Device an acceptable substitute for daily newspaper?
The new model, available in three different configurations and prices, features a 10.1-inch diagonal screen, big enough, says Hans Brons, iRex chief executive, to replicate the look of a newspaper’s layout. That’s still smaller than Plastic Logic’s prototype e-reader, which features a screen more than 13 inches in diagonal, but it is bigger than iRex’s current iLiad model, with its 8.1-inch diagonal screen. The Plastic Logic device won’t be available until next year. Both use E Ink’s screen technology, which is also behind the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader.
The New York Times
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
A No-Paper Newspaper
Will readers pay to subscribe and advertisers sign on?
"You'll see, in the next 12 to 18 months, a wave of electronic-newspaper devices," says Russell Wilcox, chief executive of E Ink, the MIT spinoff whose technology powers the Kindle, Sony's Reader and other competitors. Roger Fidler, a former newspaper executive who now researches and consults on e-readers at the University of Missouri, cites three requirements for e-newspapers to really catch on with consumers: the devices require larger screens (to allow room for better display of stories, photos and ads), color screens (a must for advertisers) and lower prices (the Kindle currently sells for $359).
Newsweek
"You'll see, in the next 12 to 18 months, a wave of electronic-newspaper devices," says Russell Wilcox, chief executive of E Ink, the MIT spinoff whose technology powers the Kindle, Sony's Reader and other competitors. Roger Fidler, a former newspaper executive who now researches and consults on e-readers at the University of Missouri, cites three requirements for e-newspapers to really catch on with consumers: the devices require larger screens (to allow room for better display of stories, photos and ads), color screens (a must for advertisers) and lower prices (the Kindle currently sells for $359).
Newsweek
Monday, September 8, 2008
Epson Developing Flexible Display Technologies
An 8 x 11 sheet would cost well under $100
The company is developing "e-paper" that can be rolled up and folded as a replacement for paper-based newspapers or magazines, says Tatsuya Shimoda, fellow and director of Epson's technology platform research center. The electronic paper is expected to be on the market in five years, he says.
PC World
The company is developing "e-paper" that can be rolled up and folded as a replacement for paper-based newspapers or magazines, says Tatsuya Shimoda, fellow and director of Epson's technology platform research center. The electronic paper is expected to be on the market in five years, he says.
PC World
Plastic Logic to Introduce Electronic Newspaper
Lightweight screen mimics look of a printed newspaper
The device, which is unnamed, uses the same technology as the Sony eReader and Amazon.com’s Kindle, a highly legible black-and-white display developed by the E Ink Corporation. While both of those devices are intended primarily as book readers, Plastic Logic’s device, which will be shown at an emerging technology trade show in San Diego, has a screen more than twice as large. The size of a piece of copier paper, it can be continually updated via a wireless link, and can store and display hundreds of pages of newspapers, books and documents.
New York Times
The device, which is unnamed, uses the same technology as the Sony eReader and Amazon.com’s Kindle, a highly legible black-and-white display developed by the E Ink Corporation. While both of those devices are intended primarily as book readers, Plastic Logic’s device, which will be shown at an emerging technology trade show in San Diego, has a screen more than twice as large. The size of a piece of copier paper, it can be continually updated via a wireless link, and can store and display hundreds of pages of newspapers, books and documents.
New York Times
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Cellphones With E-Ink Screens
Hitachi flip phones show 96 different designs
What looks like painted artwork on the Hitachi W61H phone is actually a new E-Ink screen. Unlike LCDs that add bulk to a device, manufacturers can add these screens—just twice the thickness of a hair—as if they were stickers. Hitachi’s phone is sold in Japan, but you can also see the new screens in the U.S. Lexar uses them as storage meters on its flash-memory drives, and Delphi is developing a wireless key fob to display information such as fuel level and whether the car doors are locked. The thinner screen is less prone to snagging when the fob slips in and out of a pocket and can endure drives during a San Antonio summer or a Minneapolis winter.
Popular Science
What looks like painted artwork on the Hitachi W61H phone is actually a new E-Ink screen. Unlike LCDs that add bulk to a device, manufacturers can add these screens—just twice the thickness of a hair—as if they were stickers. Hitachi’s phone is sold in Japan, but you can also see the new screens in the U.S. Lexar uses them as storage meters on its flash-memory drives, and Delphi is developing a wireless key fob to display information such as fuel level and whether the car doors are locked. The thinner screen is less prone to snagging when the fob slips in and out of a pocket and can endure drives during a San Antonio summer or a Minneapolis winter.
Popular Science
How Apple Could Make E-Books Work
E-Books: a natural extension of the iTunes Store.
I wonder why Apple hasn’t done for electronic books what it has done for other creative arts such as music, movies, and TV shows. Why hasn’t Apple crafted a top-notch shopping and viewing experience for books, and then slapped the greatest works of our most honored writers in copy-protected chains? Why is it that the basic concept of reading hasn’t been perverted into yet another massive, glorious, fire-belching engine that makes money for Apple?
MacWorld
I wonder why Apple hasn’t done for electronic books what it has done for other creative arts such as music, movies, and TV shows. Why hasn’t Apple crafted a top-notch shopping and viewing experience for books, and then slapped the greatest works of our most honored writers in copy-protected chains? Why is it that the basic concept of reading hasn’t been perverted into yet another massive, glorious, fire-belching engine that makes money for Apple?
MacWorld
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
A Solar-Powered E-Book Reader
Device unveiled at Greener Gadgets Design Competition
A thin film solar cell is built into the laminated aluminum lid. In sunlight, the cell can harvest enough energy to allow a page turn every 8 seconds. No external provisions are made for charging the device from mains power, so 100% of the energy used by it is renewable. The lid is linked to the main body with a two element living hinge which conceals the electrical connections to the solar cell.
Core 77
A thin film solar cell is built into the laminated aluminum lid. In sunlight, the cell can harvest enough energy to allow a page turn every 8 seconds. No external provisions are made for charging the device from mains power, so 100% of the energy used by it is renewable. The lid is linked to the main body with a two element living hinge which conceals the electrical connections to the solar cell.
Core 77
Sony's New E-Book Reader Goes On Sale
Comes with 100 classics
Sony's PRS-505 Reader hits stores in Britain on Sept. 4 at a cost of £200, which includes a bundled CD containing 100 "classic" (in other words, uncopyrighted) books.
TechRadar
So how does Sony expect us to react to its new slab?
By making content – and lots of it – extremely accessible. The manufacturer has certainly learnt from its experiences in the US, where purchasers also had to obtain their books from a single Sony-owned website.For the UK release has roped Waterstones in on the action. Expect its 25,000 ebooks to cost around 10-15 per cent less than their physical counterparts. But it's not just purchasable books you can load onto the Reader. There's the vast array of out-of-print books available for free on the web, too.
TechRadar
Sony's PRS-505 Reader hits stores in Britain on Sept. 4 at a cost of £200, which includes a bundled CD containing 100 "classic" (in other words, uncopyrighted) books.
TechRadar
So how does Sony expect us to react to its new slab?
By making content – and lots of it – extremely accessible. The manufacturer has certainly learnt from its experiences in the US, where purchasers also had to obtain their books from a single Sony-owned website.For the UK release has roped Waterstones in on the action. Expect its 25,000 ebooks to cost around 10-15 per cent less than their physical counterparts. But it's not just purchasable books you can load onto the Reader. There's the vast array of out-of-print books available for free on the web, too.
TechRadar
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Advance in Printing Flexible Displays
A step toward roll-to-roll printing of newspapers
Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors from networks of carbon nanotubes, a technology that could make it possible to print circuits on plastic sheets for applications including flexible displays and an electronic skin to cover an entire aircraft to monitor crack formation. The advance may allow researchers to use carbon nanotube transistors to create high-performance, shock-resistant, lightweight and flexible integrated circuits at low cost. A key advantage of the nanonet technology is that it can be produced at low temperatures, enabling the transistors to be placed on flexible plastic sheets that would melt under the high temperatures required to manufacture silicon-based transistors. Manufacturers might literally print, or stamp, circuits onto plastic sheets, like the roll-to-roll printing used to print newspapers."
Nanotechnology Today
Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors from networks of carbon nanotubes, a technology that could make it possible to print circuits on plastic sheets for applications including flexible displays and an electronic skin to cover an entire aircraft to monitor crack formation. The advance may allow researchers to use carbon nanotube transistors to create high-performance, shock-resistant, lightweight and flexible integrated circuits at low cost. A key advantage of the nanonet technology is that it can be produced at low temperatures, enabling the transistors to be placed on flexible plastic sheets that would melt under the high temperatures required to manufacture silicon-based transistors. Manufacturers might literally print, or stamp, circuits onto plastic sheets, like the roll-to-roll printing used to print newspapers."
Nanotechnology Today
Delta Electronics' E-Paper Debut
Product based on Bridgestone technology
Delta Electronics announced that it has developed a high performance e-paper, based on Bridgestone Corporation's QR-LPD (quick response liquid powder display) technology. Delta will exhibit the first version of this high performance e-paper at the upcoming IFA 2008 Berlin.
DigiTimes
Delta Electronics announced that it has developed a high performance e-paper, based on Bridgestone Corporation's QR-LPD (quick response liquid powder display) technology. Delta will exhibit the first version of this high performance e-paper at the upcoming IFA 2008 Berlin.
DigiTimes
E-Ink Makes Strides in Japan
Uses span mobile phones, wrist watches, train station signs
Sriram Peruvemba, vice president of marketing at E Ink Corp., talked with blogger Pradeep Chakraborty. He described the work E-Ink Corp. is doing in Japan with Sony on eBooks, with Casio on the mobile phone GzOne, with Citizen on signage products, with Seiko on wrist watches, with Hitachi on mobile phone case art display, with Teraoka on Ink In Motion signs, with Toppan on train station arrival/departure information signs. The low-power usage of e-ink is attractive for cell phones. "We see sub-segments of the mobile phone market that is disatisfied with the amount of use per battery charge with current LCD technology," Peruvemba said. "We see opportunities for customers to make a unique fashion statement with their products by using our displays. Our displays are slightly thicker than a sheet of paper, so, it is easy to incorporate them as the outside skin of a mobile phone."
Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog
Sriram Peruvemba, vice president of marketing at E Ink Corp., talked with blogger Pradeep Chakraborty. He described the work E-Ink Corp. is doing in Japan with Sony on eBooks, with Casio on the mobile phone GzOne, with Citizen on signage products, with Seiko on wrist watches, with Hitachi on mobile phone case art display, with Teraoka on Ink In Motion signs, with Toppan on train station arrival/departure information signs. The low-power usage of e-ink is attractive for cell phones. "We see sub-segments of the mobile phone market that is disatisfied with the amount of use per battery charge with current LCD technology," Peruvemba said. "We see opportunities for customers to make a unique fashion statement with their products by using our displays. Our displays are slightly thicker than a sheet of paper, so, it is easy to incorporate them as the outside skin of a mobile phone."
Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Bridgestone, Newspaper Test E-paper Signage
Devices display breaking news from Mainichi newspaper
Bridgestone and The Mainichi Newspapers began testing a digital signage device using e-paper in the concourses and passageways of the Toei subway line stations in Tokyo. The devices display breaking news reports with photos and part of the front page of the Mainichi newspaper morning and evening editions, advertisements for Mainichi newspaper periodic publications and notices of events that Mainichi is hosting.
TechOn
Bridgestone and The Mainichi Newspapers began testing a digital signage device using e-paper in the concourses and passageways of the Toei subway line stations in Tokyo. The devices display breaking news reports with photos and part of the front page of the Mainichi newspaper morning and evening editions, advertisements for Mainichi newspaper periodic publications and notices of events that Mainichi is hosting.
TechOn
Amazon Acquires Book-oriented Social Network
Move aimed at niche market of techie bibliophiles
The major online retailer’s latest move is an interesting one, and it makes sense in their recent push towards sales of ebooks and the Kindle. Shelfari.com, the social network for book lovers, announced in its blog that it had been bought by Amazon.
Wired
The major online retailer’s latest move is an interesting one, and it makes sense in their recent push towards sales of ebooks and the Kindle. Shelfari.com, the social network for book lovers, announced in its blog that it had been bought by Amazon.
Wired
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Customer Reviews of E-Books
CyberRead to enhance reviews of digital offerings
PowerReviews, a developer of customer-review technology for retailers and their shoppers, announced that CyberRead, an ebook seller, has chosen PowerReviews to manage it customer reviews.
BusinessWire
PowerReviews, a developer of customer-review technology for retailers and their shoppers, announced that CyberRead, an ebook seller, has chosen PowerReviews to manage it customer reviews.
BusinessWire
New Kindle for 2008 Holiday Season
Release targeted at textbook sales
The Kindle, Amazon’s Linux-powered electronic paper book will have at least one new version out for the 2008 holiday season.The new Kindle, however, may be marketed more for college students returning to school in January rather than for finding a place under the Christmas tree. According to a report by Andreas James, Amazon will be marketing the revised “e-book reader to college students.” The plan seems to be to release the Kindle in conjunction with college textbook publishers. This way, the textbook publishers can sell more affordable e-textbooks, cutting out the used textbook vendors, and Amazon can move more Kindles.
Practical Technology
The Kindle, Amazon’s Linux-powered electronic paper book will have at least one new version out for the 2008 holiday season.The new Kindle, however, may be marketed more for college students returning to school in January rather than for finding a place under the Christmas tree. According to a report by Andreas James, Amazon will be marketing the revised “e-book reader to college students.” The plan seems to be to release the Kindle in conjunction with college textbook publishers. This way, the textbook publishers can sell more affordable e-textbooks, cutting out the used textbook vendors, and Amazon can move more Kindles.
Practical Technology
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Comparing Kindle and iPod Touch
Both have wow factor
If someone would only synthesize the best features of Kindle and the iTouch, then we'd have an exceptional e-reader on our hands. For now, Kindle wins on the number of available titles and annotation features, while iTouch/Stanza is ahead on just about everything else.
Striphas
If someone would only synthesize the best features of Kindle and the iTouch, then we'd have an exceptional e-reader on our hands. For now, Kindle wins on the number of available titles and annotation features, while iTouch/Stanza is ahead on just about everything else.
Striphas
New Kindle Models Due in the Fall
First in stores early as October
It is said to be an updated version with the same sized screen, a smaller form factor, and an improved interface. A source said that Amazon has “skipped three or four generations,” comparing the old Kindle to the 1st gen iPod and the new version to something like the sexy iPod Mini.
CrunchGear
It is said to be an updated version with the same sized screen, a smaller form factor, and an improved interface. A source said that Amazon has “skipped three or four generations,” comparing the old Kindle to the 1st gen iPod and the new version to something like the sexy iPod Mini.
CrunchGear
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Plastic Logic Plans Thin, Flexible Display
Semi-transparent electronic sheet coming in 2009
Plastic Logic, spun off from Cambridge University in 2000 and now based in Mountain View, Calif., has been working to produce paper that can create and erase static images. The company has taken more than $200 million in funding to date. An obvious application is newspapers and magazines, though the economic feasibility of ‘printing’ with this new generation of e-ink displays is still an open question. Watch a demonstration here.
BlogKindle
Plastic Logic, spun off from Cambridge University in 2000 and now based in Mountain View, Calif., has been working to produce paper that can create and erase static images. The company has taken more than $200 million in funding to date. An obvious application is newspapers and magazines, though the economic feasibility of ‘printing’ with this new generation of e-ink displays is still an open question. Watch a demonstration here.
BlogKindle
Lessons From Kindle's Success
Ease of use, and yes, people do still read
Will Amazon founder Jeff Bezos feel victim to the temptation to believe that the Kindle is the only right answer and refuse to offer e-books for other devices? I think that when it comes to the size and shape of devices, we are moving into an era where there will be many more choices that will increasingly be based on personal taste. People choose writing pads of all sorts, from big yellow legal pads to those little bound notebooks with graph paper. In the same way, we are going to have very personal choices about what sort of connected computer we want to use for communicating, reading, working and so on.
NY Times Bits Blog
Will Amazon founder Jeff Bezos feel victim to the temptation to believe that the Kindle is the only right answer and refuse to offer e-books for other devices? I think that when it comes to the size and shape of devices, we are moving into an era where there will be many more choices that will increasingly be based on personal taste. People choose writing pads of all sorts, from big yellow legal pads to those little bound notebooks with graph paper. In the same way, we are going to have very personal choices about what sort of connected computer we want to use for communicating, reading, working and so on.
NY Times Bits Blog
FlexTech Alliance Wins Raytheon Military Contract
Project focuses on temperature, humidity, shock specs
The FlexTech Alliance (formerly known as the U.S. Display Consortium, or USDC), devoted to developing the electronic, flexible displays got a one-year contract to produce display demonstration units for military applications. Ultralow-power, lightweight displays can greatly improve soldiers' effectiveness in the field.
Military & Aerospace Electronics
The FlexTech Alliance (formerly known as the U.S. Display Consortium, or USDC), devoted to developing the electronic, flexible displays got a one-year contract to produce display demonstration units for military applications. Ultralow-power, lightweight displays can greatly improve soldiers' effectiveness in the field.
Military & Aerospace Electronics
E-Books Fuel Sales of Romance Novels
Erotic romance author pinpoints e-books' benefits
Readers of romance novels have complained about the covers for decades because they don't want the public to see them carrying one of "those books." E-books help us get around that problem, and that's probably one of the reasons that romance e-books sales estimates claim about half of the overall e-books market.
eMediaWire
Readers of romance novels have complained about the covers for decades because they don't want the public to see them carrying one of "those books." E-books help us get around that problem, and that's probably one of the reasons that romance e-books sales estimates claim about half of the overall e-books market.
eMediaWire
Why Sony Lost the Battle of the E-Book
Danger for Sony: it is already too late.
Sony has squandered an early lead in a new field because another company was better not just at inventing an electronic device but also at linking it to a wireless network and making it easy for consumers to use. The Sony product is the Reader, a portable device for reading electronic books, which the company launched two years ago. This time Sony’s competitor is Amazon, which has swept past Sony with the Kindle, a rival e-book reader that is showing every sign of becoming the iPod of this nascent market.
FT
Sony has squandered an early lead in a new field because another company was better not just at inventing an electronic device but also at linking it to a wireless network and making it easy for consumers to use. The Sony product is the Reader, a portable device for reading electronic books, which the company launched two years ago. This time Sony’s competitor is Amazon, which has swept past Sony with the Kindle, a rival e-book reader that is showing every sign of becoming the iPod of this nascent market.
FT
Sony Introduces Bendable Video Display
Sony undecided on commercial uses for the technology
"In the future, it could get wrapped around a lamppost or a wrist, even worn as clothing," said Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa. "Perhaps it can be put up like wallpaper." Tatsuo Mori, an engineering and computer science professor at Nagoya University, said some hurdles remained, including making the display bigger, ensuring durability and cutting costs.
Aniligate007
"In the future, it could get wrapped around a lamppost or a wrist, even worn as clothing," said Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa. "Perhaps it can be put up like wallpaper." Tatsuo Mori, an engineering and computer science professor at Nagoya University, said some hurdles remained, including making the display bigger, ensuring durability and cutting costs.
Aniligate007
Fundamental Flaw of E-Books
Platforms, or ecosystems, they're build on are awful
E-Book readers will never be as successful as the iPod. Not the way that the publishing industry works today. Not the way eBooks are designed and manufactured.
Last 100
E-Book readers will never be as successful as the iPod. Not the way that the publishing industry works today. Not the way eBooks are designed and manufactured.
Last 100
Slow Birth of Flexible Screens
Setback for Readius
Polymer Vision recently said its much heralded Readius e-reader has been delayed again, this time until the second half of 2008. Moreover, the first Readius incarnation, originally crafted with a 5-inch roll-out E Ink display, will have a foldout display, instead. The reason, according to the company, is user discomfort with roll-out reliability, although the displays readily withstand 15,000 withdraw/insertion cycles.
EE Times
Polymer Vision recently said its much heralded Readius e-reader has been delayed again, this time until the second half of 2008. Moreover, the first Readius incarnation, originally crafted with a 5-inch roll-out E Ink display, will have a foldout display, instead. The reason, according to the company, is user discomfort with roll-out reliability, although the displays readily withstand 15,000 withdraw/insertion cycles.
EE Times
Friday, August 8, 2008
Revisiting Electronic Ink
EDN takes a new look at an evolving technology
When EDN looked at electronic ink seven years ago, there were two visible commercial approaches to delivering display information. E Ink’s approach has made the larger visible move from the lab to product within the last three years as a display technology; however, the underlying approach has changed.
EDN
When EDN looked at electronic ink seven years ago, there were two visible commercial approaches to delivering display information. E Ink’s approach has made the larger visible move from the lab to product within the last three years as a display technology; however, the underlying approach has changed.
EDN
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Bookeen's Cybook Gen3 enters U.K. Market
Different navigation tools on Cybook and Sony Reader
There's me thinking the e-reader market in the U.K. was shaping up to be only a three horse race between the Sony PRS-505, the iRex iLiad and the Amazon Kindle when it finally arrives! I've discovered another player joining the fray in the shape of the sleek looking Cybook Gen3, from French company Bookeen.
Paperless Undergrad
There's me thinking the e-reader market in the U.K. was shaping up to be only a three horse race between the Sony PRS-505, the iRex iLiad and the Amazon Kindle when it finally arrives! I've discovered another player joining the fray in the shape of the sleek looking Cybook Gen3, from French company Bookeen.
Paperless Undergrad
Are we headed for all-electronic papers?
Facing up to declining print advertising revenue
Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at The Poynter Institute, says online advertising revenue will need to grow continuously, and grow a lot, in order to break even with print ad revenue, and it has been reported that online ad growth is stalling. Despite this, he says he could be wrong about newspapers being around for a while. Print advertising could continue to decline even more than it has in recent years and news sites could “get a second wind” by improving their design, multimedia content, and news content, ultimately, of course, attracting more readers who no longer want to pay for their watered down print version when more content is available online for free.
Editorsweblog
Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at The Poynter Institute, says online advertising revenue will need to grow continuously, and grow a lot, in order to break even with print ad revenue, and it has been reported that online ad growth is stalling. Despite this, he says he could be wrong about newspapers being around for a while. Print advertising could continue to decline even more than it has in recent years and news sites could “get a second wind” by improving their design, multimedia content, and news content, ultimately, of course, attracting more readers who no longer want to pay for their watered down print version when more content is available online for free.
Editorsweblog
Comparing Kindle and iRex
Is $699 iRex better than $359 Kindle?
Kindle features include the ability to annotate passages of text, underline text and make notes to yourself. You can look up words in the dictionary as you read and save your place for later. You can also buy books on the device and begin reading them right away. You can also read newspapers, access Wikipedia and email documents to read on the device. What’s neat about the iRex iLiad is that you can use a stylus to make handwritten notes on pages of a book. You can also make sketches and write documents with the device. Both use electronic paper displays, making them easy on the eyes. They’re both lightweight and provide you with functionality, though in different forms. However, both products are lacking when it comes to what could have been included here. The Kindle is limited in its functions. You can only access certain sites with it, for instance. And while the iLiad provides great functionality, it doesn’t take advantage of this, leaving many users poking and prodding at it in confusion.
Slashgear
Kindle features include the ability to annotate passages of text, underline text and make notes to yourself. You can look up words in the dictionary as you read and save your place for later. You can also buy books on the device and begin reading them right away. You can also read newspapers, access Wikipedia and email documents to read on the device. What’s neat about the iRex iLiad is that you can use a stylus to make handwritten notes on pages of a book. You can also make sketches and write documents with the device. Both use electronic paper displays, making them easy on the eyes. They’re both lightweight and provide you with functionality, though in different forms. However, both products are lacking when it comes to what could have been included here. The Kindle is limited in its functions. You can only access certain sites with it, for instance. And while the iLiad provides great functionality, it doesn’t take advantage of this, leaving many users poking and prodding at it in confusion.
Slashgear
International E-Reading Conference 2008
IFRA conference Sept. 18-19 2008 in Paris
Why do Orange, Les Echos, the New York Times, Amazon or NRC Handelsblatt have so much confidence in the future of the e-reader? For what reasons have already thousands of readers adopted these tools flexible? Some see the advent of e-reading as a partial response to the questions of distribution and production costs. Others have become aware of the emergence of a new demand on the part of the consumers for offline reading of books and newspapers. The market is promising, as evidenced by the success of Amazon's Kindle. Although the tools are still in their infancy, they are growing up very, very fast. Prices will also drop. But for this new offering to work, publishers must not lose any time in positioning themselves on the market: what offering? what content? what navigation and what design? which services to build on the new functions of these electronic tools? Not to forget the prospects for advertising. The e-reader battle will be won by the combined efforts of all publishers ... The objective of this event is to help newspaper companies to explore the opportunities for business in mobile e-reading and to identify new ways to develop strong and profitable products in this area.
IFRA
Why do Orange, Les Echos, the New York Times, Amazon or NRC Handelsblatt have so much confidence in the future of the e-reader? For what reasons have already thousands of readers adopted these tools flexible? Some see the advent of e-reading as a partial response to the questions of distribution and production costs. Others have become aware of the emergence of a new demand on the part of the consumers for offline reading of books and newspapers. The market is promising, as evidenced by the success of Amazon's Kindle. Although the tools are still in their infancy, they are growing up very, very fast. Prices will also drop. But for this new offering to work, publishers must not lose any time in positioning themselves on the market: what offering? what content? what navigation and what design? which services to build on the new functions of these electronic tools? Not to forget the prospects for advertising. The e-reader battle will be won by the combined efforts of all publishers ... The objective of this event is to help newspaper companies to explore the opportunities for business in mobile e-reading and to identify new ways to develop strong and profitable products in this area.
IFRA
Head of Readius Talks About Project
E-book plans launched in 2006 in an agreement with Philips
Polymer Vision CEO Karl McGoldrick chats about the upcoming rollout of the Readius, the early days of rollable displays, their potential effects on traditional e-book readers and mobile phones, and the direction his company is taking things in what could be the coming era of e-paper.
MobileRead
Polymer Vision CEO Karl McGoldrick chats about the upcoming rollout of the Readius, the early days of rollable displays, their potential effects on traditional e-book readers and mobile phones, and the direction his company is taking things in what could be the coming era of e-paper.
MobileRead
Deutsche Telecom Considers Digital Newspapers
Pilot in fall to give e-readers to thousands of customers
The News4Me project aims to create an individual electronic newspaper. Subscriptions are possible to complete issues or to individual sections from differing newspapers, which will then be transmitted to mobile devices. The contents and the layout adapt constantly to the way that you read. The e-reader is still subject to speculation. However researchers have spoken about a screen almost as large a newspaper page, flexible and not an LCD screen with backlit facilities. The researchers referred to the product of the Dutch company Polymer Vision, the Readius, with a rollable screen. They would also like to equip the e-reader with broadcast facilities, by which I think they mean video and audio. Deutsche Telecom is picking up experience from its US sister network Verizon which is working together with Amazon’s e-reader Kindle,
Biziaulane
Deutsche Telecom's blurb on its website
Blogkindle
Read the News4Me pdf presentation here
MobileRead
The News4Me project aims to create an individual electronic newspaper. Subscriptions are possible to complete issues or to individual sections from differing newspapers, which will then be transmitted to mobile devices. The contents and the layout adapt constantly to the way that you read. The e-reader is still subject to speculation. However researchers have spoken about a screen almost as large a newspaper page, flexible and not an LCD screen with backlit facilities. The researchers referred to the product of the Dutch company Polymer Vision, the Readius, with a rollable screen. They would also like to equip the e-reader with broadcast facilities, by which I think they mean video and audio. Deutsche Telecom is picking up experience from its US sister network Verizon which is working together with Amazon’s e-reader Kindle,
Biziaulane
Deutsche Telecom's blurb on its website
Blogkindle
Read the News4Me pdf presentation here
MobileRead
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Digital Book, Unfurled
A flexible 5-inch screen within the Readius.
A hallmark feature of e-books — their rigidity — is changing. New technologies are developing that make displays flexible, foldable or even as rollable as papyrus, so that large screens can be unfurled from small containers.One new mobile device is the Readius, designed mainly for reading books, magazines, newspapers and mail.
The New York Times
A hallmark feature of e-books — their rigidity — is changing. New technologies are developing that make displays flexible, foldable or even as rollable as papyrus, so that large screens can be unfurled from small containers.One new mobile device is the Readius, designed mainly for reading books, magazines, newspapers and mail.
The New York Times
E-Paper Chase Nears The Finish Line
Flood of products from Sony Reader to Hanlin eBook
Demonstrations of the latest in electronic paper technology indicate that it may finally be ready to "roll up" and "plug in" to the electronic office.
Electronic Design
Demonstrations of the latest in electronic paper technology indicate that it may finally be ready to "roll up" and "plug in" to the electronic office.
Electronic Design
Electronic Books on YouTube
See a flexible page and how iRex iLiad works
Among other things, a brief video showing the eink flexible display using electronic ink. When the screen receives no power, it keeps the last image it had displayed for several months. The display works in sunlight since it is reflective, and the new generation of thin-film transistors used to drive the display are thin and flexible enough for the screen to be rolled up around a thin rod.
Errachidia
Among other things, a brief video showing the eink flexible display using electronic ink. When the screen receives no power, it keeps the last image it had displayed for several months. The display works in sunlight since it is reflective, and the new generation of thin-film transistors used to drive the display are thin and flexible enough for the screen to be rolled up around a thin rod.
Errachidia
E-Paper's Killer App: Packaging
Supermarket cereal aisle lighting up like the Las Vegas strip.
Siemens says the technology could transform consumer-goods packaging from the fixed, ink-printed images of today to a digital medium of flashing graphics and text that displays prices, special offers or alluring photos, all blinking on miniature flat screens.
Wired
Siemens says the technology could transform consumer-goods packaging from the fixed, ink-printed images of today to a digital medium of flashing graphics and text that displays prices, special offers or alluring photos, all blinking on miniature flat screens.
Wired
Monday, August 4, 2008
Kindle: I Am Really Enjoying It.
Electronic ink a huge improvement
Dragonsept Arts & Publishing Blog
The only thing I don’t like better about this screen than a PDA screen is that I can’t use it for a flashlight to avoid tripping over the dog.
Dragonsept Arts & Publishing Blog
The only thing I don’t like better about this screen than a PDA screen is that I can’t use it for a flashlight to avoid tripping over the dog.
Fixing Obsolete Newspaper Circulation
Here's one idea how electronic newspaper might work
Publishing 2.0
Newspapers must combine their collective wealth and energies and focus on getting ELECTRONIC paper to end users ASAP! Call up Xerox, call up HP, call up Fuji..but make Electronic paper - broadsheet size a reality. I am not talking something small like an amazon kindle. I am talking a sheet of e-paper that you’d plug into your computer and get instant updates. Reusable for many months and certainly much cheaper than delivering dead trees every day. You’d read off this “paper” and if an article grabbed your attention, you’d be able to bookmark it and it would be emailed and/or saved on your computer. Who would pay for this epaper? Why not have it presented by the very advertisers who are in the paper? And drill it down locally… This edition of the NY Times presented by Long Island Honda. Of course, getting this technology up to where newspapers want it will take a huge amount of investment. BUT, I feel it is necessary. The electronic paper could be left at home, folded onto the subway, unfolded at work…refreshed before going back home…the possibilities are endless. And another thing, get me the Electronic Paper and I’d be willing to pay at least 98 cents a week! Probably more.
From the same comment thread
I’d like to echo Michael’s idea for an electronic paper. New tech innovations are a dime-a-dozen, but our industry needs a radical act of defibrillation if it is to survive. I’m thinking of the wireless phone model: You sell people a device at a major discount along with a years’s subscription, billed monthly. The device would need to be easy to flip open and read anywhere, but maybe bigger than a smart phone to reduce the squint factor. You could upload from your computer or maybe even make it wireless with some sort of agreement with wireless carriers. I’m ready to embrace anything that might pay for professional newsgathering, and am perfectly fine with someone trashing my silly idea. What can say with some level of expertise, however, is that when I moved to my current town two years ago, a week’s worth of my big local paper would completely fill the paper side of my dual recycling bin. No room for junk mail. It was that simple. I work for a newspaper and can’t support the industry because I can’t get rid of all that paper. Not to mention, I can’t see the point in deforestation when we can get all this information electronically. And in a perverse comparison to wood pulp, content generation is even less unsustainable under the old scheme of newsgathering.
Publishing 2.0
Newspapers must combine their collective wealth and energies and focus on getting ELECTRONIC paper to end users ASAP! Call up Xerox, call up HP, call up Fuji..but make Electronic paper - broadsheet size a reality. I am not talking something small like an amazon kindle. I am talking a sheet of e-paper that you’d plug into your computer and get instant updates. Reusable for many months and certainly much cheaper than delivering dead trees every day. You’d read off this “paper” and if an article grabbed your attention, you’d be able to bookmark it and it would be emailed and/or saved on your computer. Who would pay for this epaper? Why not have it presented by the very advertisers who are in the paper? And drill it down locally… This edition of the NY Times presented by Long Island Honda. Of course, getting this technology up to where newspapers want it will take a huge amount of investment. BUT, I feel it is necessary. The electronic paper could be left at home, folded onto the subway, unfolded at work…refreshed before going back home…the possibilities are endless. And another thing, get me the Electronic Paper and I’d be willing to pay at least 98 cents a week! Probably more.
From the same comment thread
I’d like to echo Michael’s idea for an electronic paper. New tech innovations are a dime-a-dozen, but our industry needs a radical act of defibrillation if it is to survive. I’m thinking of the wireless phone model: You sell people a device at a major discount along with a years’s subscription, billed monthly. The device would need to be easy to flip open and read anywhere, but maybe bigger than a smart phone to reduce the squint factor. You could upload from your computer or maybe even make it wireless with some sort of agreement with wireless carriers. I’m ready to embrace anything that might pay for professional newsgathering, and am perfectly fine with someone trashing my silly idea. What can say with some level of expertise, however, is that when I moved to my current town two years ago, a week’s worth of my big local paper would completely fill the paper side of my dual recycling bin. No room for junk mail. It was that simple. I work for a newspaper and can’t support the industry because I can’t get rid of all that paper. Not to mention, I can’t see the point in deforestation when we can get all this information electronically. And in a perverse comparison to wood pulp, content generation is even less unsustainable under the old scheme of newsgathering.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Why Sony is Wrong and Amazon Right
Hey, people read ebooks and people like things simple
A colleague has a Kindle and, while I watched, he fired it up and downloaded the book while standing outside in the sunshine. No computer, no USB cable, no card reader, no Sony software, no Adobe software, no Calibre software, no conversion programs, no WiFi router. He bought a book without a computer - while standing outside in the sunshine. Get it?
TeleRead
A colleague has a Kindle and, while I watched, he fired it up and downloaded the book while standing outside in the sunshine. No computer, no USB cable, no card reader, no Sony software, no Adobe software, no Calibre software, no conversion programs, no WiFi router. He bought a book without a computer - while standing outside in the sunshine. Get it?
TeleRead
Amazon Sells 240,000 Kindles Since November
Forecast:Amazon will sell 750,000 more over next year
If you add in the amount spent on digital books, newspapers, and blogs purchased to read on the device, you get a business that has easily brought in above $100 million so far. Looking ahead to sales over the next year,Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co, estimates that sales of the Kindle devices plus purchases of content for each device could bring in $1 billion of business for Amazon.
TechCrunch
If you add in the amount spent on digital books, newspapers, and blogs purchased to read on the device, you get a business that has easily brought in above $100 million so far. Looking ahead to sales over the next year,Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co, estimates that sales of the Kindle devices plus purchases of content for each device could bring in $1 billion of business for Amazon.
TechCrunch
Microsoft, Hearst Unite in Online News Delivery
Select stories to be available in free experiment.
Microsoft and Hearst unveiled a software service that allows newspaper readers to download stories and read them even when not connected to the Internet. The News Reader, which is now available to readers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, enables readers to automatically transfer a sampling of stories from the newspaper's Web site onto their computers by clicking on a desktop icon.
San Francisco Chronicle
Microsoft and Hearst unveiled a software service that allows newspaper readers to download stories and read them even when not connected to the Internet. The News Reader, which is now available to readers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, enables readers to automatically transfer a sampling of stories from the newspaper's Web site onto their computers by clicking on a desktop icon.
San Francisco Chronicle
Hearst Interactive Backing Kindle-like E-Book
Company is incubating an e-book reader called FirstPaper.
Hearst Interactive, the digital media investment arm of Hearst Corp, has invested in the startup based in Palo Alto and New York City. It has also invested in E-Ink, the electronic display company that supplies its technology to Kindle and Sony Reader.
PaidContent
Hearst Interactive, the digital media investment arm of Hearst Corp, has invested in the startup based in Palo Alto and New York City. It has also invested in E-Ink, the electronic display company that supplies its technology to Kindle and Sony Reader.
PaidContent
The Technology Behind Esquire’s Cover
The Key: Microcapsules Containing Pigments
Temperature became an issue during the assembly process, Esquire's Editor in Chief David Granger said, since extreme temperatures deteriorate a battery's life expectancy. "We had to arrange for everything to remain cool at all times during the assembly process," he said. "That's not something magazines normally have to think about."
Folio
Temperature became an issue during the assembly process, Esquire's Editor in Chief David Granger said, since extreme temperatures deteriorate a battery's life expectancy. "We had to arrange for everything to remain cool at all times during the assembly process," he said. "That's not something magazines normally have to think about."
Folio
Seattle PI to Test Electronic Paper
Flat, flexible screen is about size of a small tabloid.
Crosscut Seattle
The electronic newspaper will carry real-time news, same as the Internet, not yesterday's news like traditional papers. Readers will turn the e-paper's pages by touching the flexible screen. And when they head off to work, readers will roll up the electronic page and stuff it in their pocket, purse, or briefcase.
Seattle Paper Denies E-Paper Plan
The Hearst Corp., which owns the Seattle Post Intelligencer, has no plans to use the Seattle daily newspaper to test a newly announced e-paper gadget, Kenneth Bronfin, president of Hearst Interactive Media, said in response to a media report.
Seattlepi.com
Crosscut Seattle
The electronic newspaper will carry real-time news, same as the Internet, not yesterday's news like traditional papers. Readers will turn the e-paper's pages by touching the flexible screen. And when they head off to work, readers will roll up the electronic page and stuff it in their pocket, purse, or briefcase.
Seattle Paper Denies E-Paper Plan
The Hearst Corp., which owns the Seattle Post Intelligencer, has no plans to use the Seattle daily newspaper to test a newly announced e-paper gadget, Kenneth Bronfin, president of Hearst Interactive Media, said in response to a media report.
Seattlepi.com
Thursday, July 31, 2008
PVI expects 10x growth in EPD market over next three years
Electrophoretic Displays' Growth
DigiTimes
Despite a lackluster small- to medium-size TFT LCD panel market, demand for electrophoretic displays (EPDs) remains strong, and the EPD market is expected to grow 10 times over the next three years, according to Prime View International (PVI).DigiTimes
DigiTimes
Despite a lackluster small- to medium-size TFT LCD panel market, demand for electrophoretic displays (EPDs) remains strong, and the EPD market is expected to grow 10 times over the next three years, according to Prime View International (PVI).DigiTimes
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Case Against Ebooks
'It made me feel alienated from the books that I know well'
The Guardian
My iLiad may have gobbled up the oeuvres of Jane Austen, Dickens and DH Lawrence, but somewhere inside that slim slab of grey plastic they had apparently dematerialised, waiting to be summoned from the ether, page by page. All those thick books, heavy with experience, were now weightless, like ghostly replicas of the tattered, dog-eared, much-pored-over counterparts on my shelves.
The Guardian
My iLiad may have gobbled up the oeuvres of Jane Austen, Dickens and DH Lawrence, but somewhere inside that slim slab of grey plastic they had apparently dematerialised, waiting to be summoned from the ether, page by page. All those thick books, heavy with experience, were now weightless, like ghostly replicas of the tattered, dog-eared, much-pored-over counterparts on my shelves.
Kindle First Impressions
So is the Kindle worth $400 to you, or anyone on your gift list?
Consumer Reports
An obvious pre-qualifier is a willingness to try new technology that's almost bound to drop in cost, improve in performance, or both in subsequent iterations. Then there's mobility; a book reader probably makes sense only if you often read on the move. Beyond that, here's my initial take on prime candidates for the Kindle
Consumer Reports
An obvious pre-qualifier is a willingness to try new technology that's almost bound to drop in cost, improve in performance, or both in subsequent iterations. Then there's mobility; a book reader probably makes sense only if you often read on the move. Beyond that, here's my initial take on prime candidates for the Kindle
Digital magazines a click away
Zinio and similar ventures could be a lifeline as young readers migrate to Internet and electronic devices for news.
USA Today
Zinio is at the vanguard of digital publishing. It has created electronic versions of over 750 magazines, including BusinessWeek, Elle, Redbook, Playboy and Car and Driver. Consumers access them from their PC, iPhone or iPod Touch anytime — before magazines hit newsstands. Zinio gets a cut of sales as online distributor, Maggiotto says. Consumers pay publishers for online editions — be it for a subscription, single issue or back issue. The digital editions let readers click on links embedded in articles and ads to peruse video, audio and related stories. That, no doubt, is pleasing the growing ranks of digital magazine subscribers.
USA Today
Zinio is at the vanguard of digital publishing. It has created electronic versions of over 750 magazines, including BusinessWeek, Elle, Redbook, Playboy and Car and Driver. Consumers access them from their PC, iPhone or iPod Touch anytime — before magazines hit newsstands. Zinio gets a cut of sales as online distributor, Maggiotto says. Consumers pay publishers for online editions — be it for a subscription, single issue or back issue. The digital editions let readers click on links embedded in articles and ads to peruse video, audio and related stories. That, no doubt, is pleasing the growing ranks of digital magazine subscribers.
E-Paper To The Rescue
Some small hope for the newspaper and magazine industry
paidContent
E-papers, electronic versions of the print property, will be big, netting mags $25 billion in revenue, according to David Renard, senior analyst at researcher MediaIdeas. However, that won’t happen until about 2020, he says.
paidContent
E-papers, electronic versions of the print property, will be big, netting mags $25 billion in revenue, according to David Renard, senior analyst at researcher MediaIdeas. However, that won’t happen until about 2020, he says.
E-Books, Imperfect but Fascinating
The Kindle, the Reader, and e-ink: The buzz continues.
Consumer Reports
Several lectures I've attended in the past week or so argue that flaws are inevitable when products break significant new ground—as these devices clearly do, being more legible and more portable than past e-books. Last week, while attending Stanford University's Stanford Professional Publishing Course, I heard professor Paul Saffo urge magazine editors to embrace the Kindle and its ilk, in spite of their flaws. Another instructor, renowned product designer Bill Moggridge, told me the Kindle has streamlined his research process by allowing him to electronically highlight passages in books and download those excerpts to his computer, saving him hours of transcription time.
Consumer Reports
Several lectures I've attended in the past week or so argue that flaws are inevitable when products break significant new ground—as these devices clearly do, being more legible and more portable than past e-books. Last week, while attending Stanford University's Stanford Professional Publishing Course, I heard professor Paul Saffo urge magazine editors to embrace the Kindle and its ilk, in spite of their flaws. Another instructor, renowned product designer Bill Moggridge, told me the Kindle has streamlined his research process by allowing him to electronically highlight passages in books and download those excerpts to his computer, saving him hours of transcription time.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
James Fallows on the Kindle Experience
Part I, The Atlantic
Unexpected and potentially important practical aspect: I'm always getting very long book or article manuscripts to read, usually in .DOC or .PDF files. I don't want to use the paper to print them out, so generally I have to be at a computer to deal with. But I can email them as attachments to a Kindle.com address; then for 10 cents a document, they're resent to my own Kindle in a form I can read and annotate when not at a computer. Have already used this system to queue up a couple of book-length manuscripts I'm supposed to read while on the road in the next week or so.
Part II, The Atlantic
Spent six or seven hours of the flight reading on the Kindle. Perfectly pleasant and legible. Only one inconvenience relative to " real" books -- harder to flip ahead or back several pages at a time. (You scroll page by page, or else go to the table of contents.)
Unexpected and potentially important practical aspect: I'm always getting very long book or article manuscripts to read, usually in .DOC or .PDF files. I don't want to use the paper to print them out, so generally I have to be at a computer to deal with. But I can email them as attachments to a Kindle.com address; then for 10 cents a document, they're resent to my own Kindle in a form I can read and annotate when not at a computer. Have already used this system to queue up a couple of book-length manuscripts I'm supposed to read while on the road in the next week or so.
Part II, The Atlantic
Spent six or seven hours of the flight reading on the Kindle. Perfectly pleasant and legible. Only one inconvenience relative to " real" books -- harder to flip ahead or back several pages at a time. (You scroll page by page, or else go to the table of contents.)
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Esquire's Electronic Ink Cover
Did anyone stop to consider the environmental implications?
Fast Company
The total outlay in greenhouse gas emissions for this little experiment based on loose estimates comes to 150 tons of CO2 equivalent, similar to the output of 15 Hummers or 20 average Americans for an entire year, and a 16% increase over the carbon footprint of a typical print publication.
Is this anything more than a stunt?
The Guardian
With the circulation of magazines and newspapers declining and the seeming unstoppable rise of digital media, some industry observers believe print is doomed. Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, has famously said that the most recent purchase of printing presses might well be the paper's last.
I love stupid gimmicks.
Gizmodo
So, Esquire, I'm glad you're reaching for boldness, but to make history, you're going to have to have a clearer understanding of the future of publishing and what your under-30 readers really want from you digitally.
Fast Company
The total outlay in greenhouse gas emissions for this little experiment based on loose estimates comes to 150 tons of CO2 equivalent, similar to the output of 15 Hummers or 20 average Americans for an entire year, and a 16% increase over the carbon footprint of a typical print publication.
Is this anything more than a stunt?
The Guardian
With the circulation of magazines and newspapers declining and the seeming unstoppable rise of digital media, some industry observers believe print is doomed. Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, has famously said that the most recent purchase of printing presses might well be the paper's last.
I love stupid gimmicks.
Gizmodo
So, Esquire, I'm glad you're reaching for boldness, but to make history, you're going to have to have a clearer understanding of the future of publishing and what your under-30 readers really want from you digitally.
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