Cook announced that Apple employees will soon be given $500 discounts on purchases of new Macs and $250 discounts on purchases of a new iPad.

The new program starts in June 2012 and an employee must have been with the company for at least 90 days. I’m checking my calendar right now. Yep. It looks like I could start this coming Monday.

On a more serious note: Do the employees in China get in on this action too?

Hardcovers

Hardcover texts cost as little as $89 per book, some textbooks cost as much as $110 or more. Using the smaller figure, a typical high school student enrolls in 6 classes per year or 24 classes per 4 year attendance. Multiplying 24 classes times $89 costs a school district $2136. Hopefully, the textbook is used over a 7 year period, therefore, divide the text by seven, yielding $305.14.

Over the years, I’ve learned to figure 10%  loss of textbooks (ruined over never returned by the student). Ten percent of 36 books means, on average, four books are lost per high school student. This means the school should calculating spending another $356 for textbooks per student in a four year period.

Adding the initial cost of $305.14 and $356 – total costs may be rounded to $661.

iPads

An iPad 2 will cost $499 and 24 texts would cost $360. Adding these two values gives us a grand total of $859 initial investment per student.  If these costs are spread out over seven years, we get a cost of $122.71. Now, I’m not calculating a ten percent loss – I’m not sure to assume a higher or lower number. This would depend on how excited the kids are about keeping the iPad.

How would you do the calculation? What would you change? What do you conclude?

1. The iPhone 4S launching in China

2. Apple factory inspections

3. iPad 3 feature stories

4. Target opening Apple mini-stores

With all the news this week then you’d expect Apple’s market share to be climbing. Oh never mind, that was a January 9th story.

Over 2 million people have already seen this amazing video but – just in case you haven’t – make sure you watch the whole video.

Now that is rugged.

The iPad 3 – Spring Release

DigiTimes quotes an industry source:

The iPad 3 will come with a QXGA (1,536×2,048 pixels) display and longer battery life although its other hardware specifications may not be so amazing as expected, said the sources. But Apple will take the advantage of the iPad 3 launch to slash the price of its iPad 2 to US$399, the sources claimed.

The iPad 4 – Fall Release

This is potentially going to be a hardware upgrade: screen changes, processor changes, and megapixel camera changes. Doesn’t that sound nice? This will all depend upon the Windows 8 Tablet PCs expected to be released in 2012. And, of course, Android boxes need Ice Cream Sandwich rather than Android 2.3.

Actually, I’ve been asking myself, “Should anyone ever buy a desktop again?” Notebooks (laptops) and Tablets are becoming more than second machines or companion devices. Actually, these are becoming primary devices.

While not quite confirming that a quad-core processor will power Apple’s third-generation iPad, we have obtained evidence that suggests Apple is currently working on quad-core iOS devices.

A faster iPad and iPhone would certainly be in order for 2012  as long as battery life remains the same or is improved. However, speed improvements alone will not be a reason to upgrade between an iPad 2 and iPad 3. No, I suspect most people will want newer features and improvements on current features. First, the camera on the iPad needs improvement. Second, a higher resolution screen has been rumored and would certainly be a good reason to upgrade.

Now – imagine the iPad getting a better messaging system tied with the iPhone. Contacts synchronized so that the owners of iPads with the 3G connection should be able to tie their phone numbers with their iPads. Instead of watching people checking their phones during meetings – they could continue to use their iPads (taking notes) and flip quietly to the message.

Interestingly, despite a plethora of applications, a single note taking application does not stand out as a winner for all students and teacher. No, this year brought many choices and sometimes the choice is up to interest in features: handwriting, typing, image manipulation, exporting/importing, or synchronization.

Because of the plethora of applications and feature reviews available in the blogosphere, this article is an attempt to share my experiences using note taking applications on the iPad and iPad 2. It is one thing to write about a product, sharing wonderful features, versus actually telling how to use the product, and then choosing which application is best for a teacher or student.

First, as a teacher, I love using OneNote for lectures synchronized with iCloud. I also love using another product which I believe deserves winning the note taking application of the year.

Number 5: Draw Pad Pro ($1.99),  PenUltimate ($0.99), and UPad ($4.99, UPad Lite Free)

Two applications for note taking worthy of mention are Draw Pad Pro and PenUltimate. PenUltimate was the original pen based note taking application. I installed PenUltimate in the first quarter of 2011 and used it for note taking during several dinner meetings. My daughter and I would pass the iPad between us as we would jot down ideas for an iPhone application. I never finished the AP Chemistry review application but the notes are still on my iPad.

AppAdvice published a wonderful review and images of the Draw Pad Pro application so there is no reason to duplicate it. I would emphasize that Draw Pad Pro is a wonderful sketch application. Regardless, let’s focus on why this application is different from PenUltimate in terms of note taking.

Consider the following image shown to the right. This image within the note was taken with my iPad’s camera and easily embedded into my notes. Image manipulation is a key distinguishing factor between PenUltimate and Draw Pad Pro. Both applications allow pictures to be taken and added to the notebook. Notice the image of Ellie and Pascal to the right of this text is angled. I tried this on PenUltimate and just couldn’t get the image to stick; it would rotate but not stay at the angle.

UPad is similar to PenUltimate and Draw Pad Pro, in that it is simple. In fact, the product beats out the first two because of its simplicity. Opening up a note is the same as reaching for a piece of paper. It also benefits from a rest area for the wrist – something that is important while writing on the iPad. Finally, teachers and students will appreciate the password folder protection.

Number 4: Evernote (Free)

The blogosphere is rampant with fans of  Evernote. As a Tablet PC rival to OneNote, Evernote development continues to expand into numerous platforms. Sadly each time I have installed Evernote, then I never get to using it. I am not sure if this is laziness or loss of interest once the product is installed. Synchronization is a plus but formatting issues is a reason some people rate this application poorly.

LPH

Number 3: Microsoft OneNote (Free)

I started using OneNote while writing my dissertation. It was easy to import PDFs then mark them up while reading. I also used OneNote while writing out scripts for lectures on AP Chemistry.

LPH

Runner Up: Apple Notes (Free)

Apple Notes is part of the iOS applications installed by Apple. It’s meant to be a quick way to type notes.

The choice as runner up is simply because I use this application all the time. No, I can’t add images and this is why the application is not the winner.

The image to the left shows a note taken the other night while looking at vBulletin add-ons. Even though, we ultimately decided on XenForo forums, these notes helped us look at options for vBulletin. The ease is the copy/paste from Safari.

However, synchronizing notes taken in Apple Notes is easy with iCloud enabled. I can easily switch between my iPhone, iPad, and iMac – sadly my poor TouchSmart is left out because I do not synchronize the notes through iTunes. Sorry, I do not have experience with the iTunes synchronization – but – it just seemed like an extra step that I’m not willing to take. Besides, I can never remember which machine I’ve synced the iPad with in the first place.

With iCloud, you can create or edit a note on iPad, and it automatically updates on your Mac, iPhone, or iPod touch.* You can also sync notes to your Mac or PC through iTunes.

The lack of image support is why I’ve been looking for a good note taking application and maybe have found it in the winner for 2011.

Number 1:  NoteShelf

Documentation for NoteShelf is fantastic and earns first because of the numerous features, 14 pages of extensive help is vital to getting started.  A favorite feature is grouping notebooks by a simple drag and drop. Another feature that helps is the password protection. I don’t need prying eyes for some of my work and ideas.

The best feature, though, is a simple wrist protection. A small pointer allows you to adjust an area to rest your wrist. Wow. This helps avoid the blotches you can get in PenUltimate and Draw Pad Pro. But maybe you are curious about exporting your notes. In that case, sit down. NoteShelf can export as an image, PDF, through email, iTunes, Dropbox, Evernote, iPad album, and even print.

Oh – but wait. Recall that I wrote at the beginning that this article is for teachers and students. NoteShelf has a Cornell Notes template available for taking notes. Teachers will find the Day Timer template useful.

In fact, the only thing I miss is being able to type notes.

The ugly truth is that none of the available iPad applications is perfect. There are problems with images, inking, or synchronization across multiple platforms. This makes the choice very challenging and why I almost listed two apps for number 1: Apple Notes and NoteShelf. However, UPad and Draw Pad Pro are worth your downloading and trying. Both may work for you.

* Yes, for those of you keeping count, I did not write about only five note taking applications. I suspect you have a favorite, too. If it wasn’t listed then let us know why you believe it is the best of 2011.

OneNote version 1.3

Versions 1.3 from Microsoft improved OneNote for iOS so that the full screen is used (2x was annoying):

• Support for iPad and iPad 2
• Localization into several new languages and markets
• Tabbed user interface
• Quick note creation in the Unified Notes section
• Table rendering
• Improved Windows Live sign-in experience
• Integrated upgrade option

After using OneNote to write a dissertation on a Tablet PC, I waited anxiously for the iPad version. The previous version was only good on the iPhone – and very limited. The free version (up to 500 notes) does not disappoint me. This is in contrast to Kevin Purcell’s opinion that an ink feature is missing.

The difference in conclusions is the manner of use of the product. I tend to keep class lesson lecture notes – 178 lectures to be exact – in OneNote synced with my Windows Live Account. This is below the 500 notes limit for the free version and I have no need for inking.

Having my lecture notes available to me without being tied to a desktop is a huge plus. Maybe if my use for the product expands then I’ll want more features. For now, though, I’m content. Thank you Microsoft.

Pegatron is now eyeing orders for iPad 4 as well as notebooks and desktops from Apple in 2012, the sources revealed.

What’s the iPad 4? Hey, let’s get the iPad 3 or iPad HD out the door first. We can start the iPad 4 rumors later.