This is way cool.
It would be cooler if they had a version that used e-paper (instead of lcd screens).
This would drastically improve battery life and reduce strain on the eyes – a big reason why many people prefer printouts.

The disadvantage would be that e-paper would probably be black and white, but there are a lot of applications (not necessarily to do with poor children) where such a device would be apt and would save a *lot* of paper and electricity.

Th Kindle comes close but is clunky, expensive and US specific.

If they make an e-paper version available for about $100-$200 they would have a commercial hit which saves the environment and may help finance more initiatives for needy children.

Hi,
I love the idea idealistically but would like to have real feedback on the success of the 1st OLPC completely wrong. You must be able to read to use it and read in English – besides. I could not get the interface. I also thought it was for children of developing countries – do they speak English? Does a child in Kenya understand the same logo as a child in the US? How was the concept tested?
Irrigation ideas are provided by an innovative NGO in that area IDE leaded by Paul Polack.
Nary

I have been conceptualizing a reader device for over a decade. The applications I want to design to run on one could possibly be transposed to run on this fantastic XO-2. If I had help from Python developers to transpose my Lingo code (Lingo has the best string handling capability of any known computer language) I believe the lesson material that could be assembled employing interactive multimedia will revolutionize education. All school children should have the very best that we can provide.

I would like to be assembling content for the OLPCs. My favorite development platform is Adobe/Macromedia Director (not Flash).

I wonder how much work it would be to author similar interactive multimedia for the XO’s (Would I have to master Linux and Python?)

/Rob

I am a recipient of the G1G1 program.My hopes were high, but I have had numerous problems with the machine and the software. These have not been addressed:
1. Problem with control ket sticking
2. Erratic mouse
3. problems with python,etoys, tam tam
4. Problems with network
5. Lack of email
6. Unable to recover password
7. no longer updates
With these problems I have essentially green bricked my initial plans to develop programs for the xo on the xo.
the new machine requires even smaller kids for the photo ops!

I have an XO laptop, perhaps not the lastest software update. I participated in the Give One Get one promotion. They are interesting. It’s hard to maintain incentives to update and perfect the current software if you keep coming out with another version of the hardware. I also have a Apple Iphone and have owned Newton message pads. I recently bought a Newton Emate 300 off ebay to compare the technology. What’s amazing, (the newton emate battery pack needed to be replaced) is the Newton Emate from 1996 used a battery pack that consisted of 4 AA rechargable batteries soldered together with a heat sensor to prevent overcharging. The Emate had admittedly a grey scale display and didn’t have WIFI, etc. But it would do the basic functions of a computer and had handwriting recognition and a touch screen to boot. You can talk about how green and efficient the XO laptop is, but what surprised me is the Emate can run up to 24 hours on the battery pack. The battery pack (four AAs) had 5.4 watts of power. So that works out to about .3 watts of power/hour. Or about 1/3rd the lowest power consumption of an XO laptop.

The XO laptop uses more power (yes it has a color screen) and the XOXO or XO2 will be attempting to get down to 1 watt of power (which is the passive black and white power mode of the XO laptop. But the Emate 300 has 3 times less power usage with 24 hour power times off 4 double A batteries and it was made by Apple in 1996 – 98. So Apple Computer apparently in some ways was not only 10 years ahead of time, even with Scully at the helm, but perhaps 15 or 20 years ahead of other computing platforms who are trying to save energy to be green.

The question can often become, what is the message we are giving to the third world? Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not totally against the XO laptop project as some others.

But if things like “peak oil” are happening and impacting the world with population growth and limited resources are we really sending the right message by saying, wait until the next year or two and we’ll give you an even better computer.

The message of consumption, becomes somewhat clear and utopian. We can all share in the wealth and keep growing further. But if there are resource limits and energy limits, then in some cases it’s a matter of cutting back in the “developed world” in other words as the India, China and others get more wasteful and move to American Car culture and consumption, there’s less resources for Europe and America. So it’s a challenge and perhaps more of one to decide how to consume less in the higher level worlds and level them down toward poverty.

In other words, we have the same basic resources, living in a small world, but the “ignorent” or “developing cultures” who multiply like rabbits decide their kids need all the same toys and education that the restrained more aged and population controlled countries have. It’s interesting dilemas we face. Just searching through and looking at all the massive populations it’s amazing that modern society can use efficiency and economies of scale and mass production to feed everyone. Is peak oil and energy limits going to play a role in all this as countries start to feel depressions and food shortages due to fuel costs? That’s the bigger question that could lead to war and starvation. Will continued (wars of cleansing) happen with different religious groups starving others, and other sects and cultural groups as well, due to ethnic, religous and anti-religous cleansing? It seems that the poor fall off the table first and are pushed down further as things get worse. It seems like the mega-rich prosper no matter what and perhaps even engineer the problems for profit.

There are huge problems happening right now, and I’m not trying to put down the laptop or helping kids in the third world. I just wonder if some smart folks aren’t focusing on larger issues at hand.

Obama states he’ll give $3 billion to the auto companies. Ford invested $3 billion this year to put auto plants in Mexico where workers agreed to $2.50 to $5 an hour wages. If Ford won’t help it’s own US auto industry, how can the government be expected to do this with Obama bailout plans?

Developing economies are used like slaves for slave labor wages, meaning wage disparities to make the rich man richer as they ship cheap manufactured goods to more expensive markets. This continues to happen. It’s difficult to say if the XO concept really can have an impact on the major problems. It’s more of a small pet project by the richer countries to try to help the poorest kids. The “curriculum” will be the educators propaganda, maybe good or maybe bad. The xo laptop is just a tool, and who knows how it will be used?

Companies today want to hire people who can solve unstructured problems. The emphasis has shifted from knowing information to knowing how to find information. The OLPC project will allow children in third-world countries to develop those knowledge-finding skills by giving them access to the knowledge.

I work for a company with offices worldwide, including Nigeria and South Africa. At a recent training I spent hours talking to employees from those offices. Opportunities exist for advancement in those countries.

Perhaps the OLPC project will not be effective in areas of extreme poverty. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that certain basic needs must be satisfied before others will be pursued. But there are many different levels of poverty.

The book “The End of Poverty” by Jeffrey Sachs studies countries in various stages of poverty and development. By categorizing the levels of poverty Sachs was also able to propose an explanation as to how certain countries advanced.

The OLPC project may have its greatest impact on countries already progressing out of poverty.

I have, Chris, although in Dominica, the government of which isn’t like the ones I mentioned. Although in fairness, it doesn’t take that specific set of experiences to make some of the observations that people make about the OLPC project, such as that it would have enjoyed better economy of scale if it had set out to make educational technology affordable to all kids instead of just kids in specific countries.