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Can the education-focused OLPC XO 3.0 tablet teach consumer manufacturers anything useful?

Nearly 18 months ago, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) laid out plans to introduce a $100, education-focused tablet. While the design and features of that original mockup have changed, at CES 2012, OLPC and Marvell finally introduced a working model, the X0 3.0.

We briefly covered the announcement during CES week, but in getting some hands-on time with the device and speaking with the developers of this unique tablet, it got me thinking. With its low-power, low-cost approach to tablets, is there anything useful the XO 3.0 can teach consumer tablet manufacturers?

Honestly, to avoid burying the lede too much here, I'll say that I'm not sure it can. What sets the XO 3.0 apart from consumer tablets is that consumers won't actually have access to it.… Read more

$100 OLPC tablet to debut at CES

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) will show a $100 tablet at CES, a follow-on to the organization's low-cost laptop, which has been distributed to over 2 million children globally.

OLPC's mission is to provide one connected laptop or tablet to children who have little or no access to education because of insufficient resources.

"We're proud to introduce the XO 3.0 tablet, showcasing the design, durability and performance features that make it a natural successor for our current laptops, which have been distributed to more than 2.4 million children in 42 countries and in 25 languages," said Edward McNierney, chief technology officer of One Laptop per Child, in a statement. … Read more

Traxxas XO-1: A radio-controlled supercar

The car pictured above does 0-60 mph in a scant 2.3 seconds, goes on to hit 100 mph in just under five ticks, and only costs $1,100.

No, that last bit is not a typo, because the Traxxas XO-1 only measures 27 inches from nose to tail. This is not a passenger car, but it's also not a toy. It's a remote-controlled scale race car and Traxxas says that it's the fastest in the world.… Read more

Photo fun

The publisher's description of PhoXo says that it can be "treated as a mini Photoshop." This made us laugh, because the last time we checked, Photoshop didn't include an assortment of emoticons and other clip art. But we gave PhoXo a chance and found that we actually liked it quite a bit. It contains the basic image-editing tools that the non-professional user would expect, with a few fun (and goofy) extras that make it appropriate for younger users, too.

The program's interface is well organized and intuitive, with menus across the top and a toolbar … Read more

OLPC XO-3: An impossible $75 fantasy tablet

A dual-touch-screen XO-2 laptop was a fantastical concept. But it's nothing on One Laptop Per Child's XO-3, a dream of a tablet.

The concept design, via Fuse Project, is all semi-flexible plastic, multitouch, and backlit. It functions as a color-screen e-reader and a camera. It's thinner than an iPhone, waterproof, and $75.

In other words, it's everything people have been fantasizing about in a tablet--durable, thin, multitouch, and multiple-screen modes for computing and reading--but for just $75.

Nicholas Negroponte, head of the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child, wants it by 2012.

Remember, this is the organization … Read more

A modern approach to Java application development

With Java investments in the billions over the last dozen years, it's a safe bet that enterprise companies won't be replacing these systems any time soon. In fact, one could claim Java usage is growing in spite of best efforts to claim otherwise by aficionados of Ruby, PHP, Python, Groovy, Scala, and other dynamic languages.

Red Hat for example reports that its JBoss Java middleware is its fastest growing business. IBM remains heavily invested in its WebSphere Java middleware. And let's not forget Oracle, which not only has the Sun brand (and ergo Java) pending but last year added BEA to the fold.

Java application platforms have been so focused on scalability and efficiency of database-driven applications that they've often ignored what's evolved in the consumer Web: rich user environments, better interactivity, and a mixing of content and data, collaboration and social features--all with much more personal control and empowerment. Efforts like JavaFX have been interesting if not ready for prime time.

But Java is hardly irrelevant, and Benjamin Mestrallet, founder and CEO of eXo Platform, thinks he can change exactly the perception that Java can't be Web 2.0 hip. eXo, which just opened its first U.S. office, is hoping to remake Java from stodgy to socially aware by combining powerful REST-based common services with rich Web 2.0 apps to get the most out of so-called legacy Java apps.

eXo counts a number of very smart people with deep Java roots in their court to make this happen including: Bob Bickel, a founder of Bluestone Software, former head of HP Middleware and former JBoss head of strategy; Edwin Khodabakchian, founder of Collaxa and former VP of Product Management at Oracle; and Sacha Labourey, longtime JBoss CTO and former co-GM of Red Hat Middleware. … Read more

OLPC operating system free on a stick

The One Laptop Per Child operating system is now available for free downloading for "any" PC or Netbook, according to its maker.

Sugar Labs, responsible for building the low-cost device's XO-1 operating system, released it online last week for loading onto any USB flash drive greater than 1GB.

Called "Sugar on a Stick v1," Sugar Labs hopes it will help spread the use of the OS in classrooms, without the need for the OLPC machine.

An IDC analyst said earlier this year that the OS would be one of the OLPC's more attractive aspects … Read more

Pixel Qi talks up low-power displays

I got an e-mail from the folks over at O'Reilly Media mentioning that keynotes and other presentations from the company's ETech 2009 conference, held earlier this month, were now online at the ETech 2009 site. I missed that show, but I was interested in one of the keynotes, so I surfed on over to take a look.

The keynote I was looking for was indeed online: Mary Lou Jepsen, CEO of Pixel Qi and formerly CTO of the One Laptop Per Child organization, talking about "Low-Cost, Low-Power Computing." You can watch a video of the presentation … Read more

Analyst: OLPC won't draw global PC makers

Whitebox vendors in the Asia-Pacific region may warm up to the One Laptop Per Child's decision to open its design, according to market research analyst IDC.

Multinational PC makers, on the other hand, will continue their focus on mini-notebooks, Reuben Tan, IDC's senior manager for personal systems research in the Asia-Pacific region, told CNET News sister site ZDNet Asia in a phone interview.

Earlier this month, OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte announced the organization's intention to open-source its hardware design and invite commercial PC makers to copy it. In an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia, Negroponte said the … Read more

OLPC slashes workforce in half, cuts salaries

The One Laptop Per Child project announced Wednesday that it is slashing its workforce by 50 percent, reducing salaries for the remaining staff, and restructuring its operations.

Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the group that aims to provide low-cost laptops to children in developing countries, announced the cuts in a company blog post:

Like many other nonprofits that are facing tough economic times, One Laptop per Child must downsize in order to keep costs in line with fewer financial resources. Today we are reducing our team by approximately 50% and there will be salary reductions for the remaining 32 people. While … Read more