Interactive Displays Conference 2010 – Coming Up!

Developers and manufacturers will gather in San Jose to tackle the challenges of emerging interactive technologies at the second annual Interactive Displays Conference. The improvement of multitouch displays for commercial and consumer devices will be up for discussion, along with advances in haptic feedback and 3D tracking tools.

Jeff Han and Steven Bathiche were recently announced as Co-Chairs for IDC 2010.

Both are pioneers in the field of surface computing. Han, founder of Perceptive Pixel,  stands as one of TIME’s 100 most influential people. Bathiche serves as research director for the Entertainment & Devices Division of Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group and helped to conceptualize Microsoft Surface.

Conference producers promise that this year’s event will be bigger and better, following the success of IDC 2009.

What’s the Diff? // Comparing the Amazon Kindles, B&N Nook, and Sony Readers

I’ve compiled the features & tech specs of the eBook readers out on the market and whittled them down for your convenience. Major product perks are in bold–which one will you buy?

Amazon Kindle (6″ screen, 2GB, 10 oz.) = $259
Amazon Kindle DX (9.7″ screen, 4GB, 19 oz.) = $489

• Audiobooks, eBooks, newspapers, and magazines are available.
• Supports TXT, MP3, and Audible natively; many other file formats by conversion.
• 3G wireless and has a basic web browser.
• 16 levels of gray; 4 days of battery life with wireless on, 2 weeks of battery life without.
• Charges via USB or power adapter. Has 3.5mm audio jack and built-in stereo speakers.
• Features image zoom, bookmarking & annotations, dictionary, and text-to-speech.
• International version of the Kindle has global wireless access.
• *Kindle DX auto-rotates for reading in landscape or portrait mode and supports PDFs.

—–Barnes & Nobles Nook (6″ EInk + 3.5″ color touchscreen, 2GB expandable, 11.2 oz) = $259

• eBooks, magazines, and newspapers are available.
• Supports EPUB, eReader, PDFs, image & MP3 files.
• 3G Wireless and Wi-Fi, but no web browser.
• 16 levels of gray; 10 day battery life without wireless.
• Features bookmarking & annotations, dictionary, and text-to-speech.
• Charges via USB or power adapter. Has 3.5mm audio jack and built-in mono speaker.
• *Lend books out to friends & family on their computers, cell phones, or Nooks.
• Personalized screensavers, wallpapers, and backplate; runs on Android OS.

—– Sony Pocket Reader Edition PRS-300SC (5″ screen, 512MB, 8 oz.) = $199
Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600BC (6″ touchscreen, 512MB expandable, 10 oz.) = $299

• >1 million public domain books available from Google. Magazines & newspapers TBA.
• Supports ePub, PDF, BBeB Book and other formats by conversion.
• No wireless and no web browser.
• 8 levels of gray; 2 weeks battery life.
• Charges via USB and has a 3.5mm audio jack.
• *Touch edition supports freehand annotation, images & MP3 files.

Apple’s profit climbs; Macbook redesign boasts 7 hr. battery

Went out for sushi and when I came back, a new Macbook had been released, along with a nifty (but poorly named) wireless multi-touch mouse!

White plastic unibody, built-in 7 hour battery, 13.3″ screen, multi-touch glass trackpad, $999.

—-
What interesting timing. A NYTimes article just came out today about Apple’s wicked sales gains in the last quarter. I’m convinced this company lives in its own universe outside of the recession.

Apple managed to surprise optimistic investors, posting a 47 percent increase in profit in the fourth quarter and handily beating Wall Street’s estimates.
[Apple’s Profit Climbs 47% as Sales Gain via NYT]

The Smartphone Stereotypes: iPhone or Blackberry?

This is a lighthearted story from SF Chronicle that I had bookmarked at the beginning of summer, which draws distinctions between “typical” iPhone and Blackberry users. (What, I’m more Blackberry than iPhone?)

——-
Smartphone stereotypes beginning to break down by Ellen Lee
There’s a joke about a woman describing the kind of men she’s interested in meeting. “I want to date an iPhone user,” she says. “And marry a BlackBerry user.”

It’s a statement of how deeply the iPhone and BlackBerry smart phones have penetrated pop culture. The BlackBerry acts as shorthand for buttoned-up business men…[Full article @ SFGate]

Toyota/Subaru FT-86 Concept

[via Jalopnik]

Whoa. (1) When was the last time Toyota made a sports coupe? (2) It doesn’t look like a Toyota.

The latest from Apple (new iPod Nano is baller)

From Apple’s Rock&Roll event this morning:

iPod Nano now has a 2.2″ screen, a built-in video camera, microphone, speaker, FM radio, and pedometer. Comes in nine colors; 8GB model for $149, 16GB model for $179. (Make it >30Gb and I’ll buy. My music library is obese.)

iPod touch 8Gb price cut to $199. 32Gb for $299 and 64Gb for $399. The Touch is fastest-growing product in the line.

iPod Classic 160Gb for $249. This model won’t be scrapped until flash memory gets cheaper.

iPod Shuffle comes in five colors and a polished steel special edition. 2Gb for $59, 4Gb for $79. People complained about the on-cord controls, so maybe we’ll see buttons later.

iTunes 9 has Genius playlists and IMPROVED SYNCING! You can selectively sync certain playlists, artists, genres, photos, etc. (Always wanted to do this!)

BMW Hybrid Concept / Lamborghini Hybrids by 2015

The BMW Vision EfficientDynamics hybrid concept car will debut next week at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. It’s the sports car of the future, as BMW envisions it.

“It’s a very radical concept which will show that it is possible in the future to have a car that is fun to drive, expresses joy, and is very efficient…and as such, in terms of personal mobility, is a sustainable answer.”

–Adrian van Hyoodonk, Director BMW Group Design

To see the design process, see these videos: Part I, Part II

—-
As part of a larger plan to reduce vehicle carbon emissions by 35% by the year 2020, Lamborghini is developing hybrid engines and looking into biofuels (Ferrari, too).

CEO Stephan Winkelmann hinted that the first hybrid Gallardo will offered in 2015 . Unlike other hybrids, the electric motor will only be used at very low speeds–the 10 or 12 cylinder engine will be retained for “fun” driving.

States Shut Down to Save Cash / Summer in a Nutshell

[Read the whole story @ Wall Street Journal]

–
My internship over at Sacramento ended a week ago, but I’m still addicted to California politics. Serving as a novice member of the capitol press corps through the UC Center Sacramento Journalism Program was an eye-opening experience. Reading about the economy and state government in textbooks is one thing, but living it is a whole different monster.

It’s like getting front row seats to the SuperBowl. Or the reality TV show to end all others. Ah, the sporadic protests, 11th-hour legislative sessions, closed-door negotiations, bills, perpetual deadlocks…suspense and financial craziness that accompanied the seemingly insolvent budget crisis.

I have lived to see the golden state plunge over 24 billion dollars into the red, slash budgets to bits, issue “IOUs” (because it had almost no cash flow), demand 3 unpaid furlough days from its workers, and host a garage sale. Upcoming events: state parks to close following this weekend (unprecedented), tens of thousands of inmates to be released (per a federal court ruling) over the next two years to reduce overcrowding, and lawmakers to revamp the state’s ancient water system (while saving the Delta?). Maybe unemployment rate will lower, as well.

—-
And to think that reporters spend their waking hours making sense of the maelstrom of the day’s events, organizing and condensing them in a more palatable form for the public. Journalists are awesome.

The persistence of eBook readers

eReader devices such as the Amazon Kindle are made for a tiny niche of consumers who want digital content (magazines, books, newspapers) on-the-go. A laptop or smartphone is excessive and even inappropriate for a purpose so simple as reading.

Why? Our computer displays are like TVs. Good for motion pictures, not so much for scanning pages of print.

Transmissive LCDs, prevalent across consumer electronics, require a backlight to illuminate the layer of liquid crystals. These screens are fine indoors, but appear dull and muted if brought out in daylight. For serious reading, they should set at decent refresh rates to avoid eyestrain (above 60Hz, please).
The displays on eReaders, however, are different.

Without delving into the technology, eReaders use eInk displays that deliver high readibility (high contrast + high resolution) with much less power consumption.

eInk displays are reflective–if you bring it out in the sun it only gets brighter–and can be viewed comfortably from any angle. That’s why the eReader beats a laptop or iTablet when it comes to reading. Think of your eyes.

—-
One obvious downside is you can’t read in the dark. And damn, these things are expensive for not having an color. But I still want one! I love reading newspapers, but they don’t always fit in my bag and it’s troublesome when they accumulate. I enjoy the tangible nature of paper, but again, it piles up.

To Amazon and all the other eReader manufacturers: cut your prices, throw in the option of an LED backlight, and start developing those color eInk displays.

—-
Also, eInk is thin and can be made very flexible. Even if eReaders don’t take off in popularity, I can see eInk replacing paper in many forms.

Apple Tablet to be Launched in September

Adam Benton imagines this is what it will look like:
 —-

 ”Apple is working with the four largest record labels to stimulate digital sales of albums by bundling a new interactive booklet, sleeve notes and other interactive features with music downloads, in a move it hopes will change buying trends on its online iTunes store…The new touch-sensitive device Apple is working on will have a screen that may be up to 10 inches diagonally. It will connect to the internet like the iPod Touch – probably without phone capability but with access to Apple’s online stores .” [via FT]

It had to happen. Apple couldn’t have held out forever on this netbook market. People are scrambling for every penny in this recession, especially in California (where they are experience a fiscal nightmare to end all nightmares). A lower price point will be much appreciated.

Patents have been afoot; there have been rumors about an affordable, oversized iPod Touch AKA “iTablet” for months. How much will it cost? What kind of screen will it have? And how gorgeous will it look…

—–
If Sony is willing to stoop down and serve out netbooks (VAOI W Series, starting at $499), then the sky’s the limit. A Sony executive once condemned $300 laptops as a “race to the bottom” that would hurt the PC industry in the long run.