If you annotate a PDF the resulting file is saved in a proprietary format, which can only be read on a PC after the free desktop software has been used to merge it and the original into a new PDF. On the other hand, as an eReader the iLiad is simply wonderful. I have sat reading on it for periods of time longer than an hour at a stretch with no perceived eye strain and no arm-ache from holding it one-handed. It measures mm tall, mm wide and 16mm thick and it weighs g.
By way of comparison, the hardback Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is g. The display is capable of displaying 16 levels of greyscale, which means image reproduction is OK, but perhaps more importantly the x 1, pixel screen allows for several variations of text size.
I counted 14 different text sizes for plain text based ebooks, which should be enough to let anyone find something that suits their eyes. The navigation system is easy enough to get to grips with. A tall bar called the Flipbar to the left of the screen lets you go quickly forward and back between pages. I found it counter-intuitive to flip the bar left to go forwards and right to go backwards, but I got used to it.
Buttons on this left hand edge provide further navigation options so you can switch into new documents, for example. A series of four buttons beneath the screen let you switch between different types of content: news, books, documents and notes.
Touch sensitive on screen buttons let you do things such as move between pages, use the Wi-Fi, find files, display any new content that may have been downloaded to the device and use a PIN to control access to the device. The iLiad is a superb idea and the screen is wonderful and I could see myself using it as a document reader.
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Today, we have 9 million users a month around the world, and assess more than 1, products a year. For most of us in the modern world, a book is a commodity to be consumed and then discarded after one reading.
But there are some books that we go back to again and again, especially those of us who are scholars by trade and who find ourselves butting up against the same classics throughout our careers. For instance, my dog-eared copy of Hans Georg Gadamer's Truth and Method has six years' worth of markings in it, markings that are valuable traces of an ongoing, interactive relationship.
On the day that I finally come across a suitable hardcover copy of this book, I'll have to go through my old trade paperback page by page and look for notes and markings to transfer over. Writing directly on the screen makes the ebook feel that much more like a "real" book. Annotating documents with a stylus, drawing pictures, and even composing music on the iLiad are all possible thanks to the inclusion of a Wacom sensor board installed directly behind the screen.
The board generates a magnetic field, but does so only when the stylus is detached from its cradle. A resonant circuit in the stylus receives the magnetic energy and uses it to transmit a signal back to the sensor board, which reads the pen's location, angle, and speed atop the screen. It's quite accurate so long as you don't try to do engineering drawings, and trying to draw notes on a staff of music is also tricky. One byproduct of the custom stylus is that the screen doesn't respond to fingernails, stray knuckle taps, or non-iRex styli.
This is a Good Thing TM Writing means the iLiad is more than an ebook reader. It's also a notepad on which you can scratch away to your heart's content. I've done so below; if it's not obvious and it's probably not , this is my artistic rendition of Managing Editor Eric Bangeman taking a spacewalk outside the Orbiting HQ.
Of course I'm not in a position to get the first model too expensive, and I imagine that some things like text recognition won't be working quite right but I honestly believe this is one of those products that will if quietly really change the landscape of digital devices. As far as I'm concerned it's 10 times more useful than a laptop for most non-tech-related uses already.
We give out laptops to middle and high school kids in my county. What a waste! Textbooks are pain in the ass to read on laptops. And that horsepower is wasted on kids who don't code, can't game, and don't even use cool programs like Mathematica or something. For note taking, reading, and research this is a real breakthrough. Toss in mp3 support and it's like any bibliophiles idea of portable nirvana. Oh yeah - and did we mention 21 hours of battery life.
Now THAT is starting to look like a portable device. Parent Share twitter facebook. Score: 5 , Insightful. They had to report on it or everyone would say "This site is crap, digg reports on stuff like this If they report on it you want them to put a link to a site where you can buy it. I remember when someone submitted a list of "spy gadgets" with no link to where you could buy it and people were up in arms.
So it needs to be reported on and needs a link to where you can buy it I'll stick with books Score: 3 , Insightful. I'll stick with books if only for the pure satisfaction of the ritual of turning pages. And of course, books are a less painful loss when left someplace by mistake or stolen. Re:I'll stick with books Books are also not crippled by DRM either. They don't ask you for a license before letting you turn the page. Yup, I'm sticking with books.
If Sony wants us to buy one, they need to offer some real advantage. If anything, DRM-crippled products are a definate disadvantage. This line made me chuckle. Not crippled by DRM? How about a DRM that made it so that if you wanted to make a copy you'd have to either re-write the entire novel or OCR the whole thing? Imagine not even being able to make a quick archive copy for personal back up! You'd be up in arms! And if your friend lost it - you'd have to buy a new copy if you ever wanted to read it.
Books already have the best conceivable DRM policy - the content is died directly to the physical media. And you thought propietary formats were bad! The only reason the DRM is more annoying is because you can break it. And so we're tempted to try and it's a pain in the butt. You can't break the DRM on a book and so we forget that it even exists. They must believe that if only DRM could be as iron-clad as physical media we'd all stop whining about it.
I wish I could mod you up If I had mod points this comment would have received them. Score: 2 , Funny. I hear there are people so dastardly that they've implemented this with real physical books: you can only read the book for a limited period of time, after which you have to return it to their central book storage building or risk major financial penalties.
And they even have copies of some books which they refuse to let you read anywhere but inside their building! I, for one, am complaining to my political representitive :. It seems like everyone criticizing the eBook is actually criticizing the DRM. I don't know what DRM is going to be used, or how. If they have onerous DRM then yes, it will suck. But if this gets popular by this I mean "eBooks" then it's going to do to books what mp3s did to music.
I'm sure there will be plenty of ways to download DRM-free copies of books and I will be looking into them. If the DRM goons manage to keep a tight lid on the whole thing frmo day one, then yes, the whole idea sucks.
But if th. Any media I can't back up easily is not reliable. No media can stand getting cooked in a house fire. I have a few hundred ebooks, and they're all backed up offsite. I have a few thousand paper books, and if my house burns, they're just gone. Score: 2 , Interesting.
Well, the ability to search is great in scientific stuff. That's why I prefer PDFs instead of dead-tree books. You can also share them easily with associates if it doesn't have any DRM. You can carry your documents, sourcecode etc. Regarding DRM Score: 2.
I love books. I have tons of 'em. Many of my trips for business and pleasure involve going to libraries. I'm not afraid of using fancy words like "codicology" if it makes the librarian grant me access to the reserve collection, or "her private binding laboratory", if you catch my drift. I have no interest in PDAs, smart phones are just expensive pieces of junk with poor interfaces and worse displays that break easily.
But an E-ink reader -- that's interesting. Many haven't grasped by description only just h. This must be one of the stupidest posts ever. Physical paper and ink books are DRM's wet dream. Think photocopier, or scanner and OCR. I can give you and my Do the math. Cheers, CC.
But there's also the lower costs of production and distribution. Yeah, but what format? Score: 4 , Insightful. From their FAQ: Which formats do you support? In order to stimulate the momentum in electronic reading, iRex Technologies will support as many formats as possible in as open an environment as possible, respecting the rights of owners of content and IP.
So what formats are those again? This sounds, to me, like they will only support DRM capable formats Which makes this a non-buy in my opinion. Re:Yeah, but what format?
Score: 5 , Informative. Odd that they didn't copy their supported format list from their product spec PDF, but oh well. In any case, if you check out that PDF here [irextechnologies. Re: Score: 2. Comment removed based on user account deletion. You should probably look for an actual list of formats instead of jumping to whatever conclusion you want. Like the one in the product sheet [irextechnologies. Does it do back flips and spit nickels?
I've read over ebooks on various PDA's in the past 3 years with eyeballs approaching their 5th decade of use. Not once did I find myself wishing for a better display. Plenty of scope for non-DRM'd files. Whether or not anyone will sell you a book in a non DRM'd format is another quetsion, but if they will the chances are you'll be able to read it on this. My main problem with it is that I can buy an awful lot of dead tree for euros.
I'm still waiting for a really good e-reader. I would be happy to pay somewhere around pounds to get an A5 size tabl. Plus their "library" has a lot of free samples to get your interest up. I've been following the Illiad for a while.
It will support non-DRMed formats. It supports. Re:oh baby Score: 2. I actually like the idea of the e-reader and I think that this is a good step, but as is mentioned, it is just too expensive.
For that money I could buy a pda and then view pda's on that I might even be able to find a workable tablet pc on e-bay for that price. It also raises the question about how much the ebooks will actually cost for these; the ones I've seen have cost nearly as much as the hardback versions which is simply a rip off. Score: 3 , Informative. The price of the books is a real issue I intend to use the Sony Reader for the significant number of technical papers I have, plus a number of classic books from the Gutenberg Project, among other places, and may well drop a note to the publishers about the prices they want to charge , but the device readability is the star here.
PDAs will last most of a day, whereas the battery life of such readers is measured in page turns -- typically several thousand of them. They're reflective instead of backlit, wh.
Too late, too big, too expensive, no market Score: 2 , Insightful. As someone who reads books almost exclusively on my handheld device 10 years of Palm, now Windows Mobile , I don't see what the point of this is. As it is today, with a good-sized SDRam, I can carry all the books I own in my pocket for easy access, anytime, anywhere. Re:Too late, too big, too expensive, no market Score: 2 , Informative. The main advantages of OLED epaper is lack of eyestrain [epaper. Now, that being said, this Iliad seems pretty poor on resolution: It has a stated DPI of the Sony has , which isn't that much better.
This means you have to hold it at cm 3. Now, a PDA generally does worse here needs to be at cm [6 ft]. Note, that average re. Re:Too late, too big, too expensive, no market Score: 2. OLEDs are organic light emitting diodes. They are great but have nothing to do with e-ink technology. Re:Too late, too big, too expensive, no market Score: 5 , Insightful.
There are two key differences between this and your PDA: 1. E-ink looks like ink on paper. Less eye strain than other display technologies. E-ink doesn't require power to be visible. Much lower power consumption - only needed when turning pages. I wouldn't be surprised if E-ink overtakes dead-tree publishing within a decade. E-Ink is truly great.
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