Nicholas Negroponte has recently been working on developing designs for laptop computer which will retail at under $100 US dollars. The laptop is intended to be a rugged machine and includes ideas like a hand crank which can be used when there is no power supply. http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
To make the machines less sensitive and more durable they ill be encased in rubber and use a flash memory instead of a hard drive to cut down on moving parts. The machines will have a 500MHz processor, four USB ports and WiFi capability. In addition to this the AC adaptor cords will act as carrying straps.
Other project on similar lines include Ndiyo http://www.ndiyo.org/ and the Indian handheld Simputer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simputer
The connecting idea between all these ideas is to bring down the price of technology to an affordable level. Once this is done the widespread adoption of ICT in developing nations can begin. This is heralded as the end of the digital divide. While I am all for the bridging of this divide I am not sure that the whole problem is one of economics. It is not enough to provide people with technology they must also have the time and the inclination to use the technology.