Jun

7

Sugar Labs is cool

Filed Under Design, Education, Globalization, Interactive, Media Players, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, Streaming, TED, Technology | Leave a Comment

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sugar labs logoThe OLPC program is moving through a rough time right now with the announced departures of initial key members and the new Microsoft announcement to bring XP onto the XO Laptops.

Walter Bender, former President of OLPC has launched Sugar Labs to promote the use of Sugar on more devices. Sugar is open source and I’m running it on my Powerbook via VMware’s Fusion. Sugar Lab’s approach: children should not be forced to learning a legacy operating system designed for adult computer programmers.

Lets face facts. XP is not designed for the world’s children living in poverty. The design is simple and perfect for children:

Sugar on OS X

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May

20

My latest read - Innovation Nation

Filed Under Design, Education, Globalization, HighRes, Interactive, Internet2, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, Reading, TED, Technology, Web2.0 | Leave a Comment

Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back from John Kao is a timely read. To say I enjoyed his lessons how America is losing it’s innovation lead was not pleasant experience, yet the book is highly engaging.

There are timely lessons in this book from the $100 laptop and more importantly the exodus of top American talent. No surprise that top talent from India is returning home after attending college in America as globalization brings new opportunities to India.

You may be surprised to learn how Kao documents the loss of top Americans heading overseas. That’s native-born Americans leaving our best institutions (and their home country) to work in new innovation centers with more creative, less political conditions.

The list includes Paul Saffo from Stanford, John Seely Brown from Xerox PARC, Peter Schwartz from Global Business Network and Rita Colwell, former head of the National Science Foundation and current professor of biological sciences at the University of Maryland.

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May

20

OLPC: The remix

Filed Under Audio, Design, Education, Globalization, Milwaukee, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, TED, Technology | Leave a Comment

Max’s first laptop will be the new One Laptop Per Child prototype announced this morning by Nichoals Negroponte. No “keyboard” since both sides of this ebook reader will support a virtual keyboard.

olpc xo beta

But I’d like to buy a 1st Gen unit too. And I’ll config it to run Sugar.

Tags: OLPC, sugar, Negroponte, prototype, globalization, trends

May

16

OLPC running XP

Filed Under Design, Education, Globalization, Interactive, Media Players, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, Technology | Leave a Comment

olpc xpWell the long wait is over. Microsoft Press Release has struck a deal with OLPC to offer XP on those little laptops. I’m not sure this is a good thing. Ask anyone who has Vista if they would like to downgrade back to XP (I did) and then you realize this is what will be introduced to millions of future Microsoft customers children around the world?

Lots of press here: Slashdot, NYTimes, CNET, Gizmodo,

I’m counting on the fact that behind the scenes Microsoft is helping fund OLPC. I’m not sure Sugar has what it takes to be the interface because OLPC clearly failed to market the story behind Sugar. And that’s a shame.

Tags: OLPC, sugar, Microsoft, XP, globalization, laptop, trends

May

15

Bandwidth for Schools

Filed Under Design, Education, Globalization, HighRes, Interactive, Internet2, Media Players, Milwaukee, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, Smartphone, Streaming, TED, Technology, Web2.0, WiscNet | Leave a Comment

A National Broadband Policy needs to be more than just a talking point. Schools in our country need to upgrade their internet bandwidth to 25 Megabytes per second. This is for every school — not just the K12 district who slices up the bandwidth based upon the total number of school buildings in the district. The technology and educational impact upon our schools: leaving them behind just when students from around the world are joining and benefiting from the broadband educational internet.

Playing catch-up
Today we find a majority of schools around the country in the educational slow lane. For some reason it does not matter if the school is remote or urban, many are connecting at just 5 Megabits/second. Its like teaching history with books that still recognize Russia as the old Soviet Union….oh how I miss Gorgachev.
Any college connecting at less than 10MB — shows a lack of understanding and vision for their students who enter higher education seeking not just a degree but an advantage to enter the global marketplace.

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May

3

OLPC trouble signs ?

Filed Under Design, Education, Globalization, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, Technology | Leave a Comment

olpcTo say the last couple of weeks have been a PR nightmare for OLPC is an understatement. Some talented members of the initial team have departed while hints of a Windows solution is in the air. This past week they announced a new COO Charles Kane who oversaw the production of Sugar, the Linux based OS for the laptop.

To many the idea of OLPC embracing Windows is a step backward. What we will not know for some time is any “behind the scenes” negotiations between Nicholas Negroponte and Microsoft.

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Mar

18

OLPC: Green beyond belief

Filed Under Design, Education, Globalization, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, TED, Technology, Web2.0 | 1 Comment

Mary Lou Jepsen, former CTO of the OLPC project (and current President of PixelQi) was a keynote at the 2008 Greener Gadgets conference in NYC. This short address will surprise you regarding the types of green, advanced technologies built for poor students. Major consumer tech companies should pay attention:

This remarkable laptop for the world’s poorest students has so many green technologies that Apple, Dell, HP and every other laptop manufacturer should be incorporated into ALL laptops:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-TVca1QW-k

And why can’t I replace my Powerbook’s LCD strip for $1.00 similar to the replacement cost built into the OLPC? Well those same manufacturers want you to purchase another laptop…even when I search eBay for a solution.

Tags: energy, conservation, OLPC, Mary Lou Jepsen, globalization, trends

Mar

5

Open Source in Education

Filed Under Design, Education, Globalization, Google, Interactive, Internet2, Milwaukee, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, Technology, Web2.0 | 3 Comments

Yesterday ComputerWorldUK posted Open source in schools could save the taxpayer billions about the growing impact of Open Source solutions for schools. The growing movement of free resources for education including software and opencourseware solutions continue to thrive. This movement is leading a revolution in education.

google apps

Google Apps for Education permits any school to tap free, industrial strength resources including: Gmail, GoogleTalk, Calendar, Docs, Sites & Start Page. This solution is standards based while integration is seemless.

Schools continue to face dwindling budgets, staff reductions and program cuts. Lets face facts, globalization also forces schools to implement technology refresh programs, turning over computer labs every 3 or 4 years via equipment leasing. The continued use of commercial software (inlight of Google’s offering to the education community) is a sign of simple fiscal mismanagement.
Looking for a success story to actually justify free software for schools? Click Here for the large number educational organizations (K-12 & Higher Education) that have already migrated to Google Apps for Education.

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Feb

19

OLPC moving to $50

Filed Under Design, Education, Globalization, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, Technology | Leave a Comment

Nicholas Negroponte’s presentation of the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences revealed production of his OLPC units have surpassed 110,000/month. The conference theme is “Science and Technology from a Global Perspective” is underway in Boston this week.

He has also projected next year the price will drop to $100/unit, the original price tag when the project began…and should drop to just $50 in 2011.

Tags: OLPC, Negroponte, globalization, trends