OStatic

Talk of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, once on the tip of everyone's tongue, has been waning lately as executive members jump ship and project teams are sent in different directions.

Not everyone has forgotten about this important program designed to put affordable laptop computers into the hands of children in impoverished nations, however. PocketMac, creators of Mac-to-handheld device syncing software, announced a fundraising partnership today with OLPC to drive additional money to the program and raise awareness of the project.

The skyrocketing success of Apple's App Store and the recent launch for Research In Motion's (RIM) App World for BlackBerry is clear proof that people want third-party apps for their mobile phones. Unfortunately, developers with a brilliant idea for the next blockbuster app typically have to decide which platform to choose before they write their first bit of code -- iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, etc.

The creators of PhoneGap think it's nonsense that developers have to write the same app in several different programming languages to reach the widest swath of mobile phone customers, so they developed an open source, cross-platorm framework that bridges the gaps among them.

Apple announced today that it's releasing the Software Development Kit (SDK) for the iPhone. We all know what that means for consumers (more apps!), but what does it mean for open source developers?

Well, that depends on who you talk to. ZDNet's Dana Blankenhorn says the move is simply a way to forestall bigger market share losses to Google.