-----Original Message-----
From: Neil Graham <[log in to unmask]>
To: viewpoints list <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, January 15, 1999 3:56 PM
Subject: some summaries of electronic book articles
>
>Hi folks. This isn't of direct interest; but both the summaries and the
>accompanying commentary are very interesting in that they point out some
>trends that might affect us in future.
>
>Cheers,
>Neil
>----------------------------------------
>>From [log in to unmask] Fri Jan 15 16:51:04 EST 1999
>
>Hello,
>
>The last two issues of PC Magazine contain articles of direct and indirect
>interest to the electronic book community. I'll summarize each one and
make
>a few comments. At the end I'll ask a question about Microsoft's interest
in
>electronic books, and their future plans in this area.
>
>
>19-JAN-99: Page 9, article entitled "The Eye is the Display"
>
> This article describes using the eye directly as a computer display.
> The technology is called Virtual Retinal Display (VRD) and is being
> developed by Microvision. It can be built into eyeglasses or goggles.
> It promises very high resolution, as high as the eye can see, and at
> low cost.
>
> Obviously, this could end up being (short of directly connecting to
> the brain), a great way to develop truly portable electronic book
> readers that do not need to have a display screen. Keep an eye on
this
> technology -- it may be just around the corner.
>
>
>19-JAN-99: Page 10, article entitled "Walking the Web"
>
> This article describes wireless "tablets" for Web browsing. They
> look a lot like the current batch of e-book readers now being
marketed.
> The particular one profiled is the Cyrix WebPad. Obviously, if
e-books
> are formatted in HTML, and soon in XML, such devices could serve as
> e-book readers. (Dvorak also mentions the WebPad on page 89 in his
> "Inside Track" column.)
>
> I think that NuvoMedia, SoftBook, EveryBook, etc., should seriously
> consider expanding their devices to be able to browse the Web (to read
> both HTML and XML files) in addition to reading their encrypted
e-books.
> That may be the way they can really sell their devices. This also
> supports what I've been saying all along -- THE FUTURE OF E-BOOKS IS
> XML. So why not build an e-book reader which is essentially an XML
> browser -- then it can be used to view not only encrypted XML e-books
> sold via proprietary channels -- it can be used to view open documents
> via the Internet and intranets, and those stored within the e-book
reader
> device itself.
>
>
>19-JAN-99: page 21, three letters to the editor regarding Dvorak's article
> in the Dec. 1 issue of PC Mag on electronic books.
>
> The first letter lamented the still high cost they saw of buying
e-books
> for the current e-book readers. The second letter mentioned the big
> advantage of e-books is their ability to do a full text search. The
> third letter mentioned that e-books can be a blessing to the visually
> impaired. Nothing new as all these things have been talked about
here,
> but it shows the public is beginning to "see the light".
>
>
>19-JAN-99: page 35, article entitled "Splitting Pixels"
>
> This is a fascinating article which describes the resurrection by
> Microsoft of an idea first developed by Apple. This idea is to
greatly
> improve the clarity of text on current displays using a "pixel
splitting"
> method (this works the best for the new digitally driven, versus
analog-
> driven, flat screen displays). Even when very high resolution and
> inexpensive flat screen displays are developed and marketed (e.g., 300
> dpi or better), I surmise that even here "pixel splitting" can help to
> further sharpen text (isn't it said that 600 dpi is the minimum to
have
> truly sharp text for reading?) A note in the final paragraph of this
> article was of especial interest: "Electronic books were the initial
> focus of Microsoft's research..." Here, again, Microsoft is being
> mentioned along with electronic books. Things are happening up in
> Washington, I gather. What?
>
>
>09-FEB-99: page 21, letter to the editor by Dennis Bronstein of Chicago,
> Illinois. I'll violate copyright law and reproduce his whole letter
> here. Note it is not about e-books, but about MP3 files, but I'll
> comment on its relevance to e-books:
>
> "Your article "Online Chaos: Blame It on Rio" (Trends, December 15)
only
> briefly touched on the real reason the RIAA and major record labels
are
> so opposed to MP3 technology. It's true that they will lose royalties
> from people copying CD's for their friends and distributing them on
the
> Internet. But this will not be a significant loss. What they are
scared
> of is losing control of the music industry. MP3 and the Internet have
> made it possible for artists to bypass the major labels and record,
> market, and distribute their music in a very cost-effective manner.
The
> day is almost here when artists will no longer have to wait for their
> big break to land a contract with a major label. Instead, they will
> simply distribute their music themselves over the Internet."
>
> The insights of the above excellent letter to the editor also apply
> directly to book publishing. Currently, because of the high cost of
> paper book publishing, the whole industry is setup around a pre-
> publishing filtering model where only a small fraction of all
submitted
> books get published. In addition, as a result of this system, authors
> are treated horribly by publishing houses -- the horror stories are
many,
> and have been mentioned here in a general way. Thus, as the
electronic
> book market continues to expand, I believe we'll see the rise of
direct
> e-book publishing -- the ability of authors to self-publish or publish
> with the help of a service bureau for very little cost to them, and to
> immediately make the works available to the public.
>
> Of course, the usual argument that this won't happen is that the
"people
> who buy books rely on the publishers to filter the titles for them."
But
> this argument ignores the probability that new mechanisms, paradigms
if
> you will, will arise to help the end-user to filter and find what they
> want to read without relying on a traditional publisher. Such
> "filtering" mechanisms will be "post-publishing". In several prior
> posts I have elaborated further on this idea. The MP3 phenomena is an
> archetypical glimmer of the future of the electronic book publishing
> industry. After all, for the last 100 years, the public has relied on
> the Recording Industry to filter and select the music they hear -- a
> reliance very similar to the public's reliance on paper book
publishers.
>
>
>The last question I'd like to throw out concerns Microsoft's role in the
>electronic book future. I've seen the phrase "electronic books" associated
>with Microsoft in several articles the last few months. Something is
brewing
>up in Washington. Anybody have behind the scenes information? If you have
>such information, forward it to me and I'll repost it, keeping your
identity
>a secret (I promise, I'll even delete your e-mail header and forget who you
>were). Better yet, use a pseudonymous e-mail account (such as HotMail) to
>forward your message to me, or an anonymous remailer.
>
>I don't mind being the "Drudge" of the new e-book industry. :^)
>
>Enjoy!
>
>Jon Noring
>
>--
>___________________________________________________________________________
__
> OmniMedia Digital Publishing | Web:
http://www.awa.com/library/omnimedia
> 9671 S. 1600 West St. | E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> South Jordan, UT 84095 | Phone: 801-253-4037
>
> The "Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana", "Perfumed Garden of Sheik Nefzaoui", and
> many other great electronic books for Windows.
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~
>
>
>
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