More idiotic hyperbole from the OLPC people, who want to take your money away from proper libraries with proper books.  Ask yourself, if he has to outright lie about the product, why should anyone give any money to it?

The experiment is being done in two isolated rural villages with about 20 first-grade-aged children each, about 50 miles from Addis Ababa. One village is called Wonchi, on the rim of a volcanic crater at 11,000 feet; the other is called Wolonchete, in the Rift Valley. Children there had never previously seen printed materials, road signs, or even packaging that had words on them, Negroponte said.

“Never seen printed materials…”?  Who is he kidding?  Only someone who has been reading only Boingboing for last 10 years would believe that, or not immediately say, “Baloney.  Don’t they use money there? Don’t they have ID cards?  You bet they do.”

via Illiterate kids given sealed boxes with tablets figure out how to use, master, and hack them – Boing Boing.