Preview Of The $100 Laptop

cynical writes "Harvard's Ethan Zuckerman, founder of GeekCorps and Global Voices, got a chance last week to drop in on Nicholas Negroponte and get a preview of the $100 laptop Negroponte has designed for students in the developing world. Zuckerman talks about both its hardware and the One Laptop Per Child project, and asks the readers for suggestions for innovative ways the $100 laptop can be used." From the article: "The mockup I saw was about the size of a large paperback book. There's a stiff rubber gasket around the edge of the machine, which can double as a stand. The keyboard on the mockup was detachable, but will probably fold out on a hinge ... Two trackballs, surrounded by four way buttons, on each side of the screen act as controls, and function keys on the back act as additional buttons.)" We've previously reported on this device here on Slashdot.

Comments

Has this already been obsoleted by cellphones?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Has this laptop already been rendered obsolete by cellphones?

Just look at the kind of information people are sending and retrieving from these low-power, sub-$100 devices already...

Re:Has this already been obsoleted by cellphones?

[EnronHaliburton2004]

sub-$100 devices already

Most cell phones are not really sub-$100 devices. Their true cost of a web-enabled phone is often well over $100, but the true cost is hidden somewhere in the 1 to 2 year contract with the provider.

Plus, the interface on a Computer is superior then the interface on a mobile phone for many tasks.

$100 per child?

[Ossifer]

What educationally useful things will the child do with the laptop?

As an ex-CS college professor, let me suggest that it would be better to spend that $100 on the developing world on more teachers, education for teachers, roof for schools, etc.

Technology is not the answer to every problem. Remember all those silly computer labs back in high schools in the '80s? Did anyone get any real educational value out of them?

Re:$100 per child?

[SensitiveMale]

Technology is not the answer to every problem. Remember all those silly computer labs back in high schools in the '80s? Did anyone get any real educational value out of them

Are you forgetting the huge information boom of the 90's and now the 00's?

Re:$100 per child?

[rctay]

As an ex-public school teacher that ran a lab full of Apple lle's, I can honestly say very little. There was almost zero funding after the initial equipment purchase for maintenance and upgrades. Almost every teacher at the school were technophobes, and only planned class sessions in the lab to have a free period off. After four years the lab was scrapped and the computers was placed in the classrooms to gather dust. A few kids learned a few lines of basic for display tricks. The technology was just pushed too soon to inexperienced administrators.

Re:$100 per child?

[nine-times]

While I agree that thoughtlessly throwing computers at kids doesn't provide much value, I wouldn't say they're necessarily useless. First of all, it seems to me that there may be value in electronic text books. Kids would have less to carry (laptops are heavy, but not as bad as a couple text books), text books could provide multimedia, interactive activities, and tests, and they might be cheaper, all things considered (especially so if we get some decent open-source text books. Does anyone know if there are gratis electronic text-books?)

Beyond that, the fact is computers are becoming a part of our daily lives, and a certain level of computer knowledge is, more and more, becoming a job requirement. They also allow for free expression (more easily), and allow people to connect from around the world. Kids who can't get access to computers and the internet will find themselves at a disadvantage when trying to survive in relation to 1st and 2nd world countries.

No, not every activity needs to be pushed onto computers. Computers aren't replacements for teachers. Computers shouldn't even be top-priority. However, if used properly, they are a great tool. As with most of the cases of technology misuse in the '80s and '90s, the whole problem comes when people who don't understand how these computer-things work start deciding that they'll be a cure-all for every situation. Of course, this problem persists today, but we can hope that as computers become more common, more people will understand that computers are tools to create solutions, and not solutions in themselves.

Re:$100 per child?

[Nijika]

Those labs were the only thing that kept me interested as a child.

That being said, your point is not only well taken, but valid. These laptops could be a leap forward, but they aren't much use if the children they are designed for don't also have food, clothing, and shelter to start.

Nice gesture, but it's a long way off.

Re:$100 per child?

[hoggoth]

Well, as a eigth grader I needed to draw circles on the screen, in 6502 assembly language. Of course there were no drawing primitives, just setting a bit to turn on a dot. So I had to research how to plot circles. I found lots of trig answers with sines and cosines, but I didn't have sines and cosines in assembly language and as an eigth grader I didn't really understand them. Then I found an old paper describing Bresenham's algorithm that only used addition to draw circles and arcs. Very fast, very easy to impliment, even for an eigth grader.

That was one example out of hundreds. I learned a lot about math, about research, and about logic from computers. Of course now a days kids don't program, they run prepackaged applications. Using Word and playing Reader Rabbit aren't the same as trying to figure out how a computer works.

Re:$100 per child?

[drinkypoo]

Personally, I lived in a place that could afford teachers, so no, all I learned from computers was computer skills. I didn't really learn shit about history or social studies, though, because I was a precocious little bastard and they couldn't (wouldn't take the time to) keep me busy, so I mouthed off and made a nuisance of myself. There are few disservices we do our children as serious as forcing them to learn at a pace too slow for them. No child left behind == no child excels.

If they made a $200 version

[Marxist Hacker 42]

They could use the profit from selling it at Fry's and CompUSA to pay for free laptops for the kiddies- and the increase in manufacturing demand might even lower the price more.

Too many moving parts?

[Barkley44]

The keyboard on the mockup was detachable, but will probably fold out on a hinge ... Two trackballs, surrounded by four way buttons, on each side of the screen act as controls, and function keys on the back act as additional buttons). Sounds like more moving parts than a typical laptop, won't that be an issue when things break, how easily can they get them fixed?

Why Not the US Too?

[Mean_Nishka]

If Negroponte is able to mass produce this thing at a true $100 cost it will be revolutionary.

I wonder, however, why he only plans to offer this device to the developing world when millions of children (and their school districts) in the United States could also benefit from such a device. $100 laptops could save school districts millions in textbook costs alone!

Hell yes.

[RandoX]

I grew up in one of those labs, on a Vax. Today I'm a professional software engineer, and I credit it all to the seeds planted in my youth trying to extend the capabilities of DCL batch files to do everything from games to utilites to public message boards. Never underestimate the power of a push in the right direction, especially at a young age.

Vaporware until they have real mfg costs

[billstewart]

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice concept. They may be doing some innovative things with the screen, though as of September's non-slashdotted article, that was still just proposed. The crank on the side is a potentially useful touch. And they've taken some creative approaches to picking useful software, applications, and modularity.

But the fundamentally cool thing about this box is that it costs $100; at $200 it wouldn't be as cool, and at $500 it'd be really lame. So until they've got real manufacturing costs and really *can* make it for $100 in volume, it's still vaporware.

Re:THE END OF THE AMERICAN TECH WORKER

[msdschris]

Well why wont that homeless guy with the sign reading "Will work for food" read that other sign that says "HELP WANTED"?