Journal of Education and Technology, August 2007 issue Labels: New Ti-84
Carl Babbage, JET - Texas Instruments (TI), a leading manufacturer of graphic calculators and at the forefront in graphing technology, has announced it is releasing a new edition of the highly popular Ti-84 plus model. Released in the spring of 2004, the Ti-84 plus has been adopted by the Singaporean education system as the graphing calculator of choice after the recent change in syllabus. Their tertiary education syllabus was modified in 2006 with the first batch of pioneer students. One of the modifications was the inclusion of the use of the graphing calculator, originally seen in universities only. This calculator has been universally adopted by all of their junior colleges, and is the most commonly used model by students.
TI posted record sales of the Ti-84 plus Silver Edition in the Asian market in the first quarter of 2007, with thousands of models snapped up by the incoming batch of students. It is believed this demand may have contributed to the re-release of the Ti-84 plus. As announced earlier, the new TI-84 plus will be based off the TI-84 plus Silver's workings, but will be blue instead. This is due to a new initiative between the company and one of its customers, surely one of the more innovative partnerships we have seen in the educational technology sector. We speak to Wilhelm Schickard, product manager for TI.
JET: So what made you decide to release the Ti-84 plus again as a new edition?
WS: Well, we were quite surprised by the high demand for TI-84s in the Singapore market, and we think that this is a way of giving back to the loyal customers who supported us so well.
JET: But aren't the students buying the calculators because they have to?
WS: Well, not really. You see, just a few months ago, Meridian Junior College in Singapore held a very exciting competition titled "Fastest Fingers First", which involved testing students' familiarity with the calculator. Our local representative was invited as a guest, and we were subsequently informed that the competition was very well received by the student population. You could see everyone pressing their TIs frantically! [laughs] This is why I believe we in our way can also thank them for their support of our technology.
JET: So is there anything new with about the new calculators? What have you done to make them different?
WS: The new calculators are based off the TI-84 plus Silver, and we've redone the full memory clear button into a simple 3-press step, so it is simpler to activate for students, and they will not risk pressing it accidentally. Also, in honour of Meridian and their interesting competition, we've released it with the name Ti-84 plus Limited Edition:Meridian! We've redone the whole cover into light blue, the colour of their school, and the startup screen even shows the school logo for an instant. The most exciting part is that we've done something we've never done before and added a simple speaker so the calculator plays a short MIDI clip of the school anthem, which can be turned off of course. All this was discussed with the school beforehand, and they've consented to it and given us the go-ahead. In fact, they've also said they're quite honoured to be working with us on this, something which has never been done before. We hope that in the near future, we may be working with other schools on this also. As a trial run, we've released 10 trial models into Singapore for a few lucky Meridians whom the school has chosen. We hope to officially release the model by next year if that's possible, to catch the next batch of incoming students.
JET: I see the future for your new calculator certainly looks quite bright, Mr Schickard. JET wishes you all the best in its success!
WS:Thank you very much.
JET: Thank you.
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Well, my friend spilt water on his GC, and it went all kooky on him some time before the prelims. Not willing to risk it, he went to get a replacement at the service centre. The person asked for his school, and his replacement turned out to be the super cool Meridian TI! It is like so totally freakin' awesome. This image is NOT photoshopped.
New Ti-84 Plus Limited Edition:Meridian. Only 10 available! Plays a short MIDI clip of the school anthem(can be turned off) and displays the school logo on startup! Three-button press for FULL memory reset during exams!
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NOTE: The above article is FAKE. Sorry. No Meridian GCs for you. No MIDI ringtones. No school logo. Happy April's oops I mean, er, 1 week after my birthday day! The calculator exists though. Its really the Meridian colour. Some information was retrieved from Wikipedia article on Ti-84 plus series. Carls Babbage, simply a little nod to Charles Babbage, one of the important figures in this field.
"Wilhelm Schickard built the first automatic calculator called the "Calculating Clock in 1623." -Wikipedia article on "calculator"
TI-84 plus and TI-84 Plus Silver Edition are products and trademarks/copyright of Texas Instruments, and are not owned by the Mugalomaniacs. We do not claim to own, um, anything, (Sorry I don't really speak legalese.) and this post is for humor only. We have the deepest respect for TI and your great calculators. Please don't hurt us. =]
