backtoschool2011
Latest
Trade textbooks with The Amazon Student
Since forever, college students have done the trade-in dance at the beginning and end of semesters to exchange unwanted textbooks for cash. Usually that cash goes back to the bookstore for the next round of textbooks (or a bit of end-of-semester partying), but it's a tried-and-true way of getting at least a few cents back on your hard-earned dollars. Amazon has just released The Amazon Student app (free) to let you do all of your textbook trading the easy way -- from your iPhone. As you're pounding down the end-of-semester celebratory tequila shots, you can use The Amazon Student to scan the barcodes on your textbooks, games, movies, and electronics to get a trade-in offer from Amazon. If you accept the offer, it's added to your trade-in list. When you're done scanning your roommate's books and games (he's passed out under the bed anyway), just sign into your Amazon account, tell 'em where you want to ship the books from, and submit. A few moments later, a pre-paid shipping label shows up in your email and you're ready to roll. Payment is through an Amazon Gift Card, suitable for buying any fun or, dare I say it, educational material from the Amazon store. By the way, I made $75 scanning some old reference and text books while testing the app for this post. Not bad!
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: tablets
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we're leaning back with our tablets -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! There are certain back to school purchases we could never talk you out of. A laptop? Vital. A smartphone? Highly recommended. A printer? Necessary -- if you're the kind of person who finishes papers minutes with minutes to spare, leaving no time to swing by the computer lab on the way to class. But a tablet? We'll be honest: we can't think of a good reason why you need one, but we can more than sympathize if you're dead-set. We've picked a few noteworthy choices for each budget, though if you're really lucky you'll win one of 15 Samsung Galaxy Tabs and won't have to pay a dime. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and check out our giveaway page for more details. So wipe off the glasses, grab your clicker, and get ready to jump past the break for this year's tablet picks for back to school.
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: headphones
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we're giving your ears some love with a plethora of headphones that will keep you rocking around campus -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Whether you're dubstepping, duck walking or just plain sprinting to and from classes, you may want to add a soundtrack to your campus travels with some slick new headphones. Although, with so many choices and styles it can be a bit overwhelming to find a set that's right for you. Luckily, we're here to help! Don't forget to enter our giveaway as well if you want a shot at winning your own set B&W's brand spankin' new C5 in-ears -- not to mention more than $3,000 worth of gadgets that are sure to induce an extreme case of Gadget Acquisition Syndrome!You'll find some of our own recommendations just past the break, and another chance to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and click on over to our giveaway page for all the details.
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: televisions
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we're settling down in front of a few of our favorite HDTVs, but you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the series we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! The bad news is that unless you chose your major very carefully, your assignments will not often include a directive to plop down in front of the TV for any large amount of time. The good news, however, is that you'll probably end up doing plenty of that anyway, so whether you're zoning out to some reality TV drama, enjoying an enlightening documentary, or playing video games in the dorm, you'll want a nice set to watch on. Jump past the break for our recommendations, and another opportunity to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and head over to our giveaway page for more details.
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: speaker docks
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have speaker docks in our sights -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here. Yeah, studying's the hip thing to do, but waking up for class is arguably where success begins. Rather than relying on some ear-piercing tone emitted from one's cellphone, we prefer something more... substantial. Here, we'll be covering the best and brightest in speaker docks, also known as the alarm clock that your grandkids will eventually point at and laugh, mockingly. Jump past the break for our recommendations, and another opportunity to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and head over to our giveaway page for more details.
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: printers
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have printers on our minds and on our desks -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Sadly, most of your professors probably still expect assignments to be turned in on dried-up wood pulp. And, while that doesn't mean you'll have to remaster the fine art of writing in cursive, you will need a printer to put your (carefully proofread and thoroughly researched, of course) prose on paper. Jump past the break for our recommendations, and another opportunity to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and head over to our giveaway page for more details.
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: e-readers
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we've got our optical viewfinders set firmly on digital cameras -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Most of us are still walking around hunchbacked from years of carrying heavy textbooks in our overstuffed backpacks. Thankfully, an e-reader can significantly lighten the loads for students everywhere. Sure, we've still got a ways to go before electronic devices can replace textbooks altogether, but in the long run, it's a purpose that could significantly impact the postures of backpack wearers all over. Jump past the break for our recommendations, and another opportunity to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and head over to our giveaway page for more details.
Engadget's back to school 2011 sweepstakes: we're giving away $3,000 worth of gear... 15 times!
Back when many of us were gearing up to go back to school, the shopping list was filled with notebooks (the kind without a battery), pens (read: not a stylus), and a few dozen pencils (old-school #2s that required manual sharpening). Maybe, just maybe, we would have a new graphing calculator to look forward to, but if we ever saw 'smart' and 'phone' in the same sentence, it was probably in a handwritten note from mom begging us to stop making long-distance calls on the landline. Now, back to school means picking up extra shifts at work to pay for new computers, cameras, smartphones, e-readers, and tablets -- not to mention those still-sky-high prices publishers are commanding for textbooks at the college store. We want to relieve some of that burden -- for a few of you, at least. This year, we've partnered with top manufacturers in nearly every category to bring you one epic giveaway, complete with all of the products we mentioned above, plus a whole lot more! Lucky winners will receive an Engadget-branded messenger bag, overflowing with the latest tech gear. Jump past the break for the full rundown of prizes, along with instructions for entering our back to school giveaway.
Video App Demo: Daedalus Touch
Daedalus Touch is a text editor designed for iPad and engineered to be as simple and clutter-free as possible. From what I saw, it succeeds admirably. Granted, there are lots of text editors on the App Store, but Daedalus offers a clean interface with a few nice features, like modeless search. In modeless search you can search at any time across all documents and the presentation makes it easy to find what you're looking for. Of course, the best way to see this is to see it in action, so check out the video below to see Daedalus in action. if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1071552357001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1071552357001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/021c66b264e47/r/54232dd66ca77/al/193910/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - Daedalus Touch','videolink':'#'});
Engadget's back to school guide 2011
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School hub! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. You've stumbled upon our main hub page, and we're glad you're here. Each week in August we'll be adding three new product guides to our home page, and we'll collect them all here as well. And after the final guide hits the web on September 2nd, we'll be drawing names for Engadget's biggest giveaway to date. You'll hear more about that very soon, but for now, click on over to our available category pages, and stay tuned for those to come -- identified by a faded graphic for now. Accessories Bags and Cases Desktops Cameras . . . . Docks E-readers Fun Stuff! Gaming . . . . Headphones Laptops Printers Smartphones . . . . Tablets TVs / Displays
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: digital cameras
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we've got our optical viewfinders set firmly on digital cameras -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Welcome to Digital Cameras 101. This single-lecture class will feature a handful of top cams for every budget, and since you're just getting back from a summer of wild shooting, we'll try to keep things brief this time around, giving you one last chance to enjoy that crisp natural light. There won't be a pop quiz, but if you're feeling lucky and don't mind following our simple instructions, we may just be able to send you home with your very own Sony NEX-C3. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and check out our giveaway page for more details. So wipe off the glasses, grab your clicker, and get ready to jump past the break for a top-level overview of this year's picks for back to school.
Owensboro, Kentucky students to receive 2200 MacBook Airs
Man, talk about lucky in Kentucky. Students and staff in the Owensboro, Kentucky district will all be issued Apple's newest ultraportable MacBook Air thanks to US$5 million in stimulus funding, Electronista reports. The MacBook Air's small size and increased durability compared to the plastic and spinning-platter hard disk MacBook were key factors in the school district's decision to go with the aluminum chassis, SSD-based MacBook Air. Local reporters say students will be banned from "illegal websites" and "gambling over the internet." (As an aside, whoever selected the B-roll for the report seems to have no idea what a MacBook Air is, as the footage instead shows some anonymous netbook). Teachers have already received their MacBook Airs, but students reportedly won't receive them until a month or so into the school year. I'll admit it, I'm a little jealous of these kids. Back in my day, we had ten Apple IIe units to share among the entire elementary school. No internet, no portable computers, certainly nothing like the iPad... and we were thankful. All kidding aside, it's great to see that Apple's remained committed to education even as its cheaper computers like the eMac and the plastic MacBook have disappeared into the mists of history.
Video App Demo: PDF Expert
In a world where there are plenty of PDF tools, PDF Expert distinguishes itself with a few key features. I've been a fan of Readdle's past products, and PDF Expert aims to give you a truly universal tool for dealing with PDFs, whether you are a student, educator, lawyer, doctor or anyone dealing with the "paperless office." Dave gave it a look back in March, but some new features have been added. With PDF Expert you're able to sign documents with your finger or stylus, send documents to 9 different services (Readdle has their own) and my favorite: fill out PDF forms. On top of these features you get the usual stable of PDF management tools for sorting and annotating your files. To see a walkthrough of these features, check out the video below. [Video was pointing to the wrong place for a bit there, apologies. -Ed.] if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1042635778001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1042635778001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/86678bce70b39/r/44d85555dae5f/al/193862/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - PDF Expert','videolink':'#'});
Video App Demo: InClass
An app for students, InClass aims to be a universal go-to app for high school and college kids. Featuring a calendar, assignments with classes attached, also viewable from the calendar, an in-app notetaking tool with built-in voice recorder, InClass may very well be the right fit for many students who don't want to bother with three or four separate apps. There's a Backup feature for InClass which will allow you to pack up your data and move it to another device, as the app is available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Take a look at the demo below and see if InClass fits into your workflow, or would be right for any students you know. if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1042620242001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1042620242001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/9e4e64374b951/r/943e02569b349/al/193903/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - InClass','videolink':'#'});
Video App Demo: Wasabi
Wasabi is another in a crowded market of "to do" apps, aiming to keep your to do lists handy across iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. There are a number of novel twists keeping Wasabi worth a look for your listmaking needs. The most unique feature are text files which become quicklists, a preset selection of list items which you could use to quickly template a project outline. You can also share tasks with others. Although iOS 5 will have location-based notes and reminders, Wasabi has them now, with the ability to "pin" tasks to a location and have reminders trigger when you are at a location. If you can't wait for iOS 5 or find the upcoming Apple solution too limited, Wasabi is worth a look. Check it out in the video below. if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1042610123001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1042610123001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/5bdc8c0735f09/r/eeba48c0881a3/al/193846/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - Wasabi','videodesc':'undefined','videolink':'#'});
Video App Demo - Science360
Today's video app demo is a real treat to see in action. Science360 for iPad aims to make science info cool by presenting it in a very engaging way. Imagine a 360-degree bubble of science information and you were standing in the middle, rotating the interior of the sphere to see beautiful photos and catchy science headlines and you've pictured the basic interface in Science360. But of course, there's more to it than this -- there are videos and images and tons of cool science stories updated frequently in the app. As usual, this app has to be seen to be appreciated, so check out the video of it in action below. And hey, it's free! if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1034527456001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1034527456001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/1dd7a933c75a6/r/0f9aa7e33f11f/al/193087/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - Science360','videolink':'#'});
Amazon adds Kindle textbook rentals, leaves iBooks in the dust
Amazon announced a new textbook rental service today for its Kindle eBook service. The textbook rental store would let students rent textbooks from 30 to 360 days from the Kindle store. The rental terms could save students up to 80% on the purchase price of the books from publishers such as John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis. Each book is also "Rent Once, Read Everywhere" so students can read their textbook on a variety of devices. There is support for notes that are stored in the cloud and accessible even after the book rental period has expired. This new service puts the pressure on Apple if the Cupertino company wants to tap the lucrative educational market. iBooks is Apple's direct competitor to the Kindle and it does not have the wireless notes syncing or the diversity of content available on the Kindle. Now with textbook rental, Apple's iBooks falls even further behind. With iPads increasingly showing up in the classroom, this is a deficiency Apple may be forced to address.
New Bento templates aimed at students
It may seem like odd timing; with the US about to head into the unofficial pre-summer period with the imminent Memorial Day long weekend, the last thing on most students' minds is getting organized for next year. Nevertheless, today Filemaker is setting the Bento 3 Student Survival Kit loose upon the world. The linked set of free Bento templates includes layouts for organizing lecture notes, courses, group projects, special events and job searches (that last one seems timely, now that I think about it). The Survival Kit is part of the Bento Template Exchange, which offers scores of specialized layouts like the Family Organizer pack and the Mail Management tool. Bento's clean integration with the Mac OS X personal information apps means that students won't have to enter contact information twice, and they can track deadlines and test schedules in iCal with ease. The templates also allow for synchronization with the iPhone and iPad versions of Bento. Downloading the Student Survival Kit does no good, of course, without a copy of the Bento 3 database app; Filemaker is offering a 30-day trial copy to test out the kit, and the software retails for US$49 after that, or $99 for a family pack. It requires Mac OS X 10.6 or 10.5.7 and runs on both PPC and Intel machines.