From Monday in the US, the One Laptop per Child project’s XO laptop will be available through the ‘Give One, Get One’ programme once more, this time facilitated by Amazon.com.

For $400 [263], the not-for-profit low-cost-laptop project will send one XO to the purchaser and one to a school-age child in a developing country.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) said in September that it wanted to revive last year’s successful programme, but didn’t have the infrastructure to support the programme alone.

Microsoft has started making Windows available for the XO laptop in developing markets like Colombia and Peru. However, purchasers participating in the Give One, Get One programme will not have the option of Windows.

UK understands that the Give One, Get One scheme will operate from 17 November in the UK, but has received no official confirmation from OLPC.

If you’re one of the many people itching to try out a certain funny-looking green portable computer, your moment is at hand. The One Laptop per Child project’s albeit only for those who want to make a “buy two, donate one” deal in the process and only for a couple of weeks.

There has been a lot of buzz about the Cambridge, Mass.-based project, not just for the famed (and slightly inaccurate) claim of providing a $100 computer, but also for the notion that a clean and uncomplicated design promotes better usability and security controls. With limited but well-tested features, the device promises to provide a productive experience for its users — but not an open-ended system Ted Stevens might liken to a big truck.

The OLPC device is not unique in its approach.

(Full article ‘Security and the One Laptop Per Child sensibility’)

BOSTON — A computer developed for the world’s poor children, dubbed “the $100 laptop,” has reached a milestone: It is now selling for $200.

The One Laptop per Child Foundation, founded by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, has started offering the lime green and white machines in lots of 10,000 or more for $200 apiece on its Uruguay, Peru and Mongolia. It has not said how many machines they have ordered.

Wayan Vota, an expert on using technology to promote economic development who publishes a breakthrough that the foundation is patenting and may license next year for commercial use.

The laptop needs just 2 watts of power compared with a typical laptop’s 30 to 40 watts and does away with hard drives. It uses flash memory and four USB ports to add memory and other devices.

(Full article ‘‘$100 laptop’ hits $200′)

Toshiba Corp. has recalled more defective laptop batteries, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said last week, the latest move in a long-running problem with lithium-ion batteries made by Sony Corp.

According to a (800) 457-7777 — has also been set up to take calls from users.

Toshiba said that the recent recalls were not connected to the much larger recall of Sony-made batteries in 2006. Then, Apple Inc., Dell Inc., Gateway Inc., and Lenovo Group Ltd. were among the others — forced to recall Sony’s batteries.

In May 2006, a Toshiba laptop which burst into flames prompted the company to again urge users to replace defective batteries. The laptop that caught fire then was running a Sony battery pack on the 2006 recall list.

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program moved a step closer to providing low-cost laptops to children in developing nations by giving the go-ahead to the mass production of its XO laptop. However, the computers are expected to be out in October, one month later than originally planned.

The prices for the laptops are $176 each, with the price expected to go down to $100 sometime next year, according to a spokesman for the project. There will be 3 million laptops available in October, and they will be distributed to children by the governments of participating countries, which include Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Greece, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Tunisia, the U.S.

(Full article ‘One Laptop Per Child project sends laptops to production’)