Posts tagged with "education"

Apple To Announce “GarageBand For E-Books”?

Apple is holding an education-themed media event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York on Thursday, with rumours suggesting it will heavily revolve around textbooks and the iBooks platform. Ars Technica is this morning reporting that part of the event will also be the announcement of a “GarageBand for e-books”.

The gist of this idea is that whilst anyone can create an ePub for iBooks distribution, the process is not simple - particularly if you want to go beyond the basics and add multimedia or other interactive elements. Ars Technica’s sources say Apple will announce a tool on Thursday that makes the process of creating iBooks easier. Ars points out that Apple doesn’t want to get in the textbook or book industry, just like they don’t want to enter the movie industry as content creators. Instead they have offered tools from GarageBand and iMovie to Logic and Final Cut Pro to allow anyone from consumers to professionals to create content.

The current state of software tools continues to frustrate authors and publishers alike, with several authors telling Ars that they wish Apple or some other vendor would make a simple app that makes the process as easy as creating a song in GarageBand.

Ars also believes that Apple will announce support for the ePub 3 standard in iBooks on Thursday. Apple had used the ePub 2 standard along with some HTML5-based extensions for further multimedia and interactive elements, but the new standard removes the need for the proprietary extensions - ensuring that ePubs are compatible across platforms.

[Via Ars Technica]

Apple Confirms: Media Event In New York On January 19

According to The Loop, Apple has just sent out invitations to the press confirming the rumored media event for January. The event will take place in New York at the Guggenheim Museum on January 19. As provided by The Loop, the invitation reads “Join us for an education announcement in the Big Apple” of what appears to be a chalkboard background.

Earlier this month, it was reported Apple was working with publishers in the educational market for a “big media announcement”. Speculation has arisen suggesting that the event will see the unveiling of a new textbook option in iTunes and iBooks, something that was also hinted by Steve Jobs himself, more or less, in the authorized biography by Walter Isaacson. Of course, several rumors have appeared in the past weeks claiming that there will be a series of announcement regarding iBooks and eBooks in general, albeit today’s invitation email from Apple seems to be pretty clear about the fact that the event will be focused on education.

Speaking of iBooks, a notable omission in Apple’s eBook line up is a dedicated Mac app which, many have suggested, could only make sense for textbooks on portable Mac computers.

We’ll cover Apple’s media event on January 19 with a liveblog on the site’s homepage.

Apple To Stop Shipping Boxed Software to Educational Resellers

According to a report by ZDNet’s Jason O’Grady, Apple has informed educational resellers and customers of academic institutions that they will no longer receive boxed copies of Apple software like Snow Leopard, iLife, and iWork. With the exception of Snow Leopard, required to upgrade to OS X Lion and still available on Apple’s website, all the apps mentioned in the letter have been released on the Mac App Store, including Apple Remote Desktop and Aperture, the latter with a heavily discounted price compared to its physical counterpart.

Apple confirmed today that, with limited exception, they will cease to ship boxed software to campus resellers. This includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard , iLife, iWork, Apple Remote Desktop, and Aperture, among others.

We have a limited supply of copies of each in stock in the store, so consider this a “last call” for anyone who would like a hard copy before they are gone. Particularly anyone who would like to get Snow Leopard, as we just received our final shipment of that version of the OS.

The only products that will remain as boxed software offerings are Logic Express and Logic Studio.

The obvious move towards digital downloads falls in line with Apple’s recent Mac App Store-only strategy: the discontinuation of MobileMe boxes and less space for boxed software in Apple retail stores; the popularity of the Mac App Store as a digital distribution platform; the release of new major upgrades (Lion, Final Cut Pro X) exclusively on the Mac App Store. Clearly, Apple is putting all the pieces together to eliminate boxed software completely from its future offerings. There are a few exceptions of course – Apple had to release a physical copy of Lion for users unable to download the 4 GB installer, and recently made the old Final Cut Studio (boxed copy) available again through tele-sales. But as this “last call” to educational resellers confirms, Apple’s future software distribution won’t include boxed copies, not even for academic institutions.

Apple Introduces $999 iMac For Educational Institutions

We reported a few hours ago on reports that Apple was set to launch a new iMac model for educational institutions later this month for a sub-$1000 price. Surprisingly we only needed to wait a few more hours for this new model as it turns out that Apple has decided to launch this new educational iMac today — meaning that for educational institutions they can purchase this new iMac model now.

This new iMac model is available for $999 and is directly targeted at educational institutions — individuals are not able to purchase this model. The specifications of this new iMac model are in line with what was stated in the 9to5 Mac report this morning with a 3.1GHz Core i3 processor, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB of hard drive storage and an AMD HD 6750 with 512 MB. This knowledge base article contains all the specifications of this new iMac but interestingly this model (which is dubbed a ‘Late 2011’ iMac) does not have Thunderbolt, that makes this iMac the first new Mac from Apple in 2011 that doesn’t support Thunderbolt.

  • 3.1GHz Intel Core i3 Dual-Core
  • 21.5-inch LCD
  • AMD Radeon HD 6750 with 256 MB
  • 2GB RAM
  • 250GB Hard Drive
  • SuperDrive
  • OS X Lion

Updated to include link to specifications page.

[Via MacRumors]

Apple Set To Introduce Education-Focused iMac Model For Less Than $1000?

Apple may be preparing to launch an education-focused iMac later this month according to a report in 9to5 Mac today. The “new” iMac would be less powerful than the current generation of iMacs available to consumers but would be priced at a lower level that is geared towards volume and educational customers.

9to5 Mac claims that this ‘education’ iMac will include a previous generation 3.1GHz dual core processor, 2 GB of RAM, 250 GB of hard drive storage and an AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics processor with 256 MB dedicated memory — the article doesn’t rule in or rule out the inclusion of a Thunderbolt port. No price is attributed to this machine in the article but they suspect it would be sub-$1000 and cite the example of a previous education-focused iMac being sold for $899 and a similar refurbished model selling for $929 now.

This ‘education’ iMac is expected to silently launch on August 16th, but there is potential for that date to change if Apple wishes — there isn’t any real rush to get this product out as soon as possible. Whilst this rumoured new iMac model is a bit odd and out of the blue, the specificity that 9to5 Mac has in terms of specifications (despite the lack of a concrete price) suggests that it is likely that this is indeed a product about to launch.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

Apple Details Lion Upgrade For Education and Business

TUAW reports an Apple Sales document released today details the upgrade process for business and education customers willing to purchase OS X Lion when it comes out in July. Apple has already outlined the Lion Up-to-Date program, which will allow customers who have purchased a Mac from Apple or authorized reseller to get the new OS for free, by filing a request within 30 days of Lion’s release. According to the Sales document, the upgrade path for business customers will be the following: by calling 1-800-854-3680 or using the Business Store, a minimum purchase of 20 license will cost customers $29.99 per license. With the same minimum purchase of 20 licenses, Apple is offering “maintenance contracts” (which will ensure a free upgrade to the next version of OS X) at $49.99 per license.

As for education, schools will get Lion at $39.99 per license with a minimum order of 25 licenses as part of the Apple Software Collection package, which includes OS X, iLife and iWork. TUAW also explains other licensing and deployment options:

Existing Volume License, Maintenance, and Apple Education Licensing Program customers will receive one redemption code for each contract that can be used to download Lion from the Mac App Store. That single copy of the Install Mac OS X Lion application is used to install Lion on other Mac systems at the school or business.

Once the install app has been downloaded, administrators just copy it to the target systems and run the installer. Administrators can use the System Image Utility in OS X Lion Server to build NetInstall (link to PDF) or NetRestore images to assist in performing mass deployments.

Apple has announced OS X Lion will come out in July at $29 exclusively on the Mac App Store as digital download. More details on the upgrade process and re-installation options due to the lack of physical media will likely be posted soon after the launch of the OS.

$200,000 Program Gets Kindergartens iPad 2s & Apps

In the past months, we’ve heard several stories about the iPad being deployed in education with pilot programs aimed at testing the device in educational contexts Apple perhaps didn’t think about in the first place as a possible main focus for the tablet. Many schools all over the world have shown interest in the iPad, mainly thanks to the large selection of software available that makes it easy for teachers to find exactly the apps they need, and for students to be engaged with a great digital experience. Singaporean schools added iPads to their teaching resources, and a $100,000 school program we mentioned last December got every 4th grader at two elementary schools in Hancock Count an iPad full of apps for reading books, doing math, and so forth. Overall, the biggest surprise wasn’t the iPad itself as a technological advancement: rather, it was about how student of every age interacted with it and was willing to learn more through software that impressed teachers, Apple, and bloggers.

Of course there’s more coming. The iPad 2 was released a few weeks ago, and those schools that didn’t have the chance to deploy it in their educational program last year now can have access to an overall better device, with a thinner and lighter design and better battery life. A new $200,000 program was approved in Auburn, Maine to give every kindergarten of the district access to this new teaching resource that is Apple’s iPad, complete with apps bought from the App Store and “insurance” (we assume it’s AppleCare). The district has bought 285 iPad 2s to use in the classroom; eventually, all elementary schools in Auburn will get an iPad as the program begins its rollout in May, and should be completed by the end of September. The 285 iPad 2s are only part of the initial rollout.

So why did the school board approve the program? Because teachers who owned an iPad saw an improvement in how kindergarten kids were learning the alphabet (always a difficult task) thanks to educational apps. So rather than buying new laptops (which are expensive), the district and the school board opted for iPads. Simple as that.

Maybe Apple didn’t expect this quick success in education, or maybe they saw this coming all along. I don’t know. What I do know, though, is that – once again – it’s not really about the specs, the RAM or the openness. These teachers could have asked for Xooms but they didn’t. It’s about the platform, the experience, the pleasure you get from using a device, the intersection of technology and liberal arts. There’s nothing more honest and genuine than a kid having real fun, and if educational software can do that whilst retaining its ultimate purpose of teaching stuff – then I think we have a winner here.

Check out the news video below. [via TUAW] Read more

Singaporean Schools add iPad to Teaching Resources

As a test pilot, a portion of the total population of Nanyang Girls High School in Singapore will use 150 iPads that the school has purchased at a cost of around US$100,000, the pilot including 140 students and 10 teachers aims to complement the schools more traditional teaching methods and textbooks.

The iPad will enable the students to connect to the internet with its vast array of educational resources, download books and course material while also allowing note taking or word processing. Chloe Chen, one of the lucky students to be a part of the pilot program said “It’s much more convenient, teachers can just tell us to go to a website, and we can immediately go and do our work.”

Read more

$100,000 School Program Gets Every 4th-Grader An iPad

A $100,000 pilot program at two elementary schools in Hancock County will allow hundreds of fourth graders to get iPads and start reading books, doing math and other different assignments on them. The program, which will take place at Weirton Heights and Allen T. Allison elementary schools, was paid for with the help of federal grant money, but teachers are already looking for ways to completely customize the iPad experience for each child. Read more