XO-1

It's here! It's here! Remember that post about ten days ago saying I'd know more about the XO-1 and how it works in a couple months? Dear readers you should know better than to listen to any of my predictions. So today I present you with, The Unwrapping. Early next week I'll try to get a post of it in action with some thoughts on design and usability. I've booted it up and played a little (only about 20 minutes at this point) and I will say this, I'll be brushing up on my bash scripting this weekend. Some initial thoughts: it is small, I mean tiny, I knew it would be, but still crazy small and it's hard to type with giant sausage fingers this is definitely meant for kids. I didn't realize it had a built in camera or so much in the way of built in activities like chat capabilities, journaling, music creation and editing, and writing. It also wouldn't let me see the wireless I have setup in the apartment (I don't broadcast the SSID) and it didn't have a way to manually input it somewhere (another reason to brush up on my bash). It worked quite well once it was connected though, I need to figure out what kind of browser it's using, it seems to trim off a lot of embedded media (it's a good thing). It also has an ebook mode that lets it handle a lot like my Kindle, I'll be loading up a book in the next couple days to give that a test run. Until then, stay geeky my friends =)

OLPC

Finally, a post about neato tech stuff, and served with a side of philanthropy to boot! The One Latop Per Child foundation is offering another Get One Give One program starting next Monday, November 17th. This year's GOGO program is being coordinated through Amazon in an attempt to limit the shipping problems that plagued last year's public offering. More info on the program here: www.laptop.org and more info on ordering your very own here: www.amazon.com/xo

I missed my chance at one last year by about two weeks, this year, I'm first in line. It's an intriguing design and idea. The laptop itself (the XO-1) is setup with mesh networking and Wi-Fi capabilities. Basically that means it can see other XO-1s and devices with mesh capabilities (standard 802.11s) and communicate with them to create an ad-hoc network. If one of these devices has access to a wireless internet signal, it can use its Wi-Fi connection to provide internet access to the whole network. The idea is to bring internet access to rural children in developing nations. The operating system is a version of Fedora with the Sugar GUI and meant to be used by children of all languages, so it uses pictures and symbols to represent what is necessary. I'm still not clear on exactly how it works, but that'll change in a couple months once I have my hands on one.