Around this time, back in 2007, you may recall me freaking out about the new XO-1 laptop from OLPC I was waiting for.  OLPC is the name of a non-profit that was created in order to design a laptop computer so cheaply that 3rd World governments would want to buy One Laptop Per Child in their country–get it? OLPC.  Their plan initially was to make a laptop that would cost $100, which they'd then charge $100 for.  I know–zero mark-up, these guys must be COMMIES! ;)

Sadly, they didn't quite make their target price, but $200 for a netbook as full featured, as this thing is, still ain't bad.  Last year, OLPC announced a program called "Give 1 Get 1" or G1G1 and it allowed Americans to buy two OLPC XO laptops–they would get one, and the other would go to a kid in a 3rd-world country.  Pretty cool, huh?  So, naturally, since it was mixing gadgets with philantrhopy (and the XO is a great little piece of hardware) I had to support it. 

Today, the program returns via Amazon.com.  Check out http://amazon.com/xo to order now!

But you may be wondering just what the heck some poor kid in a village is going to do with a laptop?  The answer is easy: learn.

The XO's onboard OS, called SugarOS, comes with a bunch of great educational applications (called "activities") that help kids learn about all sorts of things, from math, to music, to more.  If the village has a single computer with Internet access, every XO in the village can access the same connection and can even share Internet connections amongst each other XO thanks to Mesh networking technology.  Mesh allows each XO to connect and each XO user to share activities to encourage kids to work together (up to a kilometer away!).

But a laptop in the middle of the 3rd World?

The XO has a huge battery lifespan–one charge gives it about twice as long a run as my MacBook gets on it's battery.  Part of this lifespan jump is thanks to the XO's dual mode laptop display which allows you to switch from back-lit-color to straight black & white with just a button-press.  The B&W mode is perfect for outdoor settings.  No moving parts also allows the XO to use less energy.  Its case is durable and practical (it even has a handle) and is generally spill and dust proof.  I know, I have one.

My only gripe about the XO is the OS.  While I understand creating a non-windows, non-Windows-based lappie for kids (we want them to use computers in a positive way), I do feel that the OS limits the kids on how much they can do.  While the laptop's processor surpasses that of my old, 1998 Toshiba Satellite's, I was not able to work on my novel and research on the web simultaneously on the XO.  This is something I did every day for a year-straight on my Satellite.  The good news is that it is possible to run Linux (and even Windows XP–though you wouldn't want to) on the XO.  It alows you to pack a bit more punch and take a bit more advantage of the RAM.  Of course, I say this as a computer-geek-extraordinaire–not as a kid in a third world country.  Speaking of which, 3rd World kids seem to enjoy the XO just fine.

Why not drop $400 and let another kid get one?

http://amazon.com/xo

Or get it at my Amazon store here:

http://astore.amazon.com/thepetecom-20/detail/B001GB87EI

Either way, any computer is going to beat the computer most of these kids are going to get.  Make a difference and own the laptop that invented the netbook.

Posted by email from thepete’s posterous

Second XO Screencap: XO screenshot number 2! WAHOO! The above is a cap of my Neighborhood screen slowly populating. The circles are (mostly) wifi networks—I’m connected to the blue one toward the left, just below the middle of the screen. I’m hoping they do something to improve the visibility of the network you’r connected to. A little white circle doesn’t help much. The XOs are other XOs that my machine sees because it is logged into the xochat.org Jabber server. At one point, before my XO had connected to any network at all, I saw three other XOs, so I’m wondering if there are other folks, at UCLA maybe, who have XOs. I live less than a half-mile away from UCLA, after all. More at Utterz.com

WAITING FOR XO: Day 5.

OK, I’ve been super busy on the OLPCNews.com/forum over the past couple of days. So much so that they’ve gone and made me a moderator. Wow–sounds like some 1950s scifi supervillain: I am the MODERATOOORRR!!

Anyway, so I’ve been missing a lot of non-XO related stuff to blog on, so be sure to take some time away from celebrating that fictional–I mean–messiah guy’s birthday next week to catch up on what I’ve been reading/hearing about over the past several days. There has been a lot of screwed up stuff going on that I think is important for us all to know about and it ain’t makin’ DrudgeReport or CNN.com. But that’s next week.

TODAY, one of my pals over at Utterz.com, she goes by PixelFish, got her XO delivered today. Check out her Utterz profile to see all of her pics and her 9 minute first-day-audio-review of the XO is a pretty good listen, as well.

She was pretty excited about getting it today–I’d probably get in trouble if I mentioned the things she messaged me during the day today (RANDY!)–no, I’m kidding. But she was very excited, so much so that she started posting her own version of the LOLCatz pictures. For her it was all about where her XO really was. Check out the first one she posted:

PixelFish also did a great Star Wars-related one, though the best one was when she theorized that her XO was on that damn island with Tom Hanks. Luckily, her XO was shipped by ground from Illinois, so, the worst that could have happened was that it might have gotten stuck in the snow on the way to Boston.

Speaking of Illinois, my XO left Chicago this morning at 11:30am. Have a look at proof:

So, seeing that the FedEx website estimates my XO will be delivered on Friday, 12/21, I flashed back to when I first drove to LA from the east coast. It took me six days and I took my sweet time. They’re coming from Chicago, so, that should mean it’ll only take them three days. Since my XO technically left the Wheeling warehouse on Monday, that means it should only take about three days from then, which was when FedEx first picked it up. That would put it into LA on Wednesday or Thursday at the absolute latest.

Suspicious, I decided to confirm this with a quick visit (and screencap) at Google Maps. Here’s what I found:

A DAY AND FIVE HOURS???

WTH???

So, by that measure, if my XO left Chicago this morning, assuming it took Google’s route of course, it should arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow (Wednesday) at around 4:30PM–WAIT–no–that’s wrong. My XO left at 11:30AM Central Time. That’s 9:30AM Pacific Time, so that means it should be in LA tomorrow by 2:30PM!

I can see it now:

My XO arrives Friday afternoon. I take it out and immediately get cross with it:

“Where have you been, young laptop?!?!”

“I was coming from Chicago!” my little XO would reply.

“ALL WEEK?”

Then the XO would look up at me with it’s adorable little, dual mode display and my heart would melt. I’d take it in my arms and… and…

AHEM… sorry…

ANYWAY, so, that’s the OLPCSOLPotD for December 18, 2007! Day 5 of “Waiting for XO!”

Thanks for reading!

No, the guilty feelings aren’t because I stole an XO :P I’ll explain everything, one at a time.

1) What’s worse than not seeing that green-icon-festooned XO laptop box on your front porch, yet? Seeing on that green-icon-festooned XO laptop box on your front porch that is empty. Ugh, it pains me to even blog about this. Bob writes on his blog about how when his wife got home on Friday she found a box addressed to him. Turns out (as you can see from one of his pictures to the left) that the XO and its power adapter were stolen from inside! How incredibly lame is that?? Someone couldn’t just steal the whole box, they had to steal the XO and send the box on its merry way!! FUCKERS!!

Too bad we can’t all have Ican Krstic deliver our XOs to us. Lucky Uruguayan kids!! ^_^

2) OK, so, this brings me to my frustration. While my XO hasn’t been stolen, it also hasn’t been shipped. I remember the night of November 11–around 11:30PM, I was thinking to myself about how I’d like to go to sleep around midnight for a change and how I actually had most of my work done. A half-second later, I remembered that the next day was November 12–when the Give 1 Get 1 program begins taking orders for the XO laptop (SWEET!). Orders were to go live at 6am ET, so I tossed out my plans for an early (for me) bed time and stayed up until 3AM PT and right at 3AM placed my order because the site had claimed that it would be first come, first served. In fact, one email I got from the OLPC people seemed to suggest that each XO laptop was being built as each order came in (no, manufacturing isn’t that fast, obviously, but you know what I mean). However, after perusing the OLPCNews.com/forum last night I quickly discovered that people who ordered their XO over a week after I did have gotten their XOs already. Of course, I’m jealous and I’m also happy that they’re getting theirs so early, but why the hell did I bother staying up until 3AM on the very first day to place an order? Why did they claim “first come, first served”? Why does the OLPC wiki say that the XOs will ship via UPS when they’ve shipped FedEx Ground? Why isn’t anyone getting tracking numbers??

What’s even worse is that these $400 machines (that’s our effective cost) are being left on doorsteps signature-free, where any dickhead neighbor could just walk off with one. LOVELY.

I’m beginning to think that the whole delivery/distribution thing has been nicely botched by whoever is in charge of it. Between random people getting theirs first (so much for 1st come, 1st served), no tracking numbers being emailed and no signatures required upon delivery, to me, it’s amazing more people aren’t in poor Bob’s situation. I just hope he gets his XO and no one else has to find themselves in his situation.

3) Now comes the guilt. OLPC is a non-profit that exists to help put educational laptops in the hands of underprivileged children around the world. I should be giving them a break for getting this far. So I feel guilty for mentioning any of this. Except that, well, how do they expect to change the 3rd World if they can’t even deliver smoothly to the 1st World?