Group items tagged

There’s more to a gadget than just good hardware. An elegantly designed user interface can put a gadget head and shoulders above its peers. That’s where most e-readers have fallen short. E-reader manufacturers’ focus on hardware design means their user interfaces often feel like an afterthought.

Another way to enhance the experience may be through opening up e-readers to third-party apps, as Amazon has done with the Kindle. That could bring additional features to the devices and maybe even alternate readers with more elegant interfaces.

Minutes after Apple unveiled its widely anticipated iPad on Jan. 27, ACU's student-run Optimist declared it would be the first collegiate newspaper to publish on the new device.

The Optimist app now appears in the Apple store and is downloadable on the first wave of the devices.

"The students were doing the coding, the students were doing the planning, students were doing the design," said Dr. Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication and faculty adviser for The Optimist. "It might have gone smoother it if were top-down, but smooth is not what we're going for – education is what we're going for, and education isn't always smooth."