The OLPC starts shipping

I just saw Scott post about a project that I’ve followed with great interest, the OLPC. Originally dubbed the $100 laptop, the cost is currently about $200 per machine. I assume that the price will lower as the number of machines produced go up. To boost this process the people behind started a campaign where by giving one, you can also get one yourself. The basic idea is to offer low priced computers to developing countries. What I see as the single biggest thing coming out of this is Knowledge. The information available on the web is massive. These machines can really help giving under-developed places opportunities they’d never have and improve a lot of lives.

The OLPC website has very limited info, but for those interested, I recommend checking out the Google TechTalks video where the project was presented. It’s a little long, but this machine is totally cutting edge in all the ways it saves power and connects. Well worth checking out! Unfortunately, anyone outside the US/Canada cannot donate for now.

I also noticed something really cool, T-Mobile are giving away a full years hotspot access to anyone contributing! Really nice of them, even though it can be considered marketing. I spend maybe $50-$100 on random T-Mobile access per year, so it could actually reduce the price of giving in my case.