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With the announcement this month that they'd be releasing the cheaper version of the iPod to the world, I am convinced Apple has plans to take over. I'm an avid Apple user myself, but admittedly, I initially bought my iMac and iBook because they were "pretty" and I didn't want a Dell hunk of ugliness in my house. Chicks. We're weird like that. The "Mac vs. PC" debate can get cut-throat and for the record, I use both. And for the record, I like Dell.

This Fall, Duke University is providing its entire freshman class with iPods. Now may be the time to reconsider this school as having more than just a kick-butt basketball team. The Durham Herald-Sun reports,

"The iPods, which can download and make use of both audio and text material, will come stocked with Duke-related downloads, including information for freshman orientation and the academic calendar. Duke also will create a special Web site modeled on the Apple iTunes site from which students will be able to download music and course content from faculty, including language lessons, recorded lectures and audio books.

Students in visiting assistant professor Lisa Merschel's elementary Spanish class will use the iPods to listen to audio examples of textbook exercises and hear Spanish songs.

And adjunct professor Sally Schauman's students will use their iPods to record lectures in class and interviews while out in the field for her freshman seminar about the ethics and science of urban water conservation."

Fear my generation. Fear them intensely. My younger siblings attend a private high school that has rolled-out the "lap-top program". The program requires all students to have a laptop as assignments are both given and submitted via the web. At my sister's graduation this Spring, one of her classmates parting words were,

"Don't ever take for granted a school that has its own server"

A six-year-old is hacking into your computer as we speak.

Hat tip (Joanne Jacobs)