[Year 12 Its] new news on the $100 laptop...

[Donna Benjamin]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41028000/jpg/_41028104_laptop_longafpbody.jpg

http://laptop.media.mit.edu/

*Hand-cranked laptop launched for schoolkids*

Researchers in Tunis have unveiled a $A137 hand-cranked laptop computer,
saying they hoped to place them in the hands of millions of
schoolchildren around the globe.

About the size of a textbook, the lime-green machines can set up their
own wireless networks and operate in areas without a reliable
electricity supply, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
researchers said at a United Nations technology summit.

"These robust, versatile machines will enable children to become more
active in their own learning," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a
press conference where the machine was unveiled.

The goal is to provide the machines free of charge to children in poor
countries who cannot afford computers of their own, said MIT Media Lab
chairman Nicholas Negroponte.

Governments or charitable donors will pay for the machines but children
will own them, he said.

"Ownership of the laptops is absolutely critical," he said. "Have you
ever washed a rented car?"

Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria are candidates to receive the first
wave of laptops starting in February or March, and each will buy at
least 1 million units, he said.

The laptop is not yet in production but one company has offered to build
it for $A150 and four others are considering bids as well, he said.

The computers operate at 500 MHz, about half the processor speed of
commercial laptops, and will run on Linux or some other open-source
operating system, he said.

They can be folded in different ways to serve as an electronic book, a
television or a computer. A bright yellow hand crank that sticks out
prominently from the side serves as an alternate power source when
batteries or an electric outlet are not available.

The computer uses a screen from a portable DVD player, which can be
switched from colour to black and white to make it easily viewable in
bright sunlight, said Mary Lou Jepsen, the project's chief technical
officer.

A free laptop program in the state of Maine, US, has increased school
attendance and boosted participation, Mr Negroponte said.

"If you get those kinds of results, I'm going to build the machines," he
said. "There's enough passion and enough kids that are able to do things
they were not able to do before that justifies it."

Mr Negroponte said the machines might be commercially available to the
general public at a higher price - perhaps $A275 or so.

But their bright colour and distinctive appearance should discourage
anybody from stealing or buying one from a student, he said.

-Reuters

-- 
donna benjamin - executive director
http://www.creativecontingencies.com/
ph +61 3 9326 9985 | mob +61 418 310 414
research - facilitation - web development