XplanaZine

Updates on: Ethernet Alliance, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, e-books and distance learning

Nine universities have joined the Ethernet Alliance, a group advocating the adoption of and research into Ethernet technologies, through the Ethernet Alliance University Program (EAUP). The Ethernet Alliance has also launched its first-annual White Paper Challenge Program through the EAUP. — Campus Technology

Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp are supplying Libya’s government with 150,000 rugged laptop computers that cost $200 to build and are designed to meet the needs of children in developing countries. Libya’s education ministry ordered the equipment in August and shipments began last month. — OLPC News

Intel is to provide 3,000 Classmate subnotebooks to Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education, building on the 250 already sent in a pilot project started a year ago. Announced by Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, the gift is part of a “digital inclusion project” that will also see Intel paying to train 150,000 new teachers in the populous African nation. — Wired News

Oracle announced the global availability of its new Oracle PartnerNetwork Competency Center tool. The Competency Center, found within the Oracle PartnerNetwork Portal and available free to Oracle PartnerNetwork members, is designed to help partners train more efficiently on Oracle products by generating a custom-designed curriculum based on partners’ performance and personal attributes. — CNN

Amazon had promised delivery of its keyboard-equipped electronic book reader, Kindle, during the second week of October. Now, those same people say that the company has pushed back that date and is aiming for a launch by the end of this year. — BITS Blog

Recent articles in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and now the Wall Street Journal have discussed e-books and printed books. Librarian Jeff Scott takes a thorough look at the history and attitudes related to e-books and hardcopy books, pointing out interesting points made in recent literature. — Gather No Dust Blog

The 95th anniversary of Dr. Herman DeVry’s portable movie projector, a technology that pioneered the concept of “visual distance learning,” highlights a timely paradigm shift in the use of technology to facilitate education. High school and college students today take for granted that much of what they learn in class is supplemented with educational tools found on the World Wide Web via the Internet. — ah hoc news