Plastic Logic E-Reader

Plastic Logic has a new e-book reader coming out early next year that looks pretty interesting and should give the Kindle DX some competition. Here's some preliminary specs on the device:

• The device will be slightly larger than the Kindle DX and have a touchscreen.
  
• The device will be marketed to business users which probably means it will be priced higher than the Kindle DX. The Kindle DX currently sells on Amazon for $489 with free shipping.
  
• The device will have a built in 3G radio for access over AT&T's network and also have a built in WiFi network.
  
• Barnes and Noble will manage the devices electronic book store.
• In addition to e-books, the device will display several other document formats including PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, JPEG, PNG, TEXT, HTML, BMP, RTF and ePub.
• The first version will be grayscale but Plastic Logic says color is "in the works".

Here's a short video from CNN that includes Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta demoing the new device.

I'm wondering how long it will take before we see heavy bulky textbooks replaced by devices like these.

Hey Amazon - When It Comes To That New Textbook Kindle - Don't Overlook Community Colleges!

Tomorrow, Amazon will be holding a press event at the Pace University New York City campus to announce a new version of the Kindle e-book reader with (according to the Wall Street Journal ) a larger screen and other features designed to appeal to periodical and academic textbook publishers.

A total of six excellent universities will be involved in this project according to the Wall Street Journal. They are Case Western, Pace, Princeton, Reed, Darden School at the University of Virginia, and Arizona State.

It's exciting to see this product coming but discouraging not to see a community college on the list. Why should a community college be included? Here's some interesting fast facts from the American Association of Community Colleges:

Number and Type of Colleges:
Number of Community Colleges in the US: 1,195
Total Student enrollment: 11.5 million
Average age: 29
Women: 60%
Men: 40%
Minorities: 35%
First generation to attend college: 39%

Community College Students Constitute the Following Percentages of Undergraduates:
All U.S. undergraduates: 46%
First-time freshmen: 41%
Native American: 55%
Asian/Pacific Islander: 46%
Black: 46%
Hispanic: 55%

With 46% of all undergraduate students attending community colleges in this country doesn't it make sense to have at least one on the list?

Alternatives to the Amazon Kindle

On Friday, Mike Q and I presented on mobile classroom technology at the 12th Annual Massachusetts Community College Conference on Teaching, Learning and Student Development. Our Presentation was titled The Future of Mobile Teaching & Learning and we discussed how the Apple iPhone and the Amazon Kindle , along with the iPhone software development Kit (SDK), will transform mobile teaching and learning. The session detailed what is different about these devices and showed how they are significant using hands-on demonstrations and examples.

Towards the end of the presentation, we were asked about alternatives to the Kindle and I thought it would be interesting to list three of the more popular ones here:

Astak 6" EZ Reader
Like the Kindle, The Astak 6" EZ Reader has a Vizplex screen that is very high resolution, so that it reads well in low light environments. It includes an SD card slot, USB port and mp3 player. Future models (should be released soon - maybe this month) will include the EZ Reader Plus (adding Wi-Fi) and the EZ Reader Pro (adding Wi-Fi, Touchscreen and note-taking along with other innovations. In August, the company hopes to release the EZ Reader BigBook, with a 9.7 inch FLEXI screen and a host of new features. The company says this device will "READ TRUE" on an 8 x 10 item an that would be very nice when it comes to textbooks.
Approx Price: $329

iRex Digital Reader 1000S
The iRex Digital Reader 1000S has a large 10.2" 1024 x 1280 16-level grey scale Wacom® penabled® touch touch screen (requires use of Wacom stylus) which is very nice, allowing you to make handwritten notes in your digital documents, just as you would with a conventional pen. The iRex also includes an SD card slot and USB connector. The DR 1000 SW with stylus is planned and will include WIFI and Bluetooth connectivity.
Approx Price: $749

SONY PRS-700
The SONY PRS-700 has a 6-inch display that also touchscreen technology. It comes with a stylus but it is not required - for example - you can turn pages by sliding your finger across screen. The SONY also has a virtual keyboard that can be used for annotation and searching. The SONY also includes a built-in LED reading light for low-light situations.
Approx Price: $400

If you are in the market for an e-book reader, you should take a look at these alternative devices along with the Kindle.

The iPhone, the SDK, the Kindle and the Future of Mobile Learning

Yesterday, Mike Qaissaunee , Vince DiNoto and I gave a presentation titled The iPhone, the SDK, the Kindle and the Future of Mobile Learning at the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education Conference in Washington, DC. Mike put up the slides from our presentation on SlideShare - here's the presentation:

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: apple iphone)