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OLPC Now Distributes Kid-Friendly Tablets, Not Just Notebooks (Video)
Giulia D'Amico, Business Development VP for One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) talks about the new OLPC tablets, which are now available in the U.S. through Target, Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers, with some of the $150 sales price for each tablet going to support the OLPC project in places like Uruguay, Cambodia, Rwanda, and other countries where a tablet loaded with teaching software is a way better deal than trying to supply all the books a child needs for six or eight years of school. While there are many Android tablets for sale for less than $150, Giulia points out that the OLPC tablets contain up to $300 worth of software. Plus, of course, just as with almost any other Android device, there are many thousands of apps available for it through Google Play. And let's not forget the original OLPC laptop. It has been redesigned, and renamed the OLPC XO-4 and looks much cooler than the original. You can learn more about it through olpc.tv, which has videos from the introduction of both the OPLC tablet and the XO-4 at CES 2013. OLPC has shipped close to 3 million laptops so far, and is working to port Sugar to Android so that the laptop and the tablet can use the same software. One more thing: OLPC is now focusing on software rather than hardware. When the project started at MIT, back in 2006 or so, there was no suitable hardware available. Today, many companies make low-cost tablets and keyboards for them, so there's no real need for OLPC to make its own instead of using existing hardware.
So I take it they've made the entire tablet out of the same material they make airplane black boxes out of? Because I've seen children destroy things that were made out of die-cast titanium without even realizing it, let alone feeling sorry about it.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
OLPC, now a generic Android tablet brand. Who didn't see this coming?
Uh, wasn't OLPC created to serve third-party countries, not first world countries?
OLPC has organized this content into Dreams to match the aspirations of children 3-12 years old. Each dream features a potential career and related applications organized into beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill sets.
Is anyone buying this? I doubt very much that there is any of that supposed $300 worth of software that there isn't as good or better free alternatives for. And this was supposed to be an organization that was based on free and open software. As the summary points out, there are many Android tablets available at far less than $150. And those are produced by "for profit" companies, not supposed non-profits (although I expect some pay their chief executives less that the OLPC executives skim off the top).
I see this as just another OLPC fail, at least as long as your not one of the ones cashing those OLPC paychecks.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Years ago I wanted to purchase the original OLPC Give 1 Get 1 but wasn't able due to payment issues and not being in the US. I remember cursing on the 31st of December as I watched the deadlne pass.
So while this is very different from their first tablet, both in business model and openess, it still is something a bit different than most tablets offered by the competition.
<shamefull_plug> That's why we accepted to donate our kid educational software (DragonBox5+ / http://www.dragonboxapp.com/) to those who would purchase it.</shamefull_plug>
As a geek and open source user, I think there's still room for a more open platform. Especially in the educational space. Still we see that purely open initiative are hard to market/finance (think of the latest ubuntu phone). Hopefully they will be able to redo something more in the line of the first G1G1 tablets one day. As an entrepreneur, I hope to be able to give more as well.
Sneak teach kids Algebra using a game
We recently got two 7 inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 tablets for our kids. We splurged for the Otterbox cases because those tend to be very sturdy. (We have one on our iPad and it survived a pretty decent fall with no damage.) The cost for a Tab 2 and Otterbox case? About $210. Looking the specs over, the OLPC model seems to have a slightly faster processor, less MP rear camera, and more MP front camera. Otherwise, they look pretty similar.
The built-in parental controls are nice, but I've found some free Android apps that do that too: App Lock and ScreenTime. The latter of these has a "remote control" app you can load on your Android phone/tablet to monitor and control your kids' usage. I recently used it when my son refused to go brush his teeth because he was busy tablet-gaming. Instead of trying to pry the tablet out of his hands, I simply opened the Remote Control app and locked him out for five minutes with a "Go Brush Your Teeth" message.
I'm interested in other parental control apps folks might use. Especially since my son has gone on YouTube - after I told him there are videos there that aren't for him - and signed up for the social aspects of a game using my e-mail address - which I'm mostly upset about since the company didn't send an e-mail saying "Your e-mail was used to sign up for an account." Any good web filtering apps would be appreciated.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
So they intend to replace 6 - 8 years worth of books with a tablet? How long are these cheapest of the cheap pieces of hardware actually last?
I travel a lot around the world in 3rd world countries helping the poor. I don't think their challenge is in manufacturing or getting these out to the field. The challenge will be finding a way for the tablets to not be immediately sold for cash when the people are in need of food and medicine to survive. Heck, pass these out for free in the 1st world conditions and where will they end up. I'm sorry, but it would be nice to help the kids and schools and teachers, but none of these will be in a classroom 1 year after they are given out.
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
Just another consumerism device. Not a device for teaching kids how to create.
A device that would actually be useful is a device that can be used to interface with the environment through sensors and be programmable to solve real world problems.
OLPC should be working with the Raspberry Pi people to create a rugged cheap complete solution. Change the flimsy GPIO Pins to a standard Parallel connector and enclose it with a decent LCD screen with keyboard and USB mouse and you'd have a far more useful and productive device.
Work Safe Porn
So I take it they've made the entire tablet out of the same material they make airplane black boxes out of? Because I've seen children destroy things that were made out of die-cast titanium without even realizing it, let alone feeling sorry about it.
http://olpc.tv/ shows the devices they look pretty solid interestingly I notice the thin screen protector doubles as a solar charger, but they look very solid.
OLPC should be working with the Raspberry Pi people to create a rugged cheap complete solution. Change the flimsy GPIO Pins to a standard Parallel connector and enclose it with a decent LCD screen with keyboard and USB mouse and you'd have a far more useful and productive device.
You seem very confused. The Rasberry Pi people made something that people actually wanted. That's how they achieved success. But that is the evil capitalistic way of doing things.
The OLPC gang took a philosophically different approach. They went for "Think of the Children" and talked about building a $100 laptop that starving kids in third world countries could hold while they starved. They got corporate sponsors to buy into the "Think of the Children" philosophy. They convinced some chumps to think of the children and buy two laptops (that never met the promised $100 price, although they have plenty of excuses for that) so that one could be given to the starving children. They may have even delivered some of the paid for units to corrupt dictators of third world countries with starving children, although they likely never reached the children. They convinced other governments to "think of the children" and made shady deals with big corporations that seemed to many to be in direct conflict with the stated goals. The OLPC approach is completely opposite of that of the Pi people.
I kind of suspect that the OLPC gang has some knowledge of the existence of the Raspberry PI and that they knew about it even before you made your suggestion. So might General Motors. But neither organization see the Pi has having anything to do with what their business does.
Actually, the Pi wouldn't be cost effective to build on for your stated project. It includes an HDMI interface and there is a hefty HDMI "tax" to be paid for any device with an HDMI interface. No point in including that if the goal is to keep costs low and it isn't needed. But the approaches taken by the Rasberry Pi people are openly documented. OLPC could take them as a starting point if their goad was to build something that people actually wanted and would actually be useful. But having watched OLPC since it's inception, I have no reason to think they would have any real intention to do that.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I travel a lot around the world in 3rd world countries helping the poor. I don't think their challenge is in manufacturing or getting these out to the field. The challenge will be finding a way for the tablets to not be immediately sold for cash
Bill *Fuck your charity* Gates *I don't have to pay tax* agrees with you. I don't think you realise how offensive you are being, OLPC was born from from real world observation, and the benefits computing could bring first hand.
http://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1240339 "In 1980, Sheik Yamani of OPEC funded a center to help children in developing countries and Seymour Papert and I worked in Pakistan, Senegal, and Colombia. While the Media Lab was being built as an entity, physical as well as organizationally, we worked with kids in those countries. They were totally comfortable working in computers and computer programming – in this case, it was Apple IIs. They didn’t need the manuals, they didn’t need anything. So fast forward 20 years. The Media Lab had always had about 25% of its activity with children and learning. And after I directed the Media Lab for 20 years, somebody else came in as director and I said, “It’s my turn to do something.” And that’s when One Laptop per Child, or what was first called the Hundred Dollar Laptop, was born."
My favorite part from TFA:
In this case the XO is sporting parental controls that track usage and learning styles. The tablet also has a Journal app that details and breaks all this down for the parents
If anyone believes the information is "for the parents" I have some nice property to sell about 200 miles north of here depending on the tide and winds.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
But how easy is it to replace the rechargeable lithium ion batteries in these tablets? Most laptops from the Windows 9x era have removable batteries.
Why isn't Africa providing millions of laptops to Europe?
Any answers?
They should use the 20USD India Tablet and add their software on top. But it is clear that they are pretty bad at getting hardware price down. ( http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/05/04/1349206/indias-20-android-tablet-first-project-completed ).
It's your money.
...and you own a surface tablet.