Risks--and rewards--of XO laptop
,----[ Quote
| But the real fun began after we started to explore the XO's games. I told her
| to open Pippy and we played the "guess the number" game. In Pippy, the source
| code appears on the top half of the screen, and the interaction window (where
| you enter your name and guess the number) appears on the bottom half. She
| played the game three times, averaging about 7 guesses per try, and then
| said "I want to play another game". I suggested she try playing a different
| game by modifying the parameters to guess a number between 1 and 1,000,000
| instead of between 1 and 100. She looked at me with wide eyes. I explained
| that on the top was a program, the program of the game, and that if she
| changed a single number in two places, she could change the game itself. She
| went from a look of "no way" to a look of "OK! What are we waiting for!" in
| about 200 milliseconds. She started to enter a million, decided that was just
| a little too large, and changed it to 1000. She hit "run" and sure enough,
| the prompt asked for a guess between 1 and 1000. She looked at me excitedly.
| I told her to guess, and after 11 guesses, she got it. She looked at me
| again, somewhat amazed. I told her she had just programmed the computer. I
| might as well told her we were going to spend a week in Cinderella's castle—
| she jumped up, shrieked, and yelled "HEY MOMMY! GUESS WHAT!? I JUST
| PROGRAMMED THE COMPUTER!"
|
| Needless to say there was much excitement. She tried other modifications,
| including a version of the game she could win every time on the first try.
| She got her syntax errors, run-time errors, all the other scrapes and bruises
| one gets on the way to learning how to program, but she was excited, elated,
| and became confident! The little scorekeeper in me said:
|
| Negraponte: 1, Doubt: 0.
`----
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13507_1-9837995-18.html
So-Called $100 Laptops Fetch Six Times That at Auction Sites
,----[ Quote
| However, in recent bidding on the auction site, consumers have agreed to pay
| as much $600 for an XO with shipping. Nearly all of the XOs sold on the site
| have gone for more than $250.
`----
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/60941.html
Microsoft mouthpiece (Enderle) in this article. They are all over the place.
Quote for the day:
"To me, Bill is the great white shark that looks at minnows with no more
consciousness than we look at a plate of food. The shark has no soul. The
shark knows no boundaries. All it has is an appetite. When the shark gets
hungry, it thinks “I’m hungry”, so it eats."
--Mitch Kertzman, former CEO of Sybase
Gates also fought the *charity* known as OLPC. It stood in his way.
Related:
OLPC Heralds Era of Low-Cost Computing
,----[ Quote
| Critics of the One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) Project like to point out that it
| has not yet lived up to its goal of putting US$100 notebooks in the hands of
| millions of kids in poor countries, but that's a short-sighted view
| considering the impact it's already having on the computer industry.
|
| OLPC's XO laptop and the dream of the $100 notebook PC have driven down the
| cost of computing and highlighted the issue of the lack of computing
| resources in developing nations.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140697-c,notebooks/article.html
One Laptop Per Child Gets The Green Light in India
,----[ Quote ]
| India may have been a late starter in adopting the powerful computer-based
| education program One Laptop Per Child (popularly known as OLPC), a
| brainchild of MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte to bridge the technology
| divide between rich and the poor children in the developing world.
`----
http://www.govtech.com/gt/216153?topic=118264
Birmingham City Schools will be first in nation to get $200 XO laptops
,----[ Quote ]
| Birmingham city schools will be the first in the nation to receive laptop
| computers designed for children in third-world countries under an agreement
| completed over the weekend, Mayor Larry Langford announced Monday.
`----
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/12/birmingham_city_schools_will_b.html
Birmingham might buy thousands of XO Laptop computers for students in grades
one through eight
,----[ Quote ]
| The machines don't run Microsoft Office, Photoshop or any other standard Mac
| or Windows programs, instead using a free, open-source version of GNU/Linux,
| with a simplified graphical interface designed for children called Sugar. The
| laptop has a 500-megahertz processor and 256 megabytes of DRAM (dynamic
| random access memory) with 1 gigabyte of flash memory. The laptops have Web
| browsers and their own Wi-Fi system, the ability to connect to the Internet
| wirelessly. Each is on a "mesh network," meaning all the laptops can see each
| other, without any setup, even if there is no wireless connection nearby.
`----
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1195463987242670.xml&coll=2&thispage=1
One laptop per child finds way into India
,----[ Quote ]
| The one laptop per child (OLPC) project, a brainchild of MIT professor
| Nicholas Negroponte, will soon find its way into Indian homes.
`----
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Hardware/One_laptop_per_child_finds_way_into_India/articleshow/2583239.cms
$100 laptop program still eyes India
,----[ Quote ]
| The so-called $100 laptops for children may make it to India after all.
`----
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/10/25/100.laptop.india.ap/index.html
OLPC makes its entry into India - finally!
,----[ Quote ]
| When the OLPC first made news, a prominent official in the HRD ministry of
| the Indian government had gone on record snubbing the OLPC project ($100
| laptop), even making a preposterous claim that work was under way to create
| India's own $10 laptop. But as things have worked out, OLPC has already made
| an entry into India in the form of a pilot project in a rural primary school
| in a village in the state of Maharasthra.
`----
http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2007/11/olpc-makes-its-entry-into-india-finally.html
Intel: doing the dirty on OLPC
,----[ Quote ]
| Intel’s agreement with the OLPC Foundation included a ‘non disparagement’
| clause, under which Intel and One Laptop promised not to criticize each
| other, according to Nicholas Negroponte in the latest article in the Wall
| Street Journal.
|
| Still Intel tactics have violated that repeatedly to kill OLPC efforts in
| Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, India, China and Intel is also still trying to pull
| those tactics in Mexico, Brazil.
| This is simply disgracefull of Intel, scandalous.
|
| But Negroponte has signed an agreement saying that he is not allowed to
| criticize Intel, so he is not allowed to talk about these shameless tactics
| even though Intel is the one violating the agreement.
|
| So only independant voices on the Internet can get those messages of truth
| out about Intels tactics.
|
| In Nigeria, Intel came and donated 3000 laptops to counter OLPC efforts, then
| sells 17 thousand Classmates to Nigeria at a loss.
|
| Then Microsoft corrupted Nigerian officials with 400 thousand dollars to
| install Windows XP on those instead of Mandriva Linux.
`----
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14124
Poor Kids' Laptop Cranks Up
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates earlier this year told the Microsoft
| Government Leaders Forum, "Geez, get a decent computer where you can
| actually read the text and you?re not sitting there cranking the thing
| while you're trying to type" (see Bill Gates Mocks $100 Laptop).
`----
http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=17302
One Laptop Per Child - Production Delays Caused By Microsoft, Intel?
,----[ Quote ]
| I sincerely hope that no matter what the people who are running the
| OLPC project decide, that their project will continue and not get
| bogged down in a play of corporate greed and ambitions.
`----
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/04/28/one-laptop-per-child-production-delays-caused-by-microsoft-intel/
Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself"
,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733
,----[ Quote ]
| That software effort does not have the support of Mr. Otellini, who
| is concerned about incurring Microsoft's wrath, the executive said.
| The two companies have a long history of tension over who controls
| the hardware and software direction of the "Wintel standard." Intel
| has said it is supporting both operating systems.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16chip.html?ex=1177560000&en=2ef52cee6b1fb0e3&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS
Lessons from Africa: How to Kill Your Own FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| So, even as Microsoft claims superior quality over Linux, they act as if they
| don't even buy their own FUD. If they really believed that Windows was
| superior to Linux, they wouldn't have to bribe people with “marketing help”
| to get them to choose Windows.
`----
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-11-09-030-26-OP-MD-MS
Linux wins Nigerian school desktops back from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| "We are sticking with that platform," said the official, who would not give
| his name.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=6124
http://tinyurl.com/27ycq9
[Mandriva CEO:] An open letter to Steve Ballmer
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow! I’m impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their
| mind like this? It’s pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to everyone.
| How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where you live? In my
| place, they give it various names, I’m sure you know them.
|
| Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
|
| Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the next one.
| You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different sense of ethics
| you and I, but I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win
| too.
`----
http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/
Not Such a Harsh Toke, Actually
,----[ Quote ]
| This is socially, economically, politically and otherwise innovative. It is
| good for democracy too in some of the few remaining places that good thing is
| having trouble getting hold. We regard that thing too lightly, I fear.
|
| The Gates | Otellini axis directly hurts us deeply. To me, it is a
| particularly American shame.
`----
http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/11/not-such-a-hars.html
EC says Intel influenced bids for computer projects
,----[ Quote ]
| The third type of allegation, however, was new, and sounded like a variety of
| predatory pricing. “In the context of bids against AMD-based products for
| strategic customers in the server segment of the market,” the commission
| press release said, “Intel has offered CPUs on average below cost.”
`----
http://legalpad.blogs.fortune.com/2007/08/03/ec-says-intel-influenced-bids-for-computer-projects/
AMD Demonstrates First Graphics Processors to Feature Native DisplayPort 1.1
,----[ Quote ]
| AMD has successfully tested a next-generation graphics processor with a
| native DisplayPort 1.1 transmitter.
`----
http://www.physorg.com/news105368972.html
Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself"
,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733
AMD chief condemns Intel 'abuses'
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2005, after the Japan Fair Trade Commission found Intel guilty of
| offering illegal rebates to Japanese PC makers, AMD filed an anti-trust
| suit against its competitor in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. The
| case has not been decided.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/21/amd_ceo_condemns_intel_abuses/
AMD: Intel Destroyed Evidence in Antitrust Case
,----[ Quote ]
| In an unpublished statement to the U.S. District Court of Delaware,
| AMD alleges Intel allowed the destruction of evidence in pending
| antitrust litigation.
`----
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6352
Video: Henri Richard comes out swinging at Intel during AMD press conference
,----[ Quote ]
| [AMD's Henri Richard:] "I am sick and tired of being pushed around
| by a competitor that doesn't respect the rules of fair and open
| competition."
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=363
Testing Laboratory Challenges Intel Power Efficiency Claim
,----[ Quote ]
| Intel's recent claim of power efficiency superiority over AMD is being
| challenged by Neal Nelson & Associates, an independent Chicago area computer
| testing firm.
|
| [...]
|
| The test is a client server benchmark where world wide web transactions are
| processed against a server configured with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from
| Novell, the Apache2 web server software and the MySQL relational database.
`----
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/hardware/11054/testing-laboratory-challenges-intel-power-efficiency-claim
Investors sue Dell on payments from Intel: WSJ
,----[ Quote ]
| An investor lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses Dell Inc. of
| improper accounting in its relationship with chip giant Intel,
| according to a media report published Thursday evening.
|
| [...]
|
| The suit alleges that Dell received at times as much as $1 billion
| a year in "secret and likely illegal" kickbacks in the form of
| "e-Cap" or "exception to corporate average pricing" payments"
| from Intel to ensure that Dell used no other chip supplier,
| according to The Journal.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/investors-sue-dell-payments-intel/story.aspx?guid=%7B400315B0%2DE375%2D4920%2DB300%2D784220BEFE35%7D&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo
Lenovo got financial help from Intel, claim
,----[ Quote ]
| Journalists on the title said Lenovo is being paid a "pretty
| penny" from Intel to use its chips.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37670
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2005, a unit of Shenzhen Donjin countersued, saying Intel engaged
| in monopolistic practices.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070514/china_intel_settlement.html?.v=7
Intel's anti-trust memos started vanishing from the top
,----[ Quote ]
| Chairman Craig Barrett, CEO Paul Otellini and sales chief Sean Maloney
| have appeared on a list of Intel employees thought to have deleted
| e-mails possibly relevant to AMD's anti-trust lawsuit against its
| larger rival. The missing e-mails have thrust a livid state of mind
| onto AMD's lawyers who have very serious problems with Intel's
| rather lax document retention policy.
|
| [...]
|
| CEO Otellini appears to have been one of these troublesome employees.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/11/intel_tortellini_episode/
|
|
