Tag Archives: One Laptop per Child

OLPC working on XO laptop telescope and microscope peripherals (hands-on)

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OLPC working on XO laptop telescope and microscope peripherals handson

So much of what children are taught in the sciences amounts to abstractions. It's a shame, really -- concepts of the universe are so much easier to extrapolate when we can see them for ourselves. OLPC's looking to give the classrooms it serves more access to the very big and very small with two new attachments that we had the opportunity to check out on a recent visit to the company's Miami office. First off is a telescope that secures to the side of its XO-4 laptop with a vice grip, utilizing the device's built-in camera. There's also a microscope that sits atop a swiveling base and plugs directly into one of the laptop's USB ports. Both peripherals run on Fedora-based software designed by the company.

OLPC will be bringing these out as soon as it can get the price down through manufacturing. For the France-designed telescope, the company is aiming for $10, with a potentially lower price on the microscope. The idea is to get one of each in a classroom, rather than the one-to-one approach of its XO line.

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Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with OLPC’s Giulia D’Amico and Bob Hacker

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One Laptop Per Child had a nice little surprise up its not-for-profit sleeves earlier this week in the form of its its latest computing device dedicated for developing world education. We'll be sitting down with the organization's VP of business development Giulia D'Amico and CFO Bob Hacker.

January 10, 2013 2:30 PM EST

Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!

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OLPC announces XO Tablet coming to ‘select’ Walmart stores later in 2013

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OLPC announces XO Tablet will be sold at Walmart, more retail stores to come

One Laptop Per Child still hasn't revealed any pricing details about that US-bound XO Tablet, but today the company's announcing some of the retail shelves we can expect its new child-friendly device to hit. For starters, the XO Tablet will be available at 'select' Walmart brick-and-mortar stores and website in the US this year, however OLPC wasn't quite clear about when exactly that's going to be -- we tried asking the company ourselves, but we were told no information could be given at the time. Furthermore, OLPC said it has struck a deal with Sakar International, which gives the latter exclusives rights "to sell the XO Tablet to leading US retailers for both in-store and online sales." Only time will tell how many retailers will join Wally on offering the learning device, but one of the world's largest retailers certainly isn't a bad place to start.

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OLPC XO-4 to sell starting at $206, production commencing March

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OLPC XO4 to sell starting at $206, production commencing next March

We were told we wouldn't be hearing any pricing or availability information about the OLPC XO-4 until later in the week, but it didn't take the One Laptop Per Child folks too long to let us know a little more about their gameplan. Just a short while ago, OLPC let us know that its recently announced XO-4 kid-friendly laptop will sell for $206 per unit with a minimum purchase of 10,000 units, while pricing is said to be lowered with a greater volume order. Additionally, the company noted that it's planning on meeting its own expectations and starting mass production in March, which should be more than enough time for interested parties to start figuring out just how many OLPC XO-4 orders they will be placing. Oh, and in case you're interested, we also got some hands-on video earlier today -- you can check that out right after the break.

Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.

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OLPC delivers big OS update with text-to-speech, DisplayLink and WebKit

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OLPC delivers big OS update with texttospeech, DisplayLink and WebKit

While most of its energy is focused on the XO-4 Touch, the One Laptop Per Child project is swinging into full gear for software, too. The project team has just posted an OS 12.1.0 update that sweetens the Sugar for at least present-day XO units. As of this latest revamp, text-to-speech is woven into the interface and vocalizes any selectable text -- a big help for students that are more comfortable speaking their language than reading it. USB video output has been given its own lift through support for more ubiquitous DisplayLink adapters. If you're looking for the majority of changes, however, they're under-the-hood tweaks to bring the OLPC architecture up to snuff. Upgrades to GTK3+ and GNOME 3.4 help, but we're primarily noticing a shift from Mozilla's web engine to WebKit for browsing: although the OLPC crew may have been forced to swap code because of Mozilla's policies on third-party apps, it's promising a much faster and more Sugar-tinged web experience as part of the switch. While they're not the same as getting an XO-3 tablet, the upgrades found at the source link are big enough that classrooms (and the occasional individual) will be glad they held on to that early XO model.

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OLPC delivers big OS update with text-to-speech, DisplayLink and WebKit originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Sep 2012 02:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Laptop Per Child’s XO-4 Touch ‘expected’ to be released in Q1 2013

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One Laptop Per Child's XO4 Touch 'expected' to be released in Q1 2013

One Laptop Per Child hasn't exactly been silent about the upcoming release of its XO Touch, but details have thus far been fairly thin. The company's offered up a little more information on the matter, while sprinkling in some extra bits on the device it's now referring to as the XO-4 Touch. The release of the laptop / tablet "dual function" education device is now "expected in Q1 2013," according to the non-profit. Beyond that, details of timing and price are still quite vague. The XO-4 touch will feature a multi-touch display from Neonode that can be used in sunlight and will be packing a Marvell ARMADA 2128 processor inside. Press release after the break.

Update: OLPC has offered us some specs for device including 8GB of storage, 2GB of memory, a 1200 x 900 display, SD slot, HDMI out, an accelerometer, 802.11a/b/g/n and two USB 2.0 ports.

Continue reading One Laptop Per Child's XO-4 Touch 'expected' to be released in Q1 2013

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One Laptop Per Child's XO-4 Touch 'expected' to be released in Q1 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OLPC XO Touch 1.75 to use Neonode tech, take multi-touch on world tour

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OLPC XO Touch 175 to use Neonode tech, take multitouch on world tour

The One Laptop Per Child's project just got one step closer to updating its venerable XO portable through a newly-struck licensing deal with Neonode. The XO Touch 1.75, a slight rebranding of the as yet unreleased XO 1.75 we saw last year, will use Neonode's MultiSensing to give the laptop a multi-touch screen that's both very responsive and eco-friendly in the same breath. Even as it samples finger input at up to 1GHz, the new OLPC system's 300 DPI display will still use under 2W of power and remain viewable in bright sunlight -- students can even wake up the new model with a gesture instead of using anything so crude as a power button. As important as these advances are to bringing touch to remote schools, we still have some questions about the release schedule and the cost. The XO 1.75 was originally due this year, but we don't know if the Neonode pact will alter the timetable or hike the target price. We've reached out to the OLPC team for comment and will update if there's new details.

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OLPC XO Touch 1.75 to use Neonode tech, take multi-touch on world tour originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OLPC to bring Little Pim language teaching videos to XO laptop, underpriviledged children

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http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/01/olpc-little-pim-affordable-language-learning-laptop-xo/

One Laptop Per Child is tag-teaming it up with foreign language learning company Little Pim to teach English to underprivileged children. The initiative could help to blur the line between work and fun and lead to future opportunities for kids in an ever-increasingly global economy where English is the lingua franca of many multinational groups and companies. Getting educational videos onto OLPC's affordable XO laptop is consistent with the new partnerships' philosophy that "learning should be a joyous experience and that children learn best when learning and play are seamless activities." There's no word on when the package deal will be available, but we'll be on the lookout for further info. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading OLPC to bring Little Pim language teaching videos to XO laptop, underpriviledged children

OLPC to bring Little Pim language teaching videos to XO laptop, underpriviledged children originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jun 2012 10:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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