I am sitting in the Starbucks in downtown Northampton, a place I almost never visit because of the high cost of a cup of Java. There are cooler places just a few doors down. But I am writing this post on my XO (known in my house as the Green Machine) to see how easy it is to post to the blog.

The XO is connected to the Web via a free Hotspot account through T-Mobile that is available to XO owners (for a year) and the hub is here at Starbucks. I connected with incredible speed (faster than my Dell laptop) and I was browsing in seconds.

I am curious to see if anyone asks me about the XO as I sit here at a community table. So far, I have gotten a few curious looks but that is about it.

OK — this tiny keyboard is killing me — I keep making mistakes and moving back and forth with my text. I am a fast typist so the slow progress is frustrating the connection between fingers and brain.

This morning, I was at home with the XO open and one of my sons was incredibly interested in what I was doing, so we opened up the TamTam program and played a little music. (You use part of the laptop keyboard as a virtual piano keyboard). One of my first goals is to learn the various TamTam programs and compose and record a little piece of music. I realize that I need to take this thing apart (not literally, of course) one program at a time. Music seems like a good place to start.

For now, in Starbucks this morning, I am going to use the XO as an e-Reader for some draft chapters for the book I am co-editing on technology and writing and assessment in the classroom. I have the files on a flash drive and in Google Docs, and I want to try both options for reading.

By the way, one of the things I already love about this machine is its portability — it is light, easy to carry and colorful.

Peace (in XOs),Kevin