In what’s bound to be a great boon for classroom deployment of the iPhone and the new iPod Touch, Apple today announced both composite and component video cables (each costs $49 at the online Apple store) that allow for full video out on both devices.

While iPods with video (now know as iPod Classic) have been able to do this for years, video out on the iPhone and the iPod Touch brings another compelling benefit to classroom deployment of these devices. As a portable media player, these devices can be hooked up straight into a classroom projection system—putting another nail in the coffin of the DVDs or (gasp!) video tapes that we used to have to schlep around.

Of course video out isn’t going to cure all the world’s evils, but it does make life just that much easier for faculty and students who need to get from one classroom to another without much breathing room for setting up that killer video clip or presentation…