The promise of e-readers is great — replacing all your books with one, light device — but they've been around for a while and last I checked my neighborhood Barnes & Noble was doing just fine. A team of researchers at Maryland and Berkeley Universities thinks part of what's holding e-readers back is that people use books in many subtle ways beyond simple reading page to page — quickly navigating through a book visually by flipping through it, for example. Their solution: create an e-reader with two screens, so it works and feels more like a book. In the video above, the guys show us how a dual-screen reader is more intuitive than other readers on the market today.
The dual-screen reader is a great step forward for the category, but I doubt the appeal of the time-honored book could ever be simulated — even with multiple razor-thin OLED pages. People just like having books. And then there's the smell. Still, e-readers could go a long way toward replacing textbooks and magazines someday, and this prototype is the best candidate we've seen for that. Keep it going, guys.
New Scientist, via Technovelgy
editor@dvice.com
By TheAdlerian at 11:34 AM ON 06/27/08
I'm a reading freak and would love a kindle, due to its easy features. However, it still isn't hooked up with enough publishers to make it great. I want to buy the books I want to buy, not just wants offered.
That is the secret to these things and I assume that greed is holding it back. Publishing would be nearly pure profit it materials costs were eliminated, so I can only assume that something stupid is holding it back.
That's the issue.
By Traveler at 12:58 PM ON 06/27/08
Minimize the frame size and thickness and you have a absolute winner.
By yaos at 4:52 PM ON 06/27/08
Why not have one very large screen that can be segmented into smaller pages?
By adams4000 at 6:29 PM ON 06/27/08
The real problem with e-readers is they are too expensive for what they do. Not to mention that the books are also way too expensive. Why are we paying the same price as a hardback (or more) for a book with no production overhead. If they charged the same price as a paperback I would have no problem.
By dan at 10:12 PM ON 06/27/08
the idea physical flipping or button pushing has always killed it for me.
I just want a nice touch screen with a tab i can drag just like a real page.
By tsim at 8:09 PM ON 06/29/08
I would have to agree with Peter here. I don't think books are ever going to go away. I do think e-readers such as these will gain ground, but always work as a supplement or an addition to books; never a replacement. As Peter says, there's something there in the experience of actually having a book. And you can't really highlight a book. Maybe it's just because we're an older generation, but I don't think so. I look forward to these to upload a whole library to so that I could travel with my library, or more to the point right now - so I could more easily transport my books as I get ready to move to South Korea! :D