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I was pretty bullish on the One Laptop Per Child program for quite some time, and even participated in the ‘Buy One Give One’ program. I recognize that OLPC represents a long-term project, and that the fruits of that project are not likely to be visible for years. While we’re waiting, we can watch One Kindle Per Child , an initiative from Worldreader.org to improve literacy in Africa through the use of Amazon Kindle e-readers. I’m extremely skeptical of this project. I forwarded the story to my friend Rich, who grew up in Africa, and his immediate response was “Well intentioned people who are really good at X look around and say, ‘how can X solve this…

There’s something reassuring about the way Asimov speaks on this topic (surely one of his favorites) — even though this clip has got to be 35 or 40 years old, it rings true now and we would do well to take his advice. And how about that transcription? Like human beens indeed. It’s an interesting topic for post-brunch rumination: what would a world built around robots be like? Probably like that nightmare Korean theme park if we’re not careful. [via Metafilter ]

How many e-book readers do you think are out there right now for you to choose from? If you did a little digging, I bet you’d find 50 or so. Maybe 10 really worth checking out. But right now is a bit of a weird period in e-reader history. The Kindle cemented e-readers in the consumer headspace, catapulting them from weirdo alternative technology to mainstream gadget. That’s what the iPad threatens to do with tablets — we’ll see about that. But the Kindle and the iPad are two important forces in the current e-reader wars; the question, upon the answer of which depends the success of many a device, is whether “bonus” features like second screens and…

The Polaroid saga is a long and strange one. And the last couple years have been especially strange. Bankrupt , reanimated , relaunched , sold out , bought up … I wouldn’t be surprised if Polaroid showed up on Dancing With The Stars. They keep saying they’re coming back, but I’ll believe it when I see it. In the mean time, your options for instant film are depressingly limited, and it’ll cost you a bundle — but it’s not like it disappeared completely. The main rival for Polaroid was Fujifilm , which also makes digital cameras and lots of other films and media. Among their many products is Instax film, which is still manufactured and comes in cartridges…

So here’s a deal, but it’s a bit odd. The Toshiba R600 is advertised as being Toshiba’s ultimate notebook, and for the price it better be. You can buy it from Toshiba’s website for $2,099 for the base model which includes a 160GB hard drive, 3GB of RAM, and a 12.1″ screen, and comes standard with Windows 7. But that’s not the deal. If you don’t want to use Windows 7, and would prefer OpenSolaris, you can buy the exact same machine for $500 less . Odd, I know. And it definitely makes you wonder exactly how much you’re paying for that copy of Windows 7 Starter. [Thanks to Chris for the tip]

This is a fun idea. Hip New York boutique and gallery Opening Ceremony has got some completely corduroyed-over furniture &mdsah; and not just cushions. The close-up pictures reveal it to be, well, not the most exacting upholstery job, but if you were making a chest of drawers with corduroy in mind from the first, you could probably do quite a good job of it. If you’re in Manhattan, go check it out. How come we don’t have corduroy phones, or mice? This world doesn’t make sense to me any more!

So we finally have the official press release from Panasonic, we of course got a glimpse of the G2 and G10 the other day , but now we know all the news that’s fit to share. Both look like some decent kit, and a definite step up from most of the P&S cameras out there. Just to recap, the G2 and G10 are the latest from Panasonic using the Micro Four Thirds format. They both sport a 12.1 megapixel sensor and a 3″ LCD screen. Both shoot in 720p, and come with a 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 lens in the basic kit. The G2 also has an LCD touchscreen that is capable of…

Is FIFA the worst organization on the planet? I’d say so. World soccer bigwigs have concluded a meeting in Zurich, and they’ve decided against implementing goal line technology at this year’s World Cup . Yes, why would you want to introduce a legitimately helpful technology into a sport that so desperately needs it? Ridiculous. FIFA’s general secretary, regarding the use of goal line technology at the biggest sporting event in humanity, said, “The door is closed. The decision was not to use technology at all.” It’s not even about whether or not the technology works—two competing systems were vying for FIFA’s attention—but whether or not “the future of [soccer] involves technology or not.” Of course it does! What …

GameSpot just published a video review of Final Fantasy XIII . It’s the first review of the localized version of the game (at least I think it is!), so I’m putting it up here. Let’s watch it. I mean, I’ll get the game regardless of the review. Square Enix could a complete piece of junk and I’d still buy it at this point. I will say: did the reviewer have a charisma removal surgery? Put some personality in your voice, for Pete’s sake.

File this one under “future toys.” We hear about a lot of these super-low-level advances in processing and storage (whenever I see the word “ holographic ,” I reach for the salt), and while they’re usually at best years away from practice and manufacture, they’re good to keep informed on, if nothing else than as cocktail chatter. “Did you hear about those new nanotube speakers? ” Well. The latest advancement is that IBM is thinking of replacing the conductive copper channels in today’s chips with light. But it’s more than a simple fiber-optic setup or something along those lines; the idea is that a single photon would set off …