John Battelle Doesn’t Like the iPad Because…

≡ Category: Apple |1 Comment

In short, it’s hardly open …

Top 10 Reasons Why iPad Marks Kindle’s Death

≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Apple, Books, Web/Tech, e-books |13 Comments

Caveat: If you missed it, yesterday’s post was 10 Reasons iPad Will Not Kill Kindle. So take everything here with appropriate grains of salt.
10.) Books with graphics. Many books contain photos, graphics and diagrams that the Kindle does not handle well, if at all. When people realize that the iPad will do this flawlessly, they’ll [...]

10 Reasons iPad Will Not Kill Kindle

≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Apple, Books, e-books |5 Comments

Caveat: before half of you get your shorts in a bunch, tomorrow’s post will be: Top 10 Reasons Why iPad Means Kindle Is Dead. With that said, have at it!
10.) Taking reading from a simple printed page to an e-book environment such as the Kindle is a great step forward. Its ease of use, portability [...]

The iPad and Information’s Third Age

≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Apple, Books, e-books |7 Comments

Today we have a guest post by William Rankin, director of educational innovation, associate professor of medieval literature, and Apple Distinguished Educator, Abilene Christian University. ACU was the first university in the world to announce a comprehensive one-to-one initiative based on iPhones and iPod touches designed to explore the impact of mobility in education. For [...]

First Glimpse of Apple’s New eReader

≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Apple |2 Comments

Welcome the new Kindle competitor. Above, you’ll find some of the first pictures showing the ebook capabilities of Apple’s new iPad. We should have more thoughts on the iPad coming later today. Pictures come via gdgt.com, which has been providing excellent live coverage of the Apple event.

Stanford Releases New iPhone App Development Course

≡ Category: Apple, Stanford, iPhone |Leave a Comment

Last year, Stanford University gave iPhone owners around the world a boost when it released a free iPhone App Development course (find it on iTunes). Millions have since downloaded the lectures, and many new iPhone apps have been created as a result. (Partly thanks to this course, we developed our own Free iPhone App that [...]

Get Smart with Your iPhone

≡ Category: Apple, iPhone |3 Comments

During the lazy days of summer, we quietly launched a new, free iPhone app. Now summer is fading, people are getting back to work, students back to school, and it’s time to get the word out. This app takes our intelligent media collections and let’s you listen to them on the go. Once you download [...]

Will Amazon (or Apple) Cut Publishers Out of the Loop?

≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Apple, Books, e-books |Leave a Comment

If you’re wondering where the book/publishing market is heading, then you’ll want to give this insightful article a read.  Fast forward five years, here’s what you’ll likely find: Amazon, using the Kindle and on-demand publishing, starts working directly with authors and cutting traditional publishers out of the loop. It will dominate the book/e-book market, much as [...]

Yale Open Courses Now on iTunesU

≡ Category: Apple, Online Courses, Yale |1 Comment

Over the past two years, Yale has released fifteen free “open courses.” Initially, these courses were only available through Yale’s web site and later YouTube. Now, they’re also accessible through iTunesU — which means that you can put these courses on your iPod with relative ease. Just click here and scroll down, and you’ll find well-produced courses [...]

The Open Culture iPhone App

≡ Category: Apple, iPhone |8 Comments

A quick heads up. We’ve now started rolling out our new iPhone app. It will let you listen to audiobooks, university courses, foreign language lessons, and other intelligent content on the iPhone. The app is free. And so is the content. So there’s nothing to lose by checking it out.
We’ve designed it so that all media [...]

Apple Will Bring a Million Books to the iPhone

≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Apple, iPhone |1 Comment

Apple announced a new line of products this morning. Most will focus on the new, speedier iPhone. But what caught my eye is the Iceberg e-book reader that will bring 1,000,000 books to the iPhone. This will include, according to Engadget, 500 bestsellers, 50 major magazines and about 170 daily papers, plus textbooks by Houghton Mifflin, Harcourt and [...]

Listen to 1800 Free Audio Books on Your iPhone

≡ Category: Apple, Audio Books, iPhone |1 Comment

The iPhone just got a bit smarter. Thanks to this new, free app, you can listen to 1800 free audio books on your Apple device. The app lets you listen to public domain audio books from the great Librivox (whose works, read by volunteers, also appear in our Free Audio Books collection). The ad-supported software is straightforward [...]

Kindle DX Out, But Can You Read It at Night?

≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Apple |3 Comments

As we mentioned earlier this week, Amazon unveiled its new Kindle this morning in NYC. The Kindle DX ($489) features a large screen (9.7 inches measured diagonally) and it’s intended to make reading newspapers, college textbooks and PDFs a more user-friendly experience. Plenty of news outlets have provided coverage of the unveiling: Engadget, Gizmodo, Ars Technica, [...]

Stanford Teaches You to Develop iPhone Apps (Free)

≡ Category: Apple, Stanford, iPhone |1 Comment

A quick heads up: Stanford has just launched a free software development course for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The lectures will be rolled out on iTunes first, and eventually they will be posted on YouTube as well. You can get the first lecture on iTunes here. This 10 week computer science course is officially [...]

The Top Educational iPhone Apps

≡ Category: Apple, iPhone |24 Comments

Since the release of the iPhone App Store, numerous sources have commented on the potential of educational apps. While these apps can’t compete with the general popularity of gaming and leisure apps, there are a number of educational apps that mobile learners will find handy.
Top Free Apps
Open Culture: Our iPhone app gives you free mobile [...]

Steve Jobs Demos the First Macintosh in 1984

≡ Category: Apple |2 Comments

Steve Jobs is legendary for his live performances, for his ability to present new products and capture the imagination. But did he have that knack all along? You be the judge. Above, Jobs lifts the veil on the first Macintosh in 1984.

The iPhone: Your Foreign Travel Companion

≡ Category: Apple |1 Comment

How can the iPhone become your handy travel companion? The NYTimes explains. Also, as a bonus, travelers should see our earlier piece. Turn Your iPod into a Travel Guide: 20 Travel Podcasts.
PS One of our readers raised a good point that deserves some highlighting (Thanks Sebastien):
“Turning your iphone into a foreign travel companion could cost [...]

iPods in Iraq

≡ Category: Apple, Language Lessons |Leave a Comment

There’s a curious little piece over at TUAW.com. Apparently American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are being supplied (on a limited basis) with iPods equipped with special software that will help them communicate in Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish, Dari and Pushto. The software will handily “display a phonetic translation, speak a phrase through an attached speaker, [...]

10 New iPhone Apps for the Thinking Person

≡ Category: Apple, Most Popular, Web/Tech |Leave a Comment

In advance of tomorrow’s release of the new 3G iPhone, Apple has launched its new App Store on iTunes, which features new tools that will immediately make the iPhone (and iPod Touch) a more versatile — and, in some cases, enlightening — device. Below, we have highlighted ten apps worth exploring if you’re hungry for [...]

iTunesU Goes Beyond The Campus: Spotlight on the ResearchChannel

≡ Category: Apple, Podcast Articles and Resources |5 Comments

In case you haven’t been watching … Apple’s iTunesU has started striking out in new directions. When it launched a little more than a year ago, iTunesU served up free educational content exclusively from universities. Now, it has gone “beyond the campus.”
With this move, Apple is now featuring edifying material from such institutions as The [...]

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  • About Us

    Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.

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