The laptopmag blog reports that OLPC, One Laptop Per Child, has unveiled its design for the XO-2. The updated laptop will be strikingly different in its design employing two touch screen displays with a form that looks similar to a standard book. The overall plan of the new machine is to create an e-reader style machine.
As you can see from the picture (taken from the laptopmag site), the bottom display will be used as a keyboard when required. Another point about the new design is that it will be smaller than the original XO, although it appears that the lurid green colour is still going to be prominent in the design.
OLPC is aiming to release the new laptop in 2010, and have also announced that they intend to re-open the Give One Get One program again later this year (August or September). In this program, when you buy a $100 laptop for a child in the developing world you are also able to buy a cheap laptop for yourself.
The new laptop looks like it is in keeping with the ethos of providing children of the developing world with access to information and a broader education. The laptop itself will also be scalable, in the respect that a simple keyboard touch screen layout will be offered to younger children and a more complex one to more developed children.
