Hack

Hack: The Hundred-Dollar Laptop

  • Friday, September 1, 2006
  • By Daniel Turner

Nicholas Negroponte's machine has a working prototype.

   

Founded by members of MIT's Media Lab and led by its chairman emeritus Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is working with industry to design and produce an inexpensive and durable laptop to be distributed to children in poor countries. The laptop is meant both to display many years' worth of textbooks and to connect communities wirelessly with the rest of the world. From its custom-designed, power-­saving chips and displays to its built-from-scratch Linux-based operating system, the Hundred-Dollar Laptop (HDL) is a study in economy. India's secretary of education icily dismissed the laptop this summer, but Thailand will test 500 units late this year, with an eye to buying one ­million. Argentina, Brazil, and Nigeria have also shown interest. Click here for our hack of the hundred-dollar laptop.

 

To read the entire article you must log in:

Most of our content — all daily news, blogs, and videos — is free. Magazine stories are paid. To read this story, you must have a subscription or you must use a reading credit. Registration to Technology Review is free and entitles registrants to three free reading credits.

Username or REGISTER
Password  
   
 
Advertisement

MAGAZINE

Can We Build Tomorrow's Breakthroughs?

Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.

Videos

Meet 2011 TR35 Winner Jesse Robbins

More

Advertisement

Technology Review Lists

TR50

Our list of the 50 most innovative companies, including the following:

Groupon

Zynga

Google

Goldwind Science and Technology

More

Advertisement

Facebook

Advertisement