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U.S. reaches Net detente with U.N.
November 16, 2005 -
Demand for used PCs on upswing
September 28, 2005 -
The $100 laptop moves closer to reality
September 28, 2005
MIT Media Lab Chairman Nicholas Negroponte said at a United Nations Internet summit here that his nonprofit organization was negotiating with manufacturers and would have an initial order placed by February or March. Thailand and Brazil are among the six governments that have showed the strongest interest, Negroponte said.
The final design, shown for the first time here, incorporates a low-power display designed by project engineer Mary Lou Jepsen that's designed to run for up to 40 minutes in black-and-white mode with 1 minute of cranking.
The case color is a combination of a lime green and a yellow hue reminiscent of No. 2 pencils. "It was the hardest decision," said Negroponte, who runs the One Laptop Per Child nonprofit group that's organizing the effort. "We wanted to use color because it's a message of playfulness."
"This is truly a moving experience," said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who showed up at the beginning of the event here. "It's also a moving expression of global solidarity and corporate citizenship."
In principle, the project seems simple: Design a laptop with built-in wireless and minimal power consumption, find manufacturers willing to build it for about $100, convince governments to buy it in quantities of at least 1 million as an initial order, and give it to schoolchildren to keep as their own property. (The goal is tens of millions produced and distributed within two years.)
But negotiating with governments has proved to be strenuous--Negroponte called it "very hard"--and the price quotes to build the machine remain closer to $110 than $100. "We're not even going to promise they're $100," he said. "They may be $115. What we're promising is that the price will float down."
Another worry is what happens to the laptops after they're handed gratis to students with families that are struggling to survive. The average Nigerian, for instance, makes $1,000 a year--so a family would have a strong incentive to sell the laptop because they need the money.
"One of the things you want to do is make sure there's no secondary market," Negroponte said. He said one solution would be to make sure "the machine will be disabled if it doesn't log in to the network for a few days."
The proposed design of the machines calls for a 500MHz processor, 1GB of memory and a unique dual-mode display that can be used in full-color mode, or in a black-and-white sunlight-readable mode. It's not clear yet how much cranking will be needed for the higher-power color mode.
It's expected to run an open-source operating system, probably Linux, Negroponte said, rather than a closed-source product from Apple Computer or Microsoft. Companies including Google, Advanced Micro Devices, News Corp. and Red Hat have donated to the project.
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Is that 1GB of RAM? or is that like a flash based chip to replace the HDD? Because I don't see a point of having a lot of RAM with 500mhz CPU.
__________________________________
R.K.
http://www.Remove-All-Spyware.com/
main things said so far about the $100 laptop when referring to
downfalls has been it's lack of storage space, although that's
unlikely to be a huge problem as these computers have not been
designed to be high end multimedia platforms.
I remember what a Mac Plus and a modem cost... what impedes the net today? electricity?
oh... yah.. ok.. whatever...
Otherwise they're probably just a government funded way to play games and surf porn.
Mike
ReviewLinux.Com
They are in families who have barely enough money to keep the electricity on in their homes and feed the kids, so they could definitely benefit from a hand-cranked laptop. And many are in rural areas where there still is no cell phone service, let alone WiFi access.
I don't argue that every child on the planet should learn computer skills, but I disagree that overseas children are somehow more disadvantaged than the poverty-level children here in the US. I was always taught that charity should begin at home, which I take to mean take care of your local community first, then expand your project (sort of like ripples in a pond).
Why doesn't someone look for corporate and government sponsorship here. It may help the interest of US inner city and poor children towards education in a technology or perhaps math and the sciences (which we so desparately need here in the US). The same technology basis could be used for printers that are so cheap now, to be setup for this "crank up" style.
Bill Gates and other big money makers have in the past donated new computers to help out schools with outdated or no computers and bought some pretty nice systems. Corporations sometimes donate old computers to schools. Let's get everyone on the same page, get a few companies involved with building these systems, have them "made in the USA", and go from there.
I quite frankly am tired of doing work for governments and people outside of the US when so many of our people are left hanging by the wayside. Come on AMERICA......
always dreamed of a powerful children's computer,
affordable enough for every child on the planet to have
one. It's never been closer to reality than now. And it is
so important that the power of child-programmability be
preserved (Papert and Kay will see to that), a "must-
have feature" unfortunately lost in so many uses of
computers in schools. We should all get behind this
effort! Sincerely, Mark
Mark L. Miller, Ph.D., President and Executive Director
The Miller Institute for Learning with Technology
A 501(c)(3) California Nonprofit Public Benefit
Corporation
"Helping people use technology more effectively for
learning"
751 Laurel Street #411, San Carlos, CA 94070-3113
http://www.learningtech.org/
Tel: 650-598-0105 Fax: 866-801-8667
Umm, libraries. Those American kids have libraries -- where they can go to get on the internet and learn abount the world. But countries like Nigeria don't have libraries like we do. The vast majority of the people there don't even have electricity. Hence the hand cranks. The people at MIT are just trying to bring a little bit of the modern world to people who have never experienced it.
And as for "US economic competitiveness," umm... yeah, I'm sure Nigeria and Brazil will be usurping our top global position real soon.
It's so outlandish... I've just been trolled, havent I? Can't believe I fell for that nonsense.
I doubt that your precious tax payer dollar is funding the work at MIT. This is a UN initiative and the countries that receive the laptops will be paying for them. If you want these laptops in the hands of every American child than be prepared to pay higher taxes to cover the cost- they are not being handed out free!
Helping other people in the world is clearly in the interests of the United States. Some would say that because of our fortunate position in the world that we should feel obligated to do so. A policy of selfish nationalism would only fuel the growing anti-American sentiments around the world.
Your attack on Massachusetts and it's politicians as anti-American is absurd. Even though you live in a less fortunate state run by less accomplished men I won't impugn your patriotism.
What does the project have to do with Intel? Seems to me if AMD contributed to the project, and Windows was rejected as the O/S for cost reasons, the processor is probably at least Intel-compatible. At 500 MHz it isn't too far behind the curve, either. Does anyone know what company is will make the processor?
Oh PLEASE! Wake up to the fact that spreading good living standards and access to education and information (in addition to freedom and democracy, of course) is one of the best and cheapest proactive, preventive measures against global instability. 20,000+ people starve to death each day and that is a real, full-fledged time bomb. Not that one laptop per child will immediately fix this, but it may be a minimal investment with outstanding returns in terms of security. (Ethical arguments are so out of fashion that I will avoid them.)
Cheap technology must be encouraged for America's sake, everywhere. It is about the only chance the world has (close to Bush's position on the environment). China had a 1000-fold increase of its population over just two centuries (this is documented), and the rest of the world must not be very far to this rate. Feeding all these people requires, therefore, a lot of technology, since technology actually allowed this population boom in the first place. It may not be "America's fault", but it can certainly have repercussions on America.
Just as an aside, even if the US were to pay entirely for the million units Negroponte is pushing for (which is NOT the case), this would reach the cost ($100,000,000, or a tenth of a billion dollars) of supporting the Iraqi intervention during about... one day at the early stages of the war. Comparatively, it does not sound like a huge waste on a potential benefit to US security. Heck, if you're already devoting 30.11% to national security, you can go wild and make it 30.12%.
I fix cast-off computers in New Hampshire and give them away to low to poverity income families who can't afford them. There are more than I can supply in my area alone. I say charity begins at home. If home can't afford itself it certainly shouldn't be able to afford abroad!
Bill L.
Computer recycler in NH
Beware of the penguin
- Why not give out plumbing or electricity?
- by fart-knocker December 24, 2005 10:40 PM PST
- If these people would possibly sell the laptops for food, why not just give them food?
- Reply to this comment
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(22 Comments)Oh, I forgot. The UN screwed THAT up a few times already. So instead of accountability, let's throw LAPTOPS at the problem?
Third-World countries could go without email and printing word documents. I'm sure they'd prefer living with less chance of disease.
The people need food, water, sanitation and the basics. I say spend $100.00 on TOILETS for the children, so they don't have to walk through waste to get to school.