Junkfood

I just placed an order for an XO Laptop through the the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) "Give One Get One" program (G1G1). The OLPC project aims to catalyze educational and other opportunities for children in less-developed countries by providing them with specialized laptop computers. The XO laptop was developed by the program to meet its specific needs-- ruggedized, low-powered, ad hoc networking, customizable, easy to use, etc. The G1G1 program allows people to receive an XO laptop by donating $399 USD (plus $24.95 shipping, in my case). The money purchases two laptops. One is given to the purchaser as a gift, and the other is donated to a child in a developing country.

I plan to use my XO for basic mobile computing-- web browser, email, and note-taking. I have no other laptop, so this will be my primary mobile device. The XO is designed to be low-powered so its batteries can be recharged manually in locations without electricity, via a pull-string dynamo or solar recharger. However, the ones being sent to donors will not include the manual recharger.