
Keepod: Can a $7 stick provide billions computer access? - almost
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27346567
======
trurl42
So this time it's based on Android? That seems like a bad choice if you wanted
to provide the people with access to true general purpose computing.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
The desktop reminds me of Chrome OS. Maybe they should have gone with Chromium
OS.

~~~
pronoiac
That's a network-centric OS? But won't they typically be used in bandwidth-
constrained places?

I was going to worry about how much memory was required, but it looks like
Android 4.4 can work with 512 meg of RAM.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Well, Android is similarly network-centric.

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DanBC
> will allow old, discarded and potentially non-functional PCs to be revived,

While this feels like a good idea it's often terrible. Have a look at the
agbogoshie e-waste dump in Accra, Ghana, for an example.
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5552994](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5552994))

[http://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2013/dec/14/to...](http://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2013/dec/14/toxic-ewaste-illegal-dumping-developing-countries)

Keepod has been discussed here before. It looks like an interesting
experiment, although I would prefer it if people had access to more open
systems.

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kristopolous
Why is it a for-profit operation with a 30% profit margin? Are they trying to
become rich through people's charitable contributions?

Why does every student as opposed to just every classroom need one (with
multiple accounts supported)?

And why is the base price $5? Flashing is $.32 ([http://www.usb2usb.com/pre-
loaded-data-usb-flash-drive.htm](http://www.usb2usb.com/pre-loaded-data-usb-
flash-drive.htm)) on a $3.41 drive
([http://www.usb2usb.com/marketing_series_flash_drive_costs.ht...](http://www.usb2usb.com/marketing_series_flash_drive_costs.htm))
= $3.73* ... that's $1.27 less then $5.

This doesn't sound like much until you are doing 150,000 of them. Now we have
$190,500 that's not accounted for on top of the existing $300,000 deposited
into their personal checking account.

Someone can do this same project for 40% less (at $4 versus $7) and still walk
away with $40k+ - a much more typical salary for a social worker.

Or they could do a multiple-account, single device strategy and probably get
away with an astonishing 98% drop in price. Of course, there's no money in
that. ;-)

* - We can't see the price for 7500+ from this vendor - but I think that a cost of about $3.55 is fair for the volumes the founders are talking about - and there's probably better offers if you call around - so maybe $3.45 is more realistic. It's certainly not $5.00.

~~~
DanBC
The hardware costs $x.

Then there is flashing the software. And creating the software. And creating
documentation. And distributing the devices. And providing support.

They're not just selling a USB stick, nor selling a USB stick that has a bit
of software on it.

They are possibly testing the devices on a range of older hardware, and
distributing that older hardware too.

I think this is a pivot - didn't they used to aim this at people worried about
security?

~~~
kristopolous
The flashing is $.32 per device ... it's accounted for above

The software is Android, it's maintained by Google and already exists - as
does the documentation.

The distribution of the USB stick, as the article states, is through
[http://www.liveinslums.org/](http://www.liveinslums.org/).

The duo also are explicitly not distributing the older hardware - although I
guess they could be testing it.

They surely have added some software to an existing Android ISO. Was that
their personal investment? No.

People _gave_ them $40,000 to do that through indiegogo. The $90 donation
point was a 200% markup from the base price (which I believe is 40% inflated)
- They were paid a disclosed $28,000 (probably closer to $32,500) to make the
product. That's 3 months on a handsome 6-figure salary to write essentially a
few shell scripts.

Now they have a for-profit android-based distro that They Are Selling to
impoverished African children which was built through donations.

They will pitch it as "We need your money to help the children" (and, ahem,
our pocket books).

Also, they want to sell a separate USB device for each child as opposed to 1
which supports multiple accounts for a single classroom (or more likely,
single school). So they sell 80 to a school where 2 would do fine.

Why? I'm guessing it has to do with the "for-profit" part. It's more
profitable for them if each kid has to manually reboot the computer and switch
the USB stick then it is to just switch accounts.

How is this not just a clever scam?

~~~
Fargren
Well, would the situation in Africa be better or worse if this takes off?
There may be some greed in there, but the overall result to me seems Good. I'd
rather they improve the world and make a profit than they sit in their thumbs
as punishment for being greedy.

~~~
kristopolous
Functional sewage systems are probably a higher priority right now than giving
every kid a USB stick.
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Sub-
Saharan_Africa))

You do realize that the usage pattern will eventually be 1-stick-per-computer,
right? And the computer-to-student ratio is many dozen to 1? That means 95% of
these will be sitting around. 1 stick with 39 spares.

~~~
ponyandtrap
Hmm, wondering if you got down voted for pointing out African children need
functional sewage systems over usb sticks?

------
neil1
I still can't wrap my head around, why they used Android 4.4 instead of just
using linux, this does not seem like a new paradigm, just a minor
"innovation".

~~~
tygorius
1) Android _is_ a Linux, it's just not marketed as such:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29#...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29#Linux_kernel)

2) If you're someone like me who drops in to distrowatch.com occasionally, you
might think a tweaked version of Puppy or Tiny Core would be more appropriate
for older computers. And you'd be right in terms of hardware requirements,
but...

3) Android is supported by Skynet, er, Google with massive resources. The
installed base in the US is north of 80M and it has support for 47 languages.

So it's really the answer to that classic question, "what's the simplest thing
that could possibly work?" If I were in the project manager's shoes Android
would be at the top of my list as well.

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TazeTSchnitzel
It's just a bootable USB drive? So, all they need now is to find a computer
which boots from USB drives (i.e. fairly recent, relatively)?

How does this solve the problem?

~~~
Edd314159
It solves the problem of each user not having a consistent user experience on
a shared computer.

I know, it's not exactly solving the right problem, is it? Also, I'm not sure
how comfortable I'd be with storing all my data on a flimsy, easily-misplaced
USB drive.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Especially since they seem to be saying it'll work on any 8GB drive. However,
any of us who have used very cheap USB drives (the sort you might get at a
conference and the sort these people would get) will know they are about as
reliable as floppy disks.

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higherpurpose
I wish Google would do something about Android in "desktop mode". But I don't
expect things to change as long as former ChromeOS boss is running the Android
division. Unless Google and its partners plan to release $7 ChromeSticks, then
they should at least make the open source Android be usable on desktops, with
a more optimized interface for it.

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keithpeter
Maybe Shuttleworth is right. In a few years time we will have cheap
smartphones available with an OS that allows docking to a monitor/keyboard
unit with automatic switching of UI. Cloud + local storage. SIM card in the
device rather than a myfi like the school project shown here.

~~~
noir_lord
I think it's pretty much a given that we will be able to pack enough computing
power into a phone to make it useful for average day to day internet/office
tasks (arguably we are already there).

Whether that platform will be built out of a phone I don't know but it's
probably likely as economies of scale on phone production do drive down the
price of the hardware.

It's not going to replace a computer for everyone though (I like my three
screens too much for that) but I could see the utility.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
I wonder if the end of Moore's law will make it happen. If the difference
between phone CPUs and laptop CPUs narrows enough, there'd be no reason not to
use such a device.

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mapt
This is essentially a plan to get local resellers to distribute an Edubuntu-
like Android OS on bootable thumb drives.

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mark_l_watson
At least it is a good idea; time will tell how well it will help people.

It would add to the cost, but customization per geographic region would be
good: farmer almanac type information, etc. If children could demonstrate to
their parents some utility then the parents would be less likely to sell the
devices for food, etc.

