Amazon's new chapter--digital books | Tech News on ZDNet

Amazon's new chapter--digital books | Tech News on ZDNet: "Maybe it was just a matter of happenstance--though when it comes to Amazon.com and its always-precise CEO Jeff Bezos, very little gets left to chance.
But on the same day last week that Google put thousands of public domain books online, Amazon.com debuted programs that will let people read books on the Web.
In a sense, this is familiar ground for Amazon, which led the technology industry's move toward book digitization with its 'Search Inside the Book' feature two years ago. As its name suggests, that offering let people search the text inside books."

Steve's Commentary
If the new Google Print and these two new services from Amazon are any indication of how we will access books in the future, then I want to invest in some printer companies. Everyone will printing excerpts of these books if not entire copies. If only someone could sell an easy way to bind these prints in a professional manner at home.

Providing Desktops to Users: Centralized Virtual Machines or Terminal Server Desktops?

Providing Desktops to Users: Centralized Virtual Machines or Terminal Server Desktops?: "There has been a lot of noise in the past few weeks from companies like IBM, Citrix, and VMware pushing the idea of providing desktops to users in the form of virtual machine-based remote Windows XP desktops instead of the 'traditional' way of publishing a desktop session on a Terminal Server or Citrix Presentation Server. In this article, I'll take a brief look at the announcements from the past few weeks and then dig into the pros and cons of this architecture."

Steve's Commentary
pcEverywhere?

gizmag Article: Siemens develops printable, low-cost, disposable video display

gizmag Article: Siemens develops printable, low-cost, disposable video display: "November 7, 2005 Siemens has announced a new colour display screen that can be printed onto paper or cardboard and is thin, flexible, and affordable enough to be included in books, magazines, labels, tickets, instructions, multimedia games embedded in the breakfast cereal box and a host of other traditionally " dumb " media where clarity of the message is vital � such as the dosage instructions on drugs, installation instructions for people who normally don�t RTFM ad infinitum � when the new technology reaches market in 2007, the convergence of media types will further accelerate with the possibility of video instructions incorporated into packaging, video-enabled print adverts, and printed magazines and books with multimedia capabilities."

Steve's Commentary
I thought I'd blogged this before, but apparently not. This technology brings a fantastic display capability to everyday objects.

UTILIA ScooterDesk

UTILIA: Press Resources: "Q: How can one ergonomically sit down and write/read/type where there is no desk and chair available? A: By using a ScooterDesk "

Steve's Commentary
Supporting the mobile future. If this thing folded down into your briefcase, you could really work anywhere. Or you could put some bigger wheels and some pedals on it and you could ride it whereever you want to work.

Wired 13.11: LeapFrog's Wild Ride

Wired 13.11: LeapFrog's Wild Ride: "In technical terms, Marggraff's Fly pen is an even greater achievement than his LeapPad. Think of it as a powerful PDA sucked into the stylus alone. Marggraff views the $99 pen, which hits stores this fall in time for the Christmas season, as an ideal tool for teaching the 8- to 14-year-old tween market everything from algebra to Spanish. It's so impressive that Disney, Upper Deck, and Warner Bros. have already signed on to develop games for the device. And Marggraff envisions still more uses for the Fly: as a group-computing device for businesses, for example, or a screenless PDA. He plans to eventually open its architecture to encourage broader development."

Steve's Commentary
This technology should have broad appeal if it is as intuitive to use as it appears. Tangible user interfaces like this may help realize some of the goals of ambient intelligence in the future.

Xerox at Your Service

Xerox at Your Service: "Xerox offers a host of office services to enterprises in such areas as assessment, procurement, document management and PLM (product lifecycle management). Last week, the company rolled out print services aimed at enterprises that produce large numbers of printed documents. Xerox Production Optimization Services offerings provide assessment tools and software designed to ferret out inefficiencies and maximize a company's use of its printing resources.

Xerox also is expanding its services to channel partners and this year began delivering its Lean Six Sigma tools, which are designed to help customers assess their infrastructure and find ways to make it more productive and efficient. Xerox had used those tools internally over the past three years, realizing $120 million in savings through that use last year. Mulcahy said she expects that number to double this year."

Steve's Commentary
I wonder if they will tell you the most efficient place to put your enterprise printers based on actual usage?

Luminex: LIght emitting fabrics

yet2.com - TechPak: "Luminex is a new fabric (non reflective) that can emit its own light . It is created with threads of every type and nature and can emit light in different colours. The luminous fibres (optic/ sparkling) used in Luminex are special fibres used as �detectors of elementary particles� in the largest Sub-Nuclear Physics scientific experiments, a sector in which CAEN SpA is a World Leader in the production of electronic equipment. After numerous attempts and experiments, it has finally been possible to integrate a luminous fibre into a fabric, giving it its own brilliance. The innovation can be used in the most diverse applications, from the most frivolous to the most useful, in a multitude of fields yet to be discovered. From the night-world of the discotheque and show business to essential road sign and safety accessories and infinite furnishings solutions or whatever the imagination can conjure up or the market requires."

Personal Tech Pipeline | News | Nokia Teams With MIT To Create New Research Lab

Personal Tech Pipeline | News | Nokia Teams With MIT To Create New Research Lab: "Nokia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced Thursday they will establish a research facility near MIT's Cambridge campus.
To be called the Nokia Research Center Cambridge, the facility will bring together 20 researchers each from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Nokia Research Center, which is headquartered at Nokia's headquarters in Finland. Some Nokia employees at an existing Nokia R&D facility in suburban Burlington, Mass. are expected to move to the MIT center.
The announcement stated that the research collaboration will 'advance the state of the art in mobile computing and communications technologies.' "

New Scientist Clothing gives sportsmen a kick up the pants - Technology

New Scientist Clothing gives sportsmen a kick up the pants - Technology: "Haptic sports garments, which use tactile signals to prompt the wearer to optimise their technique or to use specific muscle groups, are now being tested on rowers.
Eventually, sensors in the garments will measure the speed at which the rower moves and how they coordinate their leg and body movements. If the rower deviates from the optimum speed or rhythm, pads worn at the ankle and waist start vibrating at the correct stroke intervals to help the rower recapture the winning action."

Personal Tech Pipeline | eBay CEO Says All Phone Calls Will Be Free

Personal Tech Pipeline | eBay CEO Says All Phone Calls Will Be Free: "Within several years, all telephone calls will be made for free using VoIP, eBay CEO Meg Whitman told analysts during the company's earnings call yesterday, according to the Reuters news agency.
'In the end, the price that anyone can provide for voice transmission on the 'Net will trend toward zero,' Whitman told analysts during the call..
Ryan said that service providers would make money from the phone calls through advertising or transaction fees.
The eBay CEO was responding to criticism from analysts who questioned whether eBay had overpaid when it bought VoIP provider Skype Technologies for $4 billion."

Steve's Commentary
The telephone companies may have something to say about this.