One Laptop Per Child - Holiday Giving

Back in September I wrote an update on the One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC), the brainchild of MIT Media Lab founder and Chairman Emeritus Nicholas Negroponte (who now also serves as chairman of OLPC).

One of the fundamental concepts of the OLPC project is to get computers into as many students hands as possible and let them tinker with them in an effort to stimulate and enhance creativity, like the educational toys many of us have bought for our children. The initial target cost for the laptops was $100 which was not acheivable - the current XO model runs for around $200 and uses a child friendly version of the Linux based open source operating system, built in low-power wireless networking, a display that can easily be seen in the day, a speaker and microphone and a pull cord for hand recharging. You may recall earlier prototypes had a hand crank for recharging. The first ones are being made by Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese computer manufacturer.

Since November 12th, OLPC has been offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. According to the OLPC website:

"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)."

If you do donate between now and December 31, your donated laptop will go to a child in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia or Rwanda in early 2008 and you will get your XO around the same time. Here's a 30 second video of actor Masi Oka (from the NBC show Heroes) describing the program:



You also may donate laptops via OLPC's Simply Give and Give Many options.

T Mobile has stepped up, offering one year of complimentary HotSpot access to all U.S. donors who participate in the Give One Get One program.

I've asked Santa for an XO - I cannot think of a better gift for this holiday season.

One Laptop Per Child Project Update

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), the organization creating an inexpensive computer for international school children that spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, released an announcement on Friday about the project. The $100 goal per computer looks like it will not happen, at least for now. The Friday announcement states that the devices will actually cost $188 when they go into the production phase this fall. This is $12 more than an earlier projected price of $176. In addition, OLPC is now describing the $100 price tag as a "long-term goal".

I've written about the OLPC project and laptops in the past - MIT Media Lab founder and Chairman Emeritus Nicholas Negroponte was originally involved in this project and it has continued to be linked to the lab. Here's a video of John Maeda , associate director of the MIT Media Lab. At the lab John also leads the Physical Language Workshop.



OLPC has coined these device as "XO" model computers that use a child friendly version of the Linux based open source operating system, built in low-power wireless networking, a display that can easily be seen in the day, a speaker and microphone and a pull cord for hand recharging. You may recall earlier prototypes had a hand crank for recharging. The first ones are being made by Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese computer manufacturer.

One of the fundamental concepts of this project is to get computers into as many students hands as possible and let them tinker with them in an effort to stimulate and enhance creativity, like many of the educational toys many of us have bought for our children. Cost is critical and even though $188 per computer is still relatively inexpensive, each dollar cost increase is significant. After being given an initial cost estimate of $100, a $188 price tag may prevent some countries from signing on to the project with OLPC.

Associated Press technology writer Brian Bergstein wrote on Friday:

OLPC says it has commitments for at least 3 million of its rugged "XO" computers, though it won't disclose which countries are first in line. Among the nations that have shown interest are Brazil, Libya, Thailand and Uruguay.

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