Our fourth XO users group meeting was held on March 7th and many different exciting topics were discussed.
Mikie Kindsfather talked about introducing students to programming with Pippy. Pippy is a simple and fun programming language application on the XO that is both easy AND dynamic (a version of the Python programming language). As demonstrated this is an excellent programming language for young learns to explore syntax and experiment with logical processes. For more information see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Talk:Pippy 
Jerram Froese demonstrated using SimCity on the XO. SimCity is a great simulation program on the web where students can explore creating their own city. Student would be responsible for developing utilities, services, and pollution control. Each decision they make effects the city they are building. They would need to develop a plan for future city expansion to handle population growth and the drain on utilities & the environment.
Stephanie Gelber joined us and talked about installed activities, finding and installing new activities, E-Book Reader, and cleaning up the journal.
Brian Edomm talked about setting up a Jabber server. Jabber is an open source protocol for near real time instant messaging and communication across a network. The protocol is built to be extendable to other feature such as voice over IP and file transfer. Unlike most instant messaging protocols, jabber is an open system where anyone who has a domain name and a suitable Internet connection can run their own Jabber server and talk to users on other servers.
Because of Spring Break coming up next week, our next meeting is re-scheduled for Friday, April 11th at 4:00 pm in the Irving ISD Administration Building (2621 Airport Freeway, Irving, Texas).
