Motorola’s Xoom has been hailed as the most likely tablet computer to rival Apple’s iPad–the first with the goods to compete against the uncontested leader in this nascent but rapidly growing market, the Associated Press reports. After trying it out, I found it to be a great gadget that, in many ways, can keep up with the black slab from Apple. The first black slab, that is. Unfortunately, Apple said Wednesday that it will start selling a new, improved iPad next week, which will likely make it difficult for the Xoom to snag many users. The Xoom is well-equipped, with a large, vivid touch screen and zippy processor…
…Read MorePodcast Series: Innovations in Education
Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
Microsoft’s answer to the iPad is still in pieces
Instead of unveiling an elegant response to the iPad, Microsoft came to the tech industry’s premier gadget show with a collection of exposed computer guts, the Associated Press reports. Microsoft’s biggest news was that the next version of Windows would run on the style of cell phone chips that power the iPad and other tablets today. It proved it with a series of demonstrations on half-built computers; on the monitors hooked up to those machines, the software was indistinguishable from the current Windows 7. Microsoft’s missing tablet served as a reminder that the world’s largest software maker remains years from a serious entry into this new category of devices. It also raised more doubts about whether Microsoft Corp. will ever be able to grab a meaningful piece of this fast-growing segment. If it can’t, Microsoft Corp.’s dominance of personal computers may become increasingly irrelevant as people embrace ever-sleeker portable devices…
…Read MoreApple’s absence to be felt at CES gadget show
The International Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks off this week in Las Vegas. The elephant is Apple Inc. It won’t be at the show this year, but its tablet computer, the iPad, is the most important new product for an industry that needs to once again excite consumers, the Associated Press reports. Sales of the iPad have been strong since its April debut, and the whole industry is now trying to mimic Apple’s success…
…Read MoreCherokee, Apple partner to put language on iPhones
Nine-year-old Lauren Hummingbird wants a cell phone for Christmas–and not just any old phone, but an iPhone. Such a request normally would be met with skepticism by her father, Cherokee Nation employee Jamie Hummingbird. He could dismiss the obvious reasons a kid might want an iPhone, except for this–he’s a proud Cherokee and buying his daughter the phone just might help keep the tribe’s language alive. Nearly two centuries after a blacksmith named Sequoyah converted Cherokee into its own unique written form, the tribe has worked with Apple to develop Cherokee language software for the iPhone, iPod and—soon–the iPad. Computers used by students–including Lauren–at the tribe’s language immersion school already allow them to type using Cherokee characters, the Associated Press reports…
…Read MoreAmazon integrates Apple iPhone, iPad and Android with cloud
According to PCWorld, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is making it possible for developers to directly integrate mobile applications for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, and also apps for Android-based smartphones, with its cloud using two new beta SDKs (software development kits), it said in a blog post on Thursday. Amazon’s aim is to make it easier for developers to build mobile applications that take advantage of its cloud-based services. Previously, developers had to do more of the work themselves, including writing their own libraries to handle the HTTP connection and error handling, according to Amazon. Using the AWS SDK for Android and the AWS SDK for iOS developers can integrate their applications with Amazon’s cloud-based Simple Storage Service (S3), the SimpleDB database and send messages using Simple Notification Service (SNS) and Simple Queue Service (SQS). Possible applications of the services include uploading photos, videos, and other types of content to Amazon S3; sharing game moves and high scores using Amazon SimpleDB, or transmitting messages between smartphones without the need for any additional server infrastructure, Amazon said…
…Read MoreiPad has real Xmas rival in Galaxy tablet
Last Christmas anybody asked if they wanted a “tablet” probably thought they were being offered a pill to ease indigestion caused by a little bit of festive over-indulgence. But this year, millions of people around the world will be glued to their iPad or other tablet computer instead of watching yet another re-run of a movie on TV. Samsung Electronics says it has sold over 700,000 of its Galaxy Tab device in the six weeks since its launch and believes at least a million will be in people’s hands by the end of the year, reports the AFP. But that’s still miles behind the iPad, which only went on sale in South Korea — Samsung’s home turf — for the first time on Tuesday. Apple has sold more than eight million of the gadgets since it went on sale in April but could have sold more, experts say, were it not for problems making enough to meet demand.
Sony, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM), Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Dell, Asus, Acer — most of the big global brand names in the technology sector have a tablet computer on the market or in the pipeline. Technology research firm Gartner last month said sales of tablet computers are expected to soar from nearly 20 million units this year to 55 million next year and over 208 million in 2014…
iPad coming to Verizon Wireless and AT&T stores
Apple said Thursday that Verizon Wireless would begin selling the iPad at its stores on Oct. 28, reports the New York Times. The announcement is the latest sign that the relationship between Apple and Verizon is warming up. Verizon is expected to begin selling Apple’s iPhone early next year. Verizon will not be selling 3G versions of the iPad, which work over a cellular data network. Instead it will sell bundles that include the iPad’s Wi-Fi models and its own MiFi mobile hot spot device, which essentially allows users to connect to the Internet in any place that has 3G service. The bundles will cost $630 for a 16-gigabyte model, $730 for a 32-gigabyte model and $830 for 64 gigabytes. Verizon will offer a monthly $20 access plan to iPad customers for up to 1 gigabyte of data. In addition, Verizon will offer all three iPad models on a standalone basis…
…Read MoreGoogle tablets may pass iPad with more accessibility
Tablet computers running Google Inc.’s Android will start taking sales from Apple Inc.’s iPad this holiday season and may surpass it in a few years as device makers adopt the software for a slew of models, analysts said in a Bloomberg report. Samsung Electronics Co. showed the newest Android-based tablet for the U.S. market at an event in New York. AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile all have agreed to sell the Galaxy Tab, Samsung said today in a statement. The device will be available in time for the holidays, carriers said. Smartphones running Android have already surpassed Apple’s iPhone in the U.S., according to researcher Gartner Inc. Google may repeat its success with tablets because its operating system is freely available to any company, said Ed Moran, director of insights at Deloitte Services LP. “There are a whole slew of factors behind the success: the open-source nature of it, the lower price, it’s not proprietary to one company,” Moran said in an interview. “Will that port over to the tablet? I don’t see why not.” Dell Inc., Acer Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. have said they will make Android tablets…
…Read MoreEarly iPad adopter to use art application this fall
Seton Hill University, one of the first campuses to board the Apple iPad bandwagon before the device was released in April, announced Aug. 23 that its art history students will use an iPad application that allows access to more than 40,000 sculptures and paintings.
The university’s art faculty and instructors will use the iPad application known as Art Authority in the campus’s Modern Art and Italian Renaissance Art courses.
University officials said the iPad app would offer students a way to review classic and modern artworks outside of class without relying on static images in textbooks.…Read More
iPad: the new big gadget on campus
This fall, the hit course on some college campuses might very well be iPad 101, reports the Baltimore Sun. At the University of Maryland, administrators plan to hand out Apple iPads to about 60 students, part of a new two-year program called Digital Culture and Creativity that immerses students in new technologies and focuses on the potential of the iPad to shake up the campus experience. The iPad has experienced early success in the consumer market, with more than 3 million sold since April, and it’s also going back to school. On college campuses across the country this fall semester, some students are getting iPads upon admission, while professors and administrators are trying to determine if this latest digital gadget will have a place in the world of academia. The College Park program “is really aimed at the student who is a so-called digital native, who grew up doing interesting things online,” said Matthew Kirschenbaum, associate English professor and director of the digital cultures program. “The iPad isn’t just a tool or instrument for the classroom. It’s also going to be an artifact, an object of study.” The iPad isn’t even a year old but is expected to popularize tablet computers. Its benefits include a vibrant touch screen and media presentation, long battery life, and mobile internet accessibility. But the device, which starts at $499, does not print, which means college students would need to use another computer to produce hard copies of their college papers. Still, technology experts and college officials expect the iPad—and other electronic readers and tablet computers yet to debut—will help reshape higher education…
…Read More