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Sugar Labs debuts "Sugar on a Stick" beta, for LiveUSB-derived diabetes
After offering Sugar for the past while as an interface to run on top of your Linux distro of choice, Sugar Labs is prepping "Sugar on a Stick," a Fedora 11-based LiveUSB distro that boots most any PC from a 1GB+ USB stick and lets a user carry their Sugar environment, files and settings wherever they roam. While the beta is currently up for download, there seem to be plenty of kinks to work out, but as the team expands and refines hardware support, we could see this potentially being more of a boon for education than the XO-1 itself; turning any PC into a Sugar PC, not just the dramatically green ones. It's also nice to see how speedy Sugar can be free from the bonds of AMD Geode -- even Atom provides quite a bit of relative pep. Check out a quick (and slightly hyperactive) hands-on video from OLPC News after the break.
Happy Easter from TUAW
Today is Easter for those of you celebrating around the world, and what better way to celebrate than with Peeps? Specifically Peeps attending an Apple event -- these guys were made by Sarah Kohari and Erin Mastrangelo of Washington, and are part of the Washington Post's yearly Peeps diorama contest. This one is number 38, and they also made number 39 as well.We like it, obviously, especially the little Steve Jobs peep, as well as the iPeep nanos (in, apparently, all of the different colors Peeps come in). Happy Easter to everyone -- may you have candy and chocolate of all kinds (if that's what you're looking for today), and may all of your egg finding go well.
D+caf caffeine test strips makes sure your decaf is decaf
Ever wondered if that 93 octane you're paying two arms and a leg for is really 93 octane? Pondered the legitimacy of that "homogenized and pasteurized" claim on your most recent milk purchase? If so, congratulations. You're the target market for the D+caf caffeine test strip. Reportedly, these strips keep the paranoid abreast of the truth whenever they venture out for a decaf drink; java sippers simply insert a tester into their beverage, wait for it to grow intolerably cold (or 30 seconds, whichever comes first) and then view the findings. The creator proclaims that they're 98% accurate for detecting greater than 20-milligrams of caffeine per 6-ounce serving, but we're not willing to pay $9.95 for a 20-pack in order to find out.[Via medGadget]
Europe also getting a taste of OLPC sugar on Monday
The OLPC, Give One Get One program is heading to Europe on November 17th -- the same day the deal kicks off in the US. Thanks to the Amazon hook-up, 27 EU nations as well as Switzerland, Russia, and Turkey can grab an XO laptop at a cost of about £268 / €313. That's one XO running Sugar (not XP) for you and one for a child in a developing nation... other than your own.
Confirmed: Kids like Sugar better than XP
It's hardly a scientific test, but when a Cnet editor's 8 year old daughter was given the choice between an OLPC XO laptop running Windows XP or the Linux-based Sugar UI, Sugar was the winner. As Cnet points out, either OS when properly incorporated into the teaching curriculum should serve the children of developing nations equally well. Only one, however, promises to prepare our youth for middle management. P.S. Amazon's Give One, Get One program will be limited to Linux according to Cnet and confirmed in the OLPC Wiki -- no dual-boot for you Santa.[Thanks, Justin G.]
The world's deadliest dessert
We've seen Hordecake, Alliance cake, Horde-oken cake, and now we have a cake from Fatalis Sciurus, the 'Deadly Squirrels' of the Uldum realm. According to Kronq, a member of the guild, Fatalis Sciurus is a pretty small, tight knit group that all gets together in person now and then for "food, drinks, and whatever." Guildie Hallana decided to go the extra mile and put together a themed chocolate cake for the gang, bearing their adorable yet deadly namesake. I don't know about you guys, but that picture makes me want to lick the Horde emblem right off of the thing. Delicious, delicious sugar!I have to admit, I have some pretty serious envy about the regular guild get-togethers. I enjoy gaming with my long distance friends (and yes, I consider them real friends), but there's just no substitute for hanging out in person sometimes. I wish I could have more of my guildies over at my place or vice versa regularly, the few times I've been able to do it were amazingly fun.From now on, I think we of WoW Insider should start requiring that you guys send us a piece of the cake along with the pictures. It's just not fair to taunt us with sweets like this!
Amazon to offer OLPC's Give One, Get One Program later this year (update: possibly dual-boot)
Now that OLPC has met its One Laptop Per Child goal (in uh, Niue) it's time to go whole-hog retail. According to Matt Keller, OLPC chief in EMEA, OLPC will resurrect its Give One, Get One XO program in late November with the help of Amazon's big retail guns. Prices haven't been disclosed nor has the nimble Sugar or poky XP OS selection. But if history serves, we'll be looking at $399 for the Sugary pair just like last year.Update: As it turns out, OLPC says that a dual-boot XP and Sugar OS XO will be shipping in the "next month of so." Happy pappie?
Bender goes bipolar: OLPC's Sugar UI tweaked for Intel's Classmate PC
We know he's just thinking about the children but damn, if Walter Bender's latest move doesn't smack of retribution for Negroponte's XP-lust. Having successfully spun himself out from under NickNeg's OLPC, Bender's UI now owned by his non-profit Sugar Labs might just end up on Intel's Classmate PC. Right, the same competing platform the OLPC camp had lambasted, repeatedly, for its "shameless" and "half-hearted" behavior in the educational marketplace. Nevertheless, Bender is quoted in an interview saying, "A community volunteer is working with Intel on Sugar for the Classmate PC. Sugar Labs helped to expedite the relationship." We assume Bender's loftier goals act as a lithium-salve to what must be a palpable internal turmoil.P.S. That's our mockup, Intel declined to comment on the usage of Sugar.
Sugar Labs already in talks with four laptop makers
Walter Bender might be disappointed in the OLPC's defection to Windows XP, but the former head of Sugar OS development isn't sitting still: he's already founded Sugar Labs, and early word is that he's in preliminary discussions with four ultra-low-cost laptop makers to ship the kid-friendly operating system on their machines soon. Bender's already said he's interested in working with Intel and Pixel Qi, and he's mentioned ASUS in passing, but no names are being confirmed, so we'll see where this leads -- Bender seems pretty driven to get Sugar out there.[Via CNET]
Displaced by XP, Sugar Labs goes it alone
While OLPC tries to wise up to the real demands of the market and build a cheap laptop that people actually want -- which means Windows XP for most -- Walter Bender, OLPC's former president of software and content for the project is taking his open source Linux-based Sugar OS and has started up a new non-profit to aid its development. Bender still has the vision of an open source learning OS, and plans to give Sugar full support for other low-cost platforms like the Eee PC. Ooh, burn.
Walter Bender speaks out about leaving OLPC, de-emphasis of radical projects
What do you know? The former OLPC head of software and content did indeed resign at least partially over NickNeg's growing fondness of Windows XP. In a recent soul-spilling interview with xconomy, Walter Bender made clear that he resigned his post at the non-profit due to the general de-emphasis of "radical projects like Sugar," the innovative XO user interface which Mr. Bender was unsurprisingly neck-deep in during his stay. Essentially, he felt as if the outfit had stopped trying to "be disruptive" and started "trying to make things comfortable for decision-makers," hence Walter darting out "to do his own thing." Needless to say, the lead developer of Sugar isn't satisfied with seeing his work forgotten, and while details have yet to be worked out, he is looking to "find a new central home for the community of educators and software developers who have been creating Sugar-compatible applications."[Image courtesy of The New York Times]
OLPC head of software and content resigns, possibly over transition to XP
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 Krsti?? 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?
Well Fed Buff: Fizzy Faire Drinks
Every Thursday, Well Fed Buff will be serving up the tastiest dishes to boost your HP and stats, just in time for your weekend gaming. In honor of the impending Spring season, and the traveling Darkmoon Faire, this week's Well Fed Buff will feature an improved version of [Fizzy Faire Drink "Classic"]. Don't worry, we won't be going anywhere near 'New Fizzy Faire Drinks'. The Improved Fizzy Faire Drinks can be prepared in a variety of styles and flavors, with fun colors and yummy garnishes. As such, several different combinations will be featured, and their mysterious buffs revealed. In fact, I wanted to create a purple and green float as a symbol of the Darkmoon Faire, but all my local grocery store offered would have made a grape-mint combination. If any brave souls try this, or can snag lime instead of mint, send us a screenshot! If you're curious, and itching to start off the ice cream season a little early, hop on through the break.
Sony achieves world's highest output from sugar battery
Another day, another fuel cell milestone. This time, it's sugar at the bio-electrical base. Unfortunately, the world's highest output they're touting is just 50mW per cell. Still, if you daisy chain a few together then you've got enough juice (literally) to power a modern Walkman albeit, from a battery roughly 10x the size of the player. Be sure to check their video after the break -- produced with just enough hair-porn-era synth music to make the otherwise benign experience, painful.[Via TokyoMango]
Scientists convert glucose into fuel and polyesters
Glucose has been the building block for many zany creations 'round these parts, but using the widely available substance to create "products currently created from petroleum" has some fairly far reaching consequences. Gurus at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have reportedly "converted sugars ubiquitous in nature into a primary building block for fuel and polyesters," dubbed hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Aside from the obvious benefits of finding yet another renewable energy to tap into, learning to harness this power could give garb and plastic manufacturers new routes to source raw materials. So what do the creators themselves think? "The opportunities are endless" -- we say: prove it.
DIY 3D printer utilizes hot air, sugar to craft random objects
Just when you thought a $5,000 3D printer wasn't such a bad deal after all, the zany gurus at the Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories have put Desktop Factory's iteration to shame. The CandyFab 4000 is a homegrown printer that utilized a bevy of miscellaneous spare parts around the lab as well as the same sort of CNC hot-air control mechanism that we previously saw in the text writing toaster contraption. Their selective hot air sintering and melting (SHASAM) method allows the printer to begin with a bed of granular media (sugar, in this case) in which a directed, low-velocity beam of hit air can be used to fuse together certain areas repeatedly, eventually working the remaining grains into a three-dimensional object. The creators claim that while their CandyFab machine only ran them $500 in addition to junk parts and manual labor, even starting from scratch shouldn't demand more than a grand or so, so be sure to click on through for a few snaps of the fascinating results and hit the read link for the full-blown skinny.[Via MetaFilter]
OLPC Sugar interface tour gallery
Since being announced in 2005, there aren't too many things we've wanted so much as to get some good, solid time in with the OLPC, and it's sweet, icon-driven Sugar interface. Well, as of yesterday our wishes were granted when official OLPC builds hit the internets. The live CD is of extremely limited utility, but if you want to check out the fruits of Negroponte's ultimate pet project -- and see what millions of kids the world over will be using any semester now -- we've got the goods. Check out the gallery, we covered some decent ground with some of the basic apps bundled with the distro.%Gallery-2509%
OLPC's Linux-based operating system available for download
If you've got a tick to spare, or you're simply the type who shoves any flavor of Linux on any flavor of gadgetry that'll accept it, here's yet another opportunity to kill some time and check out the OLPC a bit further. Apparently, the Linux-based Sugar OS from the One Laptop Per Child project is now available via a bootable LiveCD ISO, and according to user reports, works quite well aside from the "lack of WiFi capability" on a certain MacBook. But hey, why are you relying on us to tell you how it works out? Go on and tag the read link whilst grabbing a fresh cup of joe, and do report back with ample amounts of praise (or grouses) once you've checked things out.[Via Digg, photo courtesy of LinuxQuestions]
Sugar fueled batteries could power portable electronics
Before you take a swig of that kosher Coke this passover, think about what else you could be doing with your sugar-rush-in-a-can: powering your laptop for example, if a team of researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri are successful. A study at the University showed that it was possible to create fuel cells that run on a variety of sugar sources that could potentially last up to four times longer than conventional lithium-ion batteries. The current proof of concept is a postage stamp sized fuel cell which can power a portable calculator, and the project lead Shelley Minteer PhD suggested that the new cell could be commercialized within 5 years. Apparently the best solution for the entirely renewable fuel cells -- which use enzymes to convert the fuel to electricity -- is simple sugar water: turns out our kosher Coke suggestion isn't apparently altogether that great due to the carbonization which weakens the fuel cell. Apart from the potential for laptop charging and on-the-go cellphone recharges, the military -- which funded the research -- also thinks there's potential for in the field implementations; their oddball idea is to use tree sap to recharge portable devices.
Pepper folks shake a little software onto the OLPC
The OLPC kids seem pretty set on their "Sugar" GUI, with its complete disregard for traditional UI forms in search of a new, kid-friendly OS experience. However, there's a new game in town, in the form of Pepper Computer, which has ported its Pepper Pad OS over to those brightly colored XO machines. The port makes plenty of sense, since Pepper's own computers run on similar AMD Geode procs, and both OSes are similarly based on Linux. Pepper Pad was also initially built with younger users in mind, and given the fact that Pepper's OS is quite a bit more mature than OLPC's current offering, it's hard not get attached to the idea. Of course, the absence of a touch screen on the XO might put a bit of a damper on things, but it seems the trackpad can take over just fine in its absence. It doesn't seem like this new development will have much effect on the OLPC project as it relates to those millions of laptops NickNeg is hoping to ship to kiddies in developing countries, but it's nice to know we'll have such an OS option when we snag our own XO off eBay.
