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Foxit to support eReader; excellent Economist article
January 24, 2009 | 11:38 am
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By Paul Biba
We did a posting about the Foxit reader when it was announced. The disappointing thing about it was that it would only read PDF documents. Now, here is an email I received from reader John Hagewood:
If this comes to pass, I believe this would be the first e-ink device to support the eReader DRM format! (which excites me because I have over 300 titles purchased from eReader since the year 2000!) http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ebook/
from that page:
“Good news: Foxit is currently working with different content providers for DRM support, including the support for eReader format.
Due to an upgrade higher quality screen, the eSlick will be available around late February or early March. However, we can take pre orders now. Pre-order with just a $50 deposit and lock in the introductory price of $229.99 plus shipping and applicable taxes.”
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The Economist has an excellent overview article on flexible display screens. You can find it here.
OVER the years, the screens on laptops, televisions, mobile phones and so on have got sharper, wider and thinner. They are about to get thinner still, but with a new twist. By using flexible components, these screens will also become bendy. Some could even be rolled up and slipped into your pocket like a piece of electronic paper. These thin sheets of plastic will be able to display words and images; a book, perhaps, or a newspaper or a magazine. And now it looks as if they might be mass produced in much the same way as the printed paper they are emulating.
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Comments:
Looks like a Bookeen Cybook to me, but with fewer formats supported.
Slate puts this Economist article in “must skip” category with this comment:
The boston.com article they point to is titled “Digital Paper: a few years late, and not so flexible”. Good point.
After I sent this in, I got to wondering how they would implement the entering in of the name and credit card number fields required for eReader DRM using such a minimal interface! Bound to be a little kludgy. I sure would not pre-order one of these units based on the comment “Foxit is currently working with different content providers for DRM support, including the support for eReader format”…that just doesn’t sound like much of a guarantee to me, just a “we are working on it”
At this point it is still vaporware, Paul. I’ve exchanged a few emails with Foxit, and the equivocation I’ve received makes me think eReader support will not be on the eSlick when it is first released.
I wonder if Steve P. will have anything to say about this?
It is NOT vaporware! Nate keeps telling everyone that. It’s currently being worked on.
John, there will be a soft keyboard to use.
Erik is correct, I shouldn’t have used that word.
>John, there will be soft keyboard to use
Cool. thanks for the clarification (and this in infinitely better than having to open/authorize/convert on the PC)
I noticed the blurb about eReader support is gone from the FoxIt website. Any need to worry? Any ETA on eReader support being released (perhap in that April batch of eSticks?)
Thanks,
John
No need to worry. Foxit will keep everyone updated on the progress.