Lunch@ Events – Trade Show Press and Innovator Events

Alex dual-display multimedia eReader allows Web browsing while reading

Spring Design http://www.springdesign.com will take the wraps off the Alex™, the only dual-screen Google Android-based eReader to fully integrate web browsing and reading, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 7-10, 2010.   

The debut of the Alex will take place at the press-only Lunch at Piero’s media and innovator event January 7 and 8 where the company will demonstrate Alex’s full browser capabilities and patented dual screen interaction technology, the Duet Navigator™ that enables Alex users to search the Internet on the 3.5” color browser LCD screen while displaying books, periodicals and even personal, educational and corporate documents on the Alex’s paper-like 6” EPD screen. The Alex browser and virtual keyboard provide handy access to email, calculator and will accommodate a growing number of programs from the Google Android community.

Alex’s network connections with WiFi, 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM, makes it the first truly mobile wireless e-reader device that gives users access to the Internet and their own personalized library on the go, whenever and wherever they need it.  

Alex  can be purchased for $359.00 starting February 22, 2010 on the  www.springdesign.com site with other availability  to be announced.  

Spring Design created the Alex as an open systems device with the ability to download any book or document that conforms to the Adobe ePUB/PDF/DRM standard or .txt or HTML format.   Alex’s fully functional browser gives users the flexibility to explore the Internet to access text, music, video, and images to enrich their reading experience, or annotate text with comments, multimedia or user-selected hyperlinks to other web sites and resources found online or stored by the user on the Alex eReader removable microSD card.  

 “We designed Alex to expand the users’ reading enjoyment, enriching the content whether it is reading for pleasure, education or business, and enhancing the capabilities with access to the growing suite of Android applications,” said Spring Design Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Eric Kmiec.  “We believe Alex enables readers to transcend the printed page to an interactive multi-media reading experience; letting children browse classic picture books with music to serious students who can view videos of science experiments online on the LCD screen while reading textbooks on the EPD screen.”

 Spring Design Eric Kmiec will be a speaker on a panel at HigherEdTECH, “From Dewey to Digital Free,” an exploration of how eBooks, digital devices and sophisticated search engines are shaking up the world of textbooks and academic scholarship, moderated by John C. Itelson, Professor Emeritus, California State University Monterey Bay and Director of Instructional Technologies K20CETC, Friday, January 8 at 3:30 at Room N264 North Hall.  Alex will also be on display at both Marvell booth locations one in the eReader tech Zone in Central hall, and a main booth in South Hall.  

Spring Design Inc., founded in 2006, designs and delivers eReader products to the eBook market.  Its Alex eReader is the first multimedia, Android-based, dual-screen eReader with a full-function browser.  It offers a hyperlink publishing tool, “Link Notes”, that links eBook text to related video, audio, notes or web addresses. Spring Design Inc. is located in Fremont, California with engineering offices in Taiwan and China. Spring Design’s innovative patented technologies incorporate the seamless interaction of dual display and multi-online access in a single device, benefiting and leveraging the technology and resources of the Web to enhance the reading experience.  For more information please see www.springdesign.com

Openmoko will introduce their English-Spanish WikiReader as the first of a number of editions planned for the popular palm-sized electronic encyclopedia device at the Lunch at Piero’s press and innovator event during CES 2010 in Las Vegas this week.  Openmoko will provide their upcoming English-Spanish language edition of the WikiReader as an upgrade to the more than three million English language articles of Wikipedia that can be accessed immediately anytime, anywhere without requiring an Internet connection.  

Current WikiReader owners may download the new English-Spanish edition for free as early as February, 2010.  A pre-loaded microSD with the upgrade included will also be available for $29.  The WikiReader costs $99 and is available now at TheWikiReader.com and Amazon.com.   

“Wikipedia is a truly international resource and we developed the WikiReader to enable people of all ages to access information around the world,” said Openmoko CEO, Sean Moss-Pultz. “We intend to continue to develop the WikiReader to make looking for information fun, whether for learning, for use as a travel guide, or simply to settle a bar bet.”

Recently Openmoko made a donation of WikiReaders to Rural Education and Development (READ) Global – a non-profit organization for each and every one of READ’s library and resource centers in India, Nepal and Bhutan as its long battery life and ability to store massive data is ideally suited for places where Internet connectivity and electricity may be inconsistent.

Sean Moss-Pultz, CEO of Openmoko, presented the FreeRunner mobile phone to designers and engineers at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, California this week. Moss-Pultz calls the phone a “seed” that provides a rapid start for developers to create devices based on the phone’s open OS, open CAD and open electronics.
Openmoko sees applications for the phone in markets where  where specific features of the phone are leveraged for unique needs, capitalizing on the phone’s computing power as well as its mobile capabilities.  He cited the use of a rugged version of the phone and its built-in GPS for archaeological digs or as an open mobile broadcast device.

Openmoko speaks at Embedded Systems Conference

The standing room only audience in the ESC Theatre on the show floor listened to Sean Moss-Pultz and Bill Gatliff, provider of development and training services related to Linux, discuss the advantage of an open mobile platform for embedded developers who want to create a small computing device with mobile capabilities.  See more coverage from the presentation from TechPulse360.

Capping the presentation, Openmoko and Embedded Systems Conference gave away five FreeRunner mobile phones in a drawing to lucky audience members.