U.S. Justice Department Sues e-Book Publishers
April 13, 2012
Earlier this week, news broke that the U.S. Justice Department is suing a number of major publishers, including Apple, for conspiring to raise the price of e-books. Ultimately, the Justice Department charges that the publishers and Apple conspired to limit e-book price competition, increasing overall e-book retail prices, and causing “consumers to pay tens of millions of dollars more for e-books than they otherwise would have paid.”
But there is much more to this story! Yes, this means immediate lower e-book prices for the consumer, but you have to question a decision that is opposed by the American Booksellers Association, the Authors Guild and which allows Amazon to regain the upper hand.
If you aren’t sure what any of these means, or why it matters, check out this short blog post by Anna deVries. She does an excellent job summarizing the current situation.
Intel details tablet targeting education market
April 11, 2012
On Monday, Intel announced the Studybook, a 7-inch tablet capable of running either Windows 7 or Android.
Intel’s tablet packs a multitouch LCD screen, front and rear cameras, light sensor and, of course, an Intel Atom processor. Other features include 1 gigabyte of memory and up to 32GB of solid-state storage.
And, since it’s aimed at students, it’s designed to be dust- and water-resistant, and able to withstand a pretty good-sized drop.
Intel isn’t alone in going after this market, of course. In addition to the traditional PC and tablet makers, the One Laptop Per Child project has taken aim at the same area. OLPC also got its start in rugged laptops, and is moving on to tablets.
Social-Studying Web Site, GradeGuru, is Closing
April 9, 2012
A start-up that tried to make studying more social is closing its doors.
GradeGuru, the social-studying Web site run by McGraw-Hill Higher Education, has announced that it will close its doors on April 29.
The service, which was part of a group of Web sites putting a Facebook-like spin on studying, gave students small rewards for uploading their class notes. Users earned points for sharing popular notes and redeemed them for cash and gift cards.
