OLPC Wins Popular Science Award

paulmac84 writes "Popular Science has released their Best of What's New 2006 awards. In the computing section the One Laptop Per Child project took home the Grand Prize. From the article: 'The goal of the XO is simple and noble: to give every child a laptop, especially in developing countries, where the machines will be sold in bulk for about $130 apiece. But the One Laptop Per Child nonprofit, formed at MIT, didn't just create a cheap computer. In addition to cutting costs — by designing lower-priced circuitry and using an open-source operating system, among other things — it also improved on the standard laptop by slashing the machine's energy use by 90 percent, ideal for a device that could be charged by hand-cranked power in rural villages.' The Innovation of The Year Award went to 'the alpha nail that makes your home twice as tough'. Sometimes the simple ideas really are the best."

Comments

Re:It's an investment in communities & their c

[Anonymous Coward]

The children of Massachusetts need food, clean water, and shelter before they need $100 laptops! Many children on the mean streets of Wellesley, MA die of starvation or exposure every day, or join local warlords as child soldiers so they can get a few scraps to feed themselves. How are these laptops going to help them?

-A MA resident