Foreign buyers save the day - Euro Weekly News

via "spain" "residency" "visa" - Google News www.residentvisaspain.com

Spanish Property Price Moderation Predicted - NuWire Investor

via "spain" "residency" "visa" - Google News www.residentvisaspain.com

Litchfield Board Accepts Bid for Personal Tablet Computers

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 02: A view of the DellVenue after the Dell Press Conference To Introduce The Venue Tablet Line And New XPS Laptops on October 2, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for DELL)

View and purchase photos

LITCHFIELD-Litchfield High School students will be getting personal tablet computers as part of the district's one-to-one personal device program this January. The Board of Education agreed at the Dec. 18 meeting to approve a bid for 336 Dell tablets with detachable keyboards for students and an additional 28 tablets and keyboards for teachers.

The Finance, Faculties and Technology subcommittee looked at nine different computer options from companies such as Apple, HP and Lenovo. Some were for laptops, others for the sleeker and more expensive tablets. Ultimately, the board decided on a bid for Dell Venue 11 Pro tablets at the cost of $310,712 plus $15,000 for an accidental damage warranty.

Parents would have to pay a one-time fee of $43 for four years of accidental damage coverage, which the Board of Education plans to purchase on behalf of the student. This fee will be waived for seniors the first year, a cost that the BOE will absorb. These personal tablets will be used in class and brought home to be used on homework assignments. Students who do not pay the $43 would be able to use the laptops during school hours but not be able to bring them home.

The tablets have 10.8 inch screens, a stylus and 4G of memory at a cost of $732 each. They will operate on Windows 8. Dell's website listed the market value of these tablets at $1,060.84. The student keyboards will cost the district roughly $113 each. Dell lists the market value at $159.

Teachers, along with the tablets and keyboards will also receive docks to charge their devices. The docks will also connect to the smartboards at LHS.

Seventh and eighth graders at the high school have had personal devices for the past year and half. In the same vein, parents had to pay a $40 non-refundable insurance fee for those devices with the same caveat that those children that don't pay cannot bring their devices home.

The Board of Finance agreed to bond $420,000 for the next for years for these personal devices and 15 copiers.

LITCHFIELD-Litchfield High School students will be getting personal tablet computers as part of the district's one-to-one personal device program this January. The Board of Education agreed at the Dec. 18 meeting to approve a bid for 336 Dell tablets with detachable keyboards for students and an additional 28 tablets and keyboards for teachers.

The Finance, Faculties and Technology subcommittee looked at nine different computer options from companies such as Apple, HP and Lenovo. Some were for laptops, others for the sleeker and more expensive tablets. Ultimately, the board decided on a bid for Dell Venue 11 Pro tablets at the cost of $310,712 plus $15,000 for an accidental damage warranty.

Parents would have to pay a one-time fee of $43 for four years of accidental damage coverage, which the Board of Education plans to purchase on behalf of the student. This fee will be waived for seniors the first year, a cost that the BOE will absorb. These personal tablets will be used in class and brought home to be used on homework assignments. Students who do not pay the $43 would be able to use the laptops during school hours but not be able to bring them home.

The tablets have 10.8 inch screens, a stylus and 4G of memory at a cost of $732 each. They will operate on Windows 8. Dell's website listed the market value of these tablets at $1,060.84. The student keyboards will cost the district roughly $113 each. Dell lists the market value at $159.

Teachers, along with the tablets and keyboards will also receive docks to charge their devices. The docks will also connect to the smartboards at LHS.

Seventh and eighth graders at the high school have had personal devices for the past year and half. In the same vein, parents had to pay a $40 non-refundable insurance fee for those devices with the same caveat that those children that don't pay cannot bring their devices home.

The Board of Finance agreed to bond $420,000 for the next for years for these personal devices and 15 copiers.

www.best-budget-tablet.com For tablet reviews of the best budget tablets

Computer tablet project off and running in Anderson

With help from a Redding bank, fifth-graders in Ruth Copeland's classroom at Anderson Middle School may have a chance to learn some of their Common Core Standards lessons and take computerized tests on tablet computers.

'My first opportunity to receive funds from Redding Bank of Commerce came in the 2011-12 school year through Linda Miles, who at that time was executive vice-president and chief operations officer for the bank, as I had her grandson in my classroom,' Copeland wrote in an email received by the Anderson Valley Post.

Since then, Redding Bank of Commerce has continued to be supportive in Copeland's desire to increase use of technology in the classroom after the State of California adopted Common Core Standards with the expectation all state testing will be taken on the computer by all students, the teacher explained.

In addition to testing, students with the hand-held devices will also be able to access their textbooks online, practice for state testing, learn keyboarding skills and master math facts, to name just a few additional uses for the tablets and skills learned, Copeland said.

In 2013, bank Vice President Robert Turner agreed to fund the tablet project for Copeland's classroom as long as the Cascade Union Elementary School District matched the bank's grant funding, she added.

'The $2,000 grant from Redding Bank of Commerce was indeed matched by the school district, so the tablet project is officially under way!' Copeland announced last week.

The Cascade Union Elementary School District's technology department, along with assistance from Redding Bank of Commerce, will help make Copeland's classroom a pilot project that will allow Redding Bank of Commerce to help other classrooms in the area with similar technological needs, Copeland stated.

© 2013 Anderson Valley Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

www.best-budget-tablet.com For tablet reviews of the best budget tablets

Spanish luxury home prices could fall modestly in the New Year, agents predict - Property Wire

via "spain" "residency" "visa" - Google News www.residentvisaspain.com

The property landscape in 2014 - Telegraph.co.uk

via "spain" "residency" "visa" - Google News www.residentvisaspain.com

PC makers plan rebellion against Windows at 2014 CES, analysts say

The LG Chromebase, an all-in-one computer running Google's Chrome operating system, rather than the traditional Windows. It's one of an increasing variety of threats to Microsoft's dominance on the desktop.LG

Fearing rapidly plummeting sales of traditional laptops and desktop computers -- which collapsed by as much as 10 percent in 2013 -- manufacturers are planning a revolution against Microsoft and the standard Windows operating system, analysts say.

At the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in early January, multiple computer makers will unveil systems that simultaneously run two different operating systems, both Windows and the Android OS that powers many of the world's tablets and smartphones, two different analysts said recently. The new devices will be called 'PC Plus' machines, explained Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies.

'A PC Plus machine will run Windows 8.1 but will also run Android apps as well,' Bajarin wrote recently for Time. 'They are doing this through software emulation. I'm not sure what kind of performance you can expect, but this is their way to try and bring more touch-based apps to the Windows ecosystem.'

'This should scare the heck out of Microsoft.'

- Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy

These machines will be able to switch nearly instantly between the two operating systems, according to Computerworld, either booting both interfaces at the same time or running tablet apps meant for Android within a window, explained Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

'This is going to make buzz at CES,' Moorhead told Computerworld. 'OEMs will be trumpeting this ... it's going to be a very hot topic [at the trade show].'

The move is the latest push back against Microsoft and its Windows 8 operating system, an attempt at dramatic transformation of the traditional Windows desktop to incorporate touch screens and portable tablet shapes.

Consumers responded poorly, with widespread complaints about an interface that, while wonderful on tablets, essentially ignored the hundreds of millions of computer users worldwide that rely on mice and keyboards to interact with their systems. Desktop and laptop PC sales fell dramatically in 2013, according to data from research firm IDC. And sales of tablets running Windows 8, while growing, have in no way replaced them.

'The Windows-based tablet market ... is expected to grow to 39.3 million units in 2017 from less than 7.5 million in 2013 and less than 1 million in 2011. However, relative to a PC market size of roughly 300 million units, these Windows tablets would add just a couple percent a year relative to PC growth,' said Loren Loverde, a vice president with IDC.

Microsoft plans yet another update to Windows 8 to address user concerns, likely called Windows 8.2. In the meantime the company has launched a campaign to disparage systems running Google's OS, especially Chromebooks, which are yet another alternative to the traditional Windows PC.

A new TV ads in Microsoft's 'Scroogled' campaign suggest that a Chromebook is 'not a real laptop.' That hasn't stopped the low-cost systems from taking off, especially in education markets.

Moorhead suggests that 'PC Plus' devices mean manufacturers won't wait for Windows 8.2 or other efforts to 'fix' the operating system, instead experimenting with ways to desert Microsoft for alternatives.

'[PC Plus] could get millions of consumers more comfortable with Android on PCs,' said Moorhead. 'Just imagine for a second what happens when Android gets an improved large-screen experience.'

'This should scare the heck out of Microsoft,' he added.

www.best-budget-tablet.com For tablet reviews of the best budget tablets