Laptops to make technology child's play

A cheap laptop boasting wireless network access and a hand crank to
provide electricity is expected to start shipping in February or March
to help extend technology to school-age children worldwide.

The machines are to sell for $100 each, slightly less than cost. The
aim is to have governments or donors buy them and give full ownership
to the children.

"These robust, versatile machines will enable children to become more
active in their own learning," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told
reporters.

Mr. Annan and more than 23,000 people from 176 countries were
attending the three-day U.N. World Summit on the Information Society,
in its second day yesterday. The goal is to find ways to extend
communications technologies to the world's poorest people -- through
projects like the $100 laptop.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Laboratory chairman,
Nicholas Negroponte, who introduced the textbook-sized laptop
Wednesday, said he expects to sell 1 million of them to Brazil,
Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria.

The effort is being led by the One Laptop Per Child Initiative, a
nonprofit group founded by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD),
Brightstar Corp., Google Inc., News Corp. and Red Hat Inc., all of
which have donated $2 million and work in conjunction with the MIT
Media Lab.

Once the laptops are in the hands of schoolchildren, the real fun --
and learning -- will begin, said Billy Edwards, senior vice president
and chief innovation officer at AMD.

"There's a lot of learning that has to happen before the launch and
even more after" because students in different countries will use the
laptops in diverse ways and demand a wide variety of applications
based on their needs, Mr. Edwards said. It will be up to the
technology providers and educators to meet the students' requests.

Mr. Negroponte did not say who would build the machines, which will
cost $110 each to make, but at least five companies are considering
bids. He said a commercial version may be available at a higher price
to subsidize machines provided to children.

The laptop will run on an open-source operating system, such as Linux,
which is generally cheaper than proprietary systems such as Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows, Mr. Negroponte said.

The devices will be lime green, with a yellow hand crank, to make them
appealing to children and to fend off potential thieves -- people
would know by the color that the laptop is meant for a child.

Also, Microsoft announced a new network of learning centers in Tunisia
to train people to be teachers in technology. Jean-Philippe Courtois,
president of Microsoft International, said the company would replicate
the centers elsewhere as part of its outreach efforts.

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