November 14, 2007 at 11:12 am · Filed under Hardware, Peer-to-Peer, Industrial Design, Online Marketing, Social Networking, Applications, Games, User Interface
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:
Tags: $100 laptop, Applications, Commodore 64, Don Hopkins, Education, Electronic Arts, Free, Games, Games in Education, Hardware, HotSpot, Industrial Design, laptop, Maxis, OLPC, Online Marketing, Peer to Peer, Quick Hits, SimCity, Social Networking, Spore, T Mobile, The Sims, User Interface, WiFi, World of Warcraft, WoW, XOShare This
November 7, 2007 at 12:12 am · Filed under Industrial Design, Hardware
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.
Learn More:
One Laptop per Child
Give 1 Get 1 Program
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.
Tags: $100 laptop, 802.11s, Hardware, Industrial Design, linux, mesh network, Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC, XOShare This
