samtsai.com

Computer is fairly a recent innovation accessible to the general public. It revolutionizes every way in our lives. This is the “Computer Age” undoubtedly, and it sure advances fast. At my schoool “University of Alberta,” each students used to have only 10MB web space prior to 2002. By 2003, each student was given 100MB. By 2005, it’s 1GB (or 1000MB) plus password-protected security feature. This adds great convenience for both students and teachers to transfer/exchange files, lecture notes, powerpoint presentations…anything!

AUSTIN, Texas — The head of the world’s largest chip maker unveiled a mobile personal computer designed to provide affordable collaborative learning environments for teachers and students around the world.

Intel Corp. Chief Executive Paul Otellini said the US$400 machines — code-named “Eduwise” — will feature built-in wireless and will be able to run Microsoft Corp.’s Windows or the Linux operating system.

“What we want to do is accelerate to uncompromised technology for everyone in the world,” Otellini said during a demonstration at the World Congress on Information Technology in Austin. “No one wants to cross the digital divide with yesterday’s technology.”

The flip-open Eduwise computer includes a handle, light blue accents and snaps shut like a purse. Special software allows students in a classroom to view presentations, take tests and interact individually with their teachers using a built-in wireless connection.

The cheaper PCs are part of a $1 billion US investment by Intel over the next five years to promote the use of computers in schools, cafes and other public spots in developing countries, Otellini said.

The Eduwise machine was designed by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel but will be built by its computer-making customers. Otellini said the devices should be available next year.

Many high-tech companies, including Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Microsoft, have announced similar initiatives in an effort close the digital divide between developed and developing nations.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Nicholas Negroponte’s nonprofit One Laptop Per Child association hopes to begin providing $100 laptops to millions of children in China, India, Egypt, Brazil, Thailand, Nigeria and Argentina by early 2007.

Tentative designs call for a machine that uses one-tenth of the power of conventional laptops, a 7-inch screen and the Linux operating system. The project’s partners include Google Inc. and AMD.

In an earlier speech at the conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the benefits of the global spread of technology are only starting to be felt.

Source: canada.com

MIT OLPC Project
The proposed $100 machine will be:

• Linux-based
• dual-mode
• display—both a full-color, transmissive DVD mode, and a second display option that is black and white reflective and sunlight-readable at 3× the resolution
• 500MHz processor and 128MB of DRAM, with 500MB of Flash memory
• no hard disk
• four USB ports
• wireless broadband—that, among other things, allows them to work as a mesh network; each laptop will be able to talk to its nearest neighbors, creating an ad hoc, local area network
• innovative power supplies, including wind-up power

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