Skip to main content

McGraw-Hill

See All Stories

9to5Toys Last Call: 13″ Retina MacBook Pro $1,100, Mohu HDTV Antenna $30, Dell Laser Printer $100, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call Updates:

kodak-sp360-action-camera

Kodak’s 360 degree action camera adds must-see YouTube capabilities

macbook-pro-retina-13-inch-mf839ll-a

Apple 13″ MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display: 2.7GHz/8GB/128GB $1,100 (Reg. $1,299)

mohu-leaf-50

Cut the cord! Mohu Leaf 50 Ultimate HDTV Antenna (open box): $30 shipped (Orig. $90)

dell-c1760nw-printer

Color Wireless Printers: Dell LED Laser $100 (Reg. $150+), Canon All-In-One Inkjet $70 (Reg. $100)

amazon-launchpad-bluesmart

Amazon’s new Launchpad store offers the latest gadgets from crowdfunding campaigns and startups

More new gear from today:

trendnet-tew-751dr-n600-dual-band-wireless-router-ieee-802-11abgn-ieee-802-33u2

 

Daily Deals: Trendnet N600 Dual-Band Router $10, ZAGG iPad Mini ZAGGkeys Bluetooth Keyboard Cover (refurb) $10, more

sony-MDR-7506

Headphones: Sony MDR-7506 Professional Folding $70 (Reg. $100), Beyerdynamic DT 1350 $150 (Orig. $300+), more

More deals still alive:

100 apps-iOS-sale3

Apple’s massive iOS sale w/ 100 apps for $0.99 ea: Rayman, Angry Birds, Pixelmator, Spider-Man, many more

Free McGraw-Hill iOS apps for kids: Monster Squeeze, more (Reg. $2 ea.)

QuickRes – the app that changes your resolution in a click: 50% off

App Store Free App of the Week: SpongeBob Moves In ($4 value)

Disney’s award-winning Animated iPad app hits a new all-time low price of $3 (Reg. $10)

Save 50% on the brand new Screenium 3 high-res, high-speed screen capture app for Mac

samsung-850-evo-1tb

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5-inch Internal Solid-State Drive: $310 shipped (Reg. $350

New products & more:

plantronics-on-ear-headphones

Plantronics new BackBeat Sense Bluetooth headphones are loaded with sensors

luminid-touch-flash-lightning-cable

This Lightning cable cleverly solves an annoyance every iPhone user deals with

beolit-15-bluetooth-speaker

Review: Bang & Olufsen Beolit 15 Bluetooth speaker

Review: DODOcase Apple Watch Charging Stand

Review: SanDisk Connect Wireless Stic

Apple event will highlight education, will offer special discounts to education including iPad mini 10-packs

Site default logo image

Rumor has it Apple’s media event tomorrow will have a strong education focus, something that seems even more likely with the recent iBooks 3.0 leaks. Of course, the fact that Apple is about to unveil its lowest priced iPad has also lead to talk that students and education might be the target audience during the iPad mini’s unveiling. TNW reported first that Apple’s event would focus on educational content—specifically iBooks. We have also independently heard that educational content is being prepared for tomorrow’s presentation.

Today, Bloomberg Businessweek backs up those reports by adding that “Apple executives plan to make a point of highlighting the iPad’s educational capabilities at tomorrow’s event.” The report cited sources familiar with the preparation of tomorrow’s events, and it noted that Apple has “realigned its education sales force to emphasize iPads.” While most analysts seem to agree iPad mini will help Apple continue to dominate the education tablet market, one thing they can’t agree on is price.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

Apps & updates: Instagram 2.5, Facebook Messenger & Pages Manager, free McGraw-Hill apps, more

Today’s apps and updates news kicks off with four free apps from publisher McGraw-Hill, which was one of Apple’s partners for the iBooks textbooks launch in January, as well as big updates to popular apps such as Instagram, Facebook Messager, Facebook Pages Manager, and Words With Friends HD. McGraw-Hill Education is attending the International Society for Technology in Education conference this week, and it is offering some of its best-selling apps free. Starting today until June 27, you can grab the following textbooks free:

American History Time Line

Words to Learn By

Fusion Reading The Vocabulary Process

Sail Through Math

Instagram version 2.5.0: One of the most notable apps to receive an update today is Facebook’s Instagram with version 2.5 bringing a number of noteworthy features listed below:

– Revamped profile tab
– Search for users and tags in the Explore tab
– Improvements to commenting
– User search autocompletes based on people you follow
– Visual improvements
– Speed optimizations
– Optionally share likes to Facebook (enable in your Profile > Sharing Settings > Facebook)

Facebook Messenger version 1.8: The Facebook Messenger iOS app received a decent update today that includes the following features in addition to “More-reliable push notifications” and “Faster app loading, navigating and sending”:

– Quickly switch between multiple conversations with in-app notifications
– Include friends of friends in conversations
– Swipe to delete individual messages from conversations
– See who’s available when you start a new conversation
– Share bigger photos, tap for full screen and pinch to zoom

Facebook Pages Manager version 1.1: Facebook also updated its Pages manager app with the features listed below as well as the usual bug fixes and performance updates:

• View and reply to messages
• Adjust how often you receive notifications about Pages activity
• See answers to questions and guest lists for events created on your Pages
• Insights added for checkins

CNN App for iPad version 1.6: The CNN iPad app, like many others after the launch of the third-gen iPad, has been updated with enhanced imagery to support the device’s Retina display.

Groupon version 1.6.6: Groupon was updated today with a number of welcomed features, including: the ability to make appointments with Groupon Scheduler for iPhone users, support for users in Chile, and various tweaks and “beautification efforts” to the app’s UX.

Words With Friends HD version 5.0: One of Zynga’s most popular titles was updated today to version 5.0, which mostly brings a number of enhancements for iPad users:

-Interface enhancements will make all those “wanted” posters look out of date!

*Words is “strapped” with a new side menu!

*Surveillance is key! Turn the iPad and enjoy our new landscape mode!

*Words iPad now supports Retina display, so you can analyze every last detail of the scene.

-All this crime has made us more concerned about security!

-Enhanced app security!

-Bug fixes and optimizations!

Gmail version 1.2.7812: We already told you all about today’s update to the Gmail iOS app that brought Notification Center support, alternate sender addresses, and persistent logins. You get can all the information here.

McGraw-Hill CEO gives credit for iBooks textbooks vision to Steve Jobs

Site default logo image

Following Apple’s big education announcements yesterday with the introduction of iBooks 2.0, iBooks Author, and the iTunes U iOS app, the CEO of publisher McGraw-Hill Terry McGraw —one of Apple’s partners bringing textbooks to the iBookstore— sat down with All Things D to discuss the new partnership. When asked how long his company has been in talks with Apple, McGraw discussed meeting with Jobs:

Sitting and listening to all of this, I wish Steve Jobs was here. I was with him in June this past year, and we were talking about some of the benchmarks, and some of the things that we were trying to do together. He should be here. He probably is [gesturing up and around]. This was his vision, this was his idea, and it all had to do with the iPad.

We already learned in Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” biography that Jobs had his “sights set on textbooks as the next business he wanted to transform.” According to the book, Jobs’ “idea was to hire great textbook writers to create digital versions” for the iPad. We also knew he held meetings with major publishers, but we now know he was still working on the textbook projects until at least June.

All Things D also asked McGraw about the possibility of bringing similar content to Google’s platforms. McGraw avoided answering the question directly:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Liveblog: Apple’s Education event in NYC

Site default logo image


image via the Verge

NOTE: The full coverage is right after the break.

McGraw Hill CEO Terry ..wait for it.. McGraw is in attendance.

10:00am: Schiller time! “We’re proud to help students learn”…and “Students are being introducd to the iPad”

10:03: “In general Education is in the dark ages”

10:05: 20,000 EDU apps on iPad. Many more in iBookstore

10:07: 1.5M iPads used in Education.

10:08: “Reinventing Textbooks”

10:09: How do textbooks measure up? Content amazing but portability and durability are bad.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Steve Jobs: ‘What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology’

Site default logo image

With Apple’s entrance into the digital textbook space expected to take place tomorrow at its media event in New York City, a 1996 Steve Jobs interview from Wired gives us a glimpse into how the CEO viewed the potential for technology to transform education. Specifically, Jobs claimed the problems facing education were sociopolitical issues and unions, something he said “cannot be fixed with technology.” Jobs also discussed a new model for education in the interview, well over 10 years before his concept of free textbooks on iPads was revealed in Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio.

Here’s an excerpt from the Wired interview:

I used to think that technology could help education. I’ve probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody else on the planet. But I’ve had to come to the inevitable conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.

It’s a political problem. The problems are sociopolitical. The problems are unions. You plot the growth of the NEA [National Education Association] and the dropping of SAT scores, and they’re inversely proportional. The problems are unions in the schools. The problem is bureaucracy.

As Wired pointed out, with Apple’s forthcoming push into education, the bureaucracies of teacher’s unions Jobs spoke of will likely be replaced with political issues facing state curriculum boards and standards requirements. According to special education policy researcher Sherman Dorn, the GarageBand for eBooks rumor could face hurdles, as Apple must meet strict standards required for technology used by federal governments (via Wired):

“Section 508 [of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act] (accessibility) complicates text GarageBand utopian visions,” Dorn says. Section 508 mandates that all electronic and information technology used by the federal government be equally accessible to users with disabilities. “We’ve been told multimedia requires captioning, scripts, etc.,” to meet the standards set by section 508, says Dorn. “Very labor-intensive.”

In the Wired interview, Jobs goes on to discuss a new model for education that would be similar to startups in the tech industry. Jobs imagined a world where parents are given a $4,400 voucher per year to pay for school. The result, “People would get out of college and say, ‘Let’s start a school.’ You could have a track at Stanford within the MBA program on how to be the businessperson of a school.” Jobs explained:


Expand
Expanding
Close