MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-10-03 |
| FROM | From: "Steve Milo"
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] $100 laptops with a hand crank....
|
Thats it?! Thats the best the 'best minds at MIT' can come up with?!
An antiquated computer design encased in rubber?!
Where are the portable computers whose batteries can be charged by human motion? Where are the Palm Pilots that can read its owners brainwaves?! Where is the laptop that can be taken apart whose sum is not greater than its parts? A laptop that can be taken apart and doubles as a handheld when done?
Or better still why arent these goofy rubber encased laptops in our schools?!
Steve
> New York: One man in Boston has a plan that he hopes will bridge the
> world's gaping digital divide - and quickly.
>
> The visionary is Nicholas Negroponte, director of the Media Lab at the
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his idea consists of a new
> kind of laptop computer that will cost just $100 (about R636) to by.
>
> It will also be a little different in design from the sleek machines
> some of us in the West have learned to love or covet.
>
> It will be foldable in different ways, encased in bump-proof rubber and
> will include a hand-crank to give it power in those corners of the globe
> where electricity supply is patchy.
>
> The first prototype of the machine should be ready by November and
> Negroponte - who was one of the first prophets of the internet before
> most of us understood the word - hopes to put them into production next
> year.
>
> He expects to churn out about 15 million of them in a year, shipping
> most of them at first to children in Brazil, Egypt, Thailand and South
> Africa.
>
> Describing the unusual design of his sub-laptop on Friday, Negroponte
> insisted that it would "have to be absolutely indestructible".
>
> The mission is to create a tool that children almost anywhere can use
> and can easily carry between their classrooms and their homes. For that
> reason, for instance, the AC adaptor cable will double as a shoulder
> strap.
>
> Inspiration for the project, which has backing from US companies
> including Google, came to Negroponte when he was travelling recently
> with his wife in Cambodia.
>
> He spotted children in a rural area carrying laptops - which the
> couple's foundation had donated - from school to their homes.
>
> To cut costs, the machines would have a 500-megahertz processor provided
> by Advanced Micro Devices, which is a little slow by today's
> lightning-speed standards.
>
> However, it would be set up for wireless connectivity, known as wi-fi,
> to give users the greatest chance of hooking up to the internet. It
> would run on a Linux platform rather than Microsoft's more expensive
> Windows.
>
> It is not the first time that someone has attempted to develop a
> rock-bottom price device to feed the potentially monumental market in
> developing countries for laptops.
>
> Part of the problem has been stopping donated machines leaking on to the
> commercial market.
>
> Negroponte said that his laptops would be so distinctive in design and
> look that stealing and reselling them would be akin to stealing
> furniture from a church. People would recognise where they come from. He
> thinks that no more than 2% of the devices would fall into that murky
> "grey market".
>
> Other features include being able to switch from a full colour screen to
> a monochrome, which will be easier to see in bright sunlight.
>
> In the first models, turning the crank for a minute will provide 10
> minutes of power. Negroponte says that he hopes that his machines will
> get cheaper and he expects the technology to improve. - Tribune Foreign
> Service
>
>
>
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