Redefining the campus
Ever since the first PC we've been hearing about the demise of paper. We've had the paperless office (the printer market still seems to be doing just fine) and, more recently, the e-reader, but sometimes you just can't replace the cheapness, durability and downright reliability of a book, magazine or newspaper.
A US start-up called Kno is the latest company to have a go at replacing paper, this time in the further education market. With encyclopaedic text books being the target, Kno has decided it's market is ready for something a fair bit bigger than any tablets out there and has launched one that has not one, but two 14.1-inch colour screens.
The Kno press release doesn't go into specs but Engadget, which was at the D8 conference where the device was launched, reports the screens are of the capacitive IPS variety, with 1440x900 resolution and both touch and pen support. It weighs a hefty 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg) and even using a Tegra 2 chip can still only manage 6-8 hours of battery life. All that's said about the OS and platform is that it's based on open web technologies.
"Kno's alliances with publishers is a key component of our strategy to fundamentally change the way students learn," said Osman Rashid, Kno's Co-Founder and CEO. "We are excited to work with Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson and Wiley to bring their content directly to students to help enrich their college experience. It is this content students need combined with the features that they want that differentiates Kno."
The device isn't ready for launch yet and when it is, it's expected to come in at not far short of a grand, so Kno has some serious selling to do. In the video below, Kno has chosen the famously camp Queen track ‘I want to break free' and, as Engadget noted, features young men cavorting in their underwear in one of its press photos, so maybe Kno is targeting more than one demographic with this product.
