Mirasol-based reader coming from Qualcomm in 2010:
slashgear.com/qualcomm-miras … 0-1863752/
The shot:
Pixel Qi’s technology ought to show up in some netbooks in 2010 as well.
this first part is about the qualcomm
i read about this on Gizmodo a few minutes ago.
the ereader they’re showing isn’t a working prototype…its basically them saying DUDE WE CAN DO IT…they don’t have any third party companies lined up yet…the battery life thing really made it sound like one those price structured things…like ipod and kindles and i can really wonder how high this one is going to go…if i fix my credit card i’m seriously not waiting on this whole OH WHATS NEXT TREND i just want something that can show a textbook in a readable manner…
i’ve read many of the articles about ereaders and i really think that profiteering by the companies that make em is whats keeping them from ever becoming mainstream…in a situation such as amazon who makes most of the kindle money by selling books and converting books…i don’t see the justification of the price…nor with the sony nor with the nook…and the nook is even worse
right now if you preorder a nook eventhough its supposed to be out on nov 30th you can’t get it from online preorder until dec 18th…that means that they’ve already gone over their quotas…which means that the nook may become just like the Wii when it originally came out where people had to wait for entire months just to get their hands on one…(or was that the xbox 360 hmmm)…
i now agree with others on this one seriously the price just doesn’t make says…for less you can buy a acer 10in netbook which has 10 times the capabilities…i’m wondering why noone has put in touchscreen and the tablet swirly thing into a netbook…i’d really love to have a convertible netbook to use instead of paying a #$%&load for a sony reader…
right now it really depends on your personal liking…
oh i just now read the stuff on the BENq thing wow…
it sounds great i’ll read it tomorrow after school and comb through it…
it looks ok like a kindle and a nook put together…
i wonder what they’ll have if they don’t have a keyboard?
will they go touchscreen too?
from rumors i’ve read…1 the kindle 3 might be on its way
2 apple might get into the game soon
3 tomorrow google makes some big talks so who knows what they’re planning
4 other big names want in on this business…
wait til the EEEreader gets out yow…that’ll kill em.
Ebooks will never entirely replace paper books just as ATM’s have not entirely replaced bank tellers. They are, however, the wave of the future.
In an era of global warming and being “green”, the selling point of e-book readers is that they reduce the killing of trees and the waste of paper. For the student, they can carry an entire semester’s worth of text books on one small device and likely at a lower cost. For the traveler, it saves space in the carry-on bag. For the expat, it provides a source for reading material in their native language not otherwise available where they live. For the couch potato or computer geek who simply can’t be bothered to go to the store for something they can buy from the convenience of their home, buying ebooks is easier. For publishers, it provides a lower-risk, lower cost way of distributing books. For authors, it offers an easier entry into the market.
I’m totally sold on ebooks but not on a particular reader. The Kindle is just plain ugly and I don’t like the idea of being tied to one content source. The market for readers is changing too fast to have confidence in my choice when a better reader is likely to be introduced soon. But, I love the ease and convenience of ebooks.
At the moment, I read them on my iPhone. At first, I thought I might find the small screen size uncomfortable, but it hasn’t been. Worst case is that I might have to flip pages more frequently, but who cares? Font size is adjustable, but I’ve found the default size just fine. I also added 3 readers (Stanza, Kindle and B&N) at no cost. This way I have the widest variety of sources for content at the best possible price. I totally dig that since I have my phone with me at all times, I can always read a little whenever I have a few minutes downtime without having to carry a book just-in-case. While the display might not be as good as e-ink, it has not been noticeably uncomfortable on my eyes, nor has battery life been an issue even on 25-hour trips from Michigan to Taiwan (Airplane mode).
Cost of readers will come down as the market matures, or as e-book reading is incorporated into other devices like phones, MP3 players, PDA’s, tablets and notebooks. Cost of content will also have to become more rational, but competition will accomplish this as more distributors enter the market.
People who read infrequently or are content with whatever books they find in the bargain bin at Costco or Walmart are not likely to be interested in e-readers, but there is a definite growing market for them. For people whose objection is that they like the smell of paper, don’t be surprised if a manufacture comes up with one that can do that too. Surely there are kinks to work out, but e-book reading will grow exponentially.
It’ll just take a company like ASUS to do for ereaders what they did for netbooks - release one at the right price point, which I think is $99 USD. If they do a decent job with it and it sells well, then other companies will have no choice but to do so as well.
I could also see someone coming out with some kind of netflix like subscription based service. That might then subsidize the price of the reader too. The possibilities are endless…
Masterdoko,
You should realize that as a student buying an E-reader for class is not a fine investment. For my Degrees(math and computer science) I spent TOTAL over 4 years education 210$ US. International Versions for Major textbooks, Libraries for GenEds. Even if you Torrent all your books you still have to make up the cost of the e-reader.
We all do know the power of torrenting. However it is Piracy, illegal, and has no purpose in a discussion of the current business model. If every person torrented then we would have no media because no money would be being made.
Over the weekend I did try out the iPhone offering of the service and found it quite agreeable. Bought a few 70c philosophy books and put my battery and eyes through the paces. At first I had issues with eye strain but once I turned the text to white and screen to dark it was fine. With 9h of reading my battery was drained 6%. If I turned airplane mode on and solely used it as an e-reader then I could probably make it a long haul flight. If you have a data plan you just buy the books like normal and the app syncs them for you. We discussed this at work and the first question: “what is the point of a kindle then?”.
I think at this point I think:
E-books: Good idea
Kindle Service: Flawed but good idea. Lower prices or add subscription and we are good.
Kindle Device: Nothing but a stepping stone. Pointless to invest in.
As with most of you here, I own a stack of books that i would happily have pulped if i could have a free electronic version of the same book. But the publishers already have my money so they’re unlikely to offer that service and it is, I believe, illegal to copy (since technically i only own the right to read the book, not do anything with it). If somehow the publishers could offer a book exchange service, then the take up of e-book readers would be quicker.
Is there a market for this service for the general public of in print and in copyright books http://www.bookscanbureau.co.uk/
if you guys are following the ebook reader news…you should also follow the google books court battles…
google wants to put most outofprint books on its googlebooks thingy for either free or extremely cheap
but the ripoffs that book companies are…means they’re fighting it to the death.
weird pictures of the qualcomm engadget.com/2009/11/19/qual … etos-fing/
I guess its a case of IP abandonment, similar to cases dealing with piracy of video games that are out of print/no longer have official servers. With the dawn of digital download services we have seen companies aggressively guard their older games so they can monetize them to a new generation. It all depends on who owns the IP. Because even if google gives them away for free, they will still make money through their adsense and data collection off of the books.
[quote=“jashsu”]Mirasol-based reader coming from Qualcomm in 2010:
slashgear.com/qualcomm-miras … 0-1863752/
The shot:
Pixel Qi’s technology ought to show up in some netbooks in 2010 as well.[/quote]
Damn! That thing is HUGE! Even though the Economist is only A4 size. Who the hell wants to carry something that size around with them? :loco:
One thing nobody seems to have picked up, is that unlike music, there is a huge amount of “out of copyright” and other free content available out there.
Complete works of Shakespeare - free
Complete works of Mark Twain - free
Dostoyevsky - free
Dickens - free
Proust - free
Tolstoy - free
And there’s more.
Dictionaries in any language - free
Encyclopedia - free
Newspapers - free
Magazines - free
It’s not just trees that are going to be saved.
If I was working in the traditional publishing business, these devices would scare the living daylights out of me.
How do you know? You held it?
These things aren’t that big, well, at least the one from BenQ wasn’t, although it doesn’t have a keyboard, hence the smaller size I guess. Not quite sure why you need a keyboard, but I guess it helps when you go on the interweb to download new books/magazines/comics etc.
A device with a 6-inch screen seem like a fairly portable size to me and the BenQ is only 220g which isn’t too bad. Give it a year or two and they’ll be thinner and lighter, although as they’re battery powered…
There are talks about devices with flexible screens that roll up, so you’d be reading them much like a papyrus scroll 
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what’s next, but a lot of companies are betting millions and millions of dollars on this stuff.
How do you know? You held it?
These things aren’t that big, well, at least the one from BenQ wasn’t, although it doesn’t have a keyboard, hence the smaller size I guess. Not quite sure why you need a keyboard, but I guess it helps when you go on the interweb to download new books/magazines/comics etc.
A device with a 6-inch screen[/quote]
I was going by the relative size compared to the cover of the Economist. So from what you say, its going to be a question of squinting up your eyes and peering at a tiny screen only a little bigger than a telephone screen.
How the HELL is that going to compete with a proper book or magazine? It sounds absolutely hellish! For me, for example, I’d have to blow it up so big there would be two words on the screen at a time! What a load of overhyped shite! 
Hahahaha…
Well, the screen size is about twice that of most large screen smartphones, so it’s not a matter of squinting. As the screens don’t rely on LCD technology, but rather e-ink or whatever the various manufacturers call it, it’s actually close to reading a book or a paper magazine in terms of contrast and readability. The screens aren’t as sensitive to bright light and reflections as a phone or notebook screen either for that matter. And the advantage as you mentioned, is the fact that you can zoom in and out, something you can’t do with a book or magazine that has small print…
[quote=“sandman”]
I was going by the relative size compared to the cover of the Economist. So from what you say, its going to be a question of squinting up your eyes and peering at a tiny screen only a little bigger than a telephone screen.
How the HELL is that going to compete with a proper book or magazine? It sounds absolutely hellish! For me, for example, I’d have to blow it up so big there would be two words on the screen at a time! What a load of overhyped shite! 
[/quote]
I think you would have to play with one in front of you before you can make such determinations. For example, you wouldn’t think that you would be able to surf the net on an iPhone due to its small screen size, yet you can do so quite comfortably because of the smart zooming capabilities.
The electronic versions of magazines, newspapers and books are reformatted to fit eBook reader screens quite nicely. In addition, you can change font sizes, search for content and even have it read out text to you aloud - all features that aren’t available with standard, physical media.
As other posters have mentioned, physical editions will never die out completely, but eMedia will become a big part of the industry in the same way that MP3 downloads are now a huge part of the music industry, even though you can still buy CDs of all your favorite artists.
Technology have indeed gone a long way since old people started writing on fig tree bark and sheep skins and the Chinese inventing the paper.
IMHO there is some sort of Darwinian natural selection or survival of the fittest in terms of survival or acceptance and propagation of technology, and in this case the media for the written communication. I read while I listen to music in my iPod in the bed while I read a paperback book while I upload to the crapper, some of the books I read on paper are just printed ebook in book/tablet form thanks to the office printer server.
I also believe that printed books will forever stay with mankind much the same as they still keep parchment paper archives at the Smithsonian.
Tons of this hardware lying around at work (edu publisher). Without telling work secrets and poss getting fired, a lot of products out there are already electronic-only and are bought by ministries of education (not in Asia, of course), at their insistence, not ours. The consumers lead the market, to a certain extent. Of course beyond the huge short-term investment in technology which smaller publishers and retailers are losing out on, most in the industry are into the idea.
Dictionaries started it in my corner of the industry. What do you think makes more money - a huge hard-backed paper dictionary, or a license for a dictionary to work in one of those little electronic dictionaries? Consumers also prefer them - especially in Asia. Paper text-books are costly to produce and ship, internationally, and are subject to piracy. A paper dictionary will sell for a much smaller unit cost in Asia than in Europe, yet an electronic license will sell for far far more.
[quote]I think you would have to play with one in front of you before you can make such determinations. For example, you wouldn’t think that you would be able to surf the net on an iPhone due to its small screen size, yet you can do so quite comfortably because of the smart zooming capabilities.
[/quote]
See? That’s where we differ. I’ve used those things and I know from experience how rotten they are, which is why I won’t have one. They’re nasty little things that you can’t see properly unless you zoom in, in which case you spend more time fiddling with your damn thumbs than you do reading. I hate them with a passion.
Yeah, yeah, I know that’s where things are heading, but as long as print books continue to be available while I’m alive then it won’t bother me.
[quote=“sandman”][quote]I think you would have to play with one in front of you before you can make such determinations. For example, you wouldn’t think that you would be able to surf the net on an iPhone due to its small screen size, yet you can do so quite comfortably because of the smart zooming capabilities.
[/quote]
See? That’s where we differ. I’ve used those things and I know from experience how rotten they are, which is why I won’t have one. They’re nasty little things that you can’t see properly unless you zoom in, in which case you spend more time fiddling with your damn thumbs than you do reading. I hate them with a passion.
Yeah, yeah, I know that’s where things are heading, but as long as print books continue to be available while I’m alive then it won’t bother me.[/quote]
Give it a couple more years when you need to buy all large print books and find the selection limited. 
Actually the screen on the bigger kindle is far larger than a paperback, so if regular font size is fine there is no need to zoom in.
But there will be both. Apart from for schoolkids, more 'n likely. But that’ll take ages. Some kids in the world don’t even have their own computer!
I bet you still buy your music on vinyl LP’s 