Archive | February, 2011

Textbooks out, tablets in

February 27, 2011

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textbooks 500x336 Textbooks out, tablets in

Apple started an innovative program called One to One ten years ago, which consists of using the original iBook laptops in schools. Countless schools around the country have been using laptops since to supplement normal classroom materials.

Now, the next technology step for Henrico County Public Schools is implementing electronic textbooks, and use of tablets like the iPad to replace traditional printed textbooks. Currently, the county already uses around 26,000 laptops for middle and high school students (and their teachers).

This program means that the district will be phasing out buying any more textbooks, buying them digitally instead. The programme costs around $8 million a year. The district commented that they are also using technologies such as the Kindle and iPods. Patrick Russo, the new superintendent said that they will start the shift with next year’s science classes.

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YouTube Flashback: ‘You like your Macintosh better than me, don’t you Dave?’

February 26, 2011

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I’m pretty sure this one needs no introduction:

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New MacBooks Pros are crazy fast

February 26, 2011

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mbp33 geek New MacBooks Pros are crazy fastThe guys over at Bare Feats have put Apple’s latest MacBook Pros to the test, and verdict is in. These machines are crazy fast.

With new quad-core Sandy Bridge processors in the 15- and 17-inch models, coupled with faster RAM and better GPUs, just about everything on the new notebooks is quicker than before.

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Apple’s reaching out to security professionals, hoping they’ll look at Mac OS X 10.7 before it ships

February 25, 2011

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lion mba1321 Apples reaching out to security professionals, hoping theyll look at Mac OS X 10.7 before it shipsOS X has long been heralded as one of the more secure operating systems on the market. Many have spoken about its excellent security and lack of viruses in the past. Whether you believe it to be true or you argue that OS X’s security has more to do with obscurity than anything else doesn’t really matter; a lot of people are running their Macs protection free. That’s a problem no matter how you slice it.

Apple takes security seriously, and they have a very good track record when it comes to getting patches out quick when compared to other major players in the market. According to reports today, Apple’s approached a number of security professionals, in the hope that they’ll take Apple’s latest developer build of OS X 10.7 for a spin before it goes public.

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It seems like Apple’s preparing for a world without optical drives by using recovery partitions

February 25, 2011

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LionRecovery1 It seems like Apples preparing for a world without optical drives by using recovery partitions

Recovery partitions aren’t exactly new. Every single computer I’ve used in the last couple of years (without an Apple logo) has shipped with one. Usually the manufacturer will partition a disk drive into two slices. One partition will include install files, while the other one will be your primary operating partition. Fixing an operating system is usually as simple as repairing with a repair partition. It’s looking like OS X Lion might just have that in store for us as well.

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Wunderlist updates, expands to iPad, and is still free

February 25, 2011

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wunderlistupdatebanner Wunderlist updates, expands to iPad, and is still free

Tuesday, 6Wunderkinder released a few updates to its popular task management app Wunderlist. I reviewed the original here.

Besides a spiffy new icon, the original iPhone app was bumped up to include landscape mode, list sharing, email tasking, and push notifications (details below). Additionally, the Wunderlist family has grown to include a native iPad app, with Android and web apps soon to come. A beta desktop app is currently available for Mac and Windows.

And each of these apps — like the Wunderlist service — is free. (more…)

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SlingPlayer app gets video out support

February 25, 2011

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31go2Qmb3HL SlingPlayer app gets video out support

If you’re rocking a Slingbox along with the SlingPlayer on your iOS device, you’re going to want to head straight to the App Store and update your applications.

Earlier this week, Sling Media updated the SlingPlayer to included video out capabilities. Users can now connect their iOS device to a television using the appropriate cables, and watch their favourite television shows on a big screen instead of the iOS device. That’s pretty huge for anyone who spends a lot of time on the road, traveling around the world with nothing but iOS devices.

For the record, you need the Slingbox in your home to make use of the iOS application. A Slingbox runs about $179.00 for the SOLO option, and $299.99 for the Slingbox PRO-HD model.

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Survey finds consumers would still buy Apple products if Steve Jobs stepped down

February 25, 2011

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Jobs Apple Shanghai Survey finds consumers would still buy Apple products if Steve Jobs stepped downConsumer confidence in Apple would be unaffected if Steve Jobs were to step down as CEO, a new survey finds. According to data gathered by RBC Capital Markets and Changewave, 84% of respondents said that if Jobs were to step down as CEO it would have no effect on their likelihood of buying Apple products in the future. Only 7% said that it would make them less likely to buy in the future, and 8% were unsure. The survey polled 3,091 people, and was taken in late January to early Februrary 2011.

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