kakai
Latest
Kno single-screen tablet textbook hands-on: all the power in half the size
If you've been following tech news today, you'll know two tablets are coming down the pike -- RIM's BlackBerry Playbook, and a single-screen version of the Kno textbook tablet from the artist formerly known as Kakai. Running across San Francisco to a Kno meet-up, we got to see the new unit for ourselves, and discovered this interesting little tidbit: it's got all the same hardware inside. How? Find out after the break. %Gallery-103449%
Kakai morphs into Kno, aims to school you at D8 conference
We've already seen one prestigious institution reject the Kindle DX, but that's not to say there's no room for someone else's digital textbook in the classroom. Kakai, an undercover startup that we heard whispered about back in April, is slowly but surely removing their own veil. Now, the company has decided to go by Kno (short for knowledge, dude), and will make its public debut at the D8 conference next month. All we've heard so far is that the company's first product will be a Linux-based "foldable double-screened device, [which is] designed to feel like a mix of laptop and textbook." It'll be both portable and gesture-based, and as you'd likely imagine, will be aimed directly at the education market. We're also told that the endeavor will include "robust software and a seamless website to deliver course material, allowing for note-taking and offering other audio and video capabilities," and while that's all a bit difficult to simply envision without a stiff cup of java to stimulate the imagination, we'll be taking an up close and personal look in just a few days when we head out to California for Walt and Kara's annual shindig.
Kakai developing a Linux-based e-book reader? Wouldn't you like to know!
It seems that Osman Rashid, the guy behind Chegg (an online textbook rental service, sort of like a boring Netflix) has decided that he's going to follow the likes of Kindle and iPad into the untested (well, somewhat tested -- and somewhat reviled) e-textbook space. Details are scant -- and it's this fact, really, that's captured the imagination of tech wonks on a slow news day like today. According to Kara Swisher of All Things Digital, Rashid's start-up, Kakai, is "in the deepest of stealth modes, despite a panoply of high-profile players involved." That's right -- despite having almost fifty employees and almost $10 million in venture capital, no one is really sure what these guys are trying to do! No one, that is, except Swisher, who's apparently received reports of a demo video that targets potential investors, describing a Linux-based, dual-display, Courier-like device aimed at the educational market. Which sounds great, as far as that goes -- but we're waiting for some specs, or blurrycam pics, or for someone to leave one at a bar somewhere before we get too excited.