Sorry, no gaming review/preview this weekend.  I'm still working my way through Grand Theft Auto 4 as diligently as I can...instead I have a standard post today that I could have saved until next week but hey, I value those proud few who read my blog and put up with my antics so I figured I'd treat you. =)

Everyone remembers the first generation of the XO laptop from Nick Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative.  Well, this past Tuesday Negroponte opened a workshop at Cambridge and what did he have to share?  The XO-2, of course.  Although most of what he showed was all very early and clearly from the concept stage of the project, there were some notable features about the new device including a new sleek form factor with a touch screen interface kind of like a super-sized Nintendo DS.  Only prettier I think.

This news came hot on the heels of a development that the OLPC organization was planning on switching to a much more proprietary platform than Sugar (the skew of Linux that serves as the operating system for the current-gen XO) - Windows XP.  As one would expect the open source community is up in arms over this development, especially after Negroponte himself was prone to saying that "the thought of XO laptops being used to teach young students Microsoft Word or Excel made him cringe."  Kind of makes you wonder what's with the sudden adoption of the Windows platform then.

xo2touch As far as the XO-2 itself goes, I think it's a pretty slick machine.  I compared it to a Nintendo DS which isn't really fair since, in a way, you can compare any laptop to a DS because they both fold in the middle.  The kicker is that the interface is set to be all touch-oriented (the wave of the future) so really maybe it's more like an iPhone with a crease down the middle.  The XO-2 is much smaller than its predecessor as well, and overall looks much more streamlined without any of the mesh antennas or anything getting in the way.  The concept of the mesh network was pretty cool though, so I hope they aren't doing away with that functionality and instead have just decided to build the hardware into the actual laptop.  The whole unit is basically in a book factor which I'm sure will be much more inviting to children to pick up and use.  That being said it's still pretty early in the game - the XO-2's aren't slated to be released until 2010 - so I'm sure the bulk of this is subject to change.

One of the most interesting parts of the video that is posted along with the images of the XO-2 is a statement from Negroponte himself.  Basically he says because the display technology is similar to that which is found in portable DVD players, the price point of the XO-2 could be as little as $20.  Everything about this project screams ambition to me, especially the price point.  The originally XO was supposed to cost $100 and it ended up costing twice that amount, not to mention that the hardware for the XO-2 at least looks much more advanced than the first.  I have no doubt that this technology will become more and more viable and cheaper to produce over the next two years, but I still doubt very much that the XO-2 will be anywhere near a $20 price point.

I'd also like to tack on an extra little link here at the end of this post from a former employee of OLPC - Ivan Krstić.  He recently wrote a post on his blog basically lambasting the concept behind the OLPC and, in particular, the motives of those who are at the forefront (Negroponte).  Without giving too much away I'd just like to say if you want a behind-the-scenes look at the scandalous inner workings of a tech charity you should read his 4,460 word essay on his experience with the OLPC foundation.  Yes, it's a long article but it's a great read.  You can find it here.

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Blondie - Heart of Glass
Grand Theft Auto 4