The OLPC, or "One Laptop Per Child", is now shipping. Envisioned by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, the $100 laptops are designed for students in Third-World nations. By incorporating radical cost-cutting innovations, the laptops are supposed to provide students with cheap, reliable access to the same information and learning tools enjoyed by First-World students. The New York Times explains:
"Mary Lou Jepsen, the chief technologist for the project, likes to refer to the insight that transformed the machine from utopian dream to working prototype as "a really wacky idea."
Ms. Jepsen, a former Intel chip designer, found a way to modify conventional laptop displays, cutting the screen's manufacturing cost to $40 while reducing its power consumption by more than 80 percent. As a bonus, the display is clearly visible in sunlight."
The New York Times article on the device can be read here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/technology/30laptop.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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