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    Back to Design and Architecture

    Design and Architecture

    Designer Gadgets for the Rich and Poor

    The Last week was party-time for techies, with the Apple iPhone, GM's plug-in hybrid, gigantic flat-screen TV's and more. While Steve Jobs wowed crowds with his $500 cell phone, the spotlight at the Consumer Electronics Show fell on a designer gadget aimed at a very different market.

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    By Frances Anderton • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    The Last week was party-time for techies, with the Apple iPhone, GM's plug-in hybrid, gigantic flat-screen TV's and more. While Steve Jobs wowed crowds with his $500 cell phone, the spotlight at the Consumer Electronics Show fell on a designer gadget aimed at a very different market. The $100 laptop runs on Linux and is intended to be bought in vast quantities by foreign governments for distribution to poor children. Also, an industrial warehouse begins its new life as a transitional housing center for 55 homeless and mentally ill women and men in Santa Monica, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art opens a window into the Strange New World of Tijuana. Finally, Elsa Longhauser, Executive Director of SMMOA, on her favorite building in Los Angeles.

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      Frances Anderton

      architecture critic and author

    • KCRW placeholder

      Andrew Blum

      author of “The Weather Machine” and “Tubes”

    • KCRW placeholder

      Yves Behar

      Industrial Designer and Principal at fuseproject

    • KCRW placeholder

      John Maceri

      CEO of The People Concern

      Culture

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