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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11 March 2008

Nicholas Negroponte's 1984 TED Talk: 4 predictions for the future (3 of them correct)

Speaking at the first TED Conference in 1984, Nicholas Negroponte waxes prophetic on the converging fields of technology, entertainment and design. Years before anyone was using the word "convergence," Negroponte was thinking about TV screens as the "electronic books of the future" and computers as the future of education. In excerpts from his 2-hour talk (this was before TED's 18-minute time limit), he foreshadowed web interfaces, touchscreen kiosks, the multitouch interface of the iPhone, and his own One Laptop per Child project. Oh, and there's also a fascinating project called Lip Service, which ... well, let's just say it's still ahead of us.

Negroponte's full 2-hour talk will be made available for download, but parts of it must be restored.

(Recorded at the first TED conference, February 1984 in Monterey, California. Duration: 25:23.)

Watch Nicholas Negroponte'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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01 March 2008

AMD and One Laptop per Child

Guest blogger Devlen Watkins handles IT for the Aspen Institute, but when he's not running around solving technical problems during TED@Aspen, he's been down at the AMD 50x15 / One Laptop per Child table, playing with the XO Laptop. He writes:

OLPC, or as most of you know it One Laptop per Child, has really taken the ball and run with it in the construction and programming. One of the greatest features this machine offers is the ability for children to learn to program in Python. Learning this programming language is not very easy, but I guess they believe that as, with most languages, if taught young it's easier to grasp.

Along with the ability to learn such a great program, these machines come with a built-in webcam for video chat, and several instrumental applications that allow children to play and compose music. OLPC has really thought of the children when they developed this wonderful device. Where else can you purchase a laptop for $200 that will not only allow you to connect to the Internet but teach your child at the same time?

Now time to play some more ...

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27 February 2008

One Laptop per Child at TED@Aspen

The Aspen Institute's Devlen Watkins (at right, above) reports from the One Laptop per Child table at TED@Aspen:

Steve Howard (at left, above) is from AMD, which provides the processors for the laptops. If you have seen the earlier models, they had a crank sticking out. They have since done away with that design, because over time the crank would destroy the machine. Now you can get the yo-yo-style power crank (from Potenco).

Steve works with AMD's foundation, 50x15. They intend to connect 50 percent of the world by 2015.

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15 November 2007

Time to get your XO laptop, and to give one

Since Nicholas Negroponte presented his idea for a "100-dollar-laptop" at TED2006, the project has been going through many ups and downs, enthusiasms and criticisms, and had occupied a lot of media space.

The XO laptop is now here. The cost at this stage is nearly double, but the machine is awesome. Mass production started earlier this month in a Quanta manufacturing plant near Shanghai, and while a few countries such as Uruguay and Mongolia will buy them bulk and distribute them in schools, you -- but only if you live in the US and Canada -- can also buy one until November 26. Actually, two: you can get one if you donate another one to a child in a developing nation. Smart idea. Total cost: $399 plus shipping, with $200 considered a tax-deductible donation. Go to the Give One Get One site. Twelve days to go. Expectations are that the first release of 25'000 will sell out pretty fast.

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18 July 2007

"100-dollar laptop" could go commercial by September

For all those who, seeing the first "100-dollar laptops," have wondered "when can I get one?" the answer is: sooner than expected.

One Laptop Per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte said this week during a speech in Geneva, Switzerland, that a retail version of the laptop may be commercially available in September 2007, according to a report published by local blog GenevaLunch. Negroponte presented the laptop project at TED2006 (watch video or read summary) and had already spoken of the possibility of a commercial rollout, suggesting however a longer time-horizon. The laptop may be sold under a "buy one, pay two" model (the second going to a kid in a developing country).

Currently, 7,000 of the computers are in use, said Negroponte. He expects to see this figure grow to 1 million by the end of the year. And being the ambitious visionary we know, he believes that within five years -- if not sooner -- OLPC could account for 20 percent of the world's computer production ... Rolling out large numbers of computers could be made easier by last week's announcement that OLPC and Intel -- which until then had pursued competing inexpensive computers for developing countries (OLPC's laptop is built around a chip by AMD, Intel's main competitor) -- have agreed to work together.

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01 August 2006

Nicholas Negroponte on TEDTalks

Nicholas Negroponte is former Director of the MIT Media Lab, and founder of the non-profit, One Laptop Per Child, dedicated to making the famed "$100 laptop" a reality. In this talk, he outlines some of the challenges of getting the laptop produced, and explains why he stepped down as Media Lab director to focus on the initiative full-time, "for the rest of my life." (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 18:21)

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