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Mr. University President, please don't adopt Apple's iBooks 2 platform

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 6:53pm MST by Ryan Tyler

I'm a second year doctoral student, and I've got some concern about something I heard today that I want to share with any forward-thinking university president, but also with you.

Many schools will be looking at a new e-textbook platform from Apple that will have long-lasting impact on curriculum, students, teaching and cost of education.

Dear President Jones:

Hi, I’m one of your Doctorate in Education students. I have a concern I would like to share with you.

As you well know, this year my tuition went up- again. I’ve seen all your emails explaining this situation -- that these are tough times with steep cuts in state funding due to a loss in tax revenue. I’m sure you know that, according to the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, college tuition went up 757 percent from 1980-2009. For perspective, healthcare costs during this same timeframe went up 401 percent. I think you know tuition is a real problem and truly do want to deliver us the highest quality education at an affordable price.

This is why I’m imploring you not to adopt Apple’s iBooks 2 platform for this university.

Today, Apple announced new iBooks 2 software that will make it so a student like myself can buy all his textbooks as interactive ebooks. Among other things, Apple says they’re going to fix the problem of ridiculously high textbook prices by offering books from publishers like McGraw Hill that would normally cost $75 for only $15 through iBooks 2. Additionally, they announced a way for my professors to easily publish their own textbooks and post them right onto Apple’s iBooks platform. They also released an app so that iTunes U can now become an easy way to do online learning, with iBooks integrated right in with audio and video.

This all sounds great until you consider one thing: it all requires an iPad.

Apple is like that kid in grade school that doesn’t like to play nice with anyone else. He only lets you play with his toys as long as you play by his rules. That’s kind of what iBooks 2 is. You can take advantage of all these new tools only if you play by Apple’s rules, and those rules entail using an iPad.

I know that doesn't seem like a crazy proposition. Apple’s business model is based on its hardware sales, after all. This is why Apple has no intention of making iBooks 2 accessible on competitor devices, like other companies that sell ebooks do. So while I can read a Kindle textbook on my Android phone, Macbook Pro and Kindle Fire effortlessly, I can only read an iBook 2 textbook on an iPad or other Apple product. That stinks! (How cool iBooks 2 would be if it ran on the same HTML5 open standards that Steve Jobs touted in his condemnation of Flash!)

I know your time is tight so let me get to my point. If you switch our school over to using iBooks 2, you are just taking the premium that the textbook publishers were charging us and putting it right back into Apple’s pocket in the form of the premium that I will now be charged for having to buy an iPad.

Let’s say that you decide the university, rather than me, covers the costs of the iPad. Sounds good but, as you know, nothing is truly free in this world. That $500 you’re paying per iPad (at a minimum) is coming out of some budget, and budget holes are almost always covered by increasing my tuition or asking taxpayers for more money (usually both!). You also know that auxiliary services, like new football stadiums, fancy new rec centers and, yes, cool yet pricey gadgets like iPads attract new students but also drive up costs. So even if the university issues me an iPad to access my iBook 2 materials, I’m still paying for it, albeit indirectly.

A more practical, cost-effective approach for required digital media would use a software that is device agnostic. That means that instead of telling me what kind of computing device to buy, you’re giving me the choice to pick my own. Everyone has different personal preferences and financial realities to deal with, after all. The beautiful thing about a competitive marketplace is that there are lots of options and price points for consumers to choose from, from $200 netbooks to $2,000 MacBook Pros. Personally, I’ve been buying my e-textbooks from Amazon for awhile now and love that, no matter what kind of device I’m on, I know I can always access all my books, notes and highlight. If you went with iBooks 2, I would only be able to get my materials on Apple products. That sucks!

If you want to use tablets, then Android is a good device agnostic platform to consider. Unlike Apple’s iOS that runs on the iPad, Android runs on lots of different tablets. This device competition is pressuring prices down in the Android tablet market. For instance, my Kindle Fire only cost me $200. Also, I saw today that Lenovo actually is selling their 7 inch tablet for $167! As a student, money is always tight, so I really like having the option to save money. And, though Apple pundits in the tech media might have you believe differently, Android tablets work just fine for schoolwork. I have been using my Fire to help with my dissertation research and it has proven to be a great tool.

Finally, if you’re really interested in letting our professors publish ebooks, I would recommend encouraging them to do so under the Open Textbooks philosophy as exemplified by collegeopentextbooks.org. These guys think that knowledge should be free, open and accessible to all. If you really want to save us money, this is a better option than a proprietary platform with a hardware lock-in like Apple’s.

So, once again I’m pleading that you not to adopt iBooks 2 for our university. It sounds good when coming from the Apple PR machine, but really will just hurt us students in the long run by driving up costs and locking our content up into Apple’s proprietary ecosystem.

I think iPads are great devices. I’ve seen you walking around campus with yours. Many of my professors have iPads and I know they love them. In fact, higher ed seems like it is in love with the iPad!

But you loving your iPad shouldn't affect my future. I’m going to graduate with lots of debt, debt incurred from the ever-increasing tuition I pay. If you’re going to charge me more to attend this institution as well as ask taxpayers for increased support, then I think you owe it to both of us to make sure you are spending our money wisely. Locking us in to a proprietary ecosystem in which there is only one hardware option -- the iPad forever -- doesn’t seem like the best way to do this.

You see, President Jones, with iBooks 2 Apple isn’t trying to sell you innovation, they’re just trying to sell you iPads.

Sincerely,
Ryan Tyler

Photo Credit: hxdbzxy/Shutterstock

Ryan Tyler is a free-lance writer and educator living in Portland, Or. He has worked in the entertainment industry as well as K-12 and higher education. His interests include education reform, distance education and using technology to make the world a better place. Of course, he’s also a tech geek.
Anonymous launches SOPA strike, takes down Justice Dept.

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 5:10pm MST by Joe Wilcox

"The Site is under maintenance. Please expect it to be back shortly". That's the message I found at Universal Music moments ago. The US Justice Department site isn't accessible at all. You can thank hacktavist group Anonymous, which claims responsibility for these and other SOPA blackouts today in response to the Feds shutting down Megaupload.

There's a certain irony to this evening's attacks. Yesterday, tens of thousands of sites supported a voluntary blackout protesting two bills snaking through Congress -- Stop Online Piracy (SOPA) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act). Anonymous' attacks, presumably denial-of-service, blacked out sites that either support the legislation or would be responsible for enforcing it. We've gone from voluntary blackout protests yesterday to involuntary ones today. As I write, Recording Industry Association of America is down, too.

About two hours ago the Anonymous @YourAnonNews account tweeted: "Megaupload was taken down w/out SOPA being law. Now imagine what will happen if it passes. The Internet as we know it will end. FIGHT BACK"; after tweeting: "The government takes down #Megaupload? 15 minutes later #Anonymous takes down government & record label sites. #ExpectUs".

Earlier, the Justice Department accused Megaupload.com of a conspiracy to traffic pirated movies, music, television programs, ebooks, and software -- for the last five years on massive, global scale and causing damages exceeding $500 million to copyright holders.

The Feds couldn't have struck at a worse time, considering the negative response to SOPA and PIPA. Either bill would give the government broad powers to take down websites, seize domains and compel search engines from indexing these properties. Little more than a request from copyright holders is necessary. It's essentially guilty-until-proven-innocent legislation that would punish the many for the sins of the few, while disrupting the fundamental attributes that made the Internet so successful and empowered so many individuals or businesses to accomplish so much. (Review the bills: PIPA. SOPA.)

Wired UK's "SOPA 101" guide is one of the best primers posted in recent days, if those bills are too long (and wordy) for you. Google offers excellent recap, too. Appropriate for today's blackouts is yet another primer of links from the @YourAnonNews Tumblr.

@YourAnonNews tweeted around 7:20 pm ET: "You cannot censor the internet. You cannot subpoena a hashtag. You cannot arrest an idea. You CAN expect us #OpMegaupload".

Anonymous' assault continues as I write updates to the post. Warner Music is now down (7:35 pm ET).

About two hours ago, Anonymous tweeted: "Let's just say, for #SOPA supporters their #SOPAblackout is today. #Anonymous".

The group claims to have taken out other sites, including the US Copyright Office and Motion Pictures Association of America. But the sites are loading fine for me, which doesn't mean they weren't down earlier.
Quick Look: iBooks Author

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 3:38pm MST by Mark Wilson

Apple’s iPad has fairly quickly become a great tool for the workplace and in education and the company’s latest bid to revolutionize the market is with ebooks. Ebooks themselves are nothing new, but the existence of touchscreen devices such as the iPad means that the opportunities available to readers through interactive multimedia book are now greater than ever. iBooks Author is a free Mac app that can be used by anyone to create iPad friendly ebooks that can include a variety of widgets such as photo galleries, videos, KeyNote presentations, 3D objects and more.

This is more than just an ebook creation tool for Mac, it is a complete solution that enables you to work through the entire process from initial concept to design and layout before ultimately publishing and making available online. To help get you started, there are a number of different templates to choose from and then it is just a matter of dropping material in place and performing any customizations you want.

You can start by replacing the dummy text that each template contains and you can then set about the task of adding more content such as image, tables, charts and widgets. It is widgets that really open up the potential of books created in iBooks Author as they make it possible to include a wide range of interactive elements in your publications -- everything from videos and animations to photo galleries and more.

The ability to add voiceovers means that you can cater for the visually impaired while all readers can benefit from an immersive multimedia ebook experience.

The books that are created can either be given away free of charge, or they can be sold through the iBookstore. In either case publications need to be vetted by Apple before they can be made available through the book store and you need to be aware that anything made available through iBooks cannot be made available elsewhere.

Whether used for vanity publishing, producing material that will be of benefit to students or creating reports and other documents, iBooks Launcher makes it easier than ever to not only create some truly impressive pieces of work, but also to present them to as large an audience as possible.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the iBooks Author review page.
Microsoft Q2 2012 by the numbers: Windows revenue falls 6%

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 2:15pm MST by Joe Wilcox
Late this afternoon, Microsoft answered a question oft-asked by investors this month: What about Windows? Near the end of his Consumer Electronics Show keynote last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer boomed: "There's nothing more important at Microsoft than Windows". But at the same event, Tami Reller, Windows & Windows Live CFO, warned that the division's fourth-quarter results could fall below analysts' estimates, because of weak PC sales. Today's fiscal second quarter 2012 earnings results answered by just how much.

For Q2, ended December 31, Microsoft revenue was $20.89 billion, up 5 percent year over year. Operating income: $7.99 billion, a 2 percent decrease. Net income was $6.62 billion, or 78 cents a share. Both were flat year over year.

Average analyst consensus was $20.93 billion revenue and 76 cents earnings per share, for the quarter. Revenue estimates ranged from $20.20 billion to $21.35 billion, with estimated year-over-year growth of 4.9 percent -- modest for a holiday quarter.

"We delivered solid financial results, even as we prepare for a launch year that will accelerate many of our key products and services", Ballmer contends. "Coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, we’re seeing very positive reviews for our new phones and PCs, and a strong response to our new Metro style design that will unify consumer experiences across our phones, PCs, tablets and television in 2012".

Microsoft's PC Problem

Because Windows is so important to Microsoft -- it's not just Ballmer boasting -- slowing PC sales's effects reach far beyond the operating system. But nowhere are they more apparent than the Windows & Windows Live division, which dragged down Microsoft operating and net profits. The division's revenue fell 6 percent year over year.

Last week, Gartner and IDC released preliminary calendar fourth-quarter and all-2011 PC shipments; growth was tepid globally and retracted in the United States. IDC called 2011 the "second worst year in history" for US PC shipments - with 2001 claiming the unwanted crown. Despite a global, temporary hard drive shortage, Gartner and IDC say the declines they observed -- 1.4 percent and 0.2 percent globally, respectively -- were in line with their forecasts. US declines were substantially greater, 5.9 percent by Gartner's reckoning and 6.71 percent by IDC's.

Besides the hard drive shortage, several troubling trends have emerged. Simply put: Consumers aren't buying Windows PCs like they used to. Their spending goes to other stuff, with tablets -- and that really means iPad -- ripping away sales. We just finished the holiday quarter, one of the two seasons of typically strong sales (back to school is the other). "Continuously low consumer PC demand resulted in weak holiday PC shipments", Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner principal analyst, says.

This consumer infection -- infatuation with iPad, some other tablets and smartphones -- is spreading. According to an IDG Connect study released this week, IT and business professionals are rapidly adopting iPads as partial or complement laptop replacements; remember these people make technology purchase decisions for entire corporations -- Microsoft's core market. Sixteen percent have replaced their laptop with an iPad and 54 percent supplement it. The data suggests that iPads are significantly starting to cannibalize PC sales -- and not just among consumers -- and it's consistent with recent global PC buying trends.

Earth to Windows & Windows Live president Steven Sinofksy: You can't ship Windows 8 soon enough. The new operating system, which runs on ARM as well as x86 processors, is optimized for tablets as well as PCs. Microsoft can fill an important niche in the PC sales-cannibalizing tablet marketing -- offer a truly desktop operating system that runs the same applications and supports enterprise services as those on PCs. Windows 8 public beta is currently slated to be available late next month, which, based on previous versions, puts public availability around October.

Q2 2012 Revenue by Division
- Windows & Windows Live: $4.74 billion, down 6 percent from $5.06 billion a year earlier.
- Server & Tools: $4.77 billion, up 11 percent from $4.29 billion a year earlier.
- Business: $6.28 billion, up 3 percent from $6.11 billion a year earlier.
- Online Services Business: $784 million, up 10 percent from $713 million a year earlier.
- Entertainment & Devices: $4.24 billion, up 15 percent from $3.7 billion a year earlier.
Q2 2012 Income by Division
- Windows & Windows Live: $2.85 billion, down 11 percent from $3.21 billion a year earlier.
- Server & Tools: $1.97 billion, up 17 percent from $1.7 billion a year earlier.
- Business: $4.15 billion, up 2 percent from $4.09 billion a year earlier.
- Online Services Business: Loss of $458 million, up 18 percent from $559 million loss a year earlier.
- Entertainment & Devices: $528 million, down 21 percent from $666 million a year earlier.
Division Highlights

Microsoft reports revenue and earnings results for five divisons: Windows & Windows Live, Server & Tools, Business, Online Services and Entertainment & Devices.

Windows & Windows Live. Weaker than-expected PC demand hurt the division during fiscal second quarter. Revenue fell 6 percent year over year, which is simply stunning during the holiday quarter. Worse: Operating income declined by 11 percent.

Microsoft estimates that global PC sales fell between 2 percent and 4 percent, greatly contributing to Windows revenue decline. Consumer PC sales fell by 6 percent, while those to businesses actually rose -- by 2 percent. Netbooks fell 2 percent.

OEM revenue fell by 7 percent, which reflects weakness in PC shipments identified by Gartner and IDC. Three-quarters of Windows divisional revenues comes from OEM sales.

To date, Microsoft has sold 525 million Windows 7 licenses. One-third of enterprise desktops run Windows 7, the company claims.

Server & Tools. Revenue rose 11 percent year over year and operating income by 17 percent. The division is insulated against economic maladies, because about 50 percent of revenues come from contractual volume-licensing agreements.

"Product revenue increased $328 million or 10%, driven primarily by growth in SQL Server, Windows Server, Enterprise CAL Suites, and System Center, reflecting continued adoption of Windows platform applications", according to the company.

Business. The division was the quarter's big overall performer (again), but grew modestly, with revenue up 3 percent and income each up 2 percent year over year. However, adjusting for the tech-revenue guarantee a year earlier, related to the Office 2010 launch, revenue grew by 7 percent. Revenue topped a whopping $6.2 billion.

Annuity licensing grew a stunning 12 percent. Lync revenue grew by 30 percent. "Microsoft Office system. Business revenue increased $420 million or 9 percent, primarily reflecting growth in multi-year volume licensing revenue, licensing of the 2010 Microsoft Office system to transactional business customers, and an 11 percent increase in Microsoft Dynamics revenue", according to the company.

Like Server & Tools, Business division is largely insulated against sluggish PC sales. Sixty percent of revenue comes from annuity licensing to businesses.

Online Services Business. Online services revenue rose by 10 percent. Search and display ads drove up online advertising revenue by 13 percent -- $81 million to $713 million. "OSD operating loss decreased due primarily to higher revenue and lower sales and marketing expenses, offset in part by increased cost of revenue", according to Microsoft's financial release. The change: 18 percent.

Entertainment & Devices. Revenue rose by 15 percent, but losses increased by 21 percent year over year. Microsoft shipped 8.2 million Xboxes during the quarter. Xbox Live subscriptions rose 33 percent to 40 million. Kinect install base: 18 million.

"Xbox 360 platform revenue grew $322 million or 9%, led by increased volumes of Xbox 360 consoles sold and higher Xbox Live revenue, offset in part by lower volumes of standalone Kinect sensors sold", according to the company.

Microsoft now reports on Skype, which has 200 million active users globally.
Feds shut down Megaupload, call it an international organized crime ring

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 2:15pm MST by Tim Conneally

As the internet pats itself on the back for protesting SOPA and changing the minds of a handful of U.S. Senators, file-sharing site Megaupload has been brought down in one of the largest copyright infringement cases of all time.

Seven individuals and two international corporations have been charged in the United States with running an international organized crime ring dealing exclusively in piracy of copyrighted material.

The U.S. Department of Justice accuses Megaupload.com of a conspiracy to traffic pirated movies, music, television programs, e-books, and software on a massive scale for the last five years, causing damages in excess of $500 million to copyright holders.

Investigation of Megaupload started with the FBI at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) and extended to include the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
This case is being led by the Department of Justice Task force on Intellectual Property, and being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

These are the same bodies that led the seizure of 150 domains from companies selling counterfeit professional sports attire, and the prosecution of warez FTP user Michael Uszakow in early 2011.

The department alleges that Megaupload's entire business model is based on the trade of popular copyrighted works, and that it rewarded users for doing so.

The indictment says Megaupload did not terminate the accounts of users who had uploaded works of copyright infringement, and "selectively complied with their obligations to remove copyrighted materials from their servers." The department says that when Megaupload was hit with a takedown notice, it would disable only a single link to the file, but leave the infringing content available through different links.

We will update with selections from actual text of the indictment shortly.
Apple's iTunes education gamble is about building loyal consumers early

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 12:57pm MST by Ed Oswald

Two months ago, I argued here on BetaNews that despite the ever-increasing chorus of negativity surrounding Apple, its best days are ahead. One of my reasons for my belief is the young consumer, where the Cupertino company is building a considerable amount of brand equity.

Today's education-centric announcements only strengthen that argument. While there wasn't much pomp or circumstance, the significance is not the immediate announcements but what they mean for the future.

With the help of textbook publishers, high schools and universities, Apple's brand will be front and center among high school and college-aged students: these are impressionable consumers who are likely just coming into an increasing amount of disposable income.

Remember the Harris Interactive data I shared in November. The firm polled young consumers aged eight to 24. They found that Apple had strong brand equity in this key group -- in fact, it is the top brand in computers, phones and tablets among those 13 to 24. Apple beat out a long-established brand in HP, one of the biggest phone manufacturers in HTC, and dusted the floor with the Motorola XOOM.

As I said then, kids are growing up Apple. Now in high school and college, they find themselves logging onto iTunes to download their books and courses. Apple couldn't ask for anything more: it's a part of these kids' lives from childhood to adulthood.

The fact that so called "Generation Y" (born 1977-2000) eclipses the size of the "Baby Boomers" is another positive for the company. The collective buying power of Generation Y is going to be huge, much bigger than those before it, and Apple is uniquely positioning itself to ride that wave.

I know that the initial announcement involves high school students, but I don't see how this does not extend eventually to college texts. Think about it: the average college text can cost $75, $100, or more. If Apple can bring this same discounted pricing to textbooks there, it will be a massive draw for those living on ramen noodles.

Why wouldn't publishers go for it? Gone are the days of used textbooks: these cannot be bought and resold. Every student must purchase a new textbook, meaning the publisher makes money every time. Yes the initial cost is lower, but the publisher now has tighter control over the market. It will make far more money.

The iTunes U redesign is only the icing on the cake. After seemingly losing its mojo in the education market, Apple seems ready to recommit to a portion of its business that for a long time kept it afloat as it languished in the consumer space.

Love or hate the company, you have to complement them on their long-term vision. Most companies these days are focused on short term gain. Apple has the the patience to realize that the real fruits of its labors come far later. Shareholders and Apple enthusiasts alike should appreciate that.

Photo Credit: Darko Zeljkovic/Shutterstock
Prepare your Windows 7 desktop PC for Windows 8 now!

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 12:30pm MST by Chris Boss

The new Metro user interface will make Windows 8 a totally different experience for XP, Vista and 7 users, but it will especially challenge those of us who use a desktop PC. Why? Because we are accustomed to mouse input and Windows 8 emphasizes touch. Metro is much better suited to touch than the mouse.

So how can desktop users today, prepare themselves for when they later upgrade to Windows 8? I'll tell you.

If You Are Running Windows 7, Likely Your Computer Will Run Windows 8

From everything we have heard so far, it appears that if your computer currently has Windows 7, then it should be able to run Windows 8 without a problem. Having worked with the Windows 8 Preview Build a bit, this much I can tell you: One key component of your system will be critical and that is your hard drive.

When I installed Windows 8 to one of my desktops that was running Windows Vista, I didn't want to disturb my current operating system, so I decided to simply disconnect my hard-drive (a SATA drive) and installed another drive into a removable drive bay for Windows 8. I only had a spare IDE drive so I used it, which would be slower than the original SATA drive in my computer. The rest of the system was fine, since I had recently upgraded the CPU to a decent Pentium D dual core and the RAM to 2 gig (most Windows 7 PC's should have plenty of memory and a decent CPU for Windows 8).

My setup for Windows 8 was actually quite interesting. Because the hard drive was in a removable bay, I could easily hear when it was running. I didn't have to look at an LED to see if it was being accessed, I could hear it. Second, because I only had an older and slower IDE drive it was more apparent when the drive was being accessed. The drive had to work a little harder than a newer SATA drive would, and this showed.

Windows 8 appears to really work the hard drive. Even when the computer was doing nothing (no apps running) and the Metro screen (menu) was visible the hard-drive runs a great deal, more than I would have expected. While I can't say for sure, it is my impression, so if your computer is older (before Windows 7) and you upgraded to Windows 7, you may want to consider making sure you have a more current and fast hard drive installed before upgrading to Windows 8. If your computer came with Windows 7, likely the hard-drive should be sufficient. The fact that your computer is running Windows 7 (even if you upgraded to it), likely it should have enough memory, a decent CPU and Graphics card/GPU which should be sufficient for Windows 8.

What Your Desktop Is Likely Missing -- Touch!

What else do you need to prepare for later upgrading to Windows 8? This much I can tell you. Touch will be vital to get the full benefit and experience from Windows 8, and you can get a head start on this right now. How?

The prices for multi-touch enabled monitors are getting low enough that you may be able to afford to get one now -- and they work great with Windows 7. As a programmer I can tell you that Windows 7 already supports the key elements of touch that Windows 8 does. The difference is that most software is not currently designed for touch, while the Windows 7 operating system actually is. Most future Windows 8 software likely will be touch ready.

Even though much of the software you are currently using isn't touch-enabled, it is actually beneficial to start getting used to touch now. Why? Because likely with Windows 8 you may still use legacy software with it, so you will be more prepared for the experience later. Additionally, there is actually some software already available now for Windows 7 that is touch-enabled, so you can start getting a real feel for working with touch today.

Once you install a touch-enabled monitor with Windows 7, I recommend going to Microsoft's website and downloading the free Touch Pack for Windows 7. This free touch-enabled kit contains six touch ready applications. The two most interesting and useful of these are Microsoft Surface Globe and Microsoft Surface Collage. My wife really enjoys working with the Collage programming using touch.

What It's Like To Have A Touch-Enabled Monitor With Windows 7.

I recently purchased a very nice 22 inch multitouch monitor for my wife's Windows 7 PC -- she loves it, and so do I. Even with Windows 7, it is enjoyable and useful. I actually found a great deal for a Planar PX2230MW multitouch at Newegg.com for only $249 and free shipping (retails for $399). Newegg doesn't have the monitor anymore for that price, but I just checked Tigerdirect.com and they sell it for $269.

When it comes to a desktop, size really matters for a touch-enabled monitor, especially when working with software that was not designed for touch. The complaints you may hear about using such software on the current generation of Windows tablet PCs (difficult to be accurate when touching small UI elements on the screen) is not as big a problem when you have a good size touch monitor. I wouldn't go less than the 22-inch size I chose, for a desktop computer.

The point: Now is the time to start looking for deals on multitouch-enabled monitors for your Windows 7 desktop. When you later upgrade to Windows 8 likely the experience will be much more enjoyable and productive. Remember, the public beta is expected in February.

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Our gift to you: Acronis True Image 2010 Personal free

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 11:27am MST by Nick Peers

Everyone needs some form of backup, but while successive versions of the Windows Backup Tool have undoubtedly got better, they’re still not quite as intuitive or as comprehensive as we’d like them to be.

If you want maximum protection for your files, settings and even Windows itself, you need a good third-party tool. A tool like Acronis True Image 2010 Personal, worth $19.95, which will be available exclusively to US and Canadian residents to download for free from the Downloadcrew Giveaway site this Friday (January 20).

Acronis True Image 2010 Personal has all the key functionality you need to get your computer protected. There’s a File Backup Wizard that quickly and effortlessly guides you through the backup process -- choose which folders to include, pick a backup destination (internal, external or network hard drive) and tweak the scheduler to ensure your backups are updated on a specific day of the week. Hey presto, job done -- not just now, but going forward too.

You can also backup entire partitions too, allowing you to take a fail-safe backup of your Windows partition while it’s in good working order. Now if you run into problems in the future you can roll your system back without having to reinstall Windows from scratch and all the palaver that entails.

There’s also an online backup option, but you’ll need to pay Acronis for a subscription to its cloud-based service to use it -- however, any locally stored backups are completely free, and sufficient for most people’s needs.

Simple, Fuss-free Restoration

It’s all very well backing up regularly, but what do you do should disaster strike? True Image 2010 Personal allows you to restore entire backups or choose exactly what to restore from a set of backups (or backed up image of a partition). Should you need to, you can restore from within Windows, using the Startup Recovery Manager that’s accessible from bootup or create an emergency disc so you can restore backups even when your original hard drive has been completely trashed.

You’ll also find some useful bonus tools – a file shredder for securely deleting sensitive files, for example, plus a SSD Trim tool as well.

How to get It

This offer will be open to US and Canadian residents only, and will be available from 18:00 (Eastern Standard Time) on Thursday January 19^th to 23.59 on Friday January 20^th. You’ll need to visit the Downloadcrew Giveaway site between those times to be eligible to download and register your free copy of Acronis True Image 2010 Personal. You’ll also need a free Downloadcrew account -- either log in with your existing account details or register for a new, free account to access the giveaway.

Once installed, you’ll need to activate True Image 2010 Personal before you can use it. Simply follow the instructions on the Downloadcrew Giveaway page, once the promotion is live.

One day you might thank your lucky stars that you did...

Photo Credit: Modella/Shutterstock
Get more from flash drives with AppCompactor

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 10:01am MST by Mike Williams

Building your own portable working environment on a USB flash drive is undoubtedly convenient. Equip it with your favorite productivity software, browser, email client, graphics tools and games and it’ll always be ready for use on any nearby PC.

One issue you’ll notice straight away, though, is performance. The USB interface may be fast, but flash drive read and write speeds really aren’t, and even small applications can take quite a while to launch.

You can of course try to buy extra performance by shopping specifically for USB drives with the fastest possible read/write speeds. But a free alternative may be to compress your application executable files with AppCompactor. You can cut their size by up to 50 percent, which could make a real difference to launch time. And although the program must automatically decompress itself whenever it’s launched, this is a relatively fast process so you could still see major performance benefits.

While this sounds like it’s going to be a very technical process, AppCompactor is actually surprisingly easy to use: just point the program at your portable app’s folder, choose a compression method and click “Go”. A moment later you’ll get a report on the space saved, if any, and can test the application yourself to see if you notice any difference.

One difference you may notice is that your portable app doesn’t work any more; AppCompactor is as reliable as this kind of tool gets (which is why PortableApps.com use it with big-name portable products like OpenOffice.org and GIMP), but there are no guarantees, and it won’t work with everything. So it’s a very good idea to back up your portable application before you start.

And as malware authors routinely use similar packers to try and hide from security packages, doing so yourself increases the chance that your compressed portable app will raise a virus alert when you next launch it. This isn’t particularly likely -- AppCompactor is a well-known package and not doing anything dubious – but can’t be ruled out entirely.

For the most part, though, AppCompactor just delivers exactly what it promises, quickly compressing executable files – DLLs, EXEs, ZIPs, JARs, IRCs, PYDs and BINs -- with the minimum of hassle. So if you’d like to accelerate the launch time of your portable apps, then give it a try: it’s surprising just how effective the program can be.

Photo Credit: Photo Credit: Brian A Jackson/shutterstock
Apple reveals education trifecta: iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 9:25am MST by Tim Conneally

At a private event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City on Thursday, Apple unveiled its multi-pronged approach for cracking the higher education market with iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U. The result is an environment for creating, distributing, and consuming learning materials that is entirely contained within the Apple product ecosystem.

There were three main parts to Apple's education announcement on Thursday:

iBooks 2

This free iOS app focuses on reading, annotating, and participating with interactive textbooks. Apple says it supports fullscreen books, interactive 3D objects, diagrams, videos and photos.

iBooks Author

This publishing app is also free in the Mac app store (but requires OS X Lion.) It contains templates for design layouts, and lets publishers and authors add their own text and images, as well as interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations and 3D objects.

iTunes U

The new iTunes U app lets teachers compile and distribute their essential course material through iTunes. This includes lectures, assignments, books, quizzes and syllabuses, and so forth. A handful of high profile learning institutions piloted iTunes U, including Cambridge, Duke, Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, and it's already been downloaded 700 million times. It's not exactly new, but beginning today, any K-12 school district can offer full courses through the iTunes U app.
iTunes hacked! Apple ignores it

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 8:48am MST by Ed Oswald

It is now over eight months since I first reported to you my experience of getting hacked on iTunes. Last June, hackers found a way into my iTunes account using Sega's Kingdom Conquest -- a game I never downloaded. I was bilked out of $95.30, which the hackers stole from my account through iOS' in-app purchase mechanism.

Within hours of posting that story, I was flooded with dozens -- if not hundreds -- of similar stories. Initially, they were similar to mine and involved Kingdom Conquest, but additional reports indicated other games are being used to break into iTunes accounts worldwide.

Those other games are Storm8's World War, and Kamagame's Texas Poker.

New reports received by BetaNews indicate that attacks using the hack are once again on the rise. While the volume of emails to me was generally steady since the June story, in the past two weeks there is a marked increase in the number of reports.

Users write that they have not had any trouble in recovering funds -- myself included -- however, Apple has not responded to their requests for more information on how they were hacked. BetaNews contacted Apple for comment on this story Wednesday afternoon, and like the three previous times we were ignored.

What is happening here? BetaNews believes that this particular hack affecting iTunes is likely sourced to an exploit existing in Apple's in-app purchasing mechanism. It is the only similiarity between every report received over the past eight-plus months.

While a majority of users reporting in as victims have had their iTunes credit balances drained, some also saw fraudulent charges to linked credit card and PayPal accounts. While an issue may exist there as well, it's likely not the primary cause of the hack.

In any case, Apple's insistence on ignoring both victims and the press not only keeps everyone in the dark as to why this continues to occur -- from our research, now going on nearly a year -- but also provides little solace to those hacked that these hackers do not have a way in that we may not be able to protect ourselves by password alone.

That's simply irresponsible. How many people need to be hacked before Apple thinks it's the right time to speak? The company gains nothing by sitting on the sidelines ignoring the problem, and it is a problem.

Are you a victim of this hack, or a similar one on iTunes? Please let me know, I continue to compile your reports, and will continue to attempt to get Apple to talk. Contact me at ed at ozmedia dot com. Sooner or later, Apple is going to have to own up to this.

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