It's almost like the Holy Grail of e-books: technology to flip ("skim") through dozens of digital pages and be able to catch a glimpse of what is on each page - much like browsing through a book. Singapore software company E-Book Systems (EBS) might be able to deliver such a e-book technology very soon. According to yesterday's article (http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,78717,00.html) at Singapore's The New Paper, EBS has its own patented technology called Digital Flip, which allows you to flip an e-book just like its paper version:

It was first used in its consumer range of products called FlipAlbum, allowing people to make virtual photo albums. The company claims to have sold one million of FlipAlbum products to date worldwide.

Though I have never heard of FlipAlbum, I am anxious to see how this technology works when it is applied to e-book reader software.

I don't know, is this a good feature. Readers doesn't have to mimic paper books, I say.
Well, in terms of power consumption that would be cool, though.

I can think of one scenario where this might become useful: when skimming through textbooks, such as college textbooks.

Hey, you've got yourself a PPC!

While sitting at the airport lounge in Changi, I met a guy who worked for this company. He showed me a demo of his product. I must admit, it's pretty cool. He said that the company's main customers, are education institute. To be precise, Kindergarten and Primary schools.

But it's not just the "look and feel" of flipping a real book that sells. The company offers all the good stuff multimedia can bring to a story line. So, it the case of a children book, the young reader will be presented with little things that make reading enjoyable. One sample he showed me was a Japanese book, which a boy enters a room, then switch the light on, showing the effect of a dark room to a lighted room. Well, you get the idea.

Regards,
Deva