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- New interactive application helps prospective students evaluate schools -

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News Media Group and HP today unveiled the U.S. News 100 Best Colleges and Universities interactive guide, available today at http://www.hp.com/usnews. The interactive application, which complements the release of the 2010 edition of America's Best Colleges, helps students and families search and evaluate schools through the Best Colleges rankings.

HP and Adobe collaborated with U.S. News on a web-based application that is free for anyone to use to explore America's Best Colleges without leaving home. While the application works on any PC, it is optimized for the family of HP TouchSmart desktop and notebook PCs. By either dragging a cursor across a traditional PC or using a finger to control a TouchSmart PC, people can look at the U.S. News college rankings or narrow schools under consideration by enrollment size, cost, acceptance rate, and student-to-faculty ratios.

U.S. News's new application allows users to navigate the locations of each of the top colleges as pinpoints across America. Touching an image on screen will bring up a profile with related fast facts about the college and U.S. News content, including photos and videos such as first-hand interviews with students about their experience attending a particular college. With the HP TouchSmart touch-screen interface, information about the world's highest-rated colleges is at the user's fingertips.

"We are excited to partner with HP on such a unique application," said Bill Holiber, President of U.S. News Media Group. "We're continually looking for innovative ways to enhance our exclusive content, and with this application, we can provide a better user experience and increase audience engagement." U.S. News Editor Brian Kelly added, "HP's state-of-the-art technology helps make our rankings a more useful and interactive experience."

"From first-time users to the constantly connected, the HP TouchSmart brings America's best colleges to their fingertips with the touch-enabled U.S. News application," says Satjiv S. Chahil, senior vice president, worldwide marketing, Personal Systems Group, HP. "With just a touch, tap or swipe motion, customers can explore the nation's best schools without leaving home."

To download the application and put information about the world's top educational institutions at your fingertips, visit http://www.hp.com/usnews. To learn more about the innovative HP TouchSmart portfolio of PCs, visit www.hp.com/touchsmart .

Media Contacts: Liz Putze, U.S.News & World Report, eputze@usnews.com

HP Media Contact: Marlene Somsak, HP Personal Systems Group, marlene.somsak@hp.com or 408.873.5125

About HP

HP, the world's largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

About the U.S. News Media Group

The U.S. News Media Group is a multi-platform digital publisher of news and analysis, which includes the monthly U.S. News & World Report magazine, the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, HP, and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Money & Business, Education, and Public Service/Opinion, the U.S. News Media Group has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. The U.S. News Media Group's signature franchises include its News You Can Use(R) brand of journalism and its "America's Best" series of consumer guides that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, health plans, and more.


SOURCE U.S. News Media Group