OLPC XO-2 Laptop

OLPC is developing a new version of the XO laptop with hopes of it being released in 2010. Their target price for the new laptop is $75, and it will have two touch screens, that can also act as one. This means that the keyboard will be touch screen.

Check it out here.





- Laura :)

Microsoft and OLPIC Team Up

OLPC and Microsoft recently announced that the OLPC XO laptop will be available in both Linux and Windows. Starting next month, the Windows XO laptop will be sold in five or six countries, and an even more countries in August or September. OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte believes this collaboration with Microsoft will be an opportunity for OLPC to expand.

Check out the article here.

- Laura :)

Web 2.0 Winners

Webware readers and Internet users voted for the 100 best web applications. There were over 1.9 million votes! Some of the applications are:

iTunes allows users to manage their songs, videos, photos, and podcasts, and sync them to one of Apple's iPod products. Users also get access to the iTunes Music Store where they can listen to 30 second previews and purchase songs.

Craigslist is an online, free classifieds service. Users can post items they want to sell, and can receive responses by telephone or e-mail. The responses on this site are usually quicker than one would get through the newspaper classifieds.

Hosted by Yahoo, Flickr is a free photo-sharing service. Users can show off their photos or can explore other users' photos. Flickr has recently allowed the sharing of minute-long videos.

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone, anywhere. It is available in multiple languages, and has a variety of different articles on almost any subject.

Stardoll is an online version of doll dress-up. Users have their own profiles where they can show off the dolls they have dressed up, make blog entries, and have a photo gallery. Users dress up their favourite celebrities or pop culture icons.

- Laura :)

Bridge Building Contest

The annual Balsa Bridge Building Contest is happening soon! Physics 11 and 12 students build bridges and compete to see which bridge can hold the most weight without breaking, and the bridge itself has to be under a certain weight. This contest has been held since 1980, and the current record is 209.4 kg. This contest is for students is for students to learn about structure and strength while working with materials, such as balsa wood and glue. There are also some other awards, such as best workmanship and design. This contest is sponsored by University of British Columbia Engineering Physics Program, Simon Fraser University's School of Engineering Science, and Professional Engineers and Gescientists of BC to name a few. Some of the bridges produced by the students are very impressive!

Here are some pictures from the contest:

(My brother, on the right, and classmate, with their bridge for best workmanship and design in 2000)

Vancouver is a city of many interesting bridges. Here's my favourite:
(Alex Fraser Bridge, New Westminster-Delta BC)

For more information, check out these two sites:

Balsa Bridge

Balsa Bridge Photos 2007

Here is an interesting site from the Additional Links section in Balsa Bridge:

Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century

- Laura :)

Visual Basic Multi-Form Project

In our ICT Class, we had to put together some of our previous assignments in Visual Basic into one themed package. My theme was a candy and sweets theme. We had to change our assignments so that they fit that theme. Some of my programs were a temperature converter called "Hot Tamale," a paint program called "Drizzle Drawing," and a race program called "Candy Race." I had 7 different programs in my package. We also had to create "Easter Eggs." "Easter Eggs" are a surprise in the program, for example, typing in a certain code will allow a form to pop-up.

There was a "Surprise!" button on my menu screen that gave you a challenge:


To find the "toy," you had to press Shift + L on the menu screen, and the following would appear:



- Laura :)

OLPC Laptop Experience

So, I was the second in my class to test the OLPC laptop that came to us yesterday. It was a quite different than my home computer. The laptop had both its pros and cons.

Cons:

I have to admit that I had trouble even opening up the computer, until I read that you have to lift the antennas up, and separate lift in between the green part of the laptop. I was not a fan of the touchpad mouse. I found it hard to move, and that I had to put in a lot of effort trying to get where I wanted to. The keyboard was cute, but it was challenging to type on. I had to push hard in order for the characters to register. My main issue with the OLPC laptop was that it was slow. It took a really long time to load a new activity. The computer also froze on my multiple times, and I had to restart the computer three times. I found some of the programs to be challenging to use, especially Pippy, and Turtle Art. I was also not sure how to use the SynthLab or EToys. I was not able to browse the internet or chat with other users in the chat activity.

Pros:

Despite the cons, the laptop did have some great features. I thought the appearance of the laptop was very cute. I like the rotating head, and how it comes with a handle so that it is easier to carry. I did like the neighborhood view, which allowed me to see other users of the laptop and establish a connection with them. However, for some reason it showed all other users as being locked. I did like the paint program, and the write activity. They were somewhat similar to the basic paint program and word processors on a home computer, but there weren't as many features in each. I liked how the calculator allowed me to use sin, cos, and tan, and I liked the appearance of it. Memorize, which was a memory game, and the various TamTam activities, activities which allowed me to play with different sounds and make music, kept me entertained for a while. I was impressed by the record function. This allowed me to record video and audio, and take pictures. I thought the quality of the pictures were pretty good, but the video was fuzzy.
It would have been nice to use the NewsRead function, which had various articles in it, but I could not read these articles. I think this was due to the lack of an internet connection. Furthermore, it had a pretty good battery life

In all, I did quite like the laptop. In saying that, the laptop was, however, difficult to use for a first time user. I found how to use most of the programs through the OLPC website, but for a child, I am not sure how they would be able to get access to the site. I also did not like the lack of an instruction manual. Despite all this, I think the OLPC laptops are a great program for underprivileged children, and is a durable computer that will give them hours of entertainment, while also giving them knowledge and an opportunity to work with a computer. Overall, I am pretty happy with this laptop!

Visual Basic Multi-Form Project Progress

In our ICT class, we have to create a themed package in visual basic that adds a bunch of our forms from other prohects into one big project. So far I have added all the other forms from the various projects to the main form of my themed project. My theme is candy and sweets, it's called "Sweet Tooth." Originally I had a beach theme, but I found it to difficult to make the project look appealing. I have most of the coding done, all I need to do is add a timer to my splash screen, add an "Easter Egg," and fix all the forms to have the same theme.

- Laura :)