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Intel designing processor for OLPC, other low-cost laptops
We already knew that Intel and OLPC had officially shook hands and agreed to work with one another in some elusive fashion, and now things are becoming a touch clearer. Reportedly, the chip maker will be designing a "new architecture specifically for the ultra-low cost laptop category," and if all goes as planned, it'll unveil the OLPC-ready CPU at next year's Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai. Apparently, Intel even looked into modifying current mobile chips rather than starting from scratch, but according to Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of the mobile platforms group at Intel, the "small size, low cost and low power consumption required by the OLPC laptop made it unique enough to require a new architecture." The new microprocessors should be uncovered on April 2-3, 2008.
Pogue finds the OLPC XO "absolutely amazing"
With the OLPC Foundation's "Give 1 Get 1" holiday promotion fast approaching, New York Times tech pundit and occasional crooner David Pogue decided to see for himself if the long-hyped XO lives up to its promise, and he's now delivered a full review of the not-quite-$100 laptop. While he recognizes some of the laptop's shortcomings (including a two-minute startup time), those proved to be insignificant compared to the laptop's many benefits, which he says "exhibit breakthrough after breakthrough." Garnering particular notice from Pogue was the XO's sunlight-readable screen, its mesh networking capabilities, and it's long-lasting (and, just as importantly, cheap) battery. He even went so far as to perform a few drop and spill tests on the laptop, which the XO apparently had no trouble withstanding -- check out the video also at the link below to see for yourself.
Uruguay reportedly set to buy 100,000 OLPC XO laptops
It looks like students in Uruguay could soon have plenty more to get wildly excited about, as it seems that the country's LATU organization is now set to buy 100,000 OLPC XO laptops, with an option to buy 50,000 more to the tune of $199 apiece. That's a bit less than the $200+ price we had heard Uruguay would be paying, but still well over the mythical $100 price the foundation has long been promising. According to Uruguay's El Pais newspaper, the decision (which has apparently yet to be finalized) follows an evaluation process in which the OLPC competed against Intel's Classmate PC. That ultimately ended with the OLPC narrowly beating out Intel's offering by a score of 56.84 to 53.06, with the OLPC's cheaper price apparently the determining factor.[Via OLPC News]
OLPC announces $399 "Give 1 Get 1" holiday XO promo
Starting November 12th you can finally fork over some cash for an XO and get one shipped to your door -- as long as you're willing pay double for some kid in a developing nation to get one as well. It'll cost you $399, which is hardly a bargain given the other cheap-as-free laptops making the rounds these days, but the XO is undoubtedly novel, and we imagine not a few nerds will want to get their hands on one this holiday season, or at least bestow the little green machine upon one of their nerdling progeny. Apparently this offer, which has been rumored for quite a while now, will only last for a limited time -- OLPC News has it on good authority the promo will go for two weeks, and the machines will ship to your door in time for Christmas -- but it's never to early or late to donate toward the project in general. $200 will build and ship a laptop to one of those millions of kids who totally needed to be playing Doom yesterday.[Via OLPC News]
OLPC's XO gets previewed in its "final" form
We've anticipating final production runs of the OLPC XO for who knows how long, but the $188 laptop is finally in production and soon to be landing in the laps of school children the world over. The folks and Laptop Magazine got their hands on what is ostensibly the final production version and put it through its paces. Everything seemed to work as advertised: a dual-mode display providing readability in any light, a solid build that survives drops from four feet and keyboard spills, solar and pull-string charging options for unlimited battery life, and a hefty quantity of quality software for kids, but there were still some slow-down problems in the software, especially when switching between applications or browser tabs. We've still yet to see if the XO is going to enjoy widespread adoption in education, and still a bit bummed that the price has ratcheted up to nearly $200, but otherwise the computer does seem to fulfill a surprising quantity of what was originally promised.
Macedonia to give every student a PC
While the OLPC continues its slow rollout and finds its price slowly climbing, it looks like other companies are aggressively going after NickNeg's target markets -- Macedonia just announced a deal with NComputing to provide every student with a thin client "classroom computing device" that will link up to an account on a Linux server PC. The deal calls for NComputing to deliver 180,000 of the devices at a price that's only quoted as "less than half the cost of any other proposed solution," -- a number we're guessing is in that all-important $100 range. Macedonia's schools were also impressed with the device's ability to be remotely updated and maintained, a feature that significantly cuts support costs. No word on when Macedonians will see these things pop up in schools, but we'd bet quite a few people in other countries wouldn't mind getting their hands on one either.Update: Okay, that's all for comments. While we're sensitive to the many viewpoints surrounding the formal name of the country, Engadget isn't really the place for that debate. Take it outside, kids.
"$100" OLPC XO-1 to cost at least $188, over $200 in Uruguay
The "$100 laptop" from the OLPC Foundation is in no way a "$100 laptop." The latest price hike by the Foundation pushes the overall cost of each XO-1 machine up to $188, which is a fair amount higher than the $176 that the machine was said to cost back in May. On a per country basis, the laptops could cost even more than that, with OLPCNews reporting that the cost per laptop in Uruguay is $205 due to a partnership with Brighstar Uruguay SA. Negroponte, maybe it's time to change that "$100 laptop" tagline.Read - Nonprofit group hikes price of "$100 laptop" (Reuters)Read - OLPC XO-1: Now $205 in Uruguay (OLPCNews)
Intel inside the next XO OLPC?
Could the next laptop to emerge from the OLPC organization be powered by Intel chips? That's the suggestion of OLPC News, which sees the FAQ attached to Intel's announcement of joining the board at OLPC as a sign that Intel's chips could work their way into the XO-2. At the very least, the servers that support the $100 XO PCs will be Intel based: quoting from the FAQ, it says that "OLPC is planning to add Intel Xeon processor based servers to their product offerings." Intel is also taking steps to develop a system board for the next gen XO, although all designs are subject to OLPC approval. Seems like OLPC's gone full circle from "Intel should be ashamed of itself" to "thank you Intel!"[Via OLPC News]
OLPC XO reviewed... by a twelve-year-old
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."
Carlos Slim to hook Mexico up with 'millions' of laptops
Carlos Slim, who is (debatably) the richest man on the face of the planet, has recently pledged to do some good with all that fundage, and we'd say that donating "250,000 low-cost laptops to children by the end of the year and as many as one million in 2008" is a fine start. Noting "digital education" as the key for turning much of Mexico around, he is aiming to "initially put the laptops in libraries and schools" and hand them out to students afterwards. Moreover, he suggested that his company (Telmex) would be there to help set up wireless networks for the machines to connect to, and as if these plans were enormous enough, he's also looking to establish "early stimulation" preschools within four years to give "poor children training at a young age in math, language, and computers."[Via Wired]
OLPC XO may be on sale by Christmas for $350
Hot on the heels of the news that the OLPC XO has begun mass production, OLPC CTO Mary Lou Jepsen has told Reuters that the foundation is planning on selling the sorta-costs $100 laptop to consumers by Christmas for...$350. Or $525. Or maybe not at all. The foundation is looking for ways to subsidize manufacturing so it can ship more of the green-eared machines to developing countries, and it's hoping that consumer sales will help foot the bill -- although NickNeg and Co. haven't decided at what price the plan is feasible and won't announce a decision for another month. One thing is certain, however: releasing these things to consumers will definitely not solve that itty-bitty porn problem.[Via OLPC News][Thanks, Wayan]
Quanta begins OLPC XO production ramp-up
Quanta Computer has finally received the green light to ramp up production of Negroponte's OLPC XO. The not-quite $100, open-source laptop should start shipping in quantity by October at a current cost of $176-per with the option of solar, foot-pump, and pull-string chargers presumably at additional cost. For those keeping track, that's about 4-months later than NickNeg's original estimate. Of course, as Nick likes to remind everyone, it's not about the laptop at all, it's about education. Former Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, effusively described it as "an expression of global solidarity." Good, 'cause even humanitarian efforts will need a logo in Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong.
Reuters shocked that OLPC testers using XO for XXX
You know it's a pretty slow summer Friday on the Reuters news beat when one of the biggest stories making the rounds focuses on the shocking revelation that Nigerian students are using their shiny new OLPC XOs to do what hormonal young men have being doing since the dawn of time: look at naked women. The esteemed wire service's African correspondent breathlessly reports that a journalist from the News Agency of Nigeria had seen pornography on a few children's notebooks, which led the country's publication of record to surmise that "efforts to promote learning with laptops in a primary school in Abuja have gone awry as the pupils freely browse adult sites with explicit sexual materials." Why, the NAN report makes it sound like these kids are spending their days at some seedy adult bookstore and not even attending school at all. Luckily for the porn-addicted youngsters, administrators of the pilot program are aware of this snowballing crisis, and will soon be installing filters that will very likely block out a slew of legitimate pages while still allowing curious students to see all the flesh they want on Myspace. Will someone please think of the children?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Switched On: TCPC
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.
Intel and OLPC join hands in collaborative harmony
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.
OLPC radios get FCC approval
Based on recent FCC documents, it would appear that Quanta, manufacturer of Nicholas Negroponte's OLPC, has just received approval on the system's WiFi radio, which means that the 802.11b/g component of the humanitarian-laptop-project is now signed, sealed, and delivered (at least in the eyes of one semi-prominent US agency). This is an interesting development because it opens a door for the child-themed edutainment and communication machine to not just hit developing countries, but also land in places a little closer to home -- and despite recent rumblings that have been both contrary and concurrent, if the sub-$200 laptop does make its way toward America, it seems likely that the symbolic Sugar OS will be intact.
OLPC expected to dip to $50 by 2009, get WiMAX someday
While the OLPC Foundation has long said that it expects its OLPC XO laptop to get cheaper as production ramps up, it looks like they're now getting a bit more specific about it, with OLPC CTO Mary Lou Jepsen reportedly saying she expects the price to dip to just $50 by 2009. Apparently, one of the keys to reaching that rock bottom price is doing something about the cost of the display used in the laptop, although no one seems to be saying exactly how that'll be achieved. Jepsen does seem to have had a bit more to say about the "next-generation OLPC," however, most notably that it'll come with built-in WiMAX connectivity. No ETA on that, of course.[Via TG Daily]
Intel and OLPC ready to work together?
As you may have noticed, Intel and Nicholas Negroponte's OLPC Foundation haven't exactly been getting along, with the two not only competing against each other, but even going so far as to take their spat to the national TV level. Now, however, it looks like the two might possibly be ready to put their differences behind them, at least according to a report by BusinessWeek. While details are unsurprisingly light, the magazine says that the two "may be ready to bury the hatchet," and that Intel and OLPC execs are now "in talks regarding how they can work together." Still pretty low on the likelihood meter to be sure, although, as we've seen lately, anything can happen.[Via The Inquirer]
Nigerian school gets 300 OLPCs
It's been a long time coming, but the much-vaunted OLPC XO is now slowly making its way to the people it was meant for, recently landing in the hands of 160 school children in Uruguay, and now finding its way to the Galadima Primary School in Abuja, Nigeria. According the News Agency of Nigeria, the school got some 300 OLPCs but is having a slight problem keeping them powered, as the school has no electricity and power at the students' homes is irregular (still no pull-string, it seems). Despite that setback, the students are apparently "very happy" with the laptop, although we're sure they'll be even more pleased when they discover some of the OLPC's non-educational potential.
Venezuela begins semi-cheap PC rollout
Well they're no OLPCs -- heck, they're not even as cheap as some Dell systems that you can buy in China -- but Venezuela has finally begun rolling out its long-promised, domestically-produced computers in a move designed to give the South American country more technological independence. Consisting of four models (three not-ugly desktops and a laptop) ranging from a relatively inexpensive $405 to a "did Sony make this one?" $1,400, the machines all run an unspecified Linux distro powered by 1.5GHz to 3.0GHz Pentium IVs (desktops) or a pretty high-end 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor (notebook). Santa Chavez and his revolutionary elves have apparently been handing these out like candy to domestic interests since last year, and are now in the process of ramping up the scope and scale of production so that more components can be produced in-house while sales channels become international. These so-called "Bolivarian Computers" are currently being manufactured by a joint venture between the Venezuelan Ministry of Light Industry and Commerce and Chinese company Lang Chao's Venezuela de Industria Tecnológica, with the latter company apparently unafraid of getting nationalized like so many of its colleagues.
