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2nd Generation "$100 Laptop" Will Be an E-Book Reader

Posted by timothy on from the xo-is-a-nice-reader-anyhow dept.

waderoush writes "At a conference sponsored by the One Laptop Per Child Foundation this morning, OLPC founder unveiled the design for the foundation's second-generation laptop. It's actually not a laptop at all — it's a dual-screen e-book reader (we've got pictures). Negroponte said the foundation hopes that the cost of the new device, which is scheduled for production by 2010, can be kept to $75, in part by using low-cost displays manufactured for portable DVD players."

23 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Bye bye books by 1155 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bye bye books. We'll miss you!

    Maybe schools in the states can get these and stop spending my hard earned cash on books. Oh wait, they already paid for them. I used the same book my mom used in high school (her name was on it!).

    1. Re:Bye bye books by bsDaemon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, it is if she were a victim of abstinence-only education which, in addition to being boring and therefor not helpful, also fails to teach kids to put on a damned condom, then it would be the school district's fault.

      or Bush's... whichever option is worth more karma.

    2. Re:Bye bye books by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Even if the schools did spend money on these devices, there would be no content to put on them. The same problem exists for the original OLPC project. Luckily they had Open Source software, and were able to get a working machine with no software cost, but I still don't think there's a lot out there in free textbooks. It's a wonder that the US Government just doesn't hire a few people to write some textbooks that they would use in their schools. For gradeschool and even highschool, the material is simple enough that it wouldn't take that much to get the job done, and then they could have textbooks for the cost of the paper, or if they used ebook readers, then copies would be free. Is there any particular reason textbooks are bought from third parties instead of just written once and used in all the schools?

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    3. Re:Bye bye books by xSauronx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Textbooks are clearly a lucrative business, good luck getting enough people to care about the costs to overcome whatever lobby various publishers would put together to keep the status quo.

      --
      By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
    4. Re:Bye bye books by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      nope. it will never happen. Professors and their desire to rape the students by publishing slight revisions of their drivel year after year for insane prices are what keeps ebooks from being common.

      If I could carry my entire semesters books in one reader I would be in heaven. All college students would love this.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    5. Re:Bye bye books by value_added · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, it is if she were a victim of abstinence-only education which, in addition to being boring and therefor not helpful, also fails to teach kids to put on a damned condom, then it would be the school district's fault.

      You've got to look at the bright side of life.

      Abstinence-only education tends to encourage casual oral sex (frequent, one would hope) as a substitute for losing one's virginity. Or making babies.

      Who could be against more blowjobs? Not me.

    6. Re:Bye bye books by Ana10g · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Currently local governments (or at least state governments in some cases) SELECT the textbooks, but there are options. Which is a dreadful disaster in many cases. Just look at Kansas and the creationists polluting local school districts to get their nonsense put into schools. While I agree that having the creationists polluting local school districts is a bad thing, this wouldn't solve it. The Kansas state government, in this case, would just write the textbooks in such a way that the creationists are still polluting the curriculum.

      There isn't that much competition, but in this case ANY competition is a good thing. Yeah, you either spend $0 on one book or $145 on the other book, if there even is a second book available in the subject, that's basically identical. Well, actually, using an E-Book in this situation wouldn't be free. It would be free to distribute and publish, sure, but not to write. I'd be really surprised if you could find someone (especially a state employee) to write an entire textbook for free.
      --
      just an analog boy living in a digital age.
    7. Re:Bye bye books by jmorris42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      > Textbooks are clearly a lucrative business...

      Exactly. You could get the top experts to put out free ebook texts that were total works of art, where not a single complaint could be lodged against them and school districts would still buy texts from the usual suspects. Too many bribes to overcome.

      Think it through. Go examime what states (just in the US) spend on texts and imagine how much less exensive it would be for them to pool a fraction of that money into paying quality experts to write really good sections/chapters/units/etc. on every topic, illustrated by top notch artists and have all the supplementary materials created, all as works for hire and then released into the public domain as official government publications. Then each school district could pick and choose the chapters they want and either have em published on demand or loaded onto ebook readers. Either option would be far less expensive than what they currently pay. And since only the chapters actually being used would be printed, kids wouldn't be lugging around so much dead weight.

      Doing it this way would mean that after the initial expense was sunk only minor revisions would be needed in successive years. But it would be a net financial win in the FIRST set of textbooks issued to students and all of the current fights over textbook content would instantly become local issues amendable to the local political process, thus the warfare would end.

      But what I just proposed is totally self evident, so that it doesn't happen and has no realistic chance of happening means the fix is in.

      --
      Democrat delenda est
    8. Re:Bye bye books by timbck2 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'll put a plug in here for the Distributed Proofreading Project [www.pgdp.net], a volunteer, web-based organization that processes books that have gone into the public domain into e-texts suitable for Project Gutenberg.

      It's a great project, and kinda fun (for geeks like us).

      --
      Absurdity: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion. -- Ambrose Bierce
    9. Re:Bye bye books by mollymoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The form factor is that of a dual-screened eBook, but they have a popup touch-screen keyboard as an application.

      Arrrgh! There was some future computing expo featured on /. a few weeks ago that was full of touchscreen keyboards as well. It's a horrible idea. There's no tactile feedback and no give to absorb the impact, so your fingertips will take much more of a beating than using a conventional keyboard. Touchscreen keyboards are fine for, say, typing a few numbers at a checkout, but for anything like serious input they're just an awful idea.

      I never really understood why the OLPC project insists on reinventing the wheel. The mesh networking and screen were impressive tech, but why reinvent the computer desktop in the form of Sugar? Now they're going with an untried form factor. Just build a decent, inexpensive, robust laptop and ship the damn thing. I find it more than a little patronising that kids in less developed countries apparently can't be expected to use similar software to kids in the first world. When they grow up chances are they're gonna be using Windows, Gnome or KDE (or Aqua, if they're incredibly rich by local standards). They're all more like each other than they are like Sugar. I say start 'em young.

      --
      Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
  2. laptop is an e-book reader? by hansraj · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have some beach-front estate to sell. It is not near any beach and it is actually a chair.

  3. Soo... by bsDaemon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    OLPC's goals have gone from providing a platform that allows full intellectual expression and room from growth and development, to running XP so maybe kids and type a book report or something, to now merely being a way to passively consume printed media?

    And last week I thought that this project couldn't get any farther from good.

    1. Re:Soo... by PaintyThePirate · · Score: 4, Informative

      Because it's shaped like a book, it must be a book, right?

      This is not a book. It's, I imagine, going to have an x86 cpu and an OS capable of running Activities already written for the XO-1, plus anything else imaginable.

      Negroponte's presentation showed two kids playing pong on one laptop and suggested the same could be done with games like chess or checkers, as one example. It is a laptop with two touchscreen displays, which is nothing short of amazing.

      --
      eclecti.cc
    2. Re:Soo... by PaintyThePirate · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

      --
      eclecti.cc
  4. Fool me once, shame on you by mlwmohawk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Fool me twice, shame on me.

    I have nothing but rage and contempt for Negroponte and the OLPC project. I will not support a project that betrays its contributors by abandoning the principles that motivated them.

    Windows on the OLPC is an outrage and clear evidence that the OLPC project is no longer about helping children and only about making money and creating a new form "Microsoft Tax" for the poor and developing nations.

    Its bullshit. Its like giving money and time to a charity called "one meal per child" and find out it has decided to use your contribution to bring dollar off coupons for McDonalds happy meals.

    1. Re:Fool me once, shame on you by mlwmohawk · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Really? Rage and contempt? Over a value priced computer aimed at educating kids who otherwise would never get to use ANY computer?

      Yes, helping Microsoft expand its monopoly is bad for the world. Its bad for the industry. The amount of money and control that Microsoft exercises because of its monopoly has ruined the ISO, destroyed companies, and kept back innovation in the marketplace.

      Selling "Windows" when they could give away free software is not a good will gesture.

    2. Re:Fool me once, shame on you by IgnoramusMaximus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Really? Rage and contempt? Over a value priced computer aimed at educating kids who otherwise would never get to use ANY computer?

      As has been pointed out repeatedly, "educating kids" is an utter impossibility when OLPC+Windows combination is involved. The term you are looking for is "indoctrination". It is so for many, many reasons mentioned already a million times here, not the least of them the lack of any useful free "educational" software for XP, never you mind the storage for it on the OLPC.

      Using "ANY" computer, "education" does not make. If that was the case, a far more cost effective way then the OLPC would be to simply ship used throw-away computers that clog our city dumps here (some of them far more powerful then the OLPC will ever be) to Africa in bulk.

      You are confusing granting haphazard access to some fraction of the Western commercial technology, which requires a (very expensive) ecosystem of other commercial technology to be useful and which will never be available at the prices those kids can afford, with "educating" them. This is a purely corporatist view of the world and if it were up to people like you, education in the West would consist of giving kids a brand-name calculator (with no instructions) and calling it a "mathematics and electronics course" and as the parent poster insightfully mentioned, "a cooking course" would consist of a bunch of McDonalds coupons, etc and so on.

      And there is of course the wee little bit of the matter of active mis-representations Negroponte has engaged in over the years on behalf of the OLPC project, but I guess that is far too esoteric for you to grasp.

      You should see a mental health practicioner and get your priorities in order. Your stupidity is clouding your view of reality.

      In the light of the actual facts you should take your own advice on this.

  5. Re:Obligatory by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Funny

    But can it run Linux?
    No, but it's been certified Vista Ready, and they haven't even built one yet.
    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  6. right, so? by SuperBanana · · Score: 4, Funny

    Negroponte said the foundation hopes that the cost of the new device, which is scheduled for production by 2010, can be kept to $75

    Is that 75 Real Dollars, or $75 Negroponte Distortion Field Dollars? And it'd be nice if the press actually took a stab at how realistic those "hopes" are- I mean, I hope that someday I'll shit strawberry-flavored lollipops while driving in my flying car, on autopilot while I bonk my supermodel wife...

    --
    Please help metamoderate.
  7. WTF by steveha · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm just confused by this. My initial gut reaction is that Negroponte wants to completely scrap what came before, and put his own stamp on the project. But that makes no sense, because it was his project, and his stamp was on it already.

    They will be able to sell this new device for under $100, this time for sure. Okay, I'll agree that using standard DVD player screens might help. But why two screens then? Isn't the screen the most power-hungry part of the device? The OLPC screen has special power-management features; won't standard screens burn more power? And won't having two screens double the power?

    The article spoke of "dual touch screens". At first I thought this meant "multi-touch screens" but now I think it just means both screens will be touch screens. Even so, how do you make a standard DVD player screen into a touch screen?

    And once again. Why two screens? Yes, it looks more like a book. Big deal. This dual-screen design has a hinge! It's got to be easier and cheaper to make a slab tablet device, with maybe a hinged cover (note that a cover has no electrical connections and need not break a waterproof seal).

    So, no keyboard; just an onscreen virtual keyboard. I'm guessing no onboard camera, since none was mentioned and they are being aggressive about price. Not one word about openness of software stack... Negroponte just doesn't care anymore, I guess.

    The OLPC project hasn't just jumped the shark. They went out and found a new shark and they are jumping over it now.

    steveha

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
  8. Re:Power usage? by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Informative

    Doesn't the OLPC use a lower power screen? How does the battery life with these cheaper, power hungry screens? It would kind of defeat the purpose of this if you could only use it for an hour without plugging it in... The system will employ the dual indoor-and-sunlight displays, which was pioneered by former OLPC CTO Mary Lou Jepsen. The design will provide a right and left page in vertical format, a hinged laptop in horizontal format, and a flat, two-screen continuous surface for use in tablet mode. âoeYounger children will be able to use simple keyboards to get going, and older children will be able to switch between keyboards customized for applications as well as for multiple languages,â the press release reads. The device will also reduce power consumption to 1 watt.
    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  9. Bruce Perens vindicated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Bruce Perens predicted this:

    The purpose of OLPC is not to give third world kids a laptop. It's to give them books. You see, those third world countries don't have an annual budget of $100/student to buy kids textbooks. So, OLPC is an efficient means to deliver e-texts to those kids. ... Microsoft will partner with textbook publishers to make free or low-cost but time-locked and otherwise DRM-encumbered electronic versions of their textbooks available on OLPC. People associated with the project denied it, now it looks certain he was right.
  10. Re:I've lost confidence by jmorris42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    > It saddens me that my $200 is going to be going toward 67 Windows licenses instead of something useful.

    The truly sad part is that it is just so obvious that the fix is in at OLPC. If it were true that they were having trouble getting acceptance because of Linux, and that a 'product' OS was needed to close deals, I can believe that part. The real world has idiots in it. But Steve offered em OS X for zero dollars and they refused on the ground it wasn't open source.

    And I remember the way they argued so irrationally when anyone suggested a non x86 CPU to lower power consumption when the ONLY reason to put an x86 in a machine like that was to keep the door open to Windows.

    --
    Democrat delenda est