Maine may be about as far from Cupertino as one can get in America, but there's still a serious connection between the state and company. In an effort to distribute even more OS X-based machines to students within its public school system, Maine has ordered up 64,000 additional Apple notebooks for schools. In case you couldn't guess, Maine is the only state in America that provides laptops to every last public school student.
The move was part of the Department of Education's decision to expand the Maine Learning Technology Initiative into all public high schools, a program that has been ongoing since 2002. Apple competed with an undisclosed amount of other computer makers for the first and latest bids, with the earliest order of 7,000 more machines coming in a few weeks. Education Commissioner Sue Gendron had this to say about the order and the program at large: "We have seen incredible success with our middle schools showing increased student engagement and achievement with MLTI in place and we want to bring this same opportunity to our high schools. This is not just about technology – it’s about using the technology to support education. Apple has been a great partner and consistently demonstrates that it understands the need to provide a complete solution that puts education first. We're very excited about the new school year."
The laptop package provided by Apple includes a wide array of educational software, professional development, repair and replacement and technical support. In addition to learning how to use technology, students do research, write and edit, conduct online simulations and take online tutorials. It seems as if the latest batch of notebooks will be MacBooks, but it's hard to say if students will receive the lone remaining white MacBook or the just-phased-out aluminum 13" MacBook. Either way, we doubt Maine students will be complaining.
What would you get if RIM's BlackBerry Storm and Bold slammed together at an unnerving rate of speed? Aside from a real mess, you'd probably have something akin to this: the BlackBerry Tour. The newest 3G BlackBerry is headed straight for Verizon Wireless, with an in-store launch date of July 12th. Better still, this is classified as a "world phone," meaning that there is a SIM card slot as well to roam on GSM networks when not using VZW's CDMA towers here in the United States.
Other specifications include a 3.2MP camera, built-in GPS, geo-tagging/video support, a full HTML browser, support for tethering and V CAST and all of the normal BlackBerry amenities users have grown to love (push email, messaging, etc.). Unfortunately, this QWERTY-packing smartphone isn't the cheapest on the block, as it will ring up for $199.99 after a $70 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Those okay with that can get their pre-order in now, but with Apple's iPhone 3G sitting at $99 on contract (with no rebates), we suspect this one will be a hard sell for non-BlackBerry addicts.
Finally, a solution for that perplexing issue that hits netbook owners the hardest. Asus has placed its recent design cues onto a new external optical drive, but this is no normal external optical drive. Instead of just reading back DVDs and CDs, the SBC-04D1S-U External Slim BD-Combo Drive plays back Blu-ray Discs, promising high-def playback on any machine with a USB port and enough GPU power to handle the strain.
The unit even comes with a stylish stand, and frankly, the upright position reminds us a little of the slim PlayStation 2 console. It is capable of reading 4.8X BD-ROM/R/RE and writing 8X DVD+R/24X CD-R formats, while the Turbo Engine increases the connection performance between the USB cable and the external drive. The unit supports most all flavors of Windows and ships with CyberLink burning software, and with dimensions of just 157x142x21 mm (W x D x H) and a weight of 14.53 ounces, you'll barely even notice it in your carry-on. Per usual, there's no mention of a price or release date at the moment.
Specifications
| Write Speed | DVD-R: 8X,- (CAV) DVD-RW: 6X,- (Z-CLV) DVD+R: 8X,- (CAV) DVD+RW: 8X,- (Z-CLV) DVD+R(DL): 4X,- (Z-CLV) DVD-R (DL): 4X,- (Z-CLV) CD-R: 24X,- ( Z-CLV ) CD-RW: 16X,- ( Z-CLV ) DVD-RAM: 5X |
| Read Speed | BD-ROM/R/RE: 4.8 X max. DVD-R(Single): 8 X max. DVD-RW(single): 8 X max. DVD+R(Single): 8 X max. DVD+RW(single): 8 X max. DVD-R(DL): 6 X max. DVD+R(DL): 6 X max. DVD-ROM (Single): 8 X max. DVD-ROM (Dual): 8 X max. DVD-RAM: 5 X max. CD-ROM: 24 X max. CD-RW: 24 X max. CD-R: 24 X max. |
| Access time | BD: 240 MS DVD: 200 MS CD: 200 MS |
| Writing Mode | DVD-R & DVD-R(DL): DAO(Disc-At-Once)/Incremental Recording (Multi-Border Recording) DVD-RW & DVD-RW (DL): DAO(Disc-At-Once)/Restricted Overwriting/Incremental Recording (Multi-Border Recording) DVD+R & DVD+R (DL): Sequential Recording (Multi-Session Recording) DVD+RW & DVD+RW (DL): Random Recording CD-R/RW: DAO(Disc-At-Once)/TAO(Track-At-Once)/SAO(Session-At-Once)/Packet Recording (Multi-Session Recording) |
| O/S Compatibility | Windows 2000 Windows NT XP compatible Vista compatible |
| Interface | USB2.0 |
| Data Buffer | 2 MB |
| Bundle Software | Cyberlink |
| Disc Formats | Write: DVD+/-RW,DVD+/-R,CD-R,CD-RW,DVD-RAM
Read: BD-ROM,BD-R,BD-RE,DVD-ROM,DVD+/-RW,DVD+/-R,Photo CD,CD-DA,CD-Extra,CD-Text,CD-R,CD-RW,DVD-RAM |
| Disc Diameters | 12cm/8cm |
| MTBF | 60,000 Power On Hours Operating Duty Cycle (Read) 10 % POH Operating Duty Cycle (Write) 2 % POH |
| Mounting Orientation | Vertical and Horizontal ( +5 ° ~ -5 °) |
| Dimension(WxHxD) | 157x142x21 mm (W x D x H) |
| Weight | 412 g |
| Power Requirements | DC+5V ±5%,DC+12V ±10 % |
| Temperature | Operating: 5? to 40? Storage: -30? to 60? |
The Motorola Clutch i465 will be available sometime this summer from Sprint for $39.99 with a new two-year service agreement, $20 instant rebate, and $50 mail-in rebate (excluding taxes). This new phone is a rugged model with a candy bar form factor. It’s also the first device to combine Nextel Direct Connect with text messaging and a full QWERTY keyboard.
“Motorola Clutch was designed to give serious texters and talkers multiple ways to get the word out,” said Rick Gadd, vice president, Motorola Mobile Devices. “With a full QWERTY keyboard featuring shortcut keys, IM-style texting and push-to-talk technology which works like a verbal IM, Sprint customers are able to keep in constant contact, no matter how they prefer to communicate.”
The Clutch i465 features push to talk, Group Messaging, GPS, Bluetooth, a 1.8-inch screen with a 128 x 160 resolution, and a VGA photo camera. Group Messaging lets you create groups of up to 20 people to send messages to simultaneously. The Clutch i465 also meets Military Specification 810F for low pressure, high and low temperatures, dust, shock, vibration, and solar radiation. The phone is Java-enabled and supports third-party applications.
Sprint and Nextel offer a variety of plans to suit both business and personal users’ needs. To be notified when the Motorola Clutch i465 will be available, register on Sprint’s website.
We've written about China's Green Dam censorware a couple of times, and there's no doubt it's drawn a great deal of criticism. On Tuesday, China announced it would be indefinitely delaying the rollout of the product, which it had earlier said would have to be installed (or at least provided) on all PCs sold in the country as of July 1st.
The change in plans was reported late on Tuesday by the official Xinhua news agency, which said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology would "delay the mandatory installation of the controversial 'Green Dam-Youth Escort' filtering software on new computers."
While being advertised as primarily preventing access to pornography, the software was to perform just as the "Great Firewall of China" does, blocking access to Web sites that might contain material critical of the Chinese government.
Interestingly, the software would not have had to have been pre-installed on the PC, but could have been shipped on a separate CD. There would also have been no restrictions on removing the software, and no prior mention made of any punitive measures taken against a PC maker that did not comply.
If you’re familiar with the emulation scene (and let’s be honest, you are reading Engadget), then you know the name ZodTTD — the brain behind some of the best jailbroken emus for the iPhone, including variations on the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and most importantly… the TurboGrafx-16. Now the master-hacker has brought his goods to the Pre, cooking up a version of psx4all on the Palm device, with the aforementioned GBA and TG16 ports on the way! Interestingly, he reports that the performance on the Pre is actually better than that of the iPhone 3GS, and of course he’s hacked access to the keyboard, allowing for (more) proper control of games. There are still kinks that are being worked out (sound emulation, screen scaling, etc.), but it looks like we can expect big things in the near future. We at Engadget know everyone will rest a bit easier tonight knowing that real gaming on the Pre is at hand. We’ll hopefully be getting our hands on a version soon, but for now hit the read link for more info, and check out the full video after the break!
Continue reading The Pre gets PlayStation gaming and more thanks to ZodTTD (video)
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming
The Pre gets PlayStation gaming and more thanks to ZodTTD (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Dell is trying to pull a fast one on the competition by getting ahead on the valuable back-to-school notebook frenzy, only this time with netbooks. The company is offering schools the opportunity to take up on their Latitude 2100 netbooks together with private cloud computing software supplied by Stoneware. The webNetwork software gives schools their own cloud computing environment that will help deliver contents and centralize teaching subjects.
Dell announced it has, so far, inked deals with 500 school districts across the USA to supply thousands of K-12 students with its Latitude 2100 netbooks. Dell couldn’t be happier about it: “This fall, the Latitude 2100 will make access to customized, affordable technology a reality for thousands of schools across the country. Our focus now is on continuing to work with students and teachers to design and develop K12 technologies that enable our students to better learn, achieve and compete.” said Mark Horan, VP and General Manager, Dell K12 Education. The Latitude 2100 is a 10.1-inch Atom-based netbook that has some extra features – both software and hardware – for a school environment. For example, we were reading through the tech specs and came across “two Kensington locks”. That sounds a bit like overkill, until we actually looked at a picture of the netbook. The Kensington locks – located on each side of the netbook’s hinges allow you to put on a strap for easy carrying. Another teen-proof feature is the rubberized exterior that will provide some much-wanted protection from the abuses of teenage life.
The Dell package also includes its Mobile Computing Station, a pushcart loaded with technology that stores and powers up to 24 netbooks. It also features a Linksys wireless N router which keeps netbooks connected to the school’s wireless network. This way the IT crowd can perform system maintenance and updates overnight.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Governor Schwarzenegger in California had already committed to eBooks as the full-on replacement for textbooks. On the other hand, without doing away with textbooks, a netbook will cost a little more than an eBook, but a lot less than a Mac notebook. Selling MacBooks to the K-12 and college crowd has been for long Apple’s turf. It’ll be interesting to see how Apple reacts… We can only hope this will spur a Mac netbook into existence.
