AGE: 65
OCCUPATION: Architect, scientist, ex-director of the MIT Media Lab and founder of One Laptop Per Child
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 0
PRO: Spearheaded the design and distribution of a nearly indestructible $100 laptop, the XO, intended for sale to governments in the developing world. The idea: like it says, one laptop per child, a new media vaccination program against the digital divide. Negroponte was also appointed to a five-member board, intended to oversee editorial independence at the newly Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal.
CON: The $100 laptop is now $200, and some governments and critics suspect Western techno-imperialism is at work in the initiative.