All Praise To Google (Amen)

Speaking with Adam today, we eventually got around to what I think is a pet peeve of any reasonably environmentally-conscious person: The persistence of paper in our daily lives. Probably most frustrating is the insistence of people on printing out things totally unnecessarily - or at least, for the commonly-heard "I don't like reading of a screen." And, as always, the conversation turned to the possibility of electronic replacements - namely, e-paper. So, once I got home, I simply plunked in to Google News, typed in "electronic paper" and came up with this.

But some of the stuff I saw today...wow. Aside from the thinnest touch-screen tablet PC I've ever seen, the thing that blew me away was the Sony Librie, the first commerically available electronic ink e-book reader... What you can't see from the photo is how insanely crisp and clear the text on the "screen" is. It was book-text quality...it looked like a decal until you pushed the next button and the whole screen changed. It was *really* mind-boggling and you could instantly see how most books are going to be distributed in the very near future. Despite looking like a computer, when you were reading, it felt like a book because of the resolution (a very odd sensation). And it's not only for books...I was told that there's e-paper that's capable of full-color 24 fps video.

Go to the link - there's a picture.

The bad news? Well, first of all, it's Sony, so you know it's overpriced. Secondly, it's Sony, so you know they're trying to force you in to using their own crappy standards. Thirdly, it's Sony, so it's not available in North America yet.

Did I mention that my passionate hatred of all things Sony eclipses even my distaste for Apple products? Seriously, if someone clones a Playstation, they'll have my eternal love and devotion, but until then I'm not touching the bloody things.

Anyway, this is just the first in what will be, I'm absolutely positive, a new brand of consumer electronics. Slap a Wi-fi card in there and a 40g hard drive, and you're talking some real power. I could check my RSS feeds on the road, it could probably even be made to tap in to the new cellphone-TV content that Rogers will be offering soon. And now I'm drooling. Anyway, thought I'd share the good news.