It's a great story, and it's even true. The MIT Media Lab is launching an initiative to get tens of millions of inexpensive laptops into the hands of children in developing nations around the world. We like the details, like the handcranked power and the instant mesh networks that the kids will form using these devices.
With the help of AMD, Brightstar, Google, News Corporation, and Red Hat, the Media Lab is planning to ship these things in batches of no less than a million units at a time to ministries of education around the world.
The idea is that the devices will be so distinctive (and so numerous) that anyone who isn't a kid and is carrying one will feel conspicuous — which will make a the arrival of a greymarket in these laptops less likely. They're also going to be indestructible. (As somone who recently accidentally drowned her cellphone, I applaud this design mandate.)
They're going to be cheaper because they will have cheaper displays, use less software (and more open source software), and will be manufactured in enormous numbers.
Prediction: adults will want them too. But we won't be able to buy from the Media Lab source — no individual purchasers welcome there — so we'll need another vendor.