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The Holiday Season Starts with Giving One Laptop
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The holiday season is a time for expressing thanks for all that we have and for giving to others who are less fortunate than ourselves. It's therefore the perfect time to participate in One Laptop per Child's Give One Get One program and help bring education and learning to the one billion children in the developing world who receive inadequate, or in some cases, no education at all.
One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization launched in 2005 by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte to design, manufacture and distribute laptop computers that are sufficiently affordable and connected to the Internet, to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression."Since announcing the Give One Get One program eight weeks ago, we've experienced a tremendous outpouring of public support," said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child. "OLPC is about learning not laptops. It is wonderful to see how many people deeply care about empowering children, who in turn are the world's most important natural resource."
During the two-week period November 12-26, for just US$399, individuals who live in the USA or Canada can participate in the Give One Get One program to support the OLPC Foundation by paying for two XO children's laptops – one to give, one to get. The laptop you give will go to a child in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti or Rwanda. The laptop you get can be used by you or a deserving child or friend. $200 of the Give One Get One contribution is tax-deductible as a charitable donation. The XO laptops will be delivered starting in December on a first come, first served basis.
Go now to http://www.laptopgiving.org or call 1-877-70-LAPTOP (1-877-705-2786) to participate in this unique philanthropic opportunity.
Masi Oka, star of NBC's hit ensemble drama series "Heroes," recently assumed the added role of goodwill ambassador for One Laptop per Child. "Anyone can be a 'hero' in real life," said Oka. "Participating in the Give One Get One program is a form of heroism – going above and beyond ordinary circumstances to help another human being in need. I encourage everyone to do what they can to support the work of One Laptop per Child and its efforts to improve children's education and connectivity to the world."
The Revolutionary XO Laptop
The XO laptop, conceived at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and developed and manufactured by OLPC and its technology partners, has been created specifically for children in developing countries. It has many features not found in any other laptop, including:
• Rugged design and sealed case to make it water-and shock-resistant
• High-resolution screen that can be read in direct sunlight, as well as indoors in the dark
• Low power consumption using only 5-10 percent of the average wattage of a normal laptop
• Can be powered by solar energy and human energy with pull cords and hand cranks
• Mesh (peer-to-peer) network that turns each XO laptop into a full-time router connecting each laptop and allowing for easy Internet access
• No moving parts, except for rabbit ears (for the mesh network) and the hinge
• Runs on free, open source software
• Contains no lead, mercury, cadmium or PVC
The XO laptop comes with a built-in video camera, sophisticated sound processing, and software for making music, creating art, playing games, browsing the web and word processing. The XO laptop can also be used as an e-book reader in both the dark and in bright sunlight.
U2's The Edge has created a custom start-up sound for the revolutionary XO children's laptop. The sound welcomes children to the laptop's opening animation. The Edge said, "I'm delighted to support One Laptop Per Child, and its amazing aim to use this technology to help children all over the world."
As a result of a partnership with OLPC, T-Mobile USA is offering one year of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot access to people in the U.S. who donate an XO laptop to a child in a developing country through the Give One Get One program. T-Mobile HotSpot service provides fast and reliable Wi-Fi Internet access at more than 8,500 public T-Mobile HotSpot locations throughout the United States including at select Starbucks coffee shops, Borders bookstores, Hyatt Hotels, Amtrak stations and many airports.
Electronic Arts Inc. has also announced that it will donate the original SimCity – the blockbuster 1989 game credited with giving rise to the city-building game genre – to each XO laptop. SimCity is entertainment that's unintentionally educational. Players learn to use limited resources to build and customize their cities. There are choices and consequences, but in the end, it's a creativity tool that's only limited by the player's imagination.
About One Laptop per Child
One Laptop per Child (OLPC at http://www.laptop.org ) is a non-profit organization created by Nicholas Negroponte and others from the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture and distribute laptop computers that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education. These XO laptops will be rugged, open source, and so energy efficient that they can be powered by a child manually. Mesh networking will give many machines Internet access from one connection. The pricing goal is $100.
The XO laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. Starting November 12 and for two weeks only, individuals in the U.S. and Canada will be able to participate in the Give One Get One program and for US$399 get a laptop while giving one simultaneously to a child in a developing nation. For more information on the Give One Get One program, go to:
http://www.laptopgiving.org •News •Comments •Tell-a-Friend
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