Chip-Maker at Core of Educational Tech Push Across Globe
| by Joe Leo, Columnist | March 27, 2007 |
[PHOTO: ©2007, Intel® Corp.-- authorized use]
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What does this mean for Apple? Again, it's all about possibilities. If Apple decided to further pursue this--since Steve Jobs obviously indicated an interest in the program and even offered the company's blood and guts (OS X) toward the program--and the other foundations / corporations / companies involved began to, um, think different...
We'll leave that to your imagination.
So is this "classmate PC" just a toy of some kind, or is it a real laptop like one you and I would use, sans said operating system?
"It currently runs on either Microsoft Windows XP or Linux operating system. It's a fully-functional PC that delivers the right performance to support essential learning applications and experiences," says Badron. "Like most other fully-functional PCs, a teacher can install third-party software (limited only by the size of the flash memory)."
On the "classmate PC" itself, as far as technologies present in it, it definitely also kind of foreshadows--on a totally different angle/front--what analysts and even this columnist himself, are predicting and hoping will come by way of Cupertino, California.
According to Badron, while Intel works locally in each country for things like software (as we previously stated from information provided in the Intel press release), they also work with major corporations that everyday people know of. For instance? SanDisk, who provides the flash memory which serves as storage and memory for the units.
Are you with us here yet? Remember all this discussion about Apple bringing back a 12" ultra-portable in an even smaller form factor, thinner and lighter than before?
Looks like Intel already has it with their "classmate PC." Well, sort of, if you consider some of the underlying technology/innovations underneath its hood. Things such as a mobile Intel processor with ultra-low power consumption, a small form-factor that's lightweight and "looks like a textbook," a built-in rechargeable battery, and...?
Storage technology based on flash memory-- one of the big technologies that will supposedly be at the core of a new ultra-portable Apple laptop, since, it rids the need of a standard hard disk storage device which takes up a lot of space/room, and draws out a lot of power.
Funny though, how, upon looking at the pictures, the laptop is small, yet so thick!
The future of things to come from Apple? Quite possibly. A missed opportunity for Apple? Who knows. (We think so). But, for the here and now, we're glad that big companies like Intel are thinking about the bigger picture here before anything else: focusing on the education of children and helping educators all across the globe harness the power of today's technology.
We just think that with Apple and Intel working so closely together, that they should be putting their heads together on this one, since like we said before, Apple and education have always gone hand-in-hand.
And the first thing they'd need to fix if they were in charge...? The darn operating system!
NOTE: We came across the press release via The News Market, a news service we are a member of, which served as the basis for our story . (Special thanks to Nor Badron of Intel® Corp. for speaking to us and providing images for us to use in this article)