Samsung has taken the wraps off a new learning platform for its Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 which will go head-to-head with iTunes U.

Called Learning Hub, it will be on hand to offer educational content which is set to include 6,000 textbooks and videos from 30 different education service providers.

Samsung is expected to reveal more details of Learning Hub at Mobile World Congress 2012 next week.

High score schooling

So far the company has only offered up a handful of screenshots that don’t tell us a great deal, however it has revealed that the platform aims to encourage individual learning using an automatic scoring system to motivate less disciplined students.

Document annotation will also be enabled, which could see a Galaxy Note S-Pen-alike accessory for the Galaxy Tab produced.

iTunes U has been a huge success for Apple, helping it get the iPad into many schools and learning institutions. Samsung is obviously (and understandably) keen to get a piece of that action with its own tablet offerings.

So far only Samsung Korea has released news of Learning Hub, so we’ll have to wait until MWC 2012 next week to see what Samsung has in store for the rest of the world.

The imminent BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 adds the missing messaging apps to RIM’s tablet, but it also marks a big shift in how BlackBerry devices handle email.

RIM is moving on from the proprietary email system that’s been the foundation of its success in business and is joining Google and Apple in adopting a mobile email protocol from Microsoft. But that doesn’t mean BlackBerry is abandoning its trademark security or long battery life.

With the PlayBook 2.0 – and future BlackBerry 10 handsets – you won’t have to run a wizard on the device and connect to the BlackBerry service to set up your email any more.

Instead, you just fill in the email address and password for your email account, like any other device. If it’s a common email service – or any server you’ve used with a BlackBerry device before – that’s all you need to do.

If you’re connecting to a work email account, you can click Advanced and fill in the details of the server, but it’s still far simpler.

EAS support

But the PlayBook doesn’t connect directly to the mail service. BlackBerry software head Vivek Bhardwaj told TechRadar that PlayBook and BlackBerry 10 still take advantage of the BlackBerry infrastructure and servers but things are a lot easier.

“I can put in my Gmail account and what we do in the background is take the username and read the domain [from the email address] and we do all the heavy lifting to get the settings and do all the configuration and send that back down to the device.”

The PlayBook works with standard mail protocols such as IMAP and POP3, but it also supports the popular EAS protocol.

This was developed by Microsoft (originally for Exchange; it stands for Exchange Active Services) but it’s been widely licensed, and is used by Gmail and Yahoo as well as Hotmail. It’s already supported by the majority of smartphones – Android, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Nokia, Palm and even iPhones.

In fact, RIM has been the only holdout, and currently you have to install third-party email tools such as AstraSync to use EAS on a BlackBerry handset or tablet.

Switching to EAS instead of RIM’s proprietary push email transport is a major change, and it’s something of a coup for Microsoft, especially when Bhardwaj praises it as an open standard.

“This is a shift in architecture, based on what we want to deliver as a company. The BlackBerry Internet Service and the BlackBerry Enterprise Server have served us well for the last decade.

“Over time, more consumers have latched on to smartphones, and enough of the industry is at that tipping point so we do need to be about standards. It’s about open standards and an open ecosystem.”

Get email faster

EAS has some major advantages. It’s a proper push protocol that copes with multiple email folders. Mail will arrive on a device using EAS when it arrives on the server. That’s a big improvement over the 15 minutes you wait to check for new emails you get with BIS today (the way any BlackBerry that’s not managed by a business gets email).

Emails you read and delete on your phone will be marked as read or deleted if you look at your mail on the web. This happens with BlackBerry devices today, if you have it set up correctly.

But messages you read in webmail or with another client will be marked as read on your BlackBerry as well, which doesn’t always happen using the current system.

And while there will probably be a setting to choose whether to download the whole of really long messages, you won’t only get the first 2K of each message. That should mean no more scrolling down to the More prompt and waiting for the rest of the message to arrive.

You’ll finally also get your contacts and calendar details synced from your email or calendar service directly to the PlayBook or BlackBerry 10 smartphone, even if you’re not connected to an enterprise BlackBerry system.

Secure and energy efficient

But what about the real advantages of BIS and BES: the security and power efficiency?

Mail will be just as secure, promises Bhardwaj. “The device talks EAS but we wrap security around it. The messages go through a secure tunnel that’s created by BIS or BES, but the transport inside it is EAS.”

Businesses still get to manage BlackBerry devices and control settings on them as well.

And it’s the connection between the server and the phone that keeps power use low (and compresses the data sent back and forth), which still uses the BlackBerry system. If battery life changes for BlackBerry 10, we wouldn’t point the finger at the mail connection.

Loosening the connection between BlackBerry devices and the BlackBerry servers might have other advantages too. It’s no longer one person, one BlackBerry, talking only to a BlackBerry server. PlayBook is going to get BBM (just not in this update).

Could this open up the possibility of BBM coming to other devices that aren’t BlackBerry? We don’t know, but it’s a tempting idea.

RIM has stayed true to its word and released BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 on time, bringing email, social integration and Android apps to the struggling tablet.

The updated software, which you can download for your BlackBerry PlayBook today, features a unified inbox which means you can access your Facebook, Linked In and Twitter messages alongside your email – yes, your actual email!

Other highlights include an update to BlackBerry Bridge that makes document sharing between your PlayBook and BlackBerry phone quicker than ever, as well as allowing you to use the phone as a keyboard and mouse for the PlayBook using a new remote control feature.

If you can’t beat ‘em…

There’s more social integration to your calendar and contacts apps too, but it’s the inclusion of some Android apps that will pique most users’ interest as RIM tries to bolster its generally poorly-stocked App World.

“Building on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s proven web browsing, multimedia and multitasking strengths, the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 introduces a range of new communications and productivity enhancements as well as expanded app and content support,” said David J. Smith, SVP mobile computing at RIM.

The news of the update will be welcome to those of you who have managed to pick up the PlayBook for a song over the past few weeks, with many retailers slashing prices to shift otherwise stagnant stock.

Shipping PlayBook OS 2.0 on time was new CEO Thorsten Heins‘ first challenge: clearly he passed. So what next? Something new at MWC 2012, perhaps? We hope so. Meanwhile, stay tuned for our hands on BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 review which is coming very soon indeed.

Many might not think about it, but Bluetooth wireless communication has increasingly become part of our everyday lives.

It’s used to link mobile phones with hands-free headsets, it’s used to transfer files, it’s an essential part of connecting controllers to games consoles and peripherals to computers and tablets, and that’s just the start.

But what is it? How does it work? And why is it called Bluetooth?

The last question has a relatively simple answer. Bluetooth is the anglicised name of Harald Bl

Apple has written to the company which claims it owns the trademark to the iPad name in China, threatening to sue for defamation if it continues its campaign to have the tablet banned in the country.

The bankrupt Proview Shenzhen electronics company says it, not Apple has the rights to the iPad name in China.

Cupertino insists it purchased the rights from Proview back in 2009.

Proview earned a minor court victory on Friday ensuring that the tablet be pulled from select stores in China’s Guangdong province but plans to take its claims to 40 other cities across the country.

In response, Apple has gone on the offensive, telling the company to stop the lies or face the consequences.

False and misleading statements

In a letter emailed to Proview’s chairman Apple’s legal representatives in Beijing write: “As you are well aware, Apple’s holding company IP Applications Development … legally purchased all the rights to the ten iPad trademarks owned by Proview … specifically and expressly including the two trademark rights registered in mainland China by Proview Shenzhen.”

“Proview Shenzhen and its agents continue to make statements about Apple to the public which are false and misleading” — to wit, that Apple cut a deal with the wrong company. Proview has asked several regional Chinese courts to ban iPad sales until Apple pays the $1.6 billion it demands.

“On behalf of Apple, we formally reserve all rights to take further legal action against any individuals and entities for any damages that may result from defamatory statements and unlawful actions intended to wrongly interfere with Apple’s business and business relationships.”

In other words ‘cut the nonsense or we’ll sue’