What's This? Good News for Children and the Future?

For his One Laptop Per Child nonprofit company, Nicholas Negroponte and his M.I.T. team designed a $100 computer to be given away to Third World children to use in schools and on their own, to connect to the world. It links directly to the Internet and can be powered by the hand crank that is part of its design.

Also part of its design, this notebook sized computer folds in half like a book, and thereby becomes a neat version of an electronic book.

Now this computer is about to enter the manufacturing stage. Last week, Negroponte announced that millions of these computers will be built by Quanta of Taiwan, which already makes most of the world's laptops(including many U.S. brands). It should be available to distribute by the end of 2006.

Already committed to distributing the first run of these computers for extensive trials are China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand.

Negroponte was interviewed on Charlie Rose Friday, and was named ABC's Person of the Week. Visit the project's official site for more information.