Slashdot Mirror
Sony To Launch E Ink-based eBook In April
Holly Gates writes "Sony will launch an ebook based on E Ink technology in Japan in late April. The screen is about as big as half a paperback book and has a spatial resolution of ~170ppi. The device includes various edictionaries and audio playback functionality. I am a hardware engineer for E Ink by the way, but I figured slashdotters might be interested." An anonymous reader notes that it is supposed to "display over 10,000 pages on a single set of batteries."
That's a marketing department gone bad.
"display over 10,000 pages on a single set of batteries."
;)
:(
I wonder how fast you have to read then
OK, I don't know what the hell E-Ink is
"display over 10,000 pages on a single set of batteries."
Great! Now I don't have to recharge my batteries in the middle of War and Peace!
Setec Astronomy
Good viewing in direct sunlight (or so they claim) might make this the first ebook platform worthwhile. The only problem is, if it costs more than $200 it will probably be a tough sell. I can get a lot of books (especially used) for that, and not have to change to batteries. But for those who like to take their entire collection of books with them (sort of a book iPOD) this might a neat device. The biggest question in my mind, is just how much support are publishers going to give this thing? Judging from ebook platforms of the recent past, probably not much.
"The Electronic Paper Display is reflective and can be easily read in bright sunlight or dimly lit environments while being able to be seen at virtually any angle - just like paper."
by far, thats my biggest complaint with handhelds (palms, etc). The screens are so hard to read in the daylight. Infact, the black and white palms seem easier to read in the day light than the color screens.
Also, phillips rollable display Amazing!
Can it display PDF's? Lack of PDF support is the only thing that stopped me from buying one of the current Ebook readers.
The whole point is that this is closer to a printer that rearranges its "toner" on the page.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I am a hardware engineer for E Ink by the way
And the sysadmin just blocked all P2P ports, so I'll get him back this way.
"See how you like a good ole slashdotting, bastard!!"
I've been waiting for a device that I could use just to read information off of. My big complaint is that it will most likely be sold for $200-$400 instead of $50-$150. For $200-$400, I'd rather get a PDA. But if they could get these things under $150, then they'd sell like crazy. Actually, this tech could help PDA's increase battery life.
The article is more about the display hardware - which could be neat. Its success depends on the operating system, and how books are sold and stored.
All the DRM-enabled e-book devices (Rocket) and formats (Palm reader) introduced so far have failed. No one wants to buy an e-book that is tied to a specific bit of hardware, or one who's access disappears if you lose your Passport account (MS Reader). Some devices won't even *permit* unencrypted data.
I hope that the designers realise that. Actually, the designers probably do, but the marketing guys or the managers will insist on it.
"...this novel e-Book reader offers users an enjoyable experience and the freedom to access material at their convenience."
My convienence does not include intrusive DRM, thank you.
Not that I will get my hopes up...
Either the publishers won't give it much support, or it'll be so burdened by DRI software that consumers simply won't care about it. If they have to pay each time they read a book...
...don't you spend a good portion of your day looking at your 72DPI monitor? This would be about 2 1/2 times sharper than the text you are reading now. I think your eyes will do just fine.
^nA! Creatures in my Head
Let's do the maths.
:)
:)
Assuming what you call "trillions" means 1 trillion.
That's 1 000 000 000 000 pages.
One microsecond/page means 1 000 000 000 000 / 1 000 000 total seconds for the whole thing.
That's 1 000 000 seconds or 277.8 hours or 11 days and a half.
If your 486 laptop can stay on batteries for 11 days and half then I would like to know what kind of battery you use
Ok, that was a nerdie post, you can mod me down now
Iraq: war to save the U
I will not ever use this technology.
It's a BAD idea. My books are my books and the information that's printed in them will always be there no matter what, as long as I take proper care of them.
No matter what happens in the world, say some political wind blows and they decide that certain things are politicaly incorrect, with a few clicks of a mouse e-books planet wide will be "revised" to reflect the new "acceptable and correct" line of thought.
History will be rewritten to suit those that have the power and need to rewrite history.
I have many sets of encylopedias from the 20's through the 80's and I can see with my own eyes how history is being rewritten. LOTS of "facts" are revised on a regular basis. If you think it's not, you're living in a dream world...
None of the press releases are saying it, but:
All three of the Impress Watch articles say it will cost around 40,000 yen - approximately $400 USD. And this is just for the reader, subscribing to the e-book service costs $5-10/month. They do, however, have the option of just purchasing single books for 350 yen, about $3.25.
PC Watch article
K-Tai Watch article
Internet Watch article
There are also MANY more pictures of the device available at the above URLs. There's even some showing a manga on the screen of the thing, for those of you interested in that sort of thing.
I do have a few pictures posted in my article as well, but it's really nothing you couldn't have found yourself.
My Franklin "ebookman" has two great features that make it better than regular books:
- I can hold it in one hand
- I can read it in a dark room
which means that when the little one refused to sleep at two in the morning, I can carry her around my (dark) house and read a book. Can't do THAT with any kind of regular book -- they don't have lights, and they can't be read in one hand.
OTOH
Want a sig like mine? Join ACM's SigSig today!
I think the iPod is the right analogy. I think the combination of usability and capacity makes it a breakthrough- too many people are averse to reading from luminous, pixelated displays. But carrying around a *readable* library in your pocket is invaluable- think of grabbing your corner table at the local coffee joint, hacking away on your laptop and having a separate, readable screen that can show you any O'Reilly book ever. It would be especially great for students- not to mention the possibilities of making course texts available at a reduced price, how many times have you had to load a pile of cumbersome books into your knapsack for a study session across campus at the library?
I have a lot of interesting books sitting on my shelf at home- it'd be great to have the ability to pile even just 2 or 3 of them into my pocket and take them anywhere.
Still takes a lot of Oil, Water, and Electricity to recycle that paper.
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
That is, the enormous weight of all their books is too much for their tiny frames. With more and more other crap being shoved in there, kids can barely take it. There was once a time that kids could leave their textbooks either at home or school. The kid could take one book home for the homework that night.
Now, every class assigns twenty minutes of homework every day, even for elementary school kids, and most of the teaching is done directly out of textbooks. That means having all the books in both places. Insanity.
This sort of thing could change all that. Instead of four thick textbooks, the kid would have a single nice little device... textbook manufacturers won't want to make their books available electronically, but at least the assignments can be sent home this way. All those photocopied sheets and such.
Many copyright barriers, but luckily, one of the few things that can break through even the most entrenched laws is a serious threat to the health of children.
Burn them to CD-ROM if you want.
And if you think paper doesn't get revised, go to a bookstore and buy a new edition of a book you read long ago. You'd be surprised how often things get revised. It's not just that the cover art gets revised to show the actors from the current movie version instead of the original cover art, or the blurbs on the back get revised for more current advertising value, or the books get subtitled (e.g. "Farenheit 451 - The Temperature at which Books Burn".) They don't get revised as fast as Whitehouse.gov speech transcripts, but they do get revised.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
The biggest question in my mind, is just how much support are publishers going to give this thing? Judging from ebook platforms of the recent past, probably not much.
.txt books floating around the p2p scene. Even if it is difficult to "rip" a book, the collective ation of the internet says that only one person has to do the work for the efforts to be availible to all. If the book-reader is so much better than the dead-tree paradigm, then the readers will make it standard. It's just like mp3's -- add value over a CD (no more heavy cd case, hours of music w/o moving a muscle) and the technology took off. With the ebook, the right device could lead to mass downloading of searchable, lightweight books. No more having to lug two novels through the airport because you're almost done with one. The publishers can either jump on board or run around screaming and suing (the RIAA strategem).
There are lots of
I think the textbook manufacturers have the most to fear. College kids are very sensitive to their book bills. Saving $100 on a book for a non-major class seems too good to pass up. Combine this with easy internet access and a nice device to let you take your electronic book to class, the cafe, or to a sudy group, and you have just undercut prentice hall, wiley, and thre rest of the big players.
Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
Imagine the cost savings in buying textbooks if there is no more physical costs involved. If there is something like a 60% discount for e-books, you could pay for the thing in one semester. Of course that would require the books be available on whatever format that is required, but this has killer app written all over it.
:(
I am perhaps a Troll or someone of little faith, but i think they will sell them the same price as the dead tree ones and take the magin profit for them. As an excuse, you know, everybody will copy them like MP3 !!! bouhou
hear my tale of woe.
I bought a Nuvomedia Rocket eBook in the year 2000. This is essentially the same device (and is content-compatible with) the Gemstar REB1100. I have bought approximately $400 worth of content for it.
All of its technical and usability characteristics are quite good. I can read for pleasure on it for extended periods of time and get lost in an immersive reading experience.
Gemstar has folded their eBook operation and pulled the plug on their servers. The DRM-protected content is keyed to a hardware serial number. When the device finally fails (and its battery life is now down to about half what it was originally), I believe that to all intents and purposes I will lose all access to that paid content.
Meanwhile, I have 25-year-old paperbacks that continue to be perfectly accessible.
What is needed to make eBooks popular is not any technology breakthroughs, but something that will hit greedy publishers over the head with a clue-by-four. When strangers see me reading on this thing it is often a conversation-starter. The conversation usually ends when they ask me what eBooks cost. I say "About the same as a hardbound for books that are only out in hardbound, and about the same as a paperback for books that in paper," they stare at me in disbelieve and the conservation ends right there.
And that doesn't even speak to the issue that I can't lend these books to my wife or my son, and couldn't even if they owned compatible eBook readers.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Take catalogs for example. Sure, you could look up what you want online. I do that almost all the time, and I'd be one of the first to buy a Web-connected e-ink catalog. But when you just want to browse, I can't stand having to click-tap-scroll-push-wheel through the pages. I need to be able to put my thumb on the side of a book, flip through and feel the breeze in my face while watching the pages go by...
Seriously though, until they can think of a better input device to navigate an eBook, they'll never replace paper. I'll get an eBook. You'll get an eBook. We'll all accept whatever's out there, eventually (we'll probably even begin to like DRM!). But IMHO, paper is here to stay.
-- If you can read this, you are too close to my signature.
...the enormous weight of all their books is too much...
Great. Obese American kids won't have to carry so much. Maybe we can set a world record for the fattest kid(but we probably already have it).
Hey, we also won't have to burden our "yank-tank" SUVs so much with all the weight of the extra books.
God bless you, Sony!
The parent poster, Chuck Bucket, is a plagiarism troll. This post was taken from this site. Mods, please check the post text on Google before you mod it.
Sapere aude!
The energy efficiency of a light bulb is pretty poor but they could build in (or have a clip-on) white LED book light
My daughter has one - one of her Christmas presents last year. $15 at Costco. Runs for months on a couple of AAA batteries, and she uses it for several hours every night. Nice bright white light from a couple of tiny LEDs.
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
hours of music w/o moving a muscle
Wow. Most people can't go more than a couple of seconds of no muscle movement without being dead. What is your secret? You must teach me!
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig