iLiad 2 Ebook Reader - The paper of the future is called e-Ink
iLiad 2nd Edition
Produced by Dutch company IREX, this reader of eBooks represents the state of art for devices based on e-ink. E-ink viewers have a display that acts as a sheet of inked paper: reflects the ambient light and has no flickering, with a clear vision also looking by side. To this is added an high graphical resolution (usually around 150 pixels per inch) which which greatly improve the characters smoothness.
But what is an eBook reader?
Without paper in a little space
The electronic reading eliminates the need to waste paper and ink for a much more efficient system. The electronic books, the eBooks, have many advantages over paper: you can do instant searches, you can quickly jump from page to page, you can enlarge or shrink the font according to your needs, you can zoom in on the details. An eBook reader contains hundreds of books, so in a little space you can carry a whole library!
iLiad seen closely
It occupies an area of 15 X 20 centimeters, with a thickness of 1,5. Weighs about 400 grams and does not emit heat or unwanted sounds. It has a display of 12 X 16 cm with a resolution of 768 X 1024 pixel (about 160 pixels per inch). The lithium battery lasts up to 15 hours without ever shut it down. The standard equipment includes a handy bag with shoulder strap, the multi-connector to charge and connect iLiad, a USB cable and the power supply unit. User manuals are all inside the reader: of course in eBook format!
The robust and compact, the non-slip surface and a clever arrangement of controls, complete a device that clearly demonstrates its vocation: mobile eBook reader. The main storage media (Pen Drive, SD Card, CF Card) are supported. The hidden talents of iLiad 2 increase with WiFi connectivity and the full networking capabilities: LAN connection, USB connction with plug and play. In practice, it is really easy to acquire books and newspapers in electronic format, but also manage folders and files, share content, browse the device from the Desktop 
computer.
Technology Wacom Penabled offers many advantages to the user experience: greater control over the functions of consulting and modify, opportunity to make sketches and notes by hand, handwriting recognition. Indeed when you test and you get used, becomes difficult to give up the pen. The free-hand notes are created quickly, using the available templates: a striped one and squared. Or you can write on the documents shown, to highlight parts of the text or drawing directly on the page that we are reading. Of course hand writing is joined with the document and may be revised or amended every time we want.
On iRex website is also available a program to do OCR of text written by hand: is called My Script Notes and serves to convert a Word document everything that is written by hand on iLiad or other compatible devices.
To simplify the management of iLiad (backup the device, content printing, management of hand writing notes, document creation)you can use the’ very good suiteiLiad Companion, available at the iRex web site.
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The buttons on the unit are used to scroll between pages of documents and to select documents to be opened. News includes the newspapers in electronic format, The Books are our favorite books, Docs contain the product manuals and guides to learn how to use iLiad. Notes is the area where hands free sketches are created and stored. Some buttons have two functions depending on the time pressure. For example, if you hold the round button at top right, it activates the connection to iDS, Web services offered by iRex.
The supperted doc formats are: pdf, HTML/XML, TXT, Mobipocket.
How does the e-Paper works
Chemistry, Physics, Electronics. These science coexists in the revolutionary e-Ink display system, also called e-Paper. A matrix composed of micro capsules, constitutes the basic structure to show the pixels. Each capsule contains numerous micro particles with an electric charge and suspended in a fluid. The particles are black and white, with opposite electric charges. The black particles are negatively charged, white ones have positive charge. Above and below than the micro capsules are placed electrodes (arranged in a matrix) that can generate positive or negative charge. Depending on the polarity of the electrodes, the suspended particles are attracted or rejected (opposite charges attract each others). A negative electric field, attracts the white particles and we see the white; a positive electric field shift the black particles and we perceive the black ink. The structure of electrodes and the driving electronics, can make even the shades of gray. Once moved, the particles remain in the state in which they are, without any electric field applied. Now, the battery can be disconnected without losing any of the information displayed. That's why the battery life is significantly greater than
standard computer displays.
This extreme simplification of an e-Ink display operation, serves only to grasp the advanced technology behind an electronic ink device: nanotechnology and thin film electronic components, are just some of the things present in the display. The system I described is very common, but there are other technologies that reach the same result with different methods.
The displays e-Ink and e-Paper can be made on flexible plastic sheets too, without losing the characteristics of high resolution graphics. In the near future, we can really reproduce the "look-and-feel" of a paper-made newspaper, maybe rolled in our pocket ...
The newspaper "La Stampa" on the iLiad
In the United States is already a common phenomenon, in Italy we are getting there… To have the newspaper immediately available on our e-ink reader, is now a reality. La Stampa of Turin, in collaboration with Simplicissimus Book Farm, makes available a subscription to the newspaper, in a format suitable for readers as iLiad. You can choose several forms of subscription and also you could do a subscription without the digital reader, to use your home computer.
I felt the emotion to receive directly on my iLiad 2, via WiFi, the last number of “La Stampa”. To do so is enough to have an account on iDS, the web service for update and downoad provided by iRex. We subscribe to the eBook service of La Stampa, enter the access credentials and… magically whenever there are new editions of the daily, they are automatically downloaded and saved in the News area.
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I recommend you watch the video presentation to get an idea of the potential of this technology. The newspaper is browsable, with all the benefits of digital reading.
I noticed that the ability to put in relations the news or to go from Current events to Sports or Culture, appears useful to fix in mind the informations. Of course you can always take notes with pen! |
Simplicissimus Book Farm
Believing in an emerging technology, support new digital publishers and authors. Here is the summary,the “vision” (as we say in the global village language) of SBF.
The founder Antonio Tombolini, claim that “e-Ink eBook readers will have the same role that iPod and readers of mp3 had for music”. Simplicissimus services include both Hardware and Software, sells eBook Readers and distributes digital books. In addition – and here we have the novelty – offers support to all the authors or publishers who want to publish in electronic format only. A few years ago would have seemed a risky choice, but today publishing music MP3 is the way chosen by many musicians, so the market is ripe for writers. The format for the creation of digital books validated EPUB (standardized by the IDPF.org, of which SBF is a member) constitutes a guarantee of quality. On the web site there are also many electronic books completely free.
An overview of services offered by SBF is shown at the following link: http://www.simplicissimus.it/services.html
The future of e-ink devices
the “electronic paper” is bound to a fast evolution. The progress of this promising technology largely depend on us, if we are tired to roll in a ball sheets of paper or if we have had enough to carry the weight of bulky and heavy school books. The signals are here: many states in the U.S. are planning to provide students with eBook readers as a standard equipment, but also in Italy there is a strong push from the government to use e-books instead of traditional paper books.
In the meanwhile, the main novelty concerns the color: the first prototypes of color e-Ink are already in the limelight on the international markets. When the new color eBook readers will be available, we will have no more excuses… continue reading on paper really will have taste of the past.
CONCLUSIONS
I grew up with paper books and I adapt with unease to read and study on a computer monitor. Since I use iLiad I have been reconciled with the electronic reading. Now I have rediscovered the pleasure of a good book, with the soft light of the’ abat-jour and the pen ready to mark interesting phrases… but instead of my books I have a reading tool that contains them all, instead of pen use a chisel to cut the virtual bits.
If you want to join the community of e-Ink readers, the right place in Italy is SBF.
First I must convey to you my congratulations for his "site" web, as well as its content, essential, precise and stimulating.
In meritoa l’iLiad 2 Ebook Reader, I believe I like her, being in the presence of a "tool" very useful, also in terms of saving paper.
But a large mole, at least in my experience, remains the lack of decent possibility of listening to the written vision; or is there a product on the market as efficiently and completely as the iLiad 2 Ebook Reader, to listen to the newspaper article or whatever, instead of personal law?
I know that a technology just as good, regarding this aspect, is still quite Naif, or wrong?
Good continuation and congratulations again
Thanks for the notes of appreciation, sign of a successful effort to shed light on the technology in things… I agree with you on the weaknesses of e-ink technology. Sure it takes time to have a viable alternative to paper, Meanwhile those who believe in this technology are increasing. Within a couple of years we have players with color display at an affordable price, sure the speech will be included in next-generation products.
I strongly believe that this is the future of the book and anything that can be viewed, No more wasted paper and fallen trees. Reading is just as nice,personally experienced,color serves only to ease eye strain. Although I believe the text-to-Speak is a useless thing(where it ends or the pleasure of reading)in its latest Amazon Kindle Reader DX is equipped with precisely this feature, but at what price .. $480, far too. Other models have a cost too great to be taken into account by the mass so that they can be purchased as a common household appliance.
Science, x like me who works in dealing with the GED (Electronic Document Management), hear a good book becomes a necessity. The pleasure of reading it without remorse I transfer you, Mr. Andrea. Speech synthesis, on my own would be very useful at other times of the day, as esmpio on the way to go to work, the midday break, and more, but whatever, I think it is important to scholars, x means it is all good.