Friday, January 29, 2010

Impress Your Professor: Elsewhere in the Tech World

Tired of iPad news? Your faithful blogger has scoured the Internet for news of anything but Apple's unfortunately-named new release.

* Lest Steve Jobs get all the spotlight this week, Bill Gates and the foundation he shares with wife Melinda have made improving online learning a priority. In his annual letter, Bill Gates ponders the future of e-Learning at every level and wonders who will shape it.

* Before you completely write off the Amazon Kindle, you might want to know that tech company Qualcomm released a video-capable, color screen at the recent CES show, and the buzz is that the next Kindle will use this technology.

* In the midst of all this e-reader insanity, one content format seems uniquely suited to take advantage of it: the comic and graphic novel. eComic reader software Graphic.ly and Longbox recently went into public beta. Some publishers like Marvel, the home of Spider-Man and Captain America, already have their own in-house, subscription-based digital comics readers but nothing yet allows readers (or libraries) to purchase and keep individual volumes.

Sorry! Not entirely iPad-free, but it's still interesting to see how its ripples affect other realms of media technology.

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