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MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte, Wired magazine founder, and author of the best-selling Being Digital, spoke to 6,000 educators at NECC 2006 about his plan to provide $100 laptops to students in developing countries. The conference brought 16,000 to the combined exhibits and sessions at the San Diego Convention Center. His non-profit organization OLPC (One Laptop per Child) aims to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops to every child in the world. He unveiled the latest prototype for the first time at this year’s NECC. The energy-efficient model operates on less than two watts, and can run on human power, if electricity or battery power is unavailable. Students can view the model indoors or out.

The conference, largest of its kind in the world, bought teachers, administrators, school board members, and tech aides together with industry leaders and educational technology pioneers. The concurrent sessions and floor exhibit workshops ranged from beginning computer use in pre-school to computer use in graduate programs.

Atlanta, GA hosts NECC next year on June 24-27, 2007, at the Georgia World Congress Center.