Ryan Collins » kindle http://ryancollins.org Educational Technology Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:46:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Look out, there’s a new tablet in town and it’s HOT! http://ryancollins.org/2011/09/28/look-out-theres-a-new-tablet-in-town-and-its-hot/ http://ryancollins.org/2011/09/28/look-out-theres-a-new-tablet-in-town-and-its-hot/#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:17:16 +0000 mr.rcollins http://ryancollins.org/2011/09/28/look-out-theres-a-new-tablet-in-town-and-its-hot/ Announcing the Kindle Fire

Amazon announced a few new Kindles today, the most important, in my mind, is the Kindle Fire. It is a 7″ tablet running a specialized version of Android. The shocker was the price, $199. With todays announcement, every school district that is looking at mobile devices will need to take a pause and examine what the Fire has to offer.

At that price point, it undercuts the iPod Touch by $30. It also sacrifices a camera and microphone. But it makes up for those deficiencies by offering a larger and better display. The main problem with the Fire would be the lack of applications for the educational market. Of course you have access to all the Kindle books, and the explicitly list full color children’s books for it, so it may be just a matter of time before educational software takes off on it.

Does size matter?

In our iOS pilot programs with iPod Touches and iPads it has become pretty clear that it is hard to convince teachers that the small screen of the iPod Touch can still be used for content creation. The students, I’ve noticed, don’t mind using the iPod Touch, so for them, size doesn’t matter. When it comes to content such as PDFs and books, the larger screen size would be very advantageous.

Theft is also an issue in school, but the larger size of the Fire may be a deterrent. The Fire would also be able to be used by more than one student at a time due to it’s size.

Waiting..

I’m going to try to hold off any further mobile purchases until the Fire is released and I get a chance to use one. I could see it replacing a lot of iPod Touches this Christmas, it will be interesting to see what Apple has in store on October 4th. If the applications come, the Fire will be a very compelling device for school districts.

What devices are you investigating for use in your classroom or district?

]]> http://ryancollins.org/2011/09/28/look-out-theres-a-new-tablet-in-town-and-its-hot/feed/ 0 A Kindle, iPad, and iPod Touch walk into a classroom – #neotech2011 http://ryancollins.org/2011/03/21/a-kindle-ipad-and-ipod-touch-walk-into-a-classroom-neotech2011/ http://ryancollins.org/2011/03/21/a-kindle-ipad-and-ipod-touch-walk-into-a-classroom-neotech2011/#comments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:12:35 +0000 mr.rcollins http://ryancollins.org/?p=638 Here are the slides with notes: Handout from my presentation. For those following along with Twitter here are the results of the poll:

I really enjoyed the conference, and want to thank everyone that was involved at putting it on. It was very well run (although I didn’t win the MacBook Air door prize… :-) .


Twtpoll IMG_20110318_113719 IMG_20110318_113812 IMG_20110318_113923 IMG_20110318_113939 IMG_20110318_142558 IMG_20110318_154601 IMG_20110318_104658 IMG_20110318_142617

]]> http://ryancollins.org/2011/03/21/a-kindle-ipad-and-ipod-touch-walk-into-a-classroom-neotech2011/feed/ 0 A Kindle, iPad, and iPod Touch walk into a classroom – #oetc11 http://ryancollins.org/2011/02/05/a-kindle-ipad-and-ipod-touch-walk-into-a-classroom-oetc11/ http://ryancollins.org/2011/02/05/a-kindle-ipad-and-ipod-touch-walk-into-a-classroom-oetc11/#comments Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:18:34 +0000 mr.rcollins http://ryancollins.org/?p=635 The slides are available on Google Docs.

]]> http://ryancollins.org/2011/02/05/a-kindle-ipad-and-ipod-touch-walk-into-a-classroom-oetc11/feed/ 0 The Kindle DX is available for pre-order, does anyone care? http://ryancollins.org/2009/05/06/the-kindle-dx-is-available-for-pre-order-does-anyone-care/ http://ryancollins.org/2009/05/06/the-kindle-dx-is-available-for-pre-order-does-anyone-care/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 16:22:31 +0000 mr.rcollins http://ryancollins.org/wp/2009/05/06/the-kindle-dx-is-available-for-pre-order-does-anyone-care/ Today’s announcement of the Kindle DX, a 9.7″ version of the Kindle is being hailed as some sort of savior of the newspaper industry and a breakthrough for the college textbook market.

At almost $500 I don’t see it as either. The biggest negative about the Kindle will also be the last thing fixed, if it is ever addressed, and that is the ability to re-sell your content (or at least lend it to others). I’m sure the textbook companies are falling over themselves to support the Kindle. Here is the ability to sell a text book, with no production/delivery costs, and then know that the book will not be resold at the end of the semester.

The newspaper subscription idea has merit, but then again, they need to lower their subscription rates. I’ve looked at transferring my USA Today subscription to digital, but it costs almost the same as getting a paper copy! At least with the paper copy I can lend/give it to someone else, or cut out an article to save.

Is anyone looking at using the Kindle in a school? What would be the advantages of it over something like a netbook?

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