Apple will announce some new product tomorrow at CES (Consumer Electronics Association show) Macworld and it is reputed to be the Ipod phone or an Apple phone/computer  or tablet of some kind. (If you are very curious about this announcement, Engadget is carrying a live feed)

The New York Times article about the shrinking of computing devices, A Personal Computer to Carry in a Pocket, discusses the Apple product as well as other new small devices like the Oqo handheld that uses Windows CES and allows for use as a phone as well.

  Oqo Model 2 handheld
Jim Wilson/NYTimes

Will we be able to ask students to turn off their phone if their phone, internet access, research tool are all on one device??   What will be different in our classrooms if we can access the internet at any moment we need to find out information?   What will be different about libraries if students can access information from the classroom?  Will school libraries serve even more of a community and “studio” production function than they do now?    We are already seeing a large surge of use of fiction books and “recreational” nonfiction as well, and a decline in reference book use.  Some big changes coming down the pike for all of us….