OLPC to Drop Tablets from Sky in Developing Countries

Dumb Ass Idea, they will only end up in the hands of rebels who will sell them back to people in developing countries.

in that case, bombard and napalm the area prior to airdrop lol

Oh great, give a free tablet to someone who will never in their lifetime have the mental capacity on how to actually use the device because of the lack of education of where they live.

Sounds like a science experiment to me..

What, they can't spend a few more resources physically handing the tablets to the children to ensure they are in the right hands? That's just laziness and cheap strategy on their part.

""Adults may be able to steal it, but they won't be able to use it ... maybe an older brother will get a hold of it, use it for pornography - that's life," Negroponte said. "

How does this work if you're an adult and somebody's older brother at the same time? Can you use the tablet for pornography or can't you?

Tablets without wireless to hook into? Or are they just expecting the wireless will "just work" without any help. OLPC was a decent idea, but this... this is just nuts!

this idea sounds stupid and dangerous. too crazy to not to be a pr stunt.
may be the tablet cost went up.
or may be they realized that the tablet can't play crysis and they don't want to be near the gamer villagers (or village gamers..?) when they realize this.

Well, it may sound like news to all of us since they plan to drop it from the sky but the main issue was and is that the OLPC was and is a piece of really old tech which had been rejected with it's proposal by a few developing countries since they already had better stuff at cheaper rates than the OLPC.
The idea of the e Education to the remote areas was good. But the implementation of such networks is years behind their time. The OLPC was subsidized but the Carriers aren't going to subsidize data packages or they will have to cut costs for the urban people too.
For all you know the OLPC planes might just get shot out of the air for Violating airspace in some countries.

These are human beings not lab monkeys. Treat them with respect, actually go in person to deliver the devices so they done wind up in the hands of rebels who will use the technology to research weapons and tactics and co-ordinate attacks.

Hmm, if they want to educate them why not give them books translated in their own language? I bet it's much cheaper and some people will actually thrive intellectually instead of just looking at porn, which I have no doubt it will happen.

Also, what developing countries are they speaking of? How many developing countries have that much access to wifi and internet? Will these tablets come preloaded with content like e-books or porn?

Probally be next years new reality series. I can see it now, with little hidden cameras recording them tring to figure it all out. Edit it properly and it could look like a great thing. On the other hand it could like a total disaster. lol. Sounds like a hit to me.

One of the theories of the project is that the childish styling and large quantities would depress the appeal/value among adults and limit theft and reselling (a questionable idea). Internet service is from a satellite uplink and a mesh network (the older design with the flip-up ears had over a mile range). As far as the porn problem - they're expecting that competent adults will supervise the kids using them (filtering opponents in the USA want parents to do that now instead of relying on software/government/ISPs to do it.)

As for the Coke bottle movie reference - I didn't see the movie but from what I've heard the bottle caused a lot of problems. Not a promising prediction.

Developing laptops for developing countries, sounds like a joke from God.

They might use it as a dinner tray if they don't know what it is

Who is paying for this vast waste of money?

the monolith

This has to be one of the most stupid ideas I have ever heard.

Reminds me when Les Nesman dropped turkeys from a helicopter on WKRP...

This is actually rather reminiscent of when schools started getting computers and then laptops (minus the air-dropping, of course). A lot of times the equipment was simply dropped off at the schools with no more instruction than the user manuals. Teachers and administrators were left with figuring out how to integrate the technology in their "spare time." It wasn't pretty and this is worse.
Other folks have already pointed out the connection issue. In many countries cell service is fairly common, even out in remote areas, but someone still has to foot the bill for the wireless contract.
Likewise, these computers cost something too. If I were a stockholder (if there is such a thing) in OLPC, I'd be raising a fuss at the next meeting.
The total lack of concern for how these will be used borders on idiocy... from the wrong side of that border. How does it figure that a child should be able to figure the use out, but an adult couldn't. (It's that old myth of adults being computer-phobic, I'll bet.) Most of these devices _will_ be taken from a child lucky enough to find them first and, if the person who takes it can't figure out how to use it, he'll find someone who can or sell it to someone who can.
I think the only theory that makes sense is the one that these were going to have to be dumped anyway, so they came up with this futile, PR stunt instead.

When they return the only thing they find is super smart kid who was not killed by tablet computer that fell from sky. Lol

Come back a year later, object becomes a signal from the gods, many people slaughtered in the same of a box of crap tablets.

How about they give them to the poor in the countries that actually are productive in the world instead of a bunch of savages?

sounds like a good idea, unless you actually think about it. are these the same countrys that when food gets dropped down that the leaders of the countrys goes around and picks it all up to horde for themselves? and arent these countrys that make children forage and farm for food? or even the onse that put guns into childrens hands? or even the ones that keep girls and women from learning to read to keep them subservient? it seems to me the last thing the world needs is for these people (the ones that would rather do harm than good) to get their hands on these and become computer literate. with the proliferation of child porn in these countrys among other things, i can't see how just dropping these from the sky is a good thing. i can see how these small laptops would become a very powerful tool for small unorganized terrorist groups to become large organized terrorist groups. i do understand how people would say i'm pointing out just the bad and not the good but this issue needs a lot more thought then just to drop them from the sky. most of what i pointed out others pointed out a long while ago, look up a story from http://erratasec.blogspot.com/2008 [...] orism.html 3 years ago, and there are others. just seems spooky to me.

Have any of you actually used an OLPC? No terrorist group is going to use these when any modern phone is way more powerfull.

Dropping these into a REMOTE village may be an excellent experiment(come on that's what it is), but It needs to be remote enough that no-one tries to trade/sell the tablet for food/tools (not that they would get much for it).

OLPC is a nice dream, but it is not very realistic...

lets ensure One Meal Per Child first!