Been meaning to mention the 100-dollar laptop. (You probably heard of it.) A program to seed the world's poorest children with inexpensive laptops. What a cool idea! The news gave me new hope (after all the depressing news we keep hearing). I'd love to get my hands on one. Brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte. He's the guy who founded MIT Media Lab (1985). He also wrote Being Digital (translated into 40 languages, worth reading for the excellent mind-torque), and founded Wired magazine (back when it was worth reading). If this laptop thing flies, what a legacy he'll leave. To this end a non-profit group called One Laptop Per Child has been formed. The project isn't a done-deal yet, but several companies have ante'ed-up $2-mil each, including Redhat, AMD & Google (the RADIFIED website makes money for Google every day). ••• continued ••• The laptops will run on Linux (which many colleges do already) and come with a dang hand-crank. When I heard about the laptops on TV, I thought they were joking about the hand-crank. I forgot much of the world has no reliable electricity. They'll also come with wireless capability. I realize kids can't eat a laptop, and given the choice, hungry kids would always choose food over a laptop. So the question of priorities comes into play. People smarter than me will have to sort that out. Good discussions at WSJ, BBC, Washington Post & World Changing. For more info, search "one laptop per child negroponte". Cross your fingers. Let's hope it flies. Along these same lines (of hope for the world), we have Bill Gates using his billion$ to confront the problem of world health. But we'll save that discussion for another day. (I can only handle so much good news at one time.) If you're more comfortable with depressing news, I heartily recommend the movie Capote (makes you wanna slit your wrists with a rusty hacksaw). Good reviews, tho. |
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