The future of reading: A tantalizing preview from France
By Paul Biba
Editor’s note: We’ve pointed to the video before, Paul has added the GSM angle. – DR
This is a remarkable video that Michael Pastore let me know about. I strongly suggest you give it a shot. The full size version is here.
It’s in French, with subtitles (the first minute is blank for some reason, but you don’t miss anything). The infrastructure for the telecommunications part is almost there as the 4th generation of GSM is on the way.
The display technology is, I would guess, at least 10 years off. But when it is ready…
The role of the bookstore is interesting— it becomes a catalog for the reader, but note that there is still a place for hardcover ownership.
Technorati Tags: e-book, e-books, ebook readers, ebooks, ereaders, Paul Biba, publishing, TeleRead
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:08 am
This new version of the video contains subtitles in English. Merci!
In this possible future, print books and ebooks co-exist in a symbiotic harmony. Ebooks have not replaced print books, nor have they eliminated workers in the publishing industry. The bookstore has not vanished, it plays a new role, as a kind of museum and library where buyers can view the books they want, discuss books with a knowledgeable bookstore owner, and then choose either the print version — in any language — or the electronic.
Michael Pastor
50 Benefits of Ebooks
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
And I screensnapped the hell out of it earlier:
http://ebooktest.blogspot.com/2009/07/part-of-ebook-vision.html
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
The commentary and screen shots by Mike Cane are A++.
We saw that the ebook prices are the same as the paperback, but we don’t know if those prices are high, low, or somewhere in between.
There was an article recently (in the NY Times ?) about using electronic devices (laptops, netbooks, iPhones, etc.) on the beach: it’s not a good match, dangerous for the hardware. But apparently, these futuristic devices are impervious to sand and seawater. When they say “read anywhere” they mean it.
Michael Pastore
50 Benefits of Ebooks