Sunday, August 13, 2006
A Laptop in Every Hut?
The laptop project is part of the One Laptop per Child initiative, an ambitious nonprofit effort endorsed by the United Nations to "revolutionize" education by providing every child on the planet with access to a computer. OLPC backers assume there is a universal need for every child to have a laptop, which they view as the gateway to a rosy future.
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$100 Laptop Has Four Million Orders, Microsoft Counters
Negroponte's $100 laptop and the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative have said they will begin production on the boxes, which come with a Linux-based operating system, once they have received five million orders.more...
Negroponte in talks with governments for $100 laptop
One Laptop per Child (OLPC), the nonprofit group founded by Nicholas Negroponte to make a durable low-cost PC for children in developing nations, has confirmed that it is in communications with those governments.
Contrary to reports, no orders for Linux-run laptops from any of those four countries have yet been placed, a representative said.
Thai premier: 'One Laptop per Child' project to begin in October
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has announced that an ambitious project to provide low-cost laptop computers to all of Thailand's millions of elementary school students will begin in October.
The U.S.-based "One Laptop per Child'' project aims to deliver up to 30 computers to Thailand in October and 500 more in November, Thaksin said in a nationwide radio broadcast on Saturday.
"If this project is completed, each elementary school child will receive a computer to learn on at school,'' Thaksin said.
"Each elementary school child will receive a computer that the government will buy for them, free of charge, instead of books, because books will be found and can be read on computers,'' he said.
He said the first batch of laptops - costing around US$100 (euro79) each - will be distributed to children in rural areas where access to technology is limited. Those children will test the computers before the government proceeds with the project nationwide. The laptops are not yet in production.
Dell in laptop refund
Dell - the second biggest PC maker in China after Lenovo - was sued by 19 people on Tuesday in Xiamen in the eastern province of Fujian, the China Daily reported.
A case was brought in Shanghai in July.
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Both filings allege that customers were sold Dell laptops with Intel processors that had fewer features than the models they believed they were buying, China Daily reported.
Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn blamed the problem on a "marketing error" and said the company was offering full refunds. In marketing materials, "someone retained some language that no longer applied to the particular model," he said.
"We've acknowledged the mistake and have been in contact with customers and are working with them," Mr Blackburn said.
After being hit with consumer complaints in the United States, Del is investing $100 million and hiring 2000 people to improve its customer service. Customers had complained about long telephone wait times and inferior service.
