MacRumors

The Mooresville, North Carolina district is one of a handful in the country to issue laptops, the MacBook Air in this case, to each student. Mooresville is attempting to turn the public school education on its head, using technology to change the culture of instruction. The district was profiled in the New York Times on Monday.

The Times says the district has "quietly emerged as the de facto national model of the digital school."

[Superintendent of schools Mark] Edwards spoke on a White House panel in September, and federal Department of Education officials often cite Mooresville as a symbolic success. Overwhelmed by requests to view the programs in action, the district now herds visitors into groups of 60 for monthly demonstrations; the waiting list stretches to April. What they are looking for is an explanation for the steady gains Mooresville has made since issuing laptops three years ago to the 4,400 4th through 12th graders in five schools (three K-3 schools are not part of the program).

The district’s graduation rate was 91 percent in 2011, up from 80 percent in 2008. On state tests in reading, math and science, an average of 88 percent of students across grades and subjects met proficiency standards, compared with 73 percent three years ago. Attendance is up, dropouts are down. Mooresville ranks 100th out of 115 districts in North Carolina in terms of dollars spent per student — $7,415.89 a year — but it is now third in test scores and second in graduation rates.

Each MacBook Air notebooks is leased from Apple for $215 per year, including warranty. The total cost for the computers is around $1 million per year, plus an additional $100K for software. Families pay a $50 fee

The Mooresville Graded School District paid for the initiative by eliminating 65 jobs, including 37 teaching positions, and accepting larger class sizes. At the same time, schools could get rid of computer labs and antiquated teaching materials like hanging wall maps.

Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson wrote about Jobs' feelings towards American public education. Jobs felt the system was "hopelessly antiquated and crippled by union work rules." Particularly galling to Jobs was that classrooms were led by teachers standing at a blackboard, using textbooks. He felt that "all books, learning materials, and assessments should be digital and interactive." Feedback should be tailored to each student and provided in real time.

Instead of simply throwing technology dollars at the problem, hoping it can fix itself, Mooresville is using technology as a tool to help students learn.

Mooresville frequently tests students in various subjects to inform teachers where each needs help. Every quarter, department heads and principals present summary data to Mr. Edwards, who uses it to assess where teachers need improvement. Special emphasis goes to identifying students who are only a few correct answers away from passing state proficiency standards. They are then told how close they are and, Mr. Edwards said, “You can, you can, you can.”

Apple made its biggest stride yet into the digital classroom at an education-focused event last month. At that event, Apple launched a new digital textbook initiative for the iPad, plus easy-to-use authoring tools to help educators collaborate and share knowledge across school districts and disciplines.

Jobs' vision for the digital school may be turning to reality in Mooresville, North Carolina.

(Image via Jeremy M. Lange/New York Times)

Earlier this week, we noted that Chinese authorities had begun seizing iPad stocks from a small number of retailers over Apple's alleged infringement of a disputed "iPad" trademark. Apple claims that it purchased the Chinese rights to the trademark several years ago, but the original owner Proview and Chinese courts have disagreed with that assertion.

Bloomberg now notes that Proview is seeking to go beyond local enforcement and is asking Chinese customs officials to block both imports and exports of the iPad over the issue. With iPad production taking place in China, a successful bid by Proview could cut off Apple's supplies of the device throughout the world.

“We are applying to customs to stop any trademark- infringing products from imports to China and also for exports,” said [Proview lawyer Roger] Xie, who is based in Shenzhen. “Apple wants to postpone and continue infringement of the iPad in China.”

Calling a potential export ban "catastrophic" for Apple, one Chinese legal expert notes that pressure on Apple to settle the case has dramatically increased.

A halt to exports from China would be “catastrophic” for Apple because it would mean a global halt to iPad sales, said Stan Abrams, an intellectual property lawyer and a law professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing. The threat of an export ban increases the pressure on Apple to settle the case, he said.

“There’s got to be a settlement, and fairly soon,” Abrams said. “I can’t see how much more incentivized to settle Apple could be.”

Apple continues to maintain that it acquired "worldwide" rights to the iPad in ten countries, including China, as part of an earlier deal. Apple's case is still pending with Chinese courts as it seeks to appeal earlier rulings.

We've been covering Apple's forthcoming Amsterdam retail store with interest for some time now, as it will be the company's first location in the Netherlands. While development has been slowed by historic preservation issues, rumors last month suggested that the store could open on February 18.

Apple indeed appears to be getting closer to opening the store, as today it unveiled striking new orange window coverings announcing that the location will be "opening soon". Several Dutch sites including One More Thing [Google translation] and iPhoneclub.nl [Google translation] have posted photos of the store.

Orange is the national color of the Netherlands, while the three vertically-stacked Apple logos are a play on the three crosses found in Amsterdam's coat of arms and which are popularly used to represent the city.

An opening date for the new store remains unknown, with hiring plans and glimpses of the store's interior suggesting that it will not quite meet the previously-rumored February 18 date.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is working with suppliers on a smaller iPad carrying a display in the range of 8 inches on the diagonal, down from the 9.7-inch display in the current iPad but still larger than the 7-inch display found in the Kindle Fire.

Officials at some of Apple's suppliers, who declined to be named, said the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has shown them screen designs for a new device with a screen size of around 8-inches, and said it is qualifying suppliers for it. Apple's latest tablet, the iPad 2, comes with a 9.7-inch screen. It was launched late last year.

One person said the smaller device will have a similar resolution screen as the iPad 2. Apple is working with screen makers including Taiwan-based AU Optronics Co. and LG Display Co. of South Korea to supply the test panels, the person said.

The report does caution, however, that Apple is continually testing new designs with its suppliers and could ultimately decide not to bring the smaller iPad to market.

According to the report, Apple has played with various tablet sizes in the past, but has so far stuck with a single form factor with a 9.7-inch display, a size Steve Jobs argued was the minimum to meet Apple's standards for usability.

An "iPad mini" has been rumored for quite some time, with reportedly having tested a variety of different screen sizes. A number of the rumors have pinpointed a 7.85-inch iPad that could be released late this year.

Back in December, we published mockups and "actual size" PDFs demonstrating how the device would appear and fit in the hand at that size. Our printable PDFs included home screen (6 MB) and keyboard (18 MB) views, and we also included an actual size image for viewing on a current iPad.

Squeezing the current iPad's resolution down to a smaller screen would also reduce the size of the interface elements on the device, and Apple is indeed said to be planning to move the current iPad's 1024x768 resolution to the smaller iPad in a move that would allow current iPad apps to "just work" on the new device. Testing with our "iPad mini" mockup suggests that interface elements would remain usable even at the smaller size.

The iPad 3 will come in 4G LTE versions for Verizon and AT&T according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. It was reported earlier today that the iPad 3 announcement would come on March 7.

Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. will sell a version of the coming iPad that runs on their newest fourth-generation wireless networks, according to people familiar with the matter, as the battle to cash in on big investments in mobile broadband heats up.

Apple Inc. appears to be planning to announce the latest version of its tablet computer in the first week of March, according to another person briefed on the matter.

Whether other carriers will also sell the device couldn't be learned.

The WSJ noted that the devices will fallback to a "slower network technology" when LTE isn't available. The next iPad is expected to have a high-resolution Retina Display and a quad-core A6 processor, in addition to the LTE capabilities. There is no indication if the AT&T and Verizon iPads would be one model that can operate on both networks or separate units with individual SKUs, as they are currently.

Apple insiders have noted that Apple frequently engages in the practice of "controlled leaks", briefing trusted reporters with product information before the launch of a big product.

iMore reports that Apple is planning to hold their iPad 3 announcement on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Aside from the date of the announcement, iMore also claims that the iPad 3 will feature a 2048x1536 Retina display as well as a quad-core A6 processor and "possibly" 4G LTE networking. They cite sources "who have been reliable in the past".

Overall, the site seems least certain about LTE's presence in the iPad 3:

4G LTE networking has been another mystery surrounding the iPad 3, with a compatible Qualcomm chipset becoming available, but international LTE coverage is still slim, and in some cases a year or more away. It sounds like Apple has 4G LTE lined up for iPhone 5 this October, but we’re still not certain if the iPad 3 will get it earlier.

iMore (then called Tipb) had previously pinpointed the pre-order date for the iPhone 4S.

LTE has been rumored to be included in the iPad 3 in the past. As iMore notes, LTE's rollout has been slow, but many carriers are aggressively rolling out coverage and LTE requirements in 2012. Apple has also been testing LTE in iOS 5 and hiring LTE engineers.

Update: Jim Dalrymple of LoopInsight confirms the date with a simple "Yep". Dalrymple is known to have sources inside Apple.

As noted by @settBIT, Apple has posted a notice on its investor relations page announcing that it will be offering a live audio webcast of a presentation by CEO Tim Cook tomorrow at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. Cook's presentation will begin at approximately 3:30 PM Eastern / 12:30 PM Pacific.

Cook has spoken at the annual conference a number of times (2007, 2008, 2010), but this will be his first time at the event in the role of Apple CEO. While he has not made any major announcements at the venue in the past, he has at times offered an interesting perspective into Apple's business.

Apple captured "19 percent of all sales dollars" of consumer electronics sales in the U.S. during the holiday quarter of 2011 according to NPD. Not coincidentally, the holiday season was also the best quarter in Apple's history.

Not only was Apple by far the most successful consumer electronics brand for the second year in a row, Apple Retail has the third most revenue of any electronics retailer, coming in behind only Best Buy and Walmart. Apple was the only brand in the top five to post a sales increase from 2010, with receipts for 2011 rising more than 36 percent in the U.S. on the back of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

Tablet sales have more than doubled as a share of consumer electronics dollars, going from 5.1 to 10.7 percent. That's especially good news for Apple -- the iPad's 40 million units sold made up nearly 60 percent of tablet sales in 2011.

HP, Samsung, Sony, and Dell all saw declines in sales from 2010 to 2011, according to NPD's report, with Sony and Dell taking the biggest hits.

Digitimes reports on an article from Taiwanese newspaper Commerical Times claiming that Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron has ended its relationship with ASUS for production of the Zenbook under pressure from Apple. According to the report, Apple is displeased with the similarity in appearance between ASUS's Zenbook and the MacBook Air and forced Pegatron's hand with an ultimatum stating that Pegatron needed to choose one company or the other.

Apple reportedly was unhappy about Pegatron's production of Asustek's Zenbook models, which are similar to its MacBook Air, especially in its outer design, and therefore, demand Pegatron make a choice, claimed the paper, which added that Pegatron began to assemble iPhones for Apple in 2011 and is eager to solicit orders for next-generation iPads from the vendor.

Pegatron will reportedly wind down production of the Zenbook by next month as ASUS is forced to switch over to Compal or Wistron for manufacturing.

Last week, repair firm iLab Factory posted a photo of a Sharp display that was said to carry a resolution of 2048x1536 in a 9.7-inch size and be targeted for the iPad 3.

The company now reports (via 9to5Mac) that it has obtained the rear shell and dock connector cable parts that have also been circulating and matched all three together, increasing the likelihood that the leaks are genuine parts. The parts do show that the iPad 3 is marginally thicker than the iPad 2, which has been rumored by a number of sources as Apple has sought to increase battery capacity to drive the higher-resolution display and tweak other components.

First of all, in comparison to a back plate of iPad2, the iPad3 one(?) is a little bit thicker; less than 1mm, and equal-sized length and breadth.

The report goes on to show in a series of photos that mounting holes on both the display and the dock connector/ribbon cable line up exactly with those on the rear shell.

The report also examines the rear camera mounting points on the claimed iPad 3 shell, noting that they are indeed different than on the iPad 2 although the hole in the rear shell does appear to be essentially the same size as in the iPad 2. The difference in camera mounting had previously been noted in other leaked photos.

Apple is expected to introduce the iPad 3 in the first week of March, with the first round of launches set to follow soon after.

Apple's share price pushed through the $500 barrier as trading opened this morning, reaching an important psychological figure. The stock price has been on a tear ever since Apple reported blowout earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2012, rising more than $75/share, or nearly 18%, in just under three weeks.

Apple is now worth more than $469 billion, making it the most valuable public company in the world by a significant margin. Exxon Mobil, the second most valuable public company, is worth approximately $400 billion after a weakening in that company's price.

Apple is a long way from claiming the "most valuable publicly traded company ever" title. Among many others, Microsoft had a peak market cap of $642 billion during the dot-com boom in September 2000. That company is now worth just over $250 billion. With the reversal of fortunes, Apple is in fact now worth more than Google ($199 billion) and Microsoft ($256 billion) -- Apple's two biggest competitors -- combined.

Last month, Apple and the Fair Labor Association (FLA) announced an agreement that would see the FLA monitoring workplace conditions in Apple's supply chain, providing independent oversight to ensure compliance with worker rights standards set by Apple and the FLA. Apple is the first technology company to join the FLA, a move which comes as Apple has been the subject of increasing criticism over Foxconn's treatment of its employees.

Apple today issued a press release announcing that the FLA has begun inspecting Foxconn's facilities at Apple's request, supplementing Apple's own auditing practices.

Apple today announced that the Fair Labor Association will conduct special voluntary audits of Apple’s final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China, at Apple’s request. A team of labor rights experts led by FLA president Auret van Heerden began the first inspections Monday morning at the facility in Shenzhen known as Foxconn City.

“We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The inspections now underway are unprecedented in the electronics industry, both in scale and scope, and we appreciate the FLA agreeing to take the unusual step of identifying the factories in their reports.”

The release notes that the FLA will be conducting interviews of thousands of Foxconn employees as it assesses their working and living conditions. The FLA will have access to Foxconn's manufacturing areas, as well as the dormitories and other facilities where employees are housed in the massive complex.

Results of the Foxconn inspections will be posted on the FLA's site early next month, and similar inspections at Apple's other major manufacturing partners Quanta and Pegatron will follow this spring. Once inspections at the three companies' facilities are complete, the FLA will have assessed facilities where over 90% of Apple's products are assembled.

Amidst the growing chorus of rumors about an Apple branded television, The Telegraph reports that the UK TV network ITV has written a letter to Apple to warn it against using the name "iTV" for its future television product.

This is actually not the first time that Apple and ITV have been in contention over the name. When Apple first announced their set top box in 2006, they originally called the product "iTV":

Apple later changed the name to "Apple TV", but reportedly later reconsidered changing the name back to iTV. ITV executives were said to be "furious" over the possibility.

The Telegraph reports that Apple gave reassurances back in 2010 that they would not use the name, though they note that Apple is now under different leadership.

However, insiders fear that the world’s biggest company might take a different stance under Tim Cook, who replaced Steve Jobs as chief executive shortly before Mr Jobs died in August last year.

Apple is believed to be actively working on a standalone television product. A recent report claimed Canadian cable companies already had the product in their hands. That report and others have been casually referring to the upcoming product as the "Apple iTV", though Apple has yet to officially name or even acknowledge the project.

Update: In a statement to The Verge, ITV has denied that it sent any such warning to Apple.

In a statement to The Verge, ITV said that, "The Telegraph's piece is entirely speculative, and there has been no communication between ITV and Apple. ITV has no further comment on the matter."