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Pedal Powered Laptops?

theycallmep — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:10:40 +0000

This really isn’t a focus on alternative energy, but I thought this was an interestng article: http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/afghanistan/updates_from_olpc_afghanistan_1.html. Apparently there is an oraganization, One Laptop Per Child, trying to get kids all over the world access to computers and the internet. One of the problems in less developed countries obviously is the lack of a good electrical infrastructure. In Afghanistan, apparently that have created a laptop called the XO connected to pedals. The idea is that the user will pedal the entire time they use the computer in order for it to get power. Apparently it produces energy very efficiently because even third graders are expected to be able to use it. I thought this form of alternative energy was interesting because it comes from a different necessity. In the U.S. we are exploring alternative energy for the fear of running out of resources, but in less developed countries they are coming up with alternative energies just to be able to have electricity in the first place.

Una Netbook por Alumno

David Araya — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:09:19 +0000

Hoy, en las Ciudad de Córdoba, en el colegio IPEM 249 “Nicolás Copérnico” se anunció a un grupo de escuelas la entrega de las tan esperadas Netbooks provenientes del INET a los colegios técnicos. Las mismas llegarán durante el próximo año. Para recibirlas, los Colegios Técnicos deben presentar sus Planes de Mejoras para la adecuación de los espacios físicos antes del 18 de diciembre del corriente año.

Se espera recibir una computadora por cada alumno de 4, 5 y 6 año y tres computadoras para docentes por cada división de los mesionados cursos.

Ya estan dadas las especificaciones de las Netbooks, a grandes razgos estamos hablando de compuradoras con microprocesador Atom, 1 Gb de Ram, Sistema Operativo Linux y Windows Seven.

Ademas se provee de un servidor, 2 Access Point por aula, un UPS y otros dispositivos auxiliares.

Las capacitaciones sobre el uso de estos recursos estarán a cargo de Micro$oft bajo el programa “Alianza Por La Educación”.

Con mas tiempo estaré publicando mas información relacionado a esto. Más información en este link

Saludos

David Araya

Dodging the Digital Divide

compasspartners — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:08:09 +0000

I’m finally buying a new computer this weekend—my first Macbook. I am chucking my PC mass of junk, and turning to the whitewashed world of Apple. Quite a transition. As an overworked college student and simultaneous Facebook addict, the amount of time I spend daily on the internet (or at least connected online thanks to my Blackberry) is borderline gross. So, in thinking about my new laptop and general internet use I came to some realizations about the deep implications and symbolic significance of owning a computer, a luxury we often take for granted and whose power we don’t always take fully take into account. And, of course, how social entrepreneurship makes an entrance into these simple daily things.

As you have perhaps already seen in some of my previous blog posts, issues of education and literacy and poverty are perhaps what most intrigue me within the world of social entrepreneurship……and though I am completely inept when it comes to technology, I can easily recognize that in today’s cyber and globalizing world, technology is inextricably connected to a solid education and equal foundation that individuals need to compete with the rest of the world and overcome economic struggles.

Unfortunately however, technology is not an equally-accessible commodity that can guarantee these fundamental opportunities to be a connected and participatory member of the online world. To us privileged Georgetown students, the internet is a basic thing of quotidian everyday life, but to others the promise of internet carries a much greater weight and potential.

Thanks to technology and the spread of free trade and cross capitalism, every day the world is becoming more and more connected. From my dorkily anthropological perspective, this sometimes saddens me because I fear a total homogenization of the many vibrant cultures and languages and peoples I find so engaging.

From my social entrepreneurial perspective however, the relationships between technology, globalization, and education are perhaps some of the most important issues we should be considering and worrying about these day, and more importantly, addressing. By utilizing technology and the internet, the “haves” are able to attain more knowledge and essentially continue their social and economic ascent. Meanwhile, the impoverished “have-nots”, lacking that technological window, access, and connection to the rest of the world, just watch themselves get further steeped into the dark abysses of poverty. They wait in the shadows while other prosper with the gift of internet access. Again, they become excluded by the internet phenomenon that has become a simple reality of most peoples’ lives.

An old CNN article I discovered from several years ago discussed the future implications of the internet phenomenon within the realm of economic inequality: “Lack of access leads to a lack of wealth and income, which was the reason for the lack of access.” Clearly, and still today, this lack of adequate access to technology, particularly within the global community of the internet, prompts a perpetuating cycle and circularity that further entrenches the poor in a world from which they are trying to escape.

Which is where social entrepreneurship comes into play. This digital divide is not a new problem but just recently have social entrepreneurs started doing something about it. Because, they have the power to either further cripple the poor of the world…..or empower them. Take the social business One Laptop Per Child for example, which has designed a cheap and cost-effective laptop model that ensure the upcoming generation of rural children will be adequately connected to the opportunities the internet provides and the gateway to the world they want to be part of.

So, through the tenets of social entrepreneurship, we can start creating an equal playing field through equal access to education and technology that will prevent further exacerbation of this basic gap among humanity. How our generation decides to approach the internet can either create further economic and education barriers or break them down once and for all.

~ Sarah Henningsen, Georgetown College 2012

Actively Reading: OLPC Critique

enkerli — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:58:45 +0000

Critical thinking has been on my mind, recently. For one thing, I oriented an ”intro. to sociology” course I teach toward critical skills and methods. To me, it’s a very important part of university education, going much beyond media literacy.

And media literacy is something about which I care a great deal. Seems to me that several journalists have been giving up on trying to help the general population increase and enhance their own media literacy skills. It’s almost as if they were claiming they’re the only ones who can reach a significant level of media literacy. Of course, many of them seem unable to have a critical approach to their own work. I’m with Bourdieu on this one. And I make my problem with journalism known.

As a simple example, I couldn’t help but notice a number of problems with this CBC coverage of a new citizenship guidebook. My approach to this coverage is partly visible in short discussions I’ve had on Aardvark about bylines.

A bit over a week ago, I heard about something interesting related to “making technology work,” on WTP (a technology podcast for PRI/BBC/Discovery The World, a bit like Search Engine from bigger media outlets). It was a special forum discussion related to issues broader than simply finding the right tool for the right task. In fact, it sounded like it could become a broad discussion of issues and challenges going way beyond the troubleshooting/problem-solving approach favoured by some technology enthusiasts. Given my ethnographic background, my interest in geek culture, and my passion for social media, I thought I’d give it a try.

The first thing I noticed was a link to a critique of the OLPC project. I’ve personally been quite critical of that project, writing several blogposts about it. So I had to take a look.

And although I find the critical stance of this piece relatively useful (there was way too much groupthink with the original coverage of the OLPC), I couldn’t help but use my critical sense as I was reading this piece.

Which motivated me to do some Diigo annotations on it. For some reason, there are things that I wanted to highlight which aren’t working and I think I may have lost some annotations in the process. But the following is the result of a relatively simple reading of this piece. True to the draft aesthetics, I made no attempt to be thorough, clean, precise, or clear.

http://www.miller-mccune.com/business_economics/computer-error-1390.print
http://www.miller-mccune.com/business_economics/computer-error-1390.print

appealing

World Economic Forum

50 percent of staff were being laid off and a major restructuring was under way

The dramatic version which sends the message: OLPC Inc. was in big trouble. (The fact that it’s allegedly a non-profit is relatively irrelevant.)

the project seems nearly dead in the water

A strong statement. Stronger than all those “beleaguered company” ones made about Apple in the mid90s before Jobs went back.

And that may be great news for children in the developing world.

Tadaa! Here’s the twist! The OLPC is dead, long live the Child!

lobbied national governments and international agencies

Right. The target was institutional. Kind of strange for a project which was billed as a way to get tools in the hands of individual children. And possibly one of the biggest downfalls of the project.

Negroponte and other techno-luminati

Oh, snap!
It could sound relatively harmless an appellation. But the context and the piece’s tone make it sound like a rather deep insult.

Innovate

Ah, nice! Not “create” or “build.” But “innovate.” Which is something the project has been remarkably good at. It was able to achieve a number of engineering feats. Despite Negroponte’s repeated claims to the contrary, the OLPC project can be conceived as an engineering project. In fact, it’s probably the most efficient way to shed the most positive light on it. As an engineering project, it was rather successful. As an “education project” (as Negroponte kept calling it), it wasn’t that successful. In fact, it may have delayed a number of things which matter in terms of education.

take control of their education

Self-empowerment, at the individual level. In many ways, it sounds like a very Protestant ideal. And it’s clearly part of the neoliberal agenda (or the neoconservative one, actually). Yet it doesn’t sound strange at all. It sounds naturally good and pure.

technology optimists

Could be neutral in denotation but does connote a form of idealistic technological determinism.

Child

school attendance

“Children who aren’t in school can’t be learning anything, right?”

trending dramatically upward

Fascinating choice of words.

tens of millions of dollars

highly respected center

Formulas such as these are often a way to prevent any form of source criticism. Not sure Wikipedians would consider these “peacock terms,” but they don’t clearly represent a “neutral point of view.”

they don’t seem to be learning much

Nothing which can be measured with our tools, at least. Of course, nothing else matters. But still…

international science exam

Of course, these tend to be ideally suited for most learning contexts…

There’s no question that improving education in the developing world is necessary.

Although, there could be a question or two about this. Not politically expedient, perhaps. But still…

powerful argument

Tools in a rhetorical process.

instinctive appeal

Even the denotative sense is polarized.

precious little evidence

Switching to the “studies have shown” mode. In this mode, lack of proof is proof of lack, critical thinking is somewhat discouraged, and figures are significant by themselves.

circumstantial evidence

The jury isn’t out, on this one.

co-founder of J-PA

Did Esther co-write the article? Honest question.

the technology didn’t work any better than a normal classroom teacher

A very specific point. If the goal of tool use is to improve performance over “regular teaching,” it’s a particular view of technology. One which, itself, is going by the wayside. And which has been a large part of the OLPC worldview.

the goal is improving education for children in the developing world, there are plenty of better, and cheaper, alternatives.

A core belief, orienting the piece. Cost is central. The logic is one of “bang for the buck.”

the teachers simply weren’t using the computers

We’re touching on something, here. People have to actually use the computers for the “concept” to work. Funny that there’s rarely a lot of discussion on how that works. A specific version of “throwing money at a problem” is to “throw technology at” people.

few experimental studies to show a positive impact from the use of computers

Is the number of studies going one way or another the main issue, here? Can’t diverse studies look at different things and be understood as a way to describe a more complex reality than “technology is good and/or bad?”

substituting computers for teachers

Still oriented toward the “time to task” approach. But that’s good enough for cognitive science, which tends to be favourably viewed in educational fields.

supplement

Kept thinking about the well-known Hawthorne effect. In this case, the very idea that providing students with supplementary “care” can be seen as an obvious approach which is most often discussed in the field instead of at the higher levels of decision-making.

The OLPC concept has been pioneered in a number of school districts in the United States over the last decade

From a 2005 project targeting “countries with inconsistent power grids,” we get to a relatively long series of initiatives in individual school districts in the USofA since last century. Telescoping geographical and temporal scales. And, more importantly, assigning the exact same “concept” to diverse projects.

Negroponte has explicitly derided

Not the only thing Negroponte derides. He’s been a professional derider for a while, now.
Negroponte’s personality is part of the subtext of any OLPC-related piece. It’d be interesting to analyse him in view of the “mercurial CEO” type which fascinates a number of people.

It must be said

Acknowledging the fact that there is more to the situation than what this piece is pushing.

academic

In this context, “academic” can have a variety of connotations, many of which are relatively negative.

teachers limited access to the computers

Typically, teachers have relatively little control in terms of students’ access to computers so it sounds likely that the phrase should have read “had limited access.” But, then again, maybe teachers in Hollow’s research were in fact limiting access to computers, which would be a very interesting point to bring and discuss. In fact, part of what is missing in many of those pieces about technology and learning is what access really implies. Typically, most discussions on the subject have to do with time spent alone with such a tool, hence the “one…per child” part of the OLPC approach. But it’s hard to tell if there has been any thought about the benefits of group access to tools or limited access to such tools.
To go even further, there’s a broad critique of the OLPC approach, left unaddressed in this piece, about the emphasis on individual ownership of tools. In the US, it’s usually not ok for neighbours to ask about using others’ lawnmowers and ladders. It’s unsurprising that pushing individual ownership would seem logical to those who design projects from the US.

had not been adequately trained

In the OLPC context, it has been made as a case for the dark side of constructionism. The OLPC project might have been a learning project, but it wasn’t a teaching one. Some explicit comments from project members were doing little to dispel the notion that constructivism isn’t about getting rid of teachers. Even documentation for the OLPC XO contained precious little which could help teachers. Teachers weren’t the target audience. Children and governments were.

not silver bullets

Acknowledging, in an oblique way, that the situation is more complex.

surveys of students

With a clear Hawthorne effect.

parents rolling their eyes

Interesting appeal to parenting experience. Even more than teachers, they’re absent from many of these projects. Not a new pattern. Literacy projects often forget parents and the implications in terms of a generation gap. But what is perhaps more striking is that parents are also invisible in coverage of many of these issues. Contrary to “our” children, children in “those poor countries over there” are “ours to care for,” through development projects, adoptions, future immigration, etc.

evaluation of an OLPC project in Haiti

Sounds more like a pilot project than like field research. But maybe it’s more insightful.

Repeated calls and e-mails to OLPC and Negroponte seeking comment on OLPC did not receive a response

Such statements are “standard procedure” for journalists. But what is striking about this one is where it’s placed in the piece. Not only is it near the end of the argumentation but it’s in a series of comments about alternative views on the OLPC project. Whether or not it was done on purpose, the effect that we get is that there are two main voices, pro and con. Those on the con side can only have arguments in the same line of thought (about the project’s cost and “efficacy,” with possible comments about management). Those on the pro side are put in a defensive position.
In such cases, responsiveness is often key. Though Negroponte has been an effective marketer of his pet project, the fact that he explicitly refuses to respond to criticisms and critiques makes for an even more constrained offense/defense game.

ironic

Strong words, in such a context. Because it’s not the situation which is ironic. It’s a lack of action in a very specific domain.

the Third World

Interesting that the antiquated “Third World” expression comes in two contexts: the alleged target of the OLPC project (with little discussion as to what was meant by that relationship) and as the J-PAL field of expertise.

a leader in

Peacock terms or J-PAL are on the Miller-McCune lovelist?

There are

This is where the piece switches. We’re not talking about the OLPC, anymore. We reduce OLPC to a single goal, which has allegedly not been met, and propose that there are better ways to achieve this goal. Easy and efficient technique, but there still seems to be something missing.

etting children in developing countries into school and helping them learn more while they are there

A more specific goal than it might seem, at first blush.
For a very simple example: how about homeschooling?

proven successful

“We have proof!”

cheap

One might have expected “inexpensive,” here, instead of “cheap.” But, still, the emphasis is on cost.

deworming

Sounds a little bit surprising a switch from computer tech to public health.

50 cents per child per year

$4 per student per year

30 percent increase in lifetime earnings

technology-based approaches to improving student learning in the developing world

Coming back to technology, to an extent, but almost in passing. Technology, here, can still be a saviour. The issue would be to find the key technology to solve that one problem (student learning in the developing world needs calls for improvement). Rather limited in scope, depth, insight.

show more promise than one laptop per child

Perhaps the comment most directly related to opinions. “Showing promise” is closer to “instinctive appeal” but, in this case, it’s a positive. We don’t need to apply critical thinking to something which shows promise. It’s undeniably good. Right?

the J-PAL co-founder

There we are!

$2.20

Remedial education

A study in Kenya

Reference needed.

it didn’t matter

Sounds like a bold statement, as it’s not expressly linked to the scope of the study. It probably did matter. Just not in terms of what was measured. Mattering has to do with significance in general, not just with statistical significance.

expensive

Cost/benefits are apparently the only two “factors” to consider.

quarter of the cost

cheaper

$2 per month

$3 per month

Rise of African Content

zia505 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:30:27 +0000

AfricaNews.com - The most compelling interactive Africa community, sharing news, photos, weblogs, videos, mobile reports and the untold stories by African people.

The growing number of mobile phones, and increasing access to affordable Internet, has resulted in the rise of African content. The African ‘blogosphere’ exemplifies these changes. Three years ago an Internet search resulted in only a handful of postings from across the continent. Now there are thousands of African blogs and the numbers continue to grow exponentially. Global Voices (United States), Afrigator (South Africa), Akouaba (Congo), Naijapulse (Nigeria) and BlogSpirit (Uganda) have emerged as Internet platforms that aggregate, organize and distribute the ever-increasing amount of information.

The rise in African blogs is joined by further developments in the African mediascape. In the last three years Africa has seen the emergence of Reuters Africa, CNN Africa, CNBC Africa and many others. Other global players see new opportunities too. Heavyweight Google has opened offices in East Africa, setting up local search engines, expanding their Google maps initiative and supporting numerous efforts to translate the web into local languages. Google has also made a big push to support its Android technology that will make the mobile phone center to its African strategy. This effort is only highlighted by the company’s launch of Google SMS and the recent Google investment in the O3b Satellite project. These events confirm the company’s long-term commitment to the continent, a business that depends on content for its success.

Africa is also starting to produce talented programmers and ingenious projects emerge as a result. In 2006, Nathan Eagle of MIT launched an innovative curriculum needed to train local programmers in Nairobi. The program has now expanded to universities in 10 Sub Saharan countries and reflects growing demand and interest in the subject. The Makerere University Faculty of Computing and ICT in Kampala, Uganda is the largest program in Sub-Sahara Africa. The university is training thousands of students a year as ICT professionals. The faculty hosts a 600 seat call center and is host to a software incubation lab and programs dedicated to digital mapping and mobile programming. The faculty is consistently oversubscribed. Appfrica Labs and Software Factory Uganda in Kampala offer private sector examples where local programmers are given the space and tools needed to develop their skills and incubate their businesses. Samasource is another innovative effort that aims to source projects in North America that can then be developed by local African talent.

An emerging community and a host of dedicated events support these new talents. 2008 saw the first TED talks in Nairobi and impromptu BarCamps have taken place in locations as varied as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Congo, Mauritius, Madagascar, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda. Dedicated workshops have been hosted by organizations like Facebook, Google and MobileActive08. These events focus on the potential local programmers have to develop Internet and mobile applications for the local market. Once unique efforts to establish viable networking platforms, new events emerge by the day.

It is not possible to speak about innovation in Africa without recognizing Ubuntu, a Debian-derived computer operating system based on GNU/Linux, otherwise a high quality desktop and server operating system that is freely available all over the world. Mark Shuttleworth, a successful South African entrepreneur founded the project in 2004, and is a driving force in mobilizing the open source movement on the continent. As a spin-off the project has resulted in the creation of a number of unique tools for free software developers, such as the Bazaar version control system and Launchpad.net. Sub-projects include specialized desktop environments for schools and platforms that address the needs of people in specific countries or industries e.g. Edubuntu and Kubuntu. These efforts play a critical role in making software available to developers across Africa, lowering barriers to participation, and part of a growing interest to engage local programming talents.

Africa’s lack of infrastructure presents unique opportunities and inspires creative thinking. Uninhibited by legacy infrastructure, as in N. America and Europe, Africa has been forced to innovate on mobile. In 2008 Vodafone introduced its M-Pesa mobile banking platform in Kenya. The company initially planned to register 200,000 new customers, what was an ambitious projection, and proceeded to surpass all expectations. The reality is that the demand for the M-Pesa service was so high their systems crashed and the company has been trying to catch up ever since. Within one year M-Pesa was already servicing 1.6 million Kenyans. Hammond, a director at Vodafone says, ‘look, microfinance is great; Yunus deserves his sainthood. But after 30 years, there are only 90 million microfinance customers. I’m predicting that mobile-phone banking will add a billion banking customers to the system in five years. That’s how big it is.’ Needless to say, mobile banking projects are being rolled out across the continent and are now innovating network structures and models that can be applied elsewhere. Increasingly, people from around the world come to Africa to learn about how such a service might work in their own country back in N. America or Europe.

The power of mobile is also being linked to the web. MXit is an example that demonstrates local innovation with wide scale impact. Developed in South Africa, MXit is a free instant messaging software application that runs on GPRS/3G mobile phones and on PCs. The website explains, ‘It allows the user to send and receive one-on-one text and multimedia messages to and from other users, as well as in general chat rooms. MXit also supports connection to other instant messengers such as MSN messenger, ICQ and Google Talk.’ The service is cheap compared to SMS. Instead of charging for one-on-one messages, and because messages are sent via the Internet, the cost per message is greatly reduced (typically 1c for a MXit message compared to approximately 75c per SMS). As a result, MXit has become a popular communication platform with over 11 million users. They calculate about ‘17 million log-ons per day and over 250 million messages sent/received per day.’ This project successfully shows that there is local demand for information services and its no surprise to see similar services emerging in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.

The success of mobile-based platforms does not stop with transferring money and/or messaging services. Mobile phones can also serve as a source of employment. Building on several years of experience, and learning from his interactions with local programmers, Nathan Eagle has gone on to launch TxtEagle as an innovative outsourcing initiative. He has created a service where African’s exchange a few spare minutes, needed to complete short assignments on their mobile phone, in exchange for mobile phone credit. This project highlights some of the innovative thinking that can be inspired by a truly unique African context.

Mobile phones are also being used to monitor, track and report on local events. This is part of a growing effort to bring transparency to issues that plague the continent. Ushahidi is an example of a project born out of an African experience. In 2008, and as a result of mixed election results, Kenya witnessed unexpected post election violence. As the media storm began to descend on the country, which remains a faithful recipient of foreign development aid and depends on tourism as its largest source of foreign currency, the government responded by closing down both traditional and new media channels. The government made a proactive effort to ‘lock’ the local flow of information.

Ushahidi, which means ‘testimony’ in Swahili, is an open source engine developed in the effort to better map out post election reports of violence in the county. On their website they explain that, ‘the core Ushahidi platform allows for a plug-in and extensions that can be customized for different locales and needs. The tool are open source allowing others to download, implement and use the engine so that they can bring awareness to crises in their own region.’ The core engine is built on the premise that gathering crisis information from the general public provides new insights into events happening in near real-time. In an African context people understand this better than anywhere else in the world. Where infrastructure is so limited, communication so costly, each kilobyte has significantly higher value. It is important to mention that programmers from several African countries have been fundamental to the project’s development and highlights a new generation of skills, talent and a rising African power to innovate locally.

This is an early initiative that shows how the development of an application, inspired by a political crisis in what was previously believed to be one of East Africa’s most stable societies, can be applied elsewhere. The platform has already been used to monitor events in the DRC, Madagascar and the recent conflict in Gaza. At the time of writing, there were also plans to use the Ushahidi engine as a monitoring tool during the 2009 elections in India. Because Ushahidi was born out of an African experience, where lack of communication infrastructure forces the design of inventive solutions; it is now positioned to meet crises anywhere in the world.

The entire African ICT space is experiencing extraordinary growth and development that changes the face of the continent forever. Like the success of mobile banking, now is the time to realize that innovation can also come from Africa. It is important to recognize the rise of local African talent, a new breed of individual that has the motivation, skill and power to develop solutions that tap into local opportunities and address local needs. Now is the time to explore these developments in more detail and from the perspective of the end user. Taking the time to recognize this dynamic context in which new actors emerge, it is paramount we review the ICT4D debate and our own role in this process. This is in an effort to better understand the changes on the ground and their implications for the future. In this way we can start to learn from these developments and benefit from this high level of innovation. Young programming talents are only now starting to emerge in African countries but the potential is clear. The more people in Africa who see the power to shape the technologies they use, the more Africa is capable of meeting its own needs. In turn, these new talents contribute to the global information society and play an active role in shaping its future.

Escuela 2.0. La Apuesta de España

asaravia2000 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:47:32 +0000

Siguiendo los lineamientos de OLPC (Nicholas Negrponte y sus One Laptop Per Child), el Plab Ceibal (

Netbook si laptop mini

arjip — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:34:11 +0000

netbook si laptop mini

laptop yang berukuran kecil dan ringan (light) lagi booming sekarang ini.
istilah lain dari laptop mini ini adalah Laptop Kecil, Mini-notebook, UMPC, MID, Subnotebook, Netbook.
berkembangnya laptop mini diawali semenjak ada OLPC dan terutama setelah boomingnya Asus Eee, ternyata harga notebook/laptop yang murah bisa laku keras.
perusahaan-perusahaan komputer dunia akhirnya berlomba-lomba menjaring pasar dengan mengeluarkan produk semacam itu.
mulai dari Sony, IBM, Acer, lenovo, HP, fujitsu, Toshiba, Samsung.
perusahaan lokal pun juga tak mau kalah semacam axioo, advan, dan Everex.
apa yang menjadi daya tarik Netbook sehingga banayak diburu konsumen?

1.minimalis dengan ukuran yang cukup kecil (LCD 10 inch atau kurang dan bobotnya dibawah 1 kg)
2.mobile cocok untuk dibawa kemana-mana termasuk bepergian keluar kota.
3.konektifitas biasanya dibuat cukup lengkap. akses Wi-fi, bluetooth, Card reader, web camera dan USB.
4.irit daya listrik (jika menggunakan baterai bisa digunakan antara 3 sampai 6 jam)
kalau digunakan untuk main di hotspot bisa agak lama,
5.harga cukup ekonomis (berkisar antara 3 sampai 6 juta rupiah)

untuk info yang lebih detail tentang spesifikasi, kelebihan dan kekurangan netbook anda bisa mengikuti review beberapa Netbook di link berikut ini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_netbooks
http://blog.laptopmag.com/low-cost-laptop-cheat-sheet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_subnotebooks
http://www.umpcportal.com/products/

dalam posting saya kali ini hanya membahas beberapa Netbook yang cukup diperhitungkan yaitu

1. MSI Wind (ada kemiripan dengan Axioo Pico, Forsa)

Spesifikasi: 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, 10 inch (1024×600), chipset Intel 945GMS, 80 GB SATA, WLAN b/g, Webcam 1,3 MP, 3-cell 2200 mAh (2.5 hours)/6-cell 5200 mAh (5.5 hours), 1.04/1.18 kg, OS: Linux (RAM 512 MB DDR2) /Windows XP (RAM 1GB +Bluetooth).

Harga MSI Wind di UK: $620 (Linux)/$678 (Windows XP), Harga di US: $399 (SuSE Linux)/$499 (Windows XP)

Harga Axioo Pico: 4 jutaan (juli 2008)

2. Acer Aspire One

Spesifikasi: Intel Centrino Atom Single Core N270 1.6 GHz, 8,9 inch LCD (1024×600), SSD 4GB/8GB/HDD 80GB, RAM 512 MB, WLAN b/g, Webcam, Ethernet port, 3 USB port, Card reader, Audio, VGA out, 3-cell/6-cell Li-ion, 0,98 kg, OS: Windows XP/Linpus Linux Lite

3. ECS G10IL

Notebook dengan koneksi HSDPA, Intel Atom 1.6GHz, Layar 8.9 inch, RAM 1GB, Intel GMA 950, 3 USB port, Ethernet, RJ-11, card reader, 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth

4. Toshiba NB100

layar 8.9 inch Widescreen (1024×600), Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz), RAM 1GB, HDD 120GB, WLAN 802.11b/g, 3 USB 2.0, Webcam 1.3MP

Harga: $470

5. Lenovo S9 & S10 Ideapad

layar 8.9 inch (S9)/ 10 inch (S10), Windows XP, 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, RAM512MB+HDD80GB/RAM1GB+HDD160GB, 1.3MP Webcam, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4-in-1 card reader.

NEPAL: New computer learning brings girls empowerment and education

Lys Anzia — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:05:15 +0000

PUNITA RIMAL / Asia Pacific correspondent - Women News Network - WNN Nepal school in Chitwan 2006. I

OLPC

ovruni — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:53:44 +0000

Saludos o/, en mi segundo post pondre otró trabajo mío anterior, acabo de recordar que lo tenía .
trata sobre OLPC. Espero sea de su agrado.

Negroponte skrotter XO 2.0

martinlyng — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:36:42 +0000

Nicholas Negroponte, grundlægger af og formand for One Laptop Per Child, afslører i et interview med xconomy, at organisationen har skrinlagt planerne for version to af deres XO laptop. I stedet vil man koncentrere sig om en version 1.75 af XO´en med forbedret processor, samt en helt ny version 3.0, der ifølge Negroponte vil være på gaden i 2012.

Det var planen, at XO 2.0 skulle have to touchscreens, det er droppet i version 3, der efter planen kommer til at have et mere simpelt ebook-lignende design.

Samtidig står Negroponte knap så stejlt på “100 dollar laptop”-prædikatet, der har vist sig svært at leve op til. Han åbner for mere abonnementslignende betalingsfomer.

OLPC-projektet lever altså stadig trods skepsis og manglende afsætning. Men man kan spørge sig selv, om det er den rigtige beslutning at bruge så megen tid og ressourcer på udvikling af nye modeller, som det tilsyneladende er tilfældet. Ville det ikke være mere oplagt at forsøge at nå det oprindelige mål med en robust læringsmaskine til den 3. verden til 100 dollar. Hvor avanceret en laptop er der brug for til undervisning. Er det ikke nærmere parametre som soliditet, pris og internetforbindelse, der er væsentlige for målgruppen?

Empowered kids: a whole new picture

2010calendar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:48:42 +0000

Just a quick look at the new picture in the making in Uruguay since a couple of years and now in full course of action. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative has implemented with the support of the left wing government of Uruguay the first worldwide experience of covering the whole population of children in the public elementary school with one laptop each.

When we consider the effects that this action can produce to the new generation, it is simply mind blowing. First of all, it tears apart the main blockage to equality in a society which is access to information restricted to who can afford it. It makes me curious to check what will be the scores of these students compared with the previous generations and compared also with the kids who have no access to these tools.

Since Mr. Nicholas Negroponte presented the programme, I have to say that my first reaction was pretty cold given the usual lack of initiatives of all governments regarding to education and mainly if these efforts are targeted towards the lower social classes. However, Mr. Vázquez (Uruguay’s President) took it seriously and the country mobilized towards the goal and they have accomplished the first objective: saturation of the young population with ownership of the small, cheap but effective first laptop with total connectivity, built-in multimedia applications, running XO operating system.

This video can give a first impression of the early consequences of these brave and absolutely necessary step towards a truly knowledge based society.

These kids will be able to truly turn the country’s reality upside down in less than a decade. Children are competitive by nature; we all were there once upon a time. Considering that they will be empowered to reach virtually all sorts of information and form themselves (with teachers consequently having to readjust their roles or be surpassed by the pupils), it is not far fetched to foresee these kids forming a massive pool of creation. They are already manipulating photos, making small video clips, forming networks. They become active actors of their own lives and the questioning of power of knowledge will need to be revaluated. How will adults impose criteria over younger generations if they don’t have the same knowledge as they do?

No matter what comes along, the main point is that the tools are given and that is the right sort of subsidy a state has the duty to provide to its people: access to knowledge and freedom to be creative.

Uruguay takes on One Laptop Per Child

Fi McKenzie — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:11:09 +0000

A little lunchtime blogging catchup.

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has intrigued me ever since a senior member of the team came to speak to us at one of the early DESTIN Friday afternoon lectures at the LSE. I distinctly remember asking questions about internet access and social networking, based on my experiences with young people and TakingItGlobal - providing facilities for children and their families to connect with the wider world and in particular communities of other OLPC people to share ideas and encourage innovative use of the laptops.

For those who haven’t come across the OLPC project before, it aimed initially to provide laptops to kids all over the world who would not normally have access, for $100 (US) per child. While this cost proved impossible, the cost has still been kept really low as mentioned below.

To me, it’s an incredibly sensible and exciting project as part of wider education projects and reform. Computer skills are increasingly necessary in today’s world, wherever you are. While basic needs must be met first, it is important that the skills needed to get ahead, to get jobs wherever, to help propel developing countries forward, including IT skills, are developed at a young age. The networking and education possibilities from internet access spark my excitement - years of talking and working with young people in many developing countries on youth development initiatives via TakingItGlobal has shown me the eagerness to learn, network and develop via the internet, largely from internet cafes for those I’ve worked with.

I was really pleased to see, therefore, news of Uruguay joining the small group of nations involved - with provision of an OLPC laptop for every pupil in state primary schools – in the BBC Tech news a couple of weeks ago. According to the article:

“The Uruguay programme has cost the state $260 (£159) per child, including maintenance costs, equipment repairs, training for the teachers and internet connection. The total figure represents less than 5% of the country’s education budget.”

As Miguel Brechner, head of the project in Uruguay, puts it “This is not simply the handing out of laptops or an education programme. It is a programme which seeks to reduce the gap between the digital world and the world of knowledge”.

Now that’s exciting!

Uruguayan school kids lap it up

nuimgeography — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:05:36 +0000

Give every school child a laptop: that’s a good idea. And in Uruguay, that’s what has happened. News reports about the new policy – emerging at the same time as the country goes to the polls – have put Uruguay on the map of global efforts to smash the ‘digital divide’. Plan Ceibal has rolled out the laptops, produced in the One Laptop Per Child project, to every schoolchild in the country, regardless of location or their household incomes.

The cool machines use free ‘open source’ software, which means none of the state’s funds end up swelling Microsoft’s coffers; and means the kids will have access to lots of new educational programs (and updates on a regular basis). Other countries are making the OLPC laptops available and are on their way to having their school kids using the latest technologies. But Uruguay seems to be leading the charge: felicidades, Uruguay!

OLPC experience advice for your project

Joseph Webster — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:34:19 +0000

Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a huge fan of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and the XO laptop. A previous OLPC related post may be found here. As a result I follow the OLPC News blog which recently had this great article by 16-year-old Derek Chan on his experience with a small scale OLPC implementation in Kenya.

My name is Derek Chan, I’m 16 years old, and I was part of Mark Battley’s team of high school students from Upper Canada College that initiated a small scale OLPC implementation at the Ntugi Day Secondary School.
Part of our goal was to provide Ntugi with power for their initial complement of 8 XOs and 2 Cradlepoint PHS300s at a school that had no access to the country’s power grid.

In addition to this being a very well written piece about an extremely fascinating project, Derek enumerates some lessons learned that are directly applicable to any Infrastructure and Integration project. Especially security infrastructure projects like say a Network Access Control (NAC) or Enterprise Single Sign On (SSO) project. Just replace the word “school” with “enterprise” or “business“.

Ultimately, we were successful, but not without missteps and failures along the way. We did lots of things right, but we made a few newbie errors. Here’s what we learned!

Learn as much as you can about your destination school’s physical resources.

Don’t assume that tests in the lab will duplicate conditions in the field.

Read all the relevant blogs, forums and bulletin boards before implementing.

Don’t underestimate the sophistication of local technology and expertise at your destination.

Let’s think about each of these in turn, much as Derek did in his post.

Learn as much as you can about your destination physical resources.
Who hasn’t heard the horror stories from the installation team that just tried to add “one more appliance” to the customer’s data center, only to find out that the power or cooling or rack space just wasn’t there. Always verify ahead of implementation that the destination has all of the physical resources required by your hardware, all of the compute resources required by your software, and all of the network resources, including IP address space, required to connect it all together. An actual visit to the site by your Systems Engineers is a really great idea. Never assume that the destination is a “typical” configuration or that the customer knows the difference.

Don’t assume that tests in the lab will duplicate conditions in the field.
Boy Howdy! This assumption ranks right up there with “no customer would ever do that” as a surefire path to failure. The point is that the lab, by definition, is an artificial environment. Sure our QA engineers do the best job they can to simulate a real world environment, but the key word here is simulate. It’s pretty hard to simulate things like network latencies or ATM noise in the lab. Remember your lab techs are good, not god. What a difference that “o” makes.

Read all the relevant blogs, forums and bulletin boards before implementing.
Not that this has ever happened to me, mind you, but I’ve heard of engineers that actually believe the promo literature and design the system around that, assuming that all the details are handled. I mean how much difference can there be between Server 2K3 and Server 2K3 R2? Yeah. Just do the homework. That’s called “due diligence” in business speak.

Don’t underestimate the sophistication of local technology and expertise at your destination.
As engineers we always like to think we’re way smarter than the mere mortals we tolerate in our presence. But never fool yourself into believing that you can understand the ins and outs of a customer’s infrastructure as well as they do. You may think they are yokels, but they are yokels with way more relevant experience than you. And they are the ones who control your payday. Just suck it up and let them make it easier (or possible) for the project to succeed.

So there you have it. Excellent advice from a 16-year-old who has already learned some important lessons. Well done Derek.

Ontario Linux Fest 2009 report

jfsaucier — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:07:05 +0000

Ontario Linux Fest 2009 was this past saturday in Toronto. The event was a great success, many peoples were present. The Fedora booth was a really busy place with many participants asking informations about the project, the next version and playing with the 3 OLPC laptops that Karlie gave us. By the way, seeing Karlie talk about the OLPC project is a sure way to interest peoples, the enthusiasm she deliver is contagious. I am glad to have meet her in person.

All in all, it was a fun weekend. It was a good chance to meet peoples involved in the free software community and have some great talks with them.

Oh, and if you see Mel Chua, ask her about putting a temporary Fedora tattoo on her forehead

Nook And More

modernityblog — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:51:28 +0000

Barnes and Nobles, the US book chain, are releasing their own ebook reader, the Nook. It looks OK, s

Internet Archive Launches BookServer Project

internetarchive — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:10:32 +0000

The Internet Archive has launched the BookServer project: an open system for finding, buying, and borrowing digital books over the Internet.

At our launch event on Monday, the Internet Archive demonstrated how the BookServer ecosystem could be used to deliver books several e-book readers, including the OLPC laptop, the Amazon Kindle, the iPhone, the Sony Reader, and the Humanware VictorReader Stream, a talking eReader for the blind and print-disabled.

The Internet Archive also announced it was making all 1.6 million public domain books on archive.org available in EPUB and Daisy talking book formats, to better support e-book devices.

To help develop BookServer, the Internet Archive partnered with OLPC, Aldiko, ThreePress, Pixel Qi, Inkmesh, FLOSS Manuals, University of Toronto Libraries, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Shortcovers, Feedbooks, O’Reilly Media, Adobe, Bluefire Productions, Humanware, Ingram, Lexcycle, author Katie Hafner, and many others.

We were pleased that so many partners could join us on Monday for the BookServer launch party. For those who couldn’t attend, the Follow the Reader blog has an excellent article detailing the BookServer launch.

Resource Shelf has an extensive overview of BookServer media coverage. Thanks to everyone who helped develop and launch the BookServer ecosystem! If you are an author, publisher, book seller, device maker, library, or a reader, please help us in building an open ecosystem for online books!

Uruguay da ordenadores configurados con software libre a todos sus estudiantes de primaria

Ricardo Pluss — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:18:19 +0000

Fuente: Universidad de La Laguna

Los 362.000 alumnos inscritos en las escuelas públicas de Uruguay cuentan ya con un ordenador portátil. De esta forma, la nación suramericana se convierte en el primer país en hacer que el 100% de sus estudiantes de educación primaria posea un ordenador y tenga acceso al mundo de la informática.

El programa, que fue una adaptación del proyecto Una portátil por niño del Instituto de Tecnología de Massachussets (MIT) cuyo objetivo era proveer de portátiles de bajo costo con conexión a Internet, le ha costado al gobierno del presidente Tabaré Vázquez unos 260 dólares (aproximadamente 174 euros) por niño, incluidos los gastos de mantenimiento, reparación, entrenamiento de profesores y de conexión a Internet. Una suma que representa menos del 5% del presupuesto para Educación del país.

El logro de Vázquez ha sido visto como un gran “éxito”, incluso por miembros de la oposición, aunque critican que el sistema operativo -Linux- con el que funcionan los ordenadores no es el más usado popularmente.

Los responsables del Plan Ceibal no dudan en ayudar a otros gobiernos sobre cómo implementar este programa en otros países. De acuerdo con el responsable del programa, países como Ruanda, Haití, El Salvador y Paraguay han estado en contacto con ellos para contratar sus servicios.

Los creadores de este programa piensan que esta medida podría extenderse a las escuelas secundarias y a los niños de preescolar de Uruguay para el año próximo.

Fuente: El País 16/10/09

En España, el proyecto de Zapatero de un portátil para cada alumno de 5º curso de primaria sigue aún sin definirse en muchas comunidades autónomas (la Canaria entre ellas). Andalucía ya ha tomado la iniciativa y ya ha presentado la distribución EDU 2.0 (http://www.edu2punto0.org/) que tendrán sus netbooks, que fue también el centro de una comunicación en el Gran Canaria Desktop Summit el pasado julio. Obviamente, la Comunidad de Andalucía saca muchísima ventaja al resto y plantea una distro linux en los equipos no es fuente de discusión después de tantos años de Guadalinex y todo el proyecto educativo.

Liveblogging Day 2 of the “Making Books Apparent” meeting

internetarchive — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:00:24 +0000

George Oates, IA, Open Library:

OpenLibrary.org redesign going live in 1-2 months!

SJ Klein, One Laptop Per Child:

As of last week, all 400,000 school children in Uruguay have OLPC Laptops! They are carried in bags like this:

After collecting 2.5-3 years of data, Uruguay estimates TCO of an OLPC XO laptop to be $280 for four years of use. The hardware cost is about $190 of this, the rest is maintenance cost.

BookServer Use Cases:

Collaborative writings
InfoSlicer: OLPC wikipedia mashup activity
Reading books, now with EPUB support, soon with direct editing
“Get IA Books” activity was one of the first BookServer software clients!

Showing the Rural Design Collective’s prototype topic browser for books on the OLPC:

Minh Truong, Aldiko:

Beta version of Aldiko showing IA Bookserver integration!

Liza Daly, ThreePress, Ibis Reader:

Ibis Reader: “The ereader designed for readers first!”

Standards-based cloud iPhone reader with offline support, and non-drm purchasing.

Uses standards all the way: BookServer, OPDS, EPUB, and HTML5.

Adam Hyde and Douglass Bagnall, FLOSS Manuals, and Booki:

Booki is a “book wiki”: an open-source online writing and publishing engine.

Booki Developers

We are not publishers
As artists we have come to know and love free (LIBRE) technology and free (LIBRE) content
We have founded, work with/in, mentored, and grown the FLOSS Manuals community for 2+ years

INCREDIBLE demo:

Booki being used to ingest EPUB from archive.org, correct OCR mistakes, and then re-upload to archive.org!

Above, using Booki to correct typos in IA’s Tom Sawyer EPUB!

Bill Janssen, PARC:

UpLib is an open-source personal digital library system:

Michael Tamblyn, Shortcovers:

“Your whole reading life, always with you.”

“How OPDS can help”, in the form of a screenplay:

OPDS needs to address Territorial Rights problems.

Cartwright Reed, VP Product Development, Ingram:

It cost Ingram $6 to print a book and $0.50 to deliver. This cost is $0 and $0.01 for an ebook.
Transition from physical to digital is happening faster than most people in the industry were expecting.
DRM is dud. It just takes one person to copy and share a file.
Music lead the way in transition from analog to digital, and is leading the way again in the transition from DRM to DRM-Free
Production, distribution, and discovery are nearly free.
Creation, curation, and community are not free.
The digital space is the exciting one.
As long as content is static, it doesn’t accrete value.
Physical book sales 1.5 years ago (estimate)

Current distribution chain:

Author -> Publisher -> Distributer -> Reseller -> Consumer

BookServer allows you to go straight from Author->Consumer, or any other iteration in the above distribution chain.

Laptop for every pupil in Uruguay

Oscar Retterer — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:43:47 +0000

Uruguay has joined the small number of nations providing a laptop for every child attending state primary school. 362,000 pupils in Uruguay now have the distinctive laptops.

[Source: BBC]

Uruguay logra 100% de cobertura con OLPC

mimomellamo — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:25:47 +0000

Via CHW para vosotros : Tal como lo señalamos a principios de agosto, Uruguay ha conseguido la meta

Brainstorming Time!

ine — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:09:47 +0000

For the last few weeks, being acquainted with the XO was of minimal task because the Sugar on a Stick (SoaS) release has made the checking on the XO’s sweet UI simple for me. Although the XO feel is of much getting used to. Exploring the XO at the user level was not complicated at all. Even to others without any idea about the XO laptops, Sugar, and OLPC. The hardest part was the shifting from the processing speed I was used to to that of what the AMD Geode is capable of.

In the first place, the main reasons for requesting 3 XOs were to answer 3 major questions to help us before, during and after developing the specifications for the activity:

How is collaboration made between two users or more in the activity being shared?
Is it possible to do the activity in 3D without requiring additional memory that could have allowed the child to do another activity?
What are the other issues that we are to consider with regards to the limited hardware we are working on?

To answer the aforementioned questions, we only need to conduct simple testing activites at user level which only involved exploring the XO as if you were one of the lucky kids out there having one. In this task, I have been helped by my friends – roommates, co-scholars and classmates. The issues that concerned us were:

It lags. For some time, out of the blue, an XO screen just freezes. Pressing any keys or directing the cursor with the touch pad won’t do a thing.
The touch pad also becomes stubborn. It’ll be moving the cursor nicely this minute then it starts to go the other way. The cursor has to be gently maneuvered or application of greater pressure on the touch pad is necessary because the problem is either over/under sensitivity.
During the sharing of activity, the lagging is more frequent but it happens to at least one of the XO’s sharing at the particular time. As observed in the Maze Activity, for 2 XO’s, they alternately get stuck in the middle of the activity and then most times, one returns only after the other XO has finished the maze. At 3 XO’s, one XO gets stuck, another could possibly do so, then one remains in the game, and at some time after getting stuck, one XO returns and the other follows or they do the getting stuck alternately.

With these observations, we now move a step higher in our development. The next weeks will be devoted in discussing the issues observed, refining ideas, adding new ones and coming up with the final specifications. The squinting of eyes to view the picture is now over. Thus, the time to look at the details is here as we start to figure out how we can hack the XO.

Zukunftsorientiert: Ein Laptop für jedes Grundschulkind

Ralf — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:01:32 +0000

Warum heißt ein Entwicklungsland Entwicklungsland? Weil sich da was entwickelt. Wobei sich Uruguay sich da schon eher auf der Schwelle zu mehr befindet. Insbesondere, weil sich bald eine Generation komplett mit Computern und Linux auskennen wird.

Der südamerikanische Staat hatte sich früh für das Projekt “One Laptop Per Child” begeistert. Aus den Sonntagsreden ist nun Realität geworden: Nachdem das Bildungsministerium 5 Prozent seines Budgets für die Comuterisierung freigab, lief die Auslieferung der grün-weißen XO-Modelle im Mai 2007 an. Mittlerweile besitzt absolut JEDES Grundschulkind in Uruguay diesen Linux-Laptop. Schüler wie Lehrer seien begeistert und binden ihn intensiv im Unterricht ein. Wetten, dass sich Uruguay in den nächsten 20 Jahren ganz prächtig entwickelt? [rm]

[Engadget]

OLPC: Trampeln fürs Internet

Intel: Wirtschaftskrise trifft Dritte-Welt-PCs

Uruguai é o primeiro país do mundo a aplicar a política um laptop por criança

hikalves — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:00:52 +0000

São Paulo (Ideias de 1 Geek com informações da BBC Brasil) Foi concluída na última terça-feira, 13/1

OLPC pedal power

Mike Szczys — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:00:56 +0000

A One Laptop Per Child group out of Afghanistan have come up with a way to power the XO using pedals. The system interfaces a set of pedals with the Freeplay hand-crank charger, freeing up both hands for typing. Although not as compact, using both legs makes power generation much easier. Apparently a child as young as 3rd grade is able to pedal this well enough to power the computer in real time.

We just hope this contraption is used for learning and betterment, and not in a pedal-for-porn scenario.

[via Gizmodo]