PodZinger was honored last week at the 2006 MITX Technology Awards ceremony as the winner for the Best Web 2.0 Application. The event , hosted by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, brought together up-and-coming as well as better-known organizations from New England that are on the forefront of innovative technologies.

The highlight of the evening however, was Nicholas Negroponte’s keynote where he did an impressive show-and-tell of the $100 laptop, a computer designed for use and affordability for children in developing countries. Mr. Negroponte, one of the founders of MIT’s Media Lab, currently heads the One Laptop per Child program and its goal of putting what is commonly referred to as the $100 laptop into the hands of children in developing countries. Jim Rapoza’s article in eWeek describes Mr. Negronponte’s presentation article and even includes pictures of a working model.

During his speech, Mr. Negroponte emphasized that his program isn’t about the technology per se, but about the goal of giving children all over the world the tools to educate themselves. A very inspiring evening indeed.