[geeks] $100 One Laptop Per Child - grist for the mill

[William Kirkland]

On Nov 18, 2006, at 9:20 AM, geeks-request at sunhelp.org wrote:

> Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2006 18:20:59 +0200
> From: "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com>
> Subject: Re: [geeks] $100 One Laptop Per Child - grist for the mill
> To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>
> On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 09:41:43AM -0500, Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:
>> --There are cell phone network everywhere in Africa and Asia, with  
>> 3 or
>> 4 carriers even in run-down places like Nigeria.  All the  
>> equipment is
>> new and has 3G and MMS GPRS, etc. capability.  Lots (and I mean lots)
>> of people have cell phones, so what you need is a USB cable to go
>> between the cell phone and the OLPC and a tiny device driver.
>
> I blogged about a satellite system that could be installed in a  
> village
> and provide data downloads for MP3 players, laptops etc. The cost of
> the hardware with off the shelf components about $500, with custom
> components around $300.
>
> I'm in the process of filing a U.S. provisional patent application  
> for it
> and shopping it around for funding.

The difficulty here is that those people have more basic needs which  
must be addressed before providing inexpensive laptops becomes useful.

--
bill.kirkland at gmail.com