woodsd@ingr.com (Scott D. Wood) (06/28/90)
Info obtained in 4-June-90 Electronic Engineering Times:
Tokyo -- The Sony Corp. has developed an integrated portable elec-
tronic "book reader" that weds a 3-inch CD-ROM drive and 256 x 200
pixel LCD display. The so-called DD-1 Data DiscMan adheres to the
electronic book specs outlined by the Electronic Book Community in-
dustry association, founded five months ago. Using rotating 3-inch
CD-ROM media, the system delivers 200 Mbytes of data on CD platters
that cost under $2 each to replicate in volume.
The initial DD-1 system delivers five dictionaries to the
user, using retrieval software contained on a slip-in IC decoder.
Scott>I bet they mean one of the new solid-state ROM/RAM "credit-card" mems.
The $379 unit has a three-hour rechargeable battery life-
time. It is equipped with a video output jack allowing the electronic
book to be displayed on an outboard TV screen or video display. The
DD-1 can also be used to enjoy 3-inch CD audio platters in stereo.
Scott>Not bad, eh? Imagine the uses for this thing! Reference materials,
manuals -- you name it, and highly portable too. The software inter-
face better be pretty simple and straight forward, maybe "hypercard-
ish" to increase its usabilty. It should also have some sort of
<wince!> *standard* computer interface so it's REALLY usable. But hey,
sounds like a great start to me. Of course some sort of "heads-up"
virtual display (like those funky "data-glasses" -- still in R+D)
would be GREAT! This is about as close as we'll get to "wetware" (see
alt.cyber*) in the near future. If anyone knows more about this or
other neato similar devices - please follow up.
Bye, Scott.
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|____/|__| |____| |___| O p t r o n i c sCCHD@latvax8.lat.oz (Huw Davies - La Trobe University Computer Centre) (07/03/90)
In article <11155@ingr.com>, woodsd@ingr.com (Scott D. Wood) writes: > Info obtained in 4-June-90 Electronic Engineering Times: > > Tokyo -- The Sony Corp. has developed an integrated portable elec- > tronic "book reader" that weds a 3-inch CD-ROM drive and 256 x 200 > pixel LCD display. > If anyone knows more about this or > other neato similar devices - please follow up. > Well, I've touched and used one! I was in Singapore a couple of weeks ago and saw one at "Singapore 2000" a hi-tech expo. Physically, the book-man (I think that's what it had on the front), is about the size of a portable CD player. It has a flip up LCD display which is small, hard to read and non-backlit. In addition, there is a small qwerty keyboard. The system I used, was running a English, French, German dictionary, displaying on a Sony monitor. It was a great toy, but until there are better applications, high resolution displays (say 1Kx1Kx256) I'll keep saving for the HD-TV that was also on display (for about $14K...) Huw Davies, Senior Systems Programmer, Computer Centre, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia Phone: (03) 479-2515 International: +61 3 479-2515 ACSnet: cchd@latvax8.lat.oz CSnet: cchd@latvax8.lat.oz or cchd%latvax8.lat.oz@australia or cchd%latvax8.lat.oz@csnet-relay BITnet: cchd@latvax8.lat.oz ARPA: cchd%latvax8.lat.oz@uunet.uu.net or cchd@latvax8.lat.oz.au on sites with latest nameservers