OLPC San Francisco

I was simply doodling on the XO-4 Touch. One thing led to another, and before I knew, I was adjusting brush sizes, mixing colors and finger-painting away. Given that the "touch" is based on infrared LEDs and photodiodes, the resolution and response is impressive - even for a terrible finger-painter like me!

Hint: I think those are really tall Redwood trees :-)

I've been playing with the camera and lens combo using the Tuk Lens Kit and a XO-4. The camera on the XO does not autofocus, like most smartphone cameras do. So, instead of holding the object steady, one has to move the object into focus, and while holding steady, click on the "circle" button.  I wanted to have a better way to move the object, and keep it steady for a picture - sort of like a microscope.

The coffee table book from OLPC San Francisco Community Summit 2012 is now available to buy. The book contains photos from various deployments. The book is produced and shipped at cost by Blurb. http://www.blurb.com/b/3618016-one-laptop-per-child

Note: You can also get the 2011 book at http://www.blurb.com/b/2556146-one-laptop-per-child

Matt Keller is traveling through Ethiopia, visiting a settlement in Wonchi. This is the same place where OLPC dropped off (no helicopter involved...yet) a stack of tablets with software that is designed to help children learn.

OLPC San Francisco turns five! Come, celebrate with us.

Saturday, January 26, 2013. 10AM to 1PM.

5th 6th floor, 835 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94103.

Bring a cake or donuts or fruit or cookies. Bring a friend or three. See you there!

Update: Meeting moved to Room 612 (6th floor)

I find TED talks to be quite interesting and invigorating. They challenge conventional thinking and provide interesting solutions. I've even gone so far as to apply some of the recommendations from some of these talks - my favorite international travel water filter is the LifeSaver bottle.

If you attended the recent OLPC San Francisco Community Summit 2012, you must have received a packet with lenses and sticky foam along with your registration folder. Some of you also took a whole bunch more back with you. The lenses are acrylic cabochons, courtesy of Bill Tuk.

This Thanksgiving break was a fun and relaxing one, but as usual, Mira (my 7-year old daughter) had her "I'm bored!" spells one day. After trying to get her to draw, color, paint, read, etc. I tried something new. We went outside and looked at interesting things. The Moon was pretty that evening. Then came the question:

"Does the Moon move in the sky?"

A telescope, a laptop with the Telescope activity, and oodles of patience.

Today is XO Day! Credit and kudos to T.K. Kang of Hong Kong to come up with the idea a few years ago and keeping up with it.

On November 16, back in 2005, the One Laptop per Child concept was released by Kofi Annan, Nicholas Negroponte and Mary Lou Jepsen at a press conference at the WSIS in Tunisia.

This is the Pathagar Book Server running on a Raspberry Pi. The distribution is derived from Raspbian, which itself is from derived from Debian. I removed all the GUI bits and added some server bits to make Pathagar happen. I'm calling the image Bookberry.

Debian -> Raspbian -> Bookberry. 

Distro image and other details coming soon.