ARM CHIPS CUT XO LAPTOP POWER NEEDS TO 2 WATTS

The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) has been making XO Laptops since 2006. The original goal was to create a laptop for kids in developing countries that only cost $100 to manufacture. Although the laptop was made, it ended up costing $199.

While the focus now may be on OLPC’s forthcoming XO-3 Tablet, the XO Laptop continues to be updated. The original device was v1.0, but the current model shipping has had a number of updates and now carries the version number 1.5. At CES last week v1.75 was shown off, and it brings with it some significant improvements thanks mainly to ARM.

One of the major problems of using any electronics hardware in a developing country is gaining access to a reliable power source. The OLPC solved this for the XO Laptop by offering a manual crank charger. The only problem being it took a couple of hours to fully charge the battery.

While the availability of power in certain regions of the world cannot be solved by the OLPC, it can improve upon the power use of the XO Laptop. And with v1.75 they have managed to half that power use. The reason this has been made possible is the move to use an ARM rather than an x86 processor. So now rather than drawing 4 watts of power, the XO-1.75 draws 2 watts. The new chip being used is a 1GHz Armada 610 from Marvell. [Geek]

ELECTRIC CAR CHARGING STATIONS COULD FOLLOW YOU AROUND

Could the fear of running out of power in an electric vehicle keep people from buying them?  It is a possibility and researchers at the Mitsubishi's lab in Cambridge, MA have come up with a novel way to help alleviate the problem.

By using a central database to compile power usage and battery capacity from electric vehicles, then using that data to locate where the vehicles find they need re-charging the most, they would then send mobile power stations to those locations.

The mobile power stations would also need recharging, however this could be done overnight, when demand for recharging of vehicles would be slower, or by solar power. [New Scientist]