Some interesting things going on in little Uruguay. A couple of reads:
New York Times: Uruguay Video Game Startups
Uruguay’s One Laptop Per Child Program (thanks Marcos Cristoforo Mercer)
Related: my blog about CIEBAL, Uruguay’s OLPC program
Despite some sub-optimal experiences, I remain fascinated by things such as this. The cable on the right, which just arrived in the mail from China, elegantly replaces the kluged-together mess that cluttered my desk.
And, especially in overpriced Uruguay, you’ve got to love this:
Yes, USD 2.45 and free shipping … from China.
We were at friends’ house when their daughter, now in grade 2 of high school (North American 8th grade) brought out her school-issued laptop. Unlike the kiddy OLPC units that the little fashionistas use – i.e., this:
the high school version is quite a cool little laptop. Whereas she never used the one above, preferring the family’s desktop computer, she loves having her own laptop now. (Who wouldn’t?)
It runs on Ubuntu Linux, and has full access to the universe of open source applications. I haven’t been able to find much info about its specs (and didn’t have my specs along to read much on the small screen), but saw that it had Open Office and WINE installed, amongst many other programs.
For some families, our hosts explained, this is their only computer.
And they are all connected! When one has internet access, so do the others – not necessarily at blazing speed. We had internet problems recently, and could from time to time connect to a signal from a Ciebal laptop nearby, sometimes with internet long enough to check email and a web site or two. Plan Ceibal also provides open internet access points throughout the country. In 2007, Uruguay became the first country to place an order for laptops – 100,000 of them. By now, it’s over half a million. For a country of 3.5 million. Pretty cool.
We bought a Kindle Fire from Amazon. Turns out to be useless for much more than reading books, but that’s OK because it’s good for that. And it promises more, like Android apps you can download for free.
It occurred that it might be useful to have a little note-taking app on the Kindle. You know, waiting for 50 people in front of you at the bank, reading a book, get an idea…. You can find plenty of free note-taking apps ready to download. So I tried.
It told me it couldn’t download because I didn’t have a credit card on file (which I do), then it wouldn’t allow me to enter a credit card.
So I tried on the computer – sorry, the Amazon app store said, your region can’t buy apps from us. No problem; logged in through a USA VPN, only to find it wouldn’t accept a cookie that Amazon requires.
So where to find Android apps? Google! Alas, Google and Amazon do not play together – the Amazon Kindle is sort of a bastardized Android device, and to keep the price low they didn’t get a Google license.
So this morning I delved into a murky world of Android dead-ends and non-starters, rapidly realizing it was not the best use of my time.
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| The original note-taking app |
And realizing as well that I already have a perfectly functional note-taking app. That even works when the Kindle’s battery is dead.
Behold an 8 watt bulb twice as efficient as the toxic and wretched compact fluorescents, which seldom come close to their promised eight year life span. This could have a life span twice that or more (according to the guy who manufactures them, ahem). And it runs on 110-240 volts! What’s not to like, even at 18 bucks a pop?
When one blinks out after five months, and the supermarket doesn’t give refunds on light bulbs, that’s what.
However, the store promised to check our repairing it, and call me back. In Latin America, when a business promises to call you back, it generally means we’re through talking. Go away. Knowing the distributor of these lights (who also replaced all the store’s fluorescent bulbs with LEDs), I figured I had a fallback plan.
A couple of weeks and a few in-person inquiries later, the store really did call back saying they had una solución. They gave me a credit for the full price – nice! I promptly bought another.
I note with interest that some of the first light bulbs manufactured are still burning 100 years later. Why can’t they last that long now? The bottom line: it really is a conspiracy.
