22 December 2008

TED goes to Colombia with Nicholas Negroponte

Earlier this month, Nicholas Negroponte flew to Colombia, along with a team from One Laptop per Child, to deliver bright-green XO laptops to schoolchildren in territory once held by guerrillas. TED came along to film as part of a new, occasional feature called "TED in the Field" that offers updates on TEDTalks speakers and the initiatives, ideas and products they announced. Negroponte talks with TED about OLPC and what he's learned along the way -- and invites TED viewers to take part in the Buy One Get One program.

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31 May 2008

WSF report: Greengenuity

TED's June Cohen reports via Twitter on the World Science Festival session "Greengenuity", where she's hearing from the screen designer for One Laptop per Child (the "$100 laptop"):

The OLPC gal is asked about the new ...
... touchscreen-driven design (from the wonderful Yves Behar)
An "oohhh" goes thru the crowd when she explains how the mesh network works, letting each laptop act as a relay point
She points out another advantage of it: the keyboards become software and not hardware, allowing for multiple languages

Now over to ecovative design
They do nature-based, low-tech, bio-tech solutions
Oh this is very cool. They get mushroom cells to absorb another type of material, and grow in a brick shape...
Instant organic styrofoam replacement!

Check out June's Twitter feed for more updates!

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21 May 2008

$100 laptop designer Yves Behar on TED.com

Designer Yves Behar digs up his creative roots and discusses some of the iconic objects he's created (the Leaf lamp, the Jawbone headset). Then he turns to the witty, surprising, elegant things he's working on now -- including the "$100 laptop" (whose next-gen redesign was announced yesterday) and a groovy new water bottle. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 17:43.)

Watch Yves Behar's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.

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20 May 2008

XO laptop redesign: Pics!

One Laptop per Child designer Yves Behar (watch his TEDTalk) shares exciting news about the top-to-bottom redesign of the XO laptop -- sometimes called the "$100 laptop." He writes:

With the XO (1.0), we pushed the boundaries of what a laptop could be by lowering the cost dramatically, being green (no heavy metals, lowest energy consumption ever), and a human-driven unique design approach.

Now, with XOXO (2.0), we are challenging what a truly collaborative and creative computing experience could be ... a true departure from the traditional keyboard and screen layout, a new way to interface and play with data, information and communication:

- imagine if your learning machine was an un-interrupted screen one could interface with from any direction

- imagine if it was a reading experience just like a book, and at the same time a seamless large visual tablet

- imagine if children could play board games sitting across from each other (or computer games).

The XOXO is a book, a tablet, a board...and yes, a laptop too if that is what you need. The design is still green and white, but thin, simple, and un-interrupted by keyboards, buttons, speaker holes, input devices and visible connectors. And it is soft to the touch, like a piece of luggage, everyday luggage you can take anywhere.

Planned for early 2010, the XOXO should be the next learning object of desire, from Bogota, to Istanbul, to New York.

Read more about the XO laptop and One Laptop per Child >>

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31 August 2007

Catching up with One Laptop Per Child

Update: OLPC has announced that, starting Nov. 12, it will begin selling the XO laptop to consumers through its Give 1 Get 1 program. From the site:

For $399, you will be purchasing two XO laptops—one that will be sent to empower a child to learn in a developing nation, and one that will be sent to your child at home.

Or, right now, you can donate $200 to send a laptop to a child in a developing nation.

[This summer], the US news show 60 Minutes rebroadcast its segment on Nicholas Negroponte and his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. As Bruno Giussani has reported on the TED Blog, much news has emerged since that segment first aired in May:

+ OLPC and Intel have agreed to work together, not compete, to put laptops in the hands of every kid on the planet.
+ OLPC's chief technology officer, Mary Lou Jepsen, said last month that a retail version of the laptop may be commercially available by this Christmas.

You can see more from Nicholas Negroponte here on TED.com -- he gave a rousing talk at TED2006, just days after he took a leave of absence from MIT's Media Lab to devote himself fully to One Laptop Per Child. Watch the TEDTalk and join the conversation >>

To contact Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project, visit the OLPC website's Contacts page >>

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