Google is clearly committed to education on mobile devices beyond Play for Education -- it just unveiled Google Play Textbooks, a dedicated category on the Play Store for learning material. The section will offer titles from the top five publishers, and students will have the choice of renting books for six months in addition to buying them outright. Textbooks should be available this August, and they'll sync across Android, iOS and the web.
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It was almost a year ago that we first heard about Kno's smart textbook metrics system "Kno Me." Now the software is set to actually launch, and find its way into students' (and parents') hands. As a refresher, the system provides analytics on your (or your children's) study patterns, letting you see how long you have studied for, amount of time interacting with the subject matter, percentage of pages that have been annotated and more. Kno Me is available for all of the firm's interactive textbooks and launches tomorrow on the iPad, Windows 8 and browser platforms, with Android and Windows 7 coming by the end of the month. Kno Me is free, and will be pushed out via the existing app.
Continue reading Kno launches 'Kno Me' interactive textbook metrics, lets you study your studying
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Kno's post-hardware textbook platform has called the iPad its only tablet home for more than a year; it's about to spread its wings. Starting with a bundled presence on the Galaxy Note 10.1, Kno is an option for K-12 and college students who'd rather go the Android route. While all the 3D, note-taking and navigation features remain the same, there's an obvious selling point in supporting the S Pen (and hopefully other pens) to more directly put thoughts to virtual paper -- or, let's admit it, doodle in the margins. All of us, Android and otherwise, get a new Social Sharing component that lets us crib each other's notes before the big exam. We're still waiting on Kno for other Android devices as well as the already-promised Windows 7 support, but it's hard not to appreciate at least a little more variety in our digital learning.
Continue reading Kno textbooks arrive on Android with the Galaxy Note 10.1, take on a social side
Filed under: Tablet PCs, Software
Kno textbooks arrive on Android with the Galaxy Note 10.1, take on a social side originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Kno's tablet textbooks have only ever been available to the college crowd; the younger among us have typically had to get a comprehensive digital education from either the tablet maker's own solution, like Apple's iBooks 2, or less-than-integrated options. A new deal for K-12 books is giving the students, if not necessarily the teachers, a fresh alternative. Parents can now rent books for home studying at prices under $10 per title. They're not state-specific books, but their Common Core roots will keep learners on the same (virtual) page as classmates while adding Kno's usual 3D, links, notes and videos. Just to sweeten the pot further, Kno says its current catalog centers around a pact with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt -- a publisher that hasn't offered K-12 books on any tablet platform until now, according to Kno. The initial focus is on iPad, web and Windows 7 readers, although Android-loving parents looking for that at-home edge will have to wait until sometime "soon" to leap in.
Filed under: Tablet PCs, Software
Kno starts offering K-12 textbooks on tablets, scores industry-first deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Amazon has been renting out Kindle editions of textbooks for sometime now, but not all the educational tomes you need may be available in electronic form. And, believe it or not, some people just plain prefer paper to E-ink -- especially since its much easier to take notes in the margins. Now many of the more expensive texts on the site also feature a rent option. Most are in the $30 to $60 range and are rented by the semester, which Amazon counts as 130 days. Should you need it for a bit longer, you can extend your rental period by 15 days, but only once. On the plus side, Amazon will pay for the shipping on the return of the books. For more info, check out the FAQ at the source.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Amazon begins renting paper textbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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