The worst part about Kno is probably its name. Pronounced like "no" or "know," it is frustratingly hard to talk about with someone who is not familiar with it:
"Do you know what Kno is?"
"Um--no?"
"No: Kno, K-N-O."
"No, I mean I haven't tried Kno. I don't know what Kno is, no."
If you're a college student, and you don't yet know what Kno is, then maybe you should get to...maybe you should become acquainted with it. Kno is a free app for iPad that can be used for reading digital textbooks and taking notes in them. The developers at Kno have rolled out a new release for the iPad and their own website with several excellent new features that are sure to make many college students rethink navigating the campus bookstore; the fact that all of your textbooks and the notes you take are now available from any device via the web and your Facebook account, together with improved note-taking features in the app itself, make Kno one of the most impressive arguments to ditch your backpack for a tablet on the market today. After flirting with making its own "educational tablet" for some time, the Kno team has settled on making software, and the decision seems to have paid off.
Click through the slideshow below to view screenshots of the new Kno app and to see exactly what it is that makes the updated Kno such a compelling way to read your textbooks on a computer screen:
