newscientist.com — E-book readers like the Kindle may be getting better, but still fall short of the usability of paper books. You can't turn or flip through pages, or compare different documents as you would with paper. A new prototype with two displays can do all that.
Jun 25, 2008 View in Crawl 4
mithrasinvictusJun 26, 2008
These are all pretty obvious applications for ebooks but they are presented as though several breakthroughs were made.
Closed AccountJun 26, 2008
There is nothing natural about flipping through pages like that. Pain in the arse i say
yazilliclickJun 26, 2008
Exactly. This would basically undo a great many of the things that I like about my sony ebook reader. Namely that it's fairely small, good size to hold, don't have to deal with flipping pages, not a whole lot of junk to keep track off (all my books and only have to track a usb cable and the ebook reader, not 200+ books, not some weird splitting display junk).The things I would like to see improved that would improve the medium in my opinion is work on colour versions of the same incredibly low power displays, good search features, touch screen technology to enable typing (not to take over from the side navigation buttons but simply to facilitate text input without the need for a keyboard on the device), syncing like the kindle does over a high speed network but worldwide and on more devices (or at least bring it to Canada where I'm at :) ).
yazilliclickJun 26, 2008
Ebooks are cheaper (you just pay for the difference with the reader so if you don't read much at all, not worth it, if you read alot, it pays for itself quickly), ebook readers don't use paper at all and thus are much more environmentally friendly in that regard (if you want to talk electricity or electronics than I can assure you a lot more resources are used in the production of paper and transporting it and the books around), current ebook readers are able to be read under all lighting conditions that I've found myself reading a real book, it's pretty easy to priate a book ;)
belzoradonJun 26, 2008
the kindle would be great... except that first is running a proprietary OS and uses a proprietary file format with no form of file portability, all of this leads me to a very simple conclusion, one in fact that i have been coming to since i learned to code. IF I CANT READ THE CODE I DONT TRUST IT! if and when someone releases a ebook reader that i can read specs on, then maybe ill use something other then my computer for ebooks, but that isnt like to happen soon.
aacidusxJun 26, 2008
bah, i thought one could just slide their finger across the screen to flip a page.
fyi2Jun 27, 2008
I love my Kindle, great to carry a library in a small form factor. This show the next step. We are getting there. I like what I see, if and I think it is a big if, the technology exists. THE key draw back at the moment is sharing books, and not hitting DRM hard. I lent books all the time, most come back! This is where the book rules. We will get there but it is fun to glimpse ahead.
manogamezJun 27, 2008
<a class="user" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbh4Fdnv-s0&fmt=18">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbh4Fdnv-s0&fmt=18</a>Working video. Blame YouTube.
mithrasinvictusJun 27, 2008
works for me