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Sony to connect gadgets to downloadable content to increase loyalty. Also hopes expand service to include 3D TVs, e-books and car batteries.

This article describes the efforts that individual teachers in Utah are making to rewrite textbooks to be aligned to the standards that they are teaching in class. These teachers are writing eBooks and getting a lot of positive feedback from state officials because of the use of technology to meet student needs. They did not have a textbook that fit their integrated approach to teaching math, which they aligned to CCSS, so they took the matter of creating a textbook into their own hands. I think this is a prelude to how textbook creation is changing as a result of technology. Teachers are now able to construct books in a way that fit exactly the objectives they are covering and meeting there students where they are at.

Brief article about how efficiency of e-books and tablets will make physical books obsolete, particularly in developing countries.

An interesting discusion about whether Amazon will replace publishers. With the increasing digitization of books, writers will align with the big platforms such as Kindle or the Apple Store.

Kind of an emerging use of old-technology, but universities and publishers are fighting over the use of electronic scans / copies of book chapters used for classes. I think ti's interesting how content hasn't necessarily changed at the university level like it has for K-12 (like interactive textbooks instead of decades-old material). Maybe due to specialization at universities? Or just that professors at university are less open to adoption of "new" material?

The follow up book to "Groundswell" is being offered as a free download through Amazon until tomorrow. I thought those of you in this class may have an interest.

What about providing students iPads so that they purchase textbooks on these devices to save resources for both the students and the school? Can we assume that all students will be comfortable using an iPad, or might there be implications for students with learning differences? What about the socioeconomic gap for students who cannot afford a computer to LOAD the books onto their iPads (even if the iPads themselves were provided)?

ePortfolio? What is that? What about your backpack with all of your books and notebooks?"

A school turns its library digital.