Google to sell $99 laptops to schools until end of the world (Dec. 21)

Google today said it will sell laptops for only 99 bucks through December 21, according to Reuters — because after that, they won't be needed, if the end-of-world Mayan prophecy is to be believed. 

More from GlobalPost: Countdown to the end of the world

But there's another prophecy at work here. The move calls to mind a 2005 prediction from MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, in which he proclaimed that cheap laptops will bring technology to the masses. (He even founded an institute to do just that, but it has only been able to bring prices down to $200, noted Reuters.)

Anyway, Google's Samsung-made Series 5 Chromebooks, normally $399, will be available to schools for under $100 through December 21, said Reuters. 

According to some interpretations of the Mayan calendar, the world will experience an apocalypse on December 21, 2012, though the origins of the belief are somewhat disputed.

It was not immediately clear if Google's sale dates were purposefully tied to the alleged apocalypse, or if it was just…a coincidence.