One Laptop per Child designer Yves Behar (watch his TEDTalk) shares exciting news about the top-to-bottom redesign of the XO laptop — sometimes called the “$100 laptop.” He writes:

With the XO (1.0), we pushed the boundaries of what a laptop could be by lowering the cost dramatically, being green (no heavy metals, lowest energy consumption ever), and a human-driven unique design approach.

Now, with XOXO (2.0), we are challenging what a truly collaborative and creative computing experience could be … a true departure from the traditional keyboard and screen layout, a new way to interface and play with data, information and communication:

– imagine if your learning machine was an un-interrupted screen one could interface with from any direction

– imagine if it was a reading experience just like a book, and at the same time a seamless large visual tablet

– imagine if children could play board games sitting across from each other (or computer games).

The XOXO is a book, a tablet, a board…and yes, a laptop too if that is what you need. The design is still green and white, but thin, simple, and un-interrupted by keyboards, buttons, speaker holes, input devices and visible connectors. And it is soft to the touch, like a piece of luggage, everyday luggage you can take anywhere.

Planned for early 2010, the XOXO should be the next learning object of desire, from Bogota, to Istanbul, to New York.