One Laptop Per Child: 8 Days Left

Awesome things are happening right now. The One Laptop Per Child Project has just launched out of the MIT media labs and they have Masi Oka telling us that for $400 we can get ourselves a durable laptop with built-in power and wifi while at the same time donating one to a child in a developing country. Buy the laptop, save the world. (I know I'm such a contrived jerk)

It is has a wind-up crank for power, has 256 MB of RAM and built in wifi and is equipped with a special LCD screen that switches between monochrome and colour mode depending on whether or not you want to use it in full sunlight. It weighs about 1.5 lbs and while the interface is mostly for kids (everything is pictographic), it is open-source, so you can hack away if you’ve got the abilities.

A friend just bought the Asus "Eee PC 8G" mini laptop for $400. It is tiny, great for watching videos and has a built-in camera…but you only get one and there is pretty much no chance of it helping children in developing countries….unless you flew to Africa, taught some kids how to jump around Parkour-style, created a podcast with the built-in camera and monetized it via Google Adwords (all before the battery died). But even then, you’d only generate revenue for a month at tops and then the kids would probably just get bored and figure out a new sport. This laptop idea is so much better.

( Add your comments )

Recent Entries:
· The Rebirth of Hip-Hop? Right...
· Cloud Computing: The Buzz and Blur
· Spore: Inner Feelings from Outer Space

[ READER COMMENTS ]

(Note: separate multiple email addresses with commas)

One Laptop Per Child: 8 Days Left

Add your comments...

We kindly ask that you keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Abusive or inappropriate comments or comments that are specifically promotional in nature may be removed.