$100 Laptops for the world…

Sound too good to be true? Its not, and its coming real soon, care of the USA…

Story here

“I want to teach the world to surf, says the man who invented the $100 laptop”

One man in Boston has a plan that he hopes will bridge the world's gaping digital divide - and quickly. The visionary is Nicholas Negroponte, director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his idea consists of a new kind of laptop computer that will cost just $100 (£57) to buy.

It will also be a little different in design from the sleek machines some of us in the west have learned to love or covet. It will be foldable in different ways, encased in bump-proof rubber and will include a hand-crank to give it power in those corners of the globe where electricity supply is patchy.

The first prototype of the machine should be ready by November and Mr Negroponte - who was one of the first prophets of the internet before most of us understood the word - hopes to put them into production next year.

In fact, he expects to churn out about 15 million of them within one year, shipping most of them at first to children in Brazil, Egypt, Thailand and South Africa.

I live in Massachusetts and I am excited that my state is a part of this. Mitt Romney is going to hand out 500,000 of these to poor kids here, not bad! Imagine these all over the world in the hands of people who would otherwise never get the opportunity? Imagine ATS then!!


OOPS! I’m sorry, this post isn’t about how evil the USA is, is it still ok to post here?

Bad Skippy! Bad!

I think this is a great idea. I had a laptop for my last job and fell in love with it. I can use a cheap little one I can carry around with me.

Its all an NWO plot to indoctrinate the poor, illiterate and fat into a global oligarchy....


Alternatively it could be as big a breakthrough as the clockwork radio from the early 90's. Definate potential to change parts of the world.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

We seem to be doing this twice so I'll carry my thoughts over here.
I'm sure one of these will get trashed by a Mod.

I love the idea of the hand crank.

Power anytime, anywhere. I wish more things came with that sort of system. It would be great if you could pull a little crank out of the bottom of your cell phone and crank up a few more minutes of talk time. Or crank up your iPod while waiting for the bus.

I saw a small radio with a crank and I thought it was fantastic. More things need these.

quote: The machine's A-C adapter would double as a carrying strap, and a hand crank would power them when there's no electricity. They'd be foldable into more positions than traditional notebook PCs, and carried like slim lunchboxes.

For outdoor reading, their display would be able to shift from full color to glare-resistant black and white.

And surrounding it all, the laptops would have a rubber casing that closes tightly, because "they have to be absolutely indestructible," said Negroponte.


I would love to have one of these machines.
Just for the fun of trying it out............

$100 laptop- Great although still out-weighing many people's income in a year (in many third world countries) this is well within donation range for many wealthy philanthropists.

Hand crank for power- Great since electricity is not always available in these places.

For internet- Whaaaaa? Most of the people in these places would not likely have phone line access at their disposal for dial up.

Satellite links would shoot the cost far beyond $100.

So to have a legitimate price point there they need some further work.

Originally posted by anxietydisorder

We seem to be doing this twice
I'm sure one of these will get trashed by a Mod.

Probably the other since this one started first, but this might get moved to sci & tech.

I have a radio that has a hand crank. It provides a light, too. Radio and flashlight-that runs on nothing. It's great for power outages when you can't find the dang batteries or candles!

As for the laptop-well, I hope they are providing a manual for these users. Kids in Brazil all the sudden with this sort of technology dumped in their laps? That's just perfect. Well, what I mean is that it is a mixed blessing. It's good to spread technology around, but it isn't good to not have support to back it up afterwards. And I must admit, the fact that it's wi-fi compatible made me laugh.

Many villages in the third world do not have a telephone or even a radio! Thankfully, there are programs in place that work to bring small remote villages links with the outside world. The effect that a telephone can have in a small remote town can be profound. A radio would provide news, bulletins, weather and even entertainment to isolated groups of people. My god, a cheap laptop would be a dream come true!

Even without internet, programs could be installed in the laptop that could educate, provide entertainment and even instructional material in the form of "how to" manuals that could benefit each and every person in the village through better sanitation, water access, farm and crop management information. This is the best news that I have heard in a lonog time....This actually has the capability to make real change in the lives of people that, for all intents and purposes, the world has forgotten.

Just like everything there is a good and bad side to it, proliferating cheap computer technology world wide will only generate more hackers that otherwise would not have existed.

great news

www.imdb.com...

kind of relevant lol, watch it!

could most of the 3rd world afford a 100.00 computer?


can they?



The hand crank though... wow. Crank it faster man, I'm getting laaaaag.

Just before Sal mentioned the movie (sounds like a fun one) I was thinking of the dot.com peeps from the 90's who made the first $20 million and where do they go next... They can't all be flipping burgers these days.

If they're giving them to school kids, they better be indestructable!

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Just like everything there is a good and bad side to it, proliferating cheap computer technology world wide will only generate more hackers that otherwise would not have existed.

The benefits will outweigh the negatives.
I don't think we need to worry about some kid from Uganda or Ethiopia hacking into IBM or NASA. If they can do that, they should get a job working for them.

We need to get the net into the hands of the entire planet, it's a good thing.

Update:

The first order of the $100 laptops has been placed.

The first official order for the so-called "$100 laptop" has been placed by the government of Uruguay.