Coming Soon: $100 Crank-Powered Laptops for Thai Kids

The “One Laptop Per Child” project hopes to eventually lower the cost of laptops to $100 and even $50 for children in third world countries by 2010.

It’s been applauded for being a noble mission.

It’s been criticized by Bill Gates and mocked by Intel Chairman Craig Barrett.

And now it’s finally set to debut in Thailand.

More than 500 Thai kids are going to receive their machines this October or November, although Thailand’s government is expected to buy 1 million units in the first year.

Yes, the One Laptop Per Child program has definitely grown from its beginnings at the MIT Media Lab. The growing nonprofit organization plans to distribute 5 million to 7 million machines in Thailand, Nigeria, Brazil, and Argentina in the next year. In the past months, China and Egypt have also expressed an interest in the project.

The machines run on free Linux OS, come with flash memory instead of a hard drive, and are powered by electricity created by a hand or foot pump. No wonder Bill Gates and Craig Barrett can’t stand it.

Via CNN

The “One Laptop Per Child” project hopes to eventually lower the cost of laptops to $100 and even $50 for children in third world countries by 2010.

It’s been applauded for being a noble mission.

It’s been criticized by Bill Gates and mocked by Intel Chairman Craig Barrett.

And now it’s finally set to debut in Thailand.

More than 500 Thai kids are going to receive their machines this October or November, although Thailand’s government is expected to buy 1 million units in the first year.

Yes, the One Laptop Per Child program has definitely grown from its beginnings at the MIT Media Lab. The growing nonprofit organization plans to distribute 5 million to 7 million machines in Thailand, Nigeria, Brazil, and Argentina in the next year. In the past months, China and Egypt have also expressed an interest in the project.

The machines run on free Linux OS, come with flash memory instead of a hard drive, and are powered by electricity created by a hand or foot pump. No wonder Bill Gates and Craig Barrett can’t stand it.

Via CNN