What is Digg?150 Comments
- DKinMN, on 10/10/2007, -6/+90Just remember, this only makes the internet more available, putting more of a strain on our infrastructure. The internet is not a truck, people. It's a series of tubes, and those tubes are almost full.
Stevens in '08 - LordSkywalker, on 10/10/2007, -10/+76I'd always dreamed of a day when anyone who wanted porn would have access to such. I think that day is soon to arrive.
- chris9902, on 10/10/2007, -2/+30yes, in the same way if I was to staple 4 dogs together I'd have a horse.
- chris9902, on 10/10/2007, -0/+27It's not a laptop it's a learning tool. If one of those kids uses it to learn about water sanitation then he can help everyone else. Just stop looking at it like a laptop. Knowledge is power and all that.
- Flamekebab, on 10/10/2007, -2/+22If you're a sanitation engineer, why aren't you out there fixing stuff? We're geeks, we do IT stuff. We help with what we're good at.
Furthermore, not every poor country is in such a bad state that clean water is the main concern. Once you've got the essentials like food and water sorted, what do you do to get your children educated, to sort out the state of your nation? I'm sure education would just be silly.. - DocHoliday22, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17No more Internet porn jokes please..............................
- tekrat, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16This project really isn't aimed at the people who need food. This is aimed at the border communities who have a fairly stable society but don't have access to books or other learning aids. The OLPC program would be useless to someone whose starving.
But OLPC would useful to people say along the Nile who have one power line coming into the town has one phone line. They could trade eBooks and educational games through a sneaker network if the phone network couldn't support them. Once those edge town village become more educated then the next layer of interior villages will be penetrated by knowledge. - IcyWings8, on 10/10/2007, -13/+28From the article: "Other critics asked whether there was a need for a laptop in countries which, they said, had more pressing needs such as sanitation, water and health care."
Think about it. Clean water or a laptop?
I think that there are many more important things than having a laptop. And what about internet access in third-world countries? - GMorgan, on 10/10/2007, -2/+16Yes but to get all those other things they first damn well need industry and jobs and those other things. This is about giving capability rather than providing short term solutions. These laptops could ensure that schools never need speed huge sums on books and other equipment in schools. It provides a robust, portable and capable education platform. That is what they need.
What's really pissing off a lot of people is this is an actual attempt at helping these people rather than keeping them poor so we can have cheap coffee. - ToeKneeDee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14If it actually costs $176, why do they still call it the "$100 laptop"?
- otatop, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14There's no hard drive, you cockass. Try looking into the OLPC, they've already thought of all your "flaws" and come up with solutions.
- LordSkywalker, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14***** Linux? Sounds like you just ostracized yourself from most of the Digg community.
- YourTechSupport, on 10/10/2007, -4/+17Hooray for them!
Now, when can us American geeks get out hands on those? - bovester, on 10/10/2007, -4/+16So if we were to make a Beowulf cluster of like 10 of these, would they outperform a $1,000 desktop....?
- xistboi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12And you can download the whole OS and run it on any hardware you want:
http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2007/07/11520/ - Kitsune818, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Anyone know when developers can get theirs hands on one of these? I'd love to write some apps for it. I think the concept of a "volksputer" is pretty cool.. what concerns me is what nefarious types will do to it. I wonder if they can push updates to them somehow? The last thing we need is a third world bot net.
- xadious, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12This looks fantastic.
It's very well thought out with power saving, efficiency, simplicity etc. The screen is very clever and nice as is everything else - the lack of harddrive shouldn't be too much of an issue as i doubt 3rd world kids are going to be downloading and saving pirated movies, porn etc. It's mainly going to be documents etc that can be saved on the machine, internet research, reading etc. Children in poor countries will reap a lot of benefits from these.
Some people underestimate the power of technology, i can kind of understand their frustration in thinking that money could be used elsewhere, but it can be used in other places while being spent in this area for future development as well. For example mobile/cell phones have had a HUGE impact on the way various African nations go about their life, including everyone from entrepreneurs to farmers to families etc, everyone can use them for anything from checking latest prices of various goods, calling a doctor, chatting with family, finding out information etc. I saw this on a recent BBC documentary which looked into the impact of mobile phones in Africa and was very impressed. Laptops will only help even further.
Development is a big part of helping poor 'developing' nations, you can't simply send food - doing other things WHILE providing bare essentials such as food, water etc will only help these nations even further. Technology has an huge impact on these nations, more so than some people realise.
Also, in regards to the hard drive aspect, i think i read that it has networking capabilities on top of other connections built in which would allow for a centralised storage source that all children can share - much like how it is in western schools, universities etc.
I think this is great and will only help these nations even further. - chris9902, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13you use it to learn you ***** moron. Maybe we should order you one?
- datek2517, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Well said, my friend. Well said.
- qwerty1024, on 10/10/2007, -4/+13Not every countries can afford 2000$+ computers for their students you know. Leave your e-penis out of this
- kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8No you tie a bunch of cats together to get a horse. I saw the episode of the Simpsons where they explained it.
- kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9One of the most important reasons to get these into the hands of people in America, Europe etc. is development. There are a lot of developers out there who would love a chance to help with this. I can imagine thousands and thousands of simple learning tools being developed to help these kids. All it takes is one laptop in a community to download it, then they can share it between them.
While developers can work with VMware images etc. Iw would make it easier to get a feel for how the software would run if they can get their hands on the real thing. not only that, but I can see them selling quite alot at such a cheap price for families to give to their kids as a 'toy'. The parents think the kid is too young for a 'real' laptop, but this would be perfect. - Kitsune818, on 10/10/2007, -1/+91) There is no hard drive, you douche. 2) One GB is an amazing amount of space, and the majority of software ever written by human beings requires far less, you douche. 3) The article itself claims the power consumption of this model is orders of magnitude lower than a regular laptop, and it's capable of being powered by solar or hand crank power, you douche. 4) Your landfills will not be full of these, they are for kids in third world countries, you douche. 5) If they had 500 dollars, the last thing they would buy is a laptop. It would take them years to save that, you douche.
Maybe if you had been given one of these as a child you would be able to read. - iownsomuch, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9I'd love to get myself one of these things
- Kitsune818, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7It's for children.. poor children.. not you.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6The reality is that a lot of 3rd world countries DO have internet access. The problem is that the infrastructure is ridiculously ***** and usually only conveniently accessible to the upper classes in the larger cities. That being said, internet access isn't completely necessary for this to still be a good tool. It would definitely help, but there is plenty of standalone software that can help these kids learn much more than ever before.
Keep in mind that 10-15 years ago, net access wasn't readily available to everyone in the states..but alot of people had computers in their schools to help them learn. I know it's hard to think of it that way because we, especially the younger generation, in the states have become spoiled by easy net access. - julianrod, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Negroponte said it himself: "...what kids need for learning, exploring and having fun"
- YourTechSupport, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6No, see, I want this laptop that's more advanced in field portability, readility in sunlight, and recharges with a PULL CORD. :D
- sgtawol, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7--
"We keep laptops in the oven at 50 degrees and they keep on running," said Professor Bender.
--
That seem like a typo to anyone else until they realized that we use dumb scales here in America? - ARR0624, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6A few of you diggers don't seem to understand why these will help Africa and any other countries interested in them. These computers will be their text books, they wont have to buy new books every time they go out of date. With access to the internet and being able to save documents and such will help tremendously. They can browse sites with medical information or check the latest almanac. They could even check sites like wikipedia to learn what every they choose to learn, but I'm sure alot of you retards will be altering it just to make their life harder. This is wonderful for third world countries with absolutely no help from things like FEMA. At least in america if your down and out you have a chance, these people are trying their hardest and will always be poor. And sure if they want to look at porn why would it matter? or would your favorite porn site go down cause of all the traffic.
- jer2eydevil88, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5o020o you might want to learn something about Linux before you declare this hardware to be unusable. Linux is highly customizable and is becoming increasingly popular on gadgets like phones and pda's both of which have far less computing power than this $100 laptop. By customizing Linux to fit the hardware in these laptops you will have a speedy and usable computer designed to browse the web and do small amounts of word processing.
- potskie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Do your reaserch the internet access is provided by an AD-HOC style network between the laptops. Also if they can learn and research how to make clean water themselves wont that be better.
- C00LI0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5this is going to be a revolution in 3rd world countries
- judbeasley, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8Good to see they are starting to produce these things. I think it's a great idea. Imagine how happy a child would be to get this. When they are used to throwing pebbles in a circle on the ground, they will be amazed by these and excited to use them. Obviously it would be a huge downgrade for me or any digg user to have one of these. But this is an upgrade to them. All these posts flaming the idea are ridiculous.
- EXreaction, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Gee, your an idiot. I'd keep on about how stupid you really must be, but it's a waste of my time. I'll just block you.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I think you're missing the point. These laptops are made so that (just about) ANYONE can buy them. It is 1 step closer to turning the computer, more precisely the laptop, into a true educational tool instead of a luxury item..because really the personal computer is still very much a luxury item.
FTA: Professor Negroponte's response has always been the same: "It's an education project, not a laptop project." The view was shared by Kofi Annan, ex-secretary General of the UN. In 2005, he described the laptop as an "expression of global solidarity" that would "open up new fronts" for children's education.
Besides, do you know how much $500 is really worth in countries that these laptops were designed for? - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -6/+10LOL, and now Stevens is running from the FBI. Ahh it's just another Republican who lies steals cheats and doesnt know WTF they are doing when it comes to sensible policy.
Vote Republican 08' "Destroying American Families One Surge At A Time" - weeble, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5I got my hands on one of these a couple of months ago. It is an absolutely great little computer. I love it... and I really didn't want to give it back. It still had a few minor bugs... but it was very usable and a brilliant design.
- Harbinger67, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Before we know it, the entire third world will be sending each other internets. God help us all.
- clark1001, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5The last sentence of the article says that they $100 is their goal.
- GMorgan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Isn't there a VMware image. You don't need one to run the OS (which is the real business end of things). All the software is Free software.
- underthelinux, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3based on your comments from above, you dont know anything about anything.
- Timmmm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You don't need the actual hardware to develop software for it - it's just linux.
- ChrisAlbon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3This is a typical response. However, it fails by assuming a zero-sum source for funding. (ie, people spending money on the laptop are therefore not spending money on water projects). This is simply not the case.
- Sairgem, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3What an interesting comment. Not.
- tdawson2012, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The laptop is for the developing world. You morose mother *****.
- kidcodea, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3this laptop resume features blowaway anything on the market.
back from hibernation in 200ms!
so good. awesome product. and endless battery via my arm strenght! - sail191912, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3A third world perspective: Education is just as important as Sanitation, Water & Healthcare. Uneducated voters can be easily swayed into voting for crooks into office with false promises or bribes. Once elected, heads of government steal money meant for improving sanitation, water supply, healthcare & education, back into their personal coffers for future election bribes.
Sanitation, water supply & healthcare may not be at par with developed countries right now, but if the current generation is educated well, the future of the third world might be a little better. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3can I have one? They should make these for $200-250 for regular people and make the profit go toward their cause.
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