One Laptop Per Child

Okay, this one really got me in the breadbasket.  Before detailing, I’m reminded of the late, great Sam Kinison’s joke about non-profits engaged in dropping food into the middle of nowhere as a means to help refugees.  To paraphrase his analogy, “You people live in a desert! There’s no food or water there to support life!  What are you doing?  Here’s an airplane ticket to the first world!  Argh!  AArrgghh!  AAAArrrrgghh!!!” May he rest in comedic peace.

Well, Mr. Kinison’s systemic take on real third world solutions is being expedited by an MIT Professor on a mission to bridge the gap for kids for whom Harvard isn’t a birthright and privilege an afterthought.

Note: It doesn’t cost that much to donate a machine that could be placed into the hands of a future Albert Schweitzer or Harriet Tubman.  Read on!

Nicholas Negroponte (right) and Seymour Papert
 

It’s not a laptop project. It’s an education project.

In 2002, MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte experienced first-hand how connected laptops transformed the lives of children and their families in a remote Cambodian village. A seed was planted: If every child in the world had access to a computer, what potential could be unlocked? What problems could be solved? These questions eventually led to the foundation of One Laptop per Child, and the creation of the XO laptop.

OLPC’s mission is to provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education. While children are by nature eager for knowledge, many countries have insufficient resources to devote to education—sometimes less than $20 per year per child (compared to an average of $7,500 in the United States). By giving children their very own connected XO laptop, we are giving them a window to the outside world, access to vast amounts of information, a way to connect with each other, and a springboard into their future. And we’re also helping these countries develop an essential resource—educated, empowered children.
 

For more information about OLPC’s mission, visit www.laptop.org.

The Tennessean: Tent City closing delayed

Chris Gardner’s life story as depicted in The Pursuit of Happyness is an excellent film about one man’s descension into homelessness and ascension through the hunt for his PASSION and gift of COMPASSION from others (some because of the support organizations they run and others upon discovering his true grit).  In this case,

Real Story + Great Movie = Reinforcement of the American Dream.  

Well, real life isn’t a movie we can leave when we’re feeling uncomfortable.  To this degree, my local paper brought my focus today back to the harsher thoughts that I suppress in pursuit of my own survival:

1. That other Chris Gardners are out there based upon the awesome numbers.
2. This condition could befall anyone given the right combination of circumstances.
3. That everyone in these circumstances isn’t a Chris Gardner but is a human being just the same.  
4. That small victories are prerequisites for BIG ones.
5. That grassroots activities DO matter to people who have nowhere to go.
    

Accordingly, we at betworX are aware that Project Care isn’t a total solution but due to our own resource limitations recognize it as a Web 2.0-style method for enabling everyone within visual promity of this blog page to drive manifestation of this initiative or something better from the digerati’s perspective. Altruism is about as sacred an act as our society permits and helping someone who wants to communicate with loved ones doesn’t make us weaklings.  Because of web technology, today’s philanthropy doesn’t have to hurt us or even expose us to discomfort.  
 

Why not forward this blog page, petition a corporation or do something totally off the chain like write a computer program/game/book that incorporates a portion of the proceeds towards philanthropy?
 

KOAN: What can I do from my workstation to make a difference in the life of others?  
 

If you’ve read this far, I’ve attached the article from my city’s paper as a public service and pasted the vacation advertisement from it below as a contrasting irony.  

Tasting Drupal Through An Acquia Filter…

One thing that’s obvious from watching their video is that Dries Buytaert and Jay Batson are very excited about Acquia and their creation of value-added software products and services for supporting Drupal, the free open source content management platform.  

In their pursuit of dedicated talent, they stress that “We’re looking for people who have a LAMP in their head, who have Java in their gut, CSS/HTML/PHP/Javascript in their heart, and who are Agile enough to live in Scrums all the time.” In other words, “Mister Techno-Me2″ need not apply.  

If you’re like me and needing to learn more, feel free to watch Dries and Jay’s video or the Acquia’s Launch Pad Presentation at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008 below:

The Dragon of Nuance

IMPORTANT: This product IS NOT RECOMMENDED for people who can’t talk.  

In the course of analyzing small businesses and helping convert people’s pipe dreams to functional realities, I always hear lamentations like “If I could only type like you!” or “If I could type, then I could write my business plan/screenplay/novel (choose one)!”  

So on and so forth it goes and a large number of people I engage never deliver because:

1. they have writer’s block.
2. they type slowly.
3. they can’t type.
4. they have carpal tunnel or an illness that voids digital interaction with the keyboard.
5. they are illiterate (tremendous imagery awaits the world from the minds of illiterates)
6. they are lazy.
    

Well, if you fall into any of the above categories, I have good news for you. Starting at $99 plus tax and shipping, Nuance has crafted a nice speech recognition software in Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10.  The next time you’re “Just talking” about becoming the Hemingway or Hughes of the 21st century remember that you could be wordsmithing in moments.  

Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows: Download Page

Just in case you hadn’t heard about their new browser that runs multiple processes instead of threads, here’s the link to Google Chrome:  

http://www.google.com/chrome

Quick Take: It’s stripped down to the chrome, hence the name.  No bookmarks immediately available nor is it an immediate threat to Firefox.  Happy Surfing!

Public Service Announcement: Open Source is Out There!

Google Apps: $400,000 Annual Savings for Arizona State?

Arizona State University offers a very compelling case for migration of their self-supported E-mail platform to Google:

The target window for online applications doesn’t appear to be closing; indeed, with the release of Chrome, we may see even more small and medium sized businesses conducting an exodus to on-demand services via the efficiencies realizable from cloud computing.