$100 dollar laptop

Ever since I heard about One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and the $100 laptop a few years ago, I have been excited about where innovation trends are leading us as a global community, towards opportunities for better access to education and means of poverty alleviation. Although this may be a utopian thought, I appreciate any real step in the right direction. I applaud Nick Negroponte for his vision and further more for the execution of the $100 laptop. According to BBC columnist Jonathan Fildes, OLPC is finally putting the $100 laptop (which currently costs $176) into mass production, and should be in the hands of Children as early as October 2007.

Even critics are joining the cause. Intel, whose chairman once called the laptop a "gadget" recently partnered with OLPC to manufacture its memory chip. Other partners include Google, Red Hat, and AMD.

OLPC designed the laptops with developing world conditions in mind, and has been testing them in Nigeria and Brazil. I recently read a Yahoo! news report titled "Nigerian school without power receives 300 laptops." The article highlighted the pitfalls of having laptops where electricity is scarce and irregular. The article confused me considering the $100 laptops can be charged with solar or human power. They have also been designed to use as little power as possible, with no hard drive and a low-power screen.

I am excited to see how the One Laptop Per Child movement takes off. Please read "$100 laptop' production begins" at the BBC to learn more. Or visit the OLPC website. OLPC is a nonprofit organization with a mission to advance education in developing countries. If you would like to support OLPC click here.

Photo from BBC article.

Other organizations are also finding ways to improve conditions in developing and war torn countries. Check out Concrete Canvas, the winner of the Saatchi and Saatchi Award World Changing Idea of 2005. Please comment if you know of other innovations that are helping developing countries.