The One-Hundred Dollar Laptop

Finally, regarding Nicolas Negroponte, he has committed time and effort to create a laptop for under US$100.00 that could be distributed to underprivileged students around the world by either their own governments,world organizations or individuals like you and me. It is called the One Laptop Per Child OLPC Foundation.

I heard him speak recently on the subject. Negroponte insist that we all remember this is about education not a laptop project. He said the idea for the laptop was an attempt to try and close the digital divide which exist in the world. He wanted every child to have the opportunity to access the Internet and use it as an educational tool, like so many other more fortunate children.

The technical challenges were great. They had to find a way to power the unit with or without electricity. They had to develop a way to give the user access to the Internet without high speed plug-ins or hot spots. The unit is a no-frills, basic tools kind of machine. All the challenges were meet, except for the cost. The unit is US$399.00 right now. Negroponte explained once they begin full production, the unit cost will drop and they hope to get it down to their original target of one hundred. Incidentally, you can buy one right now for US$399.00 and the organization will donate one to a needy child somewhere around the world.

I am more impressed with this man than I ever was before. Many have said over the years that Internet access is the next civil right. Here is someone clearly doing something about it. In a time when so many people on earth live on about a dollar a day, imagine the impact of this educational tool on future generations competing in a global world, an information age and the knowledge economy. Talk about the world being flat!

More on Nicholas Negroponte

There were several things Nicolas Negroponte said on Charlie Rose the night of February 6, 1995. One of those was to stop thinking in atoms and start thinking in bits and bytes-the theme of his book “Being Digital” For those today, this probably seems “old school” if you realize it has been almost thirteen years since he said it and everyone is familiar with the binary system of zeros and ones and the high-speed transfers today of DSL cable or WIFI/WMAX, T-1, 2, or 3. But remember back then just about everyone had dial-up. Take a little plastic connector (about $0.79) at the end of telephone-line and disconnect from your handheld and plug it into your desktop-very few laptops then. When put in perspective, atoms to bits and bytes-digital-took quite a leap in everyone’s mind.
One of the other things Negroponte said, not that night, but in another interview was how information would be more valuable then the money you could make from that information. But most importantly, he said he no longer read the Wall Street Journal or “techie” magazines to keep up with changes and innovations which had the greatest impact on technology. He said he kept up with what was happening with the entertainment side of technology. It was games and widgets that drove the innovations, especially in the area of graphics, not business or government.
When I think today about the latest widgets, iPods, iPhones, all kinds of hand held devices, X-box, satellite radio, Wii’s great innovations for entertainment and communications, what Negroponte said still seems to hold true.

I am not writing about Negroponte for purposes of nostalgia, even though I am nostalgic. I am simply trying to make a point about listening for and paying attention to those voices that help us understand today’s world and voices which give us a glimpse into tomorrow.