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YouTube launches education-only site, won't teach evolution of dance (video)
The bandages are barely off after a recent nip-tuck and the internet's biggest time sink is going under the knife again with its new YouTube EDU initiative. Imagine your favorite video site with all the fun stuff stripped off -- it's essentially that. Gone are comments and related videos, and all the non brain-enhancing stuff, leaving just what's good for the grey matter. Why? Well, in the VHS era teachers had control, but now it's a minefield. With its wealth of knowledge, YouTube is an obvious choice for educators, but with so many ways to get RickRolled, or catch-up on the latest keyboard cat, pupils' attention can be lost in seconds. The project has content provided by over 600 educational outlets such as TED and the Smithsonian, with subjects broken down into more than 300 teacher-friendly playlists. We're not sure if "national constitutions"is going to be one of them, but hit the promo video after the break to find out more.
MagnetU connects you with similar people in your area, because diversity is overrated
You could make friends the old fashioned way, with casual introductions, eye contact and other intrinsically human social skills; or you could just sit back and let MagnetU do all the heavy lifting for you. The Israeli startup, founded in 2010, has just unveiled what it calls a "proximity networking" device -- a tiny accessory that connects users to other like-minded people within their immediate vicinity. Within this lightweight gadget lies information on a user's "social desires," which can be customized and modified depending on a given situation. If you're at a networking event, for example, you can activate your "business" profile, before switching into the grossly mistitled "social" mode once you walk into a bar. Once activated, the device will automatically scan for other users within your area, comparing your data against theirs. If it finds a match, both misfits will be notified with a text message that provides details on their level of compatibility. At that point, it's up to you to exchange furtive glances and do the whole "Come here often?" Kabuki routine. The tool could also open up new marketing avenues for retailers, though MagnetU plans to begin rolling out its $24 device at college campus events, where more traditional social lubricants are few and far between.
15 Minutes of Fame: Honors student hits the mark in WoW and life
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. This might be just a little bit embarrassing, but by way of introduction this week, I'd like to reprint the note this week's featured player emailed us last December in response to a call-out for WoW-playing honors students. Its summary of achievements really can't be beat. Hello Lisa, I'm 17, and ... I've played World of Warcraft since late Burning Crusade while maintaining a 91.2 GPA. I've even taken several Advanced Placement courses, which offer me college credit including world history, human geography, literature and composition, and physics. In addition to completing multiple 10-man hard modes of Icecrown Citadel, I've taken on a lot of other responsibilities as a student. I've been a National Honors Society member for three years along with a member and co-captain of an award winning robotics program sponsored by FIRST. On top of that, I don a swimsuit after school for the varsity level swim team. I've played trombone throughout my years of WoW (nine years of the trombone total), playing in the school's jazz band, symphonic band, symphonic orchestra, and marching band, in which I also hold the position of associate drum major. Just this year, I became one of the founding members of the Math Honors Society, in which I spend my mornings before school tutoring other students who just don't quite understand the work. As another bit of school community service, I head over to the middle school as a co-coach, mentor, and former member of the FIRST Lego League robotics club/team. Now, as if my schedule outside of World of Warcraft wasn't busy enough, I'm a second-degree black belt who has studied martial arts for nearly 13 years while also teaching classes, aiding at seminars, and working with disabled/mentally impaired individuals. You'd think I'd have no time for anything at this point, but somehow I squeeze in another job cooking in a New York City restaurant. It's more of an on-call basis, but I cook, wait tables, and assist in instructing cooking classes as well. For my summers, I will admit I do end up taking small breaks from WoW, but it's allowed me to see the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Egypt, and a decent amount of other countries/places. It's also given me time to become a certified SCUBA diver who's Rescue certified and qualified as an Emergency First Responder as well as picking up some International Yacht Training sailing certifications. Oh, did I mention I have four 80's and a 72? Today, Kuhfleisch (Kirin Tor) is an 18-year-old freshman at Texas A&M University at Galveston. He's still keeping up the grades, still keeping up the extracurriculars -- and still keeping up World of Warcraft.
SuperNote lets you take some pretty super notes on your ASUS tablet (video)
Sit back and take notes while we... talk about SuperNote. This note-taking app quietly debuted on the Eee Pad Transformer and Slider earlier this month, when ASUS rolled out an OTA update to Android 3.2.1, but the company has now provided substantially more details on the feature, which promises to "revolutionize the way you take notes in class." With SuperNote onboard, students can write or scribble using either the keyboard or their own fingers. That isn't exactly enthralling, in and of itself, but what's cool is the fact that SuperNote will convert each hand-drawn item into an image, allowing users to seamlessly modify or delete their own characters as if they were typed text. The tool also makes it easy to insert graphs or charts, thanks to an "Add Annotation" option that integrates diagrams directly into your lecture notes. And, perhaps best of all, the app will even let you insert photos, meaning you can just take a shot of your professor's blackboard and worry about understanding it later. Intrigued? Check out a demo video, after the break.
Survey: 60 percent of back-to-school PC purchases are Macs
We've posted before how Apple is not only growing in terms of portable devices, but also in terms of Mac sales. Here's another indicator of that: A survey of 158 college students, all undergrads, says 60 percent of new PC purchases by the group this year consisted of Macs. That's not a huge sample, but it is a representative one, as more and more students are going with OS X-driven computers rather than the old desktop PC. According to the same study last year, Apple held only a 38 percent share, so interest in Macs among this group has almost doubled. More students than last year also brought a tablet with them to school, though shares in that department are apparently leveling. Apple's iPad is down a few percentage points, as is the Kindle, while the "other" category is up by 10 percent. As volatile as those numbers are (which, unfortunately, casts a little bit of doubt on how relevant this study actually is), there are hints that these undergrads are definitely Mac-inclined in their back-to-school purchases. Apple may have become a mobile device company, but its Mac sales are still stronger than ever.
Google Fiber beta test goes live, bathes Stanford in high-speed regularity
When we last checked in on the Google Fiber project, engineers were busy laying the groundwork for a 1Gbps network across both Kansas Cities, while preparing to launch a beta test near Stanford. Now, it looks like the beta service has gone live in the Palo Alto area, according to a lucky Reddit user who claims to be using it. The ISP is available free of charge to students and faculty members within the area, at pretty mouth-watering speeds. No word yet on when the Kansas City communities will receive similar treatment, but you can gaze in awe at the Stanford Speedtest result, after the break.
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: fun stuff!
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. Since the weekend is finally upon us, we figured now's as good a time as any to sit back, relax, and have some fun. Play along with our fun stuff picks -- 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! It's Friday, and that can only mean one thing: two days of parties, sleeping in, and seeing your campus transform from a vehicle of intense education to a spring break-like haven of drunken delight. We've rounded up a few toys to help you relax before you head back to class -- a memory card reader that doubles as a pocket mirror, an Arduino-powered car that can stream video from the dorm hall, and an electric-powered sports car that can drive you and a friend far from campus for a pricey weekend getaway -- so kick off the shoes and prepare to embrace these 48 hours of freedom. And when it's time to get back to the books, we have the gear for that too -- and we're giving it away! Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and check out our giveaway page for more details.
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!
Gig. U hopes to bring Gigabit networks and straight cash, homey, to university communities
Familiar with Johnny Appleseed? He who traipsed 'round the country with a sack 'o seeds on his shoulder, planting trees hither and yon leaving apple orchards blooming in his wake? Gig. U is similar, only it's a project that aims to plant Gigabit networks in 29 collegiate communities to facilitate research, attract start-ups, and stimulate local economies. The plan is just getting underway, and the schools in question -- including Virginia Tech, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Alaska -- are asking private telcos and companies to help make their high-speed dreams a reality. In addition to benefiting the immediate areas, Gig. U sees these swift new networks functioning as hubs in a faster nationwide broadband system. The colleges claim that construction of these new information superhighways won't start for several years, so it'll be some time before they can help elevate us from our current state of broadband mediocrity. Chop, chop, guys.
Apple's back-to-school promo reportedly beating Microsoft 8 to 2
According to a report from Global Equities Research, more incoming college students are picking up an Apple computer than a Windows computer this year. Apple is not just edging out Microsoft either; Macs are beating out Windows machines at an impressive rate of 8 to 2. About 80% of incoming students will rock a Mac and an increasing number of current students are ditching their Windows machines in favor of an Apple-branded product. iPads are also a hot product among senior students, says the Global Equities Research report. The research also suggests many students are taking advantage of Apple's Back to School $100 gift card promo. What are they doing with extra windfall of iTunes cash? Buying songs, of course.
Microsoft offers free Xbox 360 with back-to-school PC, professors shake their gray, uncool heads
With only the best interests of its younger customers at heart, Microsoft has a new back-to-school promotion: starting May 22, college students buying a new Windows 7 PC can also get a free Xbox 360 4GB console. That's right, free -- as long as your new computer cost at least $699 and came from Redmond or one of its partners, including HP and Dell. Online ordering will require a .edu email address, which even attendees of the School of Life know how to procure; if you'd rather shop at Best Buy or a Microsoft Store, you'll need an actual student ID. This isn't about convincing students they need more than a tablet computer, of course. It's about giving them the opportunity to be popular. "Get ready to be the coolest kid on your dorm floor with a killer new Windows 7 PC and an Xbox 360 -- all you really need for college," the company says. Yes, being the coolest kid on your dorm floor: pretty much the definition of Higher Education.
Interview with Jeremy Olson of the Grades app
Created by Jeremy Olson of Tapity, the Grades app is a tool for students to help them earn the grade they want in a class and achieve their target GPA. The app lets students input their current grades, list upcoming assignments and finally set their target grade or GPA. The app will calculate the scores students need on their upcoming assignments to turn a D into an A. We had a chance to interview this budding developer, and we talked with him about programming, payment and promotion. Read on for a closer look at this developer and his experience with iOS.
Paralyzed student uses robotic exoskeleton to walk at college graduation (video)
Austin Whitney hasn't been able to walk since a 2007 car crash left him paralyzed, but on Saturday the 22-year-old triumphantly strode across the stage to accept his degree from UC Berkeley. He had a little help, in the form of a specially crafted robotic exoskeleton developed by Berkeley engineering professor Homayoon Kazerooni. Kazerooni and his team designed the exoskeleton with lightness and affordability in mind, resisting the urge to load it up with expensive hardware and tethering the mechanized walker to a backpack that houses a computer and a rechargeable, eight-hour battery. As a result, the Austin walker won't enable the kind of acrobatic leaps that would make Lt. Rasczak proud, but its reduced mobility comes at a reduced cost of just $15,000. That's certainly not an impulse buy, though it's a welcomed alternative to other exoskeletons that retail for $100,000 or more. Walk past the break for a video of Whitney's momentous steps, along with a clip of Kazerooni describing his creation.
Amar Bose donates majority of Bose Corporation shares to MIT, says thanks for the education
If you haven't heard of Dr. Amar Bose directly, you've surely heard of his eponymous audio equipment company. Late last week, the 81-year old founder and chairman of Bose Corporation announced that he's donating the majority of shares in the privately held company to his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A member of that college's graduating class of 1951 and its electrical engineering faculty all the way until 2001, Bose felt compelled to give something back and he's opted for the most grandiose of gestures. MIT won't be able to sell its shares in Bose Corp. nor have any say in the way it is run, but it'll receive dividends as and when they're paid out, which will then be reinvested in its research and education programs. In making this perpetual endowment public, Amar Bose took the time to credit Professors Y. W. Lee, Norbert Wiener and Jerome Wiesner as his mentors -- in the image above, you can see him pictured with Lee (left) and Wiener (right) back in 1955. Chalkboards, that's where it all began.
iPad passes Reed College higher ed test
Reed College took the Apple iPad for a spin in 2010 and was pleased with the tablet's performance as an educational tool. The College was one of several educational establishments that tested the Kindle DX when the eReader was launched in 2009. When the pilot program was completed, the Kindle DX was deemed a failure for usage in a classroom situation. Where the Kindle failed, the Apple iPad excelled according to CTO Martin Ringle who was speaking with Fast Company. According to the results from Reed College's iPad pilot program, the iPad's responsive and smooth scrolling touchscreen made it ideal for reading content in the classroom. Navigation among passages was quick and easy, a task that was difficult using the Kindle's navigation pointer. The highlighting and annotation of text was also easy, with many students choosing to highlight text on the iPad over traditional pen and paper. The iPad pilot program did point out some flaws, most notable of which is the virtual keyboard. While easy to type short messages, the onscreen keyboard is not designed for long-form writing. This shortcoming could be alleviated with an external keyboard that lets you input text in a traditional and comfortable manner. The purchase of a keyboard, though, adds an additional expense to the final cost of adoption. Syncing and file system issues are also a hindrance as transferring PDF files via iTunes is slow. Once synced, documents are difficult to locate on the device, though the use of a third-party application like Good Reader would mitigate this issue. Interestingly enough, the Reed report on the pilot program suggests schools may be open to the usage of Android tablets as well as the iPad. If a device hits the right price point and the correct set of features, schools will adopt these tablet devices en masse in the upcoming years. [Via @counternotions]
Apple pushing its at-home advisor program to college students
Apple is reportedly boosting its efforts to recruit college students for its college advisor program by passing out flyers on college and university campuses. As an Apple At-Home advisor, you receive a free iMac, full benefits and are paid more than $10 per hour to work 16 hours per week during the school year and 40 hours per week in the summer. Best of all, you get to work from the comfort of your home and on a schedule that fits your lifestyle. Oh, and that employee discount on all Apple products is a nice perk as well. To be eligible for this program, you must be enrolled in college and maintain a GPA of 2.7. Tech savviness is a plus as you will be helping customers who call into AppleCare and need technical support for their Apple software or hardware. Patience and a sense of humor are also helpful as you will be handling a variety of questions from skilled and not-so-skilled customers.
Schools in Singapore issuing iPads to teachers and students
Reuters is reporting that, at an initial cost of S$135,000 (about US$100,000), a pilot program handing out iPads to 140 students and 10 teachers at Nanyang Girls High School, Tampines Secondary School, Nanhua Primary School and Dunman Secondary School in Singapore aims to replace textbooks and increase interactivity in the classroom. Students can connect to the internet, download books and notes, share workbooks and access course materials all from their iPads. In talking to Reuters, 14-year-old student Chloe Chen said, "It's much more convenient. Teachers can just tell us to go a website, and we can immediately go and do our work." While the iPad has been used to help feed the hungry and by doctors in surgery, the education world seems to be where it is destined to have the biggest impact. So far, we have seen examples of colleges in the US handing out iPads to students and of textbook publishers like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt testing a full year Algebra course app, so one can imagine just how many places tablet computers will show up once they become even more popular than they already are. I have heard from two teacher friends that they would love to have an iPad in their classroom, saying that it would help them stay up-to-date and organized, but neither one of them said they would want the students to have them because it would just be a distraction. However, if for no other reason, iPads in the classroom would help them facilitate paperless courses for students, and that alone could save them a lot of headaches. [via MacStories and 9to5 Mac]
Sprint TV broadcasting 30 college bowl games, including entire BCS
Quick: can you name 30 college football bowl games? Well, if you keep your face glued to your Sprint phone's screen for the next couple weeks, you'll be able to, thanks largely to the partnership Sprint inked with ESPN earlier this ear to bring ESPN Mobile TV to its devices. You'll be able to get to the games on your phone through either Sprint TV or the dedicated Sprint Football Live app, which are available on "most" models in Sprint's lineup and cost you nothing as long as you're signed up for unlimited data. Notably, Sprint's broadcasting will include the entire Bowl Championship Series -- and in the off chance you're interested in one of the five bowls that aren't being televised on your phone, the Football Live app will still offer you play-by-play coverage and stats. Follow the break for the full press release.
The current state of Mac use in higher education
Apple used to own the Higher Education market throughout the 80s and early 90s. Apple eventually took a back seat to the lower-priced Dell product line, but all of that is changing. According to a Group Logic Inc. survey of IT professionals at 125 North American colleges and universities, use of Macs on campuses has risen and will continue to rise. Between 2009 and 2010, Mac usage increased by 18 percent and is expected to rise by another 20 percent over the next five years. The reason most often given for the recent sharp increase was as a reaction to Microsoft's Vista operating system, which was considered problematic (to use the nicest word I could think of) by students and IT alike. The survey was collected from fairly large institutions, averaging about 16,500 students. On average, 31 percent of students and 24 percent of faculty are currently using Macs on campus. An August report by Student Monitor stated that 27 percent of laptops found on campus were Macs, 24 percent were made by Dell, and 15 percent were Hewlett Packards, easily giving Apple the lion's share of the Higher Education laptop market. The study also found that nearly half of students in the market for a laptop said that they would buy a Mac. Compare that with a survey done in 2005, where only 14 percent of students queried were interested in a Mac laptop, and about half said they were buying a Dell. Windows is still the most prevalent operating system, but the gap is closing. Student Monitor reported that in 2003, over 2500 institutions were using Windows, while only 200 used Macs. By 2008, the gap closed dramatically, with about 2000 institutions using Windows and 1100 using Macs; only a year later, 1700 schools were using Windows compared to 1400 using Macs. What wasn't mentioned in any survey (and seemed a rather obvious thing to leave out): the "halo effect." A major motivating factor in students buying Macs is that so many of them have iPods, iPhones, or iPads and have been impressed by them, making Macs a much easier sell. %Gallery-107378%
Google to beta test 1Gbps fiber internet service at Stanford's Residential Subdivision
Right after having a giant Christmas tree as your mascot comes the next best reason to be a Cardinal: the chance to have 1Gbps internet from Google. If you'll recall, the Big G announced earlier this year that it was planning to rollout a 1Gbps fiber connection to between 50,000 and 500,000 homes in a given community, and while the search is still ongoing for the perfect fit (that's expected to be announced by the year's end), Google's using a sliver of Stanford's campus to trial things before heading public. The university's Residential Subdivision -- a group of approximately 850 faculty- and staff-owned homes on campus -- will be the testing grounds for the aforesaid internet service, and the current plan is to break ground on the initiative in early 2011. El Goog chose Stanford for a couple of reasons: first, it's bright enough to realize how awesome of a PR move this is, and second, this chunk of campus is spitting distance from Mountain View. Third, the Cardinal mascot was down with it -- and seriously, who is Google to question that thing?
