They didn't make it here in time for the holidays, but my little people didn't seem to care. Our XOs from One Laptop Per Child arrived today and were instant hits. The kids played for hours, checking out all the cool features—chat, Internet, writing, music, drawing, and the still/video camera. Mom was more impressed than she'd anticipated.

The XO is amazing. These gadgets are just small enough to be easily managed by kids, yet still look like "grownup" laptops. The case is hard and appears rugged enough to withstand my 9-year-old son. And the keyboard is just right for small hands.

Amazingly the XO came with only one sheet of instructions—how to turn it on. My 7-year-old daughter had hers going before I had a chance to read even that. There are no instructions because, apparently, kids don't need any. They just boot up and go. That's how well designed the XO is. Every application is represented by a (fairly) recognizable icon, and the icons are always available by minimizing the window. The only difficulty my kids encountered was with the browser. I had to set up the Internet connection for them, but that was pretty easily accomplished by following the instructions on the One Laptop Per Child site.

Of course, I explained to my kids that somewhere in the world two other children were also receiving new laptops. Especially at this time of year, it seems important to care about the well-being and future of other people. I hope those children are as thrilled and happy as my kids are. I hope they discover, through the kid-sized window of the XO, a whole new world of possibilities and dreams.

In the spirit of the holiday season, play a word game, have some fun and give a gift, all at the same time. FreeRice is more than a fun online vocabulary game. For each word definition you get right, you're donating 20 grains of rice to the United Nation's World Food Program...

One Laptop Per Child's "Give One Get One" program has been extended to December 31st. OLPC's goal is to supply laptops for children in developing countries who might not otherwise have access to an education. In pursuit of this goal, OPLC has developed the XO laptop, a child-geared machine designed to be "durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, responsive, and fun"...

I have the patience of a gnat. I promised myself I'd wait 6 months before buying an iPhone. It was hard, though. So, around my birthday, I starting hinting broadly and got my husband to buy one for me instead.

I love my new iPhone. The design is brilliant. It's a pleasure to look at, a pleasure to hold, and a pleasure to use. If it weren't for one thing, it would be as close to perfect as you can come...

Maybe it's because I just had a birthday. Or maybe it's that I recently passed my 10th anniversary of building web sites. But lately I seem to hear more people than usual wondering if this "working with the web" business isn't a younger person's game.

We've been extremely busy lately at the University lately, which you may have guessed from my lack of posts. I've been working lots of late nights and weekends, but I have to say that telecommuting has made the whole experience much easier.

If you (also) missed this show during the season, you're in for a treat. This British sitcom features a hilarious team of IT workers and their very non-techie boss. Really funny stuff. You can download all six episodes of season one for free on Filecloud. Here's a taste from episode one...

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I can be more productive. These days my activities are limited almost exclusively to family and work. Yet still there never seems to be enough time. If I could just tack on four or five more hours to every day...

For the past few weeks I've been stuck in bed because of a minor illness. For two weeks my primary contact with the outside world has been through this laptop, and it has been an eye-opening experience. Never before did I grasp the true power of the Internet. Oh sure, I knew all it was capable of, but knowing and being completely dependent it on are two different things.

Three words: I want one.

Okay, I lied. Here are a few more words...

After John Oxton of Joshuaink claimed he only reads six blogs, The Watchmaker Project's Matthew Pennell posted a screenshot of his blog list that you have to scroll to see. Made me feel downright reasonable with my 81 feeds (see Noteworthy Blogs).

Every once in a while it suddenly hits me that I have too many computers in my life. This week has been one of those moments. So to speak. My über fast Dell desktop at work is my newest darling, but it's a bit heavy to lug into meetings and on a plane. I had no choice. I had to renege on our delicately haggled agreement and swipe back the Toshiba laptop I'd handed down to my husband. In exchange I set him up on The Big Monster, the custom-built PC I got last fall when I was still doing freelance work and that practically blows back your hair when you push the "on" button.

I've been working long hours lately on some cool projects at the university. I thought only freelancers worked such ungodly hours. Not! Turns out I hadn't taken into account the universal appeal of turning little digital squiggles into virtual realms of color, shape and context. I'd also forgotten about Remote Desktop.