Entourage Systems partners with Cengage Learning, bringing lots more digital books to the Edge
By Tim Stevens 
posted July 21st 2010 9:06AM
posted July 21st 2010 9:06AM
enTourage Systems™ and Cengage Learning to Bring e-Textbooks to Schools for Enhanced Learning Environments
Digital content now accessible via the world's first dualbook, the enTourage eDGe™, for higher education
MCLEAN, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--enTourage Systems, Inc.™, creator of the world's first dualbook™ – the enTourage eDGe™ – announced today that Cengage Learning, a leading global provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions, will provide its catalog of digital books to students and educators through the unique enTourage eDGe platform for the coming fall semester.
"We designed the enTourage eDGe specifically for the education market, and working with Cengage Learning to deliver information to students that they need to advance in their studies reemphasizes our mission to revolutionize education"
The enTourage eDGe is a hybrid e-reader, tablet netbook, notepad and audio/video recorder and player in one – offering users in learning environments a multi-purpose platform that combines all needed education technologies in one. The enTourage eDGe is built with hinged E-Ink and LCD screens allowing for unique engagement of content such as attaching relevant Web pages or video searched for on the WiFi-enabled LCD screen to relevant e-textbook passages on the E-Ink screen, annotating in e-book margins and bookmarking sections to later review and study, or audio record professor lectures to store for playback later.
With Cengage Learning's vast selection of content and services, this partnership is an ideal marriage of new-age technology and rich content, providing students and educators an opportunity to improve the learning experience. With the enTourage eDGe, students can interact with Cengage Learning material in a way never done before.
"We designed the enTourage eDGe specifically for the education market, and working with Cengage Learning to deliver information to students that they need to advance in their studies reemphasizes our mission to revolutionize education," said Asghar Mostafa, CEO of enTourage Systems, Inc.
"Cengage Learning has long been delivering digital content to serve the needs of our customers. We are pleased to work with the enTourage team to bring our innovative instructional solutions to students through the enTourage eDGe - a new device that is targeted specifically for the academic market," said William Rieders, Executive Vice President, New Media, Cengage Learning. "We look forward to working with enTourage to create superior learning experiences that will engage students."
The enTourage eDGe is made up of a 9.7" diagonal e-paper screen to read e-books, take notes and draw diagrams and a 10.1" LCD screen for surfing the Web, editing Microsoft Office documents and watching videos. It is equipped with a built-in camera, microphones and speaker for audio and video recording and playback. The enTourage eDGe runs on the Google Android operating system and backs up all content on enTourage Systems' servers. The device folds a full 360 degrees and orients its displays horizontally or vertically, to view as a book, single screen, or prop up laptop style.
The enTourage Systems e-book store includes over 200,000 trade titles, e-textbooks, major magazines, newspapers and periodicals, as well as over one million free public domain books digitized by Google. The e-book store is a key component to the enTourage Systems eco-system, providing a controlled user experience that also includes document back-up and sharing between devices.
The enTourage eDGe will be on display at the 2010 Campus Technology conference at booth 735 July 20-21 at The Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, MA.
The enTourage eDGe is available now online at www.entourageedge.com. For more information, please visit this site, the enTourage eDGe Facebook page or @enTourageeDGe Twitter handle.
About enTourage Systems, Inc.
enTourage Systems, Inc. is a provider of a new interactive dualbook that improves the way we learn, do business and entertain. The company's flagship product, the enTourage eDGe, is a comprehensive tablet netbook, notepad, e-reader, video player and audio recorder that allows users to easily manage their digital needs from a central device. enTourage Systems, Inc. is headquartered in McLean, VA. For more information, visit www.entourageedge.com.
About Cengage Learning
Cengage Learning is a leading provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions for the academic, professional and library markets worldwide. The company's products and services are designed to foster academic excellence and professional development, increase student engagement and improve learning outcomes. Cengage Learning's brands include Heinle, Gale, Wadsworth, Delmar, Brooks/Cole and South-Western, among others. For more information on Cengage Learning please visit www.cengage.com.
the only dual screened tablet i want rhymes with the word dourier
@cdobsonwv
Furrier?
@cdobsonwv: I understand: the Courier had a lot of people excited, but it's time to get over a product that didn't even really exist in the first place.
It was a nice concept that didn't get realized, not yet at least.
@Squalor
A concept that is still held closely to people's heart.
@Toyzer You want dual screen? The Toshiba W100 is definitely a lot cleaner looking then the Entourage (and set at a price that will clean out your pocketbook):
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/01/toshiba-libretto-w100-preview/1
note: it sounds like the released version will feature Android rather then win7.
Hey Appel, yor iPhone 4 is teh sux, yeh… Ok, who am I kidding, this isn’t even an iPhone related post!!! The pressures of posting FIRST!!!!!
@Starfleet Captain
ok, not first
@Starfleet Captain I think the pressure of your getting down-ranked into oblivion will be much more unbearable.
Well, if it's overpriced, you can bet your local institute of higher learning will want it. College prices are absolutely ridiculous these days.
does anybody want this gaudy piece of $hit?
@TomSawyer college students who want to exchange 25 lbs of textbooks in a backpack for 2.5 lbs? Who would rather pay $80 to "lease" a digital textbook for a year instead of $160 for a paper version? Who like the fact that they can copy a page of text and stick it into their 25 page essay on page 15, hoping their teacher won't notice?
Not worth $500???
It's like an 10" iPad like LCD tablet + a 10" e-ink wacom screen, all included into one! How can that not be worth the $500???
Sure thing they've got software and user interface things that needs to be tweaked. But saying it's not worth is just wrong.
@Charbax
You're underestimating the value of excellent software.
@TomSawyer Entourage is open using open Linux software. If sites like Engadget stop being so negative about these innovative products, then perhaps enough few dozen developers will get to work on smoother software for it.
Anyways, I've tried it and the software is not too bad. The form factor is awesome, and saying it's not worth the same price as an ipad, you get so much more.
@TomSawyer
You're underestimating the value of ports...
@Charbax
i'm pretty sure engadget shows the appropriate amount of excitement for these sorts of devices, considering the fact that most never make it to market. They got pretty pumped for the JooJoo, which was a utter failure. Kinda makes them look foolish to pump up a complete piece of shit.
@steel
3.4 million ipads sold tells me I'm not.
@TomSawyer
The difference here is that this has made it to market. It has been available since March. This is no courier. It exists. Though the usual engadget crowd is obsessive about form factor and appearance, some people prefer function over form and the edge does *function* rather well.
@Charbax, I agree with you. If people look at it this way: on one side there is an e-reader with a screen the same size as the Kindle DX. The Kindle DX price has *just* dropped to $389 from $498. The e-reader portion of the Edge is more than just an e-reader: one can highlight, annotate and scribble notes on it. The tablet portion is bonus and its functionality and usefullness will only increase with the coming software updates. I believe the move to Android 2.2 will help increase the responsiveness.
@AikidoMasterWannabe
"The Kindle DX price has *just* dropped to $389 from $498."
Now that's a bargain.
@HKCally
Not.
I have one - it is great! Not the sleekest device, but works well, spiffy android. SD card/USB/webcam no issues. It does not have the Apple marketing force, that's the problem ( for the company, I mean ;-) ).
I have one, and store over a thousand pdf's on it. It may be a bit rough around the edges, and it would be nice if it was faster, but it has definitely increased my productivity. Being able to annotate things that I am reading, and take notes with the journal application are very useful features.