reading
Gadgets
Barnes & Noble’s eReader Might Have Person-To-Person Lending
9:23AM Jason Chen | The NYT piles on the B&N eReader rumours with a proposed launch date of October 20, based on a planned event in NY for that day. What’s interesting, besides its rumoured Android OS, is the device’s lending feature. More »
Online
You’re A Bigger Internet Nerd Than Bill Gates
2:39AM Matt Buchanan | Over 10,000 friend requests later, Bill Gates has sworn off Facebook. Fair enough, but he’s “not that big at text messaging” and “not a 24-hour-a-day tech person,” told a business forum in India. He even reads stuff on dead trees! “I read a lot and some of that reading is not on a computer.” More »
Robots
Ninomiya-kun Fights Robot Illiteracy
9:40AM Sean Fallon | I’ve seen plenty of devices that turn pages for you, but Ninomiya-kun takes things a step further by actually reading books aloud. More »
Design
Artificial Dogs are Better for Some Applications, Trust Me
4:00AM Mark Wilson | It’s hard to imagine a world in which we abandon man’s best friend for an electronic replacement, but it’s also hard to imagine a dog ever holding a paper book without turning poor Kafka into a sponge. Luckily, designer Charles Kalpakian is here to provide us with this canine book stand concept that lights up when you pull the tale. While this unit is not for sale, we can only hope that version 2.0 has teeth to convey that pulling a dog’s tale is not the best way to treat it. [Yanko Design via Ubergizmo] More »
Gadgets
Easy Grip Helps You Secure Those Slippery Books
11:40AM Sean Fallon | If I read actual books, this Easy Grip would fit right in with my active lifestyle. Its secure one-handed grip technology keeps the book in place while simultaneously marking the open page. That means I am free to read while jogging, driving or arm wrestling. Thanks crazy Korean manufacturers! Available for 9500 Won or around $11. Additional image after the break. More »
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E Ink Improves Contrast and Refresh Rate for E Books
11:10PM Seamus Byrne | We really like the idea of ebooks, but their low contrast and pokey refresh rate just about ruins the experience when using devices such as the Sony PRS-500 Reader pictured above. Now, Cambridge, Massachusetts, company E Ink, the inventor of this tech, has decided to spruce it up with a higher-performance imaging film it calls Vizplex. If what the company is saying is true, expect to see ebook displays refreshing twice as quickly, with 20% better contrast, too. The company’s also planning to roll out a wider variety of screen sizes other than the single 6-inch size it currently offers, from 1.9 inches aimed at cellphones and MP3 players, up to 9.7 inches for bigger ebooks. We might be seeing the results of this latest technology as early as this summer. – Charlie White E Ink displays upgraded imaging film technology [EE Times] More »
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