Lightning in a Bottle

My technology explorations over the last few weeks have been in the world of the small. I’ve been using an iPod Touch and an Asus EeePC. The iPod Touch looks just like an iPhone, and whenever I pull it out everyone is somewhat disappointed to find that it isn’t. However, it will hook up to the wireless network in my home and office without a hitch, and I can browse just about any website I want at speeds close to laptop speed. Yes, it’s a small screen, but it has incredibly crisp resolution and can zoom in and out quickly and easily. I wouldn’t permanently replace my laptop with it, but it’s amazing to be able to pull a web browser out of my pocket for a trip quick to Google.

The EeePc (which I pronounce “e pc” because it gets really tiring to say “e e e pc” all the time) weighs two pounds and has a slightly smaller footprint than a composition book. The model I purchased has 512 megabytes of RAM, and 4 gigabytes of flash memory instead of a hard drive. It has a seven-inch screen, wireless networking, 4 USB ports, a VGA out port, an SD card slot, an Ethernet port, and a built-in webcam. It runs a version of Linux, and has a OpenOffice, the Firefox web browser, Skype, and a variety of other applications built in. It’s only $400.

I love its size, portability, power and quick boot-up time. (Under 30 seconds.) It would be a remarkable machine for students to use on a regular basis. I have just two quibbles with it. First, the seven inch screen is really bright and very readable, but the resolution of the screen means a lot of scrolling up and down on some web pages. That should be fixed in upcoming versions of the machine. Second, so far the wireless network connection seems to be unable to remember networks that I’ve connected to in the past, which means I have to re-enter the security code when return to my work network (which is a really long, ugly, irrational string of characters). That’s probably something that can be fixed by someone that understands Linux more than I do.

Both devices are a peek into a future that isn’t that far away, when we will have options for incredibly inexpensive yet incredibly powerful devices that we can carry with us anywhere and keep us connected to the vast resources available on the Internet, as well as each other. There may be a lot of upsides and downsides to this, but it is inevitable.

To add to yesterday’s topic, here’s another potential breakthrough product - the Amazon Kindle.  It’s an ebook reader, which is nothing new.  What is new is that it uses the e-ink technology we’ve heard about for so long that creates sharp, clear text.  What is really, really new is that it also uses a wireless technology called EV-DO, a cellular data network that provides high-speed access to the Amazon repository of books, magazines, and weblogs from just about anywhere that has cellular phone access. For free.

The genius of this is that there is no need for a computer.  You order your books through the Kindle, and they download wirelessly.  If you subscribe to one of the many newspapers or magazines available, you simply turn on the Kindle in the morning and they’re waiting for you, because they downloaded overnight. Oh, and it accesses Wikipedia, too!

For an interesting review of the Kindle, check out Guy Kawasaki’s impressions.

It’s not a device that’s ready to replace textbooks yet (questions about durability and the lack of color displays), but the trend is irresistible. Paper is costly, bulky, and obviously hard to update. This is the kind of device our students will spend their adult lives using, at least in their professional lives.

After what seems like decades, Texas Instruments has announced a new line of calculators that leap to a new level of technological power. Called TI-Nspire, the new devices sport larger, higher-resolutions screens, and much more powerful software for exploring math concepts.

Graphing calculators are an interesting study in educational technology. Even though they are really small computers, in most districts they don’t seem to be considered part of the technology infrastructure - they’re math teaching tools, managed by the math staff. They’ve also been a technology that was fairly static, even as computers evolved at a rapid pace, graphing calculators just sort of ambled along, safe, secure, and effective in their little niche.

TI did two very intelligent things with this new lline of calculators. First, they will release computer software that works exactly like the calculators do (for Windows and Macs - yay!). While there have been software emulators for calculators before for teachers to use in demonstrations, this is standalone software for students to use either instead of the calculator, or in conjunction with it. It looks pretty slick.

The second thing they did is really, really smart. If you spend time around math teachers, you’ll find out that a lot of curriculum is built around the TI calculator line. No matter how powerful the new devices are, there is the inertia of the pre-existing instructional materials that use the older devices. Recognizing this, TI designed the new devices so that you can swap out the new keyboards and replace them with keyboards that match the older calculators. That’s understanding your customers!

What a difference a couple of years can make. Two years ago I would have been all over the latest announcement of new Palm handhelds, reading as many reviews as I could and wondering how the new devices might work in an educational setting. And now? Palm introduced two new models on Wednesday, and I only today got around to reading the overview at the Brighthand website.

They really are impressive, actually. The Z22 is a color entry-level device for only $100. The TX now has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a big, clear 320×480 resolution screen, big enough for looking at web pages pretty easily.

But…Handhelds just haven’t made the impact that we expected 24 months ago. Why? I think largely because they were so different from the computers already being supported in districts that it was just too difficult (read: expensive) to add them to the technology infrastructure. Neither Pocket PC or Palms manage easily in a classroom situation without lots of effort, third-party software and add-ons. In the meantime, the lower-end cost of laptops is down to the $900-$1,000 range. In other words, for the cost of 2 1/2 Palm TX handhelds, you can get one full-featured laptop that integrates into whatever existing technology system your school uses now. Financially, they’re probably pretty close to even once you throw in total cost of ownership.

If Palm (or Microsoft) could have made the management of the devices simple and easy to integrate into existing technology implementations, we would be looking at a different situation now. But I think that ship has passed, and we’ll soon be using devices that are the same size as handhelds, but actually just be tiny computers running on the same software and tech standards as full laptops. That will keep things more manageable for everyone.

Palm had a distruptive technology, but they just didn’t know how to follow through.

Bill Gates demonstrated a concept for a new family of portable computers. Called Ultra Mobile 2007, these devices would be smaller than current Tablet PCs, but bigger than PDAs. The goal is a sub-$1,000 device that weighs less than two pounds and is always wirelessly connected. Sounds to me like a device that could actually make the idea of an electronic textbook possible, if they can make it durable enough.

Sorry about the (ahem) slight gap in postings…

A private school in Illinois is giving Palm Zire 72 handhelds and keyboards to all their 4th through 8th grade students. The school ran an initial pilot and was pleased enough with the results to roll the project out across all their older grades.

This is counter to the trend we are seeing around here, though. Interest in classroom handhelds has definitely dropped off. I think a large part of it is that they are still a pain to roll out systemically. Issues around syncing and managing are can still be difficult to handle, and most district IT departments are stretched already. Most seem deeply unenthusiastic about adding handhelds to their support inventory.

In some of the classrooms we support, the teachers have had similar experiences at the building level. Some of our teachers love using the handhelds we’ve made available to them, but many find that the support overhead to use them is more than they want to deal with.

One of the more interesting potential technologies we’ve been watching is the OQO, an “ultra personal computer.” Built to be the size of a handheld (4.9 inches x 3.4 inches x 0.9 inches), it is actually a full Windows XP computer. With a touch screen, wireless networking, and hiding keyboard, it sounds like a lot of portable power. Hypothetically, anway, since the device was first announced nearly two years ago but has never actually appeared.

However, it looks like the OQO may finally make it to market. This article takes a look at the testing program now starting up where 40 users will try out trial versions of the computer, with a planned fall release date. You can view more pictures and get full specifications at the home OQO website.

It will probably be an expensive little critter when it comes out, much more than educators can afford for school use. However, it can give us a look into the not-too-distant future, when pocket-sized devices are full-powered computers, and will at some time fall into the same price range has current handhelds.

The Rio Grande Consolidated Independent School District (I’m glad I don’t have to put that on my business card) has made a serious commitment to the use of Palms at the elementary school level. With the purchase of 1,000 new handhelds, they have a total of 2,700 Palms being used in the second through fifth grades. As described in this article at the Brighthand website, the handhelds are used for both student work and for an assessment system called Tango from Liberty Solutions that is matched to the state’s standards. The system allows teachers to collect observations, examples of student work, even photographs (taken with the handhelds, of course). Data and reports generated are available to the superintendent whenever the teacher or student handhelds have been uploaded.

The article gives some fairly extensive coverage to the district’s implementation and what their goals are. It sounds like a pretty well thought-out approach, and not a simple “our kids need to use technology” program.

Palm introduced two new Palm handhelds today. The Palm Zire 31 is an entry-level color handheld for $149, and the Zire 72 has a built-in 1.2 megapixel camera and Bluetooth wireless networking.

The Zire 72 replaces the 71, with a much higher resoultion camera, faster processor, more memory, and a variety of other improvements. The Zire 31 is a new mid-level model that doesn’t replace anything, just adds a step between the monochrome 21 and the color 72. For a good overview of the features of the two models, check out these reviews at www.brighthand.com (Zire 72 here and Zire 31 here.) Forbes also has a quick overview here.

Instead of laptops, all of the 7th-grade students at Ensign Intermediate School have their own PDAs. While other schools are purchasing laptops, the staff at this middle school chose handhelds instead.

It certainly makes sense. While some laptops are down in the $1,000 range, the handhelds purchased by this school cost $209. In addition, there are far fewer hassle with battery power and other headaches associated with full-fledged laptops.

Everything seems to be in the honeymoon phase right now, but this article at www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0404/16/a02-124874.htm will tell you more about the intitial impressions and expectations of the students and staff trying out this new technology.