osu

Apple's iPad could prove to be a must-have tool for colleges around the country, a new study from Oklahoma State University has found.

During the fall 2010 semester, five sections of two courses on two campuses used Apple's tablet as part of the university's iPad Pilot Program. The goal was to determine the impact the iPad would have on both students and faculty, and decide if it should be rolled out across the university at some point in the future.

According to OSU, it found that student expenses went down in the classes featuring iPads, since students were able to use cheaper electronic textbooks, rather than hard copies. Moreover, the university found that if all the students' textbooks were available electronically, they could save enough over two semesters to cover the cost of buying the iPad, which retails for between $499 and $829, depending upon storage requirements and connectivity options.

Students also benefited greatly from Apple's App Store, OSU found. They were able to find "thousands of educational software possibilities" in the App Store to help complement Web-based tools they employed. Students also used Apple's tablet as a "substitute for paper and pen."

The iPad's touch-based functionality has proven useful in other educational institutions around the U.S., as well.… Read more

A big fuel cell from UTC Power was in the news here in Silicon Valley this week when Fujitsu installed it as a backup power source for its local campus. CNET's Michael Kanellos wrote a good story about the event here, and took pictures ("Photos: Fujitsu unveils king-size fuel cell").

Although the fuel cell itself runs on hydrogen, there's no convenient source of pure hydrogen in Silicon Valley, so UTC Power also provided a steam methane reformer that yields hydrogen from natural gas.

One place where pure hydrogen is readily available is NASA's Cape Canaveral … Read more