[Colin Dunstan]

Interesting article on ebooks at MSNBC. The question: Is this finally the beginning of the end of paper?

The answer is closer to "yes" than you may think. The holdup so far has been user-unfriendly screens, but now e-paper no longer relies on back-lit displays. A reflective display is easy on the eyes, with twice the contrast of computer screens and up to six times the brightness. It uses power only when changing the page, so a battery can last 300 hours. Several firms are vying for leadership. The Philip's display on Librie uses technology from Massachusetts-based E-Ink Corp. An electric charge moves either black or white capsules to the surface of the page in patterns that form images. Gyricon Media, a spin-off from Xerox, uses rotating balls with one black side and one white side for signs and billboards. Other companies are focusing on improvements in liquid-crystal displays. Philips' electrowetting is still "a wild card," says Peter Wierenga, head of display research.

The next challenge is to add color. One option for books would be a simple color filter, but that would block two thirds of the light. Guofu Zhou, who runs the E-ink project for Philips, thinks products with colored ink can be ready for the market within seven years. He's now focusing on e-paper that can display 16 or more gradations of gray, which would come in handy in medical imaging or to display black-and-white photographs at home.

E-paper could save newspapers a bundle on printing and distribution. In 10 years 12 percent of newspapers could be published on e-paper, says Harald Ritter, technology chief for Ifra, the publisher's group; eventually they'll all follow suit, just as the recording industry dropped vinyl. "In 20 to 30 years we will see newspaper publishers abandon print for economic reasons," says Roger Fidler, director of the Center for Cyber Information at Kent State University.