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The value proposition about computer = better education is not verified. There is an interesting article at BBC about Nigeria pilot project quoted at http://aptustech.com/?q=node/14 which explain why it wont work.

Okay, I just read that "interesting" article. It's clueless. -1 overrated.

The XO laptop was designed to work with nothing more than human power. If you add a $10 generator accessory to the laptop, the kid can power it (10 minutes with generator == 30 minutes using laptop). So all the complaining about how a big generator for a school is $3500 and there needs to be a budget for fuel is just stupid.

The XO laptop was designed to work as a textbook... as a whole library of textbooks. So, you don't buy any dead trees paper books, and that frees up budget to buy the laptops (or at least partially offset the cost). In theory at least, a kid could get an XO in first grade and keep using it all through school. At some point it should be cheaper than paper textbooks (which don't last forever, especially in humid climates).

The XO laptop does not need an Internet connection, so the complaining about that is clueless too. Give the teacher an XO and a $20 USB flash drive, and put a useful subset of Wikipedia on the flash drive; bam, the whole classroom (or the whole SCHOOL) can all use that useful subset of Wikipedia. (Thanks to the automatic peer-to-peer wireless network of the XO laptops.) But if the school or village does get Internet, then every XO nearby has Internet too, again thanks to the peer-to-peer network.

I could go on, but I have things to do. That article isn't worth the time to read it, and I want those minutes of my life back. The XO may not solve all the world's problems by itself, but it's not useless either. And I intend to buy one for $400, so some kid somewhere is going to get one from me.

P.S. Technology can make a positive difference. Read this. http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0712-rhett_butler.html

It may be a fantastic project from a technological point of view. But as an education project there is too much shortcoming. It does not need neither Microsoft nor Intel to fail.

The value proposition about computer = better education is not verified. There is an interesting article at BBC about Nigeria pilot project quoted at http://aptustech.com/?q=node/14 which explain why it wont work.

If this is designed for low noise computers, this can be also used where there is no air conditioning. When I saw this I thought to use it to make a sealed case which will work in harsh environment :http://aptustech.com/?q=node/11.
Even if a product is designed for a specific market, it does not mean you can not adapt to another use.

Heat can be a problem if you are in a hot environment. Hardrives are rated for 50 or 55 Celsius. And if your room temperature goes to 35C or 40C, the case will reach easily the limit.
The system proposed is also a CPU cooling, as explained on http://aptustech.com/?q=node/11 this product can be modified to make a sealed case which will work in harsh environment.

To be fair, It does not exist actually. First engineering sample (read full of hardware bugs) are supposed to be out in the following weeks. I met a guy from this company and spoke with him a little. I should have more information soon and i will update : http://aptustech.com/?q=node/10

Maybe the ink-media laptop based on ARM processor could replace it:

http://aptustech.com/?q=node/10

It has a fairly powerfull ARM11 processor clocked at 500MHz with 256MB of RAM and 1GB of flash. 2 SDCard slots for extension are present.
It should have a lower power consumption than the Asustek based on a x86 processor. End of course it can not run Windows (well it may be running WinCE). It's delivered with Linux.

Exactly! I blogged on the shared phone : http://aptustech.com/?q=node/5. Nokia recently launched a range of new phone specifically targeted to the emerging markets. Two very interesting features are : several directory for several users of the same phone, and a basic accounting mode for rented phone. This two features are really needed in the developing countries where the equation 1 person = 1 phone is totally wrong.

With the first truly open phone we can expect a lot of experiment and new applications which will adapt the phone to the people and not the people to the phone

There is an interesting comparison between the OpenMoko and the iPhone. The iPhone hardware gives more power but may be the openness of the OpenMoko can provide better user experience with adaptability lacking in the iPhone ?
  http://aptustech.com/?q=node/9

Can the Openmoko challenge the iPhone ? Does the opensource philosophy can overcome one of the best designed phone ?