Mike English

"Apple’s special events aren’t simply showcases for the company’s newest products, they’re state of the union addresses for the company, opportunities to tout its successes in public in a parade of big-number metrics. And the numbers bandied about at this morning’s iPhone 5 unveiling were large indeed." - Mike English

"The mobile learning revolution is creating a lot of buzz in the education world, and the benefits undoubtedly stand out. But nothing exists as a purely positive entity. While the movement toward “m-learning” (as those totally in the know call it) marks a change in how education approaches technological developments, anyone considering the developing tools needs to research the downsides before making the leap." - Mike English

"The iPhone 5 is just 7.6 millimeters thin, the thinnest iPhone yet. And at 112 grams, it’s also the lightest — 20 percent lighter than the 4S. Its four-inch screen boasts a 16:9 aspect ratio and 44 percent more color saturation. That additional screen space provides enough room for a fifth row of icons on the home screen. It’s also a world phone, featuring support for all kinds of 3G radios, as well as support for LTE, along with two faster flavors of HSPA . Another key feature: Faster Wi-Fi. Inside the iPhone 5 is a significantly faster A6 processor and a new battery that exceeds the battery life of iPhone 4S, with 8 hours of 3G talk time, 3G browsing and LTE browsing. Also onboard: A trio of improved mics, a better speaker, and an eight-megapixel camera with backside illumination, f/2.4 aperture, five-element lens, 1080p video, updated FaceTime HD, Hybrid IR filter, a sapphire crystal lens cover, and an awesome panorama mode." - Mike English

"Some 58% of U.S. students prefer digital textbooks to print because they’re easier to carry and they are believed to be cheaper than print textbooks, according to a new study from e-textbook publisher Bookboon.com. That said, many students don’t buy textbooks altogether, according to the study, because they are “too expensive” and many students are frustrated that only parts of textbooks are used in courses." - Mike English

"The rise of massive open online courses, or MOOC’s, could improve the financial prospects of leading universities while posing financial challenges to lesser-known institutions and for-profit colleges, a new report from Moody’s Investors Service predicts. The report, released on Wednesday and available only to subscribers of the credit-rating agency, is called “Shifting Ground: Technology Begins to Alter Centuries-Old Business Model for Universities.” It says that offering free online courses will help well-known universities bring in new revenue, heighten brand recognition, and reduce operating costs. The report paints a much bleaker picture for smaller universities and for-profit colleges, however. Regional universities that chiefly attract students from surrounding areas could use MOOC’s to broaden their brand recognition and cut their costs, but they could lose market share to stronger universities over the long term, the report states." - Mike English

"Google quietly made an educational technology announcement yesterday about the release of Course Builder, an “open source project” targeted at massive open online courses (MOOCs). This platform follows on the heels of Google’s own MOOC this summer. " - Mike English

"With its larger display and improved resolution, the iPhone5 seems primed to be an improved reading device over its predecessor, the iPhone4S. Announced today by Apple at a special press event, the iPhone5 comes with a four-inch screen — a full half inch larger than the 4S." - Mike English

"The findings are limited and have not been formally compiled or analyzed — Agarwal relayed them to Inside Higher Ed after logging into the platform’s back end from his Cambridge, Massachusetts office. But perhaps the most interesting piece of data is that 80 percent of respondents said they had taken a “comparable” course at a traditional university prior to working their way through Circuits - Mike English

"California is one step closer to bringing free online textbooks for state college students, a huge step for the open education movement. A historic bill on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown would give college professors, and thereby students, an option to use free online, customizable curriculum rather than print textbooks, for which students spend upwards of $1,000 per year. The measure establishes the first free digital library for the University of California, the California State University and California Community College systems. If the bill passes, students of 50 most popular lower-division courses could access the content through an online portal at little or no cost. Faculty members would be able to remix and repurpose the digital content as they see fit, rather than having to rely on print textbooks. A similar effort is underway in the state of Washington, led by the Washington State Board for Community - Mike English

"Those 9 startups are described as “some startups we love,” but there’s no real explanation about why they were chosen or what makes them so lovable. Great idea? Great execution? Great founders? Game-changers? Big bucks? Wide adoption? Politically influential? It’s not clear. So rather than go through these 9 and say what I love (or not), I'm cheating. I'm sidestepping this list altogether and returning to one that I made late last year: my picks for the Top 10 Ed-Tech Startups of 2011. That list only included startups founded in 2011 (after all, how do you define “startup”? how do you decide what counts as an "education" startup?), and in it, I tried to explain why I chose those as my favorites. I’ve reprinted that post below but with updates about what’s happened to these 10 since December 2011 (after all, things move pretty fast in startup world, even if educational institutions are notoriously slow-moving)." - Mike English