Apple to announce tools, platform to "digitally destroy" textbook publishing

Apple is slated to announce the fruits of its labor on improving the use of technology in education at its special media event on Thursday, January 19. While speculation has so far centered on digital textbooks, sources close to the matter have confirmed to Ars that Apple will announce tools to help create interactive e-books—the "GarageBand for e-books," so to speak—and expand its current platform to distribute them to iPhone and iPad users.

Along with the details we were able to gather from our sources, we also spoke to two experts in the field of digital publishing to get a clearer picture of the significance of what Apple is planning to announce.

So far, Apple has largely embraced the ePub 2 standard for its iBooks platform, though it has added a number of HTML5-based extensions to enable the inclusion of video and audio for some limited interaction. The recently-updated ePub 3 standard obviates the need for these proprietary extensions, which in some cases make iBook-formatted e-books incompatible with other e-reader platforms. Apple is expected to announce support for the ePub 3 standard for iBooks going forward.

Source: arstechnica.com

Apple tar inn igjen Newton-utvikler

Michael Tchao var mannen som utviklet Apples aller første håndholdte datamaskin, Newton. Mange tror at han skal jobbe med den sagnomsuste «iPad» (eller «iTablet)», som foreløpig bare er på et løst ryktestadium (om den eksisterer på noe tegnebord i det hele tatt).

Etter en lang og brokete forhistorie ble Newton omsider lansert på MacWorld i San Francisco i 1993. Den ble trukket tilbake fra markedet i 1998.

ITavisen