December 2006
More New e-Book Reader
Devices
The
Star eBook
The Device
Following swiftly on the heels
of the Sony Reader and the iRex Iliad, the Star eBook is yet another new paperback-sized
e-reader based on superior E-Ink display technology.
This latest device is Linux-based,
and like its rivals is tied to a proprietary file format, in this case "STK".
Running a modest 200MHz processor, the "Star" e-reader offers 64MB of DataFlash
memory, but this can be expanded up to 1GB with SD/MMC cards.
The device is feather-light at
only 176 grams (6.2 ounces), and ultra-slim (only 8mm thick). It's powered
by a 3.7-Volt, 800mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and with E-Ink's low
power consumption each battery charge will last for "up to ten thousand" page
displays. Boasting a six-inch screen the grayscale device has a display resolution
of 800 x 600 pixels, while page turning & navigation is by means of a four-way
joypad.
Also available free with the device
is eRead editor software ("STK Maker"), which does allow users to originate
their own documents in the proprietary format and to convert other unrestricted
text and jpeg images, Flash and .exe files as e-books for the e-reader. The
device also supports MP3 files, allowing for music and audio book playback.
The Star eBook may be purchased
direct from Taiwan for $US450, with included extras of a leather cover and
a 512 MB SD card.
The significance
It's been said with much fervour
that the last thing the e-book world needs is more file formats. Jack Tsai,
the CEO of the company responsible for the Star eBook (eREAD Technologies
Co. Ltd) is aiming to turn this "demerit" into an advantage, by offering proprietary
software with unique features linked to unprecedented Web interactivity.
So the Star eBook (current model
name STK-101) is tied in with a stareread
website They also offer an e-book search
engine which makes Chinese-language books, comics, magazines and FLASH
cartoons available to its audience. But they don't stop at a single website.
The company already claims over ten million subscribers to its unique eRead
software, which in addition to providing digital reading downloads offers
reader chat, a message board & other goodies, and even enables blogging and
file transmission to friends.
The eRead ace is therefore its
multi-function "Web community" software & its interaction with a growing network
of cooperating websites worldwide. Other languages are already allowed for
in the latest software version, and the ambitious manufacturers clearly hope
their software - and hence their proprietary file format - will gain widespread
international acceptance.
The software is already up to version
3.0* and seems popular, but whether software popularity will translate to
e-reader hardware sales, especially given that the device is more expensive
(at US $450) than the Sony Reader, is much less certain. E-reader manufacturers
have been notoriously unreceptive in the past to advice on adopting new marketing
models rather than repeating previous unsuccessful ones, and their historical
sales figures show the price they pay for that attitude. Where the extras
in the eREAD software succeed it will also be interesting to see whether the
ideas behind them will be copied by competitors.
It would be ironic if this e-reader
device eventually flops while the software it carries does well, but that
could easily happen with the existing marketing model. It won't be from lack
of trying though. For example eREAD have also opened a mortar and bricks Star
Book store where customers can download their own e-books if desired, and
plan no less than eighty such stores in 2007. Time - or a rehoned marketing
strategy - will tell.
* NB: A "lite", more
basic version of the eREAD software, eREAD MINI, is also available; it is
suitable for slower connections & may also be popular on small devices & smartphones.
Note:
Internet access to some Chinese area websites has been affected by cable damage
caused by the December 26 earthquake, and may take several weeks to return
to normal.
Sharp RD-CX100 This newbie
is described as a " dictionary / e-book reader", and perhaps best understood
as such. It's designed first and foremost for language students, and Sharp
throw in 63 books in various languages including Chinese, English, Korean
& Japanese. The price is $US330, for which you get a 4.3-inch colour screen
and the ability to appreciate both audio and written e-books, storable on
SD/MMC cards. An MP3 player and FM tuner are thrown in. It's not the eighth
wonder, but may hit the spot for its target market.
LG, the Korean electronics
success story, have displayed a prototype e-reader based on a full colour
OLED (Organic Light- Emitting Diodes) display. It looks eerily like
a laptop computer and won't be available before 2008, if produced. Which has
to be wondered at, because it's powered by blue methyl alcohol fuel. A touch
bizarre..?
*
For the scripturally-inclined,
Olive Tree Bible Software have released their BibleReader software (supporting
70-plus Bible translations) for Symbian OS devices series 60 version 3.0 and
Symbian UIQ version 3.0, the latest versions released.
http://www.olivetree.com/smartphone/
*
Google that too
In another reaction to the Google digital book push a New York-based organisation,
the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, has announced (20 December) a $1 million grant
to the Internet Archive, a leading member of the Open Content Alliance. The
grant is to provide universal access to a collection of digital works online
- as opposed to the Google project, which is tied to its own search engine.
Works to be scanned for the project include the collections of the Boston
Public Library, the Getty Research Institute and the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, with some other materials from the John Hopkins University Libraries
and a library at the University of California (Berkeley).
Google this, says Microsoft
On December 6 Microsoft launched a beta version of Live Search Books,
which like Google Book Search will enable the online text searching
of those digital books included in the service. First-up are books from the
University of California, the University of Toronto, and the British Library.
Behind them will be volumes from Cornell University, the New York Public Library
and the American Museum of Veterinary Medicine. In addition some copyrighted
titles authorised by publishers are to be added in 2007.
However the ethics of the two giants
differ over copyrighted texts involved, as Microsoft will only include copyright
books with the specific permission of the copyright owner (both services will
include books in the public domain). As a result of its bold "who says we
can't" adventurism Google is in fact being sued for copyright infringement
by the Association of American Publishers and the (US) Authors Guild, its
defence being that "searching" is covered by "fair use". A long (and probably
expensive) legal battle seems to be unfolding. Um, non-evil Google people,
what you're doing may or may not be legal, but it certainly violates the rule
that if in doubt it's polite to ask…
In addition, along with Yahoo Microsoft
has also joined the Open Content Alliance (see story above). Meanwhile Microsoft's
Live Search Books results will be integrated with its own Web search
service. The dollar angle? As with Google, principally advertising revenue.
BTW, the beta version will only be available in the U.S. for English-language
books. For researchers there's already another beta service, Live Search
Academic, to locate articles on (so far) computer science, engineering
and physics, with biomedics to be added "real soon now".
November 2006
New e-Book Reader
Devices
Sony
Reader now on sale
The Sony Reader is now available
in the USA, but not yet for
Australia. The correct model name for this e-book reader is the Sony Reader
PRS-500, and the price is $US 349.99.
This device weighs around 250 grams
(less than nine ounces), and boasts a top-quality 15 cm (6 inch) screen, making
it similar in size to a paperback novel. The 170 pixels per inch screen resolution
is equivalent to that of newsprint. Three font sizes are available to suit
your eyesight.
Storage capacity is said to be
" up to 80 books" in 64 MB of internal memory, and "hundreds more"
if you add in a Memory Stick or SD memory card. A single charge of the lithium
ion battery will power 7,500 page turns, while a recharge is said to take
as little as four hours. Unlike an LCD screen the superior E Ink display looks
just fine in bright light. However as there is no internal backlighting viewing
it works like a print book, i.e. in dim light you may have to supply extra
lighting to read it clearly.
One prominent criticism has been
that the reader can't search in a text (nor add annotations), meaning it has
been designed for the general market with little thought for research activities.
You can only buy books for this
e-reader in Sony's own proprietary format BBeB (BroadBand electronic Book),
via their Sony Connect computer software*. However the device will
also store other content like photos, documents and web news feeds, and act
as a music player too. Technically speaking the Reader will support the following
additional formats : PDF, HTML (Web) & MS Word documents; JPEG (images); unencrypted
MP3 (audio); and RSS newsfeeds (import them all from your hard drive using
the Sony Connect software).
*each book
can be installed on up to six devices.
WARNING: Inventory is at
present insufficient for demand, so at this stage you may have to wait a month
or even longer for your device to arrive.
Where can
you order one?
http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/itpd/reader/
Where can
you obtain content?
Sony have set up an iTunes- like
store with over ten thousand titles at:
http://ebooks.connect.com/
. Books downloaded will be
20% - 25% cheaper than their printed equivalent.
Our take: Better, but experience
has shown that although they'll pay lots for other devices, the majority of
people will not pay hundreds of dollars for an e-book reader under any circumstances.
Primary reason - they compare the cost with the fact that they can just buy
a printed book with no other expense needed.
We advocate instead a $0 e-reader
tied to a minimum one to two year book plan on the mobile (cell) phone model,
or a $50 e-reader tied to a minimum six to twelve months plan, with the option
of full price purchase for those who really want it. And the book discounts
offered need to be larger than those envisaged for this to really go places...
The iRex Iliad,
Europe's response
· Hardly
heard of yet in the Southern hemisphere compared with the Sony Reader but
also an exciting new prospect is the iRex Iliad. iRex is a spin-off
company of Philips Electronics (of Eindhoven, Holland).
· Like the
Sony Reader the Iliad is wonderfully light in weight, and features superior
Electronic Paper Display (= E Ink-type technology) for a beautiful read that
is gentle on battery usage (rechargeable). It's also similar in appearance
at A5 document size.
·However
the steep price of the Iliad (649.00 euros = around $US810 at a recent rate
of exchange) will deter many if not most, and the limited file formats presented
(only PDF, XHTML and plain text at present) will disappoint others. However
OEB (open e-book format) and MP3 audio file capability will be added soon,
while China gets a special APABI format (indeed if your order is large enough
the iRex people will craft you special format availability too).
·
Page-turning at 2 seconds is also very slow, twice as lengthy as the Sony
Reader (itself no speed king). However the software is updateable free, so
some features may improve. A high point is that you have three ways of adding
content - PC connection, wireless Internet connectivity (WiFi) or loadable
card (USB memory stick, MMC, or compact Flash cards). That's much better than
just the one its rival allows, and you can also write on the Iliad and add
notes to articles (if DRM and format allow).
· The
maker's iRex Delivery Service (IDS) will be able to supply not only books
(including educational texts) but also newspapers and professional documents,
and handle form-filling too. iRex will not be content providers themselves
but are forming partnerships with suppliers instead.
From October 27 2006 the Yantai
Daily Media Group in the city of Yantai, China, began the daily publication
of an electronic edition of their newspaper titles on the iRex iLiad. Along
with a trial by the Durch newspaper De Tijd this represents the first commercial
use of e-Ink for publications that are regularly updated.
·
The philosophy behind the Iliad is more open and shows more long-term potential
than that of the Sony Reader, so the Mark II model (particularly if the price
comes down sharply) may yet dazzle.
Learn more at: http://www.irextechnologies.com/
the Iliad is available from https://www.irexshop.com/
The Words Gear
e-Reader
To the occidental ear the name
sounds a little strange, and may represent a Japanese attempt at language
cool. In any event this new e-reader is intended only for the Japanese market
so far, where it will retail for about 40,000 yen, or approximately $US350.
That's a similar price to the Sony Reader, which sounds like bad value at
first when its rival has e Ink. However this device has a colour screen and
will support video too, a huge advantage for contents like downloadable comics.
But what is Words Gear, exactly?
Well it's about the size of a small paperback (5.6-inch LCD screen), is light-weight
(325 grams), and is an e-reader that represents a joint venture between Matsushita
Electronics (better known elsewhere as the Panasonic people), TV station Tokyo
Broadcasting System Inc and publishing company Kadokawa Holdings.
Reportedly Words Gear will support
electronic books stored on SD memory cards plus audio, video and still image
files. E-books of novels and comics will be available online from www.saidoku.com
and some other electronic book distribution sites. The screen resolution of
1024 x 600 seems good with a superior 211 pixels per inch, and an e-shaped,
touch-sensitive control next to the screen, the " E Sensor", allows for fingertip
operation that has been described as "brilliant".
We don't know much more about this
brand-new device yet except that it's apparently tied to yet another DRM format
called "SD-ePublish". In general the e-book world needs more
formats about as much as it needs to shoot itself in the foot yet again, so
whether the potentially large size of the Japanese market will allow this
device to succeed where numerous others have failed before in Japan, due partly
to ruinous control freakery, remains to be seen.
Editorial
Our
take on why even these superb viewing e-readers won't set the world
alight.
We've said
it before and it needs saying again. E-readers need to be available
either as a $0 device on a content plan, or purchasable for under
$100 ($49.99 is even better). The key psychological limit is probably
the most a person would be prepared to pay for a print book. And
rather than content being restricted to what one company negotiates
for its bookstore, you should be able to buy any current book for
your device that you could purchase in physical printed form.
Interconvertibility
of formats, or one agreed commercial format, is also a must.
So our suggestion
to manufacturers is: forget the traditional electronic device "staged
price curve", which is futile and self-defeating for this product.
Concentrate on supplying just an excellent, inexpensive e-book reader
as soon as possible. The DVD player showed the way here -so keep
it cheap up front! Then even young kids will want one, not to mention
students on a tight budget, suburban mums and financially pressed
ordinary folk in addition to the still rare e-book enthusiasts.
Schools could issue them for free if they could obtain them on a
textbook purchase plan.
In short,
e-book readers will never really take off with a broader public
until industry leaders finally learn from the grievous mistakes
of their predecessors.
|
E-Reader Software
New Adobe Digital Editions
for early adopters
One of the most universal pieces
of software, the Adobe Reader, now has a lightweight new sibling once again,
just for e-book folk. Adobe Digital Editions is a new Adobe viewer for PDF
e-books and XHTML-based content (Web stuff). What's exciting about this "retread"
though is that it includes the Adobe Flash Player (Version 9), yet is only
2.5 MB in toto, whereas the full Adobe Reader has tended to grow ever
larger and more ponderous. And the Flash inclusion offers potential to support
those multimedia e-books that are out there and will grow in number, but require
specialised software at present (think video and animation).
Unfortunately you can't print from
ADE, nor can you bookmark. However there is two-page display, and unlike its
big brother the software features are unobtrusive. Don't expect every feature
of the Adobe Reader, but there are additional goodies such as the ability
to reformat text according to screen size rather than being bound to fixed
pagination. Intended for desktops and laptops so far, versions for mobile
devices are expected later.
Oh and this being business, it's
designed to hook into a forthcoming Adobe Digital Editions Protection Service
for publishers - yep, the DRM bodgies are on the march again. Exactly where
Adobe will draw its DRM battle lines is yet to be revealed. A sweetener though
is that the Adobe Protection Service will also allow Oeb*
(Open eBook) format books (XHTML-based open standard) rather than just
PDF.
But before you gallop off to install
it (an operation that is super-fast), be warned that Adobe Digital Editions
is so new it's still only a Beta version, and only for Windows so far (a Macintosh
version should follow soon, followed by a Linux version at a lag). Those who
prefer no unpleasant surprises will wait for Release 1.0 (planned for early
2007), but if you thrive on the unexpected & are a report-back enthusiast,
you can get it immediately at:
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/digitaleditions/
PS: Adobe already offer
a free
library of classic titles for this software.
* The
Oeb format will become .obe when a new version is released in the first half
of 2007.
Net Giants Rush to
Literature
After a rocky start that has included
lawsuits from the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and
others concerning the inclusion of copyrighted titles, Google is once again
plowing ahead with its Google Book Search project (begun 2004). The project
aims make a vast collection of book titles freely searchable on the Web. Advertising
will make the project a money-spinner, the company hopes. Last month Google
gained permission to add a large historical collection from the University
of Wisconsin to its existing "thousands" of offerings.
Google has in fact made some of
its public domain titles available for full download, but mostly they're already
available free elsewhere. As well, the quality of the Google effort has been
severely criticised. Says Richard Crocker, Editor of Planet PDF "(Google's)
PDF books are difficult to download, large in size, of such low resolution
they're difficult to read, unsearchable, and do not allow the user to copy
text from them. It's left me wondering what Google expects people to do with
the books".
Google's effort has also brought
forth rivals and "better offers". For example the Open Content Alliance (formed
October 2005) is a non-profit organisation that aims to make a large collection
of public domain books fully available online (for download or printing),
including those of Project Gutenberg. Yahoo and Microsoft have supported the
Alliance, with Yahoo promising to finance scanning 18,000 books and Microsoft
to contribute 150,000 digitised books.
Microsoft however is in fact pursuing
both "join 'em & beat 'em" strategies, with its own book search engine plan,
Windows Live Books Search, in the offing "soon" (also to be ad-driven
if plans work out). Other such search engines may follow. So the stage is
set for another "battle of the titans" which will push e-books to the front
line of Web attention.
Libraries, schools, universities
in USA pick up on e-books
E-books have been making headway
recently in US public libraries, schools & universities. For example,
in the Cumberland County
Library System, Pennsylvania, free downloads of over 1,700 eAudiobooks are
now on offer in WMA format. More than 1,000 libraries - including the New
York Public Library - now lend e-books to their patrons.
Meanwhile in North Texas, Plano
and Irving schools are introducing some e-books, Lancaster school is considering
them and Forney school district is planning to go further and use only electronic
textbooks within two years. Students will all have laptops to access the
e-texts if the plan goes ahead.
University students in the USA
are also picking up on online textbooks, which may cost them only half the
price of printed ones. It beats lugging all those extra-heavy tomes around,
while quoting by cut and paste is much easier too. Not to forget the joys
of research by super-fast electronic search...
Springer academic e-books leap
to the fore
German-based press Springer Science+Business Media has been busy signing
up academic institutions to its online e-book platform, the Springer eBooks
Collection. Large new customers include the University of Chicago (USA), the
Great Western Library Alliance consortium (USA), the University of Jordan,
the University of Manchester (UK), the University of Oslo (Norway), the Russian
Foundation for Basic Research consortium & the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology. Nearly 13,000 e-books are so far available in the collection.
http://www.springerlink.com
Paper-like books take on a whole
new meaning…
What if your new copyrighted e-book
was free, like a community newspaper, but also like the latter included lots
of advertisements that paid its way? Not just any ads, but ones tailored
to your interests by information you supply to the providers? Would
you still be interested? No, yes, or depends, you may say. In
the latter case you might ask whether they provide your personal information
to the advertisers? They say they don't. WOWIO, a new online e-bookstore,
is gambling that enough people will be attracted to this concept to create
a thriving new business. With a wide range of categories for their e-books
they've started big. On the downside, the books are only available to US residents
at present. As well, they can be huge downloads, because these PDF files contain
full-page full-color advertisements. Some titles even exceed 20 MB - definitely
not recommended if you still have dial-up access.
http://www.wowio.com/
November Factlet
Which British library
has the UK's largest collection of electronic resources? It's actually
the John Rylands University Library at the University of Manchester.
Handheld Britons
And for a UK site of
particular interest to those involved in education, take a look at Hand
Held Learning. It's big on forums, articles, shareware and more. Note
that registration (free) is required to fully available yourself of the many
goodies here.
http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk/
