Apple Unveils New iBooks Author Tool, Not Just For Textbooks

In addition to announcing iBooks 2, Apple is also introducing a free application to create books for the platform.

The process of creating an iBook is surprisingly straightforward. Creators can type their text directly into iBook Author, but Rosner noted that some people prefer doing their writing in a different environment like Microsoft Word. iBook Author plays nice with those Word documents, as it automatically picks out and creates sections and headers from the text itself when the document is dragged into a new iBook chapter. Adding images is just as simple, as users can drag them onto a page while the text reformats itself around whatever you add.

TechCrunch has the story and relevant links.

Postscript:  Gizmodo has a video entitled "How to Make an iPad Textbook in Under Five Minutes".

New iTunes U App Hits iTunes With Over 500,000 Free Lectures, Videos & Books

One of the announcements at today's Apple event was the launch of a dedicated "iTunes U" app for iOS.

The new application will allow teachers create and manage courses with components like lectures, assignments, books, quizzes and syllabuses, and offer them to iOS users via their mobile devices. Participating universities include Cambridge, Duke, Harvard, Oxford, MIT, Yale, Stanford and others. 

Full story is at TechCrunch.

Chegg Launches Mobile Reader For Online Textbooks

This may be overshadowed by whatever Apple is coming up with, but there's a story on TechCrunch about Chegg's textbook reader webapp for mobile devices.

On top of the basic functionality — letting you buy or rent textbooks to read via an internet-connected device — it includes a way to highlight and save text, write notes in the margins, write notes for any page, and view all of these annotations in an aggregated view. So you could read and mark up a chapter, and then go check out what you noted later on when you’re studying for a final.

Video and screenshots are on TechCrunch.

Is Apple going to create a "Garage Band for Textbooks"?

There are several reports that on Thursday, January 19, Apple will be announcing a new platform for creating and distributing digital textbooks.  From Gizmodo

Ahead of Thursday's NYC education event, Ars Technica reports via a leak source that Apple plans to announce a simpler way for authors to create and publish e-books as well as the iBook app's adoption of the ePub3 standard. The WSJ also names publisher McGraw-Hill as a project partner. All these developments suggest Apple's gearing up to bring textbooks to the iPad but we'll have to wait until Thursday to see

There are also stories on TUAW and Slashdot.

Drugstore wars ... on Twitter!

This is a kind of "what in the world are they thinking"?

Walgreen's is apparently trying to engage in a PR battle with ExpressScripts by sending out tweets like:

 "It's time to take a stand against @ExpressScripts. Tell them people want a choice by tweeting hashtag #ILoveWalgreens."

They also paid Twitter to push the tweet to users who don't follow Walgreen's feed.

The thing they may not have realized is that ANYONE can put #ILoveWalgreens in their tweets and become part of the conversation.  A quick look at the list shows spammers, comedians, Walgreens-bashers and various messages that I'm sure Walgreen's doesn't want associated with their brand.

Live and learn.

iHealth's 2012 lineup revealed at CES

Engadget has  synopsis of some electronic medical devices being showcased at this year's Consumer Electronics Show.

• Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor is a wireless update to the (wired) Blood Pressure Dock, the armband pushing your vitals over Bluetooth to an app on the device of your choice.

• Smart GlucoMeter connects to your iDevice's 30-pin port and once you've installed the free app, you'll be able to stick smears of blood onto cardboard paddles 

• Wireless Body Fat Scale will record your weight and measure your body fat to your device

New Pocket Projectors From 3M Pump Up The Lumens

I've not had any experience with these new "pico projectors".   As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the storage closet I have an "LCD panel" that we used to lay on top of an overhead projector.   But Techcrunch has a brief story about a series of new "Pocket Projectors" that have been demoed at the Consumer Electronics Show.