During his introduction of the Apple iPad, Steve Jobs spent a bit of time addressing one of the most obvious uses for a tablet device, eReading. Until now, that market has been pretty well controlled by the Amazon Kindle, but as a user of all the Kindles since their initial launch, I can tell you the monochrome world of conventional eInk is a mixed blessing.

Battery life on eInk devices tends toward the amazing. The standard Kindle delivers about a week of normal use on a single charge and turning the wireless connectivity off can double that. The iPad has a stated 10 hour battery life with WiFi use, and that can likely be extended by turning wireless off during use as an eReader.

Selecting a book to read on a Kindle can be a dicey proposition, largely due to publishers’ frequent inclination to leave out graphics and photos, even monochrome or grayscale ones the Kindle could reproduce quite well.  My rule of thumb is usually that novels (not known for much image content) are pretty safe Kindle picks, but non-fiction books that might have photos, illustrations, maps. etc., might be better to buy in a bound paper format. If I’m uncertain about the suitability of a book to be eRead, I usually try to check it out in the real world before making a buying decision. It’s reasonable to think the iPad will make buying graphically-rich books in electronic form safer, but that will ultimately depend upon how much effort (and expense) individual publishers (and maybe Apple) want to put into specific titles.

Another simultaneous positive and negative is the eye strain issue. An eInk display produces no light, making it easier to read for long periods of time. I’ve talked with people who can’t read books on a back-lit display for very long without starting to develop a headache, but they have no such problems with eInk. The lack of backlighting, though, means you need to bring your own page illuminating light, one way or another. The iPad is already being touted as “easy to read, even in low light.”

Users of existing eReaders (Kindle, nook, Sony Reader, etc.,) should have a reasonably smooth transition should they choose to go with an iPad. There are currently ways to read all the popular formats on the iPhone or Touch, and that means those reader apps will be available on the iPad as well. It does mean your library may become a bit fractured, with different books requiring different apps on the device. It may not be elegant, but you shouldn’t lose any part of your existing eLibrary.

One strong element I’ve seen in the iBooks app is the speed of virtual page turns. It’s an LED display and that means it can refresh at a much faster rate than eInk. For me the biggest requirement of an eReader is that the device must become unnoticeable, giving way to whatever is being read. Slow page turns pull you out of the book. The iPad will be not have this problem (and if it matters, it looks to have some absolutely gorgeous page turn animation that can vary depending on the speed at which you flip your finger across the screen).

One final comparison to make is the presence of wireless connectivity. In the Kindle, it’s provided free with the purchase of the device, but it’s of limited use for anything other than browsing and buying from the bookstore, and Whispersyncing between Kindle format devices. The iPad will provide WiFi, but if you anticipate a need for connectivity away from a hotspot, you’ll need to Pay $130 extra for the 3G version and a monthly (non-contract) service charge of $15 or $30. But with that, you’ll get web options that go far beyond those offered on the Kindle.

Before we get too excited about the promise of a full-color eReader, we have to note the saddest part of this story, that the iBooks app (and associated iBookstore) are currently listed as available in the United States only. Obviously there are international copyright and electronic publishing deals still to be hammered out, and that could happen before the iPad lands in users’ hands two months from now, but I don’t think anyone is making large bets that it will happen that quickly.

Ultimately, for eReading to really gain acceptance, it must deliver an experience equal or superior to that pulled from a printed page. A lot of bibliophiles say that’s impossible, but I think “book” is a word on the verge of redefinition, in a good way.  The iPad is the second of many needed steps before that can happen.

It’s probably predictably human to compare a new device to attributes of existing ones we know well.  As Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPad to the world, my thought was that I was looking at a fairly compelling blend of an iPod Touch and a Kindle DX.

If you’ve ever held the larger version of Amazon’s eReader in your hands, you’ll have a pretty good sense of what it will be like to hold an iPad. The iPad is about an inch shorter than a DX, but the widths are very similar. Both have a 9.7 inch screen, although the aspect ratio is different, with the iPad screen a bit wider when both are held in portrait orientation.  The iPad is just slightly thicker and a few ounces heavier. Obviously the biggest differences are the color multi-touch screen (1024 x 768) and the lack of a physical keyboard. The most stunning similarity is the price. As of today, the lowest-end iPad, at $499, is just ten dollars more than the DX.  For that $10 you’ll get four times the storage (16 GB as opposed to 4), video playback ability, a rich web browsing experience, and all other features you’d find on an iPod Touch.

There are a few things missing from the iPad that are worth noting: There is no camera, forward or back facing. No Flash support, which means certain web sites and videos will not play correctly (or at all). There’s no evidence of a native chat client like iChat, although iPhone chat apps already available should run on it.

As on Touch and iPhone there’s no multitasking.  I strongly believe that tablets will one day replace notebook computers in our daily lives, but multitasking is a must before that can happen. This device won’t replace your netbook if you ever do more than one thing at a time.

An interesting accessory is a keyboard dock that looks very much like an Apple Wireless Keyboard. If the virtual keyboard (an expanded version of what’s used on the Touch and iPhone) doesn’t work for you, plug the iPad into the dock and start typing on physical keys.

The iPad will come in six different price points  and configurations: WiFi-only in 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB sizes for $499, $599, and $699, or with 3G added to those capacities at $629, $729, and $829.

I’ll have hands on reviews of both the Wi-Fi and 3G models when they ship in two and three months, respectively. Tomorrow I’ll be back with a more in-depth look specifically at the positives and negatives of the iPad as an eReader.

Maybe one thing we’ll learn this year is just how many different things in the gadget world can be called a tablet.  We still don’t know exactly what Apple’s entry to that named category will be able to do, but eReading, media playback, web browsing and games all seem likely.  However, if you just want to jot down non-permanent notes, Improv Electronics (a division of Kent Displays), has something for you that will get the job done for a lot less money.

The Boogie Board is a $30 LCD tablet that only uses power (supplied by a watch battery) to erase itself. Writing is done with the included stylus, or just about any hard object, including the user’s fingernail. The writing surface is pressure sensitive, so you can vary line width easily. The tablet’s size is 8.8 x 5.6 inches, it’s 1/8 inch thick, and weighs 4.2 ounces.  As of now, the device is sold out at Amazon, but the company’s web site predicts it will be back in stock within a couple of days.

It won’t play back your iTunes library, but if you’re just looking for an alternative to lots of temporary notes written on paper you’d just throw away, the Boogie Board might be worth the minor investment.

Here’s an idea that’s incredibly simple yet elegant and useful.  Have you ever wished you could snapshot a web page, either for later offline reading, personal archiving, or some other reason? Screenshots are an option, but they can be a bit unwieldy, as several files are usually required for any but the shortest pages.

PDFmyURL.com does just what it sounds like it would. You go to the site, enter the URL that interests you and click Enter. In a couple of seconds a PDF file containing a full image of the page (in however many PDF pages are required to capture it all) is downloaded to your computer. It works like a charm and is going on my link bar.

Via Red Ferret Journal

Ever wished there was a faster, easier way to share files between your computer and your iPhone or iPod Touch? Mobile computing is increasingly being split between notebook computers and phones, but the data transfer isn’t always easy. The AirStash is a WiFi-enabled USB flash drive that stores data on SD cards up to 32 GB. The idea is that you can get files on and off the device in a number of ways: By USB connection, WiFi, or SD Card. You can load it up with files before going to a meeting, then allow those in the meeting access to your portable hotspot to read the files. The wireless feature can be encrypted with WPA2. The drive is a bit bigger than a non-hotspot USB drive, measuring about 2 by 3 1/2 inches. It carries a lithium polymer battery that recharges when plugged into a computer’s USB port. No exact price is indicated, but the web site compares it to one month of iPhone service.

My favorite eReader coming out of CES 2010 was the Skiff, a large format device aimed at the newspaper and magazine audience. The reader is big (the screen is 11.5 inches diagonally with a 1200 x 1600 pixel display), but quite thin (just over 1/4 inch).  Its 17 9/16 ounces is a bit lighter than the smaller screened Kindle DX. It’s not small enough to put in your pocket, but it should be as easy to carry as a pad of letter-size paper. Best of all, the promotional images for the Skiff show it displaying a newspaper in the column layout arrangement with which we’re all familiar.  It seems like a perfect device to bring newspaper readers into the eReader world. But it may be arriving a year too late.

I think 2010 is going to be the year eReaders (and our expectations of them) change substantially. As much as I hate the cliche, I think the tablets that are bound to come out this year, from Apple, HP, and others, will be “game changers”. Or maybe market fragmenters. Once a good color tablet is available, there will still be a few reasons for some people to prefer the kind of e-ink displays that are found on all the readers currently on the market.  Monochrome e-ink readers will still have far better battery life than color displays, will be less likely to cause eye-strain, and may be less expensive. They will do a fine job of displaying text-only books and may start to actually duplicate the newspaper experience.  These large format readers are impressive to see now, and would have made a very big splash had they come out last year.  This year though, they’re going to be going up against full color tablets that will deliver a much broader eReading experience, and functionality beyond reading. The Skiff is not yet priced; the comparably sized Que is coming in two models priced at $649 and $799 (the more expensive adds 3G and doubles the storage).  That is pushing into the range where we can expect to find tablets with a color screen and full media playback abilities.

Price may protect the lower cost eReaders like the Kindle and the nook, but the Skiff and the Que are likely to take a serious competitive beating from comparably priced devices that deliver a better experience and a broader range of capabilities. It may be that 2010 will go down as the year the tablets killed the dedicated eReaders.

Interested in astronomy? Have more disposable income than than the average small nation? Want to give the neighbors a scare they won’t soon forget? Then you might be in the market for a 50-inch Monster Dobsonian reflector telescope from Orion. Billed as the biggest amateur telescope in the world, this thing weighs in at about 900 pounds and when aimed straight up, the eyepiece (near the top of the ’scope) is 16 feet off the ground.  So you might want to get a ladder, as well.  Reflectors don’t have big lenses, relying instead on a large curved mirror at the base and a small mirror at the upper end of the telescope that sends gathered light into an eyepiece. So there are no big discs of glass in this monster, but there is one whopping huge curved mirror.  Before you buy this, hoping to read license plates on Mars, you should know that a telescope’s diameter affects light gathering ability, not magnification. Meaning this is a telescope you’d use to investigate extremely distant galaxies and dim deep sky objects like gas clouds that simply wouldn’t show up in the eyepiece of a smaller telescope.

Orion makes nice equipment.  I have a couple of (somewhat smaller) telescopes from them and have been very pleased by the quality. In the case of the 50-inch Monster Dobsonian, quality at such a unique size comes with a serious price tag: $123,000. You might want to build a backyard observatory to house it in, too.  And you should have time, as the telescope isn’t expected to ship for another year and a half. The Monster Dobsonian line also has telescopes at 36 and 40 inch sizes, if you’d rather not look like you’re showing off to the neighbors.

Whether in reaction to Apple’s anticipated month-end announcement, or just because the idea has reached an intersection of demand and technical capability, 2010 is looking like the year of the tablet computer.  I think that tablets, once they pass the hurdles of price and capability (see the history of notebooks for that) are going to be the portable computers of choice.  But that may be a few years off and what do you do to bridge the gap between the netbook world of today and tablet world of tomorrow? Lenovo has an answer at CES, and it looks to be a pretty good one.  The IdeaPad U1 Hybrid is a tablet computer running Lenovo’s Skylight Linux OS. It has an 11.6-inch multitouch screen backed by a Snapdragon processor and a 16GB sold state drive when used as a tablet.

The real charm of this device is the fact that it’s not only a tablet.  Slip the screen into its keyboard-equipped clamshell case, and the display smoothly transitions over to Windows 7, and the tablet becomes a netbook. Docked with the keyboard, the system switches to an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 128GB on SSD. Anticipated release month is June at a planned price of $999.

My highest anticipation remains focused on Apple’s tablet, but it’s good to know that should it underwhelm, there are going to be a lot of alternatives on the market this year.

Via Engadget

I’m guessing you already have ski gloves that control your iPod and a GPS to help you track your speed down the hill, but when you’re back at the lodge bragging about that spectacular jump you made with no witnesses, you need some tech to back up your outlandish claims. Luckily Liquid Image, the folks who brought you a dive mask with a built-in video camera, have your back on the slopes as well.

The Summit Series Snow Camera Goggles have a 5 MP camera mounted above the goggles’ visor that delivers 720×480 video at up to 30 frames per second. There’s a still mode as well, and LEDs inside the goggles indicate camera mode to the skier. Internal memory is 16 MB NAND Flash, with an option for a Micro SD card that can give you up to 16 GB of storage. Power is provided by a rechargeable lithium battery.  But don’t go looking for these goggles just yet – they aren’t scheduled to hit the market until late summer 2010, at a price currently estimated at $149.

Via CrunchGear

1. Apple Tablet – That it might be the device I am hoping it to be – I started pining for a good color eReading/media device more than a year ago. The Kindle and Sony Reader devices began to show us what is possible, but as much as they accomplished, where they fall short is very apparent.  You still cannot have a satisfying magazine experience on an eReader if that magazine relies on anything beyond basic text. The tech web crowd has been very cautious about giving any mileage to the rumors that have propelled interest in Apple’s tablet project along for the last year, but at this point it seems very apparent that the thing is real and will in all likelihood be revealed this month.  When that happens, I’m hoping for a device that can bring traditional print, audio and video content together in ways only the full web has attempted up until now, and do it in a package small enough to easily carry around, slimmer than most existing notebooks today with no physical keyboard to get in the way. If they do it right, it could help define a new kind of electronic media

2. Greater openness and compatibility in eBook formats – Maybe the best thing the Barnes and Noble nook has brought to the eReader market is its wider range of formats while still being linked (but not shackled) to a major online retailer.  It looks like a strong emphasis of the Apple tablet will be as an eReader.  I’m hoping that this will  help move major content producers toward freedom from DRM restrictions. It took a few years, but the involvement of Steve Jobs and Apple has finally done that with music offered through iTunes. I see eBooks following a very similar path to digital music as they gain popularity.  I’m just hoping things can progress a little faster and with fewer false steps this time around.

3. Continuing and more diverse competition for the iPhone – Since its initial release, there have been, and certainly will continue to be people who simply hate the iPhone. That’s fine, but it’s a mistake for anyone to ignore the impact it has made in getting an easy-to-use multi-function device into the hands of a great many people. Its integration of the extremely popular iPod media player platform and a huge and constantly growing app store are the major tent poles that have propelled it forward. An impressive development this year was the release of the Motorola Droid phone, the first smart phone to make hardened iPhone devotees seriously consider another option. When the the eyes of the Apple faithful begin to wander, something a bit remarkable has happened.  Besides being a truly nifty gadget, the Droid shows us that Apple’s market position is not unassailable and with development of a more robust app store for the Andoid OS, a real horse race is possible.  In 2010, I’m hoping to see even more solid competitors to the iPhone emerge, if only to keep Apple moving forward.

4. Mobile Drobo for 3.5″ hard drives – I love Drobo and have been using several with great success for nearly two years.  But one thing they’re not is easily carried about. Laptop-size hard drives have begun to get quite roomy, now I’d like a Drobo that can hold two or three or four of these drives while still being not much bigger than a full-sized drive in an enclosure.  That would be great for people who generate a lot of data on the road like photographers and independent video producers.

5.  A slightly better Griffin Simplifi -  This is an easy one.  It should already be on the market and I’m lost to explain why it isn’t.  Here’s what I want: A compact iPod/iPhone dock with multiple media card-reading options and USB ports, all on the front. The current Simplifi comes so close to this, it’s almost cruel. It has all this functionality already, but the USB ports are on the back. I want a Simplifi (or something virtually identical) with the USB up front, next to the card slots. Please, someone make this.  I’ll wait right here.

What are your wishes for the next year? Are you already sick of hearing about the Apple tablet and wish it never to materialize? Maybe you’d like to see some advances in home theater technology or a new DSLR camera with amazing features at a breakthrough price?  Leave a comment and tell me what will make your 2010 technologically unforgettable.