Navy using PSPs to study at sea
Books are seen as "dull and boring".
Britain's Royal Navy has begun issuing sailors with bright blue PSPs to stimulate learning at sea.
Pink was offered as an alternative but rejected, reported The Times Online.
The idea - dreamt up by the maritime warfare school at HMS Collingwood in Hampshire - is that sea-soldiers, whether in a submarine or wave-battered battleship, can romp through 10-minute, instructor-prepared study slides in confined areas.
The school bought 230 PSPs and will limit them to Navy engineers at first, widening distribution if the programme goes well. The UMD drive was originally to be disabled, but the decision was reversed as command believed sailors would better keep their PSPs if they could use them to play games.
"They are also engineering technicians and would probably be able to fix it themselves," said Lieutenant-Commander Mark "Beasty" Williams.
Apparently training costs have been cut to £200 by the move and the Navy expects pass-rates to improve.
"We are working on the premise that looking at a book is now seen as dull and boring. When I was at school you sat at your desk and you did your work and that was it," added Navy Command's Trevor Price who probably got a satsuma and hoop for Christmas.