Paul Sullivan Blog » News

Windows Version of OLPC

paul — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:34:06 +0000

In a speech this afternoon to the Harvard Business Club at Harvard College, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child, hinted at an upcoming agreement between Microsoft and OLPC. This agreement, expected in the next few weeks, will create a Windows version of the OLPC XO laptop.

A working prototype of the computer, the first of its kind, was passed around the room. The laptop had a quick startup time, with all the sights and sounds of Windows XP. A team of 25-30 Microsoft engineers worked on creating this modified version of Windows XP, designed specifically for the XO. The laptop connected to the local WIFI connection, ran Microsoft Office, and had no obvious difficulties running the operating system. A quick look at the system properties showed the laptop running at 433 MHz on an AMD Geode processor, with 232 MB of RAM, representing the standard hardware configuration of the XO.

The ability to run Windows will certainly bring credibility to the OLPC. Fighting the stigma of being a toy, this ability shows the real potential of the laptop. Additionally, a Windows version could be a very big selling point for the Give One Get One program, providing a revenue source for success of distributing laptops throughout impoverished countries.

The XO is currently in mass production, manufacturing 110,000 laptops last month, all running the Linux OS.

Google Calendar Mobile Sync

paul — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:47:57 +0000

At long last, Google today released an official Google Calendar / Blackberry solution. This mobile software, dubbed Google Mobile Sync, runs in the background on a Blackberry, allowing users to take advantage of the Blackberry Calendar application in coordination with Google Calendar. I’ve had a chance to use the software and I am impressed. Besides accomplishing the obvious goal of two way calendar updating, the software pays special attention to data usage by displaying usage in KB’s– a helpful feature for Blackberry users on limited data plans.

Mobile Sync joins a series of excellent Google Blackberry applications, including Gmail Mobile and Google Maps Mobile. It is refreshing to see this important update to the family of Blackberry applications. With the integration of the iPhone into the mobile market, it began to seem that every new Google product was being designed for an iPhone-toting clientele.

Read more about this release on the Google Mobile Blog.

OLPC – Give One Get One Program

paul — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:14:11 +0000

The One Laptop Per Child program, headed by Nicholas Negroponte, has begun its Give One Get One program. Order by November 26 and they will try to have it to you before Christmas. Half of the $399 pricetag is tax deductible. Get one for yourself or for someone else, all while supporting international diffusion of technology to developing countries.

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/give-one-get-one.php

iPod Touch – Wireless Sync?

paul — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:28:02 +0000

Steve Jobs introduced the iPod Touch last week to a crowd of Apple faithful. Similar to the launch of the iPhone, the crowd went wild. The new iPod looks like an iPhone, with the same screen, twice the storage, and most importantly… WiFi.

However, it appears that the iPod Touch is lacking perhaps the most useful feature: wireless syncing with your iTunes library over WiFi. Sure, the new iPod can connect directly to iTunes Music Store, but why not have it capable of connecting with your Mac/PC to sync your existing collection? This would solve the constant hassle of using a USB cable to sync playlists and podcasts. The way it seems, the WiFi technology is now built in, and should be used for this very useful purpose.

On a similar note, why not allow the iPod Touch to broadcast music directly to AppleTV / AirTunes? It will be interesting to see these features develop. Hopefully, this will be possible in the future with a simple software update.

Archive Old Outlook Messages to Gmail

paul — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:21:09 +0000

I am happy to report that by using Mozilla Thunderbird and Google’s own mail fetcher, I have neatly migrated and archived into Gmail nearly 5,700 old messages from the days before Gmail. All messages are correctly dated and named inside Gmail.

The process took a few hours in all, and involved importing the old Outlook messages into Thunderbird, which then redirected the messages to a duplicate Gmail account, and finally the messages were fetched via POP3 by the Gmail’s built in mail fetcher. By closely following the directions from Zoli Erdos, the process was smooth and successful.

http://www.zoliblog.com/2007/03/28/how-to-import-all-your-archive-email-into-gmail/

It is a great relief to rid myself of a 500+ MB Outlook .pst file. Thanks Zoli for these directions.

Google Calendar Mobile

paul — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 03:43:44 +0000

Google has released a mobile WAP version of Google Calendar, highlighted in the New Features page of Google Calendar. This is great news for Blackberry and all mobile users, since previously there was no official method to view or update your g-cal on the go, other than a few third party sync applications which, in my experience, are quite buggy.

While this is a step forward, the mobile calendar feature is still light years behind the Gmail Blackberry App, which looks graphically amazing and offers many features not possible in the WAP version. Maybe we can hope for a Google Calendar Blackberry App in the future?

Futurephone Free International Calls

paul — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:25:01 +0000

Free international phonecalls, no hooks. Dial 1-712-858-8883, a number in western Iowa. It works like a phonecard, but with no charges. Then enter the international number you would like to dial (landlines only). I’ve tried it several times– works great, decent call quality.

Take a look at Alec Saunder’s VOIP blog: http://saunderslog.com/2006/10/11/whats-with-the-712-area-code/

The Futurephone business model is possible, according to Saunders, through an antiquated termination-fee schedule in rural Iowa. By routing the calls through Iowa, the company collects taxpayer dollars, and pays minimal charges for the outgoing call connection. The result is likely a fraction of a cent per minute profit for Futurephone. Probably not sustainable in the long run, but clever.

*** Update April 2007 *** Service no longer works. A message has appeared on the Futurephone website saying “This service is no longer available” http://www.futurephone.com/ .

MINO Wireless International Callback

paul — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 11:16:01 +0000

www.minowireless.com

The new service MINO Wireless allows for inexpensive calling from US cell phones to international destinations (about 2 cents per minute). This cool service uses a small JAVA program downloaded to your cell phone to trigger a callback. This program sends a few KB’s worth of data over GPRS, which may cost a few cents depending on your mobile plan. After the callback is triggered, your phone rings, you wait, and the call is patched through to its destination. This is a more advanced and cheaper form of callback service than competitors callbackworld.com and enlinea.com.

This is great for calling foreign numbers FROM the US. However, it’s no good for Americans travelling abroad with a US cell phone, since they are still “receiving” a call, so are still charged, defeating the purpose entirely.

First Post via Blackberry

paul — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 08:12:03 +0000

All seems well–Wordpress loads a simple but working version of this site on the Blackberry Browser. Well done Berkman Center; the new blog server is fantastic.

Google Calendar Bugs Fixed

paul — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 14:31:43 +0000

Google Calendar has worked out pretty much all of the issues raised in my earlier post. I’m currently in Western Europe, and having no time zone issues. The newly released calendar integration with the Google Home Page http://www.google.com/ig is fantastic. In all, the service is now quite acceptable.