The $100 Laptop Gallery
November 20th, 2005
The One Laptop Per Child program run by Nicholas Negroponte (founder of the MIT Media Lab) has gotten a lot of press recently, which I’m sure you’ve seen. The short version is that they’ve shown off their prototype for a $100 laptop which they designed so that every child in the world could have one. Especially poor children. Some interesting notes:
The project is currently ranked fourth on Google for the keyword “laptop” (!), which is impressive. However if you haven’t seen it up close yet, take a look at this terrific photo gallery; I have to admit, it’s a beautifully designed object-so versatile, so simple. My instinct is that the American public might pay much more, perhaps even $500 for one of these.
My favorite quote by Negroponte is when Wired News asked him “Is the goal literally to make computers available to every child that wants one in the world?” He responded, “It’s every child in the world whether they want one or not. They may not know they want one.”
In any case, the program’s website includes a terrific photo gallery where one can really admire the little things they’ve done right. Yes, that yellow crank powers the laptop.
Popularity: 6% [?]
November 21st, 2005 at 1:41 pm
Hmm… I wonder, do we really need 1 laptop per child? I’m in favor of “bridging the digital divide”, but there are a whole lot of children out there, resulting in a whole lot of electronic waste at the end-of-life. I’m curious what their plans are for that…
Also, there was an interesting business plan in the Yale Y50K competition two years ago where the students were proposing computer access, not hardware, for everyone via kiosks and remote storage… a service economy model…
Would you use such a system, or do want your own… it’s a tough question… I suppose I might part with my beloved (and hated) computer if it meant I got access to the fastest technology and secure storage.
November 23rd, 2005 at 8:26 am
The only problem would be “secure storage”. Think about some of the personal information that reside on your desktop… granted personal computers can be opened to attack, but I would think they are a bit safer than using a massive system. Hackers always find a way – are there ways to keep a system like that secure?
November 24th, 2005 at 11:22 am
From Negroponte’s site FAQ:
Why is it important for each child to have a computer? What’s wrong with community-access centers?
One does not think of community pencils—kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. A computer can be the same, but far more powerful. Furthermore, there are many reasons it is important for a child to “own” something—like a football, doll, or book—not the least of which being that these belongings will be well-maintained through love and care.
August 18th, 2006 at 12:18 am
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June 13th, 2007 at 4:02 am
i would like to bye 1 of these