iTunes 9.1 has now launched, bringing with it the e-book-related matters I mentioned yesterday. I have not had a chance to take a look yet, but Gizmodo reports that all it does is keep track of e-books rather than read them. It does not seem there is a lot of point without an iPad. (Hopefully there will be an iPhone iBooks application as well, but since such a thing has not been mentioned, this is by no means assured.) Pennsylvania-based Seton Hill University, enrollment 2,100, has announced that all enrolled students there will receive an iPad as part of...

You know the Pixel Qi screens that are one of the forthcoming “better-than-e-ink” display technologies? Gizmodo and the “What’s Happening at Pixel Qi” blog note that a DIY 10” screen replacement kit will be out in the second quarter of this year, bringing the ability to swap out your netbook’s 10” LCD screen for a transflective Pixel Qi model that can be read in direct sunlight. Writes former OLPC CTO Mary Lou Jepsen in the Pixel Qi blog: It’s only slightly more difficult than changing a lightbuld [sic]: it’s basically 6 screws, pulling...

E-Ink-Info has an short interview with Mary Lou Jepsen, Pixel-Qi's CEO. According to her: "We have been in early production since December and are now scaling it volume in the current 10" size and in process of designing new sizes that we will announce in the future. Our customers are pulling us int a variety of new product categories."...

This is a four page article and the first one I've seen to give a good description, with diagrams, of how the screen works. She has near-term plans to improve Pixel Qi’s current display, making it more efficient and offering it in different sizes. And then it may be back to the developing world, this time to spread the influence of television. “People, primarily in India, are coming to me saying, you know, make us a 10-watt TV,” she says. A battery-powered HDTV may sound frivolous but, Jepsen explains, India’s musical movies are a cultural institution that many people get left...

Notion Ink Adam Pixel Qi Tablet/Ereader Hands On: Your Screen Is Obsolete reads the breathless headline at Gizmodo, following a demo of a prototype. You can see two videos showing off the usual LCD mode and an E Ink-type one. Gizmodo does offer a caveat: “The LCD colors aren't as vivid as a plain LCD's and suffers at some viewing angles, and the reflective mode suffers from the glossy screen's glare, but in both modes, it's good enough.” Notion says it’s working on the problem. Will this kill off E Ink, or...

LCDs might be easier to read in the sun and have a better viewing angle---or at least some from LG displays will LG is picking up fringe-field switching technology---the source of such miracles---from the Hydis unit of E Ink maker PVI. See Softpedia and Wall Street Journal. Will do you think, gang? Will this make a big difference? And how does this technology stack up against the tech from PixelQi, which lets LCDs operating in both glowing and reflective modes? Teaser at the end of the Softpedia item: “LG hasn't clearly stated whether it will ever start...

I got the following email from Dr. Juan Luis Chulilla Cano, Director, Online and Offline, S.L. and thought I would share it with you: Dear Paul I have another picture of the results of motion ink's smartpad. I posted it on my blog: http://tinta-e.blogspot.com/2009/12/tinta-e-en-el-smartpad-de-notion-ink.html Automated translation is a disaster, so there is a hasty but human one: I have been many months waiting for pixel-qi based devices, so as soon as I got news of notion ink's smartpad, I contacted them in order to obtain as mucho information as possible I have to say that I was very surprised for the attitude of the CEO...

Pixel Qi display technology shows up in a new ten-inch tablet from Notion Ink. This is the first mention of a definite use by a specific vendor.  Bottom line: both E Ink- and classical LCD-style capabilities, including color in the latter mode.Details: --Price might be around $300. --Android OS. --10.1-inch 1024 x 600 Pixel Q --16 hour hours of Web use expected with WiFi --NVIDIA Tegra T20 chipset with 1080p Full HD video playback. --6.3 x 9.8 x 0.6 inches and 1.7 pounds. --Either 16GB or 32GB...

The first Pixel Qi displays will go into “specialized tablet devices with multi-touch,” says Mary Lou Jepsen, head of the company, in announcing that the screens are in fact reaching production. Hmm. Could she mean an e-book reader? If not, I’m guessing that this could happen in the very near future. For the benefit of latecomers, Pixel QI screens are reportedly cheap---they can roll off LCD production facilities. Also, they have both color for regular laptop use and video and monochrome for low power consumption when e-booking. This photo from Slashgear shows the new display...

Which is better for an e-book display---the Kindle or the Pixel Qi technology that Mary Lou Jepsen is developing? Not seeing the two side by side, I can’t say; and besides, individual needs will vary, with a number of variables plugged in: everything from battery life to glare resistance. But if you click here for more detail, you’ll see that the Pixel Qi may well offer more-readable characters. Hard to say. I wish the Kindle were closer to the camera. Mary Lou is honest, just not a professional product photographer. Also, I don’t know the mode...

Mary Lou Jepsen's blog has a shot of 3 laptops side by side supposedly showing the superiority of the Pixel Qi screen. I've put the image above. It's hard to tell from the shot if her claim about the Pixel Qi screen is correct. The shot is taken off center, with a slight favoring to the left where the Pixel Qi screen is, so that the angle could have an impact of the displays on the other screens. Even though no image manipulation software was used this flaw in the way the picture was taken makes it...

If books go E, what happens to the e-book natives, so to speak---the kids who learn to read off the screen, rather than paper? Will they have less ability to keep up with complicated books? Replying to my TeleRead piece in the Huffington Post, a reader said so. Here’s how I responded: 1. Display quality will keep improving--which should help. 2. A comprehensive strategy of the kind I described would train teachers to update their pedagogical techniques for the era of e-books. 3. Young people...