If tech luminary Nicholas Negroponte has his way, the pale light
from rugged, hand-cranked $100 laptops will illuminate homes in
villages and townships throughout the developing world, and give
every child on the planet a computer of their own by 2010.

The MIT Media Lab and Wired magazine founder stood shoulder to
shoulder with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to unveil the
first working prototype of the “$100 laptop” — currently more
like $110 — at the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society
here Wednesday. The Linux-based machine instantly became the hit
of the show, and Thursday saw diplomats and dignitaries, reporters
and TV cameras perpetually crowded around the booth of One Laptop
Per Child — Negroponte’s nonprofit — craning for a glimpse of
the toy-like tote.

With its cheery green coloring and Tonka-tough shell, the laptop
certainly looks cool. It boasts a 7-inch screen that swivels like
a tablet PC, and an electricity-generating crank that provides 40
minutes of power from a minute of grinding. Built-in Wi-Fi with mesh
networking support, combined with a microphone, speaker and headset
jack, even means the box can serve as a node in an ersatz VOIP phone
system

read more at wired.com