What books could be (starring Google)

Posted by The Technocrat | Filed under Geeky

You may have heard of Google’s attempts to digitize every book ever written, and offer it for free. They’ve recently run into a bit of trouble, because the publishing houses feel they might lose some money from this. This issue is ongoing, and reeks of politics, so I’m not going to get into it, since Google already is taking a fairly objective view of what is going on.

Enter electronic paper
Instead, I’d like to lay out what would be possible, using Google’s technology, combined with the latest in electronic paper. If you’ve never heard of electronic paper, either wait 2 years, or check it out now. E Ink has combined this type of display, which can keep a black-and-white image on its screen using a tiny bit of battery power. They also envision a wireless connection built into the frame.

Here’s where I see Google’s service utilized using electronic paper.

Add a USB port w/ native drive
No-one wants to sit and wait for each page to download. A USB port built into the frame of the page could hold a USB hard drive that could transparently be part of the frame. It could be used to either store downloaded content (downloaded at 54MB/sec if using 802.11g), or it could be removed from the frame and plugged into your computer, where content could be transferred to the drive at 480MB/sec.

Also, by adding USB plug-and-play support, you open a world of possibilities. (GPS would call up a Zagat guide for local eateries from Google, for example.)

Power needs
Before we go any further, this stuff is going to need some power. Fuel cells, step up. Because no-one is going to want to plug in their paper.

Wireless
This will have to be 802.21 enabled. This gives us instant access to any content, anywhere.

Bluetooth
Link your phone to the notepad, use it for contact management. Pictures from your camera-phone could be linked to Riya, and after taking a picture of a product UPC, Froogle could alert you to any better deals in the area.

RSS
Built into the paper’s embedded OS should be an RSS reader. Subscribe to your favorite magazine’s feed, for a $10 fee per year. Get every article. Subscribe to your teacher’s feed, get a copy of the book text, the assignment, and a copy of the teacher’s powerpoint of the lesson.

Color
I mean, who really wants to look at black letters on a gray background.

Protection
No-one wants a half-inch black plastic frame around a thin sheet of E-paper. Let’s build 2 sheets into a sleek portfolio. Stylin’.

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Comments (2) | November 25th, 2005

2 Responses to “What books could be (starring Google)”

  1. H. Hugo Says:
    December 13, 2009 at 8:00 pm

    I love my Amazon Kindle. I didn’t think that I would like reading from a screen since I’m not fond of reading from a regular computer screen, but this is wonderful. It is great for carrying anywhere. More convenient than a regular book in some cases. The display is awesome. There is no glare, no shadowing, and you can switch font sizes in mere seconds. I also LOVE that I can look up definitions for unknown or curious words instantly. I was forever turning down page corners so that I could go back and look up a word, just to satisfy my own curiosity, and then I never got back to them. Now, I can just click a button, and there the definition is. Awesome. And the downloads are lightening fast. Now I am never without a book. I am content!

  2. Portable eBook Reader Says:
    December 14, 2009 at 4:33 am

    This article was written back in 2005 and it is pretty smack on the mark of the Kindle!

    Just goes to show that there are some forward thinking writers on the internet – even then!

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