Kindle so-so for students, UW study concludes

Researchers at the University of Washington are about to present a report on a pilot project that had computer science students use a Kindle DX for their course reading.

College textbooks are a holy grail for the electronic book industry, but apparently they still have a ways to go, based on the UW study, conducted during the 2009-2010 school year.

"There is noe-readerthat supports what we found these students doing,"first author Alex Thayer, a UW doctoral student in design and engineering, said in a release."It remains to be seen how to design one. It's a great space to get in to, there's a lot of opportunity."

Seven months into the study, more than 60 percent of the students had stopped using their Kindle regularly for academic reading - and these were computer science students, who are presumably more sympathetic to an electronic book.

Although the device has note-taking capabilities, some students still tucked paper into the Kindle case to write notes and others would read near a computer that they could use for reference and other tasks that weren't easy on the device.

The study used the DX, which is the largest Kindle, a $379 model with a 9.7-inch diagonal screen. It involved 39 first-year graduate students incomputer scienceand engineering, with ages ranging from 21 to 53.

Some conclusions, as listed in the release:

- Students did most of the reading in fixed locations: 47 percent of reading was at home, 25 percent at school, 17 percent on a bus and 11 percent in a coffee shop or office.

- The Kindle DX was more likely to replace students' paper-based reading than their computer-based reading.

- Of the students who continued to use the device, some read near a computer so they could look up references or do other tasks that were easier to do on a computer. Others tucked a sheet of paper into the case so they could write notes.

- With paper, three quarters of students marked up texts as they read. This included highlighting key passages, underlining, drawing pictures and writing notes in margins.

- A drawback of theKindleDX was the difficulty of switching between reading techniques, such as skimming an article's illustrations or references just before reading the complete text.Studentsfrequently made such switches as they read course material.

- The digital text also disrupted a technique called cognitive mapping, in which readers used physical cues, such as the location on the page and the position in the book to find a section of text or even to help retain and recall the information they had read.

The study will be presented at next week's Association for Computing Machinery conference on human factors in computing systems, taking place in Vancouver, B.C.

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Review: Eee Pad tablet transforms into laptop

(AP) -- The tablet computers that compete with the iPad have mostly been uninspiring. The Eee Pad Transformer stands out with a design that isn't just copied from the iPad: It's a tablet that turns into a laptop.

For $399, $100 less than the cheapest iPad, you get atablet computerwith a 10-inch screen and hardware that doesn't cut corners. It's fully usable on its own. For another $149, you can buy a keyboard that connects to the tablet. Together, they look and open like a small laptop.

The Transformer is made by Asustek Computer Inc., the Taiwanese company that started the brief"netbook"craze a few years ago by selling small, inexpensive laptops. With the keyboard attached, the Transformer is nearly indistinguishable from a netbook.

But before you get too excited about the prospect of a laptop-tablet hybrid that combines the best of both worlds, I have to tell you that you're not getting a Windows laptop in the bargain. The Transformer runsGoogleInc.'s Android software, originally designed for smartphones.

That means it doesn't run full-blown Windows programs or connect to peripherals such as scanners. This isn't all a bad thing, as Android comes with important advantages, such as a long battery life, programs designed for touch input and a computer that comes to life almost immediately when you open the lid.

The keyboard may sound a bit expensive for $149, but it does more than help with typing. It has atrack padwith"mouse buttons,"just as you'd find on a laptop. It also contains an extra battery that charges the tablet's battery, two USB ports for connecting peripherals and a slot for SD memory cards, used in most digital cameras.

I tested thebattery lifeby playing ahigh-definitionvideo over and over again, with the screen set to medium brightness. I got a respectable nine hours from the tablet alone and 13 hours with the keyboard attached. That compares with 10 hours for the iPad 2.

The screen uses the same technology as the iPad's, making it easy to read from any angle and in any orientation. It is slightly larger than the iPad's and has a slightly higher resolution.

The Transformer has two cameras, as we expect from this year's tablets. The picture quality is so-so but more than adequate for videoconferencing through Google Talk.

Of course, you could get an iPad and an accessory keyboard instead. There are good reasons for doing so - I'll talk more about the software below - but let's stick for the moment to discussing what's good about the Transformer.

The iPad doesn't make any particular accommodation for a keyboard. The accessory ones connect using short-range Bluetooth wireless technology, which can be a hassle to connect and troubleshoot. It also means the keyboards need separate batteries - Apple's own model uses two AAs. The battery in the Asus keyboard doesn't need to be charged for the keyboard to work, and in any case, it uses the same charger as the tablet.

Most iPad keyboards don't attach to the tablet itself, because there's nothing to hang on to. This is fine if you're at a table, but juggling an iPad and a separate keyboard on your lap can be difficult. Some iPad keyboards are built into a case, which covers the tablet and forms a laptop-like unit, though an inelegant one.

The Transformer has two slots for the keyboard to lock into, forming a sturdy whole that's easy to use on a lap or tummy, for those really lazy moments on the couch.

There's another nice thing about the Transformer keyboard: The keys are designed for the software. There are keys that bring you to the Home screen and Settings. Others control screen brightness, volume and media playback. There are buttons for the Back and Menu functions of Google's Android software.

This isn't the first time we've seen small laptops running Android, but it is the first time I've used one that runs Honeycomb, the first Android version specifically designed for tablets rather than smartphones. The update makes Android much better at taking advantage of a 10-inch screen.

But as tablet software, Android is still far behind Apple's iOS software for the iPad. The biggest problem is the low quality and poor selection of applications from outside companies. Many of my favoriteiPadapps, including Netflix and The Wall Street Journal are not available at all. Others, such as The New York Times, are available only in inferior versions, designed for thesmartphonescreen rather than the tablet.

I also had frequent crashes when using the applications. The Transformer is perhaps the bestAndroidtablet out there, especially considering the price, but the software is still a major weakness. Still, the beautifully integratedkeyboardshould tempt people who don't want to decide between a tablet and a laptop.

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NTT Docomo's new smartphone features wireless charger

(PhysOrg.com) -- Charging your cell phone can be a hassle, mostly because you have to find your cord, and if you are anything like most people, you don't have just one charging cord lying around your house. Wireless charging is an option for some devices but currently if you want to charge without the cord you are going to have to put out a second investment in your phone.

Buying a wirelesscharging stationand a special battery pack, such as the ones put out by Energizer can easily set you back more than an extra $100. When you consider that asmartphonecan run you up to $500 by itself you can see how that pair is a significant investment in your tech. One that may be too hefty for some.

NTT Docomo Inc is looking to change that. They have created a Smartphone that can be wirelessly charged, without buying extra hardware. The phone, which is expected to go on sale in July or August of 2011 in Japan, has been dubbed the Aquos Phone f SH-13C. The Aquos Phone f SH-13C is designed to be compliant with the Qi standard, which was developed by the Wireless Power Consortium, an industry organization for wireless charging systems.

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Image: Akihabara

The phone will be manufactured bySharp Corp, and will be waterproof. The phones battery will be made bySanyo ElectricCo Ltd. and it will come with a lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack containing a coil and an integrated circuit chip for wireless charging. This means that you could, in theory, charge the battery pack without the phone.

Two models of the charger; Wireless Charger 01 and the Pocket Charger 02 are expected to be released. Each will cost about¥4,000, or roughly US$49.46.

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