The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)program was founded by Nicholas Negroponte with the objective of providing laptop computers to children in the developing world at a cost of around $100 per computer. It's an ambitious goal with a number of pretty obvious challenges. What they've come up with for their test machine is pretty interesting and perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the software that was designed for it. I can imagine that educators in the developed world will be very interested in taking a look at it too.
Here's a picture of the test machine:
Link to the demo here.
The laptop runs on a linux based operating system that was designed especially for this program. It features a simple interface and some nifty features that allow students to collaborate on projects and view web sites as a group, with real time commenting and discussion. This software looks like it could be a useful tool for lots of educational environments and especially so for distance learning in situations where transportation and availability of educational facilities are limited. For more information on this interesting program, including how you can become involved as a developer or financially, check out their site.
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