Apple's Textbook Project Code Named 'Bliss' and Inspired by Al Gore's 'Our Choice'?

[MacRumors]

AppleInsider reports that it received a tip earlier this week claiming that Apple's digital textbook project rumored for unveiling tomorrow has been developed internally under the code name "Bliss". The source also indicated that the project was inspired by Apple board member Al Gore's Our Choice e-book app focused on global climate change.

Al Gore's Our Choice app

Some of the source's information, including details on Roger Rosner's role in the project, was corroborated yesterday by The Wall Street Journal, increasing confidence in the remainder of the claims.

The person who contacted AppleInsider indicated that Apple's Internet software chief, Eddy Cue, is responsible for the distribution side of the new e-textbook initiative. But Rosner is said to be in charge of development of the editor used to create digital textbooks, as well as the reading software that will allow students and teachers to view the files.

The person said the internal code-name for the project is "Bliss," and said the software will allow publishers to make textbooks more interactive.

Our Choice, which was selected for an Apple Design Award at last year's Worldwide Developers Conference, is an immersive, interactive app produced by Push Pop Press. The firm founded by former Apple engineers had planned to expand its efforts in the interactive book-as-app market with additional titles, but the plan was cut short when Facebook acquired the company last year.

Article Link: Apple's Textbook Project Code Named 'Bliss' and Inspired by Al Gore's 'Our Choice'?

[twitter]

that looks good! books and iWork 2012 would be perfect

[miniroll32]

Anything to do with Al Gore is doomed for failure.

[Stang]

Originally Posted by miniroll32

Anything to do with Al Gore is doomed for failure.

Just like the internet....wait.

[velocityg4]

So does that mean the textbook program will be hypocritical?


Anyways digital textbooks seemed like the obvious direction given iBooks, Kindle, Nook &c. Plus expanded content available online from many magazine publishers and TV networks for years now.

[applesith]

Originally Posted by miniroll32

Anything to do with Al Gore is doomed for failure.

except McDonalds

[jaison13]

apple should have bought back it's former employees before Facebook did.

[pheenix11]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X; en_US) AppleWebKit (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile [FBAN/FBForIPhone;FBAV/4.1;FBBV/4100.0;FBDV/iPhone4,1;FBMD/iPhone;FBSN/iPhone OS;FBSV/5.0.1;FBSS/2; FBCR/AT&T;FBID/phone;FBLC/en_US;FBSF/2.0])

Are these digital textbooks going to be significantly cheaper to make up for the fact that you can't resell them at the end of the semester?

[Mudbug]

I for one am SOOOOOO ready for a content creation tool for creating immersive book experiences on the iPad that doesn't require coding.

[Amazing Iceman]

Originally Posted by miniroll32

Anything to do with Al Gore is doomed for failure.

Sorry to break the bad news to you, but Al Gore is chairman at Apple.
I guess you didn't know that!

[blow45]

Has anyone performed any studies on the effect lcd screens have on young eyes?

I know I 've had to put glasses at 33 from computer use and know a lot of friends who had their eyesight hurt after extensive computer use.

As much as I feel excited about this, I have to be reserved about it too...

[Webbedfeet8]

Why would they base this on anything related to Al Gore? Uhggg. I love Apple and all their products but this is disappointing. Global warming is a hoax pushed for political gain.

[T-Will]

Originally Posted by miniroll32

Anything to do with Al Gore is doomed for failure.

I'm not a Gore fan either, but from the reviews I've read, 'Our Choice' was a very innovative "book".

[pjo]

A major (technical) question for me is if one will be able to read purchased textbooks off anything besides an iOS device.

[jacg]

Originally Posted by Webbedfeet8

... Global warming is a hoax pushed for political gain.

You forgot your to indicate sarcasm, but I sensed it anyway.

[Amazing Iceman]

Originally Posted by blow45

Has anyone performed any studies on the effect lcd screens have on young eyes?

I know I 've had to put glasses at 33 from computer use and know a lot of friends who had their eyesight hurt after extensive computer use.

As much as I feel excited about this, I have to be reserved about it too...

LCD screens don't cause damage as old CRT screens and TVs did in the past. There's no X-Ray or similar radiation on LCD screens.

Eyesight problems could be cause by excessive brightness in a dark environment, or by a cheap or defective monitor with a FL backlight that flickers, even if it's not easily noticeable.

Also, people who already have bad eyesight and need glasses but opt to avoid using them would of course experience headaches and related problems. Also, people who suffer from sinus related allergies. But those are not good reasons to say it's the LCD screen's fault at all.

Besides the situations mentioned above, there's no reason for a LCD screen to cause eyesight problems to anyone, unless the problem was pre-existent.

----------

Originally Posted by Webbedfeet8

Global warming is a hoax pushed for political gain.

It's possible that some politicians may use the Global Warming as a tool for their own political gain, but we can't deny that there is a problem with Global Warming.
I do know there is some people who in their ignorance would say there's no Global Warming, and come up with all these facts that make no sense at all. I have decided to ignore those. I just hope you are not one of those people too.

[coder12]

Originally Posted by applesith

except McDonalds

You're thinking of Bill Clinton.


Anyways, this makes complete logical sense. Whenever Apple touts the iPads to schools, Al Gore's book is always the spotlight of the show. "Look at how your kids can be learning!", they say. When in reality, all the teachers do is scan PDFs of their worksheets and push them out for students to read in iBooks. That's just ... pathetic! They were shown the quality that the iPads can bring, and let's hope that tomorrow's event really pushes book publishers to think differently.

[WiiDSmoker]

Originally Posted by Webbedfeet8

Global warming is a hoax pushed for political gain.

WTF is this ignorant crap?

[Amazing Iceman]

Originally Posted by coder12

You're thinking of Bill Clinton.


Anyways, this makes complete logical sense. Whenever Apple touts the iPads to schools, Al Gore's book is always the spotlight of the show. "Look at how your kids can be learning!", they say. When in reality, all the teachers do is scan PDFs of their worksheets and push them out for students to read in iBooks. That's just ... pathetic! They were shown the quality that the iPads can bring, and let's hope that tomorrow's event really pushes book publishers to think differently.

it's very hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Not all teachers know or want to learn about this unless they feel their job depends on it.

The younger generation is the one who will push this to the max. And those "old dogs" who are adaptable will help too.

There are many ways to use the iPad in education, it just requires the teacher to use his imagination; and hopefully more will be learned about this starting this Thursday.

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Apple's Textbook Project Code Named 'Bliss' and Inspired by Al Gore's 'Our Choice'?

I would say that Al Gore's "Our Choice" was the pilot for Apple's Textbook Project Code Named 'Bliss'.

[applesith]

Originally Posted by coder12

You're thinking of Bill Clinton.

He's touched McDonalds once or twice.

----------

Originally Posted by Amazing Iceman

It's possible that some politicians may use the Global Warming as a tool for their own political gain, but we can't deny that there is a problem with Global Warming.
I do know there is some people who in their ignorance would say there's no Global Warming, and come up with all these facts that make no sense at all. I have decided to ignore those. I just hope you are not one of those people too.

All depends on the period of time you are measuring temperatures. And there is no proof that it's man made or that anything can actually be done about it. That is why it can be called a hoax.

[ronm99]

Originally Posted by blow45

Has anyone performed any studies on the effect lcd screens have on young eyes?

I know I 've had to put glasses at 33 from computer use and know a lot of friends who had their eyesight hurt after extensive computer use.

As much as I feel excited about this, I have to be reserved about it too...

My understanding is that computers hurt the eyes due to the fact that you are constantly focusing on an object at the same distance away. As people age, they become far-sighted because their eyes become less flexible which limits their ability to focus on things that are close to them (thus requiring reading glasses). You can help your eyes during computer use by occasionally focusing on things far away and then looking back at the computer again.

I've never heard of any studies that say that LCD screens hurt the eyes.

If the above is correct, then there should be no difference between reading a book and reading on a computer screen.

----------

Originally Posted by applesith

Image

He's touched McDonalds once or twice.

----------



All depends on the period of time you are measuring temperatures. And there is no proof that it's man made or that anything can actually be done about it. That is why it can be called a hoax.

This is getting off-topic, but I would like to add that calling something a "hoax" is saying that the scientists are deliberately trying to mis-lead people. You may or may not agree with their conclusions, but calling global warming a hoax is going too far.

[marcusj0015]

Originally Posted by Webbedfeet8

Why would they base this on anything related to Al Gore? Uhggg. I love Apple and all their products but this is disappointing. Global warming is a hoax pushed for political gain.

LOL political hoax huh, then why hasn't snow stuck around the great lakes fro more than two days all winter?

[rdowns]

Originally Posted by Amazing Iceman

Sorry to break the bad news to you, but Al Gore is chairman at Apple.
I guess you didn't know that!

Sorry to break it to you but Gore is not chairman, he is a board member.

I guess you didn't know that!

[Lesser Evets]

There's enough well-presented information on the internet now; a 12-grade USA education can be gained online by kids with about 5 years of applied study. An iPad + Time + Effort = the end of schools... except we need schools to be indoctrination daycare for kids.

[meCarlo]

By "Inspired by Al Gore's 'Our Choice'", they mean inspired by his designer: Mike Matas.

He's responsible for the iOS look and feel, OSX Time machine, and many others.

http://mikematas.com/#!2Rs/1QcF/ui_d...9;s_our_choice