I have been interested for years with the OLPC $100 laptop. Primarily for the role it will play in reshaping the socio-economics of developing countries, secondly for its technological accomplishments in low power draw. My only remaining question is….why can’t I get one? Well there have been hints that I can buy one for $100 bucks as long as I buy one for someone else in the developing world.
Its not the most powerfull laptop, but the cost and low wattage (4 watts browsing the internet, 1 watt reading a document) make the OLPC a gadget intriging. Especially since you charge it by pulling a string (exersice anyone?).
Technology
Robothink: Japanese Robot Museum
This a fun thing for this Friday. Japan now has a robot museum.
“Finally, scholars have a place to conduct Astro Boy studies. Robothink, Japan’s first bot museum, opened its doors this fall. The 28,000-square-foot facility is housed in a former used-car dealership in Nagoya. From Robby to Aibo, the droid depository features dozens of actual automatons, plus replicas of real and fictional bots.”
Psiphon Fights Censorship
Earlier this year we covered that Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto was creating some software called Psiphon that lets people bypass firewalls. Psiphone is designed to let people access sites that are blocked for censorship reasons like in China where there is a lot of online censorship.
“psiphon is a censorship circumvention solution that allows users to access blocked sites in countries where the Internet is censored. psiphon turns a regular home computer into a personal, encrypted server capable of retrieving and displaying web pages anywhere.”
Ancient Computer Hacked
A bizarre looking device that was used to chart and predict moon cycles. Researchers had to use the most modern of today’s technology to understand this 2,000 year old device.
“Using 21st-century technology to peer beneath the surface of the encrusted gearwheels, stunned scientists say the so-called Antikythera Mechanism could predict the ballet of the Sun and Moon over decades and calculate a lunar anomaly that would bedevil Isaac Newton himself.
Built in Greece around 150 to 100 BC and possibly linked to the astronomer and mathematician Hipparchos, its complexity was probably unrivalled for at least a thousand years, they say.”
Nailing it Right
In hurricane and tornado prone areas a very cheap and simple but effective nail can be used to help a house hold tight. The HurriQuake is a nail that is designed to hold better than other nails even in earthquakes. Popular Science as a lot of information on how the nail was designed and how the idea was inspired by a trip to the Caribbean, the article concentrates on the man who invented it – Dr. Nail.
The nail adds about $15 to the cost of an average 2000 sq. ft. house, it’s such a cheap and effective solution to keep a house standing.
Via MeFi