Why can’t cell phones mesh? Moreso, why can’t my $2000+ Macbook Pro mesh on wifi networks, yet a $200 child’s laptop can? By mesh, I mean why can’t mobile devices (laptops and cellphones) act to relay messages through to each other so keep service going in areas that a central points can’t reach.
Googling around doesn’t give many answers. The main one that I could imagine would be power consumption, but the OLPC has gotten around that so it can’t be that hard. Security could be another, but it would be no worse than logging on at your average coffee shop or being plugged into a wired network that have other people on the switch/subnet.
A perfect place for this would be the subway systems of major cities. There’s always some people near the entrances, and even a slight delay in relaying of things like SMS would be acceptable. SMS service should work nearly anywhere. What about if you’re out on the highway somewhere that’s not covered? If there were other cars on the road within a 1/2 mile or so they could surely repeat the signals to help extend service. Or apartment buildings that end up being like fallout shelters for their sheilding capability?
Of course, it would need a standard and companies would probably try to not work with each other. This is 2008. Again, why a $200 laptop can mesh, but a $2000 laptop can’t is still beyond me.
Negroponte revealed at the OLPC MIT Media Lab event (Reported by Xconomy) that the next OLPC will be $75 and have dual screens by 2010 with the intention of being more like an eReader than a laptop. I have several problems with this and think they can do better.
The first problem being that they have a poor history of setting prices this far in advance. The OLPC was originally dubbed the “$100 Laptop” as that was the original price target. Its initial release was a buy 2, get 1 program at $400 (meaning each laptop was $200). Doubling of the price meant halfing the number of laptops that children would get their hands on. Not good. I am wondering if this new device is going to be closer to $125 or higher. They have a goal of making the original OLPC $100 in 2008. The problem is, we are nearly halfway through 2008 and we haven’t seen any movement on that.
My second problem is the screens. Did Negroponte get hooked playing on a Nintendo DS or something? They are going to use commodity portable DVD screens and somehow turn them into touch screens then for $20 each. These screens are generally very low resolution, require a lot of power for the backlights, don’t operate in non-backlit modes and hell to read text on.
Why in ~5 years since Amazon begun developing their Kindle couldn’t they get the same thing out there (without the profit) for approximately $175 or so? I’m thinking they could do it by 2010 and their ePaper looks great and lasts forever on batteries it seems.
I’m a supporter of OLPC, but I find this move to be disturbing as I find many of their moves to be lately. Why do we need Windows XP on children’s laptops in Africa? Why do they need dual screens? Why did they misjudge their pricepoints so badly before, and will they do the same again?
