What we need from e-books

Gizmodo did a nice comparison between the Kindle.app and iBooks on the iPad. In addition, they talked about what we need, to really flesh out the potential of e-books.

What no one is doing is trying to figure out how all this stuff can be combined to help create better learning environments around digital text; though, some of what Gizmodo says is directly or indirectly related. The idea of integrating social networking into a text is great. But note-taking is missing. What students need are tools to help them learn:

• A way to create a glossary of terms on the fly with words and definitions and examples coming straight from the text;
• A way to ask a question of a teacher or classmates, straight from the text (quoting the part they don't understand);
• Analysis that will help students see over arching themes between notes taken between differing books...I just threw this one in...not sure how it will hold up after thinking about it more.

Anyway, good review. Check it out.

Emerging technology and the way things were

In yet another blog entry on iPad, the folks at Gizmodo did a quick review of the effects on ebooks and the obsolescence of book covers. In particular, the effect of this on the market place seemed well placed related to learning:

"Yes, people who would have purchased a book because they saw three people reading it at Starbucks may not purchase said book in an ebook world. But they might purchase another book, because they saw it on their buddies' Twitter feeds, or because iTunes spat out some kind of automated recommendation for them that's actually grounded in data, beyond their 20-person, Dan-Brown-biased coffee shop sample group. More to the point, the loss of this totally unquantifiable benefit to publishers is probably—and probably massively—offset by the fact that all these secretive ebook enjoyers are now, at all times, just seconds away from tapping into a vast digital bookstore, which delivers books in a matter of seconds." (Source)

Similar arguments are directed to learning, and yes the new technology in the old environment can be problematic...but it's the new technology in the new environment where things get exciting.

Watchout Kindle, Here Comes a Possibly Better Mobile Learning Solution

Since it's first generation release, Amazon Kindle has set the bar for services provided on a portable e-reader. Coming soon is the iriver Story. In addition to the usual specs, Engadget reports that the Story will support ePub, PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Ogg / WMA file formats. Throw in wireless purchasing, and a podcast player, and you have a multimedia portable learning environment...

Could be neat, but they have a way to go.

Now, if they can just get the price down to a level community college students can afford.

eBooks for College and Universities for CHEAP!

Lets face it books are expensive and in the current economy the prices of text books for college is astronomical. In comes a company called CourseSmartwhich allows students and teachers to purchase ebooks at a much lower price than those found at your schools book store. The best part about it is that they are available online any time. It allows you to enter notes, bookmarks, and has a handy search tool. There are currently 7000 book titles in 900 course areas and 100 disciplines and growing.

CourseSmart LLC has content from some of the leading textbook publishers today including:

* Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishing Group
* Cengage Learning
* CQ Press
* Elsevier
* F.A. Davis & Company
* John Wiley & Sons
* Jones & Bartlett Publishers
* McGraw Hill Higher Education
* Nelson Education
* Pearson
* Sage Publications
* Sinauer Associates
* Taylor & Francis
* Wolters Kluwer Health

CourseSmart came out with an iPhone application, check out the video below to see a demo:

Cheaper eBook reader challenges Kindle

Do you enjoy reading ebooks? Ebooks (short for electronic book) are becoming a part of higher education, many people are starting to see a shift to e-books on campus. Now you can purchase a COOL-ER for much cheaper then Kindle. Interead's Cooler, costs just $249, which is $240 less than the Kindle DX!