November 18, 2005
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Crank Power!
One night in Bangkok
and the world’s your oyster…
Tonight’s Bangkok Post
on a new $100 laptop
from an MIT designer:
No logo for the initiative has yet been released, but designers could
do worse than adopting as their symbol the bright yellow hand-crank
that protrudes from the side of the laptop. This throwback to the days
of the gramophone is designed to enable users to manually crank up
electricity to run the laptop in places with irregular or non-existent
access to the fixed electric power grid.
Details from Wired News
Kevin Poulsen, 12:58 PM Nov. 17, 2005 PT:TUNIS, Tunisia — If tech luminary Nicholas Negroponte has his way, the
pale light from rugged, hand-cranked $100 laptops will illuminate homes
in villages and townships throughout the developing world, and give
every child on the planet a computer of their own by 2010.The MIT Media Lab and Wired magazine founder stood
shoulder to shoulder with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to unveil
the first working prototype of the “$100 laptop” — currently more like
$110 — at the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society here
Wednesday. The Linux-based machine instantly became the hit of the
show, and Thursday saw diplomats and dignitaries, reporters and TV
cameras perpetually crowded around the booth of One Laptop Per Child –
Negroponte’s nonprofit — craning for a glimpse of the toy-like tote.With its cheery green coloring and Tonka-tough shell, the laptop
certainly looks cool. It boasts a 7-inch screen that swivels like a
tablet PC, and an electricity-generating crank that provides 40 minutes
of power from a minute of grinding.Related material:
Certified Crank.
