The One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) XO laptop is on sale in the U.S. by way of their “Give One Get One” program. Sales kicked off on Monday (November 12th) and will be running until November 26th. As if getting your hands on the XO to kick the tires isn’t enough, T-Mobile is offering one year of complimentary WiFi access at their HotSpots for all donors. From the OLPC site:
This is the first time the revolutionary XO laptop has been made available to the general public. For a donation of $399, one XO laptop will be sent to empower a child in a developing nation and one will be sent to the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. $200 of your donation is tax-deductible (your $399 donation minus the fair market value of the XO laptop you will be receiving).
It was also announced last that Maxis (Electronic Arts) has donated the original SimCity game to the project, allowing for free distribution of the addictive classic which was originally developed for the Commodore 64.
Don Hopkins created a UNIX variant of the game in the past and has been advocating the use of SimCity for educational purposes for years. Hopkins commented on a Slashdot article earlier this year:
“The goal is to enable the open-source community to renovate SimCity and take it in new educational directions, by applying Seymour Papert’s ideas about constructionist education, Alan Kay’s ideas about interactive user interfaces and object-oriented programming, Ben Shneiderman’s ideas about direct manipulation and info visualization, and many exciting ideas about multiplayer games, blogging, storytelling, game mods, player created content, and lessons learned from World of WarCraft, The Sims, Spore, etc,”
The cause sounds noble. One way or the other games will make it to the OLPC. Let’s hope the educational angle triumphs.More about SimCity on the OLPC XO from Don Hopkins:
Bug Labs is bringing a mashup mentality to hardware by way of a series of modules which snap together not unlike the way Legos would. The BUGbase and the BUGmodules don’t look like children’s toys, nor do they look like Radio Shack geek tech. They look like something you might pay good money for at BestBuy.
Ease of development is emphasized. Projects begin with a BUGbase which is described on their web site as “…a fully programmable and ‘hackable’ Linux computer…” Examples of modules you can snap to the base include a GPS unit, a Digital Camera/Videocam, a Motion Detector, and a color, touch-sensitive LCD screen.
Bug Labs envisions device building as an experience that can be enjoyed by both the novice and the advanced do-it-yourselfer. Since the hardware clicks together, the next engineering challenge is the underlying software. A description of the software environment from the BUG site is quoted below:
BUG is built entirely with open source software. BMI, the BUG Module Interface, attaches devices to the BUG. Device-based services and applications are dynamically available based on which modules are connected to the BUG. Higher up the stack is Java, which hosts a service-oriented component runtime called OSGi.
As the development community shares their hardware and software creations a programming-free scenario also emerges. In a recent podcast Bug Labs’ CEO Peter Semmelhack describes a future where a builder combines a few bricks together and interfaces with the BUG SDK where (s)he is presented with the top applications currently being used for that hardware configuration. Software can be downloaded onto the device without the need to start from scratch.
The BUGbase, aforementioned modules and SDK are all slated to ship before the end of the year.Interested? You may want to catch BUG Labs speaking at SXSW 2008. For more information including a list of additional modules visit the BUG Labs web site.
You may know it as the “$100 laptop.” But, let’s call it by its lesser-known name, the XO as it never made it down to the $100 price point. The computer, aimed at providing laptops for needy kids by way of the One Laptop per Child project, has been the cause of speculation, criticism and praise. MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the non-profit One Laptop per Child foundation, is the driving force behind the XO, which boasts some interesting features for a laptop which cost less than many computers which rightfully find file under the category “toy.”
What’s the XO got going for it? A lot. Again, it’s not going to replace your business productivity laptop anytime soon (nor is that its intention), but it has plenty for its sub $200 price tag (David Pogue sums it up well). A few standouts:
High-resolution (1200 x 900 200 dpi) reflective, sunlight readable display
Sealed keyboard, sealed case construction
WiFi (802.11 b/g) and Mesh (802.11 s)
Can be charged without an AC outlet (physical process)
Integrated game pad
Integrated touch pad
Speakers
Integrated 30 fps video and still camera
It’s not running Vista or XP, nor is it running OS X or Linux. The OLPC’s operating system and software is all open source. It’s a laptop for education geared toward countries where technology is inaccessible, and, conditions may be less than hospitable for the device.
Now, a bit for the philanthropists and the geeks. There’s a few ways you can score some good karma with the little laptop that might:
Philanthropists: You can donate an OLPC for a child in need. They’re $200 each (of course, you can donate more than one).
Philanthropist Geeks: You can donate an XO for a child in need, and get an XO for yourself with the “Give 1 Get 1″ program. $399 pays for both laptops (yes, it is a tax write-off). This is a limited time program starting on November 12th.
I’m anticipating some great XO stories next year and sincerely hoping the domestic “look what I did with my XO” stories are the exception, not the rule.
UPDATE: 8 November 2007
As noted by Dan in a comment below, the gOS is Linux. I was typing a little too rapidly when I said that the XO wasn’t running Linux. It’s been stricken above-thanks for pointing it out, Dan.
UDPATE: 27 November 2007
You haven’t missed out on this yet! Going beyond the initial 2 week Give One Get One promotion, it was announced last week that the XO will remain on sale in North America through the 31st of December.
Multi-touch devices seem to be popping up everywhere. Don’t be the last kid on your block to get yours. Don’t worry about the price—there’s something for everyone.
The Two Dollar Multi-touch Pad: $2.00 *
Manufacturer: You
Target Market: Subscribers to Make magazine
Pros: Icebreaker with huge nerds
Cons: It’s a Ziplock bag full of water and dye
Yes, for the lowest priced multi-touch device you have to roll up your sleeves. The $2 variant is cheap, but it’s not ready for prime time-nor is that the intention of its (far more clever than myself) creator Erling Ellingsen.
$2 Multi-Touch
* OK, the price is misleading, but even if you add the price of a Mac laptop, it still comes in as the second cheapest solution out there.
iPhone: $399
Manufacturer: Apple
Target Market: Everyone but people who use Microsoft Exchange
Pros: Portability, Price
Cons: Depends on your perspective
Let’s just not describe the iPhone. I’m pretty sure Apple has beat into your head what it is.
To clarify on the cons for Apple’s iPhone: there might be no cons whatsoever (ask anyone who would sit in front of an Apple store overnight to get a $79 OS X upgrade), it might have a few stumbling blocks (these people are referred to as ‘the general public’), or, it flat out sucks (Steve Ballmer).
Surface: $5,000 to $10,000
Manufacturer: Microsoft
Target Market: Consumer and Commercial (Everyone)
Pros: Leverages Microsoft’s developer ecosystem
Cons: It’s a big ass table
The Surface multi-touch computer is the product of years of R&D at Microsoft. Pricing is said to be between $5,000 and $10,000 - which, on the low end, doesn’t price it that much higher than a high-performance PC and monitor combination.
Surface’s form factor returns memories of the original sit-down Pac Man machines which have established beachheads in homes across America. Unfortunately, Microsoft isn’t envisioning Surface in your basement (whether you are or not). Combine the price with Microsoft’s developer community and expect to see Surface pop-up (I couldn’t say ’surface’) in a variety of venues. Hospitality industry first.
If you haven’t seen the Big Ass Table Surface parody, view Microsoft’s videos first and then get a laugh out of it (both are below).
Microsoft Surface: Imagine the Possibilities
Microsoft Surface Parody
Interactive Media Wall: Starting at $100,000
Manufacturer: Perceptive Pixel
Target Market: Affluent people like Steve Jobs (but not Steve Jobs)
Pros: Looks incredibly fluid Cons: Prices Starting at $100,000
Perceptive Pixel is Jeff Han’s company which launched after the oooohs and aaaahs wound down following his NYU experiments and TED appearances hit the ‘net. The company’s first product, the Interactive Media Wall, is an 8 foot by 3 foot screened computing device. The single-page Perceptive Pixel site is curiously quiet about its first product. It does, however, have a great video showing more recent experimentations.
Definitely cool. Curiously being sold at Neiman Marcus. That’s right, it’s at Neiman’s. Details are less than inspiring. Could we get some indication of what kind of software it comes with? Are companies developing software for it? OS? And, I hate to ask, but can I step back a few paces and just watch a HD movie on it from the couch?
The popularity of my posts regarding the Mac, Apple, Parallels Desktop and the iPhone kept me blogging on those topics. That chatter has in turn been diluting the conversation that should be taking place here.
So, I’ve carved out another space on this big series of tubes, and this time it is just for those Apple topics. Please visit On a Mac for a continuation of the conversations which started here as well as new Apple-related content altogether.
