Hasta La Gadget!

McGraw-Hill is taking on the one-size-fits-all approach to textbooks with its freshly unveiled SmartBook: an e-book that is claimed to adapt to student’s learning patterns. Aimed at college students, the SmartBook service peppers users with questions as they read and determines what topics it should present to reinforce learning. Come sometime this spring, the SmartBook will be available for more than 90 course areas starting at $20. It’ll be joined by a handful of similar tools for driving home the curriculum, including something called LearnSmart Achieve, which is designed to serve up videos and other interactive embellishments in response to automatically detected areas of weakness. When you’re ready to hit the books, just be careful they don’t hit you back.

Continue reading McGraw-Hill reveals the SmartBook: an ‘adaptive’ e-book for students

Filed under: Software

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Publishers often want to work closely with e-book outlets — possibly a little too closely — but it’s rare that they involve themselves directly. Pearson is taking that uncommon step by making a 5 percent, $89.5 million investment in Nook Media, the joint venture between Barnes & Noble and Microsoft. Some of the reasoning won’t be made public until Barnes & Noble provides holiday sales results on January 3rd, but Pearson is clear that it’s furthering its online education plans: it wants Nook Media’s distribution skills to make a “seamless and effective experience for students.” Just when we’ll see this harmony is still up in the air, though. Nook Media has yet to outline what Microsoft’s partnership means for e-books and e-readers, let alone how Pearson factors in. We’re not expecting a sea change until companies start speaking up.

Continue reading Pearson buys a small stake in Nook Media, wants a fast track for digital education

Filed under: Microsoft

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Source: PaidContent

Canadians have had to be content with a form of Kindle Store limbo until now. They could buy Kindle e-books, but they’ve had to rely on a US-centric portal that scarcely acknowledges their literary tradition. As of this weekend, they don’t have to cross the virtual border: Amazon Canada now has its own dedicated Kindle book section, with prices in local currency and the highlights on local writers like Margaret Atwood. Customers just have shop the newly opened store to make the switch. We wouldn’t call it true parity with the US when Canucks still can’t officially buy some Amazon hardware, like the Kindle Fire HD or Kindle Paperwhite. Nonetheless, it’s nice to know they’ll be treated as first-class customers when shopping for a copy of Alias Grace.

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Source: Amazon

The nation’s top wireless dog has told the Federal Aviation Administration’s head that it should “enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices” during flights, according to the Hill. That was the gist of a missive sent from Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC to the FAA’s chief, Michael Huerta yesterday. He went on to say that doing so would let individuals “stay informed and connected with friends and family,” while helping large and small businesses be more productive, which would “boost US competitiveness.” While it sounds like not doing so would be un-patriotic with a pitch like that, the FAA has already formed a committee to revisit its current portable electronics policies and hasn’t arrived at any decisions yet — safety first, after all.

Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Transportation, Mobile

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Via: CNET

Source: The Hill

This is pretty darn cool. It’s called Popslate — an iPhone 5 case with a four-inch E Ink screen on the back — and it’s launching right now on Indiegogo for $79 in two colors. Combined with a bespoke social imaging app, it lets you take and share pics, then “pop” them to the back of your phone. Better yet, the always-on, ultra low-power, black and white display becomes a canvas for notifications, sports scores, maps, lists and notes, all just a glance away.

An open API allows third-party developers to design custom apps for Popslate — including accelerometer support to interact with the backside screen by tapping on it. Imagine a micro e-reader app which uses the E Ink display instead of the main panel to conserve battery.

The company is still in the early stages of development and sadly didn’t have a prototype to show us, but it’s already gathered a team of talented designers, engineers and developers. It’s also secured a partnership with E Ink to use the latest in ruggedized e-paper technology and is hoping to raise enough funds to make Popslate a reality. Two colors are available at launch (black and white) with prices starting at $79 for the first 500 supporters, then $99 and up. Hit the break for the demo video and IndieGogo link.

Continue reading Popslate launches iPhone 5 case with four-inch E Ink screen (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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