Handheld Learning Forum

In what appears to be a race to the bottom in terms of price and quality, no matter how this impinges on the quality of learning, the prize today goes to the Teachmate PC.

Resembling an oversized Tamagotchi, the device features no keyboard, no touchscreen, no Wi-Fi and virtually no software.

(http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/03/teachermate1.jpg)

The software it does have, maths and reading, are $20 a pop (per device) and the syncing and charging case is $300 (for 30 devices).

In short, it's a piece of future landfill that looks like it was designed in a coffee break.

The use of the word "PC" must be one of the most cynical marketing ploys yet for a not-for-profit company calling itself "Innovations for Learning".

http://innovationsforlearning.org/Teachermate.html

Stick an Apple symbol on it, add some white headphones and they'd sell by the truckload... :-)

LOL!  ;D

But at least it would fit in your pocket (or clip on your jacket), support podcasting, play video's, work with iTunes and look cool

 :P

..and within hours of release would be "hacked" to support third party applications and run Windows.

 ;)

You mean jailbroken to run BSD subsystem, MySQL, PHP and Apache web-server...

http://www.peterelst.com/blog/2007/10/12/ipod-touch-apache-and-php-523/

 ;)

...and then install Moodle.

I like your style, hehe!
 ;D

btw ... the item most like an oversized Tamagotchi is almost any windows based PC, requiring constant attention, patching, feeding etc*



*unless its left in cupboard and permanently switched off in which case its tendency to blue screen is reduced...