Textbooks and E-readers

Notes from the TH(ink) E-Readers 2010 Summit.

According to Nick Hampshire from MediaIDEAS:

What makes an E-Reader successful, Display/resolution/storage/battery life/connectivity.

Future developments will be

• full color (by 2016)
• large flexible e-readers (by 2020)
• web browser interface
• multi-touch input
• lower prices ($50 by 2020)
• most content will migrate from paper to e-reader
• they will be bendable, rollable and/or flexible making them more robust than rigid e-readers
• bluetooth enabled for document sharing in classrooms
• wifi for server downloads
• textbook market will disappear into the digital market

Remember, this is just one persons predictions.

And then David Renard, also from mediaIDEAS said “textbooks will keep the book industry alive because not everyone will be able to afford e-readers” (I guess he hasn’t had to buy textbooks in a while).

More predictions – “digital will overtake print by 2016-17″ and “e-readers will become ubiquitous once the price falls below $100″

The iPad will run parallel to e-readers until they eventually converge. There are many companies creating new e-readers, eventually there will be a shake out and the strongest players will remain (remember Beta and VHS).

We do need to remember that the market is still in its infancy, there are many platforms icluding XML, PDF, EPub and Flash, Android, Adobe, Amazon and the iPad platform. Some are proprietary. How do publishers decide which platform to create for?

“By 2020 all formats will be XML” – I don’t remember who said this but I did hear “hmm, really??” emanate from several audience members.

In any event it’s up to the publishers to work this out.

Newspapers and magazines also require different reading experiences, larger screens, more color for magazines.

The iPad is a trend for the future but was not designed as an e-reader “that was an afterthought”. The display is not e-paper, it’s backlit so text washes out in light. Of course the next generation of tablets will change this.

Three execs from e-reader companies shared the podium for the final session:

Entourage eDGe http://www.entourageedge.com/

Skiff http://www.skiff.com/

IREX http://www.irextechnologies.com/

I had seen the Entourage eDGe at CES this year and was favorably impressed (although I’m hoping the next gen will be much thinner and lighter). It has dual screen capability (one side is an e-reader, the other is a netbook) which makes it perfect for interactive textbooks.

As for digital textbooks, how long will you actually “own” the textbook after you’ve paid for it? And a point raised by Mike Robinson from Oxford University Press when I met with him between sessions – if one student has the print edition of a text and another uses the digital edition how can pagination be consistent? (I think they’ll figure this one out eventually, I’m not too worried).

My own prediction -  textbooks will eventually transition to digital making a device that combines the capabilites of an e-reader and a graphical interface the norm. No more lugging heavy textbooks. But not until the price of both these devices and textbooks come down considerably, making it practical to own.

CES 2010

Here’s the deal about CES. It is so huge that it takes up the entire Las Vegas Convention Center, which has 2 million (yes 2 million) square feet of exhibition space – and all of it was used for this show.

There are 40 hotels with over 100,000 hotel rooms on the “strip” (one very long street in the center of town) most of whose rooms were sold out. So you can imagine the crowd and the immensity of the show.

Nothing is in walking distance. Try as you might just to get from your room to the street takes a good 15 minutes. Then to walk from one hotel to another takes another 15 – 20 minutes, because each hotel is so huge and requires so much space to make their presence felt.

Once you’re in the convention center you’re not leaving until the day is over, it’s too far to get to anything. There’s no in and out.

But once you’re in it’s an amazing spectacle. Masses of people, huge booths and lights and sound.

I wasn’t so excited last year, nothing that spectacular. But this year it was great. Between the e-readers, the new tablets, the notebooks and the

3-D technology there was a lot to get excited about.

This year they massed all the e-reader booths together. Great for the attendee, terrible for the vendors as it allowed you compare and contrast, not always a good thing for a vendor whose product is lacking in some technical spec.

Much of the internal technology is fabricated by a few companies. Companies that want to create e-readers take that technology and add their own spin to it. So in one booth I was able to see some prototypes for e-books that don’t yet exist except in someones imagination. The Astri dual screen, for example, that’s as small as a paperback, e-ink on one side, LCD on the other for example). THIS IS THE FUTURE, and it’s coming soon!

A similar style e-reader that does exist is the Entourage eDge – http://www.entourageedge.com/

Dual screen with e-reader on the left, LCD on the right.

It was quite hefty, more like a laptop computer. I asked the rep about this and she said that while it was lighter than the original version they would be streamlining the next version. But it definitely presages the future of reading devices. And apparently they are in talks with McGraw-Hill.

My favorite was Springdesign’s Alex http://www.springdesign.com/

The beauty of this device is that it’s all contained on one slim handheld with e-reader on top and small LCD on the bottom. The e-reader can morph into an LCD for web browsing. Very, very clever.

Everyone is looking to the Apple Tablet. Not yet unveiled (and Apple doesn’t come to CES) but like an e-reader with graphical interface and touch screen. Slim, lightweight, graphical keyboard. Will combine all the abilities of an e-reader and a computer in one lightweight device. Probably will be unveiled in March.

Lenovo has something similar – a notebook with a removeable screen that acts like a tablet.

It’s inevitable that there will be a shake down as all these readers/tablets converge to create one or two devices that will have it all – e-books, web connection, audio, video and probably phone (and I’m predicting a built in laser projector like the Pico http://www.microvision.com/showwx/

I also like all the solar chargers I saw. One way I’d like to use one is for the “Zen Corner”, yes I’m still thinking about that.. We may need to buy a little iPod and then it would be great to have it on a solar charger so it would just take up a little corner of a desk. I could have maintenance create a lock down for it and attach it to the desk (if you don’t mind some screw holes in the desk).

I also learned a bit about engineering and the difference between resistive and capacitive touch. Resistive touch requires pressure while capacitive has a sensor that changes the electrostatic field. The human body is a conductor, so touching the screen distorts the electrostatic field and allows points on the grid to accurately determine the exact location of the touch! Now when people tell me they are engineers I sort of get what they’re doing.

So much more to tell but I did want to get this up for now.

A New Kind of Science

Following up about the NEW, BIG, SHINY book I found on the shelf and just had to read called A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram. The entire book (all 1100 pages of it) is online! http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/toc.html

Here’s a basic overview of Wolfram’s premise:

general rule + simple computer programs = “…progress on a remarkable range of fundamental issues that have never successfully been addressed by any of the existing sciences before.” (chap 1, p. 1). That’s quite a statement.

My math and science background are very limited (although my computer programming skills were once high) but Wolfram’s ability to provide articulate explanations for his discovery make for thrilling reading.

Of course as the ideas become more complex you’ll want to know more about the math and science he discusses. But this might give someone like myself the impetus to finally tackle those subjects.

I’d be very curious to know what those of you who can really grasp his concepts think of this book. Do let me know.

And once again, I’m back!

I spent the day at Web 2.0 at the Javits Center and of course it’s re-enrgized me. For the longest time I thought I had nothing to write and suddenly realized I have so much to write about. For now I’ll start with this:

I was in the stacks the other day pulling books for the MD planet project when my eye was caught by a big, shiny, new book and I just had to read it right at that minute so I pulled it off the shelf and plopped myself on the floor and began to read A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram. It’s over 1100 pages detailing the fascinating process of discovering how simple experiments led to an understanding of more complex science.

I have lots more to tell you about the book but I must crash now. More this weekend.! With photos!!!!

Japanese Bookbinding!

The Japanese Bookbinding class is returning in the spring!! More later (with photos!)

More new gadgets from CES

I’m back. I had a brief hiatus while I was at the momentous inauguration of President Barack Obama – the best part of which was spending time with my awesome daughter Lily.

Anyway, some more interesting products from my trip to CES:

The newest version of the Sony Reader. We have one older copy here, and although the Amazon Kindle has really taken off, the Sony Reader is still a great alternative. The version we have is rather bare bones, but that’s sort of what reading is about. The newest version has a touch screen (you’ll be seeing a lot of touch screen products now and that will become the norm) and a built in reading light. It also allows for cutting and pasting text and I spoke to the rep about the possibility of putting textbooks* on the Reader. Imagine what a treat that will be when you no longer have to lug around textbooks – or check them out from the circ desk – and you can highlight important passages of text and save it. The Reader also has a virtual keyboard, can play audio files and can hold up to 350 books. Pretty darn impressive.

*If I was the betting type I’d be willing to be that within 4 years we’ll see textbooks on these portable readers!!!

I also liked the Vado, it’s an ultra slim and portable HD video recorder. This is what I’d love to have for myself. And it’s got this one touch thingie that allows for immediate upload to YouTube. I tried it at CES and was so taken by its tiny size and its ease of use. Reviewers like it enough although they do say that the quality of the video leaves something to be desired. Compare it to the Flip Mino HD (I think the Flip has crisper images and better color, but it’s bulkier).

Touch screens are the way of the future and HP has a new touch screen computer. It’s very cool. And why not, it’s so much easier than using a mouse (although it still comes with a wireless mouse). You can use your fingers or a stylus to move things around, write, draw, resize. Think iPhone on a larger screen!!!

And then there’s motion sensoring hand movements, so you can sit in a chair and conduct what’s on the screen – great for watching TV when you can’t find your remote. It’s like using a Wii.

As a librarian I wonder about the future of coffee table picture books. After all, what can replace the beauty of a photograph. How about AMOLED, ultra thin foldable display panel.

Some smaller gadgets that are worth a second look:

The HYmini - it looks like a mini fan, you attach it to your bicycle or to your arm and the fan uses the power of the wind to charge the internal, rechargeable battery. Then plug your cellphone or iPod into the fan and charge away! Or you can attach small solar panels to the fan to charge it. Very clever and really cute!

Here’s a great way to back up your computer without even having to think about it. The Clickfree Transformer is a cable that you plug into a USB port, connect it to an external hard drive and it automatically creates backups.

And finally , until everything can perform wireless charging how about a Universal Desktop Charger.

one cord from the rear, then insert the interchangeable tips that match your device into the base and click in your device.

There will be more!!!

CES 2009

Just came back from CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2009 – you know the one, it was in the news all last week, in Las Vegas (I am not a big fan of that place, too over the top) hundreds of vendors, hundreds of people (some of whom played blackjack at $500 a hand and kept losing) and hundreds of gadgets!!

Items from the major players are probably well known by now – Palm’s new handheld the Pre (which is getting great reviews), 3-D TV  (you still need to wear special glasses to view them – how 1940′s), ultra slim and tiny laptops (including the HP Vivianne Tam model – don’t ask, it’s too silly).

Once I made my way past the big companies with their ultra large booths I got to wander the areas devoted to start ups and companies with “green” products.

I want to introduce you to a few of the smaller and more interesting things that I saw : TrickleStar

Attach this device between your PC and all its accessories. Normally your accessories stay in standby mode when they are turned off. But standby still uses power *. Tricklestar senses when your computer has been turned off and it automatically turns off all the attached accessories. Turn your PC back on and Tricklestar automatically turns on your accessories! Pretty cool.

* ” …measurements in many countries around the world have estimated that standby power may be as high as 12% of residential electricity consumption. In the US it is estimated that standby power costs consumers more than $3 billion per year”. Taken from the Tricklestar brochure.

The ecobutton is similar but instead of turning off your accessories it puts your computer into a super sleep mode. Then it calculates both your carbon and monetary savings.

Everyone has numbers to back up their product – how’s this from eco-button “Using the ecobutton can help save some of the $1.3 billion and 5 million tons of CO2 being wasted by the 165 million PCs in the USA alone being left idle!”

Emergency equipment was another high profile area, especially handcranked and solar powered radios – not necessarily new but the designs make these functional items seem chic. From Eton

Self-Powered Digital AM/FM/SW/NOAA, S.A.M.E. Weather Radio with Flashlight, Siren, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger.

Too big? How about a tiny one?

So cute!!

And continuing the “green” trend there were plenty of solar powered items.

How about  a swiss army knife with a built in handcrankable light and mobile phone charger from

Green Goods Technolgy

or a flashlight that recharges its battery when it’s shaken.

And finally for today – a toy!!

MindFlex, use your powers of concentration to move a ball through an obstacle course – fun, funny and extremely frustrating (thank goodness there are no photos of me attempting this!!) But you can watch this guy trying it.

More tomorrow – including the one item I’m hoping someone will buy me as a gift.

Poof!

For those of you who have been living under a rock recently, some big news for the Harry Potter crowd has been released.

J.K. Rowling said that Dumbledore was gay. (Gasp!)

Although many (myself shamelessly included) are at least mildly happy that such a thing could even happen in a popular series, many are also upset.

The same set of people that admonished Potter for its “condoning of witchcraft” are condemning it for its homosexual characters. Dumbledore’s sexuality is, in all honesty, barely touched upon (if touched upon at all) in the books.

Rowling also declared that Dumbledore had a serious romantic interest in Gellert Grindelwald.

With revelations this huge, it’s no wonder that the Potter fan-crowd is all abuzz. “Why wasn’t his sexuality clearer in the books?”or “Why did you let the children read this dirty, tainted homosexual propaganda?” or “Why didn’t you tell us earlier!?” or “Oh my God, he must have been molesting Harry.”

Let me set the record straight on at least one thing: being gay is not the same as being a child molester, rapist, or pedophile.

In all of the other aspects, well, why does it really matter? Dumbledore was a talented wizard, a fantastic mentor, and a great man. So… he’s gay. Whatever.

Thoughts on the matter?

The UNconference

Wow, I just came back from the best conference ever! It was run on the Open Space Unconference concept, which posits that the best conversations happen during coffee breaks when people feel most free to discuss topics that interest them. So instead of feeling shoehorned into seminar sessions that may not be of interest to us we got to create our own topics!

I’ve posted a picture of the grid where we all put up the topics we wanted to talk about. I thought there was great energy in the room – weeehaaaa!!!

Since it was a conference for Managers of Information Technology the topics ranged from very technical to “What is a Library”. I got to hang out with some very cool folk, and I had dinner with the woman who came from California to facilitate it.

The principles of Open Space are:

1)Whoever comes are the right people (even if one person shows up that’s the right person)

2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have (be satisfied that you’ve all done your best)

3)Whenever it starts is the right time (alerts people to the fact that inspired performance and genuine creativity rarely, if ever, pay attention to the clock. They happen (or not) when they happen.)

4) Lastly When it’s over it’s over. (In a word, don’t waste time. )

And then there’s my favorite, the Law of Two Feet (“Any person neither learning from nor contributing to a group discussion can walk to another session”)

On the board for tomorrow – is total quiet in the library a good thing? Is it maintainable????

We’re still around!

Although I Can Write As Loud As I Want took a bit of a summer hiatus, we promise we’re still around!

If you have anything interesting or new or library-related, feel free to comment it onto the site or approace Ms. Starobin, Leah Byland, (who else moderates this?), or whomever. It’s all good.

Lots and lots of library love!

–NOTE– Ms. Starobin, I see you’re reviewing this. I apparently don’t have the ability to post without your review/ approval first… is there a way to change that? I promise, I’ll use the blog for good and not for evil.