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Amplify Education's New Intel Tablet Begs For Abuse

Posted by timothy on from the it-was-askin'-for-it dept.

theodp writes "Bring it on, suggests the video for The Amplify Tablet, an Intel device (specs) developed for Rupert Murdoch's Amplify Education, which shows kids wrestling with, dropping, and even splashing the device. So is a ruggedized 10.1" device, which appears to be Amplify's answer to earlier fragility problems, the future of high-tech education? Or is go-big-or-go-home with a 27" touch screen the way to go, perhaps in some kind of next-gen-flip-top-school-desk? Or — cost be damned — are separate classroom and home devices what are really needed?"

33 comments

  1. Why all the books and backpack.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ... if you have a tablet?

    1. Re:Why all the books and backpack.... by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

      It's school so they do stuff ass backwards

    2. Re:Why all the books and backpack.... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      So school DOES prepare for work, after all!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Why all the books and backpack.... by houstonbofh · · Score: 3, Interesting

      But a tablet will fix everything! Especially those poor children with level two lookalike firearms! (Fingers...) http://www.dispatch.com/conten...

      Seriosly, technology is not the problem...

  2. HP ENVY Recline how meny kids will get robed over by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    HP ENVY Recline how meny kids will get robbed over that much less how will a school feel with trusting kids with a 1K+ tablet to not have it get broken.

  3. Toughness is good by invictusvoyd · · Score: 2

    Yesterday my girl spilled juice over my notebook keyboard. And being the person I am , I have a certain emotional attachment to my hardware. Thank heavens the machine is ok . Durability is something which IMHO has to be incorporated in notebooks. In terms of ruggedised hardware and in terms of software .. good OS's ( read Linux ) .

    ______________
    A tablet with a keyboard is a notebook
    A tablet without a keyboard is ? ..waste of plastic?

  4. Underestimating kids by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

    Everything in that video was a gross underestimation of what kids could potentially.... no make that will put this thing through. I suggest the real litmus test would be to put one of these things through a laundry washing machine, then a dryer, then repeat three times before driving back and forth over it multiple times with an 18-wheeler. I am not saying any single one of those scenarios will unfold, but somehow someway the equivalent abuse will.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    1. Re:Underestimating kids by lagomorpha2 · · Score: 1

      An 18-wheeler is a gross underestimation of the amount of damage kids can do. To really test if a tablet is kid resistant you need to run over it with a train.

    2. Re:Underestimating kids by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      Since we're talking about kids, I suggest we scale back your torture test down to their level. I suggest spilling orange juice over it, leaving it in outside in hot summer sun, repeat three times before driving back and forth over it multiple times with a Big Wheel.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    3. Re:Underestimating kids by houstonbofh · · Score: 1

      I liked the "Lets fight over the tablet, but don't use your thumbs!" Actually, nothing touched the screen for the entire video except the one test ball?

    4. Re:Underestimating kids by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

      They were fighting over it because one of the kids broke his after seeing how far he could kick it down one of the longer halls without hitting any lockers.

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
  5. Yes yes! What a startling innovation! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People have been trying to "revolutionize education" with computers since the early 1990s, and yet kids just keep getting dumber and dumber.

    1. Re:Yes yes! What a startling innovation! by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      Computers can be used for porn, games, music, movies, work.

      In that order.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    2. Re:Yes yes! What a startling innovation! by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Because we're working on getting better education, not educating kids better.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Yes yes! What a startling innovation! by gIobaljustin · · Score: 2

      People are as dumb now as they were in the past. Useless test scores and other such trivialities don't change that fact.

      --
      Thank you Dave Raggett
  6. Want a /. alternantive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Arrghhh came in here for the first time in a while and now I can't find the classic site, get down to http://soylentnews.org/ and join a growing community of ex /.ers

  7. Rupert Murdoch? by PvtVoid · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The last person on the planet I want to have supplying curriculum to children is Rupert Murdoch. He's a one-man ignorance machine.

  8. digital utopianism by kevlar_rat · · Score: 1

    The idea that you can just throw tech at education problems is so common its got a name: 'digital utopianism'.
    It's failure was seen with the OLPC project: in Uruguay all school children have an XO laptop but only about a fifth of teachers use it in the classroom daily, similar statistics apply to Alabama. Even the OLPC now admits you need to combine technology with teacher training and community buy-in

    --
    Moderated Usenet
    1. Re:digital utopianism by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      It has nothing at all to do with teaching. It is all about sucking every cent out of teachers pay and turning it into tech and publishing profits. Selling closed tech devices that will only accept corporate approved information at inflated costs and absent of keyboard to ensure students exchanging information is kept to a minimum, like idiot twitters. So no real interest in education just how much profit can be squeezed out of the system until it all collapses and then they blame the government that they bought and controlled.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    2. Re:digital utopianism by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      The idea that you can just throw tech at education problems is so common its got a name: 'digital utopianism'.

      Beat me to it. The answer to the series of questions in the summary is "none of the above", instead of fancy gadgets we need a better pupil-to-teacher ratio, the ability for school boards to fire incompetent teachers, better support for teachers from parents (rather than treating them as glorified daycare nannies), and so on. Playing with gadgets is, at best, a distraction from addressing the real problems.

  9. Murdoch!!! by beermad · · Score: 2

    I'm glad I don't have kids. I'd hate them to be exposed at school to anything associated with that vile dingo. There's certainly going to be an ulterior motive behind it.

  10. A real torture test by kylemonger · · Score: 1

    Try riding a bike at 15mph or so and have your weight-bearing foot suddenly unclip from the pedal, resulting in an endo over the handlebars landing on your back on top of a backpack with a tablet inside. I actually did this, landing heavily on top of one of the old GRID convertible tablets back in the 1990's. It survived.

  11. What are they smoking? by cohomology · · Score: 1

    I have a strong bias in favor of kids who are growing up in the most chaotic environments.

    In the poor neighborhoods I know, schools don't let kids take home *books*. What fool thinks taking home computers is a good idea? Anyway, who lets hardware manufacturers influence educational policy?

    Signed,
    bleeding heart liberal.

    --
    Don't mess with The Phone Company. Piss them off and you'll be using two tin cans and a piece of string.
  12. This leed makes the assumption by xombo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That these devices are necessary to begin with.

  13. other alternatives by kevlar_rat · · Score: 2

    There are a number of options, as well as http://soylentnews.org/ there is http://pipedot.org./ There are a lot of ex-slashdotter on the comp.misc newsgroup. http://squte.com/ (my own site) provides a slashdot-like interface to newsgroups.

    --
    Moderated Usenet
  14. Oh, yeah, THAT will work by PapayaSF · · Score: 2

    "Here are your new tablets, kids. They're ruggedized so that they resist breaking!"

    *CRACK!*

    "Now, Tommy, why did you do that? Of course smashing it against the desk will break it!"

    --
    Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
    1. Re:Oh, yeah, THAT will work by Zaiff+Urgulbunger · · Score: 1

      "Here are your new tablets, kids. They're ruggedized so that they resist breaking!" *CRACK!* "Now, Tommy, why did you do that? Of course smashing it against the desk will break it!"

      This. I recall from my childhood having to "test" both shatter-proof rulers (for some reason when you're aged 8 shatter-proof = indestructible = must test this) and water-resistant watches (when you're 8 years old, water-resistant = completely water-proof).

  15. Social Time Bomb by JimSadler · · Score: 0

    Some families can afford to have a parent at home at all times. For them home schooling via a net education system will be a snap. In effect that will remove about half of the kids from many school systems. Teachers are already being laid off as some school classes are now taught by comnputer alone, in the class room. Security systems monitor kids who are not compliant during class so one person can monitor quite a few classes. Less fortunate families need the schools but they are not the ones that supply the property taxes that support most school systems. You can see the stage being set for trouble. Just imagine a commercial venture that offers an at home computer course that offers a solid high school diploma. Obvioulsy the companies that charge the most money cabn afford to do a better job of providing learn at home situations. Again the poor are beaten down as even if they have someone to watch the child at home they will have to make do with more economical learning programs for their kids. So it comes down to this. If we can not solve educational issues now and a whole lot of new issues are being heaped upon the situation by an expansion or learning systems can we really do this stuff without all hell breaking out with angry parents demanding more and other parents demanding a lot less tax money for public schools? And what will we do with the huge numbers of teachers that will soon be forced out of their professions?

  16. Re:HP ENVY Recline how meny kids will get robed ov by theodp · · Score: 1

    Even a $400 tablet, it would seem, would be apt to be stolen or even just lost in transit. So, why not have a nice big display (27" Acer touch is under $400) in the classroom that's protected by being attached to or a part of a desk to greatly reduce chances of breakage?

  17. Please don't say stuff like that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's an insult to the dingoes!

  18. cheap as chip the way to go by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is needed is a desk with a monitor keyboard & mouse with a slot to plug your Pi into no more no less.
    everyone would unplug there own device and take it home. To protect their date some form of auto backup to the school servers
    If it gets damaged or lost they are so cheap less than the cost of a book.

  19. Separate devices not needed? Oh please. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Spoken like someone who has done 0 research into why schools manage platforms. Anyway, ya, good luck with that.

  20. open standards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Build the things people need using open standards, and these kinds of false platform choices go away.