Consider this: most of the 2,000,000,000 children in the developing world get little to no education. This pretty well socks them into a life of hunger, poverty, and struggle. American schools pay an average of $7,500 per educated student; developing countries pay out as little as $19 each.Solving this problem is like fighting a giant, multi-headed hydra of politics, international policy, history, and business. It takes an ambitious person with big ideas to even think about taking it on.
Nicholas Negroponte is one such an ambitious person and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is his big idea.
OLPC is a simple enough concept- put a laptop in the hands of every child on the planet. It has spent the last few years designing, tweaking, and producing a low cost, Linux driven laptop that can be powered by a hand crank or charged up through a plug. The laptops have wireless capabilities and automatically connect and network to other laptops in the area. They are also energy sippers; the screens using 1/7 the energy as those found on conventional laptops.
The OLPC just went on sale for a limited time- for $399 you actually get two laptops- one for yourself and one that is donated to some kid in the developing world. The upside to this is that $200 of the purchase price is tax deductible. The sale ends on November 26, so hurry over and get yours before the clock runs out.
