New Tech Lets Users Tap Out Messages

A new wearable gadget makes it possible for users to compose, edit, and send messages, texts, and emails by simply tapping their fingers. Tap is a one-handed device made up of five interconnected rings that converts any surface into a keyboard and works with smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, computers, or virtual-reality headsets.

It takes users about an hour to learn the basics through the TapGenius mobile app, according to manufacturer Tap Systems. It works with most Bluetooth-enabled devices and is usable for eight hours on a single charge.

“Tapping your fingers is much faster, more precise, and more rich in combinations than any gesture system that has ever been developed,” said Ran Poliakin, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Tap Systems. 

Take-Home Devices vs. ‘Summer Slide’

More school districts are allowing students to take home school-issued devices over the summer break to reduce learning losses known as the “summer slide.”

There is no research yet to back the success of the practice, but educators say they hope that letting students use school laptops or tablets to extend learning through the summer will bridge the gap between haves and have-nots by providing access to students who otherwise wouldn’t have it.

“Summer is the most unequal time in America,” Matthew Boulay, interim CEO of the National Summer Learning Association, told NPR. “I think we tend to have this idyllic view of what childhood summers are, but the reality is that for kids living in poverty, summer can be a time of isolation and hunger.”

There are, however, observers concerned that districts need to supply parents with instructions on proper device use at home so the technology isn’t wasted on games rather than educational content and so it doesn’t pull kids away from family activities during the summer.

Readers Still Prefer Printed Books

Digital content continues to lag behind a good, old-fashioned printed book in readers’ preference, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. The study found that 65% of Americans said they read a print book over the last 12 months, while just 28% read an e-book and 14% listened to an audiobook.

More than 70% of Americans reported reading a book in the last year, a number that has remained consistent since 2012. Almost 35% said they read an e-book or listened to an audiobook in the last year, but just 6% said they only read digital content.

E-book readership did increase by 11 percentage points between 2011-2014, but numbers have not changed since. The survey, conducted last March, also found that 19% of Americans under the age of 50 have used a cellphone to read a book and just 8% said they used a dedicated e-reader.

“While print remains at the center of the book-reading landscape as a whole, there has been a distinct shift in the e-book landscape over the last five years,” wrote the authors of the report. “Americans increasingly turn to multipurpose devices such as smartphones and tablet computers—rather than dedicated e-readers—when they engage with e-book content. The share of e-book readers on tablets has more than tripled since 2011 and the number of readers on phones has more than doubled over that time, when the share reading on e-book reading devices has not changed.”

To Ban or Not to Ban Computers

Studies have shown that students using computers in the classroom tend to do poorly on tests when compared to peers who take notes by hand. Research conducted at West Point found the same results, but did it in a way that could make a more compelling argument for banning the devices from classrooms altogether.

In a study of 726 sophomore cadets in 50 offerings of a course in introductory economics, researchers were able to assign students at random to versions of the course that either banned all devices, allowed unrestricted use, or gave permission to have a tablet computer face-up on the student’s desk. All students then took the same exam at the end of the semester.

This large-scale randomized control trial (RCT) method of study made it possible for researchers to compare the same measures of learning for all students. While the results clearly suggest that banning computers in the classroom makes sense, it might not make great policy, according to Tania Lombrozo, professor of psychology, University of California, Berkeley.

“The findings to date suggest that banning computers from classrooms may be the most sensible policy to adopt,” she wrote in a column for National Public Radio. “But there’s a more general policy that’s also worth keeping in mind: the policy of constant experimentation and improvement. We can’t always approximate an ideal RCT, but we can stifle opportunities for progress by applying a policy uniformly, without variation. We can only inch our way beyond the status quo by trying out different options, subjecting them to rigorous comparison, and repeating as needed. That means entertaining a new suite of potential policies, not just discarding the superseded.”

A Boom in Detachable Tablets Is Coming

When the iPad debuted, many people assumed it would become a game-changer in higher education, driving the adoption of digital course materials due to its greater portability and lower cost compared to laptops.

That hasn’t quite happened. However, a new forecast from International Data Corp. (IDC) predicts detachable tablets (also known as hybrids) will become more popular in the next few years, according to a report in eSchool News.

Since most college students need a laptop to efficiently work on papers and homework, they may latch onto detachables as the best of both worlds. They can use the assembled machine for keyboarding activities, and detach the screen for on-the-go reading and study.

The IDC report said tablet shipments will dip this year and in 2017. However, starting in 2018 shipments will start to rise due to greater sales of detachables. At present, according to IDC, detachables make up 16% of tablet sales, but are expected to expand to 31% by 2020.

One of the reasons it will take a few years for sales of detachables to grow is that tablet users don’t see the need to replace the devices all that often, unlike cellphones. On average, users are content with their tablets for about four years before getting a new model.

Tablet Sales Are Falling Flat

On the sixth anniversary of the Apple iPad’s debut, it appears that the tablet revolution predicted has fallen well short of expectations. In 2011, there were estimates that annual tablet shipments would be more than 300 million units by 2015.

Apple has sold more than 300 million iPads, but it’s taken six years to reach that mark. In fact, market research from International Data Corp. (IDC) shows that Apple only sold 50 million of the estimated 207 million units it shipped in 2015.

Bigger smartphones have proven to be a competitor with tablets. More than one billion of the devices were sold last year, many with large enough screens to make the purchase of a tablet unnecessary. In addition, consumers have shown they aren’t as willing to upgrade their tablet devices as often as their smartphones.

“I fit that demographic exactly: I bought an iPad Air in late 2013 that I still use daily and don’t anticipate an upgrade this year,” Arik Hesseldahl wrote in an article for re/code. “I will, however, probably upgrade my iPhone. I bought my last Mac in 2011.”

The other challenge for tablet computers is the popularity of detachables—tablets that are essentially a laptop with a removable touchscreen. One out of every five tables sold in Europe in the fourth quarter of 2015 was a detachable device.

“Detachables are proving so popular that IDC reckons by 2020 they’ll account for about one-fifth of the entire market for what it calls ‘client computing devices,’ which includes both tablets and PCs,” Hesseldahl said. “It may not amount to the radical revolution that the overly eager analysts of 2011 had called for, but it will do.”

More Malware Attacks on the Horizon

College students love their electronic devices, but that love affair could make them prime candidates for malware attacks. Research from the IT security firm Check Point found mobile malware used against Android devices is now among the most prevalent forms of attacks for the first time, while iOS platforms could soon see a steep increase.

The firm reported that while Android attacks are still more common and will become even harder to detect, the popularity of iPhones and iPads make those devices high-quality targets for cybercriminals. Check Point said it identified more than 1,400 different malware types globally in February, with the Conficker, Sality, and Dorkbot families as the most common variants.

“On top of these risks, we’ll experience a trend of cybercriminals using advanced techniques to not only take over and control individual devices but groups of multiple devices,” David De Laine, regional managing director for Check Point, told the industry newsletter ARNnet. “Controlling one device is fun, but controlling an army of devices is a real moneymaker. Botnets are getting bigger and more well-orchestrated, giving hackers a range of malicious capabilities from massive spamming schemes and heavy DDOS attacks to cryptocurrency mining.”

A denial-of-service (DOS) attack is an attempt to make a device or network unavailable to its user. A distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) is an attack on more than one unique Internet protocol address.

Production Trumps Consumption

One conundrum in the digital education world is consumption vs. production, according to Inside Higher Ed’s tech blogger Joshua Kim. Consuming content is more convenient on mobile devices, while producing that content is easier on a laptop or desktop computer.

“What this means for education, I think, is that we need to design our content primarily for mobile,” Kim wrote. “Anything that has to do with consumption will occur on a small touchscreen. Our text, presentations, and videos all need to be designed mobile first.”

However, don’t toss the laptop just yet. The keyboard makes the device much more important in the digital world because keyboards on mobile devices are simply too small to be useful. And, to Kim, writing remains at the heart of education.

“After having spent a few weeks with the new $169 iPad Pro Smart Keyboard (the combined case and keyboard), I can tell you that it is not something that you will want to use for any serious writing,” he wrote. “We should be suspicious of any education program that is mobile-only. Mobile-first, sure, but not mobile-only. Any good postsecondary program should stress production over consumption.”

Americans Spend a Lot of Time Online

A new study from the Pew Research Center found that Americans head online quite often. In fact, 73% of respondents said they use the Internet “almost constantly,” while just 7% reported using it less often than “several times a week.”

Younger generations lead the Internet charge. More than 90% of teens said they go online daily, while 36% of those ages 18-29 claimed they were in the “almost constantly” category. Time on the Internet dropped as the age groups got older.

More than 85% of the respondents who owned either a smartphone or a tablet, or both, said they used the Internet daily. Even 65% of those who didn’t have a smartphone or tablet reported logging in on a daily basis, according to a report in Pymnts.com.

Twenty-nine percent of college graduates reported being on the Internet more, compared to just 14% of those with a high school diploma or less. In addition, those earning $75,000 a year (28%) went online more than those earning $30,000 or less (14%).

More Students Want Fitness Tech than Tablets

While tablets are must-have technology for some people, the devices haven’t yet reached that status with college students. A new survey shows 93.9% of students own a laptop but only 48.4% possess a tablet and 9.3% have a tablet/laptop combo.

With the holiday season approaching, does that mean tablets are high on the wish lists for the 42% of students who don’t have one? Not necessarily. The October 2015 campus survey from OnCampus Research reveals only 16.3% of all respondents said they expect to purchase a tablet in the next 12 months, while 11.6% will be seeking out a new laptop and 12.2% will buy a tablet/laptop hybrid. Those numbers, though, include students who intend to swap their current device for a brand-new model, not just first-timers.

However, the largest slice of students—20.8%—are looking to buy fitness technology in the next year while 14.9% want other types of wearable technology, such as a GoPro. About 16.7% of students already own some kind of fitness gadget, but just 6.5% have a nonfitness-related wearable.

Even though many people deem desktop computers and e-readers to be “old-school” tech and predict they’ll disappear from the market shortly, some college students don’t agree. About 33.6% of students still own a desktop and 12.3% even plan to buy a new one in the coming months. More than a quarter of students have an e-reader, with 11.4% expecting to purchase a new device this year.

OnCampus Research, part of indiCo, a division of NACS, fields surveys on different topics every month to a panel of more than 14,000 college and university students.

Is the Amazon Six-Pack Headed to School?

Amazon is offering a six-pack of $50 Amazon Fire tablet computers for the price of five. The question is, why?

According to Adam Levy of The Motley Fool, this latest foray into tablet sales could be Amazon taking aim at the K-12 educational market. Levy points out that the number of people with families big enough to actually want six tablets might be limited. He also said that since schools are making more use of tablets, the low-cost Amazon device could be a lot more attractive than an iPad for schools facing budget issues.

“I’m not so sure Adam is really on the money here,” wrote Chris Meadows in a post for TeleRead. “iPads have a really good reputation as educational devices after all, and have built up a considerable library of quality software to aid in that purpose. Does Amazon’s software library have the educational chops necessary to compete?”

Amazon is certainly trying to develop customers for life. A company representative told the audience in an education session at CAMEX 2015 in Atlanta that’s why it is interested in on-campus locations. And what better way to do create lifetime customers than to have children using its operating system while in K-12?

However, Meadows said he believes the schools aren’t going to be thrilled that Amazon installed special advertising software into the Fire tablets that promotes its products. He also said that at less than $43, the Amazon Fire could be so inexpensive that many shoppers will see it as disposable, and may want to the six-pack just to have replacements handy.

“The point is, I don’t think it’s necessary to assume that families won’t buy into those six-packs, therefore they must be aimed at an education market,” Meadows wrote. “More than likely, some schools will be interested, but I suspect that more than enough families and even individuals will want to buy the bundles for that not to be an issue.”

VR Heading to the Classroom

With companies such as General Motors and Ford using virtual-reality technology to train employees, it was only a matter of time before it gained a foothold in education. And its place in the classroom is only going to get bigger as the cost of VR technology keeps falling.

Student-built VR headsets made of foam and cardboard are now available for about $18 each. The inexpensive headsets use smartphones to run graphics and don’t require new technology or operating systems to function. In addition, developers keep creating new ways to use the technology.

More importantly, tech-savvy students are pushing the move to VR technology in schools. They have grown up using tablets and smartphones and are ready and willing to use the devices for school.

“Educational opportunities will literally only be limited by our own imaginations,” Richard L. White, emerging-technologies developer at the Southeast Kansas Education Center, said in an article for EdTech.

Device-Agnostic Tools Needed for BYOD

College students are bringing many different types of electronic devices with them to campus. Colleges and universities are grappling with how to accommodate all those gadgets.

The many devices on the market means educators have to create lessons that work on all of them, whether students are toting a laptop, smartphone, tablet, or all three. The age of the device even comes into play, because operating systems change so frequently.

“These devices all have different quirks,” Gauri Reyes, CEO of Triple Point Advisors, said in an article in eCampus News, “and that makes it hard to predict which ones will ultimately be brought into the classrooms, who will be using which ones, and who needs to know what about the devices and the capabilities.”

Device-agnostic applications are being built to provide a solution. The tools are compatible with most operating systems, helping instructors and students work together without wasting class time or IT resources.

“Start by taking the most popular devices that are out there and making sure your applications, lesson plans, videos, or other content work on those devices,” Reyes advised. “Just make the assumption that whatever you’re developing or using has to work on iOS, Android, or another platform, and then create an environment where your students can learn, engage, collaborate, and communicate effectively.”

A Slower Year for Tablet Sales

This year is proving to be rather flat for tablet computers. A new International Data Corp. (IDC) report predicts growth in shipments of new tablets will fall to 7% in 2014, compared to 52.5% growth just a year ago.

The report said worldwide tablet shipments for 2014 will be 235.7 million units, with Android devices accounting for 67.7% of the total. The iPad comes in at 27.5% and 4.6% of the shipments will be Windows tablets.

“In the early stages of the tablet market, device lifecycles were expected to resemble those of smartphones, with replacement occurring every two or three years,” said Ryan Rieth, program director of the mobile-device trackers at IDC. “What has played out instead is that many tablet owners are holding onto their devices for more than three years and, in some instances, more than four years.”

The pace at which consumers replace their tablets is just one part of the slowdown. The iPad, which has been the industry standard, has seen its sales slip 14% because of competition from dozens of inexpensive Android models. In addition, Apple has failed to make the kinds of upgrades to the device that get people back into a buying mode, according to a report from C/Net.

IDC also reported that PC shipments continue to fall, but at a far slower rate than expected. Total shipments in 2014 will likely be around 306 million units.

“In the best case for PCs, we’d see a significant wave of replacement as users who spent on phones and tablets in recent years decide they really need to update their PC,” said Loren Loverde, vice president of Worldwide PC Trackers. “As younger generations become more mobile and web-oriented, and emerging regions in particular prioritize converged devices (or economy in number of devices to purchase), the PC market will continue to face tough competition and be more focused on replacements, with limited potential for growth.”

Tech Buyers Want Multichannel Options

Most college students love the latest electronic gadget and many will be in the market for something new this holiday season. A new report on retail technology trends found most buyers like shopping both online and in-store and aren’t that interested in wearable tech yet.

Purch, an online publishing company, surveyed more than 3,000 “tech enthusiasts” to track consumer-technology buying trends and identify top brands. It found that 74% of respondents planned to shop both online and in stores for their tech purchases, while just 4% said they would limit their shopping to traditional bricks-and-mortar locations.

Smartphones, laptops, and tablets were the top product categories. Half of the respondents said they would buy a Samsung product, followed by Asus (40%), Microsoft (38%), and Apple (28%). Fewer than 10% of the respondents said they would consider a smartwatch (9%) or fitness device (8%).

The report found that tech consumers relied on product reviews (86%) and articles by experts (74%) to help them make their buying decisions. Social media (18%) and advertising (12%) were at the bottom of the sources list.

“Consumers value a multichannel shopping environment and they look to product reviews and expert content to guide their purchase decisions,” said Purch CEO Greg Mason. “You can’t deny the authority and influences these resources have on technology enthusiasts in particular.”

Pros, Cons of Digital Textbooks

Digital course materials are finding their way into more classrooms, particularly at the middle- and high-school levels. Teachers and students of the Miami-Dade County school district, which ramped up its digital efforts this year, found the devices are great when they work.

Tablet computers give teachers the opportunity to be more creative with their lesson plans and let students work more efficiently, according to a report in the Miami Herald. At the same time, teachers aren’t always sure what students are doing online. Students also complain of poor Internet connections and say sometimes the digital textbooks just don’t work.

“It’s a little bit of a love-hate relationship,” said Nadia Zananiri, a teacher at Miami Beach High School.

Insufficient training with the devices is a big concern for teachers, but there are also a number of technological issues causing frustrations, such as students without the proper access codes, apps for online material that disappear, and not enough electrical outlets in the classrooms when students fail to recharge prior to class. Spotty Internet connection tops the list of complaints for both teachers and students.

The district offered 18 training sessions for teachers and is working to add more Wi-Fi capacity at its schools. It already manages 20,000 access points and 45 million sq. ft. of wireless coverage.

“It’s like anything else: There will be hiccups the first year, but eventually we’ll get it down,” said Daniel Francia, a teacher at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School. “I see the merits.”

More Youngsters Are Going Digital

Some think digital will only become fully accepted on campus when youngsters begin using the devices full-time. That point may be approaching quickly.

A new report from The NPD Group found that 71% of households with children ages 4-14 own a smartphone and their usage of the device has gone up from 21% in 2012 to 35% in 2014. The survey, Kids and CE: 2014, also noted that ownership of media tablets rose from 21% in 2012 to 43% in 2014.

Children using smartphones and tablets in the home has led schools to adopt more bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. IT leaders are also working on new network strategies to accommodate the increase in demand.

In one instance, EdTech reported on a Maryland school district that upgraded its network capabilities to support more than 65,000 mobile devices. In another, a district in Texas developed a network policy to allow kids to use their own devices or ones supplied by the schools.

Students See Tablets in Their Future

A new Harris poll found that college students see tablet computers as the wave of the future. The survey of 1,228 U.S. college students reported that 81% agreed that tablets will transform the way they learn and 74% said the device made learning more fun.

The 2014 Student Mobile Device Survey also found that 82% of the respondents thought using the device would encourage them to purchase digital textbooks instead of print. However, 89% reported using their laptops on a regular basis and 83% said they used their smartphone regularly, while just 45% said they regularly used a tablet.

A majority (54%) of the students said they used a single mobile device during a schoolday, with most using a laptop (89%) or their smartphone (56%) each week when doing schoolwork compared to 33% who said a tablet. Nearly all also reported having access to the Internet.

“The market for tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices has grown dramatically over the past few years,” the authors of the report wrote. “These mobile devices have the potential to transform learning and to impact the delivery of course materials.”

Students See Tablets in Their Futre

A new Harris poll found that college students see tablet computers as the wave of the future. The survey of 1,228 U.S. college students reported that 81% agreed that tablets will transform the way they learn and 74% said the device made learning more fun.

The 2014 Student Mobile Device Survey also found that 82% of the respondents thought using the device would encourage them to purchase digital textbooks instead of print. However, 89% reported using their laptops on a regular basis and 83% said they used their smartphone regularly, while just 45% said they regularly used a tablet.

A majority (54%) of the students said they used a single mobile device during a schoolday, with most using a laptop (89%) or their smartphone (56%) each week when doing schoolwork compared to 33% who said a tablet. Nearly all also reported having access to the Internet.

“The market for tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices has grown dramatically over the past few years,” the authors of the report wrote. “These mobile devices have the potential to transform learning and to impact the delivery of course materials.”

Tablet Shipments are Slowing

The sales of tablet computers may be leveling off, with shipments dropping 35.7% when the first quarter of 2014 is compared with the 2013 holiday season, according to International Data Corp. (IDC)

Apple has shipped 16.4 million iPads since the first of the year, but that’s a drop of more than three million over the first quarter of 2013, while Samsung increased its first-quarter shipments to 11.2 million.

At the same time, phablet sales are on the rise, which the IDC report suggests is a direct threat to tablet sales. Phablets combine the smartphone and tablet into one device, using a display screen of 6 in. or larger. The three Galaxy Note phablets from Samsung have sold well, with devices from HTC, LG, Nokia, and Sony also becoming big sellers.

IDC also said replacement cycles for tablets have become an issue. Manufacturers usually implement modest upgrades to the devices, making it easier for consumers to hang on to older models for longer periods of time.

“The rise of large-screen phones and consumers who are holding on to their existing tablets for ever-longer periods of time were both contributing factors to a weaker-than-anticipated quarter for tablets,” said Tom Mainelli, program vice president for devices and displays at IDC. “In addition, commercial growth has not been robust enough to offset the slowing of consumer shipments.”