the
innovative LEDGER
An e-Newsletter from The Innovative Edge™ Inc.
Vol.
6, No. 3, March 2006
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Christmas
with the Cranks
By Jeff Govendo
You’re
looking at a potentially huge leap forward in laptop computing. So
important, in fact, I chose to show it instead of the mug which usually
adorns this publication.
It
features a 500 MHz processor and 128MB of DRAM, 500MB of Flash memory
and four USB ports.
Not
impressed?
How
about instant wireless connectivity the minute it’s popped from
the package?
Still
not impressed?
It
has an extra-rugged, plastic case making it nearly unbreakable…
You’re
yawning.
Okay…
it doesn’t use an external electrical source, has no battery
or solar cells, yet never runs out of juice. Why? Because it’s
powered by a wind-up crank, like those flashlights or radios sold
at Sharper Image and Brookstone for “emergency” situations,
like when you need a conversation piece – quick.
Now
you’re getting interested. How about this? It costs $100.
Want
one? Well, you can’t have it, firstly because it’s not yet
in production, and won’t be until the end of 2006, perhaps around
Christmas. Secondly, because it will be sold only to governments of
developing nations for distribution to poor children who would otherwise
never have access to a computer.
The
$100 crank-up laptop is the invention of Nicholas Negroponte of the
MIT Media Lab, and chairman of the non-profit One Laptop per Child
(OLPD). OLPD’s mission is to put computers in the hands of
millions of children throughout the developing world, in order to
provide them with at least some of the learning opportunities taken
for granted by kids in modern, industrialized nations. They say
education is the great equalizer, and in the Information Age, access
to information via computer is a key to quality education.
Computers
for all… what a great idea! And as with many great ideas,
there are no doubt plenty of folks who will look upon it with skepticism,
shaking their heads and pointing out all the reasons why it won’t
work. Corrupt government officials in third-world countries, poor
distribution capabilities, too little sophistication on the part of
young users who won’t know what to do with them, no return on
investment, and on and on and on.
Every
radical, new innovation brings with it an army of skeptics who are
more than willing to tell us why it is doomed to failure. Listen
to them and we’re all reading by candlelight (or at least, wind-up
flashlight) and using an abacus to add up our own returns on investment.
The naysayers will tell us our vehicles have to run on petroleum-based
fuels – there’s just no other scientifically or commercially
viable way.
Sure,
there are real obstacles to resolve around any new invention, issues
to overcome. But in the end, real innovators listen to their hearts,
not to all the noise around them.
Myself,
I’m looking forward to hearing the first news story about a successful
implementation of the $100 laptop.
I’m
winding up my radio even as we speak.
