It's a random little observation, but: You know how any business photo must be politically correct? Regardless of the actual demographics, the picture must include a man, a woman, a white, a black, and someone unidentifiably in between?

So, there are four pictures on the web page, all showing students. Three of the four contain exclusively black kids, even though blacks make up only about 10% of the LA population.

Is this some sort of editorial message? Schools need to spend big bucks on computers, because black kids are poor? Opposing this program would be racist?

Call me cynical but 14 years in IT teaches me that programs like this are usually driven by some higher up wanting a new toy at company expense.

BTW, does anyone actually do any serious work on an Ipad? I evaluated one for my employer and found the interface pretty good for watching movies and playing games. I suppose it would also work for sending pictures of your genitals or boobs to other I-Zombies -- I didn't test that feature -- but for any serious work the interface is a joke.

Teenagers and free laptops! What could possibly go wrong?!?

If they think going to be able to secure Windows machines anymore than the Ipads they're fooling themselves. There's a downloadable CD that allows you to crack the admin password in about two minutes. Once you have the admin password, you own the PC.

So if they don't actually sit down and think it through they are just wasting money.

"Tech-savvy students easily broke through the firewalls administrators had installed to keep them from using the devices to visit social media websites"

The students by the advantage of their youth tend to be better at manipulating technology.

Shall we give them phones too just so they use them in case of emergencies?

Shall we give them phones too just so they use them in case of emergencies?

They either have a smart phone, or an Obama phone, so no, they don't need that.

Oh, and that two minutes to reset the admin password on windows includes downloading the software, and "burning it" to a USB flash drive. The actual engineering isn't particularly hard.

Parabarbarian is correct: someone up the chain is getting something they want. It maybe a shiny new toy, but it may also be recognition for the project, or an invited talk at the manufacturer's next big Developer's Conference or so such, paid by said manufacturer. Yes, graft.

Or potentially "all of the above".

Parabarbarian... I use my ipad to do serious work pretty often. Sure it's not a primary machine but I use it in meetings and such nearly every day. I carry it vs my MBP because it's so much smaller and lightest and still carries all my music library which I use very day (I can't work on silence).

When doing a lot of typing I use a Logitech bt keyboard. Apps that do ssh sessions, rdp and others get used a lot.

The $1 Billion iPad giveaway wasn't a disaster. It was a success. So much so that now they're eager to follow it up with a $40 Million laptop giveaway.

It wasn't about iPads for school kids. It was about $1 Billion. That money didn't just vanish into nothing; it ended up in somebody's pocket. The iPads and school kids were just the vehicle for making the transfer. It paid off so well that they can't wait to do another one.