I discovered that Sooz Nooz had vanished on 26th December 2006.  All entry files and templates had disappeared from my web folders.

I still haven't had any reply from the web host intimating how this might have happened.  I think it may be time to consider moving my domain hosting elsewhere. 

There's a strong possibility that the site was hacked.  Or it could have been a security issue.  Following discussions with the web host, I did try installing a .htaccess file using a different FTP client called SmartFTP, which turns off an unsafe php setting, and that does seem to have worked.

Meanwhile, Pivot has released an updated version of its software.  One of the reasons it's taken me this long to get back up and running is that I had to compare old files with new.  The template layout and CSS values had changed very significantly.

I'm reasonably satisfied with my efforts to restore the look and feel of Sooz Nooz.  I still have problems with CSS values for container width in IE 6 and earlier, but that is comparably a minor irritation.

By great good fortune, Google had spidered the website just three days before I discovered it had gone.  As a result, I have been able to restore all the entries from Google's cached versions of the blog.  I would have been quite devastated if I had lost everything.

So now, all entries are being copied into files on my PC as well as into the blog, and backups of the database and configuration files are being rigorously applied.

First published 14th January 2007

The $100 laptop computer has been launched in Brazil. Read more about this at Global Voices Online.

Global Voices Online summarises the reactions to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative in Brazil, from various bloggers in the country, and provides translations into English from the Portuguese.

Naturally, reactions vary from those who think it's WOW, to those who, understandably in my view, suggest that more investment in teachers might better meet the objective of improving educational attainment, to those who believe the money might have been better spent in combating poverty and providing food and water.

And then of course, who will the laptops go to? One blogger queried this after supposing that the launch machines would be given to President Lula's grandsons.

The $100 laptop uses a different hardware configuration from that which we are used to, and also a different browser, called OLPC, after the name of the initiative. Watch the YouTube demo of OLPC in action.

Also see this article entitled Clever kit to benefit the poor in London's Financial Times.

Update on January 5th 2008: An article in The Economist reveals that the OLPC laptop is clumsy, cumbersome to use, and crashes frequently. It’s more likely to deter kids than encourage them. The Economist says that this has been largely due to “the hubris, arrogance and occasional self-righteousness of OLPC workers. They treated all criticism as enemy fire to be deflected and quashed rather than considered and possibly taken on board. Overcoming this will be essential if the project is to succeed past its first release.”

All is not doom and gloom however. Laptops are getting cheaper and there are other options. At least the OLPC initiative has pioneered a trail.

This item was first published on 4th December 2006.