An e-book guy sees promise in the $100 children's laptop—and a new e-mail list is on the way for the gizmo's users

Moderator’s note: This commentary will also appear in my E-Book Report blog for Publishers Weekly. – DR

Can a funny-looking green and white gizmo with rabbit ears foment an e-book revolution in developing countries and maybe the United States as well—perhaps even providing a common cause for the K-12 community and booklovers in AARP?

Last night, at RFD, an upscale beer-and-food joint in downtown Washington, D.C., near K Street, D.C.’s notorious lobbyist belt, I checked out the $100 laptop, the same gizmo you might have seen on 60 Minutes. Oh, the ironies of the setting. This, after all, is supposed to be the ultimate do-gooder’s machine–rugged, low-powered, fit for the impoverished in the African bush or the Thai jungles.

Forget about other ifs such as deployment details, teacher training and development of suitable libraries. I wondered if the hardware itself is up to the grand vision of Nicholas Negroponte, in keeping with his group‘s name, One Laptop Per Child. To be exact, just how good a machine is the XO for reading e-books? Can it or similar laptops help build a market for local publishers in the Third World and maybe even for American publishers as well?

A few negatives first

So here’s what I discovered. The $100 laptop’s screen in the black and white e-book mode lacked the contrast that I’d been hoping for—the one between the words and the screen background. What’s more the children’s machine lived up to name and cleverly concealed the built-in PDF reader from our adult eyes, thanks to its kid-oriented interface. Also, the WiFi didn’t work with RFD’s local wireless network that easily accommodated my Nokia 770 and Palm TX and another guy’s Tablet PC (yes, the rabbit ears are antennas for the wireless). And the tiny keyboard is a hassle for nonkids and nonmidgets.

But then, were Nicholas Negroponte and friends designing the XO for our motley band of goodniks (brought together by Wayan Vota, editor of the unofficial, merrily subversive OLPC News, who, like me, believes that this valuable megaproject deserves lots and lots of tough love)?

All in all, based on a quick trial of the XO, the software for which is still in development, I’m impressed so far—despite some major caveats. Just how the devil can I evaluate PDF display capabilities, for instance, when I haven’t seen them in action yet?

Why the OLPC machine could a good e-book machine if the promises pan out

Here is why I now see promise in the $100 laptop as an e-book machine regardless of current flaws:

–My guess is that the WiFi problem is a glitch correctable with the right software. If that happens and if each machine can act as a relay station in a so-called “mesh network,” imagine the possibilities for publishers interested in using satellite and wireless to reach remote regions. We’re not talking about Tom Clancy in every village hut. But XO-class machines could help local publishers, some of which could partner with Western firms if they haven’t already. Could this just be one reason, beyond the laptop’s potential as an e-newspaper reader, why Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is among the OLPC’s sponsors? Will HarperCollins e-books show up hundreds of miles from libraries and bookstores, while grassroots-level publishing in developing countries also gets a wonderful kick start?

–In the regular color mode, not the reflective e-book one without a backlight, the seven-inch LCD was easy on my eyes. The XO crew has talked about a decent battery life in that mode; I just hope they’ve addressed battery-related concerns if they haven’t been already. Here’s another “if” we need to track.

–Yes, the letters outside the e-book mode were sufficiently sharp for reading.

–I might be a bit persnickety about contrast in the e-book mode. No one else seemed as concerned as I was. For now, please note that we tried the machine inside but used a bright flashlight to simulate sunshine. Would that I have had a chance to test the XO outside during the day! Perhaps I’ll change my mind.

–Sure enough in the tablet mode the XO was a pleasure to hold, distinguishing it from Intel’s rival Classmate PC, which can be only a laptop.

–The XO could work out well for interactive e-book software. The screen is fast, and you have a keyboard at your disposal for writing comments to authors or other readers.

–Meanwhile there’s already some interesting e-book-related software for the XO, and more programs will be on the way.

–I can see grandputers, as I’ll call them–variants of the XO built for elderly with a special, easy-to-use interface, just as some cellphones have. A grandputer would be a tablet propped up with a wire stand or otherwise. You’d type away on a regular keyboard with large, easy-to-read letters on the keys. The screen, perhaps larger than on the XO, could display e-books in big text. A project for AARP? If the 38-million-member AARP got involved, OLPC could use production economies to drive down the cost of the basic technology for young people along the way. Significantly, Mike Lee, a very clueful Web guy from AARP, was present at RFD; and, like me, he is already aware of the e-book possibilities. If nothing else, think how much E could insulate AARP from the effect of postage increases. What’s more, presto, AARP could do e-book clubs, building on earlier alliances with PW and others (please note that I’m currently not involved with PW’s books-for-grownups efforts; these musings are from the heart, nothing more).

–The current price approaching $200 could fall to less than $50-$75 in time. The famous $100 figure may actually be conservative even if OLPC hasn’t reached that goal yet.

Meanwhile keep in mind that for a limited two week period ending Nov 26, the XO is on sale for $400. When you buy one for $200, you automatically give one to a child in a developing country, the reason for the $400 price. The downside is that the XO won’t enjoy the same level of official tech support that a Windows machine would, and as I recall, the warranty is for just 30 days. But if you’ve got the cash and guts—-remembering that that the software is still a work in progress—why not buy? If nothing else, think about charitable donations through which you could help local U.S. educational and literacy efforts related to the XO.

Wayan’s unofficial e-mail list will soon be up to help new XO owners and users with the nuts and bolts. Check OLPC News and/or my TeleRead site for specifics on the list in the next next few days. I’d hope it will be a U.S. list; if not, surely lists will spring up in other cities. The e-mail list isn’t all. Wayan’s D.C. gathering was in effect the beginning of a local owner’s club, and meanwhile TeleRead’s Robert Nagle is collecting names for a kid-and-parent-oriented XO club in Houston. Maybe people elsewhere can get on Wayan’s list, start their own clubs and also lobby OLPC to care more about domestic educational and literacy needs.

Let the green and white gizmos bring Americans together to help both developing countries and each other; imagine how we could bridge differences of age, geography and income. In fact, here’s to the grandputer, in time, to drive down costs for the kids’ versions as well! Hello, AARP?

Related: Real Books on the Internet, an old Washington Post op-ed In the past, I’d have looked to the U.S. government to start a well-stocked national digital library system, with subscription options for public libraries, schools and individuals; and I still hope that happens in time. But who says that’s the only way to go? Could AARP, philanthropies like MacArthur and other organizations fill that gap and along the way help address hardware issues? Don’t count on Bill Gates alone. He’s a saint in anti-AIDS work and has helped wire many a school and library, but there’s also a downside, despite all the glib comparisons with Andrew Carnegie: Gates’ fondness for Microsoft technology over open source and open standards. Remember, Carnegie didn’t give away steel, just libraries.

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