perfect technology for me AND a child in an 'undeveloped' country?

i think I'll buy myself and a foreign kid an XO laptop in November (when O.L.P.C. does their 'give 1 get 1' offer). The little thing has solar power, an outdoor/sunshine screen-reading mode, wireless connectivity, and can read PDF documents in a compact tablet-format. That's what I've been looking for since school started last Spring, and I haven't been able to find anything suitable, at ANY price, let alone cheaply -- I really just need something to help me get all my PDF and Web reading done for school, and maybe do a little note-taking. Being able to do it outside on gorgeous sunny days would be nice! And giving one to a kid is nice, too.

You can read more about the XO here (TerraPass article) and here (NYT article).

ah, summer vacation (all 3 weeks of it, including 10 work days)!

I am enjoying these 3 weeks off from school (between Summer and Fall terms), however, I of course have assigned myself 3 books to read during this time! I am currently really enjoying The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (I have the 1912 edition from my workplace's collection). Some friends told me the text has all kinds of strange history, including translation from English to French and back to English, and revision by Franklin at later points in life, which actually makes it that much more interesting to me because if I wanted just the facts, I would just read the Wikipedia page (or maybe the Encyclopedia Britannica if I felt that would have better accuracy)! The book is an excellent cultural artifact (especially this 1912 edition with its now-dated explanatory footnotes)!