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olpc

OLPC Origin: Bittersweet Success and Future of the XO Laptop

When I met with Nicholas Negroponte not long ago, he laughed at the coverage he'd received through the past few years, including our own portrayal of Intel chairman Craig Barrett and him as Beavis and Butthead. Far more hurtful have been the admonitions of his own former staffers who feel he has mismanaged the OLPC project. Nearly every one of the original staff had abandoned the project by 2008, often in disgust. But Negroponte remains stalwart: "My elephant skin is the thickness of steel," he told me. Perhaps his resistance to criticism has been one of the project’s fatal flaws. More »

Feature

2:40 PM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Wilson Rothman
7,078 views, 23 comments

Latest by cmonkey: I am impressed by the quality of this series. This is one of the few decent stories I've seen more »

olpc

OLPC Origins: US and Taiwan's Hardware Lovechild

More »

Feature

12:30 PM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Wilson Rothman
5,663 views, 16 comments

olpc secret origins

Secret Origin of the OLPC: Genius, Hubris and the Birth of the Netbook

From the moment Nicholas Negroponte showed off his $100 laptop concept at the Davos world economic summit in January 2005, it was as if the tech world's supermoguls were glowering down on him in judgment. Over the course of the year, Craig Barrett, Michael Dell, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs weighed in, privately declining support and in some cases publicly disparaging the idea.

The naysayers had a point. The mockup Negroponte was toting around that winter was one ugly baby. It aimed to reach the $100 price tag by having a slower processor, a skinnier internal drive, a smaller body and let's not forget that tent-like rear-projection screen that made it look like the conceptual heir to the pop-top VW Vanagon camper. But after three and a half years, Negroponte's crazy idea hasn't only produced the XO, a real laptop co-developed and manufactured by the world's largest notebook maker, it's also become a product most of Negroponte's opponents are now copying.

After interviewing Negroponte himself, along with his original CTO Mary Lou Jepsen, designer Yves Behar, advanced technologies VP Michail Bletsas and others, we can explain how this proposed global humanitarian effort may in fact be more successful as a revolution in hardware design, and how OLPC will continue to influence the hardware you buy, even if you never score an actual XO.

More »

Feature

12:00 PM on Tue Aug 26 2008
By Wilson Rothman
8,619 views, 18 comments

Latest by jrghoull: @Aaron Martin-Colby: eventually things like the eeepc would have come out, yeah. but that's like saying that computers would have gotten more »

olpc

OLPC Founder Negroponte Wanted to Make Multitouch XO-2 Laptop 20 Years Ago

Long before the XO Laptop climbed over $100 and OLPC's name was sullied by infighting (and then redeemed by its dual multi-touchscreen XO2 concept) OLPC founder Nick Negroponte was preaching the gospel of ten-finger multi-touch over the "mouse on Macintosh," which sounds profoundly clunky compared to his vision of interfacing with computers. In this 1984 TED talk, the experience he describes sounds remarkably like the XO-2—over 25 years later, he'll finally build the computer he's always wanted. (And I want too.) The clip is long, but prescient and brilliant—you'll feel smarter afterward. [TED via Mental Floss] More »

5:40 PM on Mon Jun 2 2008
By matt buchanan
1,822 views, 11 comments

Latest by The Monarch: Brilliant! Too bad he cooks pengiuns... more »

olpc

OLPC XO Laptop's Sugar OS Being Shopped to Four Other Laptop-Makers

Even though the XO Laptop's Sugar-coated OS wasn't exactly the most vaunted aspect of the attempted laptop-for-all, following Windows XP's invasion of the project, former OLPC exec Walter Bender's newly formed Sugar Labs is shopping Sugar around. They're in talks with at least four "ultra low-cost" notebook makers who would use it for kid computers. This is the second OLPC splinter faction to license tech from the OLPC project, the first being Mary Lou Jepsen's Pixel Qi, which is licensing the XO's innovative indoor/outdoor display and aiming for a $75 laptop. I'm waiting for someone to sell me that sweet XO-2 unveiled the other day. [Betanews via Electronista]

1:00 PM on Fri May 23 2008
By matt buchanan
1,773 views, 11 comments

Latest by strider_mt2k: Are they teaming with Panasonic? Maybe that microwave knew the score after all... :\ more »

xo laptop 2.0

OLPC XO Laptop 2.0 Has Dual Touchscreens, Looks Amazing and Future-y

At OLPC's Global Country workshop today, founder Nick Negroponte unveiled the next-gen XO Laptop, and it totally blows the original away. About half the XO 1.0's size and more like a foldable book, it does away with the keyboard and trackpad to go totally touchscreen—that's right, dual touchscreens, straight out of the future, like a kid's book in Minority Report. Folded all the way out, the displays work like a single continuous one, for say, a sweet game of Pong. Like XO 1.0, the display by Pixel-Qi will look fine indoors or in bright sunlight. Unfortunately, it really is from the future: Due in 2010, they're aiming for $75 and one-watt power consumption. Update: High-res shots and full press release, and they're calling it XOXO, or XO-2. More »

12:22 PM on Tue May 20 2008
By matt buchanan
37,875 views, 79 comments

Latest by mattmchugh.com: Genius idea. Brilliant design. Unquestionably the look of the information device of the future. Will they actually pull this more »

microsoft

Microsoft Offers Mega-Discount on WinXP to Low-Cost Laptop Makers

Ultra low-cost PCs such as OLPC's XO laptop could end up bundled with copies of Windows OS after all, if Microsoft's most recent scheme to grab market share works. The company is giving computer manufacturers Windows XP Home Edition at a steep discount to put on ULPCs, in hopes of luring them away from Linux. More »

7:00 PM on Sat May 10 2008
By Elaine Chow
5,833 views, 31 comments

Latest by ludwigk: @LUV2CattleCall: Oh, you bricked that one... < 10.2" screen - Nope MBA has a 13.3 <= 80 GB HDD - Check < 1 more »

olpc

OLPC Planning and Praying for $50 Laptop

In a chat with Laptop Mag about the booming ultra-cheap, ultra-portable laptop market, blustery and beleaguered OLPC founder Nick Negroponte actually manages to keep his cool while dissing his rivals—a laudable feat—and drops a couple of interesting bits: OLPC is still on a trajectory toward a $50 laptop, and they're planning on launching dual-boot Windows XP machines worldwide. Thems some lofty goals—aside from their epic fail to hit just $100, XO's crafty designer is only trying to clear $75. Good luck, Nick. [Laptop Mag]

5:00 PM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By matt buchanan
1,539 views, 13 comments

Latest by sanjsrik: Are they planning on fixing the crappy membrane keyboards? They never bothered to set up a supply chain for more »

olpc

OLPC's Negroponte Not Exactly Looking For a Successor (Plus XO Getting Windows in 60 Days)

Reports of OLPC's Negroponte looking for a replacement to fill his CEO role were a bit unfounded, as the man himself just claimed that the organization HAS no CEO, and that whatever the replacement does, it won't be what Negroponte is doing. Negroponte says: More »

5:00 PM on Mon Mar 10 2008
By Jason Chen
2,133 views, 5 comments

Latest by jrghoull: Call a parrot a mouse as much as you want...at the end of the day, it'll still be a parrot. more »

olpc

OLPC Shipments May Not Be as Screwed Up as Previously Thought

We have all heard about the endless problems OLPC is having with its shipments. However, an email sent to one of our own stated that the production schedule is "still on track" and that the laptop he ordered is expected to be delivered "by the middle or the end of March." This comes despite the fact that the laptop was purchased at the last possible minute. Did anyone else who ordered an XO receive a similar email recently, or is your order still in limbo?

8:20 PM on Wed Feb 20 2008
By Sean Fallon
1,736 views, 10 comments

Latest by Magicube: Mine arrived yesterday (2008-03-19) and I ordered it at the last minute. The big shock was how small the box more »

better late than?

OLPC Woes Never End: Shoddy Record-Keeping Delaying Shipments

OLPC was supposed to be a beacon of hope and gleaming digital light for children all around the developing world. Lately, it's been more like a dirty, busted street lamp. Now it's coming out that they can't even get laptops to the people actually paying for them—particularly if they used PayPal—due to crappy record-keeping software that keeps dumping people's addresses. And that's on top of the supply problems. More »

11:55 AM on Fri Jan 25 2008
By matt buchanan
4,246 views, 14 comments

Latest by Vagabum: @blaerk: It is good to hear some positive experiences with OLPC and the XO instead of the normal bashing we more »

olpwnd

OLPC Is F'd: Defected XO Laptop Designer Plans New $75 Laptop

Mary Lou Jepsen, the XO laptop's designer and OLPC's CTO, split from the project a little over a week ago to "commercialize" some of the tech she developed for the project—the display in particular—through a for-profit venture, Pixel-Qi. Probable result: a new generation of OLPC competitors from commercial outfits. But it gets better! It's come out Pixel-Qi's aiming to completely undercut the OLPC with a 75 dollar laptop. More »

3:31 PM on Thu Jan 10 2008
By matt buchanan
9,308 views, 29 comments

Latest by Juminatriascala: @HKLV: Wow, you sound really pissed :) Negroponte did one thing that is very important, much more important than creating and selling more »

bitch fight

OLPC Slaps Back at Intel: "You Have No Heart and Don't Care About the Children"

Last night, Intel pulled out of OLPC, citing founder Nicholas Negroponte's serious jealousy issues with other low-cost computers stealing XO's thunder in more ways than one. Today, OLPC slaps back, claws out: "We're totally better off without you since it was all for show and you never really loved us (or the kids) in the first place!" More »

Feature

1:25 PM on Fri Jan 4 2008
By matt buchanan
5,203 views, 23 comments

Latest by N/A: Open source software is not necessarily freeware. All it does is let you muck around under the hood and customize more »

groped

Video Unboxing and Walkthrough of the OLPC XO Laptop

This video's painful to watch at moments, because this couple is about the most indecisive pair of people on earth, like when they epically struggle to name the laptop. But you do get to see everything you get in the XO's box, like a letter from Nicholas Negroponte, presumably thanking you for your charity (to the project or to the 2nd laptop's recipient, I don't know) and a thorough, if bumbling, interface-in-motion walkthrough. More »

2:20 AM on Fri Dec 21 2007
By matt buchanan
2,377 views, 19 comments

Latest by pelmen: By the accents defiantly russians. more »

cheap notebook battle

Intel Classmate Reviewed (Verdict: OLPC Killer)

While we haven't seen anywhere near the kind of buzz in geek circles for Intel's Classmate, it played a prominent, crushing role in the WSJ's slaughterfest OLPC article a couple weeks ago, since it's been picked up by Libya, Nigeria and Pakistan over the XO Laptop, in large part because it runs Windows and Office and the XO Laptops don't. Yet. Wired puts their distinctly non-child-sized mitts on it and walks away pretty impressed. More »

Feature

5:10 PM on Fri Dec 14 2007
By matt buchanan
14,323 views, 22 comments

Latest by N/A: Strangely enough, I haven't seen Gizmodo actually do a side to side test of the XO, the Classmate an the EEE. more »

olpc

OLPC XO Laptop's Interface Not So Intuitive?

Another entry in the swelling mound of reports that the XO Laptop isn't so noob-friendly after all—people needing help getting 'em going doesn't spell "sweet" on the ease-of-use front. This guy saw them on 60 Minutes, thought it'd be cool for his wife and kids, but he can't get the internets working on it and is contemplating sending the second laptop to needy children too.There are other verdicts, though. Has anyone here done the G1G1 deal? What's your take on the interface? [OLPC News]

6:30 PM on Thu Dec 13 2007
By matt buchanan
5,089 views, 24 comments

Latest by contempt: I've only spent about 2 hours with my daughter's unit. I echo the comments about some poor UI issues, more »

olpc

Chubby Casually Racist Harry Potter Look-Alike Reviews OLPC XO Laptop

While American children aren't so enthralled with the XO Laptop, it quite strikes the fancy of this chubby 8-year-old British boy with a squealing, girly giggle. Not only does it all do all of the things a regular computer can do, you can "chat to other people over in Nigeria." See, his dad brought it to him "from Nigeria" and the Neighborhood app lets you see if "there are maybe a lot of Nigerian people there." But don't worry, it's not just a bunch of spammers, the OLPC's very international! Since his chat buddies "speak very bad English" our reviewer thinks "they're in the Peru." I feel the Third World catching up to us already! [BBC]

2:30 PM on Wed Dec 12 2007
By matt buchanan
15,060 views, 55 comments

Latest by bermack7679: Everyone should know by now that the only people you can say things about and not be called racist are more »

olpc

XO Laptops Ship Today

The OLPC XO laptops that we've heard so much about finally ship today. Those generous enough to both give a laptop and get a laptop this holiday season should receive their system in plenty of time for Christmas (though Hanukkah finds itself shafted again). Formerly scheduled for a December 14 to December 24 delivery, we're not sure of their precise shipping expediency, but it looks like the OLPC factories might actually be ahead of schedule. Is anyone expecting a package and the warm karma a faceless child? [olpcnews]

9:35 AM on Mon Dec 10 2007
By Mark Wilson
2,930 views, 13 comments

Latest by Trackback: Completely decked-to-the-nines Mario Party car spotted in Singapore —KotakuHallmark introduces home-tech ornaments —UnplggdThe One Laptop Per Child XO laptops more »

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