Kick start for e-books? Brewster Kahle and MIT Tech Rev blogger excited over $100 laptop’s technology
The OLPC laptop as a possible kick start for e-books is old news to TeleBlog readers. Screen resolution in bright light is better than the Sony Reader’s. And more and more people are catching on to the possibilities.
Among the $100 laptop boosters now are Internet Archives’ Brewster Kahle and an MIT Tech Review blogger.
At SXSW, Brewster reportedly was “wildly swinging the computer above his head while discussing his organization’s ongoing project to digitize every book in the public domain (and beyond, if he and his people can convince book publishers that digitizing copyrighted books is a good idea).”
“We’re very privileged to have one of these,” he said of the laptop, as quoted by blogger Brad King, a codirector of a book-publishing project at MIT and the University of California at Berkeley. “We’re a library for it, and all of our books will be available for anyone with this laptop.”
The future of the book: A new package
“By this time,” King wrote, “I really shouldn’t have been surprised by anything Kahle was doing. Then he handed the laptop to someone in the front row, imploring us all to play with the machine. As the green laptop made its way through the crowd, Kahle said the future of the book—the reason we were all here—wasn’t going to change. Books would still be made up of large ideas. What will change is the package and the delivery.”
Yo, Cory? What if young people grow up accustomed to reading off computers suitable for such a task? We aren’t just talking about sharp screens but also about a change in culture. Of course, it would help for e-book-friendly machines to be available to kids in U.S. schools, not merely those in Third World countries. Costs in the next few years should decline to be point where the K-12 students could use both desktops and e-book readers—perhaps linked to the PCs via wireless connections.
Prices headed downward
The OLPC laptop costs around $140 now, but that’s expected to be less than $100 in time—far less.
Rather convincingly, Brad King concludes his blog post: “The future of the book? The publishing-industry panel talked about aesthetics and design. The panel could have ended the moment the laptop got passed around. I’m not suggesting that the $100 laptop will become the future e-book, but if they can build a technology designed for schoolbooks, the digital book’s popularity can’t be far behind.” The specific machine is less important than the tech. Pretty sharp displays are already here, and we know that prices will only be going down.
Related: The Real OLPC Debate: Laptop Project vs. Education Project, in OLPC News (from which the photo comes). Despite my enthusiasm for the hardware, I agree with OLPC News’ education-related concerns. What’s more, there is the issue of the laptop as a potential empowerment tool for juvenile delinquents. Please. OLPC should build more structure and some adult supervision into the project.
(SXSW item found via Media Bistro and Peter Brantley.)
March 15th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Apart from the highly affordable price, the other advantages of the $100 laptop seem to be (1) that it is light; (2) simple to use; (3) good power supply.
What it looks like is a slightly larger version of my old Cassiopeia PDA (with a small keyboard). This was the most useful gadget I have ever owned, but now sadly defunct and won’t connect to my current computer.
My other questions - when can I buy one of these? And why aren’t they in the shops now!
March 15th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
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March 15th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Carol,
Your want for one is a basic problem of the project. The computers should be for children to learn with - designed specifically for that purpose and seemingly useless to adults (want a Fisher Price radio?).
Instead they designed a computer that adults do want and could use, which means while OLPC is trying very hard to keep them in schools & off the retail or black market, eBay sales are inevitable.
March 15th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
I know this project is aimed at the huge number of children who don’t have access to a computer, but why can’t someone use this technology to produce a simple, portable computer for the rest of us? Why do I need enough computing power to run a large company on a something I want to carry in a small bag? My old 1995 Cassiopeia was portable, had a keyboard and was very durable (like being taken on trips into outback Australia). The flash memory was small but flash cards etc are now much improved. I could type, use a spreadsheet, read a book or a webpage on it. It didn’t have a full colour 3d rendering screen, DVD burners etc etc but it was USEFUL, unlike half the techno-rubbish now littering our house.
Actually, the developers could sell the device at a profit to wealthy countries and use the profits to finance the very good plan of helping students in poorer countries. Unfortunately you are right about the black market, but by making them available legally that could stop about 99% of that.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
[...] read, writers writer, and publishers publish.” Other devices such as the Sony Reader and One Laptop Per Child XO laptop receive very brief [...]