on One Laptop Per Child has shifted so dramatically from last July that 22 of the low-cost machines have actually arrived for testing. Reportedly, officials didn't give up after being practically rejected by India's education minister, and now 22 lucky youngsters in a one-room school in Maharashtra are getting the chance to participate in a pilot program. Carla Gomez-Monroy, the education consultant who launched the test, stated that OLPC "has learned that working with local partners will be crucial in India, where dozens of languages are spoken." Of course, the far smaller minimum order quantity probably helped matters too, and while there's no commitment from India to buy heaps of XOs anytime soon, Gomez-Monroy suggested that distribution could broaden "as soon as June" of next year.

[Image courtesy of Flickr]

If you were all set to plop down $399 in order to bless some eager kid overseas (and your own inner-child) with an OLPC XO this year, your plans are now in serious jeopardy. Reportedly, some sort of production delay has pushed the approximate start date for manufacturing from this month to November 12th, meaning that it's highly unlikely any significant number of US / Canadian orders will be filled before Christmas. According to Mary Lou Jepsen, chief technology officer for the One Laptop per Child Foundation, it had "some last minute bugs" that have since been resolved, but now it'll be an uphill battle just to fill the initial orders placed by Peru and Uruguay in a timely manner. If it's any consolation, Jepsen did state that some folks in North America would probably get their machines before the year's end, but recommended that you "order early" if you're the totally impatient type normal.

Somehow, a twelve-year-old child has been given the opportunity to take the OLPC XO for a test drive, and we've got the blow-by-blow for you. The critic, named "SG," has spent a lifetime using computers, and claims that he / she had low expectations, but the XO took him / her "by surprise," calling the child-centric green laptop "cleverly designed, imaginative, [and] straightforward." The reviewer says that Negroponte's pet-project is "great for first time users," and lauds the PCs games and camera, as well as the "application that allows you to type things." Unfortunately, it's not all cheers for the humanitarian computer, as the critic discovered that applications were slow to open, the system was prone to crashes, and the OS delivers no message before the battery loses charge. "I had to wait two minutes to get onto one application," he / she says, and "it got slower... the longer I went without rebooting it." In the end, however, SG gives the laptop high marks, concluding that the value, build quality, and bundled software outweigh the minor annoyances he / she had with the system, closing the review by simply stating, "This program is truly amazing."

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

Hot on the heels of growing momentum signaled by Intel pledging support to the humanitarian One Laptop Per Child initiative, a coalition of software and service providers have banded together to propose a new group aimed at the burgeoning computer platform. By exposing these first-time computer users to offers preloaded onto the device's nominal internal flash memory, the members of Ten Craplets Per Child propose to significantly lower the cost of the One Laptop Per Child device.

"Only a nefarious cretin would go to the trouble of writing a virus for a device designed for children living in some of the most difficult conditions on the planet," said Russ Vai, vice president of viral marketing at security software company Parannoyer, "So we expect a whole raft of malware to be available within weeks of the OLPC device being distributed throughout an economy." Vai also responded to the full-screen red warning label featuring a human skull that the security suite displays whenever the Web browser is started. "Backers say that the OLPC machine's mesh networking provides a gateway for connected devices to a world of knowledge, but it could become the knowledge of a device crawling with digital destruction," he said, erupting in evil laughter.

Other members of the coalition positioned their products as complementing the OLPC's design. "The OLPC camera can capture video," said Faye DeBlack, CEO of video editing software company Videodious, "But our software will let these aspiring Spielbergs and Lucases punch up their recordings with a lifetime of Hollywood-style special effects provided they can do so within 30 days or spend $499. A child's first Internet video call may be magical, but it's a lot more magical in bullet time. After all, nobody wants to watch poorly composed and edited low-resolution video," she said, glancing up from YouTube on her iPhone.

Revived from the depths of "no way this will happen," Intel has gone and shook hands with OLPC, disregarding prior quibbles and announcing that the two will "will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content." Presumably deciding that two heads were better working together than butting into one another, both firms have agreed to "bring the benefits of technology to the developing world through synergy of their respective programs." Phil Otellini, Intel's CEO, went so far as to state that joining forces with OLPC is just another example of his company's "commitment to education," and while absolutely no elaboration was given on what exactly the duo planned on completing together, at least we now know to be on the lookout.

There's great news afoot in the world of Nicholas Negroponte, and his favorite little toy-green (or yellow, or orange, etc.) laptop: it's now apparently called the 2B1. This comes after the named CM1, which was preceded by the One Laptop Per Child (now the name of the organization), which was preceded by the $100(ish) Laptop. Of course, given that news of this comes from the ultra-reliable technology known as a wiki, it's totally possible that this is just a prank, or yet another baby step on the road to production. Either way, Engadget is going to be drawing up some fake Ministry of Education stationary any day now so that we can get our hands on a million of these things.

[Via OLPC News]

Ah-ha, so it turns out those four million OLPCs may not actually be bagged after all -- big surprise. Apparently the mixup began when OLPC program director for Middle East and Africa Khaled Hassounah supposedly told DesktopLinux that Nigeria had committed to an order of a million units, and Argentina, Brazil, and Thailand were right behind them with "similar" orders of their own. Except not really. According to ZDNet UK, that information is flat-out "incorrect," according to OLPC, and that despite Hassounah's statements they're not yet prepared to distribute commercialized versions of the device. Taking pre-commercial device orders for something like the OLPC is absolutely nothing out of the realm of the ordinary in our opinion, but it seems like a little PR-spurned informational infighting has turned the project from "pedagogically suspect" to factually suspect overnight. Perhaps we should leave them to their device-making for now, and worry later about who is and isn't placing orders for quantities of computers large enough to make even the thinnest-margin manufacturers sweat and drool.

[Thanks, Cyrus and Alexandre]

Argentina, Brazil, Nigera, Thailand, you've made Negroponte proud. In fact, the man who is right now lined up to supply your respective nations with a million OLPCs a piece (give or take a few thou), is, as we understand it, at this very moment spiking OLPCs like he's in the end zone. According to OLPC program director Khaled Hassounah, Nigeria ordered of a million units, and spoke of "similar commitments" by the other three nations, so take that, India. Unlike the educational puppetmasters in Africa and South America, you apparently must not know a good thing when you see one. That or maybe you're investing those millions into bettering social welfare programs and upgrading other, more life-essential facilities before outfitting kids with lappies. Whatever you're doing with those millions, though, you're not putting a smile on NickNeg's face, mkay?

[Thanks, David]