Ryan Block and Engadget really have to go into the douchebag Hall of Fame. Talk about bad journalism: they write a column that the Palm CEO evidently thinks is inflential enough to can the Foleo, and then Asus goes out and creates a runaway popular eeePC machine that fits into the exact same niche as the Foleo. Recently Palm laid off a boatload of engineers, one of whom is my cousin. Seriously, Ryan Block, if I could legally hit you with a car, I'd do it.

There are a lot of idiots bashing on the OLPC. Most likely they do not have the vision necessary to understand the potential impact of this project.

1. "Why spend $1million on laptops when it could be better spent on infrastructure, food, and sanitation?" YOu are making the assumption that buying these OLPCs and spending money on other things are mutually exclusive. Most likely they are not.

2. The impact of this project will not be known for at least 10-15 years when the kids receiving these OLPCs will enter the workforce. Look at India in the 1960s and 1970s: they invested in the IIT universities, and now Indians are a major globalised force in the world.

3. That Economist article quoted above is absolutely idiotic. They are comparing cell phones and computers? Gimme a break. The former will teach someone how to talk. The latter will help teach a kid how do software engineering, read more, and learn more. I doubt the writer of that article has even the slightest idea of what a computer is used for besides email and websurfing.

The guy who posted this article (Marky Perton) sure is ignorant. Apple doesn't release signficant add-on products for the iPod. The closest thing they have is the basic dock. Apple wants to make sure the ecosystem of 3rd party developers is happy.