MIT Professor's $100 Laptop A Reality, Thanks To Google
Bangalore: Another milestone towards bridging the digital divide has been reached. And the credit goes to a man’s belief in his vision of providing low cost computing for the masses. Google has made John Negroponte’s dream, a reality.
John Negroponte is the co-founder of MIT Media laboratory and the One Laptop per Child foundation. Initially, he was criticized for his idea, some saying that it was a market ploy to sell laptops to third world countries. But his determination paid off as a laptop can now be bought at $99.
Google has said that the laptops, Series 5 Chromebooks from Samsung, will be available through Dec 21, under the 12/21 program. The laptop doesn’t use traditional and bulky software such as Windows. Instead it uses entirely web based applications, saving money and cutting down hardware costs. All you need is a basic internet connection.
Read: 10 Best Google Products Ever
Inside a classroom with Wi-Fi, it is a fabulous tool for learning. Students can access research material and teachers can utilize online classroom instructions and assignments, for example Google apps for Education. They can also be used to write collaborative documents and assignments. The laptops can be personalized with individual login ids, and even come with anti-virus protection. You can also choose to block certain websites. In a nutshell, it taps into the power of the web for an effective and interactive classroom teaching.
The best part is that you can place an order for your classroom on DonorsChoose.org and a donor will fund your purchase, if it is upto 30 laptops. The laptops can also be purchased from Lakeshore’s eschoolMall catalogue.
