http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/pa/prs/index.html
Sony's first in this race. I wonder who will compete?
When the second or third generation of these things is released (and the price gets knocked down to about $200) I'll be getting one of these.
I've never actually thought the physical book would be totally replaced, but this product is causing me to question that. Pay close attention to the screen's technology. It's very cool, yet very simple and obvious in hind-sight.
Oh and make sure you read about the battery life.
Sony learned from Apple here as well, setting up their own online eBook store, it will be a part of the Connect Store, which essentially works like iTunes (and looks a whole lot like it too).
Oh, I realized that the micro-site says nothing about how the screen works. Basically, each pixel is a tiny capsule with polarized black and white (or neutral colored) particles floating in liquid. In order to represent text or an image, a charge is run through the capsules, and the black ones float to the top where text is meant to be displayed. Up 'til now, electronic displays have all used the emission of light as their means of projecting an image. The Sony Reader's e-Ink technology uses what a page in a book uses, the REFLECTION of light. Which is why it's perfectly fine to use outside in full sunlight, just like a dead-tree book.
Oh, also, according to Popular Science this month, the e-books will cost about 25% less than their dead-tree counterparts in stores. And you don't have to go get them, nor pay for shipping.
There is something about holding a book in your hands and turning the pages, being able to skip back several pages at once, turning the page with your hand ...
That's why I'm waiting for a few generations of e-readers like this. The screen tech is great, but I want to see gesture based page turning, and a smarter system that will allow you to quickly find a passage you'd read before, and want to read again, but didn't think you'd need to mark when you read it the first time. If somebody can do that, I'll buy one! Oh, and a really good text to voice engine for when I don't feel like reading with my eyes. But I'm not holding my breath on that one.
Sony's first in this race. I wonder who will compete?
When the second or third generation of these things is released (and the price gets knocked down to about $200) I'll be getting one of these.
I've never actually thought the physical book would be totally replaced, but this product is causing me to question that. Pay close attention to the screen's technology. It's very cool, yet very simple and obvious in hind-sight.
Oh and make sure you read about the battery life.
Sony learned from Apple here as well, setting up their own online eBook store, it will be a part of the Connect Store, which essentially works like iTunes (and looks a whole lot like it too).
Oh, I realized that the micro-site says nothing about how the screen works. Basically, each pixel is a tiny capsule with polarized black and white (or neutral colored) particles floating in liquid. In order to represent text or an image, a charge is run through the capsules, and the black ones float to the top where text is meant to be displayed. Up 'til now, electronic displays have all used the emission of light as their means of projecting an image. The Sony Reader's e-Ink technology uses what a page in a book uses, the REFLECTION of light. Which is why it's perfectly fine to use outside in full sunlight, just like a dead-tree book.
Oh, also, according to Popular Science this month, the e-books will cost about 25% less than their dead-tree counterparts in stores. And you don't have to go get them, nor pay for shipping.
There is something about holding a book in your hands and turning the pages, being able to skip back several pages at once, turning the page with your hand ...
That's why I'm waiting for a few generations of e-readers like this. The screen tech is great, but I want to see gesture based page turning, and a smarter system that will allow you to quickly find a passage you'd read before, and want to read again, but didn't think you'd need to mark when you read it the first time. If somebody can do that, I'll buy one! Oh, and a really good text to voice engine for when I don't feel like reading with my eyes. But I'm not holding my breath on that one.
