Tuesday, 9/1: News Roundup

September 1, 2010 | 12:00 PM | By

GPS keeps track of Palos Hts. school bus riders - The southwest suburban district rolled out the new system this week, becoming the second school district in the state to use technology not only to track school buses, but also the students who ride them, officials said. (chicagobreakingnews.com)

Community colleges cancel deal with online Kaplan University – The state’s community college system cancels agreement allowing students to take courses at the private online school, because they would not be transferrable to UC or Cal State campuses. (Los Angeles Times)

First virtual school in Mass. opens Thursday – The Massachusetts Virtual Academy opens in Greenfield on Thursday, not only as the first in the state, but also as the first virtual school in New England to serve students from kindergarten through high school. (Boston Globe)

Apple Introduces “Ping” Music Social Network and iTunes 10 – Steve Jobs has revealed iTunes 10, the newest version of iTunes complete with a new logo, new features and its very own social network for music called “Ping” that he described as Facebook meets Twitter for music. (Mashable)

Neal Stephenson’s Novel-Redefining Novel, “The Mongoliad,” Launches, Online – Ghengis Khan shook up the world in the 12th Century, and now in the 21st Century Neal Stephenson’s novel about him may shake up the publishing world: It’s partly interactive, partly social media, and wholly digital. (fastcompany.com)

Apple Superpowering iPad with iOS 4.2 in November – Wireless printing is coming to the iPad, which will be a seriously welcome boon for users who are getting used to the content-delivering powers of the iPad. (fastcompany.com)

Sony Makes E-Readers Touchy, Takes ‘Em Where Amazon Fears to Tread - Sony just revamped its entire line of e-readers, slimming them down, snazzing them up and adding better touchscreen powers. They’re expensive, but are now the e-readers the Kindle should be. (fastcompany.com)