#49 - The $100 Laptop

Here's an outrageous idea: What if every child in the world could have a free personal laptop? Put some e-books on it, make it Web-capable, and add a palette of media tools so children could work on creative projects. Wouldn't that be incredible?
One Laptop per Child (OLPC). What a great dream! With a history over 4 decades old, a group of old time computer people got together to put a dream into reality. The organization (OLPC) is lead by Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory, and the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Technology at MIT. Their goal is to put a laptop into the hands of every child that they can in the developing world.


This is not going to be your average laptop. Its designed to be a learning tool for the children, not just a glorified Internet Browser. Labeled the XO Laptop, the machine is now in beta 2 release. The end is getting close for bringing the dream a reality. The goal of the laptop is to encourage the concept of "LEARNING LEARNING". A computer uniquely fosters learning learning by allowing children to “think about thinking”, in ways that are otherwise impossible. Using the XO as both their window on the world, as well as a highly programmable tool for exploring it, children in emerging nations will be opened to both knowledge and to their own creative and problem-solving potential.


Here is some info on the laptop. The design of the display is unique. It's only 7½" diagonal with dual modes of color and Black and White. The Black and White mode is for e-books. One of the most expensive items for developing countries is text books. If all your children have the XO, textbook costs just went down a bunch! The keyboard is rubberized and ruggedized. The case is extra thick plastic. There is no hard drive. The Laptop has 256MB of memory and a 1GB flash memory capacity (like an internal pen drive). It uses an AMD processor. It will have wireless capability (see the cute antennas?) and very minimum battery power requirements. You can charge it from a car or any outlet. The XO has a Linix (free) opereating system and will have an internet browser and educational games designed just for it.


Will it cost only $100? Hmm that's a question that might not mean anything. The design and development of the XO is essentially being done for free by the OLPC foundation. They are 501c3 charity that you can donate to. Here is a link to their web site. http://www.laptop.org

Maybe this is one way technology should be used.