In rural Uruguay, education goes high-tech for a low cost.

This post is from the Star-Telegram. VILLA CARDAL, Uruguay -- Big smiles spread across the faces of the 160 pupils at a public elementary school in this rural South American hamlet: Each sat gawking at a brightly blinking laptop given to them days earlier.

"This is like an early visit from Santa Claus," beamed 11-year old Eduardo de los Santos, clutching his computer with its shiny white case and bright green trim.

The machines are the first in South America from the much-publicized "One Laptop Per Child" project, which hopes to put low-cost portable PCs in the hands of children in developing countries. Still in a pilot phase, the group has also placed machines at one school in Nigeria and another in Thailand.
At the only public elementary school in this community of 1,300 people, children who never used computers are now being exposed to the digital age.

"Thanks to this, I'm going to be able to study tons of science," said Joel Nicoletti, 8, who wants to be a scientist. The nonprofit project was launched in 2005 by Nicholas Negroponte, then director of the media lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Click here to read the rest of this article.