--- --- # How Schools Are Turning Old PCs Into Speedy Computers by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Feb 18, 2016 5:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Feb 18, 2016 5:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**Schools are turning dead PCs into fast Chromebooks — and helping Google beat Microsoft in the classroom.**](http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/17/11030406/neverware-google-chromebook-chromium-os-education-microsoft) By Ben Popper in the Verge **2\.** [**To unlock the power of genetic medicine for everyone, we need to democratize how we sequence DNA.**](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35491835) By Jane Wakefield at BBC **3\.** [**Oil prices might be cratering, but the battery boom is driving prices for lithium way up.**](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-17/battery-boom-heats-lithium-gains-as-outback-mining-stocks-soar) By David Stringer and Martin Ritchie in Bloomberg Business **4\.** [**Here’s how fairy tales could teach robots to be nice.**](http://www.cnet.com/news/fairy-tales-teach-robots-not-to-murder/) By Michelle Starr at CNET **5\.** [**Is messaging the future of news?**](http://fusion.net/story/267498/quartz-messaging-is-the-future-of-the-news-brand/) By Felix Salmon on Fusion  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ How Schools Are Turning Old PCs Into Speedy Computers ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4228909/dead-pcs-chromebooks-schools/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4228909/dead-pcs-chromebooks-schools/"},"headline":"How Schools Are Turning Old PCs Into Speedy Computers","datePublished":"2016-02-18T17:01:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:23.398Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4228909/dead-pcs-chromebooks-schools/","keywords":["Innovation","School","DNA","robots","News","Oil prices"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4228909/dead-pcs-chromebooks-schools/","name":"How Schools Are Turning Old PCs Into Speedy Computers"}}]}] ```