(2005-05-10) Media Lap Cheap Laptop

The MediaLab (principals are Nicholas Negroponte, Joe Jacobson and Seymour Papert) is working on a Super Cheap Laptop (OLPC). Three initial companies who have committed to this project are Google, AMD, and NewsCorp.

Sept'2005 update: more detailed specs have been released. LinuxOS, WiFi, etc. Organizationally, MIT will work with a small number of companies of complementary skills to develop a fully working and manufactured laptop (50,000 to 100,000 units) in fewer than 12 months, with an eye on building about 100 million to 200 million units by the following year.... They are not - and will not - be available for purchase by individuals.

Oct'2005 update: "In emerging nations, the issue isn't connectivity," Negroponte said at the Emerging Technologies Conference on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Cambridge Ma campus Wednesday. "That's not solved, but lots of people are working on it in WiFi, 3G, 4G, etc. For education (Educating Kids), the roadblock is laptops." A prototype will be unveiled at the WSIS conference in Nov'2005. The lab will initially target Brazil, China, Egypt, South Africa and Thailand, according to Negroponte, as well as the U.S. state of Massachusetts, which has just committed to equipping every schoolchild with a laptop. (Educational Technology) It will support a Mesh Network.