UN Internet Summit High Points 187
hotsauce writes "Negroponte has unveiled his $100 laptop with Kofi Annan at the UN Internet summit. The plan is to have several countries, both rich and poor, sign up for at least a million each of these machines within a year. Many countries and companies seem interested. Also at the UN summit, the ITU is predicting an internet of things, and warning that social safeguards need to be put in place, as the BBC gleefully talks about employers watching workers via RFID tags." From the article: "Although children will be able to interact with each other through the machines, education was still the priority for the laptops. But by using mesh networking, the vision is for children to interact while doing homework, and even share homework tips on a local community scale. "
Pornography for all (Score:5, Funny)
Here's to the internet!!
Chilean Government Snubs Negroponte's Laptop (Score:4, Informative)
Govt snubs US$100 laptop program - Argentina, Chile
Published: Thursday, November 3, 2005 17:16 (GMT -0400)
The Chilean government has announced that it will not participate in the "One Laptop Per Child" program being promoted by MIT Media Lab director Nicholas Negroponte, regional press reported on Thursday.
While the Argentine government recently committed to purchasing at least half a million of the US$100 computers, the Chilean authorities showed no interest acquiring them.
"The first shipment of these computers will be in either December 2006 and January 2007, so it would be utopian to commit [to buy] a number of computers that do not yet exist," Hugo Martínez, national director of the Chilean government's Enlaces technology program, was quoted as saying by local newspaper supplement Mouse.cl.
"[We also have] questions about their educational use and about the contents and types of interaction that they would produce," said Martínez.
Martínez also put forth an apparently protectionist argument, saying that Negroponte's program "could hurt local vendors if we don't develop a way for the ministry to buy machines that are not distributed by traditional channels."
"In Chile there is a generalized rejection of innovation," countered Tim Delhaes, a local high-tech entrepreneur and general coordinator of open source initiative Viva Firefox. "In eight years of developing tech start-ups it was impossible to get government support for anything if you weren't an already established company," he said.
"The government's decision to not participate in the US$100 laptop initiative almost certainly has to do with intense lobbying by Microsoft and Intel, companies the [Chilean] government has close ties to, because the laptop would use a Linux operating system and AMD chips," said Delhaes.
The Chilean government plans to run a trial program of branded laptops in an unspecified number of schools during 2006, said Enlaces' Martínez, and would be more than happy to share its findings with Negroponte, he added.
By Scott Sadowsky
www.BNamericas.com
Re:Chilean Government Snubs Negroponte's Laptop (Score:4, Insightful)
Very interesting post, and correct. This laptop is a utopian fantasy looking for a problem. The point that 'gifts' like this distort fragile local economies is well made. The $100 would be better spend on immunization and a trip to the dentist for the kids. Good for Chile for judging this program for the boondoggle that it is.
Re:Chilean Government Snubs Negroponte's Laptop (Score:2)
If this is so, then why are most people here (probably) using computers most of the day, every day? Is it because we are too weak to resist all the gaming and porn? The reason I am on a computer all day long is that it is the most efficient way for me to live in this
Re:Chilean Government Snubs Negroponte's Laptop (Score:2)
Re:Chilean Government Snubs Negroponte's Laptop (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Pornography for all (Score:3, Funny)
More info on $100 laptop (Score:4, Informative)
More info on the $100 laptop, as well as some good pictures, can be found here [pocket-lint.co.uk].
Re:More info on $100 laptop (Score:3, Insightful)
Why CAN'T YOU get one?! (Score:3, Insightful)
The more important question is: Why can't you get one?!
For every one such machine sold at $200 in the more well-off parts of the world, they could give two more laptops away at even half price (or if need be, even another one for free ) to the countries and people otherwise most unlikely to afford them even at $100.
Moreover, I don't see how it makes sense to withhold the machine (despite a focus on open source so strong that it reportedly made them reject
Re:More info on $100 laptop (Score:2)
Re:More info on $100 laptop (Score:2, Interesting)
Hmmm... reminds me a little of Apple's eMate. Which, by the way, might have been an ideal platform to build a cheap laptop computer.
Does anybody remember this amazing little thing?
Re:More info on $100 laptop (Score:3, Informative)
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/news.html [mit.edu]
In the spirit of Blogs and Splogs... (Score:4, Funny)
Euphemism of the day (Score:5, Funny)
Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:5, Insightful)
Kids already have a way to interact while doing school work: It's called SCHOOL!
Let's stop waiting and hoping for "Pie in the sky" solutions for problems that already have a low-tech solution.
Let's start using what we have, and stop looking as technology as a panacea to fix the worlds' ills.
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:2)
EXACTLY! I mean, it's not like computers are business tools or anything, they're really just for all-u-can-download porn in ur room...
even on the earliest PCs we had ASCII porn... hmm... maybe these laptops can have ASCII porn... wait, they display photos right? HMMMM... they might be useful after all.
But the real question remains: can you browse with just one hand? [slashdot.org]
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:2)
Solving the short term at the expense of the long term, is usually considered bad public policy (but usual public policy). Concentrating on the long te
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:2)
Try as you might, you can't eat a laptop.
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:2)
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:5, Insightful)
Kids already have a way to interact while doing school work: It's called SCHOOL!
I grew up in a rural area of a third world country. All communication infrastructure is bad. There were no phones, the roads bad and public transportation almost non existent. I would have welcomed any possibility of interaction with other kids outside of school. Especially on weekends and holidays.
Let's stop waiting and hoping for "Pie in the sky" solutions for problems that already have a low-techsolution.
I have taught in a third world country. There simply are not enough trained teachers. Distance learning (formal or not) has the potential to make a difference.
Let's start using what we have, and stop looking as technology as a panacea to fix the worlds' ills.
I'm a scientist and an engineer. Using technology to try and help is what we do. If someone from another discipline has an idea that they think can work, please go ahead and help.
Maybe $100 computers won't solve our problems, but the other things we've been trying for the past couple centuries don't seem to have been working out either. If computers don't help education that much, would all the first world countries please send the computers in their schools to schools in third world countries? If it doesn't work out for us either we can use the cases as traps to catch dinner.
U-Haul (Score:2)
Maybe the problem is that the water is contaminated or too deep and the land isn't good for farming anymore or other geographi
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:2)
Heck, can you imagine the sheer impact of merely having casual, immediate access to canned versions of Wikipedia? (Updated periodically via the aforementioned mesh networking.)
It's good enough to completely replace textbooks in a rural school and turn out students with a genuine old-fashined "liberal education" - covering everything from biological taxonomy to the history of drama.
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:2)
The laptops themselves will form this mesh. Each laptop has wireless connectivity. Each laptop will connect to other similar laptops in range. Sort of like how P2P filesharing works. A mesh network is decentralized and composed of the client computers.
A harder question is how connectivity to the 'regular' internet will achieved.
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:2)
Re:Kids don't need mesh networks to ineract! (Score:4, Insightful)
You can make the same argument about textbooks, bicycles and all sorts of things given to students by similar programs.
Since the goal is obviously to keep the things in the hands of students, the key will be to keep the black-market price low. A $100 laptop goes a hell of lot further towards this goal than a $1000 one.
These machines are going to be a HUGE flop and a complete waste of money - our money. No wonder there's such a huge anti-UN movement.
That's far from certain, and as for me, there are a hell of a lot of wastes of government money (on the local and national level) that concern me more than this stuff.
Where can I get... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Where can I get... (Score:3, Interesting)
So I guess then you might not be particularly reassured to know that Negroponte's brother [wikipedia.org] is the U.S. Director of National Intelligence?
Real uses (Score:2)
Don't they actually mean children sharing homework
As far as the laptops, good idea, since most processor and hardware is still effectively wasted in terms of what is actually needed to produce x amount of text, display a picture, act like a scientific calculator or display what amounts to a powerpoint deck.
The evil plan emerges (Score:4, Funny)
Apparently the plan is to rot the minds of third-world children, thus preventing them from becoming a threat to the US in the future. How diabolical! Kudos to the UN for facilitating this.
A use we'll soon see (Score:3, Funny)
no suprise there (Score:3, Insightful)
OMFG it took this long for people to realize this? I get a kick out of the experts that poo-poo the small scale engineering projects that MIT is doing that give basically an electronics lab, CAD system, Machine shop and other advanced equipment to common people in small villages. They say that it takes years of higher education to learn how to design things, while 8-12 year old kids learn how to do their craft in less than 24 months and create things that the masters degrees could not think of them selves.
if you give children and people the tools they will learn how to use those tools and usually exceed the experts that are trained to use them in a specific way.
I really hope that they allow these $100.00 laptops to be modified as that is the real place to learn by taking that device way outside the box it was defined in.
If a kid in Kenya can write his own software on the machine instead os using it as an appliance then they will learn even more.
and personally, I really want one for a hiking/7day backpacking device for recording journal events and carrying maps and other information.
If you want one of these... (Score:2)
Re:If you want one of these... (Score:2)
Re:If you want one of these... (Score:2)
Well, you might might actually be in luck:
The more peo
Re:If you want one of these... (Score:2)
What about the low points? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here are the top 15 most repressive countries when it comes to the Internet, according to Reporters without Borders:
Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Maldives, Nepal, Uzbekhistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
Remember: it's a free Internet as long as you fight for its freedom.
Re:What about the low points? (Score:2)
Re:What about the low points? (Score:2)
Oh wait... the US government no longer fears anything: thanks to Diebold, the citizens don't matter any more.
Re:What about the low points? (Score:2)
Re:What about the low points? (Score:2)
Re:What about the low points? (Score:2)
Coincidentally, these are some of the same countries that have protested the loudest about ICANN's control of DNS.
Also, coincidentally, these are some of the nations with the worst human rights records [hrw.org].
Hmmm...
Re:What about the low points? (Score:3, Funny)
Wait! Where is the US in that list? OMG! You forgot the Evil and Republ^H^H^Hressive US! Everyone knows that the Internet must be taken AWAY from the US because they are so repressive they denied the
Re:What about the low points? (Score:2)
I want one! (Score:2)
I'd love a lightweight laptop for word processing on the train ride to and from work but I don't have the money to spend what conventional laptops cost. I also love the idea of generating juice through a handcrank.
But I can't, for the life of me, figure out a way to get one. Is there going to be any offering to the general public instead of just to governments?
1 of 2 ways: (Score:2)
or
2: wait for some enterprising thief to steal them in mass from the kids and sell them on Ebay for less than the commercial price. Possibly way less.
So if you don't mind making some little kid cry, you don't ahve to wait long.
Re:I want one! (Score:3, Insightful)
from TFA:
"He did not say who would build the machine, which will cost $110 to make, but at least five are considering bids to do so. Negroponte said the laptops could become available on the commercial market, but at a higher price."
Like he said, we'll get them, they'll just cost more but... um... so it's going to cost $110 to make, and they're selling them to the countries for $100? Or are the countries paying $110 each, and selling them to... huh
Re:I want one! (Score:2)
From another article I read earlier this week (don't have the link handy, sorry)...
The first batch will cost 10$ more than expected, but cost is expected to go down as production rolls on, so it will drop to 100$, and maybe less over time.
They plan on selling it to us non-disadvantaged interrested folk for 200$, so when you buy one, you also buy another for
4nd 5o w1ll pr0p4g4t3 l33t sp33k (Score:2)
-everphilski-
The Primer? (Score:2)
Re:The Primer? (Score:2)
Not really. The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer was a hell of a lot more than a laptop computer. That thing was basically an electronic parent and teacher with an awesome AI. The objective here is similar to that of the Mandarin conspirators - revolutionise society for the better by giving huge numbers of poor children an opportunity - but the devices in question aren't especially like the Primer. Certainly no more like it than any
Re:The Primer? (Score:2)
Who will teach the teachers (Score:2, Interesting)
In a poor third world country, where the standards are significantly lower for instructors, who expects the students and instructors will somehow instinctively know how to use these computers for educational benefit? If they are networked the kids will very quickly figure out how to IM answers during tests,
Re:Who will teach the teachers (Score:2)
>but only if they first learn to type
Typing is much simpler than lots of skills children learn before the age of 7, such as speaking and figuring out what really bugs teachers.
The great secret of adulthood is that we're not really smarter than kids, we just have a head start.
Re:Who will teach the teachers (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't worry about my employer watching me ... (Score:2)
Cheaper HIV Drugs, How? (Score:5, Insightful)
How?, Where? What will RFID tags do to make HIV drugs cheaper? When can we expect these revolutions? Who is working on them? Where in hell did this assertion come from? What does this have to do with "Cars that warn their owners when they develop a fault"? Mine already does that via dashboard lights?
Honestly, is this an article about the issues surrounding next-generation technology and the direction whe are heading or is just some free-association wishlist?
Lets look at the underlying issues. A UN body presents a report outlining privacy issues, health-and safety issues, and other looming crises that must be addressed now before ubiquitous sensors, and rfid tags become too commonplace to regulate effectively.
And what does the BBC do? They give us more padding than pudding and spend most of the article lauding the joys of ubiqquitous sensors ("better coffee") and the growth of RFID tags ("Wal-Mart made the chinese use them") than addressing or even framing the issues raised. And then whan they run out of filler factoids they make more pie-in-the-sky promises like the ones above.
This isn't an article, it's a lullaby: "don't worry about privacy, your bag will tell you when you forgot to shop at Wal-Mart."
Re:Cheaper HIV Drugs, How? (Score:2)
Yet ANOTHER example of the frightening right-wing bias of the BBC. Really, they're completely sold out to corporate interests these da
Bias. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Cheaper HIV Drugs, How? (Score:2)
Simple: Spam (Score:2)
Re:Cheaper HIV Drugs, How? (Score:2)
Easy — they'll track known (or suspected) HIV-positive persons, who they have sex with, then that will allow targeted distribution of medication, timed to coincide with the onset of first symptoms. Think of it as just-in-time medicine.
Of course, to ensure the system's robustness, they'll probably track everyone who doesn't hold high government or corporate office — but it's for our protection, really!
Re:Cheaper HIV Drugs, How? (Score:2)
How?, Where? What will RFID tags do to make HIV drugs cheaper?
Don't know about HIV because it's not my field, but we have been looking at RFID for a number of applications in public health project in Africa we might take part in. You'd be amazed at the number of applications.
One important application is the same one they're used for over here: inventory control. Better control and management of inventory, detection of theft and so forth have a huge impact on financial effectiveness. In a very poor count
This could be great for Linux adoption (Score:4, Insightful)
Proprietary formats will have to be marginalized. I know this laptop is "just for kids" but if all the content is in .doc , .wma, quicktime, etc. then a lot of people will be left out in the dark. I think there will be a groundswell of resentment and awareness of the ridiculousness of proprietary formats. Once most content is available in standard formats, one of the largest hurdles to adopting Linux elsewhere will disappear.
I'd love to roll Linux out district-wide in our school district. The problem is that there is so much content our there that our teachers and students wouldn't have access to. Sure, the older formats have been reverse engineered or cracked, but the modern, up-to-date content would probably be unusable. What about eBooks? Most of the text book vendors can't agree on a standard and when they do it DRM'ed to hell and require a proprietary [Windows] app to play it. If "all the children of the world" get a linux laptop, that will have to change.
Here's hoping!
Re:This could be great for Linux adoption (Score:2)
Re:This could be great for Linux adoption (Score:2)
Hmmm.. Like the Latest Windows Media Codecs? Looks like the "tool I need" is Windows. What about the Addison-Welsey Elementary Math eBook that needs their proprietary reader (that's not available for Linux)? What about Auto-Cad files? There is only a Windows version of their software. Guess Windows is the "tool" again, right?
I know what you are saying, but my point is that proprietary document formats ser
Re:This could be great for Linux adoption (Score:2)
That's why I put "all the children of the world" in quotes. My point was that if this does get into the hands of a sizable chunk (I won't pick a number here - you'll just nit pick it!) it will mean that potentially tens of millions more Linux computers will be out there and there will be a lot of media attention paid to it. The fi
Emphasis misses the ppoint! (Score:2)
1: Fair trade. While the US and EU preach free and fair trade, they continue to subsidize their corn and sugar farmers, who inturn dump their excess produce in poorer nations, effectively killing local production.
2: Less production of greenhouse gases. The US alone produces 25% of these gases, yet it has a tiny fraction of human kind living on this globe. The
Re:Emphasis misses the ppoint! (Score:2)
Re:Emphasis misses the ppoint! (Score:2)
Regarding your first point, no.
In terms of the floods, droughts, and tropical diseases? Most likely.
Re:Emphasis misses the ppoint! (Score:2)
Yes Re:Emphasis misses the ppoint! (Score:2)
Disclaimer: I use "environMentalistas" in a half-joking, half-loving & half-scorning manner - please do not be insulted if you actually are an environMentalista
Here's how I would look at it. The laptops introduce modern technology in an
Re:Emphasis misses the ppoint! (Score:2)
Stupid? I am not. Those who say that greenhouse gases have no effect or that these gases would make the climate better are not serious.
OK, can we say that these gases have a net positive effect on the environment? I guess not. No wonder you post anonymously.
It's best feature... (Score:2, Interesting)
...is the hand-crank. I can see kids in poor African villages spending their days out in the sun, cranking furiously while trying to play WoW. How much you want to bet that as you crank the handle you hear tinny carnival music and a small Bill Gates head pops out of the top.
My problem is, where is all the infrastructure going to come from? At some point a lot of these places need Internet connectivity, and frankly not everyone in the Third World has convenient access to electricity, let alone a wireless I
I'll buy one! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I'll buy one! (Score:4, Interesting)
For every one an american/european school buys for $300, two get shipped to a third world country. However... They all automatically have an email/IM attached, with links for all three laptops to message each other out of the box. This way, the schoolchildren in america/europe can pen pal with the children were given laptops due to their $200.
Re:I'll buy one! (Score:2)
I can see it now...."mom, whats our bank account number? my IMpal in Nigeria has a a problem he needs our help with."
Re:I'll buy one! (Score:2)
There are bigger problems to solve (Score:2, Insightful)
While I find this accomplishment impressive, I think energy should be focused on the basics in poor nations. Basic necessities like food, clean water, healthcare are more vital. Yes technology is great, but look at the US. Every kid uses a computer from day one and we still lag behind many countries in the basics like math and science.
gasmonso http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]Wow! Time to port ... (Score:2)
One way to pay for them. (Score:2)
Make them pay for the laptop (Score:5, Insightful)
Selling cheap stuff as long as they pay for it and cant resell it for a profit isn't such a bad idea however I've generally found that even the poorest people interested in pcs have been able to get a dodgy box to learn and use their skills to get some sort of computer related job.
RTFA (Score:2)
The whole point of making them so cheap and giving them out for free, is you are going to flood the market with them.
No one will pay for something every kid in in the country already has. Who would buy them? When there is no market *period*, the black market disappears.
The biggest problem I see with this plan is the garbage produced in 4 years when the new models come out and all the existing hundreds of millions are thrown away. Has anyone thought about that? Are these things recycleable?
Re:Make them pay for the laptop (Score:2)
How you managed to type that, without your head exploding, eludes me.
Stealing candy (Score:2)
what i really want to know (Score:2)
$100 laptop is bogus (Score:2)
But most importantly, it's not a cell phone.. The best thing that high-tech has given the third world is cell phones. You can get a cell phone connection in almost all third-world cities, where most of
A crank? (Score:2, Funny)
It's all my fault *holds up hands* (Score:2)
Re:A $100 bit of technology saves the world? (Score:4, Insightful)
>Lets start with books
These are books! Not paper books (...which I love...) but effective books: an entire dictionary, access to google, and even Wikipedia [snicker]
>...a trade system which doesn't punish the poorest ...
That's a fair 'nuf righteous comment, but I submit these poor people are going to have to implement a fairer trade system on their own because the people who profit from the current trading system have no motivation to give it to them. And because knowledge=power, the improved access to information this technology offers may be the decisive force multiplier.
Re:A $100 bit of technology saves the world? (Score:2)
These are books! Not paper books (...which I love...) but effective books: an entire dictionary, access to google, and even Wikipedia [snicker]
Your point is valid. I don't recall the storage capacity of these things but I'll bet (for example) they could hold a sizeable chunk of Project Gutenburg [gutenberg.org] in them (among other educational materials). And, they will be able to expand the list of books if they can get access to USB CD/DVD drives. One $100 laptop with 1,000 books in it i
Re:A $100 bit of technology saves the world? (Score:2)
Right, since a $50 math text book is much better than a $100 device that gives you access to most of humanity's combined knowledge at no additional cost besides the Internet connections.
Like the first time people saw a book, saying that it would be much more economical for kids to learn the old fashioned way by memorizing everything read from a scroll. Or that scrolls are a waste of money, much better to have kids trudge down to the temple and read the word chiseled in stone on the tem
Re:this is nice and all (Score:2)
Re:Oh boy (Score:2)
Re:Bad for African People as Well as Taxpayers (Score:2)
Re:Well meaning but likely misguided (Score:2)