One laptop per child
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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 now called the 2B1, still The Children's Machine
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]
Reports of four million OLPCs greatly exaggerated
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]
Four million OLPCs ordered, NickNeg sez boo-ya
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]
Microsoft demos "FonePlus" OLPC killer
Proving that corporate agendas sometimes can't be put aside long enough to create a unified computing platform for the world's poor, Microsoft has unveiled "FonePlus," a concept device making good on its proposal to use smartphones as the basis for sending computers deep into emerging markets. Unfortunately we've been unable to dig up any eye candy, but FonePlus looks to follow Gates' formula pretty closely: you get a CE-based smartphone (likely watered down from the full Windows Mobile package) with TV out and an external keyboard connection. The logic behind FonePlus suggests that phones and televisions are pervasive even in some of the world's poorest regions, making the product an easy sell -- plus, Internet access is part and parcel with the phone, something OLPC doesn't provide out of the box. Whether FonePlus will see production remains to be seen, but Microsoft's studying the idea closely -- and when you get snubbed by OLPC in favor of Linux, well, it's no surprise to see them come out swinging.
OLPC will be powered by pulling a string
We've been following Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child initiative ever since the machine was still priced below $100, but once they jettisoned the hand crank, we've been wondering how they're going to deliver power to the 500MHz device. Enter Squid Labs, an R&D firm chock full of MIT Media Lab grads -- the same lab that Negroponte founded and ran for many years -- with an innovative human-powered generator that works by repeatedly tugging on a string in a motion similar to firing up a gas-powered lawnmower or snowblower. The team at Squid designed the external generator so that one minute of pulling yields ten minutes of computing, and included an electronic variable motor loading feature so that it can be operated by users of varying strength. Another nice feature of this system is that it can be configured in a number of different ways: users can either hold the device in one hand and pull the string with the other, or clamp it to a desk and operate the string with their legs. As long as further testing confirms the design's durability, and a better option doesn't come along, it looks like we'll be seeing classrooms full of string-pulling students when the laptop finally goes into mass production next year.[Via Slashdot]
First video of working OLPC prototype
We've come a long way from back when the OLPC project was just a glimmer in Negroponte's eye, but after peeping this video of the prototype in action, we're not surprised that the crew wants some more time with the unit. The problem is, hardly anything is "final" in this current form, including the design, the motherboard, the battery, the OS and of course the screen. All of this translates to a sluggish PC running an unfinished OS -- a far cry from Negroponte's "bat out of hell" claims. We also haven't seen laptop's trackpad in action, or any untethered use, so both the interface (not that there's any software to interface with right now) and the battery life are fairly unproven. Ah well, we're glad we get a peek just the same, and look forward to 2007 when this thing starts getting some polish.
OLPC gets a price hike and a launch window
Turns out that magical $100 figure was too good to be true, and Negroponte's OLPC project will get off the ground next year for somewhere around $130-$140 -- before shipping -- when it gets released for sale to governments next April. The hope is that the price can get down to $100 by the end of 2008, but Negroponte said manufacturing has to hit 5 to 6 million to get scale pricing on these. While the amount of RAM will effect pricing, the biggest factor right now is the display, which still isn't finished. According to Negroponte: "It has to be sunlight readable. That won't be done until August/September." After that there will be a beauty contest among three systems for the final production design, and then manufacturing will begin. A whole bunch of countries are currently interested in the idea, but we're guessing they'll want to see real deal before they commit to buy that one million unit minimum.[Thanks, Alex N.]
Working OLPC prototype gets its close-up
We still miss the crank, and had sort of gotten used to the lime green color scheme. But we have to admit that seeing an actual working prototype of the computer from Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child initiative beats all of the mockups we've been looking at for the past year or so. We don't have any specs (other than the fact that it's clearly running Fedora Linux), but from the looks of it, Negroponte has clearly done a decent job at making this kid-friendly. And the keyboard, while small, doesn't look a whole lot worse than the one on the new MacBook. If this puppy can be outfitted with WiFi, one of Samsung's new NAND drives and a couple of USB ports, customers from the industrial world may just order enough of them to subsidize that $100 price tag for developing countries (if Negroponte is willing to let us buy them, that is). [Via BoingBoing]Update: We also heard from a reliable source that final versions of the PCshouldprobably have a more fleshed out Red Hat build installed, and will have WiFi. We'll let you know more as we do!
New OLPC deets: 500 MHz, 128MB RAM, Windows CE and no hand crank
Given that a number of companies have been boasting of their computing plans for the developing world in recent weeks, it's kind of a relief to see Nicholas Negroponte back in the spotlight talking up the One Laptop Per Child project. Especially when he's willing to be so free with the box's specs. Speaking at the LinuxWorld conference in Boston, Negroponte shed some light on his plans for the OLPC, including more concrete specs than we've seen before. The mini-laptop will be powered by a 500 MHz AMD processor, will have 128MB RAM and 512MB of flash memory for storage. It'll also include an LCD display that will switch from an 1180x830 black-and-white mode for daylight viewing to 640x480 color for indoor use. He also revealed that, despite Bill Gates' reservations about the OLPC project, Negroponte is working with Microsoft on a version of Windows CE that will work on the computer. Negroponte also said the laptops will be extremely stingy when it comes to power consumption, using just 2 watts, one of which will run the display. However, despite that low power, he said that one of the most recognizable features of the original OLPC prototype (above), its handcrank, will have to go -- not because it can't generate enough power, but because it would put too much stress on the box (more recent prototypes have already jettisoned the crank). However, an adapter to allow the machine to run on pedal power is planned. Negroponte also had some bad news for his hosts at LinuxWorld (as if anything could be worse than saying he supports Windows CE): he said the penguin OS is as bloated as Windows, and will need to slim down to run on the OLPC. We suspect that his words didn't go over very well -- and that a half-dozen open-source projects to shrink Linux down to size were started within an hour.
