OLPC XO-1: The price of free

2026-09-27 · 78 min · 8 entities

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Asserted relationships

→ discusses Technology company

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Feed category: Technology
→ discusses History website

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Feed category: History
→ hosted by The Verge company

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Feed author/publisher: The Verge

Entities found in this episode

companys 4

mentioned The Verge company

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Feed author/publisher: The Verge
mentioned Technology company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Technology
discusses Technology company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Technology
hosted by The Verge company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: The Verge

websites 2

mentioned History website

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Feed category: History
discusses History website

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Feed category: History

concepts 2

mentioned The price of free concept

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OLPC XO-1: The price of free
mentioned OLPC concept

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OLPC

Episode description as stored

The idea was big, exciting, and inspiring: What if we could get every kid in the world access to a computer? For a bunch of thinkers and executives in Silicon Valley, it felt like the way to fix everything. But the One Laptop Per Child initiative, and the XO-1 laptop designed to be given away, were both more complicated than anyone expected. David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s Adi Robertson and tech journalist David Imel to figure out why OLPC didn’t work, whether there’s anything to learn from the XO-1’s innovative design, and whether this kind of computer giveaway could ever actually succeed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices