The future e-Newsreader?:

• Large display e-reader – a bendable, foldable [ collapse into a compact deck of cards? ] display with built in wi-fi, memory, electronic paper , internet access (via mobile service providers) and embedded software.
• An e-news app store to provide lots of cool software to make news reading much more efficient and effective or such software could be bundled with the e-Newsreader you buy.
• You purchase your daily news online (or via long-term subscriptions) and the electronic version of the news is transmitted to your e-Newsreader. The electronic version of the news will still have the same content format and look as today’s newspapers, but in addition, you’ll have several cool features at your disposal – zoom in/out, search, bookmark favourite articles, save to memory, etc. – and all these features via touch screen, stylus and voice-recognition technologies.
• Software will allow you to track a story across several days’ e-news stored in your e-Newsreader’s memory and provide you with a timeline of events.
• The e-Newsreader will be optimized for displaying newspaper-style news, but will also allow ebooks (several formats) to be read.

Pros:

• Save the planet!! e-news will save a huge amount of paper.
• Significant reduction in production costs for media companies (no printing newspapers), thereby allowing e-news to be delivered at lower rates than today’s newspapers.
• No more rushing, queuing and frantically searching for small change to buy your daily newspaper. Get news delivered whenever, wherever.
• No more littering public transport and other places with used newspapers (perhaps free newspapers like “The Metro” for tube/train travellers in the UK may be transmitted to your e-reader if you have a valid ticket).
• Read news far more efficiently. For example, use the search feature to quickly check the stories that you’re following and then move on to other articles.
• Make information and knowledge much more easily accessible to the public. This encourages more research, better journalism and contributes to building knowledge communities.

Cons:

• The decline/demise of the newspaper print industry means the loss of several jobs.
• You’ll miss the several other benefits of newspapers – street food holder, packing, etc.

e-Newsreaders will have a large market in developed countries. Developing countries won’t have a market for such devices unless they come out of poverty (to make such devices affordable to the genral public) and literacy is high (to get people to use such devices).

Amazon.com initially ran into loads of trouble with its Kindle, primarily due to some daft decisions (like catering to only US mobile network technologies, thereby preventing world-wide distribution) and like other e-readers, it’s primarily aimed at reading e-books (although the latest Kindle DX aims to make reading news easier with a larger display. Amazon.com’s framework of using the Kindle with its Whispernet was a step in the right direction, but lack of planning caused them many issues.

Knowledge and information are key to a country’s development and consequently making knowledge and information more easily accessible should be the key driver behind devices such as e-readers. However, for this digital dream to become the common man’s reality, a helluva lot of work has to be done and large organizations and governments must work cooperatively with each other.

Being so cheap for what it claims to offer, I did not have much expectations from the Cyclone Micro. All I wanted was a quick, easy, cheap way of viewing my DivX and Xvid videos (purchased via Graboid). Well, I have been impressed so far. The Cyclone Micro is a little gadget (smaller then my BlackBerry) that has adequately met my requirement for playing Xvid video on my LCD TV. All I do is download an Xvid video via Graboid, store it on my 8 GB SanDisk USB Flashdrive, stick the flash drive into the Cyclone Micro, connect the Cyclone Micro to my LCD TV via a HDMI cable (only an AV cable comes with the Cyclone Micro, so you’ll need to purchase an HDMI cable separately if you don’t already have one), switch on the Cyclone Micro and select the HDMI Input source on my LCD TV. When done, the Cyclone Micro home menu is displayed on the screen. Using this menu, I select the video I wish to watch and voila! The Cyclone Micro comes with a nifty remote control, loaded with adequate controls like play, stop, forward, rewind, zoom and volume. You can also select your upscaling resolution. By default, the first movie played with my Cyclone Micro used DVD resolution. Then, when I selected 1080p as my default resolution, the video was noticeably different (higher quality). So, the Cyclone Micro does improve video quality with its upscaling (not out of this world, but great enough for such a cheap product!).

I haven’t experimented using my Cyclone Micro with other video, audio and picture formats, but so far, for my requirement of playing Xvid videos on my LCD TV, I believe that the Cyclone Micro has given me bang for my buck!

Most of the videos (movies and TV shows) on Graboid are good quality Xvid videos, but Graboid also links you to HD videos (720p/1080p). You can either stream or download the videos.

So far, I’ve downloaded a few Xvid videos and watched them on my LCD TV using my Cylcone Micro – no issues and good audio/video quality. I’ve only had an issue with a 13 GB HD movie (1080p) download and the Graboid forums indicate that the long filename for that movie could be posing a problem (now liaising with Graboid support to give back my 13 GB bandwidth!).

Well, two Japanese companies, NEC Electronics and Soundpower have created a prototype remote control which does not need batteries! The power required for its use is generated from the pressing its buttons. So, just using the remote control generates the power required for its operation! Brilliant innovation!

Watch Michael Pritchard’s demo of the Lifesaver bottle (at TED) below:

The Lifesaver bottle or jerry can could save the lives of millions of people around the world in dire need of drinking water, but for this ultra filtration technology to really change the world, it must be affordable, safe to use and easily accessible.

The Lifesaver bottle scores well on safety. The bottle has been tested and certified by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (laboratory test results). Also, when the bottle’s filtering mechanism expires, the filtering system simply shuts down preventing unsafe consumption of water.

Regarding affordability, you can check the cost of Lifesaver products here. They are expensive and will not be affordable by the people who need them most. Michael Pritchard believes that developed countries which provide massive aid to developing countries can include these bottles as part of their aid packages. However, for Lifesaver products to be more affordable and easily accessible, perhaps Michael should license the technology to manufacturers around the world with utmost importance given to adherence to quality. The developing and poor countries wherein people are more likely to fall short of drinking water are typically also the countries where corruption is widely prevalent and so many fake bottles could be manufactured thereby putting several lives in danger. So, while this technology is wonderful in the benefits it can bring to millions, there’s still more to be done to realize the benefits.