UniversityOfMississippi

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  • University of Southern Mississippi hands out Galaxy Tabs to honors students (video)

    by 
    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    08.01.2011

    Being an honors student at the University of Southern Mississippi just got a little more awesome. The college is hooking up its highest performers with brand new Galaxy Tab 10.1s, pre-loaded with software from the popular (and widely loathed) Blackboard educational portal. As you'd expect, syllabi, textbooks, and grades can all be easily pulled up by students in the Honors College, McNair Scholars, Southern Style, and Gulf Coast programs. With only a 1,000 going out now, the initiative stops shy of similar pushes by the Webb School and Seton Hill where everybody gets an iPad. And, while the educational value of tablets is still debatable, at least they'll be able to read Engadget in style. Check out Sammy's guitar-laden promo video after the break.

  • Wii Fit found to have 'little effect' on family fitness level, boredom seems to be the main culprit

    by 
    Paul Miller
    Paul Miller
    12.17.2009

    In a new study conducted by Scott Owens out of the University of Mississippi, the Wii Fit was loaned to eight families and the usage and fitness impact was tracked over time -- three months before they got the Wii, and three months after. The verdict? "No significant changes" in family fitness from the Wii. Interestingly, over the period of three months the daily Wii Fit usage declined a staggering 82 percent, from 22 minutes a day for the first half of the time all the way down to an average of four minutes a day for the last six weeks. The biggest winners here were the children, who did display some "significant" increases in the specific area of aerobic fitness, but we get the feeling that with a bit more stick-to-itiveness the whole family might've been able to raise its game here. Or maybe Nintendo could invest in making some more motion-controlled games that don't become repetitive and shallow after two playthroughs.