Category Archives: OLPC

A bright future for Bura Tana Community – Kenya

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St Jude Primary School is located in Bura Tana, a ten hour drive from the Nairobi airport in Kenya. The leaders of this school are dedicated to providing the best education in the area. Children here are able to participate in various activities throughout the school day. This motivates them to learn and to work hard. These children are very excited about receiving the XO laptops in their school, thanks to Lesley Hayman Sager and friends, who have provided this wonderful opportunity to these children.

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OLPCA, through its office in KIGALI, supported the school by providing a one day training on the use of XO laptops. The children enjoyed the different activities on the XO laptop, especially the Chat activity and the Maze activity. The Chat and Maze are activities that were developed by Sugar Labs. Such activities are preloaded on the XO laptop. Ten children and three teachers attended the training. These students and teachers are now responsible to share what they learned with the rest of the school.

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In addition to the basic introduction on the use of XO laptop, the children also came to understand that the XO laptop serves as a tool to use to further the learning process. The children came to see that the laptop offers a new way to express their ideas, share these ideas with their community and the rest of the world. When asked about their experience with the XO laptop, the students were full of joy and expressed their gratitude to people who brought the XO laptops to their school.

To assure sustainability and to motivate the children to continue using the XO laptops, the school created two clubs that will be monitored and supported from Kigali, the St Jude News Line Club and the Creative Arts Club. Participants registered for these two clubs and teachers will monitor the progress of the clubs.

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This project symbolizes the ideal and hope that these young children will continue to support their community in its development through education and access to information and technology.

By Intwali Jimmy Parfait

OLPCA Rwanda

Marvell on the XO-4

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From marvell.com – Visit to download the full Product documentation.

Marvell is proud to be an institutional partner in the noble mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). The idea is pretty simple— create educational opportunities for the world’s children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop complete with content and software that enables self-empowered learning. More than two million sturdy green OLPC laptops have been sent to children in far flung locations such as Nepal, Peru, Rwanda and Uruguay, connecting these kids to each other and the world.

OLPC’s new model, the XO 4.0 Touch is a laptop with a touchscreen. The Touch not only improves the existing display, it marks the first time OLPC has been able to provide touchscreen technology to its users. No one else has been able to deliver a touchscreen that is childproof, repairable and sun-readable — until now.

The XO 4.0 is powered by the Marvell ARMADA PXA2128. Optimized by ARM v7 high-performance mobile processors with Hybrid-SMP technology at up to 1.2GHz, the PXA2128 reduces power consumption by roughly half and enables an extended battery life thanks to a low-power mobile (LPM) processor.

Features of the Marvell ARMADA PXA2128 include:

  • Marvell optimized ARM®v7 dual High-Performance Mobile (HPM) processors with Hybrid-SMP technology at up 1.2GHz
  • Architecturally matched ARMv7 Low-Power Mobile (LPM) processor optimized with Hybrid-SMP technology for extended battery life
  • Dual-channel independent memory controllers (LPDDR2 or DDR3/DDR3L)
  • Multiple power islands, dynamic voltage/frequency scaling, clock and power gating and standby modes
  • Powerful hardware accelerators for 2D/3D graphics, 1080p video, HiFi audio codecs and camera ISP
  • Dedicated security engine with hardware keys, secure memory and ARM® TrustZone® for secure boot and cryptography

Marvell’s Avastar 88W8787 delivers the wireless performance and range that will make the XO 4.0 a connected learning experience. Designed for both simultaneous and independent operation of the following:

  • IEEE 802.11a/g/b and 802.11n payload data rates for Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
  • Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed (HS) (also compliant with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR)
  • FM transmit and receive (digital encoder/decoder FM radio with RDS/RBDS)
  • The device supports the 802.11i security standard through implementation of the AES/CCMP, WEP with TKIP, AES/CMAC, and WLAN WAPI security mechanisms

 

Developing Sugar Activities Using HTML5

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Using HTML in a Sugar Activity is not new. The Wikipedia Activity has been embedding HTML contents for years. It does this by integrating into the Activity two things: the Sugar browser to render HTML and an HTTP server to react to user clicks by calling Python code.

To learn more on how to Develop Sugar Activities Using HTML5 read the new chapter on the How to Develop your Sugar Activities Manual.

Walking in an “XO Wonderland”

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By: Torie Leslie, OLPC facilitator at Allenbrook Elementary School

Captura de pantalla 2013-01-17 a las 10.06.57The OLPC Charlotte team anxiously awaits the arrival of our classroom XO laptops!
Until our launch date, we are committed to making sure our school families and community members have opportunities to explore the laptops and ask any questions they may have.

 

Hosted by Allenbrook Elementary School, XO Winter Wonderland was one
opportunity where students, parents and community members were welcome to
come and explore the power of the XO laptop. Embracing the winter season,
Allenbrook’s cafeteria was transformed into a XO Winter Wonderland complete with snowflakes and nearly 100 XO laptops. While strolling through The XO Winter Wonderland, students were able to enjoy a reading of The Gingerbread Man on the
XO, challenge one another in Maze and Implode and create holiday ornaments of
their own.

While exploring The XO Winter Wonderland, parents and community members
heard from OLPC staff about the project and received valuable tools to support
home utilization.

The evening concluded with an award ceremony, where students were able to snag
prizes for having the “best dressed XO Man.”

New XO Learning Tablet to be Available at Select Walmart Stores and Walmart.com

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Vegas, NV- Jan 8, 2012- One Laptop per Child Association (OLPCA), the world
renowned project to provide a modern education to children through a connected
computing device, announced today that it will introduce a new touch screen device, the XO Learning Tablet, at CES. OLPCA will also unveil for the first time the XO Learning System, an Android compatible software package for child-centric learning.

Every child has dreams and XO Learning directs the child’s passion, creativity and energy for these dreams into a new user interface that has 12 dreams. Such dreams include “I want to be” an artist, a musician and a scientist. Each dream features a rich learning experience and applications, books, games and videos that allow children ages 3 to 12 to naturally explore their dreams and learn at the same time. Content within a dream has three levels, so as the child advances in his/her learning, there is no need to pay for additional apps or content. Every dream features a “hero”, a real person who personifies the dream.

“The challenge in computing and education is to use the technology to develop new ways for children to learn. The rich content of the dreams allows the child’s natural
passion to be directed into learning experiences,” said Giulia D’Amico, the lead designer of XO Learning.

OLPCA teamed with the legendary designer Yves Behar of Fuse Project and his team
to create the XO Learning user interface and cover. All of the content in XO Learning
has been curated and selected for appropriateness and educational value by both
OLPCA and Common Sense Media, the leading non-profit reviewer of age appropriate
computer-based content in the U.S. XO Learning also offers a full range of parental
controls and user IDs for up to three children, a dashboard where the child or the parent can review usage, types of content and the skills the child is developing. XO Learning also includes a journal that records all usage including websites visited. Press a single icon and XO Learning switches from English to Spanish with all new content depending on the language. Additional languages will be available in future releases.

XO Learning also offers unique learning experiences from leading partners who support OLPCA’s program to foster child-centric learning. OLPCA partners include Sesame Street, MyCityWay, Common Sense Media, Little Pim and UNESCO, among others. OLPCA is currently in negotiations with many other of the world’s leading companies to provide unique experiences through XO Learning in time for the product introduction in 2013.

XO Learning will be offered through licensing agreements to tablet manufacturers,
governments, book publishers, and international distributors in the U.S., Europe and the traditional OLPCA markets in developing countries.
“With the popularity of tablets, the standards and specifications of the devices are
converging to one worldwide standard”, said D’Amico. “The expectation of the tablet
user in the U.S., India and South Africa is the same.”

Sakar International, based in Edison, New Jersey, is the first licensee under their
Vivitar brand. It will offer XO Learning on a 7″ inch Android tablet of its own design
with specifications as shown in the attached schedule. The tablet will be marketed as
the “XO Tablet”. Sakar has the exclusive right to sell the XO Tablet to leading U.S.
retailers for both in-store and online sales.

The XO Tablet will be available at select Walmart stores and Walmart.com this year.

About One Laptop per Child Association One Laptop per Child Association (OLPCA at http://www.laptop.org) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression. In partnership with the public and private sectors and non- governmental organizations and supported by comprehensive implementation and pedagogical services, OLPCA seeks to provide each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power connected laptop that empowers individual learning and growth.

About XO Learning
“A learning experience designed to unleash children’s creativity” for 3-12 year olds.
XO Learning believes that tablets offer new ways for technology to provide a child-centric learning environment through the convergence of virtual and physical activities. These experiences are made possible, in part, through app-cessories, sensors and other devices particularly suited to the form factor and user interface of a tablet.
http://www.xo-learning.org

Media Contacts
press@laptop.org
info@xo-learning.org

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OLPCA TO RELEASE 3 NEW PRODUCTS AT CES – XO LEARNING SYSTEM DEBUTS AT CES

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XO Major Learning Partners Include Sesame Street, MyCityWay, Common Sense Media and Little Pim

VIVITAR, a Sakar Company, is Strategic Partner and First Licensee for XO Tablet in U.S. Market

Vegas, NV- Jan 8,2012 – One Laptop per Child Association (OLPCA), the world- renowned project to provide a modern education to children through a connected
computing device, announced today that it will introduce at CES three new products.
OLPCA will unveil for the first time the XO Learning System, an Android compatible
software suite for child-centric learning, which is available by license to computer
manufacturers, governments, NGOs and content providers such as book publishers.
Tablets under such a license will be called the XO Tablet, the second product announcement. Third, OLPCA will show the fourth generation of its iconic green and
white laptop with both a keyboard and a multi-touch screen using Neonode technology.

Every child has dreams and XO Learning directs the child’s passion, creativity and energy for these dreams into a new user interface that has 12 dreams. Such dreams
include “I want to be” an artist, a musician and a scientist. Each dream features a rich
learning experience and applications, books, games and videos that allow children ages 3 to 12 to naturally explore their dreams and learn at the same time.

“The challenge in computing and education is to use the technology to develop new
ways for children to learn. The rich content of the dreams allows the child’s natural
passion to be directed into learning experiences,” said Giulia D’Amico, the lead designer of XO Learning. OLPCA teamed with the legendary designer Yves Behar of Fuse Project and his team to create the XO Learning user interface and cover.

The content in XO Learning has been curated and selected for age-appropriateness
and learning value by OLPCA, in collaboration with Common Sense Media, the leading non-profit organization dedicated to helping parents and teachers make informed decisions about media. Common Sense Media offers more than 18,000 media ratings and reviews based on both robust educational research and child development guidelines. .XO Learning also offers a full range of parental controls and user IDs for up to three children, a dashboard where the child or the parent can review usage, types of content and the skills the child is developing. Press a single icon and XO Learning switches from English to Spanish with all new content depending on the language. Additional languages will be available in future releases.

XO Learning also offers unique learning experiences from leading partners who support OLPCA’s program to foster child-centric learning. Many international companies share the vision to create learning experiences that unleash a child’s creativity, D’Amico said. In addition to helping to curate the XO Learning content, Common Sense Media has also provided Digital Passportâ„¢ an interactive learning environment designed for students in grades 3-5 to teach them how to safely navigate a technology-enhanced world, to the XO Learning platform. Digital Passportâ„¢ is already available in classrooms via OLPCA XO laptops in the U.S. and internationally.
Other XO Learning partners include Sesame Street, MyCityWay and Little Pim among
others. OLPCA is currently in negotiations with many other of the world’s leading
companies to provide unique experiences through XO Learning in time for the product
introduction in May 2013.

“OLPCA and Common Sense Media share the same vision of a world in which all kids
have access to the limitless learning opportunities that technology provides,” said Amy
Guggenheim Shenkan, president and COO, Common Sense Media. “By using ratings
and reviews from Common Sense Media to inform XO Learning, OLPCA has created a
product that will point kids towards the highest quality digital media products available, and will go a long way to ensure our kids are well-prepared to grow, thrive, and succeed in the 21st century.”

Sakar International, based in Edison, New Jersey, is the first licensee of XO Learning.
It will offer XO Learning on a 7” inch Android tablet of its own design. The tablet will
be marketed as the “XO Tablet”. Sakar has the exclusive right to sell the XO Tablet to
leading U.S. retailers for both in-store and online sales.

OLPCA also continues to develop its own line of iconic green and white laptops. At
CES, OLPCA will unveil its fourth-generation system – the XO 4.0 Touch. This touch
screen laptop features:

• Marvell® ARMADA® PXA2128 multicore application processor with hybrid-SMP
technology running at 1 GHz
• Marvell® Avastar® 88W8787 highly integrated SoC
• Neonode touch screen technology with multi-sensing capabilities

The XO 4.0 Touch preserves the dual mode screen, which allows children to use the
laptop in full sunlight as well as in the classroom. The XO 4.0 Touch will also offer the
free educational software, Sugar, which has been featured on all previous versions of
the laptop. Sugar offers over 300 child-centric learning apps and three programming
environments for children.

“We are pleased to be launching XO Learning and the XO Learning Tablet. OLPCA
pioneered the inexpensive netbook for learning, and that concept remains viable today, particularly with the new touch screen version,” said Rodrigo Arboleda, chairman and CEO of OLPCA Association. “The XO 4.0 is still the only laptop that is designed for children. It is reparable by a child with only a screwdriver. It now has the latest Marvell hybrid-core processor and Noenode’s latest touch screen technology.”

About XO Learning

“A learning experience designed to unleash children’s creativity” for 3-12 year olds.
XO Learning believes that tablets offer new ways for technology to provide a child-centric learning environment through the convergence of virtual and physical activities. These experiences are made possible, in part, through app-cessories, sensors and other devices particularly suited to the form factor and user interface of a tablet.
http://www.xo-learning.org

Media Contacts
press@laptop.org
info@xo-learning.org

About Vivitar
Vivitar is a leading provider of photographic, audio and optic devices and related accessories with a rich heritage of technology innovation dating back to 1938. The company celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2013 with an aggressive expansion of its accessory portfolio, including a line of fashion smartphone and tablet accessories as well as co-branded speakers, docks, headphones and earbuds. Vivitar is headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, with additional offices across the United Kingdom, Latin America, Canada and Hong Kong, and retail distribution worldwide.  For more information, visit www.vivitar.com

SPECIFICATIONSVivitar Licensed XO Tablet
Display Size 7.0 inches
Processor 1.6 Ghz dual core
RAM 1 GB
Wi-fi SDIO 802.11 b/g/n
Screen resolution 1024×600 pixels
Free Apps 100 preloaded
Parental Control Built in
Storage 8 GB
Battery 3,800 MA
I/O Micro SD, HDMI, Micro USB, Stereo headset
Front Camera/Rear Camera 1.3 MP 720 HD/2.0 MP