Items tagged with OLPC
Nicholas Negroponte’s quest to provide low cost computing to kids worldwide with the One Laptop Per Child project has had its share of bumps and bruises along the way, but this week the group announced two new, long-awaited updates in the XO-4 laptop and XO Learning Tablet. We knew OLPC had some things to announce at CES, but we first spotted the XO-4 chilling out at Marvell’s table at an event. Why Marvell? The company’s PXA2128 SoC (1GHz, with Vivante GC2000 3D graphics engine) is on board, along with 1GB or 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 4GB or 8GB of flash storage. XO-4 Laptop The XO-4’s 7.5-inch touch screen is designed to show up well even in direct sunlight, and it supposedly...
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Mobile devices cater to a multitude of needs, but one of the most important and perhaps interesting is learning. Even in a country like the United States, where education and learning content isn't hard to come by, many parents have begun introducing their children to tablets. It's a way they can learn interactively, while having fun. Now, imagine the potential this sort of learning could have in a country like Ethiopia, where many kids don't have access to something we consider basic on these shores: a teacher. Early this year, the One Laptop Per Child project delivered 20 tablets to a village that has become a common sight in the country. Cleanliness doesn't exist here, but that's certainly...
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The One Laptop Per Child organization has taken on an interesting experiment in two remote Ethiopian villages: Earlier this year, the organization dropped off closed boxes that contained tablet computers. These tablets have preloaded educational programs. The goal behind the experiment is to see if illiterate kids who have no experience with written words can teach themselves to read using the tablet and its preloaded applications. OLPC is using Motorola Xoom tablets and solar chargers. Someone from the OLPC organization visits the villages each week to swap memory cards in the tablets that contain information on how the tablets are used. According to Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC’s founder,...
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When the next iteration of One Laptop Per Child’s notebook arrives, it will be called the XO Touch and will feature multitouch technology from Neonode. In a blog post, OLPC stated that Neonode’s technology enables speedy multitouch performance that’s energy conscious--a must for these machines that will be in the hands of kids in developing nations--and features gesture-activated wakeup, low-latency stylus input, and intelligent touch sensors. The XO Touch, the successor to the XO-1.75 laptop, and is a laptop/tablet hybrid device not unlike the ill-fated tablets that Microsoft produced years ago. It features a has a 7.5-inch “sunlight-readable” dual mode TFT LCD...
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As expected, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, with partner Marvell, unveiled the XO-3 tablet for CES 2012. The 8-inch tablet features a 1024x768 PixelQi display; 512MB of memory; the Marvell Armada PXA618 SoC; a memory card slot; and USB and audio ports. The operating system will be either be Android or OLPC’s homegrown Linux-based Sugar, depending on the configuration. The OLPC project has the noble goal of putting computer technology in the hands of children across the globe through low-cost, rugged machines with delightful yet powerful software. The XO-3 is the next generation of the group’s computers, which began with the XO-1 laptop. OLPC XO-3 The final version of the...
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The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has announced it recently received a $5.6 million investment from Marvell. The two organizations plan to collaborate on an Android-powered tablet that's similar, at least conceptually, to OLPC's conceptual design for its XO-3 system. This new collaboration is in addition to the general partnership the two announced earlier this year; the $5.6 million is almost certainly a much-needed shot in the arm for the cash-starved OLPC initiative. Supposedly the new tablet will be on display by CES this year and will ship in 2011 compared to a 2012 target date for the XO-3. Whether or not this second conceptual device (the XO-2 was canceled) ever sees the light of...
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Chris Ball, the Lead Software Engineer for the OLPC project, made a series of announcements this week about the direction the low-cost laptop is taking, not the least of which is the addition of a multitouch display. That's right folks, the next iteration of the XO laptop -- XO-1.75 -- will sport a touchscreen display, and so will upcoming XO tablets. "We've begun working on modifications to Sugar to enable touchscreen and multitouch use (the XO-1.75 will have a touchscreen, as will future OLPC tables based on its design), and we'll continue to do so," Ball said. "The first outcome from this work is Sayamindu Dasgupta's port of the Meego Virtual Keyboard to Sugar -- you can see a screencast of...
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One Laptop Per Child is a wonderful organization. Despite their failed attempts to provide thousands of laptops to students around the globe for under $100 (the machines ended up being slightly more expensive than they had hoped), that has not prevented the company from shipping mini notebooks to classrooms all around the world, helping children learn in a way that they otherwise would not if it hadn't been for OLPC's determination. The green XO laptop is now a symbol of hope and excitement, and we're thrilled to see the next generation of OLPC taking shape. As the tablet revolution marches on, OLPC is looking into creating a tablet for the future generations of students in developing nations...
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Two of the most well-known, yet equally unknown, companies are joining forces today, and it's all for the forces of good. One Laptop Per Child is a project that never really met its goal, and thus, has feel from the spotlight in the mainstream. Of course, OLPC XO (green) laptops are still being distributed to students, but at a higher cost than originally suggested.Pixel Qi, on the other hand, has been instrumental in the progress of displays, and while they have yet to ship a product en masse to compete with E-Ink displays and the typical LCD, hopes are high that they can really turn the display industry on its head, and soon. This week, OLPC and Pixel Qi announced that they were jointly signing...
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The OLPC XO computer set out to change the way laptops were viewed and used in schools everywhere. It ended up costing a bit more to manufacture than originally planned, so it didn't make the vast impact than was intended. It still made a small impact, though, and now loads of poorer schools worldwide have computers that they otherwise wouldn't. Marvell is obviously looking to pick up where OLPC left off, and now that prices have sunk somewhat, they just be able to pull it off. The new device is called the Moby, and according to Marvell, it's going to spark an "education revolution." The main reason is the $99 price point, which is low on anybody's scale. Believe it or not, the Moby is said to...
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When folks begin to look back at all that went down during this decade, One Laptop Per Child will be impossible to miss as a real standout moment. It's somewhat difficult to believe that the OLPC XO laptop is years old now, and while it has largely fallen out of the limelight due to its higher than expected cost, it is still being shipped to school children all over the globe.With anything, particularly in the consumer electronics realm, comes progress. Even for OLPC. This week, the nonprofit organization has unveiled an all new concept that could very well put it back on the mainstream map. The new design has a familiar mantra: it's create to "deliver robust laptop performance and innovative...
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You may have never heard of Pixel Qi, but we'll wager that you've heard of One Laptop Per Child. Mary Lou Jepsen, the company's founder and CEO, left OLPC in 2007 in order to focus on creating her own $75 laptop using technologies she invented at OLPC. Needless to say, the departure was quite controversial in its day, but now the company has moved on to focusing specifically on creating low-power displays. Just days ago, the outfit admitted that it was ready to "soon start shipping" low-power screens that increase notebook battery life by up to 50 percent. The screens are modified LCDs, which are designed to "absorb natural light sources to brighten the display." This tactic enables it to rely...
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On December 8th, 1980, Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon. But with the approval of his widow Yoko Ono, Lennon lives on again, sort of, in a One Laptop Per Child ad pitching the organization's XO-1 laptop.The OLPC program, the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte, is been about getting laptops into the hands of underprivileged children around the world. In the digitally produced ad, Lennon is portrayed as saying: "Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want. I tried to do it through my music, but now you can do it in a very different way. You can give a child a laptop...
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OK, now we're just getting silly. The revamped XO laptop prototype is out, as proposed by the OLPC project. (One Laptop Per Child) The last version got bogged down by infighting between its developers over the choice of operating systems, utilities, software, and of course, the ultimate cost of the units themselves, which skyrocketed over time. Interest is the unit is still high, of course, as many people are captivated with the idea of giving impoverished children worldwide a better chance at an education. OLPC unveiled the XO2 laptop yesterday, and its look, specifications, and pricetag are unbelievable. Literally unbelievable, if you ask us.The new version loses the green rubbery keyboard,...
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We've known for some time that Microsoft was working hard at getting Windows XP slimmed down and running on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO-1. They've apparently succeeded as on Thursday Microsoft and the OLPC Foundation announced an agreement that will make Windows XP available on XO laptops.The availability of Windows, in addition to Linux, on the XO laptop will allow customers to have an expanded choice of operating environments that best fit their requirements. The intention is to create a version of the XO laptop that provides the ability to host both Windows and Linux operating systems, giving users the ability to run either on the XO laptop.“Transforming education is a fundamental...
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The One Laptop Per Child project is in kind of a muddle. Their "$100" laptop costs $188; not many ended up in the hands of children around the world they were supposed to help; and now the number two man, Walter Bender, who oversaw content and software for the OLPC has resigned. It's not clear if it's the factor that drove the decision, but the true believers at OLPC are hardcore open-source software enthusiasts, and don't like the decision to run some form of Windows on the laptops instead of continuing to develop OLPC's own software, called "Sugar." Officially, OLPC said it was streamlining its organization because the laptop's technology essentially had been built. A different...
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The One Laptop Per Child charitable organization hoped to develop a durable and useful laptop for under $100 and distribute them to children in poor nations. Their $100 laptop turned into a $200 laptop pretty quick, and for many people who participated in their "Give One, Get One" program, they've turned into $200 vaporware.The Give One, Get One program, launched last November, allowed let U.S. and Canadian residents to donate $400 to pay for two XO laptops. One laptop would go to a deserving child in a developing nation, and the other would go to the donor. The program was originally intended to last two weeks but was later extended for six. The offer ended on Dec. 31.Complaints over delivery...
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There are those who still love the Amiga and the AmigaOS, and they've gone and hacked an OLPC to run it!Cloanto Italia srl, Amiga software developers since 1986, were excited to preview details of Amiga Forever 2008 running without modifications on a One Laptop per Child XO laptop.Ironic: the doomed yet still beloved AmigaOS and the not-doing-so-well but too-early-to-call-doomed OLPC....
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Initially Microsoft showed little interest in the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project until the orders started to pour in. The thought of all those laptops going to developing countries (and even Alabama school districts) sans a Windows OS seems to have made an impact.As soon as MS saw how many sales they were passing up, they decided that they'd develop a variant of XP specifically for the OLPC and its limited storage capacity. Then we heard that there might be a dual-boot setup in the works, and now this:“Microsoft is not developing dual-boot Windows XP support for One Laptop Per Child’s XO laptop."Perhaps we'll just have to wait a while to find out, but it does seem a bit odd that...
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While it's no secret that Microsoft has been working on getting Windows XP to run on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation's XO-1, they also said in December that it wasn't exactly an easy process. Despite this, Wednesday, the chairman of the OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, indicated they are working on a dual-boot version of the XO-1."We are working with them very closely to make a dual-boot system so that, like on an Apple, you can boot either one up. The version that's up and running of Windows on the XO is very fast, it's very, very successful. We're working very hard to do both," said Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of OLPC.It's a brand-new development for the XO laptops, as the low-cost notebooks...
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Nicholas Negroponte didn't want to share Intel with anyone else, so Intel left the OLPC program.The OLPC board "had asked Intel to end its support for non-OLPC platforms including the Classmate PC and other systems," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said. "They wanted us to focus our support exclusively on the OLPC system." A representative for the OLPC project was not immediately reachable.According to reports, Intel was asked not just to drop the Classbook PC, but the Asus Eee as well! Now that's some exclusivity!...
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Microsoft has decided that the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) deal is just too big to not develop a custom version of their Windows OS for. Currently the OLPC laptops are Linux powered, and its a safe bet that Microsoft isn't exactly thrilled about that. This move by the Redmond giant also fits in well with their effort to attract legal sales in developing and third world nations.“Microsoft's plans mark a step closer by the software company to a project initially billed as an alternative to computers based on Microsoft's technology. Mr. Negroponte had originally envisioned his One Laptop Per Child project to populate the world with $100 computers that ran Linux software, a rival to Microsoft's...
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