CourseCasts with Ken Baldauf

CourseCast of the Week

Episode 0100, 05/09/2009

Title/Description: Kindle DX and other headline tech news stories

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the Week, Episode 100, woohoo! recorded May 9th, 2009. This is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.cengage.com/coursetechnology for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.

Thanks to all of the teachers and students who have found value in CourseCasts and helped to make the effort worthwhile. This week's anniversary CourseCast goes out to

Carolyn Cusick and her students at Upper St. Clair High School in Pennsylvania
Martha Underwood and her students at New River Community College in Dublin, Virginia
Abigail Fine and her students at River Springs Middle School in Orange City Florida
and Benjy Bell and his students at Andrew Jackson High School, in Kershaw, SC

Thanks for listening!

I've gotten more shout out requests than I can squeeze into this episode, so I'll continue next week. Keep those emails coming to coursecasts@gmail.com and I'll keep shouting out until I run out.

And now, the news.

Story 1 - Kindle DX

The BIG story this week is the unveiling of a new version of the Kindle e-book reader. Amazon has announced the Kindle DX, a larger version of the two previous models, scheduled to be released later this Summer. The Kindle DX has a 9.7-inch screen, up from 6' on previous models, and an increase in storage capacity to 3.3 GB - enough to store 3500 books periodicals and documents. New technologies include a rotating display that supports portrait and landscape modes, and a native PDF reader. The new Kindle DX is priced at $489.

The new larger Kindle is targeting the college textbook market, elderly readers who require large font, and the newspaper market. The new Kindle will be distributed on a test basis to students at Case Western Reserve University, Pace University, Princeton, Reed College, University of Virginia, and Arizona State. The college Kindles will be loaded up with textbooks, allowing Amazon to compare the experience of Kindle users to bound textbook users. The textbook market is attractive to Amazon since college students are generally tech-savvy and there is little competition in the e-textbook market. Still the move to Kindle e-textbooks is anything but a done deal. A number of questions remain unanswered. The largest of them being whether or not Amazon is able to strike an agreement with publishers that meets a price point that is acceptable to students? Students surveyed about the new Kindle are skeptical. Some students believe that they can save more money by buying and selling used textbooks, they fear that the Kindle would prohibit those savings. Other students complain that the Kindle only allows access to one book at a time; coursework requires them to have several books open at once.

Some analysts are looking to the new Kindle to save the fledgling newspaper industry. The larger display is well suited for newspaper content. Other ebook manufacturers are recognizing this need as well. Polymer Vision and Plastic Logic are both working on developing large screen ebook readers geared to newspapers. Even News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is said to be investing in the design of an e-newspaper reader. Many question if e-newspapers are a solution for the industry. New business models would need to be invented. Some are speculating that e-newspaper readers would need to support advertisements. As with e-textbooks, important questions remain unanswered: Will the public be willing to carry yet another digital device? Will the public be willing to pay for subscriptions to news that is freely available on the Web?

I believe that the Kindle, in its present form, will not be widely adopted as an ebook, etextbook, or enewspaper reader. It simply doesn't offer enough benefits to justify the cost. However, consider future Kindle generations, when the Kindle can perhaps act as a netbook replacement. With a color touch screen, seamless high-quality Web access, and perhaps a new innovate interface, the Kindle could really take off. Amazon is smart to be establishing its market position early as it waits for epaper display technology to advance to what consumers expect. Interesting to note, Apple rumors include the unveiling of an Apple device this Summer with a similar form factor to the Kindle. Might light-weight tablets be the next big sensation? Move over netbooks!

Bigger Kindle e-reader may not be a newspaper fix [Reuters]
Apple Tablet PC is real, says Asus [cnet]
Universities May Test Large Kindle with Textbooks [NewsFactor]
Larger Kindle DX Released with Newspaper Backing [NewsFactor]
Market for Amazon's Kindle DX Remains Uncertain [NewsFactor]
Students Skeptical Kindle DX Can Replace Paper Chase [wired]

A recent survey shows that one fifth of U.S. homes have abandoned traditional landline phones for their cell phones. Furthermore, of the homes with landlines, many aren't using them. 35 percent of homes are reachable only by cell phone.
A Fifth of U.S. Homes Have Cell Phones, no Landlines [NewsFactor]
US State attorneys general are questioning Google on its plans to digitize and distribute millions of book. Last October Google reached an agreement with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers to set up a system to make books available online. The deal is opposed by librarians and others who fear that it gives Google too much control over electronic book distribution, with very little explanation of how much Google intends to charge.
U.S. state AGs looking at Google books deal [Reuters]
The Blackberry Curve has dethroned the iPhone as the top-selling phone in the US over the 1st quarter of 2009. The Blackberry Curve is number 1, the iPhone 3g is 2, followed by the Blackberry Storm, the Blackberry Pearl, and T-Mobile's G1. Analysts credit Blackberry's buy-one-get-one free promotion, and the fact that Blackberries are available from all four of the big US carriers and the iPhone is only available through AT&T.
BlackBerry Throws iPhone Sales a Curve [NYTimes]
The Windows 7 Release Candidate is now available as a free download at www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7. This week's rumors have the final release of the product coming anywhere between August and October of this year. However, Microsoft continues to cite January 30th as the official release date.
Windows 7 Could Be Released as Early as August [NewsFactor]
A couple data breaches to report: LexisNexis has sent out letters to 32,000 users warning them that "sensitive, personally identifiable information about you may have been viewed by a few individuals who should not have access to such information", and 160,000 accounts were breached at UC Berkeley.
The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reported an overall sharp increase in data breaches over 2008, with 36 million records illegally accessed.
LexisNexis Warns 32,000 People About Data Breach [NewsFactor]
Data Breaches Skyrocketed in 2008 [NewsFactor]
Update: 160,000 accounts breached at UC Berkeley [Computerworld]
A recent audit by the Department of Transportation shows that America's air traffic control systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks, and have indeed been attacked in recent months. "In our opinion, unless effective action is taken quickly, it is likely to be a matter of when, not if, ATC (air traffic control) systems encounter attacks that do serious harm to ATC operations," the auditors said.
Air Traffic Systems Vulnerable to Attack [NewsFactor]
Remember the Megan Meier story? Megan was the 13-year-old who committed suicide after she was humiliated by the mother of a classmate, who posed as a teenage boy on MySpace. This week Federal Prosecutors filed papers requesting the maximum penalty for the mother which includes three years in prison and a $300,000 fine.
Feds Want Prison for MySpace Hoax Mom [NewsFactor]
Google is launching a marketing campaign to promote its Chrome Web Browser software. Watch for Google Chrome ads coming to newspapers, magazines and television commercials soon.
Google Chrome ads coming to TV [c|net]

That's it for this 100th episode of CourseCasts. Remember that what you hear in the CourseCast is just the tip of the iceberg! Go to coursecasts.course.com for links to the full stories covered in this CourseCast. There you will also find discussion questions for use in your course, and the CourseCast Archives. Email me with your comments and suggestions for the show at course.coursecasts@cengage.com. Until next time have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of Technology!