The controversial $100 MIT laptop was unveiled today at the United Nations technology summit in Tunisia. This project was launched to provide the laptop computers free of charge to children in poor countries who cannot afford computers of their own, said MIT Media Lab chairman Nicholas Negroponte.
The 500 MHz laptop runs on a “œlight” version of the open-source Linux operating system (but it could also run Microsoft Windows and Apple’s OS X) . It has a two-mode screen, so it can be viewed in color and then by pushing a button or activating software switch to a black-and-white display, which can be viewed in bright sunlight at four times normal resolution.
The laptops will have four USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports, be WiFi-enabled with cellphone support and will come with 1GB of RAM. Yes, you read it right “” 1GB or memory.
Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria are candidates to receive the first wave of laptops starting in February or March, 2006.
What? No Philippines?
Source: Pocket-lint.co.uk
6 comments
I wonder what the yellow lever-looking thing is for…
I think that’s a wind-up handcrank to generate electricity for the laptop in areas where it is not readily available. Much like the the toys we wind-up so they can go…
The minimum order would be 1m units x $100 = $100m = 5.6b php. I don’t think the government would spend something like that unless of course may kaltas >:)
Why is this controversial?
@ Diong
A lot of people are saying that $100 can feed a lot of hungry children in Africa and that this project’s funding is better off spent on food, medicine and shelter.
It’s a known fact that students in public schools do not have enough books. So I guess there’s no budget for laptops either.