Book Dominoes

Here is a fun video for the weekend. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

20 years of e-readers

A recent posting on CNNMoney.com features a slideshow of some of the e-readers that have hit the market over the past 20 years. The slideshow includes the first e-reader, Sony Data Discman, which was released in 1991 and designed to read audio CD’s and CD-ROMs. You can view the full slide show here.

B&N Nook Color

Earlier this week, Barnes & Noble unveiled a new color version of its Nook reader. The device features a 7–inch color LCD screen and Android operating system. This is an interesting device because it combines features of an e-reader and a tablet. It has a color screen and on screen keyboard like a tablet but does not include all of the capabilities or the larger device size. It is like other e-readers because it is designed primarily for the purpose of reading. However, this device will not be as easy on the eyes because it features a LCD screen with backlighting rather than a black and white E Ink screen. In terms of price, it also falls between cheaper e-readers and pricier tablets. Jamie Iannone, president of digital products at B&N, described the Nook Color by saying, “This device is the reader's tablet.”

According to an article from The Wall Street Journal, magazine and newspaper subscriptions with color photos will be available on the device. In addition, according to a posting on the Bits Blog, B&N has also introduced a new feature called Nook Friends that will allow readers to share content and notes with friends via social networks.

It will be interesting to see how this new type of device does this holiday season. B&N is expected to begin shipping the devices on November 19th.

Digital Happenings

While the blog highlights many of the digital happenings affecting our industry, there is often more going on than we have a chance to cover. Here are some links to interesting articles from the past few days.

• Apple sold 4.19 million iPads last quarter bringing its total sales to almost 7.5 million since April. Interestingly, the iPad sales last quarter were greater than the sales for the entire line of Macintosh computers which also hit a record high at nearly 3.9 million units. Some analysts are now predicting that Apple will sell up to 40 million iPads next year.
• According to an article from Adage, Apple has also expanded distribution for the iPad to retailers such as Target, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Best Buy. Previously, the iPad was available at 300 Apple stores and now it will be available at 8,000 stores across the country.
• A recent survey of students by the Associated Press and mtvU found that 57 percent of students said that life without computers and cell phones would be stressful but 25 percent said it would be a relief.
• An article from The New York Times says that Sharp is scaling back its laptop operations to focus on tablets. Sharp plans to launch 5.5-inch and 10-inch screen Android tablets in December. In addition, Sharp will launch an e-book store that will give users access to 30,000 e-books, newspapers, and magazines. A second article from MacWorld provides more information about the tablets.
• According to a TechCrunch article, Amazon says that it continues to sell more Kindle books than print books. Amazon says that it has sold more than three times as many Kindle books from January to September of this year than it did for the same nine months of 2009. Amazon also says that sales for its latest Kindle device have already surpassed total Kindle device sales from the holiday season last year (October through December 2009).
• A recent article from Publishers Weekly discusses the challenges associated with formatting e-books.

Amazon announces a lending program for Kindle e-books

According to an announcement on Amazon’s website, later this year it will introduce an e-book lending program for Kindle users. Users will be able to loan an e-book to a friend that uses a Kindle device or the Kindle app. The loan period will be for 14 days and the lender will not be able to read the book during that time. The announcement notes that publishers and rights holders will determine whether or not their titles are available for lending. Barnes & Noble has a similar lending program in place for its Nook device.

Amazon also announced that it will make Kindle newspapers and magazines available for reading on the Kindle apps. This functionality will be available for Apple devices initially and for Android devices or other apps in the future. This functionality may encourage users to stay within the Kindle app for all of their reading on various devices.

Touch screen technology from Disney Research

An interesting CNN article says that Disney Research is working on a new touch screen technology called TeslaTouch. The new technology would allow users to feel the location of the keys on a flat screen because it uses small electrical impulses to create a pull and push between a person’s finger and the screen. It differs from other touch-sensitive screens because it can actually simulate the feeling of various textures or friction between objects.

Here is a link to a video demo with additional information.

Webinar on Effective Communication in Higher Education

On Tuesday, November 9th, Platt Retail Institute will be holding a webinar to discuss the results from their study on communication effectiveness in higher education. The webinar will include a discussion about the most effective communication methods and how digital technologies can improve the flow of information on college campuses.

In an email about the webinar, Steven Keith Platt, PRI Director and Research Fellow, noted, "Our research study found that 97 percent of students prefer to receive information via digital channels, rather than from non-digital sources. Overall, text messages were found to be the most effective distribution channel, followed closely by digital signage."

For those interested in attending, you can sign up here.