textbook industry

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Chegg.com is the Netflix of textbooks

Chegg.com is the Netflix of textbooksUse sticky notesInstead of writing in the textbooks, use sticky notes. Then take them all out when you return the book.Your Ideal world...Is unlikely to ever be ideal. The textbook industry is like so many others lately: greedy. That greed will prevent...

Tags: textbook, Chegg.com, NetFlix Inc., textbook industry

Discussion threads 2009-07-09

Additional Resources

It's a girl! (or Ed Tech, 6 years hence)

Regular readers and followers of my Twitter feed will know that yesterday was pretty eventful. My wife and I (well, mostly my wife, but I did make some moderate contribution) had a baby girl who currently remains nameless (we're leaning toward Penelope, but she was delivered by c-section so...

Tags: Web Application, Social Media, E-books, Semantic Web, Cloud Computing, Personal Technology, Internet, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-10

Inching closer to the perfect e-reader for students

Give it away, just like Cell PhonesIf Sony,Amazon,Plastic Logic, IREX, etc... want people to start reading content on eReader devices, they need to start giving them away for free... with a service contract, much like the cellphone industry.Most people already understand these types of contracts and will feel like they...

Tags: E-books, Smart phones, Cellular phones, Note-taking, e-reader, perfect e-reader, eReader

Discussion threads 2009-08-26

Sony's Reader: The road ahead

Sony's Reader: The road aheadDRMDRM and more DRM. Paper books are so much better. Sony's record on DRM is worst than terrible. How will I trade e books with my sister? How many e books will ever be sold in flea markets or secondhand book...

Tags: E-books, Digital rights management (DRM), Sony Corp., Sony Reader, e-book, digital-rights management

Discussion threads 2009-08-05

While I'm away...Kindlenomics and OLPC revisited

Since my wife is 6 months pregnant and my mom is visiting from Seattle, we've decided to take a night away while said mom watches the kids. As a result, you get one more repost. I'll be back tomorrow, recharged after a bed and breakfast getaway; it will...

Tags: Student, Hardware, Textbook, One Laptop Per Child Project, Kindle, Kindroid, XO 2.0, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-07-30

The American Textbook Accessibility Act

The American Textbook Accessibility ActChris, you're dreamingThe only way this is going to get a Federal charter is if someone with enough muscle gets to skim rents.None of the players have enough concentrated political pull to overcome the others who would gang up to block the monopoly play, so it's...

Tags: Vertical industries, American Textbook Accessibility Act, government

Discussion threads 2009-07-29

News to know: Microhoo; Multilingual spam; Apple; Verizon; Sprint

Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage. Larry Dignan: Microsoft-Yahoo search pact appears to be a win-win if smaller deal Boomtown: Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Struck-Will Be Announced...

Tags: Larry Dignan, Verizon Communications Inc., SPSS Inc., Apple Inc., Spam, Microsoft Corp., Sprint Communications, Business Analytics, IBM Corp., Web Browsers, Financial Planning, Channel Management, Internet, Finance, Marketing

Blog posts 2009-07-29

The Apple tablet is a non-starter in Ed without content

The Apple tablet is a non-starter in Ed without contentEVDO Internet connectivity??EV-DO really?With that only it's a pretty restricted market...there are not many countries were it will work...Better GSM+EDGE+HSPA&HSPA+ /WCDMA (2G -> 2.5G -> 3G -> 3.5G etc. support).CDMA has no longer term future on this planet... RE: The Apple...

Tags: Tablets, Notebooks, Cellular phones, Apple Tablet, tablet, Apple Inc.

Discussion threads 2009-07-27

Amazon CEO apology: 'Stupid,' 'thoughtless' to remove e-books from Kindle readers

Amazon CEO apology: 'Stupid,' 'thoughtless' to remove e-books from Kindle readersAnyone else think e-readers are a good idea?Whether amazon or anyone else, the ability to edit content remotely or to remove content outright should be disturbing.You can argue an e-textbook could benefit from on-the-fly edits and revisions, but it is...

Tags: E-books, Digital rights management (DRM), Digital media, Common-sense, Smart People, eBook Readers, e-book, digital-rights management, Kindle Reader, Amazon.com Inc.

Discussion threads 2009-07-24

Anyone care to publish some textbooks on Scribd?

Anyone care to publish some textbooks on Scribd?OnLine Learning is good for everyone.Excellent article, and great ideas. Anything that provides access to educational resources at reduced or low cost, and makes those resources more readily available is a good thing. Have you checked out academicearth.org, or MIT's online coursework?What...

Tags: Desktops, Scribd, textbook

Discussion threads 2009-06-12

Wolfram/Alpha launches: Can it break out of niche-ville?

Wolfram/Alpha launches: Can it break out of niche-ville?Agreed. Tried it out.It can answer "some" questions faster then Google but still suffers the problem of you want to do further research even then to be assured Wolfram got it right. As I suspected, its much like Wikipedia; just a smaller...

Tags: SEARCH, Google Inc., search engine, Wolfram/Alpha

Discussion threads 2009-05-16

Forget the Kindle; University "requires" iPhone

Forget the Kindle; University "requires" iPhoneWow..A runon sentence followed by a fragment followed by another GIANT runon. Granted I stopped, for the most part, when I came across "tho". If this is how college level students communicate these days - I think we have more to worry about than shelling...

Tags: iPhone Applications, Apple iPhone

Discussion threads 2009-05-11

Screw Kindle...just give me a decent app for textbooks

When I first held a Kindle the first generation, I was instantly enamored. I was also in public education, so I couldn't afford one. However, there are few things on this planet that I like more than reading, so a little device that could hold a bunch of...

Tags: Christopher Dawson, Hardware, Kindle, Netbook, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Textbook

Blog posts 2009-05-04

Amazon plans big screen Kindle: Textbook margins are the real aim not saving newspapers

Amazon plans big screen Kindle: Textbook margins are the real aim not saving newspapersPlus, how would this work for...I recall in grad school often having several text books open at once on my desk as I wrote my thesis, worked on projects, and studied. How would you keep multiple things...

Tags: Digital rights management (DRM), Amazon.com Inc., big screen, Textbook margin, textbook

Discussion threads 2009-05-04

Amazon plans big screen Kindle: Textbook margins are the real aim not saving newspapers

Updated: Amazon will reportedly unveil a new large-screen Kindle Wednesday. The company just scheduled a press conference for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in New York City at Pace University. Get the subtle hint? Despite that subtle hint---holding a press conference at a university (textbooks people!)---a lot of...

Tags: Amazon.com Inc., Textbook, Strategy, Management, Larry Dignan

Blog posts 2009-05-04

Taking notes on your Linux laptop

Taking notes on your Linux laptopNo, but certainly part of the MS enabled ecosystem.His post reads exactly as someone who is desperate to downplay Linux while espousing that the only "real" software is Windows based. Be a shame if any of those kids wanted to learn web technologies though,...

Tags: UNIX, Operating systems, OPEN SOURCE, Linux, Taking Notes, Linux laptop, laptop computer

Discussion threads 2009-03-12

Curious about ebooks? Check out the best article ever on ebooks

Curious about ebooks? Check out the best article ever on ebooksA couple of pointsFirst, I have to disagree with the concept of the iPhone, or any other small screen devices, being suitable for ebooks. While the casual reader might find that suitable, most of us would prefer a device...

Tags: E-books, e-book, Curious about ebook

Discussion threads 2009-02-11

Sequoia Retail Systems Achieves PCI 6.6 Compliance Using Breach Security's WebDefend

Sequoia Retail Systems. Inc. is the leading independent provider of comprehensive point-of-sale, inventory control, ecommerce and textbook management systems to colleges and universities throughout the U.S. Prestigious educational institutions, including Duke University, University of Texas, Syracuse University and the Naval Academy, use Sequoia's products and services. Hosting e-commerce systems and...

Tags: PCI, E-business, Breach Security, Inc., Web Technology, E-business/E-Commerce, Internet

Case studies 2009-01-13

Apple should add books to the iTunes Store

Apple should add books to the iTunes StoreApple sells AudiobooksSo Apple does sell books on iTunes, don't they?I wouldn't read a book on the iPhone.Hell, I won't even read a book anymore!!! LOLI'll stick with the paper versionsE-Books present several problems for me.I like to read and then pass the...

Tags: Digital music, Digital media, Apple Inc., Apple iTunes, Apple iPhone, iTunes Store

Discussion threads 2008-12-09

Did Microsoft really kill OLPC?

Did Microsoft really kill OLPC?It might be about time for OLPC to get out of hardware manufacturing, and,make sure that their software is easily adaptible to any x86 or Arm platform. But, looking back in 10 years, OLPC will be credited with starting a revolution that will have profound economic...

Tags: One Laptop Per Child project, Negroponte, Microsoft Corp.

Discussion threads 2008-11-19