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Samsung is refreshing the Series 5 Chromebook, releasing the Chromebox in Q2
We'll likely never know how many Chromebooks Samsung has sold, but we're guessing it's not a terribly impressive figure. No matter. Sammy is refreshing its first-gen Series 5 with a new model, along with that Chromebox Google first teased last spring. Starting with the Chromebook, it trades its slick cover for something muted, with more discreet logo placement, though that matte, 12.1-inch, 300-nit display has made a reappearance. On the inside, meanwhile, it steps up from Atom to Celeron, though it still has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. Look for it sometime in the second quarter with some familiar pricing: $399 for the WiFi-only version, and $449 for the 3G model with pay-as-you-go data from Verizon. As for the Chromebox, Samsung is still staying mum on specs, though the company did tell us it comes with a wireless keyboard-and-mouse combo. It also has a handful of ports, including five USB 2.0 sockets, DVI, DisplayPort and a headphone jack. All that'll run you around $400 when it lands sometime in the second quarter. To be honest, it's difficult to imagine consumers choosing this over a Mac mini or HTPC, though Samsung makes a shrewd point when it says this might find a home in K-12 computer labs, where the cost per student would be low and the systems would consume little space. Then again, the same could be said of laptops like this, no? Update: The Chromebox, too, has a dual-core Celeron CPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage -- just like the Chromebook. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
Lenovo ThinkPad X130e delayed until February, early-adopting school districts to blame
We'll be honest: when Lenovo said it would ship the new student-friendly ThinkPad X130e starting on December 20th, we didn't actually program an alert in our calendars, reminding us to place our orders on the very first day it became available. But it looks like at least a few you did just that, and were quite taken with this durable 11.6-inch laptop. As it turns out, though, you'll have to wait a little longer to get yours -- Lenovo's product page is now saying it won't be available for individual purchase until February. Apparently, it's because the X130e's rubber bumper, recessed ports, reinforced hinge and Core i3 / Fusion innards were just too irresistible to educators: a Lenovo rep told us all the early units have been scooped up by hungry school districts, meaning individual students and other fans of inexpensive, ruggedized laptops will have to wait for a later batch.[Thanks, Markus]
Agile Partners rock GuitarToolkit 2.0
Agile Partners (who've come up at TUAW a few times) have released GuitarToolkit 2.0, a major upgrade to the original app which adds extensive features and an iPad version. GuitarToolkit boasts a range of tools geared at guitar and bass players, but now includes enough flexibility to work with any fretted instrument you can imagine. This is a free update for existing customers, and additional functionality is available as a one-time, US $4.99 in-app upgrade. In addition to being redesigned to take advantage of the iPad's size, the new release expands from 500,000 chords to over 2,000,000 chords and scales--and now--arpeggios. There's full capo support, too: slide to any fret and scales and arpeggios automatically adjust. All of GuitarToolkit's features support six, seven, and twelve string guitars, as well as four, five and six string bass, banjo, mandolin and ukulele. The GuitarToolkit+ upgrade activates interactive Chord Sheets (a great tool for composition and building chord progressions), an Advanced Metronome (with visible flash option), a drum machine and Custom Instruments. Drum patterns can contain as many as 32 tracks, and you control time signature, number of bars and have access to 75 sounds in nine different categories. The Advanced Metronome is available immediately on the iPad, and coming shortly to the iPhone/iPod touch. The Custom Instruments capability is pretty cool, especially if you're playing something that doesn't necessarily fit into the standard guitar mold. Choose an instrument type, string and pickup type, assign a tuning, even add a capo if you like. GuitarToolkit+ includes great-sounding samples for every combination, as well as over 60 amp/effects presets powered by AmpKit. The tuner in GuitarToolkit is highly accurate and supports just about any tuning you can imagine (including custom tunings). More than I'll ever use, I'm sure. There's also a high-contrast mode to make sure you can use it in any lighting situation. All told, if you play a fretted instrument of any kind, the US $9.99 app (and the US $4.99 in-app upgrade) will probably pay off pretty quickly. This is the only app I've seen that offers this kind of flexibility and provides as many composition tools. Check it out in the App Store.
Get productive for less with the ProductiveMacs bundle
It's a great time of the year to find software deals. Yesterday we mentioned the MacUpdate bundle, and today we're looking at the ProductiveMacs bundle, featuring (as you'd expect) a bunch of stellar productivity apps. Included in the bundle are some of my personal favorites, like Default Folder X (our coverage here) and LaunchBar (our coverage here), plus the truly awesome BusyCal (which we've covered) and the superlative Fantastical (our story here). I've never used Cashculator or Home Inventory, but they look good, and Notebook from Circus Ponies is something I've wanted for years -- and it normally costs $20 more than the bundle. Our own Brett Terpstra and Mel Martin swear by Tags. Yep, that's 8 productivity apps for just $39.99. The bundle goes away in 5 days, plus there's a bunch of software prizes being given away, so buy these now and save a ton of money with a chance to win even more great software. I'll point out that these apps are not coming from the Mac App Store, so if you prefer to get your apps via that channel, you won't be able to do that with a bundle as Apple doesn't really allow it. That said, these are full versions of powerful apps that continue to update alongside their MAS brothers, so you're not buying abandonware. In fact, you're looking at saving over $200, which I think is worth it if you like getting things done efficiently on your Mac.
Lenovo's rugged ThinkPad X130e targets students, arrives December 20 for $469
When we first spotted leaked photos of Lenovo's ThinkPad X130e, we just kind of assumed it was the next-gen successor to the X120e, which we reviewed almost a year ago. Well, you know what happens when you A-S-S-U-M-E, right? Turns out, there is indeed an X130e, but it's intended specifically for students. The company just made its official announcement, and explained that that rugged design we've been hearing about isn't meant to protect it from careless baggage handlers at the airport so much as freewheeling six year-olds. Though Lenovo's already had a hand in Intel's Classmate project, this is the first time it's released a classroom-ready laptop under the ThinkPad brand, red pointing stick and all. Of all the kid-proof touches, the more obvious ones include a rubber bumper ringing the plastic lid, along with a thicker bezel shielded by 1.2mm of plastic. It also has recessed, reinforced ports, an accelerometer to protect the hard drive and a hinge rated for 30,000 cycles. Of course, the result of all this ruggedizing is that the X130e is fairly heavy for an 11-incher, at 3.9 pounds (1.78kg). Otherwise, though, its specs are pretty much what you'd expect in an 11.6-inch laptop. For starters, it's offered with an Intel Core i3-2367M processor, as well as AMD Fusion E-300 and E-450 APUs. It comes with 2GB of RAM (upgradeable to 8GB), up to 500GB in storage, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 6-cell battery rated for 8.5 hours of battery life. Lenovo's also added its RapidBoot technology, promising a sub-20-second startup time. It also has three USB 2.0 sockets, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, a combined headphone / mic port and a 4-in-1 memory card reader. And, because Lenovo is also selling these to schools, it'll customize the laptops by tweaking the BIOS and tricking out the lid in assorted colors. It'll go on sale on Lenovo's site starting December 20th for $469 and up. Until then, we've got some candy-colored press photos below. %Gallery-140929%
Nitronic Rush: a 'survival driving' game by DigiPen students
Skyrim? Pssh, forget that noise, November 11 is all about Nitronic Rush now. A "survival driving" game for the PC, Nitronic Rush has been developed by the aptly named Team Nitronic, a group of students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology, the same school responsible for Narbacular Drop. As you can tell from the release trailer above, the game looks flippin' gorgeous (see what we did there?), and we can't wait to see if the gameplay ends up being just as stellar. Dragons are so old hat, you guys; glowing mystical daredevil highways are the new hotness.
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.
iPad subsidy offers lure student customers in France
France telecom operator Orange has teamed up with France's Ministry for Higher Education to offer subsidized iPads to French university students for €1 a day. The deal comes at a time when iPads are becoming recognized as a boon to students in the classroom partly due to the educational apps and textbooks available for the devices. The Orange France offer allows students to sign up for a 2-year deal in which they pay €30 a month for a 16GB iPad 2 Wi-Fi+3G. Students can also opt for a 12-month plan with the same device for €34 a month. In addition to the iPad, students also get 1 GB of free data a month as well as unlimited data for emails (and attachments) and also unlimited data on Orange's Wi-Fi hot spots. French students can take advantage of the offer by going to www.proximamobile.fr or www.orange.fr and verifying their student credentials.
Mr Fussy mods Samsung Galaxy S for inductive charging, without frazzling warranty (video)
It's not hard to find a good inductive charging smartphone these days, but German IT student Qian Qin absolutely had to have the feature on his Galaxy S Plus. What's more, it needed to be just right: no voiding of the warranty and no unsightly protrusions. So, instead of bumping his gums, he went out and purchased a Palm Pre back cover and a Touchstone dock for €30 ($40), ripped the charging circuit out of the Pre cover and stuck it into the Samsung's cover, then finally soldered a wire from the circuit to the micro-USB port (plus another wire to the microSD slot for 0V). Job done. At first, the mere mention of a webOS device gave us a twinge of sadness, but then the video after the break cheered us right up again -- you can tell within the first six seconds that this guy is a pure OCD perfectionist. You'll also find more detailed instructions at the source link, and they should work equally well for the original Galaxy S too.
Apple revamps Student Jobs page
Apple has revamped their Student Jobs page, which allows students or recent graduates to find work opportunities with Apple. The newly revamped page offers a simplified layout with job opportunities sorted into two sections: "I'm currently in school" lists all Apple Campus Rep, internship, and Retail store positions. "I have my degree" lists all Apple Retail store, Apple Store Leadership Program, and Corporate openings. Each category in those two sections are further broken down into subcategories. For example, "Internships" allows you to search for internships based on your degree level. If you're working on an MA or PhD Apple has different internships available than if you're working on your undergraduate. One program which not too many people may be familiar with is the Apple Leadership Program. This has been internally referred to as the "Apple MBA." From the Student Jobs site description: The Apple Store Leader Program is a 24-month immersion into every aspect of managing and operating an Apple Retail Store. In this international program, you'll spend time in key store positions - gaining sales skills working as a Specialist, teaching others as a Creative, and resolving problems at the Genius Bar. As you progress, you'll be mentored by a Market Leader, participate in training experiences, and help guide and direct store teams. When you finish the program, you'll have distinctive skills and knowledge, as well as the opportunity to apply for a leadership position at one of our stores anywhere in the world. The requirements for all Apple student jobs opportunities are listed the the Student Jobs page.
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: laptops
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 getting down to the very important business of helping you sift through laptops, and you can always 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! Ah, laptops. Some of us received our first notebooks the summer before college if not later. But times have changed and we're sure for many of the kids reading this freshman year is just an excuse to upgrade from the clunkers that carried them through high school. Either way, this one's pretty much mandatory -- unless you're a serious gamer who insists on a desktop GPU for marathon sessions of CoD: Black Ops, you're going to need a laptop for pounding out last-minute term papers in the library, taking notes in class and posting incriminating photos on Facebook. The problem is, the market's overrun with laptops that purport to be just perfect for the back to school set. They can't all be worth your money, though, so we whittled the list down to a handful of choices for each budget -- and if you're lucky you'll get your very own HP Pavilion dm1z for the pretty price of, well, nothing. 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.
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.
HTC Mazaa's awarded in dev contest, winners promptly splay (and auction) them to world
What would you do if you'd won an unannounced smartphone that sported Windows Phone Mango? Naturally, we hope you'd first send us the dirt, but what if you were a college student and knew the weekend was rapidly approaching? Undergrad winners of Microsoft's WPAppitUp competition are facing this smartphone / cheap beer conundrum, as they're now holding HTC Mazaas as prizes, yet many are selling them for cash instead. If you'd like to adopt an orphan, the phones come with Qualcomm's MSM8655 SoC -- the same as the Thunderbolt and Droid Incredible 2 -- which supports (but may not feature) dual mode GSM / CDMA for world roaming. A 1GHz Scorpion CPU and the Adreno 205 GPU are in the mix, and while the over-sized earpiece seems to indicate that this is the same 12-megapixel monster previously shown off by Eldar Murtazin, one of the contest winners, Heedeok Lee, informed us that the camera is actually of 5 megapixel resolution only. Frankly, it's unclear whether the Mazaa is heading for retail shelves at all, but if you're wanting an early taste of Mango, you should consider befriending a thirsty student developer. %Gallery-130391%
PocoPoco musical interface box makes solenoids fun, gives Tenori-On pause (video)
Think SIGGRAPH's all about far-out design concepts? Think again. A crew from the Tokyo Metropolitan University IDEEA Lab was on hand here at the show's experimental wing showcasing a new "musical interface," one that's highly tactile and darn near impossible to walk away from. Upon first glance, it reminded us most of Yamaha's Tenori-On, but the "universal input / output box" is actually far deeper and somewhat more interactive in use. A grand total of 16 solenoids are loaded in, and every one of 'em are loaded up with sensors. Users can tap any button to create a downbeat (behind the scenes, a sequencer flips to "on"), which will rise in unison with the music until you tap it once more to settle it (and in turn, eliminate said beat). You can grab hold of a peg in order to sustain a given note until you let it loose. There's a few pitch / tone buttons that serve an extra purpose -- one that we're sure you can guess by their names. Those are capable of spinning left and right, with pitch shifting and speeds increasing / decreasing with your movements. The learning curve here is practically nonexistent, and while folks at the booth had no hard information regarding an on-sale date, they confirmed to us that hawking it is most certainly on the roadmap... somewhere. Head on past the break for your daily (video) dose of cacophony. %Gallery-130382%
Microsoft Touch Mouse to take center stage at UIST Student Innovation Contest
It's August, and that can only mean three things: vacations, back to school shopping, and another UIST Student Innovation Contest. Taking center stage this year is Microsoft's Touch Mouse -- a multitouch gesture-based peripheral that we first saw earlier this year. UIST contestants will have to come up with cool new ways to interact with the mouse, with the winning innovator receiving $1500, and $500 going to the runner-up (trophies are apparently involved, as well). All entries will be demoed on October 17th in Santa Barbara, and the winners will be announced on the following day. Hit the source link for information on registration, or squeeze past the break for a video from UIST chair Kayur Patel, along with a clip on the Touch Mouse.
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':'#'});
Amazon rolls out textbook rentals for Kindle, promises discounts up to 80 percent
Students can already save a few bucks by opting for a digital version of a textbook over a hardcover, and they can now save even more courtesy of Amazon if they aren't too intent on hanging onto the book after they're done with it. The company has just announced textbook rentals for Kindle, which promises to let students save "up to 80 percent" off the list price of those often pricey textbooks. That discount varies depending on the rental period -- which can be anywhere from 30 to 360 days -- and the option is already available on "tens of thousands" of textbooks from a number of publishers including John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis. What's more, you can also rest assured that all of your annotations will be saved even after the rental has expired, and be accessible at any time on the Kindle website (or in the book itself if you ever decide to rent it again for old time's sake). Press release is after the break.
Solar Sinter solar-powered 3D printer turns sand into glass, renews our faith in higher education (video)
Where would we be without the world's graduate art projects? In the case of Markus Kayser's Solar Sinter, we might never have seen the day when a solar-powered 3D printer would turn Saharan sand into a perfectly suitable glass bowl. Well, lucky for us (we suppose) we live in a world overflowing with MA students, and awash in their often confusing, sometimes inspiring projects. Solar Sinter, now on display at the Royal College of Art, falls into the latter category, taking the Earth's natural elements, and turning them into functioning pieces of a burgeoning technology. Solar Sinter uses the sun's rays in place of a laser and sand in place of resin, in a process that is perhaps more visually stunning than the results. See for yourself in the video after the break.
UK students' 1,980 MPG car scores first place in marathon race, by a 1,000 MPG margin
A car that looks like the one above and gets the "equivalent" of 1,980 miles to the gallon (and one gallon only) is certainly impressive enough on its own, but it's all the more so when you consider that it's driven by a 14-year-old and built by his classmates (with a little assistance, of course). This particular vehicle hails from Kingdown School in Wiltshire, England, and it won the recent Mallory Park Mileage Marathon by a margin of more than 1,000 MPG over its next closest competitor. Not surprisingly, however, the students are already looking to improve things for next years' race, and say they're planning on upgrading the engine for starters. No word if they're considering an X-Prize challenge after that.
