$100 Laptops To Be Made Available To Needy Kids

Inexpensive laptop computers designed for students in developing countries will be sold to the public in a buy-one, give-one scheme, a non-profit organization behind the project said Monday.

The "100 dollar laptops" -- which currently cost nearly twice that amount -- will go on sale for two weeks starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) said in a statement.

The non-profit group was organized by Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, who came up with the idea of providing low-cost computers for students in underdeveloped countries as key step to promote education.

The sales program is designed to give the overall OLPC project more publicity, and to encourage open-source software developers to write programs for the laptop's operating system, the non-profit said.

The program is "a terrific opportunity for the public to help eliminate poverty and make the world a better place by inoculating children against ignorance," said Negroponte in the statement.

The laptop -- dubbed the XO -- is a shock-and water-resistant device with a high-resolution screen that can be read in direct sunlight and in the dark, and has no moving parts aside from a rabbit ear antenna to connect to a wireless network.

The XO consumes about one-tenth of the energy a regular laptop uses, its designers say, and can be powered by solar energy or manually by pulling cords and hand cranks. It comes with a built-in video camera, a word processor, music and art software, and can be used as an electronic book reader.

From November 12-26 US and Canadian customers can pay 399 dollars for two XOs on a first-come, first-served basis. One laptop goes to the buyer, the other to a needy student the non-profit group will determine.

OLPC said in May it hopes the price will come down to 100 dollars by 2009.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced earlier that it is putting its education content on all the laptops shipped.

Apple issues warning: Hacking iPhone may harm it

IPhone owners who have unlocked their handsets so they could use carriers other than AT&T Inc. may end up with a phone that does not work after the company's next software update, Apple Inc. warned.

Since the iPhone debuted in June, hackers have posted a number of methods online to make it possible to use the iPhone on cellular networks other than AT&T, which is the exclusive official carrier for the iPhone.

Apple executives say they have discovered that many of those unauthorized unlocking programs cause some software damage to iPhones.

Now, a software update that Apple plans to issue later this week that will add features such as accessibility to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store may end up making the touch-screen cell phone completely inoperable if it has been hacked into.

"This has nothing to do with proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked,'' Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in an interview Monday. "It's unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software, but Apple cannot be responsible for ... those consequences.''

Schiller said he did not know how many iPhones are operating on different carriers.

The programs -- including several that can be downloaded for free, and at least one that costs $25 (euro18) -- appear to be particularly popular with consumers in Europe. Many Europeans have bought iPhones in the United States, but Apple will not be selling them or providing service for them in Europe until November.

"From the consumer point of view, this is extremely concerning to anyone who has unlocked their phone -- especially people outside the U.S., where this is the only way to use the iPhone with any carrier,'' said Erica Sadun, a Denver computer programmer who developed a graphic interface for one software program that unlocks the iPhone. "Apple has essentially told them, 'Sorry, we cannot work with you.'''

John McLaughlin of Uniquephones.com, in Northern Ireland, has developed unlocking software, but his Belfast-based company has not sold or distributed it. He called Apple's warning "something of a scare tactic.''

Anyone who has already unlocked their phone could get it back in working condition, he said.

"We have reviewed the source code of a number of these applications and to the best of our knowledge any changes made to the software can easily be reversed,'' McLaughlin said in an e-mail. "After unlocking the iPhone, minimal effort is required to get it in to its previously locked state.''

As with any Apple product, hacking into the iPhone voids its warranty, Apple said. Apple has sold more than 1 million iPhones since the product hit the market June 29.

Coming out soon.