January 5, 2011
Tablets Are the New Black for Digital Textbooks
Rob Reynolds,
the xplanation, January 5, 2011.
Tablet computers are now running in the $300 - $1000 range and there's no reason to suppose they won't go lower in price. At a certain point, therefore, it makes sense just to sell students the tablet with the required texts and software preloaded. Make sure they update through the university WiFi system, and you can get away with giving one tablet per student for a full degree program. "Tablets will be treated by people as lifestyle devices, more like MP3 players and iPhones than computers." Great coverage and in-depth work by Rob Reynolds, who has been closely covering the e-textbook beat for months now.
SumTotal Systems Acquires GeoLearning
Press Release,
SumTotal Systems, January 5, 2011.
SumTotal has just announced that it has acquired GeoLearning. "This - acquisition expands on the company's - growth and - market - position by adding - capabilities in mid-market, government, and extended enterprise market segments" (quote edited to remove ridiculous adjectives). See also Josh bersin coverage. "SumTotal had 9% total market share in the LMS market, and now with this acquisition grows its market share to 12.5%. This makes SumTotal approximately 50% larger than the #2 LMS player (Saba)... The only major players left in the enterprise LMS market are Plateau, Saba, Oracle, SAP, CornerstoneOnDemand, Taleo/Learn.com, and Blackboard."
Kinect for Christmas: future unleashed!
Donald Clark,
Donald Clark Plan B, January 5, 2011.
I play EA's NHL Slapshot for the Wii (video here) just about every day, and the whole concept of getting out of my chair and playing the game with an actual hockey stick has revolutionized my gaming experience. My stick is all taped up (I've broken it several times) and I now have an area of the dining room set aside for gameplay. So something like Microsoft's Kinect, described here by Donald Clark, is appealing in principle - and while I can't imagine playing hockey without a stick, it would be great if it incorporated bodily movements into the gameplay. See also this post on active gaming.
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