Amid the recent excitement about e-books there’s a new entry, Alex (named for the great library in Alexandria, Egypt) from Spring Design that appears to do it all. Here, direct from Spring Design Labs is a demo of the Alex. The dual-screen, Google Android-based e-book features a 6″ electronic paper display capable of 16 shades of gray PLUS just below it is what amounts to a mobile device with finger-based touch screen navigation and full 16-bit color (capable of 24 bit).
The beauty of this system is the interaction between the two screens with the lower color LCD screen presenting rich media gleaned from the Internet or the device’s SD card to supplement the reading matter displayed on the primary EPD screen. Imagine reading a Dickens novel with historical facts, illustrations and critical commentary displayed n the LCD screen. Imagine the possibility of a secondary market for original material, much like the sites that arose around the Harry Potter novels.
In addition to using the LCD to bring up movies, pictures and graphics from the Web, and push content to the EPD page information that enhances what you’re reading, you can highlight text, write your own notes, search for words and phrases, bookmark, go to any chapter. Looks like you can really personalize the look and feel of the reading pages. There are lots of great features like MP3 player, video playback, Bluetooth, WiFi, even audio speakers, mic and earphone jack.
Look for Alex at Lunch at Piero’s January 7 and 8, 2010.
WikiReader gives you the 3+ million English language Wikipedia articles anywhere anytime
So you’re hiking on the Donner Pass far away from the crowds and well away from any connectivity. A 40MPH wind kicks up and you know the first snowfall of the season is just around the corner. The safety of the car is not that far away but it wasn’t that way with the Donner Party. Who were they? Did they really resort to cannibalism? I pulled my WikiReader out of my jacket and read about the “westering fever” of the 1840’s. And yes, they resorted to cannibalism, which was neatly hyperlinked in the article.
It’s that kind of “I wonder” moment that the new WikiReader satisfies with more than 3 million English language articles of the Wikipedia on a small touchscreen device. Spur of the moment cravings for info. Idle curiosity. Your kids’ out-of-the-blue questions. Or the real need for info like looking up mattress sizes (couldn’t remember what constituted a double or full mattress). Let me tell you, that one search took me on a voyage about the history of mattresses. Did you know that the original waterbed goes back to 3600 BC where beds made of goatskins filled with water were used in Persia?
Such is the joy of information, and rather than be the proprietary pricey domain of smartphones, the Openmoko people developed the $99 WikiReader, about the size of a man’s wallet, and they squeezed down the 30GB of the English language Wikipedia text to fit on an 8GB Continue Reading »
I have long been a fan of the more innovative bright and shiny products dangled in front of the consumer electronics enthusiast. I’ve been privvy to some things that should never have hit the market and others that caught on in marvelously successful ways simply because someone had the guts to introduce them. My travels have taken me to trade shows around the world, most notably Computex in Taiwan where I saw products that I knew would shape consumer electronics markets in the West.
But nothing can compete with some of the innovations I have been noticing online on http://www.shanzai.com. On this site is a video of a stealth adventure into the protected kingdom of Shanzai, the Mountain Bandits in China, renegade developers who are creating new products that may someday find their way to the North American market (provided they can pass US Customs, UL, FCC and other obstacles to commercial success in the West).
Looking at this video, the passion of the customers and the nature of some of the products on Shanzai.com make me realize how conservative we are in North America, testing, re-testing so no one takes it in the financial shorts bringing a chancy product to this market. Here for your enjoyment is a rare tour into the markets in Shanzai taken with a hidden camera. Some products are oddly charming, some are brute knockoffs of well established objects of desire (iPhones) but without a lot of the functionality. These are mashups of technologies and designs, new variations on a theme (made possible not by Paganini but by fully integrated CPU and chipset platforms that make the development of new mobile devices far less risky).
You probably won’t find these products on the show floor at CES because regulations, certifications and US Customs simply won’t let these electronic oddities into the US for sale, but someday compliant versions of some of them may find their way to your local retailer.
Consider this article to be an open invitation to the Mountain Bandits to join us at Lunch at Piero’s. I’ll provide you a demo table so you can showcase your products just because it’ll be fun. Contact me at patmeier [at] lunchat.com.
