It's no secret that we at Ecogeek are fans of the e-ink display technology. The low battery consumption and superior readability compared to laptops and other mobile devices, not to mention the thin form factor, all combine to bring us closer to a digital literary future. With Amazon's Kindle doing the rounds in the US and the Bookeen Cybook constantly running out of stock, e-ink toting devices are inching their way into the public's hearts.
I still think that e-books have a ways to go before I'd personally get one, mostly in terms of price and features, and I have had a few of my own ideas on what would make a good reader. However, the group of thinkers and designers over at The Greener Grass have gone and created a concept that I could wholeheartedly get behind. The Papyrus.
The Papyrus is a concept for an education-centred e-reader device that would focus on making participation in courses easier and more interactive. The concept calls for a colour e-ink touch screen and presumably a Wi-Fi connection to connect the devices of all the students together. Collaboratively, they can tag, highlight and annotate their reading material and remotely help eachother understand the text and find the important parts in it. As a first-year university student who hadn't read a single academic text since the turn of the millenium, I can say I would have greatly appreciated such a feature in my textbooks, not to mention saving all the space and weight of all those books as I cart them around.
As far as pricing goes, they're setting their sights on a hundred dollars. This seems unrealistic, but they are convinced it could be realised with the removal of unneeded hardware features (audio, for example) and the help of publishers. These publishers would subsidise the device and could sell their text books directly to the students through a subscription service.
The concept also makes a case for the interactivity of lectures. Many students are afraid to ask questions when there's something they don't understand. If they could just shoot the lecturer a quick private message rather than pipe up in front of a hundred other students, the idea is that the lecturer would be much more aware of whether or not s/he is getting through to the students.
I suspect that if this device is to actually be made, the price tag will go the way of the OLPC and the Eee PC and end up at least double the initial goal. Even so, it would be a fantastic device in an increasingly digital world. If the resolution of e-ink screens get a bump up, the prices a bump down and the features a polish, I welcome a transition into a fully digital student life. There's still something to be said for the feeling of opening a book and reading it on the couch or in bed, but at least e-ink is getting us one step closer to that feeling without killing trees every time there's a new book (or, more likely, a very slightly altered new edition) to be published.
Via Engadget
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written by Michael, April 19, 2008
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written by Eric, April 19, 2008
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written by Magnus H., April 19, 2008
In any case, paperwork clutter in businesses and government is a different field of funding and research than what e-readers are, so I think it's safe to say that you can focus on both. Of course, like I mentioned, they're not COMPLETELY separate, but I think the link tends toward the positive rather than the negative. If e-ink devices become more ubiquitous, people will think of more ways to use them in relation to business and the like.
After innovations in technology, innovations in the use of that technology are sure to follow. Just look at delivery people these days, for example. They all carry a device with a touchscreen that I sign on rather than a bunch of papers. At least in the UK. It's happening, Eric, just not all at once.
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written by net97surferx, April 20, 2008
Nowadays, I wouldn't even mind something a little 'larger' or 'bulker'... sort of like those larger fake PADDs they had on the old Star Trek/Voyager/DS9 series. I'm all for faster, cheaper, and lighter... but, I'm also older and I just can't focus as well when trying to read the itty bitty text on some cell phones and micro mini screens. Old age is a.... well, at least it's gotten me to where all this super eco tech is finally showing up!
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written by Magnus H., April 20, 2008
As far as e-reader devices go, I see them having an A4 or US legal size, really. Anything else would be kind of useless. However, I'd love for them to some day have a 300 dpi resolution and have a system that is made to accomodate that resolution so text is still visible. The reason being that the higher the resolution, the more it is like looking at a desktop surface. You could have several documents open at once for comparison and the like. You could even have a magnifying glass type tool in the software that lets you look closer at things while you do that.
I think I need to mock up a concept for the kind of system I'm thinking of. Basically, it'd be a bit like Mac OSX's exposé feature but with some key differences.
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written by Magnus H., April 20, 2008
http://magnulus.com/index.php?entry=entry080420-184623
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written by Larz, April 20, 2008
into the e-text. Then you'll see these sell like
hotcakes.
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written by scanner, April 21, 2008
Bruce
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written by Magnus H., April 22, 2008
Their iPhone energy monitor is interesting too, and definitely a real possibility as a product if someone were to pick it up.
Well, for books you pay for, an expiration date is kind of not a hugely amazing idea, all things considered. After all, the books we buy in paper form don't "expire". However, books have a natural sort of ARM (ANALOGUE Rights Management) in that they're much more of a hassle to spread around than music or films, so I realise there would have to be SOME sort of DRM on them for most publishers to accept them, and that needn't be such a bad thing, really.
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written by moffatt, August 09, 2008
If you do a bit of digging you can already find virtually any textbook(scans or text) online already.
A new business model is required to succeed in the digital age. One method would be to have the schools purchase a licence to distribute copies of the text to their students. The cost would be passed onto the students. However, this cost must be much less than the cost of an actual book as you cannot sell the book, there is no material/production cost for the copy itself and the publisher is no longer competing with used book sales (the reason for very low quality bindings).
This is assuming that the vast majority of sales of textbooks are to people taking classes. Similar models could be used in businesses that have their own libraries or libraries themselves.
Another annoyance of DRM is being locked into a single platform (though this can be broken). This is very obnoxious when multiple players get involved and the market becomes fragmented. Imagine being forced to have one device for your chemistry course and one for your calculus course.
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written by JT, May 27, 2009
id really appreciate some pointers on where to go to get the low down from Samsung themselves - press release maybe?
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written by A Treadway, August 02, 2009
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