se pans o grande resultado do OLPC foi mesmo abrir um assunto novo... efe
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Fouad Riaz Bajwa Date: Sep 30, 2007 12:33 AM Subject: The InkMedia mobile computer Forwarded for information from: The InkMedia mobile computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InkMedia The InkMedia mobile computer (Ink MC) by Ink-Media Inc. (www.ink-media.com) Canada, is a low cost mobile computer running Linux/FOSS costing under US$300 manufactured for the developing and developed world to reduce the digital divide. InkMedia have a different technology and approach to market than the other low cost computer initiatives. It was developed after experience in India showed how the traditional PC fared badly with respect to overheating, hard drive failures and virus infections, all of which added to the total cost of ownership. The Ink MC is ROM based and so has no hard disk or moving parts. It draws power more like a mobile phone and can run on a 12V car battery or solar power solution. As an individual productivity tool it is designed to bring inclusive access to technology to the following social and economic sectors of society: - Home Users - Public Sector - Schools and Academia - Nonprofits and Civil Society - Healthcare - Small and Medium Enterprise - Creative Commons Community Project Background InkMedia's mission, is to produce portable, powerful and people driven products to bridge the digital divide. Its main activities involve producing a highly innovative low cost ROM based laptop computer to tackle the digital divide. InkMedia's research and prototyping began well before the concept of other low-cost laptop projects like One Laptop Per Child and Classmate PC were introduced. The InkMedia is already commissioned by OLDES, an EU co-funded project under the IST Programme costing 3.65 million euro (under 6th FWP Sixth Framework Programme) with a funding of 2.5 million euro. [1] The Inventor Gerry Morgan [2]is the inventor of InkMedia. He has an extensive background in education, world development issues, and software and hardware development. His innovations have won the Software Publishers Association Award of Excellence three times. Gerry has successfully brought to market over 40 commercial products, mostly in the education and ICT sectors. He has held a variety of positions including founder and CEO of Morgan Media, CIO of Education-on-Line, and President of Mercurial Innovations International. In 2002, Gerry took some time away from his other projects to develop the next line of products, which is what InkMedia has become. He is equally comfortable in the software and hardware worlds and characterizes himself as a toolmaker. Gerry was awarded the Marshall McLuhan Distinguished Teacher Award as well as the National Northern Telecom Award. He has taught at the university level, as a lecturer and sat as an advisor to Royal Roads University MBA program, during its formation. As a businessman, Gerry was nominated as Victoria's Business Person of the Year and was featured on the cover of the nationally distributed magazine, Report on Business. Specs Available from InkMedia Website [3] - Freescale i.MX31 Processor - Supports 1024 X 768 True Color Video Output(with internal LCD disabled) - (RGB and LCD) Plus mpeg 2 hardware decoder - 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB 1.1 port (for keyboard) - 2 SD slots - 256 MB Ram - 1 GB NAND Flash, containing read only file system (compressed) - 128 MB Flash stick / mp3 player (external) - 1 Stereo minipin audio out, stereo minipin line in, stereo minipin mic in - 1 RGB out for VGA monitor - 10/100 Ethernet jack, USB Wi-Fi - 802.11 b/g WiFi - 110-220 Volt input power supply, will accept 12V car battery input and solar power chargers - 5-8 Hours of battery life - 8.6" Diagonal SVGA display (4:3) - Supporting 800 x 600 True Color Key Features The Ink MC is a Mobile Computer which radically reduces the Total Cost of Ownership from initial cost, to software licensing and maintenance. The InkMedia design ensures that the typical points of failure are removed as: - There is no hard disk to fail, slow down or pick up viruses. - It has no moving parts to overheat and there is only a usb connection between the keyboard and the computer, which is located behind the screen. - The keyboard can be detached leaving the computer as a screen reader. - Users save files to a usb stick/MP3 player, network or web server. - This helps schools who currently struggle to recover work from a hard disk when the laptop fails. - Ink MC is designed as a personal productivity device but it can just as easily be used as a public computer for example in clusters for flexible use across a school. - It does over 90% of what most people need on a day to day basis through its Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), which includes Open Office. - There is no training overhead as it is simple to use and users are not expected to carry out running repairs." EU OLDES Project OLDES [4] is an EU co-funded project under the IST Programme that will offer new technological solutions to improve the quality of life of older people, through the development of a very low cost and easy to use entertainment and health care platform, designed to ease the life of the elderly in their homes. As the number of elderly people is increasing significantly and rapidly in all EU countries, creating substantial problems in terms of resources needed for assisting them. OLDES aims to plan and develop a technological, cheap and easy to use platform for tele-assistance and tele-company, thanks to the joint work of 11 EU partners. These partners include: Project co-ordinator - Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie], l'Energia e l'Ambiente (ENEA) Cup 2000 SPA (IT) Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (IT) The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK) Centre d'Excellence en Technologies de l'Information Ceske Vysoke Uceni Technicke v Praze (CZ) Ink Media Inc (Canada) Agentscape AG (Germany) Bologna Municipality (IT) Azienda Unita Sanitaria Locale di Bologna (IT) Univerzita Karlova v Praze (CZ) The OLDES platform will be tested during 2 pilot projects, one developed in Bologna on a sample of 100 elderly people (10 of them affected by cardio disease) and one developed in Prague on diabetics. Bologna pilot project: work in progress Prague pilot project (download *.doc file, 24 kb) [edit] Distribution Model The InkMedia business and distribution model is based upon providing distribution through local channel business partners whom they see as key to supporting sustainable development. They want the local partner to add value in ways that are appropriate to their local communities, for example through providing content or training services and thereby offering employment opportunities. This is a for-profit approach but is augmented by the Gerry Morgan Foundation, a charitable foundation. Currently manufacturing is based in Beijing but InkMedia are seeking opportunities to expand the manufacturing and/or assembly bases to other regions. [edit] Gerry Morgan Foundation, Canada Named after InkMedia's Founder and Managing Director, Gerry Morgan, the foundation seeks to receive contribution/portion of income from laptop sales by Ink Media Inc. and re-invest that contributed amount in the form of ICT Aid Programmes and free-of-cost laptops distributed to least developed countries, civil society, healthcare organizations and educational institutions that cannot otherwise afford to buy the laptops due to unavoidable circumstances. Therefore, Gerry Morgan Foundation is dedicated to serve as the Social Sector and Civil Society distribution hand for contributions from the Corporate Social Responsibility wing of Ink Media Inc. [edit] Participating Countries InkMedia has setup/is setting up distribution channels in the following countries and regions to create local business and employment opportunities: Canada European Union Middle East Africa Northern Arabia South Asia South East Asia Asia-Pacific Similar projects Infodev World Bank provides a detailed quick guide to low cost computing devices and initiatives for the developing world including InkMedia. [edit] References 1 http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?ACTION=D&CALLER=PROJ_IST&RCN=80510 2 http://www.ink-media.com/Ink-About.html 3 http://www.ink-media.com/Ink-Specs.html 4 http://www.oldes.eu Article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InkMedia _______________________________________________ incom-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/incom-l -- FelipeFonseca http://efeefe.no-ip.org - Blogue http://bricolabs.net - BricoLabs, né? http://metareciclagem.org - Nova versao! _______________________________________________ Lista de discussão da MetaReciclagem Envie mensagens para [email protected] http://lista.metareciclagem.org
