$100 laptop for kids

St. Petersburg Times:

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology want to get a computer into the hands of every child in the world, even if there's nowhere to plug it in. The design has to be durable, self-reliant and, above all, cheap. About $100. The machines' AC adapter would double as a carrying strap, and a hand crank would power them when there's no electricity. They would be foldable into more positions than traditional notebook PCs, and carried like slim lunch boxes. For outdoor reading, their display would be able to shift from full color to glare-resistant black and white. And surrounding it all, the laptops would have a rubber casing that closes tightly, because 'they have to be absolutely indestructible,' said Nicholas Negroponte, the MIT Media Lab leader who offered an update on the project Wednesday. Negroponte hatched the $100 laptop idea after seeing children in a Cambodian village benefit from having notebook computers at school that they could also tote home to use on their own.

Screw the poor kids, I want one! In all seriousness this is a really cool project. I expect Bill Gates isn't thrilled by it though.