Books Without Paper

eReaders compete for consumer attention at electronics show.

 Almost everyone’s heard about the biggest electronic reader on the market, the Amazon Kindle. But have you heard about the Alex Reader? Or the iRiver Story?

eReaders have been a big thing at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, for several years. This year, however, companies are taking it to the next level as they try to catch up with the significant lead in sales of the Kindle. There’s even a special “TechZone” set aside this year where the eReader manufacturers are working to stand out from the crowd.

Here are just a few of the many eReaders I’ve seen this year.

Alex Reader

This eReader tries to set itself apart with two screens instead of one. One screen uses eInk, the technology that powers most eReaders. The other is a smaller full color touch-sensitive screen. You use the bottom, smaller screen to navigate and browse the web. This extra screen comes at an extra price, however. When Alex launches next month, it will cost $399, which is almost $140 more than it’s two leading competitors, the Kindle and the Nook. It also doesn’t have the same content selection, although it has a partnership with Google Books to provide free public domain eBooks, and Borders to provide paid eBooks.

iRiver Story

Unlike many of the eReaders on display, iRiver isn’t trying to stand apart due to the design. In fact, at a distance, the Kindle and the Story look very similar. iRiver is all about the content. When the Story is released, iRiver will have a site setup that links to around 20 or 25 different content providers. In addition, it supports a a variety of formats, such as Word documents, spreadsheets, and comic books.

Many other eReaders were spread across the show floor. Some were small, some were geared for business, and some were from other countries. Every eReader has something that helps it stand out, whether it’s a second screen, wide support, or a way to take notes by drawing on the screen. Whether or not any of these will be enough to overshadow the current giant in eReaders is for the consumer market to decide through sales. Or maybe, readers will return to regular books.

—Aaron Broder

PHOTO: Everyone at CES wanted to get their hands on the latest eReader. (Photo Courtesy Aaron Broder)

3D Live in Concert!

Taylor Swift demos live 3D for Consumer Electronics Show.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has barely begun, but the predictions are already being fulfilled. The first and biggest predictions for this year’s CES was that 3D will be the new technology on the market. Sony and Samsung are two major companies working hard to push their vision of a 3D future.

3D has had a bit of a bumpy ride, as David Steel, the Senior Vice President of Samsung pointed out. The first 3D movie was released in 1922, but it has taken until 2010 for the technology to become accessible to homes.

Samsung not only has a special 3D TV ready to roll out to markets later this year, but will soon have a 3D Blu-ray player.

Of course, a 3D TV is pretty useless without something to watch on it, so Samsung has partnered with two major companies to provide content. Technicolor, which helped create color movies back in the days of black and white, and Dreamworks, the creators of movies like Kung Fu Panda and Monsters vs. Aliens are part of the 3D content team.Kung Fu Panda will soon be the first 3D Blu-ray disc released.

Sony also has a line of TVs and accessories to get 3D moving in consumer markets later this year, but they have their own content providers. Sony has partnered with ESPN to create ESPN 3D, the first 3D sports channel. They plan to air 85 3D events this year.

They’ve also partnered with Discovery Entertainment and IMAX to make “Discovery Sony IMAX 3DTV,” which is a television network dedicated to 3D programs. And that’s not all that they’re doing. They are filming 3D concerts! Eventually, these will be broadcast live, which was demonstrated at the beginning of the presentation with a live 3D performance by teen sensation Taylor Swift!

Even Microsoft is getting into the 3D business. During a keynote address, a Microsoft spokesperson said that Windows 7 now has support for 3D gaming—if you have the right monitor.

With so many companies making the push for 3D technology, it looks like in the next few years, our TVs will be going into another dimension.

—Aaron Broder

Photo: Taylor Swift performs as her concert is filmed and shown live in 3D on a screen behind her! (Photo Courtesy Aaron Broder)

Polar Bear TV

Not all new electronic products are cutting edge; some are just silly!

Tuesday night was CES Unveiled, the first press event of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event gives an early sneak peak at a limited selection of the new products debuting this year.

Two exhibitors showed off “wireless charging.” Just place your electronic device on this gadget and it charges with a minimum of wires! You need to get an attachment for the devices you want to charge (either a special battery back or a battery cover) but once you’ve done that you don’t have to deal with different cords for every device. Some can even detect what the device is doing—whether it’s fully charged or not, if it’s in use or not—and adjust the power flow accordingly, to help save electricity.

A lot lot of cool toys were unveiled at CES Unveiled—in particular those of the flying variety. One was from the company Parrot. The quadricopter is a helicopter that uses four sets of propellers instead of just one.

The quadricopter is controlled by an iPhone. It also comes with “augmented reality” games, which means that the toy records what is in front of it and sends it back to the iPhone. The iPhone then adds virtual graphics—for example, a robot that you need to shoot down to win.

But not everything you see at an electronic show is state of the art. Some of the products on display are just silly. One company featured a new look at televisions: one was shaped like an apple and another was shaped like a polar bear!

CES Unveiled barely scratched the surface of what I’ll see this week at the full show, which began today. Be sure to check back to this blog for more updates.

—Aaron Broder

Photo: Want a Polar Bear TV in your bedroom? It could be available soon in an electronics store near you! (Photo Courtesy Aaron Broder)