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Tablet Prototype Needs No External Power Supply
timothy writes "I'd like to see computing devices with no need for an external power supply — an e-book reader, a general knock-about PDA, a phone — all kinds of things. But there's a certain heart-strings appeal to such a computer intended as an educational tool for precisely those kind of places where basic infrastructure (like the provision of electricity) is a stumbling block. Perhaps built-in solar makes more sense, in more places, than the hand-cranked power the OLPC project ended up dropping from their laptops-for-kids program."
This perfectly illustrates why the nerd pedantry is lonely, angry, and ignored. People with lives understand "requires no external power supply" to mean "doesn't have to be plugged in." Instead of accepting this, a few people have decided to ignore the hard work of these people to bring revolutionary educational tools into the hands of poor rural children, and quibble about thermodynamics.
From the top and bottom of my heart, please fuck off. The adults are doing useful things. Leave them to it.
It doesn't make much sense to me to embed mechanical / solar / whatever power sources directly into these sorts of products. This is especially true for mechanical power sources, like a crank. That should be in an extremely ergonomic external form factor that a person can operate comfortably, without risking dropping their laptop / tablet, or accidentally flinging it across the room.
Same with solar. That needs to be in a waterproof form factor that can be left laying on the ground or roof in the rain without being destroyed.
A family with two or more devices could get by with just one solar charger, or better yet, one solar and one mechanical, to give them more charging options.
When I was a kid I had one of those little generators that was rotated by my front tire, which powered a little headlight. Something like that could be used with any bicycle to generate relatively massive amounts of power (compared to a hand crank). A very simple stand (home made or otherwise) to get the back tire up off the floor and they're ready to do some serious charging.
Better known as 318230.
I think this is rather typical of the western world. The idea that 3rd world countries do not have any access to electricity is just silly. I've recently been to the heart of Ethiopia to adopt a child and if there's one thing they had plenty of it was electricity. Not a lot of food, or clean water... Gas was $8 a liter and they were living in thatched roof, mud huts. But there was electricity all over the place. The rats nests of electrical wire strung, sometimes, from tree to tree was a testament to this. I have no idea how the entire country hadn't burst into flame already but their electrical grid did fail from time to time... but not nearly as often as you'd expect it to. I have to admit I have a lot of respect for whomever keeps the electricity flowing, they must be a McGuiver style genius.
What they did lack was Linux. Every PC I saw there (and there were very few) had a pirated copy of WinXP on it, with the WGA notice popping up constantly and was filled with Malware. Had their dialup modems been able to connect at any speed greater than 9k I would have fixed it for them but in the end I just gave up.
The best thing about built-in solar and no external supply is that it would force users to regulate their usage time.
Heh, yeah.
Why is it that people think solar power works better in the tropics than elsewhere? Do they think we don't have clouds?
I live and work in a Least Developed Country, and for years now I've watched as, time and again, people take a look at the power generation problem and say, "SOLAR FTW." Then they discover that it rains much of the year, that there are mountains which tend to reduce the hours of direct sunlight, as well as a smattering of rain forest overhead and, to top it all off, we occasionally get hurricanes, which leave the place without power at exactly the time we need it most.
Bottom line: Every location has its own unique power generation challenges. In some places, wind is the answer. In others, micro-hydro. In others a diesel generator and a big battery is the only reasonable answer. For most, it's a mix of several approaches. I have yet to see a single community in the entire country for which solar is the entire answer.
So to technology makers, I can say only this: PUT A FUCKING PLUG IN IT. The solar panel is optional; the plug is not. You don't -you can't- know what form of power generation is going to work. So leave that problem for others to solve. Just make it low-enough-power that it's not going to cost more to run than it is to purchase.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.