The University will begin offering Kindle editions of its textbooks starting in the fall semester, several media outlets are reporting. An official announcement is expected Wednesday morning in New York.
Amazon.com, creator of The Kindle and run by Jeff Bezos ’86, is expected to announce a new version of its device with a larger screen and other features specifically geared toward academic textbooks as well as newspapers and magazines.
Princeton is one of six schools – along with Pace University, Case Western Reserve University, Reed College, Arizona State University and the Darden School at the University of Virginia – taking part in a “pilot program” where Amazon will dole out Kindles to participants in three courses, according to Techradar.com, so they can download their course textbooks on the devices.
Aside from replacing a backpack full of textbooks with a single gadget weighing, oh…10 ounces, the Kindle will allow students to highlight portions of the text, make notes in the margins and even search for specific words or passages within a given book.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
U. to offer textbooks on Kindle
TigerFinder: Know exactly where your friends are
Tigerfinder: Your campus Marauder's Map.
On Monday, I had a friend request in my mailbox. It wasn't for Facebook. It wasn't for Mypsace. I was being followed - but not on Twitter. I was being followed on TigerFinder.
TigerFinder - and excuse the Harry Potter reference but I just can't help myself - is basically a Marauder's Map for Princetonians. It uses your laptop's wireless connection to tell your "friends" your location on campus. It shows your location, and the last "update" (which it does automatically every 2 minutes). It even gives your longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates. So you can know where your friends are so long as they're on their computers. (Caveats? It doesn't work on land lines or Leopard - yet).
Want to try it out?
I have a feeling this could get out of hand. And I think I'm going to like it.
-Meaghan Byrne '10
How would President Tilghman fill out the Princeton application?
A traditional college essay topic asks the applicant to write as if "You have just completed your 300-page autobiography. Please submit page 217." At age 17 most high school seniors have not completed enough to warrant a 300 page autobiography, however, what happens when an adult,with considerable more experience under their belt faces that challenge?
The Wall Street Journal asked 10 college presidents, including Amy Gutmann, the President of the University of Pennsylvania and former Princeton provost, to complete one of their school's admission essays. The results are interesting view on the essays that consumed the fall term of senior year in high school.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
20 Sweet: Numerical Songs
Enjoy this musical number crunching…your song suggestions are more than welcome, as always!
1. “If 6 Was 9” – Jimi Hendrix
2. “Dinner at Eight in the Suburbs” – All-Time Quarterback
3. “12:51” – The Strokes
4. “Three Little Birds” – Bob Marley and the Wailers
5. “40’” – Franz Ferdinand
6. “One Love” – Nas
7. “1979” – Smashing Pumpkins
8. “54-46 That's My Number” – Toots and the Maytals
9. “Earthquake of ‘73” – Fruit Bats
10. “One More Night” – Stars
11. “11h30” – Danger
12. “25 or 6 to 4” – Chicago
13. “Two Way Monologue” – Sondre Lerche
14. “The Crane Wife 3” – The Decemberists
15. "1976" – RJD2
16. “1234” – Feist
17. “21st Century Life” – Sam Sparro
18. “867-5309 / Jenny” – Tommy Tutone
19. “One More Time” – Daft Punk
20. “Edge of Seventeen” – Stevie Nicks
Sonia Sotomayor '76 is very smart, contrary to press reports
A story by Jeffrey Rosen in The New Republic entitled "The Case Against Sotomayor" is causing a minor uproar across the blogosphere today. Sotomayor, who graduated from Princeton in 1976, is rumored to be one of the frontrunners to become President Obama's first Supreme Court choice. Rosen cites several anonymous clerks from her Federal Appeals Court that say that she does not have the intellectual heft for the job, despite graduating from Princeton and then Yale Law School:
The most consistent concern was that Sotomayor, although an able lawyer, was "not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench," as one former Second Circuit clerk for another judge put it. "She has an inflated opinion of herself, and is domineering during oral arguments, but her questions aren't penetrating and don't get to the heart of the issue." (During one argument, an elderly judicial colleague is said to have leaned over and said, "Will you please stop talking and let them talk?")
I am in no position to judge Sotomayor's jurisprudence, but I am in a position to provide strong evidence of her intelligence. Sotomayor won the Pyne Prize during her senior year at Princeton, which is the highest academic award given to undergraduates. Winning the Pyne Prize means she had to have grades at the top of her class, in addition to providing extracurricular leadership. For those outside of the Princeton community, the Pyne Prize commonly goes to Rhodes or Marshall Scholarship finalists and winners, so that should give a sense of the academic requirements that the prize entails.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Tiger Style: Right as Rain
Is a little rain enough to stop Princeton students from wearing their traditional lawn parties outfits? Not even close. There was just as much pastel and seersucker as ever this year…only accessorized with umbrellas instead of sunhats and Wellies instead of flip-flops. Of course, there was the occasional creative footwear solution for braving the mucky ground, which I appreciated though I preferred to keep my own feet warm and dry in rainboots. Despite the weather, I think everyone made the most of the event by reconfiguring what they had planned to wear to fit the soggy surroundings. And anyone who didn't (or couldn't) just stayed home.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Blog Love: Princeton Scoop
For those of you who have a little free time this Reading Period, or are here over the summer, the new blog PrincetonScoop is a great place to go. The blog, along with their twitter account at Princeton Scoop lists events happening in the Princeton area. Its a great way to look beyond campus for things to do.
Newsweek Video
Six African-American undergraduate students (Kemdi Ugoji '10, Anita Obodo '10, Davion Chism '09, Jared Crooks '11, Kat Welbeck '09 and Veneka Chagwegera '09) speak about race, social class and the Obama Presidency for Newsweek magazine.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Haley Joel Osment at Terrace for Houseparties
The 20-year-old actor is best known for his work in the 1999 thriller "The Sixth Sense," for which he received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. Osment has also stared in "Pay it Forward" and "A.I." as well as the 1994 classic "Forrest Gump."
Osment's carrer took off after he appeared in a tv commercial for Pizza Hut back in the early 1990s. Osment made his Broadway debut last November when he played a young heroin addict in a revival of "American Buffalo."
Correction: Haley Joel Osment's name was misspelled in an earlier version of this post.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Shot at share of title for men's lacrosse
On Saturday at 1 p.m. at Class of 1952 Stadium, the men's lacrosse team hosts Brown. The winner of the matchup will be crowned co-Ivy League champion with Cornell.
Last season, the Tigers and Bears also fought it out for a share of the Ancient Eight title with the Big Red. Brown won that game by a narrow 6-5 margin in Providence, R.I., sending Princeton home empty-handed. This season, the Tigers will certainly be looking for revenge against the Bears.
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