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The Linux version of the Wind will be only $400 in the US. Unfortunately, it only includes a three-cell battery, which is a deal breaker for me. I'd pay $50 more for a longer battery life, but apparently that will only be available on the "standard" $550 Windows XP model.

This is the first innovative design that I could actually use in a notebook design. My portable requirements rarely have me typing much. The real estate provided in such a design would make the size very versatile.

But, make make a version with a processor and memory usable for the western countries.

but with the poor-quality screens found on low-end throw-away DVD players. You seriously do not want to be reading text on those screens.

The system will employ the dual indoor-and-sunlight displays, which was pioneered by former OLPC CTO Mary Lou Jepsen. The monochrome mode is high resolution and much easier on the eyes the lousy DVD player screen on the Asus eee.

Of course, this whole project could be vaporware.

Seems like OLPC should work on getting their first product working in reasonable and cost effective manner before they start showing off their next generation.

What seemed like an awesome and virtuous idea has clearly tanked. Let's show pretty pictures of things that might be, instead of getting the first generation of working product into the hands of those who need it. Oh well, I guess it was over when they sold out to MS in the first place.

Also, the pictures on the link http://blog.laptopmag.com/first-look-olpc-xo-generation-20 really rather look like CGI to me. I like how the video only showed the still photos found else where on the page. Their "book" doesn't seem to have a hinge, just a magic crease in the middle that disappears when its flat.

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The form factor is that of a dual-screened eBook, but they have a popup touch-screen keyboard as an application. It's a computer, kinda like a super-sized Nintendo DS. There are pictures of if accepting typed input, of it being held like a book, and of it laying flat like a board game between two kids.

I know the site listed in the summary is almost gone under the load, but there are lots of sites with news and pictures if you Google for "2nd generation OLPC". Two of them (spread the load!) are Laptop Magazine and GotteBeMobile, both of which are responding well as of right now.

Oh, I see where the confusion was. As usual, the Slashdot headline and summary are at best vague, and more likely completely misleading. There is better information here: http://blog.laptopmag.com/first-look-olpc-xo-generation-20.

That article also contains the news that Give 1 Get 1 will be restarting in August or September.

The Atom isn't out yet, it'll be used in the next revision of the Eee apparently, perhaps as soon as next month. Asus wanted to rush this model out to gouge the market for maximum profits as quickly as possible (and £110 more than the 4G for an extra 2" of screen and 16GB of flash is some serious gouging). Asus's CEO basically admits this in this very informative interview. The quote I'm referring to is "I think this is the initial price. I believe in June the market will decide the price and it can drop down."

As to the "portability of a cellphone", well... Perhaps you have been misinformed about the size of the Eee. Or perhaps you have a 5-foot-wide ass and thus huge pockets in your trousers. Or maybe you're just completely fucking insane.

I have a cellphone. I have an Eee. The phone goes with me everywhere and I barely notice it in my trouser pocket. The Eee comes with me some of the time and I sure a hell know it's there, because it's big enough that carrying it on my person is not viable, so I need a bag, or least to carry it in my hand. It is not pocketable, even if you wear combats.

Yes, it would be ridiculous. It's not quite 30 inches, but it's still huge. Seriously I don't know why people buy these things. Buy a smaller laptop and hook it up to the big screen when you get to the office/home.

Those things ought to be in bubble-packs at the local drugstore, alongside the cheap calculators, electronic dictionaries, and other low end electronics. This wouldn't stroke Negroponte's ego, but it would get the things out there in volume. Soon enough, they'd be available all over the world, purely on price.

They're doing pretty well on volume now. They have a brand-new factory, and last month they planned to ship 150,000, then 80,000-100,000 every month after (source).

Where are they going? I just did a bit of hunting. Uruguay ordered 100,000 units(see wiki) and Peru ordered 260,000 (see this post, near bottom). According to the "country news" section, Mexico's also placed some order; I think 100,000 is the minimum order size. 150,000 to 170,000 individual G1G1 orders and 15,000 for Birmingham, Alabama, for a total of around 400,000 G1G1 laptops (see interview), so I believe they have solid orders for 800,000 laptops.

Hopefully when they've had success with those 800,000, the other countries that originally intended to be part of the launch will get back on the bandwagon. So while I'm not a manufacturing expert, I would guess the difference between 1 million/year and 2 million/year isn't going to hugely affect the cost.

I guess you really can't get a fan-less pc with any reasonable amount of processing power to run 'todays' linux/GUI. I had really high hopes for the OLPC but in its current incarnation it looks like it's "not working"... At leaset to this this 8 year old user.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everex

Their site http://www.everex.com/

review of a $600 version from the awhile ago http://www.laptopmag.com/Review/Everex-StepNote-LM7WE.htm

I haven't found many reliability mentions... but you can dig more yourself

$200 is practically chump change for many

If you're using powered speakers, why not just go digital (say, over fibre) to the speakers?

Three things.. 1.. cost. 2.. Rich Audiophiles think the descreet steps of the D/A conversion will degrade the audio. Selling a digital solution to the tube amp CD rejecting purists is not a way to make money. 3.. Compatibility. Analog RCA connectors is universal. Digital standards between manufactures is anything but. In the pro field, extra boxes add complexity and another point of failure which is often hard to troubleshoot. In broadcast, digital is the only way for long haul program distribution and remote broadcasts. It's noise free and either works or it doesn't. (same for cell phones)

And wires aren't the only option: with ECC and some good buffering/caching, you could probably just stream the digital over WiFi. I haven't tried it but don't see any significant obstacles.

Several manufactures are going this route with a package.
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=318
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1137028967848&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper
http://www.laptopmag.com/Review/Linksys-Media-Extender-WMCE54AG.htm

But the physics of speakers is unforgiving. There are plenty of exotic solutions to those problems. If I were an audiophile instead of an engineer, that's the hole I'd probably throw my money into.

Absolutely true. As such this is the part of my system that was the most involved in selecting and is the single most expensive part of my system. I used my speakers to demo why speakers make a big deal in the system. When asked about speakers, I would send them over to my speakers and ask them to knock on the back, sides, and top of them while the system was off, and then have them do the same with any other speakers they find. A speaker box is a wodden drum which the speaker drivers thump. Number 1 rule is find speakers that don't add their own sound. Speakers that sound like knocking on an empty wodden box are to be rejected. Most speakers are made this way because it is cheap, lightweight to reduce shipping costs and easy to sell at lower price points. A good speaker will sound the same as knocking on the cement sidewalk outside.

If you ever run across an old pair of the early standard in quality speakers, the Accoustic Research 3a's, take the time to knock on the back of them.

After the cabinet is properly built, the next item on the list is quality drivers with proper magnets, voice coils, and loose suspension. You don't want the speaker cones themselves to be a cheap drum. Good drivers are rarely put in cheap cabinets and the reverse is true. The quickest way to find good speakers at the local stereo showroom is to shut everything off and start knocking on some cabinets. Quite a few years ago some the passing cabinets was from Yamaha, JBL, Accoustic Research, Polk, and some Kenwood and KLH. Failures included most of the Pioneer (Except the premium line) Optimus, Sony, and most other consumer grade speakers.

Personaly I have a pair of Yamaha NS1000's and a pair of AR 3a.
http://www.arsenal.net/speakers/ar/classic/ar-3a/ar3a.htm
http://www.audioreview.com/cat/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/yamaha/PRD_120821_1594crx.aspx

These are all much dated as I am.. but gook well built equipment doesn't need to be in next years landfill. If I threw these on Ebay, I am sure I could get my entire investmet back unlike the cheap stuff.
If you want to have fun,

• Screen is readable in full sunlight
• Power consumption is targeted at 2 Watts
• Laptop can sleep while the screen stays on (e.g., when reading a book)
• No moving parts
• A minimal number of wires and connections (for instance, the motherboard is right next to the screen)
• Water-resistant design -- you can pour a cup of water right over the keyboard without damage
• 802.11s wireless, allowing connections with peers and connections to the internet via peers
• The wireless routing stays on even when the rest of the laptop is off
• Built-in camera/video
• NiMH (or LiFeP) battery, to avoid the safety issues of Li-ion batteries; generally toxic components are being avoided
• Targeting 2000 cycles of the battery (typical batteries are 500-1000)
• You can use a stylus on the touchpad
• Monitor revolves into tablet configuration

If you want a scaled-down version of a normal laptop, the Classmate PC is basically designed like that. You can see a direct comparison in this table. Frankly it looks clunky and lacking in creativity when compared to the XO.

Generally the XO is designed for durability and low power consumption, not speed. It also takes into account its very specific target audience in many small ways. It's not a general-purpose machine, it doesn't have any commercial aspirations, it's purely a laptop for children, particularly those in developing nations.

Unlike WebTV this has a very good screen -- it's small, but it's completely usable. It runs normal Linux applications (they don't fit into the environment that well unless you make some modifications, but they do run). The processor is x86. It has a reasonable amount of memory and disk -- small by today's standards, but still reasonable even by today's standards. 256Mb of memory is really quite good. Also, unlike those products, this is not a niche product. This is intended to be deployed in considerable scale, and so it's a viable target platform all on its own.

no.. it is you who are mistaken.

Noone mentioned anything about Vista.

I'm running XP MCE 2005, which has had extenders available from Linksys among others, however all those non x-box extenders weren't avaailable outside the US.

http://www.laptopmag.com/Review/Linksys-Media-Exte nder-WMCE54AG.htm

a

Too bad C-Net has to copy other peoples ideas.

Is this what it has come to: http://laptopmag.com/Features/Tight-Airport-Securi ty.htm

Note the bright white flash, and light colored smoke. That is not a battery fire (don't ask how I know) The metal is magnesium http://www.hydro.com/en/about/history/1946_1977/19 50.html International challenges Despite Hydro's leading role in developing magnesium technology, the company decided in 2002 to close its production plant at Porsgrunn and instead concentrate on further developments of its facility in Becancour, Canada, built in the early 1990s. It also established access to metal in China. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem03/chem0 3547.htm www.cabrillo.edu/~rroland//CHEM1A/JoshLabManual/11 -HeatofCombustion(Magnesium).doc Bet it was nearly this model: http://laptopmag.com/Review/Dell-Latitude-D620.htm Magnesium, a silvery white metal of atomic weight 24.32, ignites at 632C and burns at 1982C, with magnesium oxide (MgO) as its combustion product. In an exothermic reaction, metallic magnesium can ignite to produce magnesium dihydroxide (ie, Mg(OH)2) and hydrogen. Magnesium is used in either powdered or solid form as an incendiary agent for both illumination and antipersonnel purposes. Various alloys of magnesium (eg, aluminum/zinc/magnesium alloy found in US M126 round) are mechanically sturdier but also can be ignited easily. Thermite is a mixture of powdered or granular aluminum and powdered iron oxide. When combined with other substances, such as binders, the material is termed a "thermate." All such materials react vigorously when heated to the combustion temperature of aluminum. This reaction produces aluminum oxide, elemental iron, and sufficient heat to melt the iron. The reaction temperature is approximately 2200C.

I was going to say "it has a touch screen and a stylus and that should be adequate for 'a note or two' blah, blah, blah" but apparently this device does not support handwriting recognition. http://laptopmag.com/Review/Pepper-Pad.htm
TFA does not appear to mention this, (unless i missed it).

I know you wrote this as a joke, but it may amuse you to find you're not that far off. According to this review, the battery life is about 57 minutes. A truly pathetic excuse for a portable.

http://laptopmag.com/Review/WidowPC-Sting-917.htm
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller8781-p3-s1-d1 .html
http://laptop-notebook.blogspot.com/

How about some links to real reviews?

Such as:

http://laptopmag.com/Review/WidowPC-Sting-917.htm
http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-23446-x-1-3- 1
and
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=WidowPC+Sting +917+

While this is an interesting writeup... lack of REAL information AND LINKS makes this kinda pointless (At least he didn't link to his blog that has the same writeup)

Many modern DVD players support DivX and XviD Mpeg4. DVD+/-R recorders are under $50 so recording a film to disk is no harder than creating an audio cd.

If someone knows how to download they'll know how to burn to a DVD.

http://laptopmag.com/Pundit/Sex-Cells.htm