City Invincible

According to “U.S. schools may join inexpensive laptop project” by Jim Finkle, “The nonprofit ‘One Laptop per Child’ project said on Thursday it might sell versions of its kid-friendly laptops in the United States, reversing its previous position of only distributing them to the poorest nations.”

The laptops will be available in the US for $176, rather than the $100 price tag for developing nations. Still, this is great news for parents and American schools.

Hopefully this will lead to the US regaining its crown as global technology king.

Nissan is building a car, to be available in Europe and Asia next year, priced around only $3,000. While there’s no indication yet about gas mileage, the car is promised to be safe and comfortable. Rather than stripping down a previously released model, Nissan is designing this car from scratch. Hopefully they will last long enough to be both environmentally and economically conscious.

Check out the article “Under $3000: The Race To Build Really Cheap Cars” on TreeHugger.

The BBC reports that London has turned on its free wi-fi network in the city’s business district. London’s hope is that the network will “be invaluable to traders, bankers and brokers who want access to their data when they are on the move–or out at lunch.” Hopefully this effort will pay off and eventually spread to the rest of London.

Politicians and power companies promise lower prices and better service when arguing for a deregulated utilities industry. However, the article “Power Bills Soar After Electric Deregulation” shows deregulation leads to higher utility bills. For example, “An Associated Press analysis of federal data shows consumers in the 17 deregulated areas paid an average of 30 percent more for power in 2006 than their counterparts in regulated states. That’s up from a 24 percent gap in 1990.”