With a little help from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), the One Laptop Per Child project plans to release the low-cost, simple and durable machine next year. Customers will, essentially, buy two laptops at once, with the extra going to a child in a developing country. Through the efforts of a yet-to-be-formed philanthropic organization, the customer will be able to stay in contact via e-mail with the child who receives the sponsored computer.This summer, 5 million of the laptops (called XO) will be delivered to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan and Thailand, and will include wireless networking and video conferencing to enable groups of schoolchildren to work together on one machine.
Michalis Bletsas, chief connectivity officer for OLPC, says Google will help publish the children's work online while eBay could sell the product to help minimize supply chain costs.
B. Brandon Barker is the author of Operation EMU











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-10-2007 @ 10:36AM
Diana said...
Will this wonderful program benefit any American children living in poverty?
If not, why on earth not.
1-10-2007 @ 11:18AM
john said...
this is b/s try helping our own country we have poor and needy children here, most americans are tired of giving to the rest of the world and our country is going to hell... we give & give and all thise countrys burn our flag and call us names , time for americans to stand up for ourself, yes you Rich people think it,s great to say you helped somone in another country so you can fill good about yourself ( and most of that money goes in some crooks pocket anyway)and you just look down on your own hard working people. time to wake up stand up and help america, we all feel bad for the poor of the world but charity begines at home.lets clean up our own house before we brag about helping others.
1-11-2007 @ 12:28PM
Tracy Riggs said...
I tend to agree with the previous two posts. Charity starts at home. While an admirable thought, why make people overseas think that American streets are lined with gold? I assure you they are not! Forty three million people without health insurance. Forty million people on food stamps. Not exactly the land of milk and honey anymore. We have millions living in poverty. These children would love to have computers, laptops, and phone connections.
I say let these other countries do for their own people. Give to America first.
1-16-2007 @ 3:12AM
Stephen said...
I'm not denying the fact that poverty is a major problem in the US, but remember that these computers are going to children who have no other means of getting their hands on this kind of technology. In the US we have public libraries with internet connections for anyone to use. These children live in countries, and in areas of countries, where access to computers would not even be a thought to them. I feel it's very selfish and wrong for someone in America, who obviously has enough resources to be able to connect to the internet to post on a message board, to criticize a group whose goal is to provide something to children who really have no hope otherwise. If charity does start at home, what have you been doing to help that? Instead of complaining about the One Laptop Per Child initiative helping out children who have no shot at a future, go volunteer at a soup kitchen, buy a coat for a homeless person, or feed the man or woman holding up a sign on the corner of the street.