Croc in a Box – Good for Learnin’

Just in time for the school year, Box, the company most known for their cloud storage services, will be stepping up its game in the education space with the launch of some new tools specifically designed for students.

Among the new additions are the inclusion of results from “Crocodoc”, partnerships with Canvas learning, and a new series of OneCloud educational apps. Six partners have signed up with OneCloud, enabling students, teachers, and parents to have files stored in a central place and to aid in sharing interactive lessons.

General manager of enterprise at Box, Whitney Bouck discussed the company’s shift in focus on education, saying, “Future success for students and educators will be dependent on how well we integrate technology into our modern learning environments.”

In May, Box acquired Crocodoc with the intent of integrating the service’s HTML5-based document viewing technology with their own. The results of the merger have led to today’s product launch, which is likely to gain even more use thanks to partnerships with Blackboard, Haiku Learning, and several more learning management systems.

With the new tools Box is announcing today, the belief is that both students and educators will have more accessibility to the cloud storage service and use it to enhance learning in the classroom. In other tech education news, Google Play Books for iOS got an update today that adds support for both rental books and textbooks. Books can be rented or purchased on the website, and then accessed through the app itself.

In addition to support for textbooks, the Google Play Books update will also bring highlighting and note-taking, to aid students in the studying process.

A Music…Television? How Novel!

Cord-cutting millennials will soon have a new way to quench their thirst for ’90s nostalgia, thanks to a new round-the-clock music app on Apple TV created by Vevo.

The partnership with Apple TV means that Vevo TV will be able to sell ads made specifically for television, and with companies like Adidas, McDonald’s and RedBull already advertising on Vevo’s online page, there should be no shortage of sponsors ready to support the project.

Previously, users had to search for individual videos to watch them on Vevo, but in March, the site launched Vevo TV as an alternative way to discover music videos on the platform. For Apple, the deal widens their growing channel lineup for Apple TV, which recently added HBO Go and ESPN.

Control the Message – Go Private

BlackBerry is warming up to the possibility of going private, as the smartphone maker struggles to recover from their downward spiral.

According to some sources, CEO Thorsten Heins has increasingly been toying with the idea of taking BlackBerry private, in order to give the company some breathing room to recover. If they do decide to make an attempt to go private, BlackBerry might find it hard to come up with a buyer. Currently, the company is still posting losses and losing subscribers on a daily basis, so private equity firms could have reservations about getting involved.

In the past year alone, the company’s shares have fallen more than nineteen percent, and its market value has fallen to only four-point-eight billion dollars, down from eighty-four billion at its peak in 2008.

Until recently, BlackBerry had been betting its turnaround on its latest smartphones, but with dismal sales so far, the Canadian device maker has been forced to consider other alternative paths for recovery.

No Way This Could Increase Break-ins…

A new startup called KeyMe is releasing an iOS app today that helps you out of that embarrassing situation of being locked outside.

The concept is simple, by allowing users to carry a copy of their keys simply by taking a picture of their keys with their smartphone. The app enables users to bring the digital description of their key to a locksmith who can then cut a new one on the spot, or place an order online.

On-the-spot data access costs about ten dollars, and mail-order keys can cost four dollars and up, depending upon the key.

KeyMe CEO Greg Marsh gave his comments on the app, saying, “There’s actually very little information required to copy a key, but there’s never been a way for people to pull that information off their key and store it and retrieve it.”

In order to replicate a key, a locksmith needs to know the key type — that is, which blank key to pull off the wall, and the code which specifies the depth of the notches along the key shaft. A recent market analysis found that there are roughly ninety million lockouts in the U.S. each year. KeyMe hopes they’ve found the master key to that problem.

Parking Just Got Easier

Most of us know the stress that comes with parking downtown in a city.

A new update from ParkMe will now offer motorists real-time street parking information to help aid in finding the perfect parking spot.

The service works by giving you the price and likely availability of metered locations. Current coverage areas include San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and a few other cities, but it’s likely that the service will offer more locations as time goes on. The feature has already been available for iOS, but the app’s addition in the Android Market will serve as a handy tool for the millions using Android phones. And after you’ve found a great parking spot, check out the smaller mom-and-pop shops, which are now featured on Google Maps.

A recent update to the app adds ad support for local businesses, helping their name compete with the big, box stores. Users can follow the links to get discounts, and simply learn more about the neighborhood.

EXTREME Tracking

“Trace”, a new monitoring device for action sport enthusiasts aims to catch data on every flip, twist, and landing.

People who enjoy running and biking have been able to analyze their sessions for years now, and now Trace aims to bring the service to more sports so athletes can track their performance to rank themselves against other users.

The sensor is a small device that attaches to the bottom of a skateboard or the top of a surfboard (or on a helmet if you prefer), and captures motion data using inertial sensors and GPS. Specifically it contains 9-axis sensors, advanced multi-Hertz GPS, Bluetooth four point-0, plus its own processor.

Action sports athletes often feel isolated when doing tricks in small groups, but they can now share their sessions with the world, and compete on leaderboards. The game just got a lot more interesting.

Consumer-Grade Sleep Monitors

Beddit, the Finnish company known for their medical sleep trackers, is using their expertise to tap into a wider market with a consumer-friendly sleep tracker that will cost as little as one-hundred-and-fifty dollars.

The thin-film sensor is placed on your mattress, and from there it can send data back to your smartphone, letting you know when you’ve been snoring, or when you’ve fallen into a deep sleep. The sleep monitor is so sensitive that it can even measure a person’s heart rate through the sheets.

Beddit hopes to get the sensor off the ground with an Indiegogo campaign targeted to raise eighty thousand dollars by November.

The company’s CEO commented on the technology, saying, “We had been focused on basic monitoring in hospitals with tracking heartrate and breathing without touching the patient. Now the next piece is to bring this technology in the form of a consumer mobile app to market.”

And that’s all the news we have for this week. If you want to keep up with these stories and more, be sure to join us every weekday morning at 8:30am on NewsDesk with Kristin Feledy.

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