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Roger Fidler on Future of Tablet Technology 46

Posted by CmdrTaco from the plausible-hype dept.
Joshua Fouts writes "Interesting story on the future of Tablet Technology on OJR.org by Roger Fidler, author of "Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media." Fiddler explores whether new products, such as the e-book and the Webpad, will supplant newspapers and other print publications. It's called The Pulse of Tablet Technology "
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Roger Fidler on Future of Tablet Technology More

Roger Fidler on Future of Tablet Technology

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  • What about PalmPilot? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If you own a PalmPilot then you can try reading ebooks from Peanut Press [peanutpress.com]. No need to spend extra on expensive devices that aren't nearly as portable, battery-friendly, and versatile as the PalmPilot.

    Last time I checked their site they had a few good sci fi books by Greg Bear and Vernor Vinge.

  • All I really want is a tablet that works like the ones on ST.

    Simple & small.

    --
  • For those of you who didn't see my posting [slashdot.org] on the agalmics article, I mentioned the need of having a portable book reader. This is one of the steps towards liberation of information (free in price and in modifyability). When I say information, I mean good, useful information, like technical books and such. My previous posting (linked above) describes this in more detail.

  • Here's a link you can read without Javascript:

    http://oj r.usc.edu/sections/features/99_stories/stories_tab let_040299.htm [usc.edu]

  • There is a standard format being worked on right now, with most, if not all, tablet companies participating (along with, oddly, Microsoft). It's known as the Open eBook format, and looks to be, thankfully, XML based. More on it at http://www.openebook.org/.

    mahlen

    A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.
  • I've owned a Rocket since December, and i've been meaning to write a review of it, but since it's on topic, here's my "executive summary". The hardware just plain works, the details are largely thought through well. Using it i discovered disadvantages to regular books i'd never noticed before; both my wife and i wish that most of the books we buy could be eBooks. The batteries last forever, you can read in bed with no other light on, crisp display (106 dpi). Books take up almost no physical space, which is key in our crowded apartment in no-rent-is-too-high San Francisco. It supports hyperlinks within a document. (All right, not really short enough for an executive summary).

    Downside is content; while the Rocket is way ahead of SoftBook in number of titles, that's still only 421 titles as of today. The word is that publishers are slow to convert (compared to what the tech world would expect) and prices are (as pointed out by SuperKendall above) sometimes more than printed prices, which is insane. This must change ASAP.

    This drawback will be somewhat alleviated by the software release that allows HTML imports. I expect this to be released any day now, since the Beta test for this feature was mid-March. That opens up all of the Gutenberg Project texts (http://www.gutenberg.net), along with any Web page(s), of course.

    I found it odd that Fidler disdained the Rocket on the grounds that you can't do large page displays. I read the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in print, and neither of these are exactly Ray-Gun or WallPaper; they are mostly just long blobs of text. I might not want a reference book with lots of diagrams, but then such books are usually read by the computer, not lying on the couch. I read a lot of fiction or narrative, where page design is a non-issue, and the Rocket excels at that. In fact, one of the top sellers for the Rocket is the online edition of the Wall Street Journal. I foresee a lot of potential for eBook ditributed periodicals.

    Most controversial (for the /. crowd, at least) is the fact that the platform is completely proprietary, and content is majorly encrypted. This is, of course the only reason why publishers even consider using it, and i have to say, i don't blame them. I wouldn't put a year's worth of work, with which i was hoping to pay my bills, in any electronic venue in a non-encrypted form. This is why laptops and such are really not in the same league.

    I really think this is the birth of a new medium; instant widespread distribution via the Internet, plus writers can get paid. Won't wipe out paper, to be sure, but so what?

    mahlen

    I defend myself by saying that, although this seemed immoral to me, it also seemed as though it wouldn't ever work anyway.
    --Fred Pohl, "The Coming of the Quantum Cats", ca. 1985
  • First of all, don't you just hate it when there are two links with an identical URL? Hehe.

    Anyway, here are my $.02 on electronic media replacing paper: I often hate reading things on my screen, and I like to print them out and read them on paper. For one thing, I want to avoid every second I can of looking at the screen, since my vision is dropping rapidly. Also, I'm often annoyed by bad word wrapping, and having to keep my hand on the keyboard or the mouse to scroll down. 'Puters are still the best for research, since you can do things like searching by string, but I'm not buying a tablet until it knows to turn itself off if I fell asleep while reading in bed. Provided I can use it to read in bed of course..

    ---
  • Don't get the anti-glare glasses. It costs an extra $60-100 to apply the coating, and it doesn't do shit. I got it for my glasses. It makes no difference, except that some people can't see with its green reflection.

    As for typing faster than you write, I'm exactly the same way. That's why I hate those laptop keyboards. I've dealt with about a dozen laptops, and only one (I forget which) had a semi-usable layout, meaning that I could type pretty fast if I didn't use any keys but letters. The numbers caused a lot of problems. Sometimes they only come with one Ctrl and/or Alt key. Ugh.

    ---
  • Freudian slip... That should be Linus Write-Top, not Linux.

    P.S., Don't forget to check out the Vintage Computer Festival [siconic.com] if you're interested in computer history (which, of course, has a direct bearing on the future of computers.)

  • Vadem has a neat psudeo pda that would fit into a category of its own... smaller than a laptop, but bigger than a palmtop, the screen can flip over and lay on top of the keyboard to make it like a tablet... i'm not sure what the resolution is, but it could probably be used for the same kind of thing.... looks pretty cool to me... $999 though...

    Vadem Clio [vadem.com]

  • Mostly what I would like an electronic book for is to read content that is already on-line; it's simply too much of a pain to print it (even with a 100ppm printer).

    Unfortunately, all the electronic book companies have a model where I'm largely limited to what they offer in their on-line bookstores.

    I'm not convinced that this is a viable long-term market anyway. A pen-based Windows CE machine, for example, is more versatile than an electronic book and has about the same battery life.

  • Take a stroll back to the start of the 80's with me, remember the flaks saying that "Since Compact Disks cost less to produce that savings will be passed on to the consumer!"

    So, recordings are more than 2x the price they were then (vinyl new release- $7.99, CD new release 17.99). If people will pay for it, they will charge it. Like I really needed to say that... just call me captain tautology.
  • I understand the convenience of these things. Once they have good contrast, light weight, and good battery life, I would be willing to part with a few (just a few) hundred for one, but how much are the books and how many are there? Since the actual cost of printing a book is trivial compared to the book, I wonder. Then again, there's also shipping and sales, which add to a books costs, whereas an Electronic book could be purchased through automation. Anybody know?
  • eGlasses!

    So PalmPilot made a concession with handwriting recognition and create Grafiti, or however you spell it, to speed up usage and adoption of the technology.

    Imagine something similar, but to replace or supplement styluses! These glasse are either clip ons for regular glasses or a real pai, or if nothing else, a monocle, or something you strap on next to your eyes...

    These things will register eye movement.

    No more scrolling manually, no more clicks to page flip, to select text, to select links, etc.

    Looking at a margin causes scrolling in that direction. If you squint too much, text gets enlarged. If you stare at a word, a popup with its definition and context can appear. Stare at a link, and you are transported there. Look at a button, and it's clicked. Look at an index, and get sent to the correct page. Page scrolling speed adjusts to your reading rate.

    Wouldn't that be just cool?

    I think it's very possible, see stuff on BioMuse to see more...
    BioMuse [biocontrol.com]

    AS
  • Wah!
    Don't tell me you do VLSI layout!

    Do you use Magic or something else? Or am I waaaay of topic, from your via comment?

    AS
  • There are significant differences between a 'computer' and a electronic device. The premise of a computer is the capability to do many things reasonably or acceptably, at the expense of doing things well. If the target of an e-book is the dissemination of information, then by necessity an e-book *will* be different from a computer, which has among its many varied usages the input of information, modification of information, processing of information, and collection of information. Besides that, a computer also has the ability to modify itself, with regards to information, and if the e-book is a self contained viewer, it need not many of the functions a modern computer has.

    A few buttons for a limited amount of data manipulation, perhaps changing of font, display controls, text size, reading speed, graphics, etc. I can see a computing tablet existing alongside an electronic tablet, but with a fourfold price difference, and perhaps a fourfold weight difference as well. I'm not sure its an issue of computer phobia, as much as utility and minimal functionality.

    AS
  • Is this true?

    I use the library for that purpose. I only buy books I read several times over, until the bindings fall off. Something like how I only buy DVDs of movies I watch several times through.

    So the culture definitely exists to buy a 200$ viewer(like a VCR or DVD player), and spending a reasonable sum to read/view/own it, maybe 10$ for an e-book 'chip' that comes in a special version of the regular paperback, viewable in a e-book or something.

    AS
  • And a pen-based PalmPilot, while less versatile, is currently more useful...

    WinCE machines suffer similarly to eBooks and such; low batter life, poor screen technology(you need bigger displays for such a visual/graphical system), and weight/size problems.

    I'm waiting for a GameBoyPalm, an attachment to a Color GameBoy that provides a larger greyscale screen with stylus input, but uses the GameBoy's internals and IR link and such...

    AS
  • I think it's either subjective or really dependent on the situation. Anti-glare cannot eliminate glare in all situations, and sometimes it is worthless. If you are in a low glare situation, you won't notice a difference. However, in arctic situations, anti-glare really is useful and really does work. Likewise for driving against the sun, or flying into the sun, the effects of the sun itself can overwhelm the anti-glare properties of the glasses.

    Anti-glare coats on monitors help in similar situations, where there is a bright light over head, but not if it's behind the monitor itself...

    AS
  • Imagine a pair of glasses that reduced eye strain as well as tracking eye movement, so that there would no longer be need for scrolling or page flipping or even simple stylus operation!

    Glance at the edge, and the page scrolls that direction, or flips, or whatever. Glance at a button, and it presses itself. Stare at a word, and a popup or dialog with a definition and context appears. Stare at a link, and the link is accessed. Look at a row of page numbers and instantly select a page...

    Am I missing anything in this?

    AS
  • Check out Steve Mann's www.wearcomp.org, his glasses do things similar things such as people tracking.

  • My TP600 with Linux on it does just about as good if not better than one of those tablets in terms of battery life and visual clarity. And, I can do a hundred other things with it, too.

    The one thing I CAN'T do is ROLL IT UP, but I suppose that might be too much to ask of a technology that is basically trying to imitate print.

    If we really want to create a new paradigm, how about talking books? What I really mean is highly intelligible text-to-speech. No need to conform to the flat page, and it would be eyes-free. That's what I'd spend my commute time with - listening to a carefully-selected subset of the news: "all /.", or "all Kosovo", etc.

    Re: text-to-speech systems, Festival [ed.ac.uk] is getting good, but I still found it required too much concentration to listen to for a long time. Someday, though...

  • Well, I think lightness and form factor are the most important physical features of any tablet. I already use my PalmIII for reading novels from Project Gutenberg. I end up using the backlight quite a bit, but it works.

    I am also convinced that to be practical, a tablet should have an open format so you can load whatever docs you want onto it. Who wants to have to pay for public domain books just because they are in someone else's format.

  • I just posted a response talking about this, which is one of my biggest pet-peeves about the current state of e-books. At least in the case of the RocketBook, books are actually more expensive than the real print versions!! Just look at "Barnes & Nobel" (I refuse to give them a real link), do a search, choose "Electronic Books" as the format, and search - now pick any book on the list, search for a title and compare the paperback/hardcover prices to the Electronic Book versions

    I too wouldn't mind paying a fair sum of money if all the computer reference books (for example) in electronic form would be a lot cheaper.

    Unfortunatley, The publishing industry has its head stuck down the same hole as the music industry. Thus they have lots of encryption built into the e-books they are selling, and you have a limited supply of books they are even willing to convert. Even with that jacking up the cost, I still don't see why it's more.

    For more on the RocketBook, you can read the FAQ [rocketbook.com]. The most interesting item to me is:

    Q.
    What type of encryption is used? How does it work?
    A.
    Public/Private key encryption technology is used to insure copyright protection for all purchased titles. Titles cannot be viewed from a reader's PC. Titles are encrypted in such a way that only the specific customer's Rocket eBook, which the title was purchased for, can decrypt the text.

    In short, very close to a Divx-style book (no portability of purchased product), just no pay-per read fee.

    One good thing the FAQ did point out was that later versions of the RocketBook librarian will alow importing of user documents into the thing.
  • I thought I'd make a minor correction my oroginal post - after reading the RocketBook FAQ [rocketbook.com], it looks like they do plan on later support for users importing thier own documents.
  • Along the same lines--

    In David Brin's Brightness Reef series, a woman who's been associating with Galactic technology all her life is dumped among primitives who among other things print books.

    She takes a look at it.

    "Ah!" she says. "A portable, random access information store that can't be detected from orbit."

    Ric Locke
    warlocke@wf.net
    "Humble Opinion" is an oxymoron
  • Hmmm, reminds me of one of the uses of nano-machines in Neal Stevenson's The Diamond Age. Check it out.
  • Most people (and here I refer to the non-geek world that still forms a majority), when they buy today's Washington Post [washingtonpost.com] or the newest John Grisham or Tom Clancy paperback, are looking for something they can read once, just about anywhere, and then get rid of. When you make an e-book as easy to read and handle as a paperback or a newspaper, AND bring the cost down to roughly $7-10 for the novel or 25-50c for the news, then people will be interested.

    Until then, I'll stick with stacks of paperbacks in my bookshelf and a print edition of the Post that I can take and read anywhere, and leave my online general-news reading to the four other regional newspapers I read daily, but for which I couldn't afford printed editions to be mailed to my dorm room.
  • I too get sick of reading stuff on the screen, and often print stuff to read. And, I believe there is something to it, "eye burn" or whatever they call it.

    But, I do also reconize that there have been some advances in the ability of these things to create less eye strain. I think very shortly I am going to look into getting some glasses. I have heard from several people that I work with (who don't where prescription glasses) that there is a great benifit to getting some special glasses for using the computer. Some kind of filtering and anti-glare stuff, and it reduces eye strain.

    And, have you looked at some of the newer laptops lately? CRT displays still suck on eye strain, and these "tablet" devices still use really cheap LCD (and usually grey and black, not exactly high contrast). But some of the newer laptops are really making some great progress in displays, and eyestrain while using them is a lot less than it use to be.

    I think that right now they are mostly working on the other end of technology, making progress in the software and the size and power consumption of the electronics... and somewhat neglecting the displays. When they get the other hardware down, then i think they will get around to reducing eye strain (clearer, sharper, brighter displays).

    As for the keyboard, well, I for one can type WAY faster than I can write, and would really miss having a keyboard. But I could deal ok with a pointer or other mouse replacement.

  • I happen to agree with Fidler's hands-on comparisons (the sidebar). All of the attempts at electronic books that I've seen have suffered from the limitations that today's inexpensive display technologies do. They're either hard to see (gameboy-ish displays), or they're backlit and weigh too much and suck batteries. Neither is particularly appealing for reading a long passage of text.

    I don't necessarily agree that e-books must be all *that* different from (well-designed) "computers" to survive. People will get over their computer-phobia *eventually*. Besides, I don't think I could deal with an e-book that didn't have *some* buttons! :)
  • First off, if you go to the OJR home page [ojr.org], you can get to the actual article; their internal links seem to be a little screwy.

    I am proud to have in my collection [sinasohn.com] Several significant tablet-type computers: the GRiDPad, the GRiD 2260 and 2270 (aka Convertable), Amstrad PDA600, a Telepad 3, and (soon) a Linux Write-Top.

    For more on the history of pen-computing, see:

    • probably the best collection [blinkenlights.com] of pen-based computers in the world (though not yet documented online)
    • some valuable info [erols.com] on the history of pen-based computing

    While I love books, and have hundreds (if not thousands), I have long felt that the advantages of reading electronic-based information has definite advantages -- the same ones we have come to take for granted with the web and other electronic references. (Things like hyperlinks to related material, in-line definitions, multi-media, and so on.)

    In addition, the easy, familiar format of things like the GRiDPad, CrossPad, etc. lend themselves to quick replacement of the traditional pad of paper for note-taking, surveying, and other data entry. The ease of integrating remotely gathered data into centralized databases/references will ultimately make such devices commonplace.

    In short, technology such as the WebPad, e-books, and CrossPad will be augmenting more and more everyday tasks, from taking notes in meetings, to compiling grocery lists, from street corner surveys to reading the latest news while climbing the stairmaster at the gym.

    P.S., if anyone has examples of early tablets (such as those from Go, Momenta, Motorola, AT&T, etc.) or other older portable computers they want to find a new home for, please feel free to contact me! [mailto]

  • Ouch. Then I guess there's no point.

  • The ebooks reviewed range from $500.00 to $1200.00. One can by a laptop for that kind of money.

    I think Cyrix's web tablet has for more potential. They intend to give it away with the purchase of service provider contracts. In the same way you can get a DSS dish for free when you sign up for a year of service. The web tablet is wireless, you can view anything available on the web in color. Its a great idea which has far more potential than the current rounf of ebooks.

  • Nice article, though nothing I haven't seen before.

    This will all become more relevant when all those new display technologies he wrote about come of age... some of those new ultrathin plastic LCDs I can see in a nice letter-size webpad display.

    The most imortant point he made was about not making a bunch of slimmed-down PCs. The idea is not tablet computing, but tablet media consumption. That's what worried me about the Cyrix WebPad-- which was pretty much a slimline PC.

    Having thin tablets means not just physically: software and hardware-wise, too.
  • I don't like any of the proposed e-books - either they have proprietary formats so you cannot create your own material to read, or they are too bulky, or they have a short battery life... and they are all too expensive.

    Some, like the RocketBook, are even more expesive than you might think. If you look at the comparison prices for the RocketBook version of "Monica's Story [barnesandnoble.com]" at B&N (blast this /. editor, it's inserting a space in the link - either remove the space or use the full text of link printed below), the list price is the same for hardcover and the RocketBook, but the actual prices render the hardcover version cheaper than the RocketBook!! I just chose that as the currently featured RocketBook. There's also examples like "The Heart of Darkness", which is $1 for a paperback and $5 for a RocketBook.

    Why on earth should an electronic version of something cost even as much as a paperback version of a book? They should at least cost a bit less than the current printed version.

    My dream machine is this - a Pilot like the Palm V, but with an attachable large format screen. You just dock the Pilot into the large fold-away screen for serious reading sessions, then whisk the screen into storage for normal on-the-go use. You could have all sorts of different sized displays for different uses...

    Here's the "Monica's Story" link in full text:

    http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/result s.asp?userid=2OBWQOS6R9&mscssid=1G964C49VJ SH2LGP00CGND08MP6TDX5B&pcount=0&title=Monica%27s+S tory

  • will be the killer hardware (or rather "software") for this kind of stuff. Fold it up and stash it in your bag. Millions of little ink droplets in a matrix which can be manipulated to form an arbitary image. Now if only they can get it to market...

    a wired article about Xerox's efforts [wired.com]

    I seem to remember there was an MIT project too, but I can't find the link.

  • Happened to find this in my mail a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps its new .. perhaps not. Enjoy.

    Shri

    Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device, trade-named-BOOK.

    BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use, even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere-even sitting in an armchair by the fire - yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD- ROM disc.

    Here's how it works:

    BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, BOOKS with more information simply use more pages. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet.

    BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting, though, like other devices, it can become damaged if coffee is spilled on it and it becomes unusable if dropped too many times on a hard surface. The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an "index" feature, which pin-points the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.

    An optional "Bookmark" accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session - even if the BOOK has been closed. Bookmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single Bookmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOK markers can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK.

    You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with optional programming tools, Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Styli (PENCILS).Portable, durable, and affordable, BOOK is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave

    BOOK's appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to invest. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

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