iPod on Moving-In-Day:

According to this story in the New York Times, newly-minted college freshman are increasingly receiving an iPod and/or an iPhone when they arrive on campus.

The always-on Internet devices raise some novel possibilities, like
tracking where students congregate. With far less controversy, colleges
could send messages about canceled classes, delayed buses, campus
crises or just the cafeteria menu.

While schools emphasize its
usefulness — online research in class and instant polling of students,
for example — a big part of the attraction is, undoubtedly, that the iPhone
is cool and a hit with students. Basking in the aura of a cutting-edge
product could just help a university foster a cutting-edge reputation.

I think when I came to college in 1991, we got toiletry kits. So while I’m tempted to say, "My how times have changed!" I would not count on my own university changing with them.  We got a full fledged art center in the late 1990s. An off-camera medical reporter for ABC was once a graduation speaker.

Yes, chilins, my beloved Johns Hopkins is about as cutting edge as a ball point pen. Sigh.

• Category: Out there and interesting