Archives For ebook

R. David Lankes, director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, NY, laments over the fact that today’s batch of ereaders are limited gadgets that do very little to enhance the reading experience. He does acknowledge that he enjoys and readily uses ereaders of various sorts but is hopping for much more. He also points to the fact that collobration with the author other readers and other information is really where the future of ereaders should be.

We are on the cusp of something significant and perhaps with the release of the iPad we will start to scratch the potential of the future of reading and perhaps learning. We do have a long way to go but you have to start somewhere…

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Looks like changes has always been challenging…

This slide show by Darrel K. Taft of eWeek explains that HTML5 which will enable a whole new class of Web applications that support multimedia content and offline capability without the need for proprietary plug-in technology.

A little glimpse into the future…Why is this important?

The functionality that will be necessary to move ebooks beyond passive screen readers will more than likely from HTML5.

In the Gizmodo article The iPad will rule the world Jesus Diaz points to the Alan Kay quote regarding the iPad. While the size is one of the key factors to this prediction so is the fact that Kay envisioned a universally accessible wireless connected device–when you combine the size with the access the iPad may just be the start to a whole new future.

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The Wall Street Journal has posted the above video that was developed by CourseSmart which reveals their vision of what Apple’s rumored tablet may be able to do.

Lots of questions:

  • Will we see the Apple Tablet announced at CES in the next week or will Apple wait until the end of the month?
  • How much of a lag will their be between the announcement of the device and its availablility?
  • Will it be a closed platform?
  • Will its focus be purely consumer and what will that mean for the academic environment?
  • If announced who will Amazon, Sony, Microsoft and all the other ereader developers respond?

Looking forward to the next few weeks.