At first glance, PeeWee PC's Pivot Tablet Laptop is a formidable rival to the long-standing OLPC XO. Unfortunately, the lofty price tag puts it in a class of its own, but it's still a solid machine for those looking to a learn a bit (or just give their kids a wholesome distraction). Debuting today, the three pound convertible tablet boasts a spill and drop-resistant shell, a carry handle, a presumed 10-inch touchscreen display and a 6-cell Li-ion battery. Within, you'll find a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, two USB 2.0 ports, a 60GB HDD, 1.3 megapixel camera, Ethernet, WiFi, Windows XP Home, a proprietary security suite to keep kids from picking up a new favorite stalker and ten age appropriate software and game titles. If your kid's been bugging you for a new netbook, you can quell the squealing by snapping one of these up today starting at $599.99. Full release is after the break.

What's worse than a $10 laptop that winds up costing $30? A $10 $30 laptop that's not really a laptop at all. India is shrugging off the disappointment surrounding its apparent failure to bring home-grown tech to its youth, but thankfully isn't giving up on the kids, ordering a whopping 250,000 OLPC XO laptops. Waiting this long to drink the Negroponte Kool Aid means 1,500 schools will get the latest and greatest models, featuring VIA C7-M processors and bumped up storage. The plan is for a total of three million portable computers for Indian schools this year, and while it's unclear just how many will be little, green, and different, that's a whole lot of lappys regardless.

John Lennon may have departed this planet 28 years ago, but that's not to say he can't still have an impact. With the assistance of technology and the consent of Yoko Ono, the heralded Beatle has returned in a new OLPC spot. In the ad, the late musician proclaims: "Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want." If this sounds like just the inspiration you needed to get your donation on, hop on past the break to see the vid in its entirety.

[Via Laptop Mag]

When Amazon got in on the Give 1, Get 1 OLPC plan, where generous lovers of little green machines could chip in $399 to donate one XO to the cause while also getting a new toy for their children (or themselves), it was unclear exactly when the things would be delivered. The answer, according to Amazon at least, is "not soon enough." The company's UK wing is indicating that orders are in danger of being canceled if OLPC doesn't get off its charitable fanny and start mailing 'em. Amazon has a strict policy of shipment within 30 days and has sent out a flurry of warning missives as that period draws to a close. We're inclined to think that this is just an automatic system on Amazon's side and that the company will give an extension prior to dropping the hammer. After all, when it comes to the whole "delivery of product" thing, it hasn't exactly done so well in meeting consumer demand itself.

Update: ChristophD from One Laptop Per Child News commented to let us know that OLPC is shipping some little lappys now, missing Amazon UK's cut-off by one whole day. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Here's the surprise of the century: Windows XP runs excruciatingly slowly on the OLPC XO. We're shocked, simply shocked. The folks at Laptop Mag got to kick the tires on this fruit of the XO and Microsoft partnership, and while to their credit they've manage to build a computer that works and runs real-world applications, it's not a pretty sight. Sure, most of the hardware is (or will be) supported just fine, though Sugar's mesh networking is absent, but boot time off of the 4GB SD card is 1 minute and 24 seconds, and once booted into XP you don't have access to the data on the XO's 1GB of internal storage. Internet Explorer 6 took a mere 5 seconds to start, but Word 2003 takes 42 seconds of thumb twiddling. Even more disconcerting is that the system is pretty much locked to running one app at a time, since things just get too sluggish after that. The upshot of this is that the OLPC folks are considering a new edition of the original machine with more RAM and a new processor, but we certainly feel sorry for kids to who this existing machine will be their first taste of computing. Well, only a little bit. Back in our day...

It's been a controversial decision, but it looks like the OLPC XO has completed its transition from revolutionary education project to just another tiny Windows laptop with a useless keyboard -- albeit one with a pleasantly whimsical design. Yep, it's official: Microsoft and OLPC just put out a joint press release saying that XP-loaded XOs will be available starting in August or September, with some countries to get the machines as soon as next month. Users will get all the regular functionality of XP -- it's basically the same build as on the Eee and other ultraportables -- but Microsoft's spent over a year developing specialized drivers for the XO's various features like e-book mode, the writing pad, and camera. (We're pretty certain that doesn't include mesh networking, but WiFi is supported.) XP is too big for the built-in 1GB flash chip, so it'll come preloaded on a 2GB SD card, leaving just about 1.5GB free total for apps and media. It seems like Microsoft is thrilled about this partnership, but it's a not going to make NickNeg's search for new vision at the top any easier. As for Sugar? You'll still be able to get it, but we have a sinking feeling about its future. Demo video after the break.

The OLPC XO -- it's all rainbows, hugging, and laser beams of learning, right? Maybe not, kind reader. Apparently, users of the diminutive, educationally themed laptop are experiencing a rash of "stuck key" issues which are causing tons of headaches (and possibly some heartbreak as well). It seems that keys are becoming stuck in activated positions, and / or are being triggered by key presses nearby. The company is aware of the problem, but can't pinpoint a single cause, as the components are made by a variety of manufacturers. For now OLPC is asking customers to RMA the laptops so they can get the repairs they so desperately need, though we're not sure how this is going to play out in the developing areas where the XOs are being rolled out. Well, they can probably just take them to the hospital.

We knew we were in for some rough chuckles when Birmingham, Alabama signed up to provide an OLPC XO to every K-8 student last December, but we didn't think they'd be this silly from the get-go: apparently the mayor's office, which negotiated the deal, is now saying the school board needs to add WiFi to every school for the laptops to work. That's news to us -- the mesh-networking XO was designed to be used in rural parts of the developing world, after all -- but we're still puzzling out what mayoral advisors John Katopodis and Bob McKenna meant when they said they're "trying to make the whole city WiFi," or where they got a quote of $39 per school to enable wireless access. Of course, the only response from the school board was one member who worried about students accessing porn -- which seems to be a real theme with the XO -- but for some reason we're not at all surprised that bureaucratic officials have totally missed the point of the OLPC project.

[Thanks, Jay]

Don't adjust your screens folks, as this actually isn't a year-end case of déjà vu. Rather, we're looking to give you an(other) imaginary shot at tweaking the OLPC XO now that it has moved beyond the initiative phase and been productized for the general consumer. In case you've been parked squarely under a rock for the last few months, you should know that the XO's journey through production has been quite a lengthy one, and while a few countries have made substantial bulk purchases to inject these machines into their respective school systems, we're interested in seeing how the average joe / jane located in a developed nation sees things.

Needless to say, One Laptop Per Child's "Give One, Get One" program has been quite the success, and by now, we're confident that some of you have already received your own. 'Course, we're sure there's at least a few of you that chose this over that other low-cost laptop (and many that chose it over this), and we're curious to know how you'd improve the newly commercialized XO now that it actually has a rival. Yeah, we too would love an even skimpier price tag, but beyond that, what hardware / software changes would you like to see on the next version? Could you stand to have a few more megabytes of RAM? Still yearning for dual-boot capability out of the box? How's about a design scheme that doesn't involve opaque white and bright green? As stated, we're well aware that these things weren't designed with LAN partiers in mind, but now that NickNeg is offering 'em up to these very citizens -- not to mention every other type of user in North America -- why not toss out a few suggestions for making it more suitable for you?

Don't fret, that feeling you've just been overcome with is nothing more than a harmless dose of déjà vu. Nearly a year ago to the day, we were hearing these same types of talks, and while the whole "XP on XO" conversation has been one of on-again / off-again nature, the switch has apparently been flipped to "go" once more. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is slated to test out Windows XP on OLPC XO laptops starting next month in the US, India and possibly Romania. James Utzschneider, general manager of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Group, noted that it "wanted Windows to run on the XO and [that it was] investing significant energy and talent" to make sure it happened. Granted, Microsoft will have to be mighty pleased with the results before any of this goes commercial, as Mr. Utzschneider concluded by stating that the company "wants to [ensure] a quality experience before [making a] commitment to governments."

[Via PCWorld]

If you (or your kiddo) just happens to be a first through eighth grader in Birmingham, Alabama, you (or your offspring) will soon be playing with an XO during regularly scheduled class time. Mayor Larry Langford has recently announced that a $3 million deal was signed in order to bring in one laptop per child for the aforementioned grades, or 15,000 XOs in total. Apparently, the schools will become the first in the nation to receive heaps of the low-cost lappies, which were sold to the district at $200 a pop. As for logistics, students can expect to receive their machine on April 15, 2008, and while pupils will be allowed to take 'em home, the school system can and will disable any that inexplicably "disappear."

[Image courtesy of OLPCNews]