MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-10-02 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] $100 laptops with a hand crank....
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New York: 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 (about R636) 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
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.
He expects to churn out about 15 million of them in a year, shipping
most of them at first to children in Brazil, Egypt, Thailand and South
Africa.
Describing the unusual design of his sub-laptop on Friday, Negroponte
insisted that it would "have to be absolutely indestructible".
The mission is to create a tool that children almost anywhere can use
and can easily carry between their classrooms and their homes. For that
reason, for instance, the AC adaptor cable will double as a shoulder
strap.
Inspiration for the project, which has backing from US companies
including Google, came to Negroponte when he was travelling recently
with his wife in Cambodia.
He spotted children in a rural area carrying laptops - which the
couple's foundation had donated - from school to their homes.
To cut costs, the machines would have a 500-megahertz processor provided
by Advanced Micro Devices, which is a little slow by today's
lightning-speed standards.
However, it would be set up for wireless connectivity, known as wi-fi,
to give users the greatest chance of hooking up to the internet. It
would run on a Linux platform rather than Microsoft's more expensive
Windows.
It is not the first time that someone has attempted to develop a
rock-bottom price device to feed the potentially monumental market in
developing countries for laptops.
Part of the problem has been stopping donated machines leaking on to the
commercial market.
Negroponte said that his laptops would be so distinctive in design and
look that stealing and reselling them would be akin to stealing
furniture from a church. People would recognise where they come from. He
thinks that no more than 2% of the devices would fall into that murky
"grey market".
Other features include being able to switch from a full colour screen to
a monochrome, which will be easier to see in bright sunlight.
In the first models, turning the crank for a minute will provide 10
minutes of power. Negroponte says that he hopes that his machines will
get cheaper and he expects the technology to improve. - Tribune Foreign
Service
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