Uruguay First Country To Truly Deliver One Laptop Per Child

Uruguay has taken the One Laptop Per Child project seriously and executed Plan Ceibal (Education Connect) to arm all children in primary schools around the country with a laptop. "This is not simply the handing out of laptops or an education programme. It is a programme which seeks to reduce the gap between the digital world and the world of knowledge," explained Miguel Brechner, director of the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay and in charge of Plan Ceibal. The feat makes Uruguay the first country to achieve the goal but as Brechner says "Its a culture shock scenario - many countries are simply too scared to put it into practice"

BBC News has more here.

John Lennon For OLPC

The One Laptop Per Child campaign seems to have a new champion in... John Lennon? Imagine!

Columbia Buys 65,000 XO Laptops From OLPC

About 65,000 Columbian children in the country's Caldas region will soon be getting an XO laptop. The project will concentrate on small towns and rural areas that will get the first 15,000 XO's, the remainder will be distributed over the next 18 months to larger centers. Caldas's Governor Mario Aristizabal said they were "committed to giving each and every child of primary school age the same opportunity to access knowledge as the most privileged children in New York, Berlin or Tokyo". BBC story.

Buy one, get one, laptops!

In an attempt to kick start the One Laptop Per Child project, Nicholas Negroponte has announced an initiative that he hopes will get the ball rolling. Saying “I have to some degree underestimated the difference between shaking the hand of a head of state and having a check written,” Negroponte and his team are now offering North Americans a chance to get involved. The marketing campaign called "Give 1, Get 1" allows Canadians and Americans the opportunity to purchase two laptops for $399, one will be donated and the other you are free to use as you see fit. The program runs from Nov. 12 to Nov. 26 and delivery is guaranteed before Christmas. The NY Times has the story here.

Intel backs One Laptop Per Child initiative

Chip maker Intel has decided to take an active roll and support the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) foundation that it once dismissed as a gadget. The foundation founded by Nicholas Negroponte, of MIT Media lab fame, has developed a laptop which was designed to be cheap to make, energy efficient and built to withstand rugged conditions. "It can be hand-powered so it will work in remote locations." Negroponte said in an interview "Collaboration with Intel means that the maximum number of laptops will reach children," The machine which uses free and open source software and has other corporate backers, is meant to be offered in South America, Africa, and parts of Asia where children would otherwise not be exposed to the technology. They require 3,000,000 orders to make the foundations production plan work. 7000 prototypes have been tested and the price is expected to be about $175 US. CBC story here.

A noble cause indeed!