iTechNews

Many education agencies have explored replacing traditional textbooks with digital textbooks and laptops, but we have not seen this implemented very often. Electronic readers like Sony’s may make digital textbooks a hot topic again.

The Sony Portable Reader System PRS-500 will be shipping on or before October 31^st for $350. Using the CONNECT eBookstore you can purchase and download popular electronic books to your PC and easily transfer them to your Sony Reader. The digital reader uses a 6-inch display that looks very similar to paper.

According to Sony Read the rest of this entry »

Does your school district have many older Mac’s in the classrooms that don’t have remotes? Well you can now add functionality for an Apple remote with the new software from Twisted Melon and an infrared reciever/transmitter. This would be a great addition to any older Mac being used with a projector in the classroom.

Mira is the new software from Twisted Melon that allows you to use an Apple remote to control all the applications on your Mac, as well as older Macs that did not have infrared receivers built in. Just add Read the rest of this entry »

Robert Schrag, a North Carolina State professor, was reportedly offering copies of his lectures online to students for $2.50 each. He has been asked to suspend the service by the university while it reviews the practice. Apparently some students complained about the $2.50 price for the podcasts. Schrag’s response to The Chronicle of Higher Education was reported as, “We’re talking about the price of a draft beer. You go to a concert. Your tuition buys you access to the concert, it doesn’t buy you the CD.” Schrag made it clear Read the rest of this entry »

A new version of Picasa was just released that has a feature called Picasa Web Albums. Picasa Web Albums allows you to post and share your photos online for free with just one click. You can upload your photos or download your friends photos with ease. Google has also added quite a few more features to Picasa worth mentioning. Here’s the quick overview: Read the rest of this entry »

Google is now offering Google Apps for Education free (Mail, Calendar, Messaging). Schools accepted during the beta period are eligible for free service for their approved beta users even beyond the end of the beta period. Accounts do not automatically expire and there is support for multiple platforms and browsers. There is speculation that Google will add their spreadsheet and word processing applications to this service later. Features of the free services include: Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft released more details about the Zune music player along with Zune Marketplace this week to compete with Apple’s iPod and iTunes music store. IPods have been finding their way to the classroom more and more lately, particularly for students that are learning new languages. Apple even has some lesson plans to get teachers started and to give them ideas to expand upon.

The Zune will include some features that iPods are lacking, like Read the rest of this entry »

It has been a little over a year since Writely’s inception. The online word processor that experienced a tremendous following has since been purchased by Google and for some time quit taking registrations.

They are now taking registrations again for free, so you may want to stop by and sign up. This service has great potential for schools as documents can be shared and stored online. Other features: upload from Word, save to your desktop, publish on the web or to your blog and more.

Is Google now planning to take on Microsoft’s office suite? Will Steve Ballmer throw more chairs? Tune in next week for the latest episode.

Universal Music CEO Doug Morris claims YouTube and MySpace are violating copyright laws by allowing users to post music videos and other content involving Universal artists. Universal is expected to file a lawsuit at the end of the month if an agreement is not made.

“How we deal with these companies will be revealed shortly,” Morris was reported as saying on Tuesday to investors. YouTube, made popular by the ease at which anyone can publish video to the web, is now threatened with lawsuits for not better policing it’s customers. What responsibility do publishers have to police their customers? Tell us what you think in the comments.

In response to Blackboard’s patent filing on Learning Management Systems (LMS), educators are teaming up to set the record straight by posting a timeline of prior art. Will this patent be the end of Moodle? Tell us what you think.

Google has joined banned book week by adding challenged books to it’s book search. This contrasts their position in China where they agreed to censor some material. Read the post from Leslie Burger, President of The American Library Association or visit this page to see a list of some of the books that have been challenged or banned over the years.

Next week is a great opportunity to explore censorship in the area of books and the Internet with students. You can read more about Banned Book Week on The American Library Association’s website. Hey Google, we would like to see you add this book to your book search in China.