Smart Ebook System from KAIST improves page-turning experience

Oh look… KIRFers got something original /s

At least they will probably licence it to other vendors. If one company I could name got it then it would only be available on one device.

I’ve always missed such features!

its prototype has been implemented with a private Apple API, so don’t expect it to show up in the App Store

Exactly the reason why I would never buy an iPad. That’s why “closed” sucks. Period.

Creating an app like this for Android and selling it in the Android Market or through other channels is no problem at all, thanks to Android being 100% open.

THis is pretty awesome, if not implemented perfectly, it’s a great feature that should hopefully make it.

I love my Kindle, but the biggest problem with it, and others, is not be able to quickly flip from one area back to another like you can in a book. For instance, in the Song of ICe & Fire Series, I’m constantly flipping from where I’m reading to the maps in the beginning and end of the books, just so remind myself where places area, etc. On a physical book, this is done in one second, you place your finger where you’re reading and flip to page 6 or whatever where the map is… and flip back. It’s instant and you don’t think about it.

On the Kindle, you have to press the menu button, then go to table of contents, then go to like “forward” or something, and then usually skip a few pages ahead or back, and then getting back to your furthest read page is more steps. It’s 20 or 30 seconds of just navigating, especially if you don’t do it often.

I love E-Readers, but an easier way to flip content and find just what you want would be a great change. I don’t know if this solves the problem, but it’s a nice evolution of the page turner.

ebook, epub, ibook, pdf, text, apps, websites !
What is needed in this “affair” is a new role more than anything else.
This new role could be described as “personal contracts/licences holder” “account managers for personal contract/licences and login/passwds or certificates”(no contents or copies in there, just references), something like that, several of them of course, and ability to move all your “assets” or “belongings” from one to the other, so that a trust relationship can exist regarding the privacy of these data (and privacy of these data also under strong legal constraints for these organisations).
Then you can have an environment with a clear role separation between these organisations on one side, and editors, on line shops, on line content holders and difusers on the other.
Which then could allow a user to buy an ebook, apps, websites (access to) “for life”(or with some timing guarenteed in a strict legal point of view, but “for life” in spirit), possibility of upgrade if new edition and you feel like it, and that’s it.
Enough with these “private bookshelves”(music, video, sito shelves) linked to some device maker, on line shops, “social network”, or some other giant !
A bit more developed below :
http://iiscn.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/concepts-economie-numerique-draft/
(and in the “copies_licences” text (2007) linked in the post)

And almost EVERYTHING already there really

This is all very cute from an artistic standpoint. ("Let’s try to make a digital interface feel like its digital counterpart, like those jukebox-style media players from the 90’s! Those were cool, right?"). However, I really don’t think this will ever get anywhere sane by trying to mimic the act of flipping pages made out of paper, because ebooks are none of those things: they are not paper, they are (usually) not locked to pages, and you don’t need to flip them.

Why not just try to just make something that works well? Instead of trying to poorly mimic the strengths of analog media (while amplifying its flaws), how about make something that just works well for digital books?

For example, ebooks really don’t need to be anchored around imaginary seams in the middle. If I want to refer to the last line of the previous page, I should be able to do that, but it’s really hard with this "mimic a real book" idea because you can’t do that in a real book without moving your head, tearing the seam or folding the page (or flipping the page all the way, which defeats the purpose).

That’s why I’m a big fan of FBReader on Android: with page turning in Shift mode (and scrolling vertically), I can peek back at the last few lines, while the text I was reading before remains visible, instead of obscured by the last page. That little interaction actually makes reading more efficient for me, because I can see the text flowing smoothly from one page to the next (which is sometimes really useful) while still having the good part of flipping pages. That being pages themselves, not that they’re made of paper.

The finger bookmark thing is cool, but I feel like that’s a case where you really are thinking about the book more than the content, even with an actual physical book. So, I really don’t see why it would be bad to have some extra interface pop up and help with the job rather than forcing the user to perform some crazy gymnastics while supposedly balancing their phone / tablet / whatever on their lap.

How long till apple rolls this into iBook3 and then sues the company that made it!?