The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) is toying with a novel source of power for its low-cost XO laptops: cows. "We plan to drive a dynamo (taken from an old Fiat) through a system of belts and pulleys using cows/cattle," wrote OLPC's Arjun Sarwal

Asus chairman Jonney Shih sprang a surprise during Intel's Computex keynote today with the announcement of a $189 laptop.

The notebook uses a custom-written Linux operating system, much like the OLPC, though unlike the OLPC, Asus has chosen a more conventional interface.

Although Asus has said that the Windows XP version of the EeePC will be available only by "special tender" (government and education), the writer of this article has been told by Asus' sales agents in Australia that it will be available to electrical retailers. This could be bad blow to Linux adoption on ultraportables if the price is the same.

"The One Laptop Per Child project, launched by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte in 2003, was supposed to lead millions of children around the world to information technology and freedom [...] I now expect that the main effect of the OLPC project—if it succeeds—will be to turn millions of children into Microsoft users.

There's been a lot of talk about the OLPC's cute little mesh networking laptop at Linux.conf.au this week. The foundation is taking its low-cost, robust laptop the XO to underprivileged kids around the world, but it's also funding its work by selling XO laptops to the public. The cool news from the LCA conference was that a local OLPC group is setting up in Australia to help get computers to kids across Australia.

From September 2009 students in the Greek high school of Sminthi will use OLPC XO-1 laptops inside and outside the classroom.

In the past two days, I've read two different articles about the role of Linux in the success of the Eee PC and other low-cost laptops. In one corner, APC Magazine reports that while Linux helped Asus and others drive down the cost of ultraportables, there's a huge demand for the more familiar Windows operating system, which is what most manufacturers will now focus on.

As One Laptop Per Child prepares to ship its highly anticipated XO laptops in two weeks, it is developing a "supercharger," a mass battery recharger that will draw power from cows and yo-yos to help the laptops run longer. (Australian Joel Stanley is working on the charger system for the XO-1 laptop, read his story here).

As I noted the other day, ultraportables are not only hot, but they've changed the dynamics of the entire desktop sector. With the imminent arrival of the Dell effort in this sector, we've clearly reached a significant milestone, but that doesn't mean that things are going to get boring. Here's what marks the start of phase 2