For a long time, I have been only lurking on this forum without making any post. However, one thing happened today that thrilled me and made to share it with you folks.
Just yesterday I was thinking of new ideas for ebooks and imagined if there will be a huge, wall-size ereader, which can serve as a group readeing device and can be operated with a remote control. I thought it will be good to be placed in public waiting rooms or private homes, where content can be selected on consensus among readers.
To my utter amazement, as I searched the web for some ebook keywords, I came accross this blog post which is already one year old but strikingly similar to the idea I thought of yesterday! Isn't this wonderful?
WINNER: SuperFlyer 5000
Design: Hot Studio
And, we have a winner! Hot Studio and Friends, with their concept for shared living room reading, takes the grand prize. There was a serious case of kitchen-sinkism on this (massive entry), but perhaps this was understandable given the large team they convened for the effort. While life in the living room is increasingly fragmented across devices, and media content keeps upping the hyper in order to grab some fraction of our attention span, Hot has a big idea a la Slow Food: bringing reading back into the media room so people can spend time together...with books. This concept reconsiders the entire reading gesture, going from hand-held/one foot away, to hands-free/10 feet away. Research participants told us that they saw books as a respite from their over-connected, screen-based lifestyles; here's an application of those digital technologies that has the potential to engage people with reading in a new way.
The team also deserves special mention for the quality of their effort. They illustrate their solutions in a variety of ways, showing the power of quick-and-dirty paper and Photoshop prototyping. In bringing people together to create and inspire each other, they've generated a best-in-class artifact that reveals great process, uses scenarios based on research participants, and a demonstration of how humor can help sell an idea. Hot Studio modeled how it really should be done. Kudos!
http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_...ding_15084.asp