Get up to speed on the latest product releases in the education market.
Hardware
Lexmark International has released the C530 color laser printer series, which can print as many as 22 ppm in color and 24 ppm in black and white. The C532dn offers two-sided printing and the capacity for heavy use by small workgroups, and the C534n, C534dn, and C534dtn are aimed at large user groups.
WMS100 adapter from NewSoft
The FirmTekSeriTek/2ME4-E PCI-Express adapter enables high-performance serial ATA connections for as many as 20 Mac hard drives with a transfer rate of up to 3 GB per second. The adapter allows users to move drives and arrays between systems and provides for the streaming of multiple uncompressed high-definition video streams.
The WMS100 adapter from NewSoft connects WiFi-enabled laptops to a projector and offers 15 fps. It allows meeting participants to send or transmit content via the Presto! WMS sending software.
The Intensity HDMI card by Blackmagicdesign enables users to capture images from HDV cameras on their PCs or Macs and edit video on large-screen HDMI TVs and video projectors.
Smart Technologies has released the Senteo interactive response system, which features a handheld devices for students and a receiver that gives teachers the ability to send and receive information from each student's device.
Software
Discovery Education's ThinkLink Assessment suite offers tests tailored the NCLB plans of 21 states so educators can conduct formative assessment of students in subjects such as math, science, and reading/language arts.
AutoSkill International'sAcademy of Math intervention software now features a new SpanishTutor module aimed at helping struggling native Spanish-speaking ELL students. The module is designed for students to engage in 25- to 30-minute sessions three to five times a week.
Piano Wizard for Mac from Allegro Rainbow is a video game that teaches new players by having them follow moving objects that represent the correct notes. The program works with any digital piano, and users can download MIDI files of songs online.
Senteo from Smart Technologies
Mariner Software'sMacJournal 4.1 journaling and blogging software now has .mac syncing integration, Blogger and Atom support, and a redesigned audio entry feature. The program runs on Mac OS 10.3.5 or later and is a free upgrade to registered users.
Fireman 3.0 software from Honest Technology enables users to create quick multisession data CD/DVDs, MP3 discs, and so on by dragging and dropping files into the program and selecting "Burn."
Advanced WindowsCare Personal by IObit is a freeware utility that fixes Windows problems and is geared toward helping prevent users from being harmed by spyware. The program has multilanguage support and will work with Windows Vista.
Resources
Travels with Music is an interactive DVD that features about 300 videos documenting world music and games students can play to become familiar with the diverse instruments and people ranging from Peru to Mongolia.
The 1Voice campaign by Channel One and the Knight Foundation provides free lesson plans and PowerPoint resources aimed at helping educators teach about the First Amendment.
SchoolSpan'sE-mail on Demand offers e-mail and Microsoft Exchange hosting for school employees and has archiving capabilities. The service qualifies for E-Rate Priority 1 funding.
Online
Designed for elementary students,Spellingtime.com is a free online spelling program that uses text-to-speech technology and phonetically correct interactive characters. Students listen to words being used in sentences and then can type or use the site's graphic keyboard to spell the words.
At TeacherFileBox.com, educators can download supplemental classroom activities from Evan-Moor and search by keywords or standards. The program costs $9.95 per month. Maplesoft's new version of its Web-based testing and assessment system for science and math, Maple T.A. 3.0, has revamped grading and assessment features and an upgraded user interface. T.A. 3.0 has a new text editor and allows for the creation of questions that include any type of algorithm. Maplesoft has also released Maple 11, which includes enhancements to the program's computation engine and its smart document interface.
Digication e-portfolio service allows students to post and share their work—writing, artwork, videos, and so on—via a Web-based interface. Schools can create portals that provide image galleries of student work, educator profiles, and more.
