Looking at Apple’s education announcement and the later statements by McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw that; 1.  school boards would have to pay the $14.99USD “pilot pricing” per year per student and. 2.a paper text book costs $75.00USD per book and is replaced once every five years or so, and that Mr. McGraw expected to make money on “volume”, I had to wonder how Apple was going to knife the publishers? There has to be a plan to take out the publishers, because it is in Apple’s corporate DNA to screw the old school content providers. They almost have to, because the scheme as presented has absolutely no cost savings to cash strapped American school boards, and the prospect of a huge investment into the Apple ecosystem.Here is how I think it is going to play out.  In the US, publicly funded schools are generally overseen by the various states and each county and or city has its own school board that is for the most part funded by local taxes. Apple is going to point out to the state oversight school boards (if the states don’t figure it out on their own) that they can create their OWN textbooks using their own state university resources (ie graduate students) Essentially, once the primary texts are done, its just  a mater of updating and revisions.  For example, the American State of Tennessee has 971,524 students enrolled in K-12. (Think of it as Grades 1-13) The cost of one Apple iTextbook at say $15.00 USD would be $14,572,680. Admittedly, the number includes the entire group of K-12, but, I could see using iPads in kindergarten even if they were not issued to students below 3rd or 4th grade. Assuming 6 courses per student per year and figure 6 textbooks (at least-don’t forget lab books in upper forms)per student, per year, doing the  iMath comes to at least $90USD a year. per student, not counting the cost of the iPads.  However, if the schools create their own content, even at market cost there is about a five year break even for the cost of an iPad. Over, $14 million  US dollars would pay for a lot of work study time to do the basic research and writing of the texts All that has really stopped many state school boards from doing their own textbooks was the economies of scale for for publication.Take out the printing costs and its a whole new match. One the textbook publishers are likely to lose.

Commentators have mentioned that nothing was said about university level textbooks. I suspect not only that was deliberate on Apple’s part, it is where textbook publishers will start feeling the heat. Uni professors love to inset their own spin on the texts they use, even to almost writing their own. In the US, college textbooks are hitting $200USD a book in many subjects. Whilst UK textbook costs are usually 20-50% lower in the US, everyone is looking to cut costs.  Not to mention the potential savings on classes where you get a lecturer who almost never uses the book, but often has other material to read.  In the college setting, an iPad based textbook ecosystem could pay for itself in the FIRST TERM.  The idea of updated content is particularly appealing for technical subjects. From  the university’s perspective, there would not be any real need to issue iPads, students would be expected to buy them.

Where is Apple in all this? Selling a lot of iPads. Where are the textbook publishers? Trying to steal the pudding of the record companies at the home for obsolete business models.

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

Is this Apple’s plan for the textbook market?

Wanting to hook up Netflix to the new flatscreen? Well the job just got easier with the announcement of the debut of the Roku box in the UK and Ireland today.  Currently available for preorder only through Amazon, the little box that has allowed so many in the US to cut  cable or satellite bills by streaming content over the internet, can now spread its lie in inducing goodness here as well.

Roku LT

Roku will initially offer two models from its current lineup, the Roku LT at £49.99  and the upmarket Roku 2 XS at £99.99. Other than price, the main difference between the two products is that the LT does not have external storage options and is limited to 720p. Nor is it Bluetooth capable. The Roku 2 XS supports, true HD 1080p, has a slot for an miniSD card, Bluetooth, and both Ethernet and USB ports.The XS also has an enhanced game controller to get your Angry Birds on.  Because you don’t have enough addictive time wasters in your life, each set also has a free copy of Angry Birds. Both devices support b/g/n Wi-Fi.

Anyone familiar with the history of Roku would not be surprised by the introduction of the tiny player  following hot on the heels of the Netflix rollout. Roku started out as a division of Netflix, tasked to create a simple and easy to use device to stream video content over the internet to subscribers TVs, which was released in 2008. The group was quickly spun off as Netflix realized the need to be on as many products as possible and the creators of the Rouku box realized there was a lot more content out there than Netflix. The result was a win-win, with Netflix applications on the Sony Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360, not to mention many of the newer SMART TVs and Rouku becoming the streaming device of choice for over 2.5 million users, with access to over four hundred channels in the US, including HBO GO, Crackle, the Wall Street Journal, the TWIT tech network, and many music and international interest channels.

The press release issued today showcased Netflix the Wall Street Journal, Ultimate Fighting Championship, MLB.com, and  games such as Angry Birds.  The movie service Crackle will be available in the UK but not in Ireland. Music is also a bit thin on the ground, with Tunein and Classical TV on offer. In fact only forty channels were announced, although Roku officials were quick to add that they expect more channels to be added prior to the expected launch date in late January.

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

Roku Players set to land in United Kingdom and Ireland in late January

Tech blog site Know Your Mobile recently reported that Amazon is getting ready to roll out the Kindle Flame in the UK according to the inevitable “source close to the launch”. The 7 inch tablet has been taking the US by storm, selling for about half the price of the Apple iPad. In fact, the American tech pundits speculate that Amazon takes a loss on every tablet sold.  The reason for this is that the Kindle Fire is really nothing more than a device to read books and watch videos with that just happens to be a tablet as well. Like game console makers, any loss on the hardware is more than made up by inducing customers to buy into the Amazon ecosystem of Kindle format books, Amazon movie and video rentals and even Audible audiobooks.

In all likelihood, the Fire has not been released in the UK as yet because Amazon needed more time to strike the UK content deals required to make the new tablet viable in the UK market and to beef up their UK data center. While Amazon has Loveflims, the licensing  for the Fire would require additional arrangements. Further, compared to what Amazon has on offer for US customers and especially US Amazon Prime customers, Amazon would have to line up far more content to compete with say, Netflix.   For example, I would be quite curious if the Fire supports the Android version of the BBC iApp player or BBC content will somehow be folded into the Amazon player.  Much of the Fire’s content is optimized via use of cached copies of internet pages that are located in Amazon’s data centers, all of which are reported to be in the US.  For the Fire to work effectively it would follow that location based services be served in the UK.

One thing is for sure, the advent of Nexflix in the UK should get Amazon to move things along for the Fire.

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

Kindle Fire about to light up in the UK?

The worldwide press is saturating all media with the death of Steve Jobs, who passed away Wednesday from complications of pancreatic cancer. Rather than repeat all the typical reporting of his passing, it is better to focus on a celebration of his life and his many, many accomplishments that has shaped and changed the world everyone lives in today.  The list is long, the Apple I, the Apple II, the Macintosh, the Lisa during his first stint at Apple. During his time away from Apple he founded NeXT Computing and created Pixar out of pieces that he bought from LucasFilms. Pixar under Jobs became the gold standard for animated films, and is widely credited as revitalizing the genre and the fortunes of Walt Disney Studios when Disney subsequently purchased Pixar for almost ten billion dollars.

All this seemed to be only a prologue for the return of Mr. Jobs and what was arguably his and his teams greatest contributions to the way the world consumed its music, media, and used its phones. Starting with the iMac, Mr. Jobs and the people he surrounded himself with, went on to revolutionize the way we consume music, the iPod and the Apple Music Store.  Starting in 2001, the iPod completely changed the music industry and in all likely hood stated the death spiral of music CDs.  Moving from that the iPhone in 2005, and then the iPad in 2009. It is easy to forget that Apple did not found any of those product categories. Music players, smart phones and tablets all came about well before Apple entered the scene. The tribute that should be rendered to Steve Jobs and his team was that in each product area, Apple came along and arguably perfected the category.

What are your thoughts of your experience of Apple and thoughts on Steve Jobs?

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

A Celebration of the Life of Steve Jobs

The Internet has been abuzz with rumors that Amazon, fresh off its Kindle announcements is poised to buy the bones of Palm from HP. Those bones would be the web os operating system and the substantial amount of patents Palm obtained during happier days.  This is very unlikely to come to pass for several reasons.  First, Amazon has spent a lot of resources creating the Android variant that the Kindle Fire uses. Second, Amazon has also expended a fair amount of coin in creating the Android App store that directly competes with the Google Android App store.

If the rumor does happen to be true, the reason would be little comfort to the web os faithful as such a move would probably be made to obtain he intellectual property and be able to cannibalize web os features for the forked Amazon version of Android. While Jeff Bezos, has proven time and again that he is willing to make unusual moves, Amazon seems to be pretty well invested in their customized version of Android with the App Store and Silk, although there might be some merit in using web os in a European only version of the Fire to get around privacy problems that seem to be preventing the Flame being deployed in the UK

On HP’s side, if Amazon offered say, $1.6BN USD for everything and took over legacy web os support. HP would more than likely jump on that. Its quick money to bolster theirQ4 earnings, and further lets them save having to write off some of the wind down costs.

If Amazon did buy web os, don’t be surprised to see Todd Bradley exit HP, quite possibly for Amazon. Frankly, since HP is likely to not spin off the personal computer division at this point and Mr. Bradley, who has been courted by the likes of Intel for their CEO sport, but twice passed over for the top job at HP, he is getting ready to go elsewhere anyway.

Time will tell, but I would not bet the rent money on it coming to pass.

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

Amazon buying web os?

Amazon has been widely touted as the killer of bricks and mortar shops but apparently they have found a way to co-exist.  It has been widely reported that the Internet purveyor of all things shippable has struck an agreement with mall operator Land Securities to host lockers, much like one finds in rail stations and airports, that will serve as a pick up point for parcels that will not fit through mail slots. A similar service is being tested in the US with quick shop chain 7-11 acting as the host.

The UK lockers appear to be marketed as a matter of convenience for customers who don’t have to take off work to wait for large gadget parcels, whereas the US trial seems to be based more on concerns one might have about leaving parcels on the doorstep, which is common in most parts of the US. It is believed that one wanting to take advantage of the service will be given a code to be entered at a keypad and the locker with the customers parcel will open.

It is a bit ironic that a company that’s business plan has had the effect of shuttering many booksellers and other small businesses is now using retail malls as pick up points for their deliveries.  Retail Week reported that the first locker is in place at London’s One New Change and had pictures of the installation.  Amazon has declined comment to the media on the matter.

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

Amazon bringing lockers to the UK

Remember a while back we mentioned about the new mobile 3G WiFi that the 3 network put out called MiFi. Well now the mobile company are updating it’s wares for a version designed for use in the car. So if you’re looking for a mobile internet setup in your car to entertain your backseaters or for your business purposes read on.

The MiFi router was impressive when we first got wind of it a few months back allowing the user to  create a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot surfing on a 3G network. This could then be divided into Wi-Fi gadgets, laptops, netbooks, games consoles, whatever needed a wireless internet connection on the go. What this new kit adds is car compatibility. A car charger and a windscreen mounted holder.

This allows users in the car to grab a secure wireless connection on the move allowing internet surfing, mobile online games whether it be handheld or via a laptop just whatever you can use it for. Now bundled with the car charger you wont have to worry about battery life and could really help on those long journeys or if you do a lot of work/travel allows you to work from your motor.

Available soon, the 3 Mobile in car Wi-Fi kit will cost £59.99 to start, but we haven’t got a price on tariffs or what data allowance you’ll get.

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

3 Mobile MiFi; Car Edition

Cable broadband has always seemed to be out in front in comparison to ADSL and that gap looks like its going to get even bigger with the latest news that Virgin Media will be offering 100Mbps broadband to its 4.1 million customers. That’s a staggering 24 times faster than what any of its current competitors can offer.

I currently subscribe to their 50Mbps which after a few teething problems getting my network up and running, has been outstanding. At first I didn’t really notice much difference between it and it’s 20Meg service but now it’s running smooth I can’t wait to see the full potential I’ll get when i can upgrade again. In theory at 100Mbps downloading will be lightning quick. 30 seconds for a HD TV programme and 7 and a half minutes for a full HD movie. Not to mention the speed for online gaming.

Company CEO Neil Berkett said: "There is nothing we can’t do with our fibre optic cable network, and the upcoming launch of our flagship 100Mbps service will give our customers the ultimate broadband experience.” There’s already talk that Virgin Media are starting to test and pilot 200Mbps in the South West and the Midlands……………BRILLIANT!

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

Virgin Media : 100Mbps

It seems despite O2’s successful trial of LTE that we talked about yesterday, its them pesky Scandinavians always beating us to high speed internet(shakes fist). Swedish operator TeliaSonera have said today that they will launch the first 4G network. The company is going to trial it’s service with its users in the Stockholm area of Sweden and the Oslo area of Norway in the early part of 2010 with Finland coming shortly after.

As we said yesterday we’re going to be looking at the end of next year before we get 4G mobiles, TeliaSonera are allowing users to get download speeds up to 100Mbps using a laptop and a new Samsung mobile dongle.

Ericcsson has put the infrastructure together in Sweden whereas the Chinese company Huawei who’ve just done those tests near Slough we spoke of, are setting the Norwegian side up. Still its all good news and for once shows that Britain won’t be lagging too far behind for a change.

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

Continuing with 4G internet…..

We may have touched on the rumours of the French gadget whizz’s next internet tablet but now Archos have officially confirmed the details of the new Archos 5 powered by that wonderful Android.

Packed with loads of features as Archos products always seem to the tablet comes in many memory size varieties from 8 to 32 GB in the super thin Flash memory configurations (with a micro SD (SDHC) card slot) or from 160 to 500 GB in a hard drive version there’ll be one that fits your memory requirements or your pocket limitations. Read on for specs and price.

Full Specs and features :

• 800×480 pixels, 4.8” TFT LCD Touchscreen
• Supports most video and audio playback types
• Standard Photo Viewer
• Support subtitles files with .srt, .ssa, .smi, .sub extensions
• Video/Audio recording, including 720p HD playback (Via the optional DVR Station or DVR Snap-on)
• WiFi (802.11 b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.0
• FM transmitter
• FM receiver (RDS)
• Music playback time: up to 22 hours
• Video playback time: up to 7 hours
• GPS

Also being an Archos it has a full range of accessories and downloadable add-ons from the Archos store. It already has a handful of applications installed onto the unit but obviously as its android base, no doubt a lot of third party apps will appear for download. The only downside is it doesn’t have HSDPA so the web connection will have to sought via wifi or you can piggyback a mobile 3G connection using bluetooth.

The Archos website only has the prices listed as £274.99 for the 32GB SSD version and £299.99 for the 160GB hard drive version.

Post from: Mighty Gadget - Gadget and Technology Blog

Archos 5 Internet Tablet