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The Mobile Gadgeteer

Matthew Miller & Joel Evans

Apple iBooks 2 with Textbooks may reduce back pain and improve student health

By | January 19, 2012, 7:38am PST

Summary: Apple’s iBooks 2 announcement with Textbooks could revolutionize the textbook market. Now, we just need to see textbook publishers jump on board and save the backs of our children.

I was watching the live coverage of the Apple education event and the first thing that I thought after seeing the iBooks 2 with Textbooks announcement (The Verge) was that Apple may have just saved people money and pain caused by heavy backpacks while also generating more excitement for education.

When I was a kid in high school, we had lockers to store our books in between classes and I just took a book or two to class. That isn’t the case for many schools today where kids have to carry all of their books in a backpack throughout the day. I have three daughters in public school and they are only given 5 minutes between classes so it is physically impossible to get to a remote locker and then to class so the school forces them to carry backpacks weighing 10 to 30 pounds. I have serious concerns about the long term implications of carrying such weight each and every day as kids’ bodies are growing and developing.

My daughters use my iPad from time to time, but if Apple can truly get textbook publishers to make iPad versions then I have no problem spending the money to get them iPads for school usage. The ability to experience advanced interactions with your textbook is also a very attractive prospect and should help those who are not that enthusiastic about school. Thankfully, my girls love school and I see the use of iPads as a natural progression of technology while enhancing the learning experience.

As an engineer, I regularly paid $400+ each semester for books, many of them were used, and while using an iPad for textbooks may seem expensive we may find the total lifecycle cost is less. I think the key to success here is textbook publishers joining the Apple initiative. Apple did announce that the iBooks Authoring tool is available for free so they are making it easy to get textbooks into the iBooks 2 format.

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Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle.

Disclosure

Matthew Miller

Matthew is a professional naval architect by day and a mobile gadget freak at all other times. He purchases most of his devices and then sells them on eBay or Craigslist to buy more. Many other devices are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the carrier or manufacturer. If any are provided as “keeper” or “long term loaner units” this will be clearly disclosed in his reviews.

Biography

Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. He is one of three hosts on the MobileTechRoundup podcast and runs the Nokia Experts website. Matthew started using mobile devices in 1997 with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned over 90 different devices running Palm, Linux, Symbian, Newton, BlackBerry, Mac OS X (iPhone), Google Android, and Windows Mobile operating systems. His current collection includes a Nokia N85, Nokia E71, Nokia 5800, Nokia N810, Apple iPhone, HTC Advantage, T-Mobile G1, Palm Treo Pro, HTC Fuze, MSI Wind, MacBook Pro, and many more, along with tons of accessories and classic devices like the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 and Sony CLIE UX50. Matthew co-authored Master Visually Windows Mobile 2003, was a member of the Nokia Nseries Blogger relations program, and is a member of the invite-only Microsoft Mobius mobile device evangelist group. He can be found on various discussion forums under the user name of "palmsolo".

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RE: Apple iBooks 2 with Textbooks may reduce back pain and improve student health
sarai1313@... 24th Jan
all right fan boy's you seam to miss the point not every one can spend $499.00 for thier childern when they need to put food on the table
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I haven't heard of kids learning from 30 lbs of books a day yet.
But I've heard of kids playing games or wasting time on 'social media' or 'cool sites' with their devices rather than learning.
@The Linux Geek

You obviously don't have a kid in public school.
@msalzberg The problem is that the kids who would need the most help are the ones who can't afford a $400 e-book reader. And I for one would not appreciate being FORCED to buy an iPad to get my textbooks. Nor would I be willing to give Apple pretty much full veto control over my ability to publish that textbook anywhere else. (See the article with the iBooks Author EULA to see how that could come about.)
@The Linux Geek Perhaps you were homeschooled - that would account for your lack of ability to interact with people. Or you don't have kids. I went to public schools and I have a daughter who is now in college and yes she did have to carry 30+ pounds worth of books, notebooks, and supplies to classes that were spread out across the various schools she was in. The weight is indeed a legitimate concern.

Perhaps - and much more likely - you are upset because this is something Apple is doing that is good, that this is something that Google/FOSS did not come up with, and something that SJVN has not given you your opinion on yet so you are going with the typical "I hate everything Apple does" mantra until he gives you instructions.
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What happens when the iPad breaks?
William Farrel 19th Jan
It's not like when you drop a book or bqackpack, all the text books break.

What do you do if the iPad quits working for whatever reason? Do they give you a pass on your homework assignment and everything?
@William Farrel Otterbox Defender for those kids in college - who typically take better care of electronics as opposed to younger kids. For kids in primary and secondary schools more than likely the schools will provide the iPads (like they do laptops currently) via a deal with Apple that includes repair/ replacement options - the students (or rather their parents) have to pay an up front insurance fee each school year. And in the event of a non functional device then there are still physical books to use.
@Pete "athynz" Athens

And all parents will be just happy paying up front insurance fee yearly? What if the school has no budget to provide said laptops? A lot of assumptions there.

How do you help lower income students, do we just forget them or you kosher with higher taxes so they get to play too? What if my kids go to private school, do I get a tax break?

I'm all for technology but at the moment there are questions that need to be answered and I would like to see a joint open effort for digital textbooks for ALL devices to use vs. creating yet another revenue stream for Apple and their products alone.
Apple is trying to put the book cover industry out of business!
@Loverock Davidson-

I thought you were a proponent of the belief that competition is good in business. Or - maybe I was wrong about your beliefs.
@Loverock Davidson- GOOD FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The textbook publishers are the biggest rip off artists since Bernie Madoff. As I see it one can either spend $500+ each semester (for college students: $1,000/yr, $4,000/4 year program) or spend $600 for a 64 GB WiFi iPad and $14.99 per book (around $75/ semester, $150/yr, $600/4 year program) for a total of $1,200. Yeah I'd much rather save that $2,800 for other things AND have all the textbooks to refer to for like if needed AND have a decent tablet that does a lot of other things than just display textbooks - and ALL under 2 pounds.
@Pete "athynz" Athens
But think of the book cover industry. With these digital books kids will no longer be able to draw and decorate the book covers anymore.
@Pete "athynz" Athens

Yes but let one company that manufactures their products in China control the education system by monopolozing both the devices used and the content and they can charge whatever they want for both.
@Loverock Davidson- Not with the current licensing they won't. I can't see too many textbook publishers wanting to have to ask Apples permission to publish.
Won't work!
Ipads break!
End of Revolution.
@SHAMKEN@... This has got to be the dumbest post on this talkback - and that's saying something considering Linux Geek also posted his usual Apple Hater drivel here. So as to why I say this is the dumbest post:

Won't work!


So an iPad cannot display textbooks? Really? Have you been living in a cave somewhere? But amuse me, tell me why this won't work.

Ipads break!


Books catch on fire, books can be lost, get wet, etc. HOWEVER the books on an iPad can be redownloaded and the iPad replaced - and if insured (which is another issue) one has to pay full price for one and will STILL be ahead of the game financially. Next.

End of Revolution.


Let me guess - you work for the publishers who have ripped off college kids and schools for years, are one of those people who approve the constant textbook changes in return for some pretty sweet kickbacks from the publishers, or just hate Apple.
@Pete "athynz" Athens

"So an iPad cannot display textbooks? Really? Have you been living in a cave somewhere? But amuse me, tell me why this won't work."

The current iPad has 1024x768. The cheapest second-hand textbook is 10000x10000. Too big a gap to cover despite the forgiveness mark-up caused by a new toy.

It it could, the PC (1024x768 was 2001 vintage) would have killed books long time ago.
The focus on cost is a red herring. Most of the current cost involved in today's textbooks is not the cost of printing but rather the fees to authors, reviewers, typesetters, copy editors, etc. (For a textbook selling for $100, the actual printing cost is less than 7%). These costs will remain the same whether the book is digital or paper.

The advantage for digital books is three-fold: Ease of updating; lightweight (carrying textbooks is a problem for students today); incorporation of multimedia (digital books can show many more images, can utilize video, etc.).

The disadvantage to Apple dominating the ecosystem is they are a closed environment. If a more open format is used to produce the digital books, then the user can decide which device is best suited for their needs. Even Amazon, which also is a closed ecosystem, recognizes this and allows Kindle books to be read on almost any device.
@SHAMKEN@...

Also
1. Can't just go to store to buy a new battery. Apple must replace.
2. Depenedent on connectivity so At&t, Sprint, Verizon and T-mobile could creat monthly data charges.
3. One company controlling the industry.
No one has even mentioned the environmental (saving) impact of not printing all those books that most of us throw in a box at the end of the semester or donate to the Library. Also, iPads/iBooks are going to break but if you can afford the cost of all those books every semester you can afford to replace it. Its technology people - move forward! Would you write your term paper on a notepad?!?
@dlwhitester

I'm sure Apple would just stop making their devices in China and build factories here to hire all the displaced workers libraries and textbook manufacturing companies across the USA. Books will never go away.
If it makes a child more interested in learning then I think it's a great idea, but they will need to figure out how to charge their iPads in school. It took a long time to download a book and eats a lot of juice.
Textbooks are already a limited market, why not Apple? There are only 10 textbook publishers, and all Universities set the requirements per class. You can;t choose your Biology textbook ike a novel, you buy the University and Professor approved text. This is all about USEABILITY, not free-info. There is plenty of free info on the web, but textbooks are not.

The technology is sound, the iPAD is prevalent, and one iPAD is the same cost as a couple text books. As far as the comparability of textbooks and a laptop/notebook, well the dead tree books are not available on PC either. This is an efficient and economical delivery device for college texts. Kudos to Apple for trying to change this archaic system. I am not an Apple fan regularly, and I don't own one Apple device, but I have to commend their efforts here!
@dyerbennett
Yes the Ipad is the cost of a few text book but no warranty is needed with textbooks. Also if a school doesn't want to buy from one textbook publisher they can buy from another (competition). If Apple gets control they are free to charge what they want for devices and content. I'm more in favor if Android devices and content can at least compete for the market.

You don't need Wifi for textbooks. You also don't need At&t,Verizon, T-mobile or sprint for textbooks. You don't even need a network password. You don't need to go to Mc Donald or Panera bread either.
I have a niece that works as a editor for a major publishing company for school books. Two years ago they already started moving in this direction. It seems that the people that are opposing this move are like to management of Kodak and not keeping up with technology.
I love the idea. First of all carrying over 10-15% of your body weight on your back does negatively impact the spine of children & adults alike. I can quote study after study, but I'll let your do your own research on that. I treat patients of all ages and help reduce the impact of such damage;however, repeat behavior causes repeat treatment. Additionally, in the long run it would be cheaper for the school systems to purchase one item and download the information verses the thousands they spend on new updated textbooks. Embrace technology, it is the future!
Odd point is that some books, at least half my classes, have a code where you can download the entire book, cover and all. If you get a used book, then look inside and it will let you "buy" the downloadable book. Most have been either PDF or e-pub. If I could buy the downloadable textbook directly instead of having the heap of books that I've bought, I would also save on space. Initially, I didn't like the e-reader version of the textbooks, because of lack of easy "Post-Its" keeping pages temporarily book marked, I got used to the electronic version. It takes a while, but now I prefer reading my e-pub and PDF books on my iPad and it does save book weight.

My middle school daughter has and still does carry a very heavy bag, because she goes to a school with a fairly large campus and cannot always get to her next class in time if she had to go to her locker. For a middle schooler, carrying around 25+ pounds of books cannot be good for her and she already does exercises and is not overweight. My elementary school son has a fairly heavy bag and he has to carry a 20+ pound bag.

I got to thinking about how it was when I was in elementary school. I don't remember carrying so many books. In fact, I did not carry that many books when I look at pictures of me. I remembered why that was the condition back then compared to now. For one, our teachers, my mother was one of them, never assigned homework like "p. 45 - 47 odd numbered problems" or "answer questions on p. 77." We always had handouts (does anyone remember "ditto" machines?), where the teacher either made up the problems or took them from the book, but still a handout. So, unless you needed to reference something, you never had to carry your books home and subsequently back to school. Thus, most of the time I had my notebook and maybe one book. Since my mother was a teacher in the same school that I attended I would either do my homework in her room or more often, the teacher that I had would quite often stay until 5 or 6 P.M. and you could do your homework in the classroom. So, I would do my "homework" in school and if I finished and the teacher was there, I turned them in.

So, why so different now? I think the teachers don't stay late because of several reasons: they have to chauffeur their own kids to sports or other activities; the union doesn't allow it; they have another job. Also, the children are not allowed to remain on campus. Thus, they have to carry all their books home so they could do their homework. An e-device would be better and yes, they could break but surely 25+ bags cannot be good for growing children, which could be a worse financial problem. Because my childrens' books are so heavy, they go through two bags per school year. It isn't because they are throwing them around, it is because the straps rip out from the bag making them unrepairable. The bags are so heavy that the only way you can get them up is to yank them up to your shoulder. Then what about the bags with wheels? There are stairs where my children go to school and the wheeled bags get damaged from going up and down the stairs, or they have to carry them on the stairs which then the handles are yanked off the bag. So, yeah, iPads or other tablets are not cheap, but I would gladly like to lighten my childrens' load. Apple's move might prompt more publishers to choose an e-version to let children use. If not affordable, for some students, have your PTA help with the payments. Our PTA (I am on the board) actually paid for an entire $75,000 computer lab in an unused classroom. If we used iPads, we could easily pay for students who could not afford them (our alumni donate quite a bit of money and supplies that the school doesn't have to buy, and since I can afford it, I also donate at least two iPads worth each year).
Odd point is that some books, at least half my classes, have a code where you can download the entire book, cover and all. If you get a used book, then look inside and it will let you "buy" the downloadable book. Most have been either PDF or e-pub. If I could buy the downloadable textbook directly instead of having the heap of books that I've bought, I would also save on space. Initially, I didn't like the e-reader version of the textbooks, because of lack of easy "Post-Its" keeping pages temporarily book marked, I got used to the electronic version. It takes a while, but now I prefer reading my e-pub and PDF books on my iPad and it does save book weight.

My middle school daughter has and still does carry a very heavy bag, because she goes to a school with a fairly large campus and cannot always get to her next class in time if she had to go to her locker. For a middle schooler, carrying around 25+ pounds of books cannot be good for her and she already does exercises and is not overweight. My elementary school son has a fairly heavy bag and he has to carry a 20+ pound bag.

I got to thinking about how it was when I was in elementary school. I don't remember carrying so many books. In fact, I did not carry that many books when I look at pictures of me. I remembered why that was the condition back then compared to now. For one, our teachers, my mother was one of them, never assigned homework like "p. 45 - 47 odd numbered problems" or "answer questions on p. 77." We always had handouts (does anyone remember "ditto" machines?), where the teacher either made up the problems or took them from the book, but still a handout. So, unless you needed to reference something, you never had to carry your books home and subsequently back to school. Thus, most of the time I had my notebook and maybe one book. Since my mother was a teacher in the same school that I attended I would either do my homework in her room or more often, the teacher that I had would quite often stay until 5 or 6 P.M. and you could do your homework in the classroom. So, I would do my "homework" in school and if I finished and the teacher was there, I turned them in.

So, why so different now? I think the teachers don't stay late because of several reasons: they have to chauffeur their own kids to sports or other activities; the union doesn't allow it; they have another job. Also, the children are not allowed to remain on campus. Thus, they have to carry all their books home so they could do their homework. An e-device would be better and yes, they could break but surely 25+ bags cannot be good for growing children, which could be a worse financial problem. Because my childrens' books are so heavy, they go through two bags per school year. It isn't because they are throwing them around, it is because the straps rip out from the bag making them unrepairable. The bags are so heavy that the only way you can get them up is to yank them up to your shoulder. Then what about the bags with wheels? There are stairs where my children go to school and the wheeled bags get damaged from going up and down the stairs, or they have to carry them on the stairs which then the handles are yanked off the bag. So, yeah, iPads or other tablets are not cheap, but I would gladly like to lighten my childrens' load. Apple's move might prompt more publishers to choose an e-version to let children use. If not affordable, for some students, have your PTA help with the payments. Our PTA (I am on the board) actually paid for an entire $75,000 computer lab in an unused classroom. If we used iPads, we could easily pay for students who could not afford them (our alumni donate quite a bit of money and supplies that the school doesn't have to buy, and since I can afford it, I also donate at least two iPads worth each year).
Odd point is that some books, at least half my classes, have a code where you can download the entire book, cover and all. If you get a used book, then look inside and it will let you "buy" the downloadable book. Most have been either PDF or e-pub. If I could buy the downloadable textbook directly instead of having the heap of books that I've bought, I would also save on space. Initially, I didn't like the e-reader version of the textbooks, because of lack of easy "Post-Its" keeping pages temporarily book marked, I got used to the electronic version. It takes a while, but now I prefer reading my e-pub and PDF books on my iPad and it does save book weight.
30 lbs is a problem for American kids? No wonder you're dealing with such levels of obesity happy

My real problem with this is that the License agreement for this e-book system from Apple does not allow the author to reproduce the "work" elsewhere. Refer to Ed Bott's post on the subject. What we need in the world today in promoting knowledge is open systems. Whatever happened to the seemingly "almighty" HTML5 or other such formats? Do not force me to have to buy an apple device as a prerequisite to go through school.
all right fan boy's you seam to miss the point not every one can spend $499.00 for thier childern when they need to put food on the table
all right fan boy's you seam to miss the point not every one can spend $499.00 for thier childern when they need to put food on the table

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