Apple providing iPads to Los Angeles school district in $30 million contract

Apple won a contract this week with the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide iPads to its students, netting Cupertino $30 million across the next two years. The agreement will roll out iPads to students at 47 campuses; the iPads cost $678 apiece (nearly $200 more than a standard entry level iPad) and come loaded with educational software. Bizarrely, with tablets priced at $678 apiece, $30 million only nets LA schools approximately 45,000 iPads, while the school district comprises 640,000 students. We asked Apple to clarify and were told that the contract is for 31,000 iPads (for both students and teachers) which come with "Pearson Common Core System of Courses delivered via a new app." That's in addition to Apple standards like iWork, iLife, and iTunes, as well as "a range of educational third-party apps" included. The first iPads arrive in classrooms this fall, in what is deemed the "first phase" of a larger rollout.

The battle for LA's school contract was hard fought, with both board members and a Microsoft rep pushing back against student / teacher ratings and the overall cost. The teachers union president Warren Fletcher requested the money be spent on hiring new staff over mass-buying iPads, while district officials argued that national student tests require computer literacy, the LA Times reports -- the board voted unanimously (6 - 0) to approve the contract.

Traditionally, iPads have been used in college-level education -- both Seton Hill (not Seton Hall) and Tennessee's Webb School use Apple's tablet.

[Image credit: 'flickingerbrad']

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Apple

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/19/apple-ipads-los-angeles-schools/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Bipartisan proposal on student loans circulating

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A bipartisan group of senators is floating a proposal that would avoid the doubling of rates on student loans on July 1.

A document being circulated on Capitol Hill outlines a possible compromise that links student loan rates to the financial markets, a provision that was included in President Barack Obama's budget, as well as House and Senate Republicans' proposals.

The potential breakthrough, after months of stalemate, could help students dodge an extra $1,000 each year in costs for loans taken for classes this fall.

The bipartisan effort is led by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine.

Party-line proposals on student loans failed in the Senate last week.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bipartisan-proposal-student-loans-circulating-164907767.html

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T-Mobile to offer Sony Xperia Z as a US exclusive in the 'coming weeks'

Interested in grabbing a Sony Xperia Z here in the US? If so, we hope you like T-Mobile. The UnCarrier announced this morning that it will not only be carrying the flagship device, it will be doing so exclusively. It'll initially be available in both black and purple finish, though the latter color will only be offered for a limited time. No word on pricing or pre-order opportunities yet, but we'll keep our eyes peeled for more info as it comes out. Check out the press release below the break, or head to T-Mo's Xperia Z product page where you'll be greeted with a place to sign up for email alerts.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sony, T-Mobile

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/18/t-mobile-sony-xperia-z/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Threat forces LA-to-Texas flight to land in Ariz.

Members of the bomb squad walk onto a Southwest Airlines plane on the ground at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after the FBI says a "telephonic bomb threat" against a Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Texas led to the plane being diverted to Phoenix on Monday, June 10, 2013. Flight 2675 left Los Angeles International Airport at 2:12 p.m. and was heading to Austin before the threat was received by telephone. The plane landed safely at the Phoenix airport at about 3 p.m. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Members of the bomb squad walk onto a Southwest Airlines plane on the ground at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after the FBI says a "telephonic bomb threat" against a Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Texas led to the plane being diverted to Phoenix on Monday, June 10, 2013. Flight 2675 left Los Angeles International Airport at 2:12 p.m. and was heading to Austin before the threat was received by telephone. The plane landed safely at the Phoenix airport at about 3 p.m. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

A Southwest Airlines plane sits on the ground in a remote section at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after the FBI says a "telephonic bomb threat" against a Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Texas led to the plane being diverted to Phoenix on Monday, June 10, 2013. Flight 2675 left Los Angeles International Airport at 2:12 p.m. and was heading to Austin before the threat was received by telephone. The plane landed safely at the Phoenix airport at about 3 p.m. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Members of the bomb squad walk onto a Southwest Airlines plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Monday, June 10, 2013. The FBI says a "telephonic bomb threat" against a Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Texas led to the plane being diverted to Phoenix. Flight 2675 left Los Angeles International Airport at 2:12 p.m. and was heading to Austin before the threat was received by telephone. The plane landed safely at the Phoenix airport at about 3 p.m. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

PHOENIX (AP) ? A "telephonic bomb threat" against a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, resulted in the plane being diverted to Phoenix on Monday afternoon, the FBI said.

Laura Eimiller of the FBI's Los Angeles field office said the flight left Los Angeles International Airport at 2:12 p.m. before the threat was received by telephone. She didn't provide further details.

"The FBI and law enforcement partners are responding to conduct an investigation of the aircraft, as well as to determine the person or persons responsible for the threat," Eimiller said in a statement.

F-16s were scrambled out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson to monitor the flight as a precaution as it flew into Sky Harbor, according to NORAD officials.

Flight 2675 landed safely at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport at about 3 p.m., and authorities in Los Angeles asked Phoenix police to check out the possible threat.

The plane's crew and 143 passengers got off the plane and boarded several buses. All of the passengers were being interviewed by investigators, said Sgt. Steve Martos, a Phoenix police spokesman.

It's possible that "the people on the plane may know" something about the threat, Martos said.

A bomb squad and police dogs were going through the plane Monday evening, police said.

Sky Harbor spokeswoman Julie Rodriguez said the plane was isolated on the tarmac away from terminals.

Flights were taking off and landing only on the airport's two south runways Monday evening due to the investigation, and some arrivals were delayed, Rodriguez said.

Martos said it would probably take "a couple hours" for police bomb squad technicians and bomb-sniffing police dogs to go through the plane.

Authorities said a thorough search of the plane and the passenger interviews are common operating procedure when a threat is received.

A spokeswoman for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. said the airline would accommodate passengers by booking them on other flights.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-10-Plane%20Diverted/id-d4758d2483fa4cd7bfd815a01d5e939d

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Samsung announces the Galaxy Ace 3, its new entry-level Android smartphone with an LTE option

Sidestepping the fanfare and press events typically associated with Samsung product launches, Samsung's revealed another addition to its Galaxy family. As we saw teased just hours ago, it's the Galaxy Ace 3, Samsung's latest (humbly specced) smartphone, arriving in 3G (1GHz dual-core processor) and LTE (1.2 GHz dual-core processor) options. Both devices house a 4-inch (480 x 800) LCD display, placing the new device just beneath the Galaxy S4 Mini in Samsung's 2013 smartphone pecking order. Despite those pretty underwhelming technical points, the company's has managed to cram in some of its latest software additions like S Translator, S Voice, and Smart Stay into its diminutive new phone.

There's Android 4.2 underneath, while a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash resides on the back. 8GB of built-in storage rounds out the LTE device, with user-accessible storage of 5GB. There's 4GB in the 3G model with just 1.77GB of space -- but don't worry, there's also storage expansion up to 64GB through microSD. We've added it to our to-do list for Samsung's incoming London event -- it's going to be a busy evening.

Update: The UK can expect to see the faster LTE model when it launches, although Samsung UK isn't saying when that will be.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Ace 3

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: Samsung Mobile Press

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/10/samsung-galaxy-ace-3-announced/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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94% Blancanieves

All Critics (53) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (3)

A sensual and sophisticated retelling of a beloved fairytale re-imagined as a homage to European silent cinema, Spanish writer-director Pablo Berger's black-and-white Blancanieves will leave you transfixed.

Most films are experiences to be ignored or at best forgotten. "Blancanieves" is a little classic to be treasured.

It is a full-bodied silent film of the sort that might have been made by the greatest directors of the 1920s, if such details as the kinky sadomasochism of this film's evil stepmother could have been slipped past the censors.

Blancanieves, which won 10 Goyas (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars) and was a smash hit in its native Spain, has traces of a kinky undertone and an uncommon willingness to embrace the darkness inherent in this fairy tale.

As if bewitched, the legend of Snow White is transferred to Seville in the early twentieth century and transformed into high melodrama.

Sensuous, mischievous, hotblooded retelling of the old Teutonic fairy tale.

The film is -- to understate the matter -- overconceptualized.

Like The Artist, Blancanieves is delightfully novel, but it also feels trapped by its innovative gimmickry.

A boldly conceived fairy tale from Spain

Succeeds in all its cinematic experiments

The story might be familiar, but Berger's film is so beautifully shot and so wonderfully scored - and so distinctively Spanish - that it stands as its own film.

Blancanieves holds to the structure, but not strictures, of the source fairy tale.

A new, purely silent movie from Spain that never once speaks and doesn't need to speak. What's more, it seems to get the infinite possibilities of silence, and how much passion can come from it.

Berger's film doesn't show loyalty to any traditional version of Snow White. Berger's Blancanieves takes a darker approach, which seems appropriate.

A completely enchanting fairy tale about the vicissitudes of fate, in live action and glorious black and white.

The fun in the Spanish "Blancanieves" is the way it plays with our expectations.

May not have much depth to its characters or particular surprise, but its lovely depiction of family's ability to harm and mend has the flair of flamenco and the sorrow of opera.

No, "Blancanieves" isn't subtle, but it's an unforgettable time at the movies.

Inspired filmmaking steeped in the imagery of silent film history, a dark Iberian strain of Roman Catholicism and the magic of fairy tales.

... lusty and heartfelt, fiery flamenco and spirited country jig. Don't go expecting a Disney-fied fable. Berger seasons with S&M and the kind of macabre touches you'd expect in vintage Browning or Bunuel.

If not for some faintly disturbing imagery and a pleasingly feminist heroine, you could mistake this for a movie actually made in the 1920s (and even those two factors weren't utterly unknown then).

A loving tribute to European silent films of the 1920s; a reminder that cinema need not be constrained by words.

By the time the film arrives at its grand theatrical finale, you're almost prepared for Berger's last great twist. Almost.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blancanieves/

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Fujifilm X20

The Fujifilm X20 ($599.95 direct) is an entry in the crowded premium compact camera market that has a couple features that set it apart from the crowd. It's one of the few cameras of this type with a large optical viewfinder, and its X-Trans image sensor promises to deliver film-like images that competing Bayer sensors can't match. The 12-megapixel camera does grab images that are quite sharp, and its lens captures plenty of light, but it struggles at higher ISO settings. Our Editors' Choice is still the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100, which still holds the edge in this category thanks to its 1-inch image sensor?its surface area is twice that of the X20's 2/3-inch sensor. The Sony is a little more expensive and lacks a viewfinder, but it's smaller and does a better job in low light.

Design and Features
The X20 may feature the latest in image sensor technology, but its design is retro to the core. It's styled like a classic rangefinder camera, with its eyepiece located on the rear top left corner of the camera. Black leatherette covers the camera body. The X20 is available with a matching black top plate and lens, as well as a version that features a chrome finish. The X20 is one of the larger cameras in its class; it measures 2.7 by 4.6 by 2.2 inches (HWD) and weighs in at 12.4 ounces. The Canon PowerShot S110 is a much smaller camera. That one features a 1/1.7-inch image sensor that's nearly as large as the one in the X20, but it measures just 2.3 by 3.9 by 1.1 inches and weighs a mere 7 ounces.

The Fujinon lens is a 4x design and is a manual zoom design. It also acts as the power control for the X20. There's an Off position marked on its barrel; twisting the lens extends it and powers on the camera. It covers a 28-112mm zoom range with a variable aperture. At 28mm it is rated at f/2, and it loses only a stop of light when zoomed all the way in, hitting f/2.8 at 112mm. In this regard it's a better performer than the Sony RX100; that camera's 28-100mm lens starts at f/1.8 but closes down to f/4.9 when zoomed in. This gives the X20 about a 1.6-stop advantage in terms of light gathering when zoomed, although the larger sensor in the RX100 allows it to create a shallower depth of field at equivalent focal lengths, apertures, and shooting angles.

The viewfinder is large and bright. It zooms along with the lens and, unlike the finder in the old Fujifilm X10, the shooting mode, aperture, and shutter speed are displayed. The active focus area is also indicated; it can be adjusted, but you'll have to use the rear LCD to do so. The overlay graphics turn green when focus is locked, and are displayed in red when the camera is unable to obtain focus. This generally happens when you are attempting to focus on an object that is too close to the front of the lens. The camera has two macro modes, but you'll need to use the rear LCD to obtain accurate framing when focusing on objects that are close to the lens. Because the viewfinder is above and slightly off-axis with the lens, its framing will be way off when working close due to parallax.

The focus confirmation is a big improvement over the X10. I found that camera to have quick and accurate focus, and if anything the X20 is a bit quicker and just as accurate, but the only way that camera let you know that your focus was locked when shooting with the viewfinder was an audible beep. This wasn't bad, but there was no way to enable that beep and to disable a fake-sounding shutter noise that played when a picture was captured. The X20 also supports playing sounds when focus is locked and when an image is captured, but unlike the X10 you can enable one or the other discretely.

Using the lens to turn the camera on and off can be a bit awkward, and the zoom action will often cause the finder to be blocked by your finger as it turns the lens. But aside from that, the X20's control layout is nothing short of excellent. The top plate houses the shutter release (it's threaded so you can use a standard release cable), the mode dial, an exposure value compensation dial (it goes from -2 to +2 in third-stop increments), and a programmable Fn button. By default Fn adjusts ISO, but you can change its functionality via the menu system.

The rear controls are laid out for two-handed operation, but those on the left side of the LCD won't need to be accessed while you're adjusting the zoom. They include the Play button, a button to adjust the metering pattern, another to change the drive mode, and one to control white balance. To the right of the LCD you'll find two control wheels and buttons to lock exposure, adjust the focus point, enable macro focusing, control the flash output, set the self-timer, and access the menu. There's also the Q button, which brings up an on-screen menu that allows you to quickly adjust a number of shooting settings. These include Fuji's film emulation settings, which set JPG output to match classic film stocks. These modes are named for Astia, Provia, and Velvia slide film.

The rear LCD itself is 2.8 inches in size, but only boasts a 460k-dot resolution. It's quite bright, so you won't have any problem using it on a bright day?you can always switch to the optical viewfinder under harsh, direct sunlight. But the LCD isn't as sharp as the 3-inch 922k-dot display found on the Canon PowerShot G15. That camera also features a zooming optical finder, but it's nowhere near as large as the X20's.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/hQqJ7C5Q-hM/0,2817,2419878,00.asp

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