The most recent articles from Computing

Storm warning

Daniel Robinson — 2008-12-02T12:43:00.000Z

Daniel Robinson, Computing, Tuesday 2 December 2008 at 12:43:00

Consumers will no doubt be blown away by RIM’s first touch-screen BlackBerry, but usability issues mean business users are likely to be less keen, writes Daniel Robinson

The BlackBerry Storm is the first handset from Research In Motion (RIM) to feature a touch-based user interface akin to that of Apple’s popular iPhone. This may draw lots of attention from consumers, but business users are likely to stick with more traditional BlackBerry designs.

Available now from Vodafone, the BlackBerry Storm lacks a keyboard and instead has a larger 3.25in screen designed for fingertip control of functions, with just the standard phone call/end keys and a BlackBerry menu and escape key on the front bezel. It also has improved music and video capabilities, such as the ability to play movies and synchronise with an iTunes library.

While the Storm also has the usual corporate features, such as the ability to enroll with a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) for push email and administrator control, it seems to be aimed more at consumers.

The Storm has 3G network support, Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS hardware for location-based applications, but it lacks Wi-Fi, which is included in many rival devices such as the iPhone. There is, however, a decent 3.2-megapixel camera.

The Storm’s touch-screen and gesture recognition are bound to invite comparison with Apple’s iPhone, and the two input systems are quite similar. With both devices, users can scroll up and down menus and email lists by swiping the screen, and tap the screen to zoom in within applications such as the browser. The main menu has icons just the right size to be easily tapped with a fingertip, and both devices automatically change screen orientation if twisted around.

Where the Storm differs is in its clickable screen, which lets the user press down – like clicking a mouse button – to select an option. This feature means it is possible to scroll through your emails and menus without accidentally opening one or unintentionally triggering a function, which we h ave found to be a continual bugbear with other touch-enabled phones.

The clickable screen should also make an onscreen soft keyboard more usable, but we did not find this to be the case. The click feedback helps, but we could only tap out text at a fraction of the speed possible with a real keyboard – even the thumb keyboards of other smartphones. The problem is that it is tricky to hit the right key, and although the Storm lights up the key it thinks you want to press, this forces you to look carefully at the keyboard before you push down.

Using the soft keyboard gets easier with practice, but we still doubt that professionals who rely on a BlackBerry for everyday email access will be satisfied with this. We showed the Storm to several colleagues who already use other BlackBerry devices, and most expressed their dislike of this input method.

In fact, the Storm has two separate onscreen keyboards. If you hold the device in portrait orientation, it shows a SureType keypad similar to that of the BlackBerry Pearl, where each key has two letters and the phone uses a predictive algorithm to work out what you are trying to type. Twist the device round to landscape mode, and the Storm uses the longer side of the screen to display a full Qwerty layout instead.

As with Apple’s iPhone, the touch-screen is fine for dialling voice calls with an onscreen numeric keypad, as the keys here are larger. RIM has also wisely included physical buttons to mute the sound and lock and unlock the screen.

One of the touch-screen’s useful applications is multi-touch support. If you place one finger at the start of a block of text and another at the end, the Storm highlights everything in between, making it easier to cut and paste.

The BlackBerry Storm is about the same size as RIM’s older BlackBerry 8800 model, at 112.5mm long, 62.5 wide and 13.95 in depth. Apple’s iPhone is slightly longer, but thinner, while the Storm is noticeably heavier than the iPhone and other BlackBerry models at 155g. Nevertheless, it can still be carried in a jacket pocket.

Recent BlackBerry models have had good displays, and the Storm is no exception. Its 480x360 pixel screen rivals that of the iPhone for brightness and vivid colour. Vodafone supplied our review unit with a selection of media such as movie trailers, and we found the on-screen playback quality of these impressive.

We experienced some issues when testing the BlackBerry Storm. While we were able to get a 3G Vodafone network connection in central London, this dropped off to GPRS speed in other locations and sometimes lost the signal altogether.

We also found that the motion sensor, which detects the orientation of the device, often caused the Storm to change screen format when we did not want it to.

BlackBerry’s web browser also caused us some frustration with links. We found that on some news sites, for example, tapping on a headline simply zoomed in, rather than opening the link to the article itself. The browser has a cursor mode, whereby a mouse pointer can be moved around the screen by fingertip control, but switching to this did not fix the problem.

The Storm comes with a variety of applications, such as a version of the Documents to Go suite from Dataviz, which enables users to view and edit email attachments sent as Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint files, including Office 2007 formats.

It also includes the Vodafone Music Store, which allows users to buy and download music.However, while the Storm’s built-in media player can supposedly synchronise with a user’s iTunes music library, we could not find a way to do this, nor any mention of it in the documentation.

Many other applications look as if they are ready installed, such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Google Maps, but touching their icon actually triggers a download from the web. The same is true for most of the messaging applications, such as ICQ, Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger.

However, RIM’s own BlackBerry Maps application for navigation is built in, as is BlackBerry Messenger.

The Storm has 1GB of built-in memory, but this can be expanded to 16GB using a microSD slot for Flash cards, located next to the SIM card slot behind the handset’s rear cover.

Powering the Storm is a 1,400mAh lithium battery pack rated by RIM at 15 days on standby and up to 5.5 hours of talk time. However, the charge level indicator on the screen seemed to deplete faster than previous BlackBerry models we have tested, resulting in our having to recharge the unit every day or two during tests.

Vital statistics

3.25in screen – 480x360 pixels at 184ppi
Touch-screen supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures
1GB of onboard memory storage – microSD/SDHD memory card slot for up

to 16GB of additional storage
Support for 3G (HSPA) network and GPS
3.2-megapixel digital camera
Weighs 5.5oz/155g

Will poor integration derail smart tickets?

Angelica Mari — 2008-11-13T11:23:00.000Z

Angelica Mari, Computing, Thursday 13 November 2008 at 11:23:00

Next year could prove to be make or break for plans to have a nationwide smart ticketing scheme in place in time for the 2012 Games, writes Angelica Mari

Integration issues are threatening the delivery of smartcards as the key technology legacy for the UK’s transport system after the London 2012 Olympics.

Experts are warning that the lack of an organisation to supervise the delivery of separate smartcard systems may lead to a situation where some parts of the country will have their own schemes up and running ahead of the Games, but poor integration will mean event visitors need a mix of different paper tickets and smartcards to travel across the UK.

“The question is where the leadership should come from,” said Roger Willison-Gray, business development director for public transport at Logica. “Despite the fact that some organisations will offer fully functioning schemes by 2012, there should be a forum in place to steer the community, as there is a vacuum caused by the lack of a general plan.”

It takes an average of two years to put a smart ticketing scheme in place, said Willison-Gray, so organisations that are lagging behind in their smartcard implementations will need to give a sharper focus to project delivery during 2009.

“Smart ticketing has a huge potential to increase mobility, cut journey times and improve public infrastructure. The Olympics are an obvious goal to work towards,” he said.

Implementation of smartcard schemes based on the national Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation (ITSO) standard are currently underway in areas such as the West Midlands, South Yorkshire and Manchester. In the capital, Transport for London (TfL) is replacing Oyster card readers to accept ITSO passes and aims to complete the DFT-financed replacement by 2010-11.

Earlier this year, a Commons Transport Committee report on ticketing and concessionary travel said that ministers must not force ITSO onto the London Oyster system as this could discourage commuters’ reliance on the smartcards and cause integration problems.

In response to the report, the Department for Transport said it is “essential” that the government-backed standard is in place for passengers using public transport to travel to, from, or through London, but said that proper trials are imperative to prevent any loss of operational efficiency or customer confidence.

“We need to make sure that the national ITSO smartcard [standard] will work effectively in London, which we aim to achieve by adding ITSO interoperability to the Oyster network,” said the department.

Train operators have smartcards incorporated in their franchise agreements and will need to deliver the infrastructure to read ITSO-based cards, but bus companies are still hesitant about investing in smart ticketing.

“The situation is somewhat stagnant with bus operators, as any financial payback is relatively intangible,” said Willison-Gray.

Stagecoach Group is working on various smartcard schemes in Scotland and England and Go-Ahead is also working on replacing paper tickets by smartcards and similar functions accessible using mobile phones at its bus fleet in the West Midlands.

Which system will be just the ticket for tomorrow’s travellers?

The convergence of different technologies is a challenging aspect of the delivery of an interoperable smartcard platform to businesses and local authorities.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has mandated use of the ITSO standard for all free passes issued under the Concessionary Bus Travel Act, but bus operators are not required to have the necessary onboard card-reading equipment until 2010, when the standard will be enforced.

In the meantime, alternatives being considered include mobile ticketing and the DfT is carrying out hardware tests using ITSO-compliant technology. Bus operators are also carrying out trials, such as Arriva and its mobile ticketing project, which allows passengers to pre-purchase barcode-style tickets through their mobile phone.

But widespread opinion across the industry suggests that while mobile ticketing is an appealing alternative to paper tickets, it is not yet commercially viable as the technology is costly and suitable mobile handsets are not widely available in the UK.

Another option is further integration of tickets with bank cards, as used in the OnePulse partnership between Transport for London (TfL) and Barclaycard, which offers Oyster, credit and cashless functions in one card. “It would be much more effective for TfL to not have to mess around with ITSO integration and just offer the Oyster function to banks. By 2012, it could be possible that all cards issued by banks to their customers will have the ticketing function incorporated,” said smartcard expert David Birch.

“There are strong synergies proved by the Barclaycard example, but there are serious co-ordination issues between transport companies, banks and local authorities. This means that despite the benefits that technology convergence can bring, those solutions may come later than expected.”

British Heart Foundation checks in new inventory system

Angelica Mari — 2008-11-12T15:39:00.000Z

Angelica Mari, Computing, Wednesday 12 November 2008 at 15:39:00

Mobile-based tool will increase accuracy in stock taking and support compliance

The British Heart Foundation has implemented a stock management system to improve the accuracy of inventory at its furniture and electrical appliance shops.

Previous paper-based systems have been eliminated as a result of the new software, which enables staff to record goods as they are received via mobile computers and generate unique barcode references for printable price labels.

"We needed a mobile stock control solution to ensure we have accurate inventory management, stock identification and stock recording," said Steve Biddle, head of finance, IT and project development at the British Heart Foundation.

"[The system] allows us to analyse in detail what is being sold, and eases the management of store transfers, price adjustments, stock write offs and customer returns."

The application also allows the charity to record additional data about individual products, and enables the team to record portable appliance testing certificate numbers, required by law for the resale of second-hand electrical items.

"Now that the information is stored electronically we have a complete audit trail," said Biddle.

The system was supplied by Codegate.

PC shipments to rise 11 per cent in 2008

Neon Kelly — 2008-03-25T00:00:00.000Z

Neon Kelly, Computing, Tuesday 25 March 2008 at 00:00:00

Mobile devices are driving sales but economic problems may hinder growth, says Gartner

Global computer shipments will grow 11 per cent in 2008 but economic instability still casts a shadow over the market, according to analyst Gartner.

The number of worldwide PCs shipped is expected to rise to 293 million units this year, up from 264 million in 2007. The growing popularity of mobile computers is a key driver behind the figures, as falling prices make laptops and other devices an increasingly attractive alternative to desktop units.

Computers shipped to new, emerging markets will also play an important role in 2008, having been responsible for 60 per cent of the growth in the final quarter last year, said Gartner.

But shipments may yet be affected by the current economic climate, according to research director George Shiffler. The US is still suffering under the impact of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, while China's economy may slow following the Beijing Olympics.

"Although the impact has probably softened over time as prices have fallen and PCs have become more indispensable to work and play, computers are still far from being completely recession-proof," said Shiffler.

"A deeper and more extended global slowdown emanating from the US and China would slow PC unit growth even more by sapping mobile device demand, slowing emerging-market growth, and delaying replacement activity."

£150 Classmate laptops to ship in Europe

Martin Courtney — 2008-03-20T00:00:00.000Z

Martin Courtney, Computing, Thursday 20 March 2008 at 00:00:00

Intel-designed low-cost portable computer will be manufacturered for European buyers

Intel says that its low-cost Classmate PC, originally intended for schoolchildren in developing countries, will ship to European customers in the future.

The move is likely to put further price pressure on the UK laptop market, where full-specification portable computers featuring large hard disks, full-size screens and Windows operating systems already sell for less than £300.

Lila Ibrahim, general manager of Intel's emerging market platform's group, told Reuters that computer manufacturers would sell systems based on Intel's Classmate platform for $250-350 (£126-176) in Europe and the US.

The systems are equipped with an Intel Celeron-M processor and a 1GB or 2GB Flash drive to host the operating system, and are currently available in Brazil and Mexico for around $300 (£152).

They are about half the size of a traditional laptop, weigh 1.3Kg and have a 7-inch colour screen. The systems are equipped with WiFi for internet connectivity, but do not include a CD or DVD player.

Although Intel designed the low-cost mobile computers, Classmate PCs will be constructed and sold by local manufacturers who will determine the retail price and the operating system on offer.

While some versions of Linux are free, manufacturers would need to incorporate a Windows licence free in the price of the laptop.

Ongoing slide in handheld demand

Janie Davies — 2008-02-12T00:00:00.000Z

Janie Davies, Computing, Tuesday 12 February 2008 at 00:00:00

Sixteenth consecutive quarter of falling demand as mobiles take a chunk out of the market

Worldwide sales of handheld devices dropped by 53 per cent in the last three months of 2007, making for the 16th consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline.

The total shipment figure of 683,004 units was also down six per cent on the previous three months, according to research group IDC. And annual sales of three million worldwide were down 44 per cent on the previous year.

The performance bucked expected sales trends, said IDC senior research analyst Ramon Llamas.

"In most mature markets, the fourth quarter typically brings an increase in shipments to meet holiday demand, but this was not the case for the handheld device market," he said.

"User interest has shifted away to other devices that can perform the same tasks, but include features that better meet user demand."

But, despite the problems, the market will not disappear altogether, said Llamas.

"If you look at each quarter of 2007, some leading vendors have seen their shipment volumes start to level off, giving some hope that the market may be finding a sustainable level.

"And suppliers are still introducing new models and reaching first time users.

"If the market was about to disappear, neither of these trends would be taking place today," he said.

Palm was the biggest seller throughout 2007. It had a 50 per cent share in the fourth quarter and 42 per cent market share over the full year.

Gates outlines vision for future

Sarah Arnott — 2008-02-07T00:00:00.000Z

Sarah Arnott, Computing, Thursday 7 February 2008 at 00:00:00

Technological progress so far is just the beginning, says the Microsoft chairman

The impact of IT innovation over the next 10 years will be even more profound than in the last decade, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told an Institute of Directors lunch meeting last week.

The world’s richest man, who steps down from his role leading the world’s largest software company in July, emphasised that the changes wrought by ubiquitous web access are only just beginning to be felt.

Gates’ predictions include the revolutionary impact of software accessed remotely over the internet so-called “software as a service” and hardware technologies using touch and writing as well as the traditional keyboard.

“One of the biggest changes over the next decade will be how we interact with devices,” said Gates.

“And those devices will get smaller and more powerful and they will all connect to the internet.”

The implications of the technological revolution are as much for business as for consumers, with physical working practices and the use of data set to be transformed beyond recognition, said Gates.

“Computing is a tool to equalise the small business with the large business,” he said.

Competitive edge computing for SMBs part 4: Reliability

Peter Judge — 2007-12-14T00:00:00.000Z

Peter Judge, Computing, Friday 14 December 2007 at 00:00:00

The business gains promised by mobile working can quickly evaporate if laptops prove unreliable beyond the haven of the office

Laptops allow staff to work anywhere. However, they also allow staff to do other things - break the keyboard or screen, drop the thing under a bus, or render it unusable because their family has misused it while it was at home.

In other words, staff working happily on desktop PCs can become a liability when they are packed off with mobile machines. Any small business moving to mobile working is going to have to - at the very least - balance these extra costs against the benefits they expect to gain.

"Whatever the size of a company, it needs to be 100 percent sure that the end user on the road will keep productive even if something goes wrong," says Mike Walker, mobile business development manager for the UK at Lenovo. His company has some special angles, but the industry mostly agrees on the basics.

First, the business needs to consider the reliability of the machines themselves. Over recent years, laptops have become more reliable, but they still lag behind desktops for the obvious reason that they are designed for portability, and they get moved around a lot.

According to a study by analyst firm Gartner, one fifth of laptops will fail during their lifetime. Fifteen percent will fail in the first year, and 22 percent will fail over the first four years. By comparison, only five percent of desktops will fail in the first year, and twelve percent will fail in four years, according to Gartner’s figures for 2006.

This is a big step in the right direction - in 2004, twenty to 28 percent of new laptops would fail. Much of that improvement is down to better designs - and any laptop buyer should get some detail on the screen, keyboard and hard disk of a potential purchase.

Screens used to be the weak spot of a laptop, but their odds of survival have been improved, partly by making laptop lids more rigid and providing more space between the screen and the keyboard when the lid is closed, according to Leslie Fiering, research vice president at Gartner.

Hard drives - mechanical parts vulnerable to impacts - have also been a major source of failure, but again this danger has been reduced by technological fixes, such as shock-resistant mountings. Hard drives for laptops should also have motion sensors that park the drive heads as soon as the laptop begins to fall, to prevent damage to the disk platters on impact.

Beyond this, it's pretty obvious that, as memory prices reduce, laptop hard drives will eventually be replaced by solid state drives built on Flash memory. Flash disks are more reliable, and also lighter. At the moment, though, this is an expensive option, and leads to reduced storage at greater cost.

Motherboards have become the most-often replaced component, not because of decreasing reliability, but because more components have been integrated onto the board, and any failure is likely to mean replacing the whole thing.

Keyboard failures are common, due to spillages or mechanical failure, but laptop designs now tend to be modular, to allow easy replacement. Latches and hinges also tend to go wrong eventually.

It is worth checking that your supplier, whether the original manufacturer or a reseller, keeps a full complement of spare parts. "We stock all the spare parts, and we have the lowest return rates in the industry," says Lenovo’s Walker.

Rugged machines

For anyone looking for something more reliable than business-grade laptops, there are rugged or semi-rugged machines - but for most small businesses, these will be overkill.

The best-known brand here is Panasonic's Toughbook - often seen in the hands of an AA or British Gas engineer. The other big brand is Itronix, which claims that its GoBook can be safely immersed in petrol, and then used without danger of an electrical spark causing an explosion. The firm says users can drop these machines out of a window, or drive a car over them, and carry on working.

However, most people don't actually need to do these things regularly, and most people quickly decide it isn't worth spending £2,500 or more for a laptop that will usually have a lower, slower specification than the norm, and weigh something like twice as much (4kg as compared with 2kg if you go for a lightweight model). Most users should put the money aside for the much-less-than-20-percent chance that their laptop will break irreparably in the first year.

Besides choosing the right hardware, it's possible to boost reliability by software-based techniques. "There are ThinkVantage tools on every single unit we ship out of the door, at no extra cost," says Walker. "This includes a rescue and recovery feature, based on a hard disk image stored on the laptop, and kept up to date." If the laptop fails, the last stable version of the system can be restored from the hard disk.

They also help with support: "It's always been harder to support a mobile workforce from a helpdesk," says Walker. "If end users are running into problems, it helps to log into their system remotely." Centralised management can keep software up to date, and spot when a disk is going to be full, or even when it is experiencing error rates that mean it should be replaced.

These functions have been out of the reach of smaller companies, but Intel's AMT - included in Centrino Pro - and other remote control technologies mean they can be offered through outsourcers, either as a low-cost add-on to laptop purchase, or as an ongoing management contract. "There used to be a distinct fence between small businesses and larger ones, but that is disappearing now," says Walker. "The technology is reaching all levels, and it's affordable technology now."

London-based Qual-IT, for instance, ships laptops to small businesses and individuals, and offers a remote fix service based on the widely-used VNC remote control system developed by AT&T, and a courier pick-up-and-replace service. "There's no hidden costs, and we usually come in cheaper than buying the laptop direct from the manufacturer," says Suzanne Tompkins, sales manager at Qual-IT.

Other providers have moved up the food chain. Level Platforms started as a managed service provider, and now provides management technology based on AMT to enable other managed service providers.

"MSPs like these can handle the management of machines and do the worrying," says David Hollway, technical marketing engineer at Intel. A nominated IT person in the end user company can log into a web page and use a browser to check the health of the company's laptops on a dashboard, he says. "It might say 'here are ten machines, one with a hard disk that is 95 percent full, and another three patch revisions out of date,'" he says.

So, if reliability is a major concern over laptops, you can probably dismiss it. Laptops are more reliable, and they're more easy to manage than they used to be. And there are people out there who want to help you do it.

Satnav to include tour guide

Janie Davies — 2007-12-04T00:00:00.000Z

Janie Davies, Computing, Tuesday 4 December 2007 at 00:00:00

Software to include information on nearby heritage attractions

A tour guide that alerts motorists to key attractions has been launched for Garmin Satellite Navigation (Sat Nav) equipment.

RoadTour's software package featuring 600 historical UK sites, including castles and battlefields, provides a commentary for each place, as well as photos and visitors' information.

The idea has been in development for several years, said Daniel Taylor, managing director of RoadTour and inventor of the software.

"It's only during the last year that the devices have become powerful enough to make it happen," he said.

Research commissioned by RoadTour shows that 10 percent of 18-24 year olds think Stonehenge is in Norfolk.

A further 38 per cent of people believe that Hadrian's Wall is in Scotland and one in 10 think the Romans built the A1.

"A friendly reminder, which tempts us into exploring our heritage as we're driving up the M40 or wherever, seems to me to be altogether a good thing," said Taylor.

A laptop for every child

Nicholas Negroponte — 2007-11-22T00:00:00.000Z

Nicholas Negroponte, Computing, Thursday 22 November 2007 at 00:00:00

Nicholas Negroponte explains why his One Laptop per Child project will help to educate those who need it most

I was invited recently to give a presentation, and when I offered the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project as the subject, the initial reaction of the conference organiser NetEvents was: “We want something more controversial for our audience – the project is too obviously a good thing.” My reaction was: “If only.”

Educational outreach for poor children is so clearly a worthy cause, but that does not guarantee all-out support.

On the contrary, there are revolutionary implications at many levels. I have even been labelled a telecommunications terrorist by one leading telecoms firm, so I will focus here on the more controversial aspects of the OLPC project.

There are two opposing currents in the electronics industry: one is that prices are constantly falling, the other is that it is necessary to keep adding more features to maintain the high price.

Today’s laptops are almost the same price they were 10 years ago, but the devices are now stuffed with extra features.

As providers pile on features, the system grows fatter. The OLPC laptop is not like that. It does not rate highly on processor power, but it is leaner and fitter, and that goes against the accepted business culture.

As a director at Motorola, I was pushing for years for the organisation to make a low-cost handset but the firm resisted.

When Motorola finally did announce it was releasing a low-cost unit, the company’s stock fell.

However, the financial markets got it wrong, because that basic handset now serves a vast global market.

Early on during the OLPC initiative, I met with the chief executive of a large display manufacturer and said that I needed a small display, which did not have to be very bright or have perfect colour uniformity – but it did have to be very inexpensive.

He told me that his firm made big, high-quality displays and that his strategy and my project were incompatible.

I told him that was a shame because I would need 100 million units per year – and he replied that he could possibly change his firm’s corporate strategy.

The numbers are staggering: while the worldwide production of laptops was 47 million in 2005, our project anticipates shipping between 50 and 150 million in 2008 at around $100 each.

We gained credibility as soon as Quanta agreed to make the devices – it makes over a third of the world’s laptops.

It is no longer just a case of Nicholas Negroponte’s OLPC project – it is now a case of executives at major corporations joining forces, including Quanta, AMD, New Corp, Citicorp and Google.

OLPC’s second revolution is to create its own network mesh. Shut down our laptop and the processor goes off, but not the routing function.

Provided a user had 15 per cent or more of the battery, they will be routing other individuals’ messages – and that is how the network works.

The telecommunications industry is still trying to control that last mile, but we are not prepared to wait.

There are many other crucial innovations, such as the one concerning electric power. We use small, human-powered generators, designed for even an undernourished six-year-old to use – giving at least 10 minutes of computing for one minute of effort.

Most laptops burn 30 to 40 watts. Our system averages two watts, with a dual-mode display that is reflective for bright conditions and backlit when needed.

And it is no good giving a six-year-old a delicate instrument that needs servicing. Time and money spent on good design – paring down the frills and focusing on the structure – saves a fortune in mass production and delivers a more rugged product.

It is the same with the software: what is the value in teaching Microsoft Excel to a 10-year-old in the Himalayas?

They should be making music, building things, writing their own programs – they should not be office workers.

To this end, we have embedded a lot of tools, including music, drawing and children’s programming languages.

We are also completing Wiki textbooks in six languages and our e-book reader is itself a Wiki.

There is no digital rights management (DRM) on the device, so anybody that publishes anything has to put it in the public domain. Such a DRM stance is extreme – but we are committed.

I am constantly told that you cannot hand out free computers to children because they will all be stolen or sold. So we make sure there is no market for our laptops – none will be sold commercially.

Only children and teachers can get hold of the devices. Stealing one before delivery will render it useless.

The laptops are delivered to each child personally and installed so that, if the machine is stolen, it soon disables and is again useless.

Most people still say that if you have money to invest, it should be put into the hands of the teachers, not children.

But consider the reality in the developing world: most rural schools run two morning and afternoon shifts, so a typical child’s in-class tuition lasts 2.5 hours a day.

Build a school computer lab and each child might have 20 minutes per week of use. Provide a laptop, and the pupil can play and learn all day.

You seldom hear me use the word teaching. We all learned to walk and talk by direct interaction with the world.

At about six years we are told to stop learning in a specific way and to undertake all further learning by being taught.

Years ago, I worked with Seymour Papert on a language called Logo and he noted that children writing programs about drawing a circle have to understand “circleness” a lot more deeply than if they just read about it or have it described on a blackboard.

And debugging a program involves operations that are the closest you can get to understanding the process of thinking.

We have overturned a lot of conventional wisdom so far, but there is one more assumption I would like to tackle: OLPC is not, I repeat not, a laptop project.

It is an education project. Even more basically, it is about eliminating poverty.

The belief is very simple: no matter what solutions you have for big problems, they all involve education. In some cases you need more, but in no case is it ever without education.

We are proud of the laptop. It is cheaper but better than almost any available.

If you come up with any other device that could offer as much educational opportunity to as many people as this does, we will take it.

Nicholas Negroponte is chairman, emeritus at MIT Media Laboratory and chairman of One Laptop per Child. This article is based on a speech at a NetEvents summit. To watch a video of the presentation visit: www.netevents.tv

Visit ComputingTV for a video on the OLPC project: www.computing.co.uk/tv

The OLPC laptop

*You can use the device like a conventional laptop, or a flat tablet PC. It has retractable

antennae ears that provide a wireless link.

*After turning on the laptop, users see themselves straightaway among other groups of children. Individuals are then presented with a choice of groups to interact with, like in a school playground.

*The user interface acts like a buddy list it shows who is online, what they are doing and how an individual can participate. A user’s friends are allocated various colours and onscreen items identify which programs are running and how much memory the device has left. The software runs on the Linux operating system.

*Users form their own network mesh. The mesh is either connected via cell, WiMax or satellite, but it is usually a school that has a server. OLPC provides the server and it costs $100 with 330GB of storage.

PDAs increase productivity of mobile utility engineers

Janie Davies — 2007-10-25T00:00:00.000Z

Janie Davies, Computing, Thursday 25 October 2007 at 00:00:00

Handhelds help cut down on unnecessary driving, says United Utilities

United Utilities’ pilot of GPRS-enabled handheld devices for engineers is saving 175 hours per week in travel time and reducing the duration of leaks.

In the past, engineers had to drive to their base to sign in to work, and then drive to the site of the job. The PDA device enables them to sign in and out from the site, via a server.

The Pinpoint system cuts down unnecessary driving, reducing the company’s fuel bill and carbon footprint, said United Utilities leakage planner Paul Parr.

“Now they can fall out of bed in the morning, jump in the van and after a

five-minute drive, they are at the site,” said Parr.

“It benefits the user and it benefits us because they’re spending more time every week actively finding leaks, instead of driving up and down motorways.”

Whatever their location, engineers can file immediate, real-time reports of leaks via the PDA, leaving no opportunity for information to be omitted. Leaks can now be recorded on the company’s system within an hour of being reported.

The device also alerts users to unanswered questions and will not allow incomplete data to be submitted.

The system was developed by eSay Mobile for RPS Water and United Utilities.

HP to help tackle African e-waste

Tom Young — 2007-09-18T00:00:00.000Z

Tom Young, Computing, Tuesday 18 September 2007 at 00:00:00

Responsible disposal is a growing issue as sales rise in developing countries

HP is donating hundreds of thousands of pounds to improve the disposal of e-waste in four African countries, the company announced today.

The hardware vendor has partnered with two non-governmental organisations - the Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) and the Swiss Institute for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) - to address the growing problem of responsible disposal of electronic waste.

The first step is a pilot project in South Africa, said Empa project manager Mathias Schluep.

'We want to define common standards and methodologies for recycling e-waste and train local consultants,' he said.

There are many informal and unofficial recyclers of e-waste in Africa but the majority operate without regulation. The HP-backed scheme will work with existing e-waste recyclers to improve practices.

The partnership will also look at assessing the e-waste problems in Morocco, Tunisia and Kenya with a view to putting similar projects in place.

HP is keen to stress that the initiative will not try to tackle the problem of illegal shipping to Africa, it will only deal with waste produced in the countries themselves.