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Jesse Jackson Jr. calls iPad a job-killer
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds,
What a difference a month makes. In March, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) was pushing for the federal government to provide every student in the U.S. with an Apple iPad. This week, Rep. Jackson complained that iPads were "probably responsible for eliminating thousands of jobs."
Somewhere along the line, he seems to have discovered that iPads are manufactured in China, not in the U.S.—a;nd; it had him hopping mad (see video below). Here's what Rep. Jackson said Friday afternoon on the House floor:
"In the 112th congress, unemployment is at 9 percent. And not a single piece of legislation considered by the 112th congress has done anything to address 13 million unemployed Americans.
"A few short weeks ago I came to the House floor after having purchased an iPad and said that I happened to believe, Mr. Speaker, that at some point in time this new device, which is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs ... now Borders is closing stores because, why do you need to go to Borders anymore? Why do you need to go to Barnes & Noble? Buy an iPad and download your book, download your newspaper, download your magazine.
Click to continue reading Jesse Jackson Jr. calls iPad a job-killer
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Seton Hill University to give iPads to all full-time students
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds,
Looks like Apple’s hopes that colleges and universities around the country will adopt the iPad as an educational tool may be coming to fruition. Seton Hill University, based in Greenburg, Pennsylvania, has just made it public knowledge that they will be giving all full-time students an iPad, starting with the next upcoming fall semester. Other schools have tried this with the Kindle, but in our opinion, the slowness of the Kindle screen refresh kind of killed that one. We don’t know that the iPad will fare much better, but it certainly has a better shot at success.
Read More 
| Seton Hill University via TUAW
PeeWee Pivot Tablet Laptop for kids
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Design, PC / Laptop, Toys,
We’ve gotta hand it to PeeWee PC, as their Pivot Tablet Laptop looks exactly like something that would be a home run in the hands of a technology-curious child. Don’t go comparing this to the OLPC XO, though, because the Pivot Tablet starts at $599.99. What do you get for the cash? Let’s run down some of the specs. First of all, the Pivot Tablet Laptop if drop-resistant and spill-resistant, which immediately should give a bit of piece of mind to parents (like me) who know the horrors of kids + tech + juice. It also has a handle, making it easy for the children to tote the 3 pound device around. Getting into the nitty gritty, the Pivot Tablet Laptop sports a 10-inch touch-sensitive rotating display with stylus, 6-cell Li-ion battery, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB RAM, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a 60GB hard drive. Not too shabby. You’ve also got two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi, and the whole thing ships with Windows XP Home, which is customized with a theme of your choice (things liek Disney, Sci-Fi, etc.). Being a device for kids, there is also a security suite that let’s you keep on eye on what the little one is up to while using the device as well.
You can pick one up starting today.
Read More | PeeWee Pivot Laptop product page
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Academic Earth Offers Free Education
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet,
Academic Earth is a new site dedicated to offering free learning with online video lectures and courses. There are thousands of them from 6 universities and dozens of instructors. Subjects include astronomy, computer science, chemistry, economics, mathematics and physics. Their goal, they say, is “giving everyone on earth access to a world class education.” We find this to be a noble plan and applaud the site in its efforts. They also welcome input to help improve it.
Read More | Academic Earth
OLPC Give One Get One at Amazon
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Hot Deals, PC / Laptop,
Once again, the OLPC project is offering its Give One Get One deal. This time it will be on Amazon. For $399.00, your child and one in another country will receive one of the colorful XO laptops. The company is still hoping to lower the price to $100.00, but so far increasing product costs have prevented it. About 473,000 units have been placed in 31 countries thus far. Order now in the U.S. and UK and get your XO this year. We are thinking that if you want to give your kids a great present for the upcoming holidays, he/she would love to know that they helped another child somewhere else.
Read More | OLPC
HP 2133 Mini-Note PC launches
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Design, PC / Laptop,
Today, HP made rumors of their releasing a low-cost ultra-portable PC a reality with the official announcement of the HP 2133 Mini-Note. Meant for the education market, the HP 2133 Mini-Note is designed with students in mind, and is optimized for both in-classroom and out-of-school learning. The 2133 Mini-Note features an 8.9-inch WXGA scratch-resistant display, lightweight anodized aluminum shell,and Wi-Fi. HP also threw in their 3D DriveGuard technology, which locks the drive in the event of sudden movement for protection of data, as well as HP DuraKeys, which prevents fading. You know kids and their greasy fingers.
“HP listened to our needs and now is delivering a product designed by education for education,” said Chris Sieger, director of information technology for Alexandria City Public Schools in Virginia. “Teachers and technology are the two most important assets in education. HP’s announcement demonstrates that it understands what schools need from industry.”
HP is aiming to keep this one inexpensive, so the Mini-Note starts at $499 USD. You can add on things like Bluetooth, integrated VGA webcam, and CompuTrace software which helps local law enforcement track stolen computers.
The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC should be available later this month, and you can check out more images of the device in our Mini-Note photo gallery.
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Check Your URL With Blog Readability Test
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Misc. Tech,
Want to know how intelligent your readers have to be to get you? Critics Rant has devised a Blog Readability Test. Just paste in your URL to find out how much education is needed to understand it. It also works on MySpace, Livejournals, Facebook, and most other profiles and Websites. We plugged in Google, which came out rated “Genius,” MySpace and Facebook ranked “High School,” but you only need a “Jr. High” background to handle Yahoo. We’re not exactly sure of the method to determine the outcome, but we found it to be a pleasant enough diversion for about the length of time it takes to read the average blog.
Read More | Critics Rant
Giving Back to Schools
Posted by Monica Edwards Categories: Business, Personal,
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England School to Use PSP as An Educational Tool
Posted by Lolita Beckwith Categories: Handhelds, Video Games,
If you’re a gamer, you know that Sony’s Playstation Portable has an incredible amount of uses: UMD movies, music player, photo viewer, homebrew,
internet access, and, oh yeah, video games. Well, instructors at Holyhead Secondary School in Birmingham, England are about to test a new use: teaching aid. Over the past 2 months, Holyhead teachers have been learning how to create podcasts, download media, upload pupils’ schoolwork, and more with the PSP. Lorna Diprose, whose departure from Sony Marketing to teach French at Holyhead led to this test run, feels the PSP is “...just like a mini-computer…you can use it to tailor-make lessons for pupils who need support or stretching.” The PSPs start their new job right after Easter break and will last until the end of the school year.
Read More | BBC News via Joystiq
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