The OLPC, One Laptop Per Child, laptop will be heading to the hands of consumers in both America and Europe on November 17th. Americans and residents of 27 EU nations will be able to pick up the XO laptop at a cost of about £268 / €313 at Amazon. For each purchase, the manufacturer will donate another laptop to a child in a developing nation. Think of it as a two for one for a worthy cause.

This version of the OLPC runs on the Sugar OS, and not XP.

Sprint’s website is noting that the Palm Treo Pro will be arriving to the service sometime in the future. There is no official page for the phone, which is currently available only in Europe. However, it was spotted in a product drop-down menu. If you are holding out for the stateside release before you upgrade your Sprint contract, note that the similar 800W model is available now. The Pro is just slightly thinner with a nicer battery.

It’s easy to imagine electric Honda Civics or Chevy Malibus, but electricity powering the creme de la creme of automobiles? A bit harder to imagine. Not for long, says Rolls Royce CEO Tom Purves. The bigwig has been considering making some batteries very, very happy by including them in the Phantom line. He says "many of its customers do small mileages exclusively in the city," and for these customers, "an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal."

He didn’t give a release date or price but don’t worry, the latter is probably out of your reach. If it’s not, shoot me an email. I have a business proposition I’d like to go over with you. (Cue evil laugh.)

Click the link for more information, Richie Rich.

love Europe in that special way only someone who’s lived exclusively in the United States for 25-odd years really can. Yet another fabulous reason to love Europe are these solar powered light trees, spotted last October in Vienna (as well as in Milan in November and December). Designed by Ross Lovegrove, each tree has 10 branches, and each branch has a solar cell (artemide polycrystalline solar cells by Sharp) “petal” on top. During the day, the petals charge built-in batteries, and as soon as the sun goes down, LEDs under the petals light up, providing efficient and cost effective street lighting, especially since the installation costs are minimal (no wiring necessary). The trees are able to provide light even after several consecutive cloudy days, although there aren’t any specifics on how much power the panels generate.

thanks Evan!

I-Garment’s new firefighter "smart" suit was invented to improve the safety of firefighters and aid communications during disaster relief.

This apparel has already been approved by the European Space Agency in field tests involving fire situations.

The "smart" suit can monitor rescue workers’ positions and their vital signs via sensors strategically located on the suit.