This is a mock up of what shopping at an Ikea store with an Apple tablet could potentially be like. And man is it slick. The experience is smooth, quick, and intuitive, just like we have come to learn on the iPhone. In fact, this device looks like a super-sized iPhone, and that is exactly what I expect the oft-rumored tablet to be. Jobs, we are waiting…
[Via Gizmodo]
Meet the XO-3 from the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project. You know, the non-profit organization that created the $100 XO-1 laptop and whose mission is “to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.” On a side note, the XO-1 “has been distributed to more than 1.4 million children in 35 countries and in 25 languages,” according to Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop Per Child. The latest concept iteration, the XO-3, is skipping a whole “second generation.” In fact, the XO-2 concept was unveiled in pictures (much like this go-around) and never came to fruition. The dual-screen concept was scrapped and Negroponte began to focus on what we see here. The XO-3 “will feature a new design using a single sheet of flexible plastic and will be unbreakable and without holes in it.” The device itself is one big 8.5 x 11 touchscreen with a folding ring in the corner as a grip and a camera can be found on the backside. It will take advantage of inductive charging (think the Palm Pre “puck”) and will use less than a watt of power. Negroponte on the potential success of the XO-3: “Sure, if I were a commercial entity coming to you for investment, and I’d made the projections I had in the past, you wouldn’t invest again, but we’re not a commercial operation. If we only achieve half of what we’re setting out to do, it could have very big consequences.” The XO-3 is designed by Yves Behar and is projected to cost $75 when it goes on sale in 2012.
In a press release Negroponte spilled the beans on two more iterations of the OLPC that are planned to emerge before the introduction of the XO-3.
The XO 1.5 is the same industrial design as the XO 1.0. Based on a VIA processor (replacing AMD), it will provide 2x the speed, 4x DRAM memory and 4x FLASH memory. It will run both the Linux and Windows operating systems. XO 1.5 will be available in January 2010 at about $200 per unit. The actual price floats in accordance with spot markets, particularly for those of DRAM and FLASH.
The XO 1.75, to be available in early 2011, will be essentially the same industrial design but rubber-bumpered on the outside and in the inside will be an 8.9”, touch-sensitive display. The XO 1.75 will be based on an ARM processor from Marvell that will enable 2x the speed at 1/4 the power and is targeted at $150 or less. This ARM-based system will complement the x86-based XO 1.5, which will remain in production, giving deployments a choice of processor platform.
The “One Laptop Per Child” initiative is great. I’m all for putting computers in the hands of less fortunate people, giving them access to a wide array of educational opportunities. The point of the XO-x laptops is their ability to be mass produced and shipped to countries around the world for the purpose of spreading the importance of education and development. The XO-1 did its job, and according to Negroponte, the XO-3 and other form factors that come before it will do the same. The only thing I worry about is whether or not the technology will be around to support Negroponte’s dream computers. In pictures, the XO-3 looks like a device from 2050, not 2012. Even if such technologies arearound to build this device in three years, will it be possible to price it at a mere $75? These are pressing issues Negroponte and his designers and engineers I’m sure are dealing with today. I have my fingers crossed that a day will come in the near future when little boys and girls in less-developed countries will sitting at desks with their thin, stylish XO-3s, developing their minds and expanding their opportunities.
“To fulfill our mission of reaching 500 million children in all remote corners of the planet, OLPC will continue to innovate in design and performance. Because we are a non-profit, we hope that industry will copy us.” With a mission like this in mind, OLPC is on track to becoming a global force in the push for widespread education and innovation.
[Via Engadget; BusinessWire; Wiki]
How are your netbooks holding up? Kinda slow, huh? Doesn’t run YouTube and Hulu videos up to your high standards? Well, I have some pleasant news for you.
On Monday Intel announced the introduction of their latest Atom processors: the N450 (or “Pine Trail”), the D410 D510, and the NM10 Express chipset. The single-core D410 and dual-core D510 are designed for nettops. What I want to focus on is the N450 chip. What’s so different about the 1.66GHz N450 chip is that it integrates the Intel graphics and memory controller directly into the processor. This results in a smaller processor that can be placed into even smaller devices such as tiny netbooks. The N450 is 60% smaller and 20% more efficient than its predecessor. Clocked at 1.66GHz, the N450 single-core chip has a 512kb cache, only supports, DDR2 memory, and is limited to handling 2GB of RAM. After playing around with a new netbook from Asus, fellow bloggers at Engadget report back bittersweet news: while the new chip provides longer battery life it lacks in the performance category, especially in graphics. Cue NVIDIA Ion 2…
Yesterday NVIDIA announced that its next generation of Ion graphics chips will be compatible with Intel’s new “Pine Trail” processors. They will be available sometime during the first quarter of 2010. This is very good news. Those of you who are crying on a daily basis because your netbooks won’t load HD YouTube videos or stream shows from Hulu in a normal speedy manner will have Ion to thank for the resolution of your woes. Atom + Ion is a match made in heaven, and I can’t wait for the next generation versions of these two to live in harmony with one another. In fact, I still haven’t purchased a netbook because I’ve been waiting for this very moment to happen. Expect to see a slew of netbooks sporting these new chips during next month’s CES.
According to a computer store employee HP computer are racist against black people because their video camera software cannot recognize or track black faces. White faces have no problem being recognized, as evidenced in this video. HP responded to this rather awkward issue:
“We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.”
[Via Gizmodo]
Scientists at IBM have created the “biggest artificial brain ever” with a computer simulation (1.6 billion virtual neurons connected by 9 trillion synapses) that far surpasses the previous attempt (55 million neurons) to do such a thing. This year’s results simulate a cat’s brain, while the last time simulated a rat’s brain. Who’s up next? We are.
These massive simulations are merely steps toward Modha’s ultimate goal: simulating the entire human cortex, about 25 billion neurons, at full speed. To do that, he’ll need to find 1000 times more computing power. At the rate that supercomputers have expanded over the last 20 years, that super-super computer could exist by 2019. “This is not just possible, it’s inevitable,” [Dharmendra Modha, computer scientist] says. “This will happen.” [He adds:] “I’ll have it ready for you within the next decade.”
Modha meet SkyNet.
Well then, time to go out and buy all the Terminator movies and study up. Judgement Day is imminent.
[Via Gizmodo, here & here; Popular Mechanics]
According to the latest round of rumors the reveal and shipping date of the Apple tablet device will be delayed until the second half of 2010 due to component switches.
The source says Apple will ship two versions of the tablet; one with a 9.7 inch LG OLED display that may cost around $2,000 and one with a larger 10.6 inch TFT LCD display costing between $800-$1,000.
…gotta love rumors.
Those of you in the market to purchase a netbook, listen up!
So we already know that that netbooks are no longer being forced to ship with Windows 7 Starter Edition; new netbooks give customers the option to have it shipped with Home Premium or above. That said, now there is a different restriction being lifted on netbooks: Intel will allow netbook manufacturers to ship their systems with more than 1GB of RAM. This will allow for much faster and efficient netbooks. The 1.83GHz N470 Intel Atom “Pine Trail” chip will give a boost to netbooks ’round the world come this March.
The lifing of the 1GB RAM restrcition continues to blur the distinction between netbooks and small laptops or ultraportables.
[Via Engadget]
The first ever Microsoft Store will open this Thursday in Scottdale, Arizona. MS tells customers to “Be entertained,” “Be excited,” and “Be early.” There will be free give-aways and a live performance from who else by “pop superstar” Ashley Tisdale. According to Engadget, the Store will look a little some like this (see the gallery below) and will feature a genius support bar.
[Via Engadget]
