Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 2nd Mar 2009 16:43 UTC
Earlier this month, OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte open sourced the hardware for the OLPC device, inviting manufacturers to use the technology developed for the device in their own laptops, and of course to build OLPCs themselves. Negroponte also believes the OLPC project can help make netbooks better. ZDNet talked to IDC, and they don't think large OEMs will make use of OLPC's offering.
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RE: Three areas where OLPC tech can help improve netbooks?
by dsmogor on Tue 3rd Mar 2009 12:10
in reply to "Three areas where OLPC tech can help improve netbooks?"
Member since:2005-09-01
RE: Three areas where OLPC tech can help improve netbooks?
by zima on Wed 4th Mar 2009 19:53
in reply to "Three areas where OLPC tech can help improve netbooks?"
Member since:2005-07-06
Regarding 1) though...they do have few ideas that might prove useful, for example their battery tech which is supposedly marginally worse (energy density wise) than current Li-Ion but much safer. Also, they use a novel way to put to sleep even gfx controller when the only thing that's displayed is a static image (though that might fall under 3)...)
And on a more general note...I believe performance comparable to the XO-1 might be enough, if the machine has thouroughly thought out software on it (if you think about it...upcoming ARM netbooks aren't really that much faster than the XO probably, gaining most from video decoding hardware). BTW, that's why I don't understand software side of OLPC...why they didn't create something based on Gnustep & Webkit (it should fly in comparison to their Python, GTK & Gecko stack...), for example?
Most people around me look only at the price when buying a laptop anyway...
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:38 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:30 UTC, submitted by JRepin
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 22:06 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:45 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 22:43 UTC
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 21:50 UTC
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:11 UTC, submitted by Drumhellar
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2009-02-11
"Negroponte says there are three areas where OLPC technology can help improve netbooks. Low power computing (as in, lower than 2W), the ability to be repaired easily (ruggedness), as well as the screen technology to allow for reading in bright sunlight."
Well, let's see...
(1) Low power computing: it's important for users to have an excellent battery life but they also want horsepower. Atom is going dual-core, VIA C7-M is being seen as dead-slow, people waits for the nVidia ION, and so on.
Even if they don't really need more power, if they can have more power they'll go for it. Like forever in the computer market...
And of course, while people wants an excellent battery life, they are not lost in a country with no easy-to-find power outlet. Basically you have one at the very least at home... Low power computing is not vital, it's just a good thing.
Users needing the most battery life will certainly opt for additional batteries or for extended capacity batteries instead of choosing a lower power computing device.
(2) Ruggedness and easilly repaired: yeah users would love that but do you really expect for OEM to provide it?
They'd rather sell products that breaks in two years tops so you have all the best reasons to buy another product.
(3) Reading in bright sunlight: here is the only thing that could actually be used in actual products! A lot of people complains about it, moaning "hell why can't I get the OLPC display in my netbook!!!"
But the marketing goes the other way. Better selling a coloured and bright display than a B&W sunlight readable. That's much more appealling...
But who knows? We'll see what comes out of it.
Edited 2009-03-02 17:05 UTC