E-Text Book switch mandatory in College?

http://chronicle.com/article/The-End-of-the-Textbook-as-We/125044/

This article discusses how to save student money schools may force a switch to E-textbooks.  They say e-texts would be required and colleges would charge students for them within a required fee.  The claim is that this is the best way to control skyrocketing costs and may actually save the textbook industry from digital piracy.  As it stands today buying a textbook is optional, student can do a many number of things to avoid buying a new text book, picking up a used textbook, borrowing a copy from the library, sharing with a roommate, renting one, downloading an illegal version, or simply going without. Here's what they are thinking that by ordering books by the hundreds or thousands, colleges can negotiate a much better rate than students were able to get on their own, even for used books. And publishers could eliminate the used-book market and reduce incentives for students to illegally download copies as well. 

As i read this article I was feeling annoyed, another fee give me a break , but as I read on I realized that this could really be a savings in the end.  Mirta Martin, dean of Virginia State's business school, speaks passionately about her reasons for taking part in the experiment with Flat World, which offers free access to its textbooks while students are online.  Students pay $24.95 for a PDF (a print edition costs about $30).  Virginia State business school pays a bulk rate of $20 per student per course, and the program allows students at the school to download not only the digital copies but also the study guide, an audio version, or an iPad edition (a bundle that would typically cost about $100).  Now this sounds more like a deal. 

I personally like having an actual text book because I like highlighting and writing notes in the margin or getting a used book with someone else notes in it that could be helpful and I like reading a book as opposed to a computer, however if it meant a huge savings in the end, I may be willing to make the switch, that is if the switch isn't forced upon me anyway first.

Super Soaker Strikes Again!!!!!!!!!

http://gizmodo.com/5666674/a-solar-power-breakthrough-courtesy-of-the-guy-who-invented-the-super-soaker

Lonnie Johnson is a prolific guy.  Not only has he helped do a risk assessment for the Atlantis space shuttle, he helped get the B-2 stealth bomber off the ground and he gave us the Super Soaker.  Well, he has done it again, and this time he may have made solar power viable. His latest project is called the Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Converter or JTEC and as Paul Werbos, director of the National Science Foundation, says "It has a darn good chance of being the best thing on Earth."  Now that's a statement.

The JTEC stands to double the efficiency of the best solar cells running today.  It has no moving parts and produces no waste.  When I was a child I believed that in a few short years we would be doing things like the Jetson's and everything would run clean and simply.  Well now it seems like we are well on our way and I think it's pretty exciting.  We aren't exactly the Jetson's yet, but a machine able to double the energy production of a current solar cell and be competitive with coal (but cleaner) is pretty awesome.