Good Day, Bad Day
New Windows, puffed rice
GOOD DAY FOR: New Windows, after Microsoft joined the One Laptop Per Child project, potentially boosting orders for the $188 laptops. Adding the Windows operating system to the XO laptops, which currently run a Linux-based system called Sugar, will add up to $20 per laptop. Project founder Nicholas Negroponte said he hoped the change would ease skepticism among education ministers in potential client nations. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)
BAD DAY FOR: Puffed rice, after the price of rice dropped for a fifth day, for a total weekly decline of 14 percent. That marks the grain’s steepest fall in price since July 2004. New supplies of rice from Pakistan and Japan eased concern about a global shortage of the staple. “The wheels are in motion for lower food prices,” said UBS analyst John Reeve. (Bloomberg)
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
See the bright lights from these 7 big-city hotels
The Week Recommends Immerse yourself in culture, history and nightlife
-
Scientists want to regrow human limbs. Salamanders could lead the way.
Under the radar Humans may already have the genetic mechanism necessary
-
Seven wild discoveries about animals in 2025
In depth Mice have Good Samaritan tendencies and gulls work in gangs