On Thursday Apple will hold a small event to show off its latest efforts in the education market. Most sources seem to agree that the event will focus on ways in which textbooks can be brought into the digital age of tablets – but Apple might have a few other tricks up its sleeve. The event might also focus on the announcement of new tools that can be used to create these digital textbooks.

The case for digital textbook has been around for a while. Textbooks are expensive to buy, expensive to print and also heavy to carry around. Imagine a student a few years from now just carrying around a tablet, which has his/her textbooks stored. But the aim is not purely to replace existing textbooks – the value will lie in what type of interactivity can be built into a digital textbook. Instead of static images you find in normal textbooks, textbook publishers can now build in interactive features that enable the reader to better understand a particular issue – think videos, 3D models, sound clips etc.

Traditional textbook publishers will probably show off what textbook experiences they are planning for the iPad, while Apple might show some new content creation tools that will make it easier than ever to publish for the iPad. Right now the digital publishing market is also ripe for revolution with publishers being forced to code apps from scratch, or to use tools like Adobe’s Folio Builder. If Apple can build an easy to use, but powerful tool to build interactive textbooks, it will create another market in which Apple can dominate. The iPad is already doing very well, but if Apple can convince publishers to publish exclusively to the iPad, we can expect to see many students to switch to iPads.

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Recent rumours have begun to circulate that Research In Motion (RIM) was interested in selling off to Samsung after a supposed rough year. Now, Samsung spokesperson, James Chung has clarified rumours by saying that not only is it not interested in buying the firm but that it hasn’t even been approached with an offer. Chung told Reuters that “We haven’t considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM).”

The rumours began when Boy Genius Report quoted a source from RIM revealing that it was looking for a buyer in Samsung. The report said that, We have heard that Jim Balsillie is actively meeting with almost every company that might be interested in either a part or all of RIM, in addition to having talks about licensing. “Jim is going hard after Samsung,” said a source with knowledge of the negotiations.

The reason given for the deal having not been struck was due to the asking price by RIM’s CEO.

While this does not completely eliminate any rumours that RIM may be looking to sell, it does take Samsung out of the picture as a potential buyer.

Source: The Next Web

Wikipedia will be going dark on Wednesday in protest against two Congressional bills – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The announcement was made by Co-Founder Jimmy Wales in a number of tweets. The website has also uploaded a banner that displays the message: “Please note: In less than 21 hours, the English Wikipedia will be blacked out globally to protest SOPA and PIPA.”

The bills have attracted fierce opposition from many in the technology industry. The New York Times Blog reports that “opponents say several of the provisions in the legislation, including those that may force search engines and Internet service providers to block access to Web sites that offer or link to copyrighted material, would stifle innovation, enable censorship and tamper with the livelihood of businesses on the Internet.”

According to Wales, the English Wikipedia receives approximately 25 million visitors every day. Wikipedia’s decision means that rather than those millions of visitors seeing the volume of knowledge available, they will be met with a screen explaining the company’s stance on the bill and information on how to take action against SOPA. Wales has also said that if passed, the bills could censor what information and links various websites will be allowed to publish.

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Samsung recently introduced the new Notebook Series 5 ULTRA, which combines high performance with a Ultrabook casing.

On the inside the Series 5 ULTRA is powered by a Intel Core i5 processor; combined with ExpressCache system by Diskeeper and a powerful AMD Radeon HD graphics card, with which it delivers high performance packed in a thin and light form factor.

“Based on in-depth market research and consumer surveys, we propose a new type of Ultrabook which will change the perception of Ultrabooks among users. Our findings strongly indicate that consumers demand more than just thin and light devices, hoping for a satisfactory level of daily performance and storage, as digital files become larger. The Samsung Series 5 ULTRA will be the first to answer these needs,” said David Song, Senior Vice President, IT Solutions Business at Samsung Electronics. “The latest Samsung knowhow  has been applied  – our Series 5 ULTRA positions the device for today’s fast changing media environment by adding greater value for consumers through a more balanced product concept.”

“The Series 5 ULTRA is a further step to demonstrate Samsung’s commitment to coming up with ways that continue to meet the day-to-day consumer needs by producing the best products,” adds Suria Pretorius, Product Manager of Notebooks at Samsung Electronics South Africa.

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At CES 2012 in Las Vegas, Pocket-lint witnessed what was a regular iPhone being repeatedly dunked into a fish tank filled with water. This demonstration served to show off the capabilities of a new nano technology that will likely save your smartphone from getting water damage and may be included in the next wave of smartphones by Apple and Samsung.

Called HzO, the technology that has already been applied to a number of devices such as the iPhone and Samsung phones for testing, creates a nano-scale film barrier that has special water repelling properties once applied to the inside of electronic gadgets. The technology is already installed into the phone during its manufacturing process, rather than by the consumer once the phone has been purchased.

A company representative has said “We expect HzO to be in next season’s phones,” referring to Apple’s interest in the technology. Samsung is also reportedly “very excited about the technology.”

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Japanese automaker Nissan has announced that it will be introducing a new line of self-repairing  “Nissan Scratch Shield” iPhone cases.

The case utilises the company’s pioneering special paint technology that enables them to repair themselves quickly once damaged. The self-healing paint finish, developed in 2005, has already been put to use on a number of Nissan Infiniti models.

Created by Nissan in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Advanced Softmaterials Inc., the case that appears gel-like is crafted from ABS plastic which allows it to be highly flexible and assists with providing a better grip.

Nissan launched the case at an automotive event in Dubai and distributed some of them to a number of journalists and customers for beta testing. Should the case get a positive review and demand proves to be strong they will look into general sales at the end of this year.

Nissan has explained that “The outer ‘paint’ is made from polyrotaxane, which means that when damage occurs to the coating in the form of a fine scratch, the chemical structure is able to react to change back to its original shape and fill the gap – ‘healing’ the blemish.”

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Samsung is bringing us the future with its new Smart Window that it presented at CES 2012 in Las Vegas.

The Smart Window, that brings scenes of the futuristic Minority Report to mind, is an update to the common house window that may also look like a regular screen but offers some unique, useful and fun features. The Smart Window adds a 22 inch LCD flat screen that has a resolution of 1680 x 1050 and has a 500:1 contrast ratio. The new technology developed by Samsung, has made the traditional LCD screen up to 20 percent more transparent than older technology.

With the new technology, you can look out your window at the scenery outside while simultaneously checking the latest weather forecasts or socialising with Twitter and Facebook. The window is also a one-sided pane so passers-by can’t see what you’re looking at.

Consumers are likely to have Samsung’s Smart Window available for home installation by the end of 2012.

Other announcements made and technologies presented at CES 2012 include: the iNuke Boom, Dell’s consumer tablet,  Nokia’s Lumia 900 and Facebook for Mercedes-Benz. 

View a demo video of the Smart Window after the jump:

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To get the 2012 year off to a rocking start, please join MOMO Joburg for the first event of the year, “Mobile Applications and the Developer Community in South Africa”.

With smartphone penetration in South Africa at 16% and rising, apps are going to be a critical tool for us in the way we use our mobile devices sponsored by Vodacom Digital Media, who is advancing the Mobile apps and the developer community in South Africa.

After the sponsor’s welcome, there will be a presentation all about the Vodacom Developer Programme and how it can help grow a vibrant developer community here in South Africa. This will be followed by a  10-minute panel discussion on mobile application development.

And now for something new! The event will also be offering three developers the opportunity to pitch their apps at the event. Each developer will have two minutes to impress the panel.  It’s a great opportunity to get your app out there. The winner, as judged by the panel, will receive free promotion and be featured in the Vodacom App Store. Fill in the form here and we’ll choose the lucky three.

When: 30 January 2012, 6pm – 10pm

Where: Cafe Culture, Pineslopes Shopping Centre, Witkoppen Road, Fourways, Johannesburg

Cost: This is a FREE event

For more information about MOMO Joburg click here.