These devices use the electronic paper, e-ink which is similar to the ordinary ink and gives the reading experience analogous to that of a paper book. Unlike other electronic devices, it can be used for reading under direct sunlight as well. Keeping in view its usability as a traveling companion e-book reader device has an excellent battery backup of up to seven days.

E-book reader is a convenient option for the book lovers. Conveying all the pleasures of reading, its only disadvantage when compared with a paper book could be that you would need to be a little more careful about not spilling your coffee over it and can’t probably use it as a pillow in case you doze off while reading!

List of ebook reading devices

• Acer – LumiRead
• Amazon – Kindle
• Barnes & Nobles – Nook
• Foxit – eSlick
• Infibeam – Pi
• iriver – Story
• iRex – iLiad
• Samsung – Papyrus
• Sony – PRS

There are many other branded and non-branded Chinese devices also available in the market.

Image: Amazon.com

Brief Specification of the device:

Design: Touch Screen, Tablet, Inbuilt key board

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Connectivity: WiFi, USB port

Power: 2-watt

Charging: Conventional, Solar

Features: video-conferencing, multimedia, PDF reader, unzip tool

We will keep our readers updated as we receive more information on the product.

News Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=63417

Image: http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/23/stories/2010072363902000.htm

The other makes software that is considered a must for every professional’s arsenal. Starting with a simple offering of fonts, it has worked its way up to provide everything from graphic design to reading documents. Some time back, it acquired Macromedia, one of its rivals, to add to its product line Flash, among other things.

Apple and Adobe are some of the biggest companies in the computer world and are known for having vast armies of supporters, some of whom love both the giants. The problem starts here, when the giants fight and ask the masses to make a choice.

In the previous decade, when the future of Apple looked dull, without the fanboy craze surrounding their iProducts to support it, Adobe made a choice – one that it may regret now. Cutting off support for some software on the Mac and diverting R&D funding to the Windows section may have seemed the more profitable path at the time but this has resulted in an alienation that Mac users, and Apple itself, are unwilling to forgive. As support was withdrawn, Apple made its own software, some of which even displaced Adobe in a few markets. A small turf war that started then remained a thorn throughout and has culminated in Apple declaring that Flash did not figure in the future of mobile devices.

When the iPhones came out, they had no Flash support. This has not changed with future releases either. It was hardly a surprise when the iPad also turned up, sans Flash. Adobe developed a system in response which allowed coders to convert their apps to run on the iPhones. Since most of these were converted from Flash coding, it was not uncommon to see them fail to tap the full potential of phones. Even with these restrictions, the users hobbled on with the apps that were produced by this conversion process. All this changed when Apple declared with the release of iOS4 that it would no longer allow these converters to be used. Such restrictions ensured that the coders that used Flash could no longer do so to make apps for the iPhones without breaking legal norms.

The effect outside the battlefield of the giants was predictable, even if not immediately visible. Many sites rely on Flash for their operations and some are even built on it. A notable example would be the video streaming site YouTube, which depends on Flash for its functioning. Flash was known for its load on memory resources and these were cited as reasons for not providing Flash support in smartphones and other mobile devices that did not have the same processing power as a Desktop. However, the move by Apple sealed the fate of Flash as far as any of their products was concerned. It went on to ask developers to look for alternatives, as it felt that the load of Flash on an iPhone would reflect badly on the phone’s performance to the end user. Understandably, Adobe was not happy.

What happens now will determine the future of Flash on a platform which is probably the most celebrated, irrespective of the justification. A huge market in the form of the Apple app store users is now out of the question for any developer depending on Flash for development. With little more than insults flying between the two companies, there seems to be little progress as far as talks are concerned.

Although a few months have passed since the hostilities began, it remains unclear whether any hatchets are being buried. As Thomas Claburn of InformationWeek posted, "Apple is all but immune to public pressure. Witness how it has refused for years to bring out a real two-button mouse."

Even if the iPhones are out of the question, it shouldn’t be forgotten that a larger market still remains open with the rest of the OS world still welcoming Flash with open arms. Companies like Google are not jumping to either side on the HTML5 – Flash debate and are welcoming whatever the users would like. Android 2.2, which released recently displayed full Flash support with early reviews coming in with huge praise of what Flash 10.1 has to offer.

There is no major threat for Adobe at the moment, but there is the loss of, what could have been, a rich picking on the Apple app market.

Sources:

• InformationWeek
• Mashable
• PC World
• Wikipedia

Source: http://web.media.mit.edu/~pamplona/NETRA/

The new technology called NETRA (Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment) uses a special device and software on mobile phone to diagnose eye prescription. The cost of special plastic device is around $1-$2 now which is believed to come down to few cents once it goes into mass production. This is a major technological breakthrough especially for people living in rural areas of developing countries like India where basic eye clinics are still distant away. Please watch the following videos to know more about it.

Source: http://web.media.mit.edu/~pamplona/NETRA/

iPad is a tablet computer designed and marketed by Apple Inc. A jack of all trades, it can used for applications like internet browsing, emails, book reading, gaming, movies, music etc. Some of the exciting features of iPad are

• Attractive external design and awesome display:- The sleek aluminium body gives it a rich look. Its high screen resolution makes everything look very bright, clear and crisp.
  Media consumption: The i-book reader enhances your reading experience and brings alive the magazines and comics. Everyday a large number of applications are being developed exclusively for Apple users.
• Gaming: Although iPad is not a hardcore gaming device but almost all the gaming applications including the recently launched 3-D Games run very well on it.
• Power and battery backup: Another great advantage of an iPad is that it turns on and off, almost immediately. It has an excellent battery backup and can run your favourite applications for days together. However once the battery is consumed, it cannot be replaced and the iPad needs to be taken to the Apple service station.
• Web browsing: The web browsing on iPad is faster than most of the smartphones. However it doesn’t support flash player and some sites are not accessible on it. The virtual keypad is not very convenient to use, thus it is not a preferred device for Long web browsing sessions.

One of the biggest drawbacks of iPad is that we cant make calls using it. It has no camera and a single USB port for all the enhancements. Despite the shortcomings, iPad had the biggest opening in the history of tech gadgets. It hasn’t launched any new applications, but it has compiled the existing ones into a single compact and convenient package, in the most seamless manner possible.

Another jewel of Apple’s eye is the iPhone 4. The recently launched smartphone is creating a buzz all over the tech world. Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims that after using iPhone’s super high resolution retina display, it is impossible to go back to other devices. Its remarkably powerful A4 processor chip makes it powerful and yet power efficient. The 5- mega pixel camera allows you to take sharp pictures and high definition videos. The operating system for iPhone iOS4 will allow multitasking, a feature long awaited by all iPhone users.

In some ways the hype surrounding the iPhone has deviated the attention of users from iPad. However while iPad is primarily an at-the-home entertainment package, iPhone is more of an on-the go device. Since the launch of iPad in April, followed by iPhone4 in June, Apple has captivated the attention of tech freaks worldwide. Apple Inc has been able to mesmerize people once again by its innovations and has taken the gizmo world to a new zenith!