OLPC

One Laptop Per Child--and one per me

I had to wake up early to do it, but I was able to order an XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation (and donate another at the same time).

I was prepared to discover the project's Web site overloaded with visitors--one observer predicted the alloted systems would sell out "in 30 seconds." But I had no problems.

I visited Laptopgiving.org promptly at 3 a.m. Monday, saw that the main page had changed to show the start of the "Give One Get One" program, and clicked the "Find out more&… Read more

EA donates SimCity to OLPC

According to a weekend report on Ars Technica, leading game maker Electronic Arts has decided to give their pioneering game SimCity to the One Laptop per Child project for installation on every machine distributed to children in developing nations).

You probably played SimCity as a kid. Remember laying out your own city, making decisions about geography, building roads, residences, and commercial areas? You got to watch how your choices play out over months, years, and decades.

The game also reveals the importance of city planning and civic policy-making to ordinary citizens, making it likely that at least some children in … Read more

Red Hat's ambition leads to software success

The leaders in global business, and particularly in technology, are those that define themselves as such, and relentlessly push themselves to live up to their stated aspirations. Google aims to master the world's information while simultaneously not being evil. Red Hat? Well, Red Hat sees itself as the great democratizer of IT.

You get a sense for this zeal in Linuxworld's interview with DeLisa Alexander, vice president of Human Capital at Red Hat. For Alexander, Red Hat isn't just another place to collect a paycheck. It's a place to build the future:

[What sets us apart is a] once-in-a-lifetime chance to participate in the global development and deployment of the structured technology that is going to change the social fabric of the community in which it touches. That is one key differentiator in this work experience.… Read more

The Gizmo Report: an Eee PC in the house

I recently mentioned my plan to get the new Eee PC laptop from Asus in spite of a price hike just before the product was introduced. The Eee PC is basically a low-cost subnotebook intended for developing markets, like the One Laptop Per Child project's XO, which I've also written about here--but unlike the OLPC, the Eee PC will be regularly available in commercial channels.

Well, earlier this week, I found the gizmo for sale over on Newegg.com and placed my order. A mere $458.45 later, including California sales tax and two-day shipping, it was … Read more

Mass production kicks off for XO laptops--finally

Following a number of delays, the One Laptop per Child Foundation's much-awaited XO laptop for needy kids has finally gone into mass production. Early Tuesday (local time), Taiwan's Quanta Computer started producing the green-and-white computer in its new Changshu manufacturing center, two hours northwest of Shanghai.

The commencement of mass production means children in developing nations could have the rugged, open-source laptops in hand starting this month. The OLPC has already announced orders for kids in Uruguay and Mongolia. (Residents of the U.S. and Canada participating in the Give 1 Get 1 program--which donates an XO … Read more

Give a little, get a little with OLPC

Good intentions aside, we might have snickered a bit at the trials and tribulations of the One Laptop Per Child project, which aims to put low-cost laptops in the hands of needy kids. The mythical $100 laptop is now closer to $200, and production has been delayed several times over. Most recently, the organization has resorted to asking individual consumers to pony up, offering the device for sale online, but only if you also purchase a second one to donated to, "empower a child to learn in a developing nation," a package deal that will cost $399 when … Read more

Buy One Laptop Per Child, get One Year Free WiFi for You

Techluver reports that T-Mobile USA is partnering with the One Laptop Per Child Project to give individuals a great reason to buy an OLPC laptop: free WiFi:

T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced it is partnering with One Laptop per Child for its Give One Get One initiative. T-Mobile is offering one year of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot access to people who donate an XO laptop to a child in a developing country through the campaign.

Nice. Self-interest at its very best. This is a Very Good Idea.

The Eee PC is here

The mini-laptop from Taiwanese computermaker Asus made its official U.S. debut Thursday.

In an outdoor courtyard of the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., the computer's intended audience--schoolkids--were in ample attendance. Like most animated Disney films today, the Eee PC is on the surface intended for children, but has plenty to keep the attention of adults too.

The Eee PC is similar in idea to the XO from the One Laptop Per Child initiative and Intel's Classmate PC. But unlike the former two, the primary audience for the Eee is not children in developing nations. Instead, … Read more

This week in laptops

Tiny, cheap laptops continued to dominate headlines this week. Due to unexplained problems, manufacturing for the One Laptop Per Child project's XO laptop was pushed back to mid-November; that will make it harder for Peru and Uruguay, who've placed two of the biggest orders, to get the systems in hand before the end of the school term. Despite the device's troubles, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Will Poole says the company is spending a "nontrivial" amount of money getting Windows to work on an OLPC. And the OLPC Foundation looked into cows as a source of power … Read more