Source: BBC, but go to the BBC article below if you want to click on the links!
The OLPC laptop is reportedly now in full production. Here is a short explanation by Chris Blizzard, OLPC chief software engineer, of key features of the laptop, with a particular focus on its power-saving design. You may also be interested in this BBC fact-file about the laptop, and (thanks to Dick Moore, who sent it as I was writing) this enthusiastic 27/7/2007 article from the Economist - with its sharp conclusion excerpted below the video. If you want to contribute to OLPC, you may also feel like volunteering (or contributing financially).
"Clearly, trying to produce such an extraordinary product as a laptop that is kid-proof and capable of working in jungles, deserts or the bush, miles from the nearest grid connection, and all for the cheapest possible price, has concentrated minds remarkably. The XO offers a lesson for laptop-makers everywhere. In fact, quite a few have gone from ridiculing the OLPC project to trying to emulate or join it. Most notable has been Intel. After first dismissing Mr Negroponte’s laptop as a toy, the chipmaking giant suddenly rushed out a spoiler design of its own for developing countries, fearing it was about to be left out of an emerging market. Called Classmate, Intel’s $225 laptop has failed to impress. Last week Intel admitted defeat tacitly by asking to join the OLPC association. The question now is when can the rest of us get laptops as cheap and clever as the OLPC’s radical design? Judging from the stir the XO has created, the answer is more likely to be months rather than years."
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