The Reuters news agency is reporting that Microsoft has made a deal to put Windows on the XO Laptop, the One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s $200 mobile computer for the masses.

As we reported in December last year, despite previous reservations voiced by Bill Gates, Microsoft has latterly been keen to get its operating system on the XO Laptop. Well, if the Reuters story is accurate, then Microsoft is about to realise that ambition. No mention is made of license fees being charged, though the One Laptop Per Child Foundation is a charitable concern that currently installs the Linux operating system on the XO Laptop, to avoid unnecessary cost.

Reuters reckons that Microsoft could start trials of Windows on the XO Laptop in June this year, though only in “key emerging markets”. More on this over at Reuters (link below).

[Reuters’ XO Laptop report ]

Okay, so we couldn’t resist the eye-catching headline.

But it is true, though exceedingly unlikely to have any bearing on the UK market, where O2 ’s retains a stranglehold on the iPhone . Anyway, feel free to click the below link to read Orange ’s press release about the deal. Or save yourself the bother and read the following (for this is the press release in its entirety): “Orange today announced a new agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Orange customers in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and Orange’s African markets later this year.”

Short and sweet.

[Orange iPhone distribution deal press release ]

Just in case you missed the announcement of its launch a couple of days ago (as, er, we did), Google has released a beta version of Reader specifically designed for the Apple iPhone. We missed it because, while still in beta, Google Reader iPhone isn’t an automatic redirect, so you need to point your iPhone directly at it -- http://www.google.com/reader/i/ is the URL you need.

Google says that Reader iPhone is “designed to offer many of the same features as the desktop”. It is presented in list view and options like starring and sharing are from the same screen, so there’s no need to leave the list view. More over at the Official Google Reader Blog .

Our French isn’t so bon but it doesn’t matter terribly because Blogeee.net ’s latest report on the Intel Atom -powered Asus Eee PC 901 is really little more than a love story told in pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. We’ve included one of Blogeee’s rather nice snapshots here but for the full-on photofest, follow the links below. But be warned that product details for the Eee PC 901 still remain scant. Well, unless you consider the revelation that the VGA port appears to have shifted sides to be of great import.

[Blogee]

Are you an Apple fan in need of a tablet? We understand. So, too, it seems does Axiotron, occasional manufacturer of the ModBook, a MacBook that’s been turned into a Tablet PC-style keyboardless computer.

To explain, the ModBook isn’t new – it first surfaced at the 2007 Macworld Expo – but Axiotron has struggled for a year to get the machine to market. Now, though, it seems to be on top of matters, fulfilling outstanding orders and embarked on the fun task of delivering review units to the great and good of the world’s media.

That doesn’t (yet) include Mobile Computer but the higher-profile types at Ars Technica and The Unofficial Apple Weblog have detailed their experiences of what it’s like to use a keyboardless Mac. Links below.

[Ars Technica ModBook review ]

[The Unofficial Apple Weblog ModBook review ]

In a world enamoured by Firefox, it’s easy to forget Opera. But Opera Mini is a nifty browser designed specifically for mobile phones and there’s new version. Well, a bit of a new version – 4.1.

Developer, Opera Software, reckons that Opera Mini 4.1 is “up to 50% faster” than well-recieved Opera Mini 4.0, a wonderfully vague claim that’s impossible to verify. What is certain is that Mini 4.1 introduces both URL completion and page-saving, so content of a website can stored for later offline viewing.

That’s about it really. But if your mobile phone’s existing web browser drives you bonkers then Opera Mini might be worth a download.

[Opera Mini ] 

The first round of the Android Developer Challenge is over and Google has announced the 50 winners. Well, 46 of them, anyway – the remaining 4 have opted to keep their applications secret.

Each of the 50 winners from this round will receive $25,000 and go on to compete in the final round, where ten $275,000 and ten $100,000 prizes are up for grabs. Round 2 kicks of in the Summer, when Android-powered handsets should be available. There were 1,788 entrants and each application was rated by four judges – Google used 125 judges from its Open Handset Alliance partners in total.

So, you're waiting patiently for the 3G iPhone - how about a 4G BlackBerry? The Boy Genius Report, which has a pretty good track record on these things, has unearthed what it claims is a forthcoming touchscreen BlackBerry 9500, dubbed the Thunder.

BGR's mock up (pictured) shows it sporting a similar form factor to the iPhone but with four physical buttons to Apple's one. It's a clear challenge to Apple's baby - and it has a major ace up its sleeve; 4G, which BGR predicts will be of the LTE (Long Term Evolution) variety that promises speeds of over 100Mbps. That's more than 13 times slicker than today's fastest HSDPA networks.

The catch? There may not be actually be a 4G network for it to use when it rolls by in 'Q3 of this year' as BGR claims. It's also expected to be a Vodafone exclusive, which should make up a bit for that O2 iPhone thingy.

Apple's given the first details on this year's World Wide Developer Conference. Once again, it'll be Steve Jobs taking to the stage to kick the event off with a keynote address to the Apple faithful at 10am San Francisco time on Monday 9th June.

The question on everyone's lips is, 'will he be announcing the 3G iPhone?' Certainly there's no clue in the announcement from Apple, which merely promises to, "showcase two revolutionary development platforms," OS X Leopard and OS X iPhone.

The complete omission of any reference to hardware has sent the cat among the pigeons. Could it mean there'll be no big product announcements - which would also disappoint those waiting for new MacBooks - or is it just a cover to throw everyone off the scent? Only four weeks to go till we find out!

On board sound will never match the impact you can get from a dedicated soundcard - not something you tend to find on a laptop. Till now one of the few options has been to slip Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook into a spare ExpressCard slot but with ExpressCards themselves becoming a rarity, the same team's come up with a USB 2.0 version.