06:57 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

NTERA, an Ireland-based developer of nanomaterials with manufacturing operations in Taiwan and Ireland, announced the availability of its NanoChromics display technology at the DEMO 2005 show yesterday.

The company's proprietary NanoChromics display (NCD) contains a reflective layer made of a nanostructured film of titanium dioxide – the chemical used to make paper white. This creates a solid white background with the appearance, reflectivity and contrast of a high quality, printed paper sign. Like a real paper sign, the display is readable at very acute angles. Electrochromic viologen molecules in front of the reflective background give the visual effect of ink on paper when colored and of pure white paper when bleached. Different colors are produced using different viologens. Because viologens are able to attach in high numbers to a nanostructured cathode with a very large surface area, strong coloration is achieved. Past attempts to use electrochromic effects in display applications suffered from both weak coloration and long switching times. With NCD technology, the electrochromic viologen molecules are bound to the surface of the nanostructured cathode, meaning they can be switched very rapidly from colorless to colored and vice versa.

Power consumption of the NCD is reduced by eliminating the need for backlighting; plus, the displays' 1V DC operation is currently the lowest drive voltage of any bistable technology (bistable means that power is only required for image updating, resulting in reduced power consumption).

Built on existing LCD lines, NanoChromics displays will have the optical qualities of the printed page, specifically high brightness and contrast over a wide range of viewing angles and a "paper-white" background. Potential applications for NCD technology include in-store pricing systems, public and advertising signage, mobile communications, and electronic paper and books. George Powlick, manager of one of the venture capital firms invested in NTERA, said: "The compelling advantages of NTERA's display technology, combined with the ability to produce the displays NanoChromics on existing LCD manufacturing lines, has already enabled it to secure significant customer interest. We look forward to working with the company’s management team to maximise in exploiting its potential."

At the DEMO 2005 show, the company showed off an iPod with a modified NCD screen; it definitely exceeded the original iPod in crisp- and brightness. However, how long it'll take for this amazing technology to make it into mainstream mobile audio players, handhelds and e-book readers is still a big unknown.

06:39 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

IDG News Service interviewed PalmSource CEO David Nagel, where he talks about PalmSource's acquitision of China MobileSoft, the Chinese market for mobile devices in general, the role of Linux as an operation system for mobile devices, and his personal opinion on the future of the PDA:

It's not dead. We still see 3 to 4 million of these devices being sold with our operating system. What we're finding, though, is that the market is evolving. There are people, like my wife, who still use a PDA. Although she has a smart phone, she just recently bought a new PDA because she does digital photography and uses it as a photo album. Some people will want a combined device, others will want two. The market will sort this out.

01:35 AM by cbarnett in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

Gowerpoint have released a new version of µbook.

The new version 0.9c, adds some options to the autoscroll feature, as well as a new (and unique) option to display very light guidelines under the text to aid reading.

µbook is my favourite reader. Check it out!

Craig.

10:59 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Albert from CanalPDA.com kindly send us word of Why you should read e-books... and why you won't (Spanish original), an essay which depicts the current pro's and con's of e-books in the publishing market.

In short: e-books are convenient, compact, discreet, and more complete; however, they are also expensive, in English (limited languages), sparse, and too personal (due to DRM requirements).

Definitely thought inspiring and a required read for every e-book publisher who wants to gain acceptance in the future e-book market.

09:24 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Reuters reports: Symbian doubled shipments of its smartphone software in the fourth quarter and it expects continued strong growth in 2005, its CFO said today. Symbian, whose software powers advanced, computer-like handsets, said its operating system was installed in 5.68m phones in the fourth quarter compared with 2.76m in the year-earlier period. Royalty revenues from the shipments grew 61 percent to 17.5m pounds ($32.6 million).

In another press release of today Motricity announced that it has joined the Symbian Platinum Program and will extend its mobile content distribution solutions (eReader software) to the Symbian OS. In addition, the company has also launched the website SymbianGear.com.

09:10 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

There're some rumors (originating from a keynote speech by Peter Knook, head of Windows Mobile, at 3GSM World Congress 2005) suggesting that later today (18:00 CET) Microsoft could make a major announcement related to Windows Mobile, Motorola and palmOne.

And what could that mean? A next palmOne Treo powered with Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003SE? Almost too scary

06:21 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Group Sense PDA announced the new Xplore M68 smartphone this morning at 3GSM World Congress. The PalmOS-powered smartphone is available now in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Features include:

- Palm OS Garnet 5.4
- Bluetooth
- Triband (GSM 900, 1.800, and 1.900 MHz, and GPRS class 10)
- 1.3 megapixel integrated camera
- 32 MB RAM / 64 SDRAM flash memory
- 2.2" 160x220 pixel 64K color display
- a OMAP-310-processor from Texas Instruments
- SD/MMC Card expansion

06:08 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

SplashBlog lets you instantly publish photos from your PalmOne Treo (or any other Palm OS-powered wireless PDA) to an online photo album (photo blog) to share with others. Versions of SplashBlog for other handheld platforms (Windows Mobile Pocket PC, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Symbian Series 60 and Symbian UIQ) are scheduled to be released in Q2 2005.

SplashBlog is available for a limited time introductory offer of $19.95 (normally $29.95). A 30-day full-functioning trial is also available for download.

This sounds like a cool tool for everyone who is on a longer trip without notebook access and has the urgent need to instantly share his or her photos with others online!