When Maine schools were given the choice for the first time under the next school year's Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) between Windows-based laptops, the Apple iPad, and the Apple MacBook Air, the schools overwhelmingly chose Apple products. Of 69,059 hardware orders placed, 92 percent of the purchases will come from Apple.
Apple has won a $30 million contract to provide iPads to every student in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the LA Times reports. The Board of Education voted 6-0 in favor after hearing senior staff claim that the iPad was both the best and least expensive option for meeting the District's specifications. The tablet "received the highest scoring by the students and the teachers," according to Deputy Superintendent Jaime Aquino. The vote authorizes deployment at 47 campuses; since Apple is the only authorized vendor though, the District will end up paying hundreds of millions to Apple over the course of two years.
Microsoft is working on a version of its Surface RT slate computer that uses a Qualcomm processor, according to a report. The change in chip comes at the same time as Microsoft drops the price of the tablet for educational users, in what appears to be a clear-out of current Surface RT stock ahead of a device refresh.
An FCC mandate for a Wireless Emergency Alert system implemented on mobile devices is now being delivered to iPhones by AT&T, the country's second-largest carrier. The government-issued messages will appear in a manner similar to text messages, reports AppleInsider, but are actually delivered by a different and faster system (at no charge to the user). They will include mandatory Presidential alerts (issued by the White House), and the option to receive Imminent Threat alerts and AMBER alerts.
Apple has made a 10-minute promotional film that was released today on its YouTube channel highlighting a number of real-world uses for its iOS technologies and apps that are making a difference in the lives of people around the globe. The video itself is titled Making a difference. One app at a time and shows iPad and iPhone users and developers showing and talking about the way an app has changed their life. The video reflects remarks from CEO Tim Cook that the company's marketing efforts would focus more on the effect of its work rather than touting products.
Just a day after respected UK newspaper The Guardian reported that a leaked secret US court order showed that the National Security Agency (NSA) was harvesting millions of phone records and "telephony metadata" from Verizon customers, a new report from The Guardian and the Washington Post has charged that the NSA is further using a secret program called PRISM to harvest usage data from the internal servers of most of America's major tech companies -- including Apple, Google, Microsoft and many others.
Apple has updated its Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (ACMT) program for people aiming to service products under AppleCare warranties. Under the new terms, beginning on June 23rd, Apple says it should easier to both get and maintain certification. Technicians will no longer need to be recertified every year, and all exams will be available online, instead of forcing people to go to testing centers. When a test is done at a center, exam proctors will no longer be required.
Apple has lowered the prices on 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pros at its US educational store. The 2.5GHz and 2.9GHz systems have each dipped by $100, down to $999 and $1,299, respectively. Those costs are $200 less than what Apple charges the general public.
The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been touring Silicon Valley companies this week, on the heels of a similar tour by Turkish President Abdullah Gül last month. Both men received VIP tours of facilities at Microsoft and Google, and met privately with officials from Apple. All three companies are hoping to land a contract to supply the country with at least 10.6 million tablets for the country's students.
Vine, the six-second video sharing service from Twitter, has undergone its first major upgrade and now offers support for the iPhone's front-facing camera and Twitter mentions in posts and comments. Vine's launch in January was tainted by a major security glitch that resulted in some users being logged into the wrong account. However, after a few patches the issues where sorted out and quickly grew in popularity. While currently limited to iOS devices, an Android version is in the works and is said to include the ability to tag friends to a clip.
Hewlett Packard announced today that it was awarded a four-year hardware and services contract by the Maine Department of Education. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) award effectively ends the state's long-running exclusive contract with Apple, which was in place since 2002. The program will ensure each student in the school system is equipped with a computing device, an underpinning of the initiative since it was founded by then-Governor Angus King in 2001.
Apple CEO Tim Cook spent both Friday and Saturday this weekend at Duke University, accounts note. The executive sat down to talk as part of a "Real Conversations with Real Leaders" session at the Fuqua School of Business. Cook is said to have shared business advice with the audience in attendance at his alma mater.
Apple is now sponsoring the long-running "John Lennon Educational Tour Bus," a mobile audio and video studio on wheels that tours educational institutions, encouraging students to explore and produce their own music with free songwriting, recording and multimedia production workshops. Using Macs on board to help with production, children write, perform and record original music and produce music videos with the assistance of three on-board engineers. Most recently seen in Phoenix AZ last weekend, the bus is scheduled to be in Gulf Shores AL as part of the Hangout Music Festival. The non-profit organization has its own App Store iOS app (free) as well.
Dell has introduced a new budget notebook aimed at students and businesses, as well as a storage system for the education market. The Latitude 3330 is a lightweight notebook with a 13.3-inch, 1,366x768-resolution display, while the new Mobile Computing Cart can be used to securely store and transport up to 30 notebooks at the same time.
Adobe has announced a new focus for its upcoming MAX Creativity Conference, which will now look to explore the ideas,inspirations, and technologies that push the boundaries of creative thinking. Scheduled from May 4 through 8 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Nokia Theatre, the conference will feature a lineup of keynotes, luminary sessions, and training workshops from industry specialists. Anyone interested in attending can find more information on conference's official website.
The small suburban village of Barrington IL, just northwest of Chicago, has approved a plan to equip all of its high school students with MacBook Air models over the course of the next school year. After researching other options, a committee of teachers and administrators recommended the Air as the best option for the intended age group. Though the board has not yet finalized the funding required, it gave its approval to the request and said it would find the money for the initiative, which will cover some 600 students.
Microsoft is offering students in US colleges access to the educational version of Office 365 at no charge. The free three months of access Office 365 University, doubled to six months after sharing the offer on Facebook, also includes an extra 20GB allocation of SkyDrive cloud-based storage and 60 minutes of Skype calls each month.
Apple, which has only just this week seen its ability to supply new iMac models match its ability to produce them, is now offering an education version of the current 21.5-inch iMac to schools and universities. The new model includes most of the same features as the base consumer iMac, but uses a dual-core Intel i3 processor rather than a quad-core i5, and the Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics chipset rather than a discrete card. It is also $100 more expensive than the previous educational iMac version, but features doubled storage capacity and RAM in exchange.
(Updated with Apple quote on iPad sales) Over 1 billion downloads have been made through iTunes U, Apple has announced. The service, a subset of iTunes, includes books, coursework, and podcasts, many of which are free to the public. Apple says that it has over 1,200 universities and colleges participating, and about the same number of K-12 institutions. In all, over 2,500 public courses are available, along with "thousands" of private ones.
MacTech has announced that it will now be offering a new Microsoft Office for Mac accreditation program. The half day course will be offered the day before each MacTech BootCamp II in 2013 and includes information on both Microsoft Office for Mac and Microsoft Office 365. At the end of the course, attendees will be evaluated on the content presented, and those who demonstrate sufficient knowledge will become a "Microsoft Office for Mac Accredited Support Professional." This accreditation includes an official certificate from Microsoft, as well as an accreditation graphic for use on web sites.
Sir Jonathan Ive, the head of design at Apple and the recent winner of an honor from UK children's television institution Blue Peter gave the program a rare look inside his work area, along with a brief interview that points out how carefully the designer thinks about every aspect of a design question. Also included in the video, which has now made its way to YouTube, is a rare look at an aluminum molding machine in Ive's lab, and some product designs from viewers.
Google increased the amount it spent on lobbying the US government 90 percent year-over-year in 2012, according to data compiled by Fortune. The company ended up spending $18.22 million, easily beating out any other American technology firm. Microsoft, in fact, came in second place with $8.09 million, despite likewise increasing its spending. Other major tech businesses that funneled more money toward lobbying last year included HP, Facebook, and Amazon.
Apple could be guilty of trying to bribe Russian officials through a seminar in London, according to Russian news agency Regnum. The service says that Apple is organizing a week-long event during which Russian regional ministers of education and other officials, responsible for public purchases, will be familiarized with Apple products. People participating in the event will stay in downtown London, and visit Apple Stores outside customer hours.
Schools in the United Kingdom will be receiving free Raspberry Pi Model B boards, courtesy of Google. The grant from Google Giving will help provide the schools around 15,000 units of the low-cost micro computer, in a bid to encourage more students to take up computer programming, and to encourage change in the way computing classes are currently taught.
The Boston Globe has announced plans to use iPads as part of its Newspaper in Education program. A pilot initiative will see $65,000 in vacation donation funds from Globe subscribers pay for 75 iPads, plus projectors. 50 tablets will go to Boston Public Schools, while the remaining 25 will be assigned to Stoneham High School.
Although Apple no longer attends the show, the annual Macworld/iWorld convention in San Francisco carries on, with lots of vendors hawking the latest wares, presentations and courses for attendees to take in, and more often than not some well-known names in the Mac and iOS communities. Macworld announced on Monday that the stars of the independent biopic jOBS, Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad, will headline a panel at the show, while rock star Will.i.am will give a talk on technology and his latest iOS products.
Lenovo has updated its ThinkPad line with a notebook running Chrome OS aimed at students and educational staff. The ThinkPad X131e Chromebook is effectively the same as the Windows-based version, except that the option for an AMD E-series processor is no longer available, instead replaced by an Intel-based counterpart.
Apple has begun the Australian and New Zealand editions of its annual Back to School promotion. In Australia, students, school staff, and parents of students can get a $100 AU gift card with the purchase of a Mac, or a $50 AU card with an iPad with a Retina display. The New Zealand promotion is similar, simply adjusting the cards to $125 NZ and $65 NZ, respectively. The cards can only be used towards apps, books, movies, and music on iTunes.
The Raspberry Pi micro computer has sold at least 500,000 units since launch, and could have reached the million-unit mark, according to sales figures. Numbers released by Element 14 (Premier Farnell) has confirmed that the hobbyist and low-cost computer system has passed the half-million barrier, while previous figures from the other distributor, RS Components, suggest it may have already passed the millionth shipped sale.
Among the many goodies to be found at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Electronista spotted the Belkin Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater speaker stand ($200). It combines a folio-style iPad case with front-facing speakers and features a free app to help customize the sound to different kinds of media. The case will be available both in 30-pin and Lightning connector styles, with the latter becoming available in the spring. The unit turns an iPad into a 9.7-inch landscape HD cinema and offers pass-trough access to the rear camera, mic, headset jack and other controls.
Google announced a partnership today that will see the search giant working with DonorsChoose.org to provide Chromebooks at a special, discounted rate for teachers in budget-strapped classrooms. Under the new program, Google and DonorsChoose.org will be providing the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook for $99. That cost will include hardware, management, and support.
Apple has added their annual Holiday Gift Guide to their website. The virtual catalog includes both Apple and non-Apple products, accessories built around the Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod ecosystems. Though prices are unchanged from normal retail, the listing serves as a showcase for new and interesting products that complement Apple's core devices. This year, a number of devices get promoted across sections--including the Apple TV, and Contour+2 HD mountable sports video camera.
QA International has launched an update for its Virtual Human Body app that adds support for the iPhone and iPod touch. Originally released as an iPad app last December, version 1.4 has been optimized for use on the iPhone, including support for the iPhone 5's larger display. With the Virtual Human Body, users can navigate through the 11 systems and structures of the human body, such as the skeleton, the nervous system, and the respiratory system. The Virtual Human Body is available as a $5 purchase from the App Store.
A little-seen documentary focusing on Steve Jobs in the mid-80s, after his departure from Apple and during the period when he was building NeXT, has been posted to YouTube by the original filmmaker. The film (called Steve Jobs: Keeper of the Vision) covers the areas of building the company that Jobs thought important, including the creation of the NeXT logo, mission statement and how the company was run. The 20-minute film covers only the first six months of NeXT's existence, and shows the company in its formative stages.
Late on Monday and ahead of its media event tomorrow that is said to include updates to iBooks and possibly iBooks Author, Apple has opened the iBookstore in a slew of new countries, almost entirely in Central and South America (along with New Zealand). The media event, expected to introduce the "iPad mini" and perhaps other new products, has been rumored to include an update to the company's educational efforts and may indicate that the smaller iPad is being positioned for schools, education and e-reading.
When Apple's smaller iPad debuts tomorrow, the Cupertino-based company will make a special point of focusing on the device's potential for educational use. Apple is hoping to use the lower-cost iPads to make a big push in the education sector and thereby grow its already existing lead in the tablet market. In preparation for the focus on education, Apple is reportedly readying an update to its iBooks feature with a streamlined authoring process, making it easier to produce e-textbooks.
Rumormongers and pundits continue to pile a long list of things they "expect" to see at Apple's scheduled October 23 press event, which was originally (and may still be) more-or-less exclusively about the so-called "iPad mini." Among the items now also rumored to arrive at or around the event itself are updated Mac minis and iMacs, a 13-inch
On Wednesday, Amazon announced it was pushing to get its Kindle e-readers and tablet computers into the education sector, a move that will bring it into even stiffer competition with Apple, which has seen some successes in getting schools to look to its iPad as an educational tool. Amazon has been testing Kindles in kindergarten through 12th grade programs across the United States, and the company believes its services make the Kindle an ideal match for educators looking to manage content across devices.
Route 66 has released a new line of Panoramic Car Kits designed for some of the most popular smartphones. Instead of creating a universally mount, the Panoramic Car Kit is available in specific models designed for the iPhone 3GS and 4S, the HTC One X, and the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note. Each mount has a dual car charger and is designed to be mounted on both the windshield and dashboard of any vehicle. The Panoramic Car Kit can be purchased online for $26 including world wide shipping.
A church-based private school, along with several other private educational institutions in Sydney, Australia are now informing parents that most students will be required to own an iPad beginning in the next school year. The move to tablets has become compulsory at the schools because educators believe they are significantly more effective as learning tools than notebook, and eliminates the need for students to lug around heavy textbooks. While not all schools are mandating iPads specifically, traditional printed materials and even laptops are clearly on the way out.
FileMaker Technical Network members can now access a new Training Series Sampler Kit that features three self-paced training modules. The modules include Working with Layouts, FileMaker Go, and FileMaker Server, each featuring its own exercises, demo files, and videos. Working With Layouts teaches techniques for creating a variety of layouts, while FileMaker Go includes tips on building mobile apps for the iPhone and iPad. Finally, FileMaker server includes information on setting up and maintaining FileMaker Server.
Apple has joined forces with most of the other big industry players (HP, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Facebook and others) in supporting Web Platform Docs, a new site dedicated to documentation, reference and tutorials for the various components that make up the Open Web Platform. OWP is a community-driven project that aims to unify documentation on current and future web technologies from HTML5 to WebGL which is currently scattered among the various industry players' sites and elsewhere.
Organizers of the 2012 MacTech Conference have released new details regarding the upcoming event. Scheduled for October 17th through 19th in Los Angeles, the conference offers two separate tracks; one dedicated to programming and development, while the other focuses on IT and consulting. A number of post-event activities for both tracks have been organized, including a special Hopper presentation that will teach attendees how to use the Hopper Dedicated Disassembler. Registration for the event is still open and costs $1000, however, MacNN readers can receive an additional $100 discount and free MacTech subscription.
Samsung announced today a new partnership with Memphis City Schools that will see the company's Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet placed in classrooms to engender a more interactive learning experience. The partnership is the first deployment of the Samsung Smart School Solution at a US school, and Samsung hopes it will demonstrate the educational potential of its new stylus-driven tablet. The pilot program was officially launched at an event held at the Geeter Middle School last Friday,
Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and chair of the Emerson Collective as well as president of the board of College Track , has been elected to the Board of Trustees for Stanford University. Powell Jobs has been a strong advocate for education reform throughout her career, and sits on the boards of several organizations that promote opportunities for underprivileged youth, encourage science education in service to environmental causes and other areas.
Needham & Company analyst Charlie Wolf noted in a letter to investors that while PCs in the educational market continue to outsell iPads, the remarkable growth of the iPad in the most recent quarters shows definitively that it is cannibalizing PC sales in the sector, a trend that will likely continue further narrow the gap. PC shipments fell nearly 14 percent or 265,000 units compared to the June quarter of a year ago, while Mac sales in education held steady and iPad sales doubled.
Amid reports that Apple is looking at new ways to make the retail Apple Stores more profitable, the company has added a new "online training" feature to its store website, bringing "live chat" abilities along with a guided tour of the online store, Genius scheduling, or the ability to request a phone call from a product specialist. The program launched today in the UK, Germany, Spain and Brazil, but has not yet been rolled out in the US.
Harvard geneticist and bioengineers George Church and Sriram Kosuri with the assistance of John Hopkins Yuan Gao have stored 5.5 petabits (700 terabytes) of data in a single gram of DNA. This accomplishment, published in Science, bests the previous DNA data storage record by more than 1000 times.
The previously leaked back-to-school offer for Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 has been officially announced. Samsung confirmed today that it will be offering its 7-inch tablet in a special Student Edition -- a white variant of the tablet with a keyboard dock and USB adapter in box -- for $250. Beginning August 19, consumers will be able to take advantage of the new offer, but it only runs until September 1.
Prior to payment and delivery, the US State Department has torpedoed its $16.5 million contract with Amazon, proposed in June, for Kindle e-book readers. The contract is headed to a normal Request for Information process, rather than the no-bid award that Amazon was initially selected to fulfill. The program was intended for use in overseas language programs, and any device chosen would have to support wireless connectivity, central management, text-to-speech, long battery life and a number of other requirements.
