Video: K12 Netbooks

Here I take a look at some recent school-friendly netbooks, as a companion piece to an article in the June/July issue on the same topic.

And On That Note About 3D Educational Content...

Seems like only yesterday I was posting about this new 3D projector technology that everyone is raving about but acknowledging it isn't too significant until the content is there... wait, that WAS yesterday! And then today, Dolby sends me a press release about the new 3D educational content at the Connecticut Science Center. They must read my blog.

InfoComm, NECC... it's a busy time of year!

 
Well I haven't posted a blog entry in a while, as things have been pretty hectic lately. Last week had me at InfoComm/EduComm, while working on the August issue, and in a few days I'm off to NECC.

InfoComm was great, very busy and large, not too much of an indication of our Great Recession, though attendance was down slightly. About half a million products are competing for your attention, but I had some great meetings with Sharp, Hitachi, Extron, and Canon, just to name a few. Projectors were everywhere! A couple things stood out. First, I saw more and more 3D content on the show floor, due in large part to Texas Instruments' DLP, which boasts 3D capabilities in their projector chip. So a number of manufacturers had their own projector and basket of glasses. Funny though, they all essentially had the same demo images on display. Why? Because there isn't any content developed for it yet. Which is what I said in my conversations, this is a pretty neat innovation, but to be of any use in schools, you need the curricular content to back it up.

Also, I saw this CLASSPAC product advertised everywhere. This is a pretty unique one that stood out to me for two reasons: it's actually a package developed by a partnership of six different manufacturers, and it demonstrates a new trend in ed. tech: connections. The CLASSPAC is made up of classroom audio speakers, a screen, projector mount, connections and a control interface. I saw a number of companies with their own control systems for operating classroom technology, Calypso Systems and Extron among them. This trend makes sense as an increasing amount of technology is entering schools, operating all of them simply is harder and harder. Who wants six different power buttons, plugging in and unplugging components, walking across the room to turn the lights off and then back on, etc.? Infrastructure products supporting all of these components is therefore  becoming more important.

More on what I saw later!

FREE STUFF ALERT: Acer's Education Technology Initiative

Boy, the number of netbooks on the market has grown and grown, and you know what that means, right Basic Economics students? I see a hand, yes, there in the back? Correct. Competition. Sales, promotions, added features, occasionally lawsuits.... you get the picture. Well here we have a great example, Acer really, really wants you to like their Aspire One netbook and buy them in bulk for your district, and not those other ones on the market.... so they would like to make you an offer.
Acer's Education Technology Initiative (called Seed Unit Program on the site, oddly) is simple: sign up, get an Aspire One mailed to you for free, try it out for 30 days free of charge and then return it or buy it at a discount, and you're entered to win one of several prizes, including a fully Acer-equipped computer lab, or three runner up packages of up to 30 Aspires for an entire classroom. Fine print: you agree to two conference calls with Acer reps. Not a bad deal though, why not give it a shot?? Enter by August 31st. Better odds than PowerBall. And without that nagging guilt.

Fujitsu's New M2010 K12 Netbook

Fujitsu is not actually a merger of Fuji, Mitsubishi, and Ginsu... sorry to disappoint anyone anticipating a new sports car with built in camera that can slice through lead pipes with ease and still cut a tomato. In fact, Fujitsu of course has made high end electronics for a long time, but are currently setting their sights on K12 education in a big way, with convertible tablet laptops, tablet PCs and now this shot across the bow of Dell, HP, Asus, MSI and every other would-be school netbook maker.

Released this week, the M2010 is a 10.1 inch, 2.5 pound, Windows XP based little dynamo with an Intel Atom processor, 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth, integrated wireless of course and a 90 percent of full size keyboard, all starting at $449. Nothing too mindblowing there, but it just goes to show you just how popular such netbooks have become, every company wants to make one, and no doubt Fujitsu will sell a whole ton of these to districts.

QProducts' Elementary Desk Up For Design Award

 
I've been receiving all kinds of press releases lately.... unusual ones about things other than projectors, netbooks, yada yada, so it's refreshing to be able to post about something different. A couple have been interesting desks, believe it or not. This desk, for example, from QProducts--which doesn't appear to have a company Web site but you can purchase through sites like Amazon, Ultimate Classroom or School Outfitters--has been nominated in the International Plastics Design Competition. And how much school furniture can say that? The Star Trek-ey unit is made from a single piece of 100% recyclable polyethylene, no screws, joints, pieces or stuff than can break off. It's supposed to also be ergonomic and comfortable, and has a book cubby in the base. It comes in two sizes for grades 1-4 or 5-8, left- or right-handed, five colors, for about $100 each.

My only question is: can students still stick gum to the bottom? If the desk could prevent that, we're not just talking plastics competitions, this thing would win the Congressional Medal of Freedom. Or at least something from the School Custodians' Union.

What's New In Facilities: Lutron Athlite and Big Ass Fans

Well that title gets your attention, doesn't it? I decided to do a quick post on some facilities products, since I rarely blog about them. Lutron is a really interesting company, they not only make all sorts of energy saving lighting products for schools, they also have a curriculum program called Greenovation that coincides. One of their recent new products is called Athlite, a great solution for anyone looking to upgrade and modernize their schools' gymnasium lighting, the old fashioned kind that have hotspots, take forever to warm up and suck up tons of electricity. Athlite lights are high efficiency, high performance gym lights that start right up, use far less energy, and actually allow you to choose from four distinct, programmable lighting levels for use in different activities. Pretty smart.
And that brings me to the rather provocatively named company Big Ass Fans. Their new Isis ceiling fans (pictured) are designed for larger scale operations like schools, available in 8, 9, and 10 foot diameter sizes. This is a rather huge commercial-grade fan designed for "smaller" spaces, kinda like a "small" dumptruck. They're designed to reduce energy costs by circulating air from your HVAC more efficiently. Also pretty smart.

And with that, have a great weekend!

MSI's New X340 Notebook Slim As They Come

MSI seems to be enjoying the benefits of the wild popularity of netbooks, their Wind series was one of the first, most critically acclaimed and least expensive line of netbooks out there, ranging from under $300 to $500. They've also marketed the Wind pretty heavily to schools, based on their presence at ed. tech conferences... though I haven't seen any news of large scale one to one implementations (like, say, the release I received yesterday, to be posted online later this week and I'll link to it ASAP, about just such a district rollout of the Asus Eee PC, for example).
This week, MSI released the X340, a super slim laptop that pushes the limits of what could be considered a netbook, though the company doesn't refer to it as such. At 13.4" across, with 2GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive and integrated webcam, some of the specs aren't too unusual. What really makes it stand out is the Intel Centrino 2 ULV processor, which uses 1/6th the power of a regular mobile CPU, and the physical proportions, weighing just 2.86 pounds and an amazing .78" thick at its widest point. That is ultra slim indeed. Starts at $899.

Video: New MSI U123

No Joke: Buy Seven Epson Projectors, Get One Free

The Brighter Futures is getting brighter. For anyone out there looking to purchase a bunch of projectors, you might want to consider Epson's new PowerLite 84, 85, 825 and 826W models, as Epson is offering this "Smarter Choices" promotion from May 15, 2009 until July 15, 2009: buy seven projectors, get the eighth free. Go to Epson's Brighter Futures site to learn more.

Kinda like Subway's now-defunct Sub Club (I still consider myself a lifetime member) or frequent flyer programs. I think they should issue Epson Projector Club cards myself. Pretty interesting though, Epson's Brighter Futures program also offers buyback discounts for recycling old models. They are working this promotion thing hard.... is this a sign of their success or of hard economic times? At any rate let's hope some other manufacturers give them some competition in other ed. tech segments....