back to school
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UBS analyst praises new MacBook Pros and approaching clouds
The sun had not even set on Tuesday when UBS analyst Maynard Um expressed his pleasure over Apple's new MacBook Pros. "The MacBook Pro refresh positions Apple well heading into the education and back to school spending seasons," said Um, adding that Macs are still a critical part of Apple's growth, and that most financial expectations for the company could prove conservative. Um is expecting something else on top of the hardware, or over it really. In the note he reiterated his firm's view that Apple is working on its very own cloud service or services. His forecast: "We envision a service that allows access to media-focused content of iTunes, user-generated content of MobileMe and social networking integration from any Apple product," meaning Maynard sees Apple-branded clouds on the horizon, and those -- he thinks -- will lead to the sale of more Apple hardware. Um maintained his "Buy" rating on Apple shares and his price target of $280. [via The Mac Observer]
Pear Note: note taking for the best of us
Though I graduated from college (Go Bears!) not so long ago, in computer years it seems like ages: notebook computers have almost completely replaced spiral-bound notebooks, and PowerPoint and Keynote are increasingly supplanting the chalkboard. The changing dynamics of teaching demand a change in the way students take notes and learn, and Useful Fruit's Pear Note (available for free trial for 30 days, or $39.99 for purchase) addresses these changing dynamics for students. It's like TiVo for note taking.
New iMacs and MacBooks coming soon?
Maybe so, if you believe the predictions of some analysts at Wedge Partners. They proclaim in their neverending analyst-y wisdom that in the next few weeks, Apple will again refresh its lines of iMacs and MacBooks, including a slimmer iMac and an only slightly updated MacBook. Why would Apple announce such a thing, especially so soon after the recent June revamp? Windows 7 is apparently the answer -- Apple wants to distract from Microsoft's big release, according to the analysts Personally, it all sounds kind of hokey to us -- Apple's already got their back-to-school lineup all set, and while there probably is room for one more update before the holiday season, it's hard to believe they're going to announce some extremely minor updates in a desperate grab against Windows 7. And not even the analysts will guess at a netbook or tablet release -- they say neither one of those is coming up for an announcement any time soon. You have to think that if Apple is doing one more update before the holidays, it really will come up in the next few weeks, so by the time Halloween candy starts dropping in pillowcases, we should know for sure. [via PC World]
Engadget's back to school giveaway, part 3!
We told you when we unveiled our back to school guide that we'd be giving away a bunch of gear, remember that? Well, here we are, ready to deliver. So what do we have in our bag of goodies this time? Let's just say our winner is going to be one happy camper. A bunch of the companies we featured in the guide have graciously handed over some gear for one lucky reader. The list of gear that will be in your bag is below -- so read the rules (seriously, they've changed -- read them!) and submit a comment to be entered! Good luck. One randomly chosen winner will receive: One (1) Sony DSC G3 digital camera One (1) MyTouch 3G phone One (1) iHome iP9 dock One (1) Incase Backpack One (1) Incase Neoprene sleeve One (1) Lenovo IdeaPad s10 laptop One (1) Samsung SCX-4500W printer One (1) Sony Reader Pocket Edition One (1) copy of Microsoft Home and Office Student Big thanks to the following companies for providing us with gear to give away: Sony, T-Mobile, iHome, Incase, Lenovo, Samsung, and Microsoft.
Engadget's back to school giveaway part 2: win an Xbox 360 prize pack!
We told you when we unveiled our back to school guide that we'd be giving away a bunch of gear, remember that? Well, here we are, ready to deliver. So what do we have in our bag of goodies this time? Let's just say our winner is going to be one happy camper. Microsoft's Xbox 360 team have graciously handed over some gear for one lucky reader, including an Xbox 360 Pro, and Xbox LIVE Gold Membership, 1600 MS Points, XBLA Codes, a Chatpad, and a Trial Netflix Membership. Sounds great, right? So read the rules after the break (seriously, they've changed -- read them!) and submit a comment to be entered! Good luck.Huge thanks to Microsoft for providing the gear!
Don't forget to enter Engadget's back to school giveaway, part one!
We know that back to school can be a tough time for everyone, but Engadget wants to help. If you haven't already, give our back to school guide a peek -- we think it will be a really helpful tool for your shopping needs. And don't forget to hit up this link to enter our sweet back to school giveaway (the first of three!) if you haven't already -- all you need to do is leave a comment and read the rules -- we've got a pretty sweet bag lined up for the winner!
Engadget's back to school giveaway, part one!
We told you when we unveiled our back to school guide that we'd be giving away a bunch of gear, remember that? Well, here we are, ready to deliver. So what do we have in our bag of goodies this time? Let's just say our winner is going to be one happy camper. A bunch of the companies we featured in the guide have graciously handed over some gear for one lucky reader. The list of gear that will be in your bag is below -- so read the rules (seriously, they've changed -- read them!) and submit a comment to be entered! Good luck. One randomly chosen winner will receive: One (1) Acer Aspire Timeline 8000 laptop One (1) Acer Aspire One D250 One (1) Nokia Surge One (1) Astak EZ-Reader Pro* One (1) iLuv iMM153 dock One (1) Canon Pixma MP490 all-in-one printer One (1) Timbuk2 customizable Swig bag One (1) Cocoon Innovations CPS 400 laptop case One (1) Roku Digital Video Player Big thanks to the following companies for providing us with gear to give away: Acer, Nokia, Astak, iLuv, Canon, Timbuk2, Cocoon Innovations, and Roku. * The Astak EZ-Reader Pro will be released during the month of September, and will ship to the winner at that time.
Engadget's back to school guide
It's that time of year again -- back to school has arrived. Plenty of you will be shoving off to college for the very first time, and Engadget's here to help you out. In the emotionally uproarious time that is now, you've probably realized there's truly an upside to higher education: it's a great excuse to get some new gear. And that's where we come in. No matter what your budget, we've got you covered, with recommendations and options galore. Whether you're going to be a new student in the brilliant world that is academia, or you're the proud parent / guardian of one, we've done some leg work to make the transition a little bit easier. We decided that choosing gadgets in three "budget" ranges would be most helpful to you, the reader, and we've chosen a kit of gear we think any student would do well to grab up for each -- covering laptops, netbooks, mobile phones, e-readers, laptop bags, and so on. Knowing that our readers re not one-size-fits-all, however, we've also chosen some alternate options in the categories where choice makes sense -- choice is, after all, part of what we love about gadgets -- without providing an overwhelming list. Of course, our choices aren't meant to be all-encompassing, but we think they'll provide a pretty good place to start your shopping! Read on for our recommendations -- we promise, they're very very, helpful. Oh -- did we mention we're going to be giving away a bunch of this gear, too? Keep your eyes on the site in the coming days for more on that, and hit the links below for our guide. Back to school guide: on the cheap Back to school guide: mid-range Back to school guide: money's no object
Using LaTeXiT to display math formulas
TeX is a typesetting standard that, among other things, allows you to typeset complex math formulas. One flavor of Tex is LaTeX, for which LaTeXiT serves as a front-end for on Mac OS X. Using LaTeXiT, one can drag and drop complex math formulas to a number of apps -- Pages, Keynote and TextEdit, to name a few. While the LaTeXiT workflow is fairly simple and straightforward, getting it setup and running may not prove to be the most clear-cut and easy process.
Five useful Apple accessories for students heading off to college
Whether you're on your way back to college, or you're the parent or friend of a college-bound Apple fan, there are a lot of great items on the market this summer that are both functional and fashionable. Back in the prehistoric 1970's when I was a civil engineering student at the University of Colorado Boulder campus, I made the mistake of rooming one year with two high school buddies. One of them, Chuck, was a real stoner and was impossible to wake up (even a stereo with the volume turned up to 11 didn't work). His 2009 counterpart would hopefully wake up on time every morning with an iHome iP9SR iPhone alarm clock (US$99 MSRP). It's an iPhone charger with shielding to prevent that annoying buzz from GSM transmissions. It's an alarm clock that can play tunes from your iTunes library, AM/FM radio, or just blast out an annoying noise to wake you up. It also has some pretty nice speakers for listening to your music while charging your iPhone prior to your next class.
iStudiez Pro helps to get you back on schedule
It's been a long summer, and students everywhere are starting to head back to universities and colleges around the country. It's not easy to get back into a daily grind of classes, assignments and activities but a new application called iStudiez Pro [iTunes Link] is here to help! Created by Andriy Kachalo and Michael Balashoff, iStudiez Pro is designed to help you take charge of your own schedule by always keeping you on top of where you need to be and what needs to get done. With an intuitive interface, the application promises to make sure "you never miss another course, lecture, and lab, track tasks and deadlines, plan homework, arrange assignments and much more." Some notable features include: Smart day view that automatically displays summary of currently classes and tasks Detailed schedule planner to break down classes and assignments A view to suit everyone including expanded month and week views, with colored labels for each course Specific icons for different types of classes Supports iPhone features like touch gestures and device rotation Integrated address book keeps your contacts and professor's information close at hand The application, available for both iPhone and iPod touch, is selling for $2.99 on the App Store. If you're looking to snag a copy of this app for free, the developers are currently offering a deal that if you see the demo version of iStudiez Pro being used in an Apple store and take a picture, they'll send you a free promo code! Here's a couple images of iStudiez Pro in action: %Gallery-70083%
Bigwords.com app provides a cheaper way to buy textbooks
As a parent of two adult children, with one just having left school and the other finishing a Master's degree, I know that buying textbooks at their staggeringly high prices adds insult to the injury of tuition, housing and living expenses. Over the last few years, the market has made historic my remembrances of going to the bookstore and paying whatever was marked on the shelf while often vainly trying to find used titles of popular books. Things have changed: Bigwords.com and its little friend the Bigwords.com app [iTunes Link] are welcome additions to the quest of buying books and still having enough left over for food. The Bigwords.com app tries to find the cheapest way to buy textbooks. Whether it's one book, or a long reading list, you will save money using this app. You can also make money by using it to sell unwanted books, but being a teacher, I have a problem with that, having never re-sold or thrown away a textbook. Of course,that's just me. A good way to explain Bigwords is to take you through the process. The Bigwords.com app lets you set a bunch of preferences, each one reducing your options a bit. You can choose books that are new only, new or used, high quality new or used, set shipping preferences, consider eBooks or rentals (along with rental terms) and whether you require a guaranteed buyback from the vendor. You further customize it by telling it if you are a member of B&N.com, Booksamillion, ECampus.com, whether you have used Half.com, and whether you are an Amazon Prime member. Amazon Prime is a service where for a yearly fee, most everything you buy comes with free 2nd-day shipping. The answers to all of these questions help determine your final price.
Mental Case reinvents the flash card
Education is deeply imbued in the Apple DNA. In Apple's early days, the education market served as a base from which it would grow from and, in the process, introduce many of us to personal computing as well as a new way of learning. Similarly, the iPhone has the potential to change the dynamics of learning. The device's multi-touch display has not only reinvented and breathed new life into apps that had previously lived on other platforms, but has also spurred the creation of a new class of learning apps. One of these apps is Mental Case, a flash card application available on both Mac OS X and the iPhone/iPod touch. At its very core, Mental Case's main goal is to facilitate the flash card creation and studying process.
eBook Roundup: 8 Apps for iPhone readers
An e-book (or ebook, or eBook, depending upon who you ask) is the digital equivalent of a paper book. According to KiwiTech, the publishers of Classics2Go, the market for eBooks has increased more than 60% over the last six years and growth from this point is expected to be very strong. We can reasonably connect the start of this burgeoning market to the release of the Amazon Kindle in 2007. Strong sales convinced some wary readers that this was a viable option. You could carry a few hundred books under your arm, and the reading experience was, well, acceptable. Going on a long trip? Wouldn't it be nice to take about 20 pounds of paper out of your luggage? 2007 also marked the introduction of the iPhone; it took about a year for eBook apps to appear on the iPhone. Now there are so many of them that finding the right one for your purposes can be a confusing prospect. I would like to clarify all this a bit by categorizing the four types of eBook apps, at least so far, and letting you know what you can expect from each. In deciding upon an eBook reader you need to consider: what sort of material you will be reading, how much you are willing to spend (if anything) and the quality of the viewing experience. Last year, Andrew Kazmierski and Phill Ryu released Classics (iTunes link). Their idea was to take a bunch of books in the public domain, 22 in the current release, and control all aspects of the user experience. We covered the first release of Classics upon its original release when its price was $2.99. Since then, the price has dropped to .99 and the number of books has increased. This app looked so impressive that it was featured in an Apple iPhone commercial. Upon launch, the reader is presented with a nicely rendered wooden bookshelf displaying colorful dust jackets. Click on a book and start reading. There is no wait, since all the books were downloaded with the app. Future updates bring more books. The books are all the kind of classics that are on school reading lists ranging from Frankenstein and Dracula, to Hound of the Baskervilles. The feature set is slim. Tap the right side of the screen or swipe right to left and the sepia toned pages turn using a pleasing animation. There are two buttons on the top of the screen. One brings down a maroon and gold bookmark and sends you to the bookshelf. When you click on the book again, you are brought to where you left off. The second button takes you to a table of contents. The bottom of the screen tells you the name of the chapter you are reading and what page you are on. The top of the screen displays the title of the book. Illustrations in books like Alice in Wonderland are nicely rendered, and the text is attractively formatted. A change in color of the title bar gives you an idea of where you are in the book.
Just one more week to get in on The Mac Sale, with discount for TUAW readers
I don't know about you guys, but I can't get enough of these Mac software bundles. Between MacHeist, the MacUpdate bundle, Mac Bundle Box, and even iPhone software bundles, I've got more unused software licenses than I'll ever need or want. Even though I rarely want every piece of software in the bundle, there's almost always 1 or 2 that make it more cost effective to buy the bundle than buy the software separately. The Mac Sale (noted by Christina over at DLS) is the latest bundle out there and, like the others, has some hidden gems and a few applications I know I'll never use. Some of these may be perfect for back to school season. The rundown of applications: REALBasic Personal Iris Interarchy Flux Scribbles TaskPaper WriteRoom Stuf Mariner Calc HoudahSpot Your $49 will buy you $450 worth of applications, but only until August 18. As a bonus for TUAW readers, you can get a 5% discount by using coupon code TUAW at checkout.
Earn a certificate in iPhone and Cocoa Development from the University of Washington
If you've already got a degree or a little knowledge in programming and you're looking to get in on the iPhone app craze (or maybe you wish to write a Mac app -- many people still do) you may want to look at the University of Washington in Seattle. They are now offering a certificate program in iPhone and Cocoa development, which should teach you the basics of iPhone and Mac development in a mere 90 contact hours (three classes).Ars reports that the program may be extended to an online offering next year. I'd imagine that would be quite popular far beyond the borders of the UW campus. The course itself was developed with a stellar cast of advisors, including developers from NewsGator and OMNI Group, plus experts from Microsoft, Google and Disney Interactive and is "already close to capacity" for this Fall.While there are myriad books, websites and other resources for learning how to write Cocoa software, this appears to be the first continuing education certification program specifically tailored to writing iPhone apps. Yes, you can write Mac apps too, but I'm guessing the majority of attendees with have mobile dollar signs in their eyes.[via Ars]
Rumor: Chinese manufacturers building cases (with cameras) for new iPod touch, nano
Here's a story that, strangely, makes sense. Cult of Mac is saying that these cases above are already being made by Chinese manufacturers, in advance of what they call the "worst-kept secret in China": that Apple will be announcing new versions of the iPod touch and the iPod nano in September, complete with cameras on both. These aren't cases comissioned by Apple, they're Chinese companies that have supposedly heard about the dimensions and feature placement of Apple's next products, and are making third-party accessories to match, even before the official announcement here in the US.Apparently these guys heard about the dimensions back in May, and they're so certain of the information that they're shipping samples and taking orders from US retailers. True or not? We have no idea -- certainly there's enough photos of the new cases on Cult of Mac's site to be convinced, and that Apple would release new versions of popular iPods right before back to school and the holidays isn't just believable, it's business as usual.But the camera on there is the interesting move -- is it a video or still camera? Why is the iPod touch's camera centered instead of offset like every other iPhone camera? Will there be new software capabilities for taking and sharing pictures on these devices? That's all still up in the air. We guess we'll find out in a few months.[via Silicon Alley Insider]
Apple quietly updates $999 MacBook, again -- goes back to school with free iPod touch
Shh, don't tell the press but Apple just bumped the specs on its entry-level white MacBook again. The bump measures in at just 0.13GHz on the processor, 133MHz more oomph from the DDR2 SDRAM, and an extra 40GB of disk space. Still more is more better especially when it's free $999. Apple also took the wraps off its back-to-school deal which nabs a decent discount on Macs (up to $200 off MacBook Pro) and tosses in a 8GB iPod touch (after $229 on-line rebate) to sweeten the deal.Update: Looks like the battery might have been given a nudge to a rated 5-hours, up from 4.5.[Thanks, Jasper K., Daniel, and Anshu P.]Read -- MacBook whiteRead -- back to school
Apple's UK Back to School promo starts, gives away new nanos, touches
Apple has started their Back to School promotion in the UK. It is similar to the Back to School promo that ran in the US, with the exception of people in the UK being able to get one of the new iPods that released at last week's iPod event. This promotion is good on the purchase of any new Mac and iPod nano (or touch). Qualified purchasers are "student[s] at a higher education institution, a teacher or a lecturer." When you purchase your new Mac and an iPod nano, or iPod touch, Apple will give you up to £95 via a rebate check. This deal ends October 31, 2008. You can visit Apple's UK website for more details. Do you plan on purchasing a new Mac in order to get a new iPod nano or touch? Which iPod would you choose? Be sure to take part in our poll! %Poll-19836%Thanks, Dan!
Back to School: Writing tools, part III
TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings. This is the third and final installment in the "Back to School: Writing Tools" series (parts I and II are here). To round out our roundup, we'll take a look at some (possibly) unexpected solutions, as well as some utilities which can aid any writer. Read on for some final thoughts on the current array of Mac writing tools for students, teachers, professors ... and the rest of us, too.
