When I was an 8th grader my parents gave me a choice. I could either get a computer or I could get braces. Looking back, this is an interesting delimma to have faced, especially today when I'd be willing to sacrifice a meal for time on the internet.
I chose a computer. The internet sounded pretty sweet and while it took us many failed attempts through our old dial up service, eventually I was online and enjoying every adventurous second of it.
Now I'm a bit older, missing a chunk of my back right tooth that aches (nothing to do with braces, or lack of) and am reading about inexpensive laptops that are being marketing towards children. Get 'em while they are young.
Just don't put up billboards by schools!
The $100 laptop is now going for around $400 and is a superb ebook reader.
The Give On Get One (G1G1) program was suggested by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos on a bisit to OLPC's Cambridge offices last year. During the week of November 12 you'll be abe to go to XOgiving.org and order one for yourself. In exchange, for the $400 buy you get a $200 tax writoff. Half of the money wil go to subsidize the donation of an XO to a poor child.
CNN.com writes...
While it does look like it was made for kids - with its bright colors and almost silly antennae "ears" and a semi-indestructible curved design - it is a masterpiece of industrial design. And that applies both inside and out. It's green because it uses an unprecedentedly low amount of power. The battery lasts six hours between charges, and longer if you turn off the light in the screen. You can still see the image because the XO has a breakthrough "paper" mode which works entirely with reflected light.
David Pogue of the New York Times on Thursday gave a rave review to the XO, calling it "absolutely amazing" and "a total kid magnet." This is a superb machine for getting kids anywhere excited about learning, and for helping them understand more about computing. Any country that aims to fully participate in the digitizing world needs millions of citizens conversant with digital tools. "It's going to be an entrepreneurial force in these kids' lives," says Bender. "It's not only about consuming but about creating information." For an enthusiastic endorsement from a development expert read this post by Ethan Zuckerman, of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
The XO is no replacement for your Dell. There are critical things it cannot do, like store lots of photographs and music. There's no certainty that it will print on whatever printer you happen to own. And don't expect lots of customer support: OLPC is not set up to provide it. But instead buy this machine for its unique charms - as a learning tool for a kid at home or as a web-surfing machine that seems to run forever on a battery at Starbucks.
Hey, that works for me. I have a feeling this is unit is going to sell like hot cakes. Most people don't want to deal with the clutter of a traditional CPU and even laptop. Most people like to think they are helping the poor become unpoor through innovative technoligies. Most people want their kids to start messing with technology as soon as possible.
Fuck braces.
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