I got my G1G1 XO laptop before Xmas but haven’t had much time to do much. Holidays and all!
Today I decided to get more serious. A while back, Tom Hoffman posted about creating a new network so XO users could chat, called XOchat.org. The XO is initially set up to find nearby XOs so you can chat with nearby folks, but there’s nobody here on my block! (The post says not to share this, but later he said it was OK.)
My networks helped me out. I read Tom’s post, and another post on the OLPC News forum. Then my Twitter* network stepped up. Andy Schmitz and Thomas Han were online and wanted to check out XOchat.org too. So we got online and Andy helped us get to the right place. It took a few minutes and voila! tons of new friends.
It needs to be said that I don’t really “know” either Thomas or Andy, they just happened to be on Twitter when I needed them. And as I later wrote this post, I discovered that Andy is a senior in high school, and Thomas works for Apple. Who knew!
Once I redirected the XO to look for XOchat.org as the “Jabber” server, it took a few minutes for my view of my Neighborhood to change from this:
to this:
I chatted with several folks, found out about some known bugs that will be fixed in the next release, and made some new friends. And I created this blog post.
By the way, today is the LAST DAY to get your own XO through the G1G1 program. C’mon, you know you want to!
* If you are wondering what Twitter is – it’s a place where you can chat with people – you decide who you talk to (you “follow” them), but what you say is open to those who choose to follow you. I’ve spent the last 3 months building up a network, and it’s both fun and handy. Today it was indispensible.
Hi Sylvia,
Nice chatting with you on XO today!
All credit goes to Tom Hoffman and Andy, I just came along for the ride. Yet another great example of how we can use instant network on Twitter to learn new things. Can’t wait for the update on XO, so the “scroll monster” won’t come and visit us 🙂
My daughter just received hers and I think I need to hijack it so I can figure it out. Can’t wait to try out XOchat.org. All in all, I’m really impressed with the design and Julia is much more adept at figuring things out on the XO than I am. Never thought THAT would happen. Anyway, , have a great New Year, Sylvia!
Hey. Nice chatting with you two! I’m waiting for the scroll bug to be fixed before I get too addicted. Update.1 is scheduled to be released January 25, so I suppose it’ll be a bit. Also looking at the feasibility of a Twitter activity for the XO, though the Browse activity will have to do for now.
Thanks for posting Sylvia. I tried to connect when you were on yesterday, but never saw the network. I’ll tweet you tomorrow to see if we can again. Looking forward to collaborating!!
BTW. using the Mobile Twitter link works well on the XO
My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that ‘achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that’s nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.’