As times, trends and technologies change, the OLPC initiative is changing as well, thanks to a US$5.6 million grant from the microchip manufacturer and OLPC evangelist, Marvell. The money will be used to fund the development of a tablet version of the XO.
Nicholas Negroponte commented, “While devices like eReaders and current tablets are terrific literary, media and entertainment platforms, they don’t meet the needs of an educational model based on making things, versus just consuming them. Today’s learning environments require robust platforms for computation, content creation and experimentation – and all that at a very low cost. Through our partnership with Marvell, OLPC will continue our focus on designing computers that enable children in the developing world to learn through collaboration, as well as providing connectivity to the world’s body of knowledge.” |
