Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Kno To Launch Higher Ed-Specific E-Reader

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 06/22/10

Startup Kno has begun showing its two-display, touchscreen e-reader designed specifically for higher education use. According to its makers, Kno (short for "knowledge") will blend textbooks, course material, note-taking, Web access, educational applications, digital media, and sharing features.

The company said the new device is expected to go into beta testing in the fall semester 2010 and will be available for sale in late fall in the United States. The Kno platform supports Flash, HTML5, PDF, and ePub file formats.

The idea behind the design is to replicate the "book experience by fully preserving the publishers' carefully defined page structure," Kno said in a statement. Charts and graphs are presented in the same manner as a physical textbook, and students can take notes and highlight directly on the virtual page. The two-panels of the interface operate independently from each other, allowing the user, for example, to view a book on one panel and open a browser or digital notebook on the other.

At intervals, the content of the device will be backed up to the cloud. If the device breaks or is lost, students will be able to access their textbooks and notes from a browser in a Web portal.

Kno said it is working with publishers to ensure availability of required textbooks and course materials for students by product launch later this year. It has announced "strategic relationships" with Cengage Learning, McGraw Hill, Pearson, and Wiley for the beta program, specifically. The company said further distribution and pricing details would be announced over the next several months. Students will download textbook content from a Kno store.

The store will also allow developers to host and sell their applications. The first step is to release a software development kit, which will support JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS, along with application programming interfaces for supporting pen, dual touchscreens, and contextual menus for content sharing. That's expected in beta form for a limited number of developers before the end of the year, according to the company.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • man viewing holographic display of data and code

    Why Cross-Skilling Is the Smartest Investment a Campus IT Team Can Make

    Higher education IT teams are being asked to keep pace with AI, cloud, and cybersecurity on flat budgets, and hiring a specialist for every new need can no longer keep up. Building adjacent skills across the people already on staff creates more agile, resilient teams that move faster and retain talent without adding headcount. Pluralsight makes the strategy work through skill assessments, tailored learning paths, hands-on labs and sandboxes, and microlearning that fits into the flow of work.

  • CIS Sandbox Tutor Eli Blouin at Bentley University imagines a future technology learning partner that supports curiosity, critical thinking, feedback, and personalized learning.

    Student Voices: Technology as a Future Learning Partner

    A data analytics and marketing major at Bentley University and a distinguished lecturer at the university explore the future of "technology learning partners" — technologies that participate in the learning process by asking questions and giving feedback, not just information search results.

  • A digital shield composed of glowing particles

    Microsoft Combines Sentinel and Defender Products for Agentic Security Operations

    Microsoft is combining its security information and event management and threat protection capabilities within Microsoft Defender, creating what the company calls an Integrated Security Operations Center built for an era of AI-driven attacks.

  • Glowing digital padlock breaking into tiny cubic fragments over complex circuit board background

    Report: Basic Security Failures Continue to Fuel Enterprise Breaches

    Despite years of investment in cybersecurity technologies, many enterprise breaches still begin with familiar weaknesses, according to a new report from SonicWall.