Electronic book readers such as Sony’s Digital Reader and Amazon’s Kindle have their fans, but the displays are difficult to read in sunlight and do not show colors well. A new kind of electronic paper could make the readers brighter and more colorful, which is of interest to conservationists who would like to see the devices replace paper editions.
The prototype is an “electrofluidic display” built by the University of Cincinnati’s Novel Devices Laboratory. Lead researcher Jason Heikenfeld says the display can create 1,000 colors, reflects about 55 percent of ambient light and could reach 85 percent reflectivity. Today’s commercial readers, which use a different screen technology, reflect about 40 percent of ambient light and become even dimmer when showing color images because filters must be added.
Heikenfeld and his colleagues recently formed Gamma-Dynamics, LLC, to commercialize their innovation. The goal, Heikenfeld says, is to continue to improve display quality “until it can mimic the appearance of pigment on paper.”
Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Paperless Books: A Step Closer."
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8 Comments
Add CommentThe technology exists where e-book and e-media readers can be as clear and sharp as your computer. The reason they are not is because of greed and ignorance. Let me give you an example: it costs AT&T .o3 cents to send a text message and they charge their customers .20 cents for that message. That is greed at its finest.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisApple can expand their 3G8 iPhone to the size of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper; implement the new color processor that they use on their computers, manufacture about 2 million of them and sell them for about $50.00, make a fortune and the people gets a fantastic e-reader/blue-tooth telephone/w/long life battery and everybody is happy. I can brighten my 3G8 to where I can read it just fine out in the sunlight; just turn away from the bright sun.
It seems our engineers are degressing instead of progressing. They need to get their heads out of their keesters and get down to some serious work. It does not take decades to create something we already have. Only greed can make something take decades to create.
Completely disagree with JamesDavis. ePaper technology has advantages that go beyond just showing text. If that was the only goal, then yes, all this ePaper investment would be silly. The main advantages of ePaper are the reflective nature and the bi-stability. Together they allow for battery times several times larger when compared to devices with LCD. Readability of paper (not ePaper for now), which is reflective, is much higher then that of any LCD, it doesn't matter how you try to get around it. LCDs are harder on the eyes, especially with the brightness maxed out. Another advantage of reflective technologies is the possibility for flexible screens for which there are already prototypes of rollable and therefore extensible screens.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy class in geneics this fall will use paperless textbooks, which are about half the hard copy price, and are available in pdf format and from the web. Electronic technology allows highlighting, comments, and eventually, animation and streaming video illustrations.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, in the appropriate context, references may link to the e-journals in our university libraries. Furthermore, custom textbooks can be assembled with selected parts from different books. The "new edition" idea may be less distinct.
In other projects, many old books in the library are being scanned and these e-books will become accessible over the internet, with links from the citations in current publications.
Publishers of textbooks will be making adjustments in their marketing plans, which I think will be good for them as well as for the readers. Instead of complete reprinting a new edition, updates can become much more dynamic. It is a different technology than the Amazon Kindle, but a lower cost, wider availability, quicker revisions, and many other features can be expected.
It is unclear how copyright rules will be affected, or the need for changes in the details of copyright restrictions. Rapid response to requests for permission can be more enforceable and less expensive. Indeed, the field of permissions may be much more lucrative for publishers, and inexpensive for users. Amazon's Kindle has been such a revolutionary factor we can use to speculate on other impacts in publishing.
Dick Richardson
Professor
I bought a Kindle about a year ago because I could adjust the type size to fit my needs I have used it for both books and newspapers. I doubt any device will replace the esthetic value of a well designed book. tho its value for many large and bulky texts is clear. At present I use it only for the newspaper, will no longer use it for books. I will find some other means of enlarging print .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have owned an ebook for five years and I love it. I don't have any problems reading in bright sunlight or total darkness. I do have problems with the reflective screen. I have problems with finding the right format for my favorite authors. I respect the copyright laws but I think they hinder progress and convenience to the reader.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes Kindle and other ebooks allow for sharing? The passing along of a favorite book to a friend is one of the joys of reading. (Haven't seen anything about this in my Kindle research.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo e-book will ever replace the look, feel, and smell of the real thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs the owner of a printing shop called hot off the press (www.hototp.com) that prints a lot of books and technical manuals, in Redmond Washington (home of Microsoft) I'm not worried at all about e-books. Just like scttygrrl states no e-book will ever replace the look, feel, and smell of the real thing. You don't have to worry about power, batteries, or breaking the book by dropping it to hard.
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