TED: Ideas worth spreading
Here's a couple links I wanted to pass along. TED is a group whose mission is "Spreading Ideas". They have annual conferences where they invite brilliant people to share their ideas. Many of the talks are freely available online.
Hal recently posted the link to a great talk from Richard Dawkins. Here's another great one to check out from Richard Baraniuk. He's a professor at Rice University who is a founder of Connexions. Connexions is designing free open-source textbooks. Their mission is fantastic and could really change the way we approach education in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
Changing business models
Very good point Geoff. Lately I have gained an appreciation for business models, and I have started to notice that large companies will too often fight against a change in their business model. The record companies are a great example of this. They have been suing all of their customers because CD sales are dropping. Maybe CD sales aren't the best business model anymore. In the same way, the internet has forced news and magazine publishers to rethink their business models. I also hope that cheap text books like this, which are good for the student, will force text book publishers to change their business model as well.
Cheap textbooks
As simple as it seems at first, I think the idea of cheap textbooks is a great advance. Using technology to bring customized textbooks to students without breaking the bank is a great idea. Publishers have been taking advantage of college students for years with their insanely high prices. It's about time technology took a shot at this old, entrenched business.