Your 5 Year Old Might Get An iPad Before You Do… As An Education Aid Obviously

Not all of us have been lucky enough to enjoy the benefits of owning an iPad, unless we work for Leicester council of course in which case we’ve been given one to aid us in our daily duties. There’s also a chance that your 5 year old kid who is unlikely to be able to read this article fully has been given one by their school to make life easier for everybody.

Cedars School of Excellence (sounds like the school in X-Men) in Greenock, Scotland, has made the unique move to give every one of its 105 pupils an Apple iPad so that they don’t have to trouble their brimming minds with remembering to take pen and paper to school with them. It will also remove the need to have science teachers in classrooms and will give kids the perfect excuse to skip school and stay home playing games online.

Apparently, according to the school’s IT teacher (we had green screen BBCs in our school so this story does grate a little) they carried out extensive research to determine the most beneficial equipment to give kids in order to make learning more effective. Fraser Speirs went on to say that it wouldn’t just remove the need for traditional items like pens but it would also mean that science experiments considered too dangerous to conduct in the classroom could be watched on YouTube (we had a TV and video, I seem to remember it doing largely the same thing).

You would imagine there’s going to be a mass of website restrictions placed on the computer but as most 5 year olds are probably more tech and Internet savvy than their parents and probably teachers it’s unlikely this will stop them hitting the sites they want to.

Did you get anything as ludicrously cool as an iPad to help your education?

Will an iPad benefit a 5 year old’s education?

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Facebook Has Overtaken TV And Drunken Nights As Students’ Favourite Pastime

The rumours that students are a bunch of lazy shirkers could well be true and rather than sitting in front of the TV watching Countdown or at the student union topping up on cheap booze, the average student now spends the equivalent of a whole working day on social networking sites like Facebook. In contrast, the 7.5 hours they spend networking is only marginally less than the typical 9.5 hours a week spent doing coursework.

If you’re looking for the ideal source of procrastination then Facebook is apparently it and nearly two thirds of students will attest to that fact citing it as the main reason for them being distracted from work. What’s more, while the hard working masses may not be able to afford the likes of a brand new iPhone or Blackberry it seems that student grants provide an ideal way to buy a smartphone.

Students take more than £1,000 of gadgets with them to university, and around a third of those questioned said that they couldn’t do without their iPhone/Blackberry smartphone.

If you’ve ever considered doing a degree but have held back then maybe the news that you’ll spend 13 hours a week surfing the Internet, watch 2 films a week on your laptop, and spend nearly all of the rest of your spare time on Facebook with the occasional and brief break to do some coursework might be enough to grab your attention to drag you to university.

The survey was conducted by customer review firm Reevoo to coincide with the release of their list of top rated student laptops. The awards were as follows:

• Most portable – Acer Aspire One D250 (£214)
• Best on a budget – HP Compaq Mini 110c (£209)
• Best looking – Apple MacBook Pro (£1,106)
• Best battery – Apple MacBook Pro MC118B/A (£1,307)
• Best movie player – Sony Vaio VGN-AW41MF (£970)
• Best gamer – Acer Aspire 8942G-726G64BN (£1,196)

Are you a student?

Should you doing coursework rather than surfing the ‘net?

Google Chrome OS Tablet Release Date 26 November… Maybe

Google itself aims to release a touch screen tablet PC just in time for Christmas apparently (in the US at least). The tablet, which will be manufactured by HTC and will be released on the 26th November.

Obviously it will be using the new Google Chrome operating system and other sketchy/leaked/assumed (delete as you see fit) details include the fact that it will have a multi-touch screen and will use the Tegra 2 chip from Nvidia. Whether it will dethrone the iPad remains to be seen but is unlikely given the incredible popularity of that particular little Apple gem, however, it could be a decent alternative.

Acer is also planning on releaseing a Google Chrome OS based system and has taken to the whole Google thing like a duck takes to water. With the popularity of the iPad ever growing, thanks to the fact that it has few viable rivals and offers a mass of apps and the such, it is unsurprising to see a number of manufacturers and companies throwing their hats onto the table and declaring themselves as Apple’s next rival.

The Google Chrome OS is being launched on the back of the increased Android mobile operating system popularity and it’s main aim is to get users logged on and online as quickly as possible. The Internet is where most of the system’s wizardry will occur so the system files and registry stored on the computer itself will be minimal.

While the operating system is initially being targeted at netbook users, mostly because of the fact that it should prove to be tiny in comparison to Microsoft offerings, it’s likely that any kind of success would see Google taking it mainstream with updated, and bigger and better versions.

Will Google Chrome OS be rocking your netbook?

Is Google going to take over the world some day soon?

Leicester Council Approves Of The iPad As They Plan To Spend £40,000 On 54 Of Them

Councils across the country may be facing the harsh reality of budget cuts and spending cuts imposed by the new coalition government but that hasn’t stopepd Leicester council from saying that they will spend £40,000 ensuring that every council member in the area has their own iPad. Apparently, it will cut down on printing costs and make councillors’ jobs easier. There’s a ringing endorsement if Apple ever needed one – maybe you’ll see it on their website one day soon.

One councillor claimed that it helped him because he could write down notes and start researching immediately, as soon as they were approached thanks to the iPad’s ability to connect to the Internet anywhere in Leicester city centre. Unfortunately for the council, the announced spending has come at a time when they are also suppsoed to be cutting 1,000 jobs in order to save money; maybe not the best move at this time then.

Perhaps instead of a top of the range iPad each, the council should have announced they would be giving their councillors an Archos 7 Home – unfortunately, though, while it is considerably cheaper at around £130 it’s also severely limited in its usefulness and, we suspect, enjoyment.

The Archos runs an almost obsolete version of Android and doesn’t offer access to the app marketplace, instead offering 1,500 of its own applications (that’s really not very many). It also doesn’t have Flash and offers moderate battery time. Without 3G, GPS, or Bluetooth it’s also pretty much useless on the go but did we mention that it’s really quite cheap?

If you or your council officials are basically looking for a quite nice multimedia player at a cost that is significantly lower than the iPad then the Archos 7 Home could (we said could) be the answer you’re looking for.

Could you save £40,000 on printing using an iPad?

Is Leicester Council right to replace human councillors with iPads?

ASUS X5AE-SX002V Laptop Review

There is a plethora of laptops around at the moment. This ASUS X5AE-SX002V is a mid range laptop, it has mid range specification, mid range looks but has an entry level price. That is just one of its’ selling points, we have had a look to see if it is worth the £399 it currently costs.

Design

Asus have delighted us in the past with such bizarre computers as the bamboo laptop and the scented laptops. Fortunately (for people who want a “normal” laptop)  the Asus X5AE-SX002V plays a straight bat on the design front and gives us a look which we are very familiar with. The case is finished in hard wearing black composite, it looks good and takes general wear and tear without too much drama.

It is not the lightest laptop with a 15.6 inch screen, however its by no means a porker and weighs in at 2.6KG, carrying it around was not a problem in either a shoulder or back pack style bag.

The keyboard is well designed and typing is both comfortable and quick with a good balance between not to hard and not to soft (just like Goldilocks). All in all the X5AE-SX002V design team have done a good job with the look and feel, it looks good without being too flashy.

 

Notable Specifications

4GB of memory is plenty to run Windows 7, which is great for multi tasking. Asus have included a generous 320GB hard drive which is moe than enough for a laptop. The display is kept crisp by the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 graphics processor. There are more USB ports than you can shake a stick at and wireless comes as standard.

Value

As a wise man once said;

Some people make a fortune,

Others earn a mint,

My old man don’t earn much,

In fact he’s flippin’ skint.

Even if your old man wears cor blimey trousers he could possibly still cough up £400 to get this laptop online.

Summary

The Asus X5AE-SX002V is a laptop which knows what it wants and how to get it. It isn’t the most powerful laptop in the world but it does give a performance which makes the price tag look a little silly. If you want a stunning laptop then you may to spend more money, but if you want function in a good looking machine then you could do a lot worse than the ASUS X5AE-SX002V. A good bargain buy for a student, a home user or someone after a second machine to carry between work and home.

Get it today from Pixmania | PC world - £399 | Curry’s

SAMSUNG R530-JB02UK Laptop Review

The Samsung R530 is one of the latest laptops to feature virbant colours and an affordable price tag. In the past we would have said you get what you pay for but laptops are now bucking the trend, we have taken a look at the Samsung R530-JB02UK to see what you will get for your hard earned cash.

Design

The Samsung R530-JB02UK has a stunning red shell that looks modern and stylish. As with many laptops it has a gloss finish which is fine for most people but probably not the best choice if you or your loved ones have grubby fingers. That said it easily wipes clean with a dry lint free cloth.

The 15.6 inch screen is clear and performed  during a variety of tasks, when you are working it is not tiring on the eyes (a problem which can occur with smaller screens), photographs are vibrant and video is good.

 

Notable Specifications and

An Intel® Core™ i3-330M Processor is at the heart of the R530, it offer 2.13 GHz of power coupled with a 3mb smart cache which is easily quick enough to run the included windows 7 operating system whilst still being energy efficient. We managed to run the machine for 162 minutes (2 hours 42 minutes) on a single charge which isn’t as long as a netbook or mobile laptop but with a 15.6 inch screen the R530 isn’t designed with battery life in mind.

A 500GB hard drive should be enough to accomodate most mid level users requirements, this is a fairly handy size to have in a laptop in this price bracket.

The Samsung R530 comes with 4GB of memory which helps run Windows 7 well, multi-tasking is effortless and as mentioned above is more than adequate for mid to high level users. Samsung have also included an HDMI input, 3 USB ports, a DVD rewriter and a plethora of connectivity options.

Value

It used to cost £649.99. It now costs £549.99. Rob the taxman of those extra taxes, strike a blow against non bargain PCs and save yourself some money.

Summary

The Samsung R530-JB02UK is a good looking quality laptop which should cope with most people’s multi tasking, word processing, video watching and internet lurking. The current offer price makes it a very pleasant bargain for anyone in the market for a new laptop.

Buy from Currys | Laptops Direct 

Full specification

The Rise Of The Tablet – Top Alternatives To The iPad

The iPad did a lot of things for a lot of people, including lining Steve Jobs’ pockets with a bit more cash and while competitors were quite thin on the groun for a while there has been slew of tablet PCs released that aim to dethrone the king of what is essentially a giant and more powerful smartphone. The ideal tablet PC for your needs will depend on a numbe of factors including whether you’re one of “those people” that can’t bring themselves to buy Apple and how much budget you can stretch to.

The iPad is basically the king of all tablet PCs. Even if you don’t like it you can still thank it for pushing the likes of Dell, Samsung and soon Samsung, to release their own versions and some of them are arguably better equipped and certainly less expensive than the iPad.

The Dell Streak is pretty much identically priced to the iPad and it looks seriously good. It only has a 5″ screen compared to the 9.7″ iPad screen but it also has a front loaded webcam, a 5mp digital camera that people have been going potty about (in a good way). The GPS is also very good and intuitive to boot. It’s 1GHz processor makes it an incredibly powerful smartphone (realisticaly, it’s a tad too small to be considered a full on tablet).

The joojoo is a very conveniently priced tablet with a huge 12.1″ screen. Unfortunately, it’s cumbersome both in terms of physical size and graphical interface use. You also can’t download apps, which is especially surprising considering it’s built on a Linux framework which usually means you’re guaranteed to find useful little applications and programs. The £319 price tag is incredible but we think you’d be better saving the extra £100 for the iPad or even the Dell.

That’s pretty much all you get to choose from now in terms of true iPad competitors and in all honesty the Dell is a little too small to include in the list (we were struggling). However, by the end of the year you can expect competition from Samsung, Blackberry, and Lenovo to name but a few.

Tablet News – HP PalmPad Will Have Touchscreen And Stylus

Apple announced huge sales and profit figures for the last quarter and put most of this down to the incredible success of the iPad as well as increased iPhone sales and growth in virtually every other area of their business. Those on the outside may well believe that the reason Apple has managed to hock more than 3.25 million iPads is because there is virtually no competition whatsoever and they’d probably be right, at least partially. What’s more, companies seem to be pretty slow on the uptake as there is still little in the way of choice.

Fortunately, a couple of Apple competitors are taking up the challenge and details of the Blackberry Tablet which is going to be a powerhouse of a business tablet and looks to outstrip the iPad in terms of features are joined by news that HP has named its tablet and it will offer touchscreen and stylus support.

Once a device is named it becomes less supposition and more rumour. When the company itself begins to release details of what will be included then you can really begin to get excited – at least, if it’s a promising looking piece of equipment.

The HP PalmPad will feature a touchscreen making it a very direct competitor to the iPad but where HP hopes it will make in roads is in the inclusion of a stylus pen.

The iPad touchscreen is incredible and the whole device is proving extremely popular especially thanks to the mass of apps that will work on the device. However, when it comes to note taking and even quick navigation, on screen finger flinging can prove cumbersome and this is where the use of a stylus will almost certainly offer benefit.

Will there finally be some competition for the iPad?

Will the inclusion of a stylus pen set the PalmPad above the iPad?

Two New Rugged Laptops – Ideal For The Particularly Clumsy

Getac has upgraded its military grade, and surprisingly lightweight. rugged laptop while Panasonic has unveiled their latest entry into a market that is designed either for the rugged worker that oeprates in especially difficult circumstances or for the oathish, heavy handed, clumsies among us that drop everything they get their greasy mits on.

The Getax V100 is seriously hardcore and just got even harder thanks to the latest update of the laptop. For a start, it’s a convertible laptop which means that you can swivel its monitor round to essentially create a tablet or you can use it as a standard laptop depending on the situation and your preference.

It also has a 10.4 inch multi touch screen and all this despite only weighing an impressively lightweight 2.3kg. The V100 packs a 1.2GHz Cire i7-640UM dual core processor and carries up to 8GB of internal memory. Hard drive sizes are available up to 320GB and are vibration and drop resistant. Both the keyboard and webcam are water resistant too so you can drop it, shake it, and pour your drinks over it and it should withstand the pressure.

Panasonic is also getting in on the act releasing the CF-C1 rugged laptop. This is also a convertible so should help you pick up women too. One of the more interesting features of the CF-C1 is that its touch screen will be effective by workers that are wearing gloves and it includes an ergonomic strap so users can type one handed should they so wish. It’s actually a lot lighter than the Getac weighing just 1.47kg and it’s more powerful thanks to a 2.4GHz Core processor. However, we question whether it will have the same military standard strength and resistance but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Do you use a rugged laptop?

Do you wish they were more affordable so you could get one for your kids?

Source:- V3

HP G61-410SA Laptop Review

Did you know the Great Pyramid was by far the first of the classical 7 Wonders of the Ancient World to be built and that it is the only one remaining? Are you aware that until the 19^th century the self same Great Pyramid was the tallest man made construction in the world? Good grief, I hear you say, I was quite interested in the HP G61-410SA but now that he’s gone all Egypt crazy I wouldn’t mind hearing his opinion on the legacy of Ramses II. Well, I am sorry my Egyptology loving friends, I was only using the pyramid as a convoluted way of showing that it is the quality of the construction that counts and that a huge amount of blocks takes some shifting. Anyway on with the show and I’ll try and sneak in another Egypt factoid without anyone noticing later on.

Design

Pretty much what you would expect, really. The high definition screen is a good size at 15.6 inches and the overall package speaks of a well built, nice to use laptop. No garish colours or strangely positioned sockets to spoil what we laptop reviewers would place straight in the bulging “how on earth I am going to say something novel about this laptop design?” file.

Notable Specifications

Memory wise we are looking at 3GB and 320GB hard drive. The processor is Intel® Celeron® Processor T3100. If you are looking for a solid laptop to work its socks off for you on the internet, games or word processing then the HP G61-410SA has all the necessary equipment to do its job, just like those soldiers in Napoleon’s army who shot the nose off the Sphinx.

Value

Here we go again. Mr Internet is up to his old tricks, offering silly prices for quality goods. This excellent laptop used to cost you a monkey but now it’s on offer through those nice folks at PC World at a very nice little £399.

Summary

Good laptop+ all the functions most people look for=a great purchase.

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