User:Vtta/DN

A digital newspaper is a digital version of a printed newspaper. Newspapers can be digitally published online or as an digital copy on a digital device, such as a mobile phone or an e ink reader.

= Hardware =

PCs
A newspaper can be read on a PC, laptop, netbook or tablet computer in an offline version, such as Portable Document Format (PDF), or as an online edition, using a web browser.

PC
Although PCs are suitable to read longer texts, the main disadvantage is that a PC is not portable, such as a newspaper.

Netbook
A netbook is a laptop of limited size with limited performance. The number of netbooks exploded in 2008. The Asus EEE with a 7 inch screen and a Linux operating system was one of the first commercial models. Nowadays, an 8.9 inch screen and Windows XP seems to be standard. The way the keyboard is designed (preferably as large as possible) is important for the level of success of the product.

It seems only a matter of time before the netbooks also be equipped with a touchscreen. The device will then be much more suitable as a newspaper reader.

Many of the current netbooks use Linux or Windows XP as an operating system. Both systems are not optimized for use with touchscreens. The successor of Windows Vista, Windows 7, will have touchscreen functionality. Microsoft will provide a special edition of Windows 7 for netbooks.

Tablet computers
A tablet computer is a laptop without a keyboard. The orientation of the is screen both horizontally and vertically. For reading purposes, the use of a tablet computer in a vertical position is preferable.

At the CES in Las Vegas in January 2009 Asus presented two netbooks with turnable screens. These products combine the advantages of a compact size with the advantage of a tablet computer and would be very suitable as mobile reader.

Online
Many organisations that publish a printed newspaper have also an online newspaper. Newspapers can decide to publish the same information as in the printed version online, or choose to provide different articles compared to the printed newspaper. Information can be provided for free or as a paid subscription. Some printed newspapers have decided to have their publiciation only published online. In the Netherlands the freesheet DAG killed the printed edition in 2008. In the US The Capital Times decided also to continue online in 2008.

Some newspapers provide digitalized versions of their printed editions. A commonly used format is PDF.

Critisism
Most computer screens use liquid crystal displays (LCDs). To provide an image on a screen LCD emmits light from the screen towards the reader. This makes reading this screen harder than reading a printed sheet of paper where a reader will see the image because it reflects light. For this reason some people argue that a computer screen is not suitable to read long articles.

Mobile phones
Newspapers can be read on mobile phones either as a webpage, made suitable for the limited size of the screen of a mobile phone, in a web browser, or on a specially designed application.

The possibilities to run an applications on a mobile phone depend on the operating system of the phone. Most phones run on Symbian. Other operating systems are Windows Mobile, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Palm OS. Some of these platforms are open to external developers, others are semi-open or closed.

PressDisplay.com created an application to read newspapers on the iPhonehttp://www.crunchgear.com/2007/07/23/get-the-newspaper-on-your-iphone-free-for-a-month/]. The New York Times has also a special application fit for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The main disadvantage of the mobile phone is it limited screen size which makes reading longer texts more difficult. The development of beamers, specially designed to work with mobile phones, could provide a solution for this problem.

E-readers
Most versions of electronic paper based on the e-ink technology. It is argued that issuing a newspaper on e-ink has many cost advantages.

Currently three manufacturers offer an e-reader to: IREX, Amazon and Sony. The market for these devices is heavily in development. For the most advanced version IREX 1000 series. This series has a display of 10.2 inches (almost the size of an A4) and a resolution of 1024 x 1280 pixels. The device has a mini USB port for communication with the PC and the possibility of SD cards in the stabbing. The 1000 series supports PDG, TXT and HTML and graphics formats JPEG, PNG, POISON, TIFF and BMP. The most advanced version supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It is possible to (limited) to surf with this device.

Although Apple has succeeded in a long time to be successful with a product with only one function - the iPod music player - the question is whether consumers will be prepared for a device to drag only one thing can: show text. We believe this remains the biggest barrier to success for this type of devices. When the technique, however, wanted to be integrated in such as a netbook that is the future a lot better.

Ilead
The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. The iLiad can display document files in several formats, including PDF, Mobipocket, XHTML and plain text. It can also display JPG, BMP and PNG images, but not in color. As of May 3, 2007 Mobipocket is supported, making the mobipocket digital rights management (DRM) content available on this platform. iRex's product page for the iLiad states that "Support for additional E-book formats will become available over the coming months. "

Through its wireless service, iDS, the iLiad can also directly download content. Les Echos, a french financial newspaper, is distributed this way, as is Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, and additional content is expected. Users can connect to their computer over a wireless network to sync new data onto the iLiad's internal memory or an inserted MMC, SD, or CF card. More wireless and network functions are to be delivered in upcoming firmware updates.

The distributor of the iLiad is iRex Technologies, a Philips spin-off company. It was initially advertised in December 2005, to be launched in April 2006, but was delayed until July, when it started to be sold as a beta product. It was released to the general public near the end of July, and since then has undergone considerable software revisions.

Kindle
Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader, an embedded system for reading electronic books (e-books), launched in the United States by prominent online bookseller Amazon.com in November 2007. It uses an electronic paper display and downloads content over Amazon Whispernet using the Sprint EVDO network. The Kindle can be used without a computer, and Whispernet is accessible without any fee.

Sony Reader
The Sony Reader is an e-book reader. It uses an electronic paper display developed by E Ink Corporation that has 166 dpi resolution, four levels of grayscale, is viewable in direct sunlight, requires no power to maintain a static image, and is usable in portrait or landscape orientation. The reader uses an iTunes Store-like interface to purchase books from Sony Connect eBook store. It also can display Adobe PDFs, EPUB format, personal documents, blogs, RSS newsfeeds, JPEGs, and Sony's proprietary BBeB ("BroadBand eBook") format. The reader can play unencrypted MP3 and AAC audio files.

The digital rights management rules of the reader allow any purchased eBook to be read on up to six devices (at least one of those 6 must be a PC). Users cannot totally share purchased eBooks on other user’s devices and accounts, but have the option to register five readers to their account and share books accordingly. At this time Sony has no plans to introduce time-expiring books in the U.S.

Hanlin eReader
The Hanlin eReader v3 is an e-book reader, an electronic book (e-book) reading device by Tianjin Jinke Electronics Co. Ltd. The device, much like others on the market, features a 6" (15 cm), 4-level grayscale electrophoretic display (E Ink material) with a resolution of 600×800 pixels (167 ppi). The device runs a Linux-based OS, and SDK is provided (though source code for many GPL-licensed components is not provided ), so functionality is easily extended.

The Hanlin eReader V3 is sold under various names, such as lBook V3 (Ukraine), Walkbook (Turkey), BEBOOK (Netherlands), and Papyre 6.1 (Spain).

Cybook
Cybook Gen3 is a 6 inch e-Reader, specially designed for reading e-Books and e-News, or listening to MP3 music or audio-books. It is produced by the French company Bookeen. The Cybook is an ultra-light reading device based on E Ink screen technology. Its screen possesses a paper-like high contrast appearance and is readable under direct sunlight. The device offers a battery lifetime of 8,000 page flips. The Cybook reads many file formats and offers access to a wide range of digital documents. To a host computer the Cybook functions as a typical USB mass storage device, which allows for easily copying books from most computers without the need for special drivers. For this reason it is supported on all major operating systems, including Linux.

The device uses TrueTypeFonts (TTF), and can also be used as an image viewer to display JPEG, GIF, PNG as well as playing MP3 files. The Cybook technically supports PDF files, however it doesn't reflow text and early firmware did not allow zooming in on documents. Current firmware revisions support ten levels of zoom and allow scrolling around the page, making the device suitable for reading many PDF files. However, very large PDF files take a long time to display once the file is selected. Some PDF files also cause the firmware to crash, which requires a hard reset by pressing the small button on the back side. A Secure Digital card slot allows for expanded storage, which is currently limited to a 2 gigabyte SD card.

The Cybook runs Linux as its underlying operating system; however, the firmware is not open source. This could be due to the support for DRM protected e-books, which probably require third party libraries. Compared to many other electronic book readers, the Cybook boots quickly and has a responsive interface when turning pages and navigating.

Cases
It is possible to read several newspapers on e-readers via an application of the company Newspaper Direct, which runs on the DR1000 series of IREX. Newspaper Direct offers a kind of virtual newspaper kiosk where the user can choose the paper. The company offers titles from eighty countries. The Dutch newspapers involved are: AD, Telegraaf, de Volkskrant, NRC and Het Nederlands Dagblad. Company Press Display offers a similar service.

Examples of newspapers on e ink:
 * Dutch Newspaper NRC Handelsblad on the Ilead
 * Several newspapers on Amszon's Kindle
 * French newspaper Les Echos on epaper
 * Le Monde and Figaro

= Screen technologies =

OLED
An organic light emitting diode (OLED), also light emitting polymer (LEP) and organic electro luminescence (OEL), is any light emitting diode (LED) whose emissive electroluminescent layer is composed of a film of organic compounds. The layer usually contains a polymer substance that allows suitable organic compounds to be deposited. They are deposited in rows and columns onto a flat carrier by a simple "printing" process. The resulting matrix of pixels can emit light of different colors.

Such systems can be used in television screens, computer displays, small, portable system screens such as cell phones and PDAs, advertising, information and indication. OLEDs can also be used in light sources for general space illumination, and large-area light-emitting elements. OLEDs typically emit less light per area than inorganic solid-state based LEDs which are usually designed for use as point-light sources.

A significant benefit of OLED displays over traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is that OLEDs do not require a backlight to function. Thus they draw far less power and, when powered from a battery, can operate longer on the same charge. Because there is no need for a backlight, an OLED display can be much thinner than an LCD panel. Degradation of OLED materials has limited their use.

OLED is not yet widely used because of the high cost of technology. There are watches with OLED screens and the intention is that the technology will be used for television screens.

LCD
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is an electronically-modulated optical device shaped into a thin, flat panel made up of any number of color or monochrome pixels filled with liquid crystals and arrayed in front of a light source (backlight) or reflector. It is often utilized in battery-powered electronic devices because it uses very small amounts of electric power.

Plasma
A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays (37in. [940mm]). Many tiny cells between two panels of glass hold an inert mixture of noble gases. The gas in the cells is electrically turned into a plasma which then excites phosphors to emit light.

Plasma does not seem very suitable as a display technique for reading digital newspaper.

Electrowetting
Electrowetting is the modification of the wetting properties of a hydrophobic surface with an applied electric field. Electrowetting is now used in a wide range of applications from modulab to adjustable lenses, electronic displays and switches for optical fibers.

E ink
E Ink is a type of electronic paper manufactured by E Ink Corporation.

It is a proprietary material that is processed into a film for integration into electronic displays, particularly for E-book devices such as the Sony Reader, the iLiad, the Cybook Gen3, the Amazon Kindle, the Readius device from Polymer Vision and Plastic Logic's reader. The Motorola F3 was the first cellphone to employ e-ink technology into its display, taking advantage of the material's ultra-low power consumption. The October 2008 issue of the North American edition of Esquire was the first magazine cover to integrate E Ink.

= Future =

Some people have argued that any device could be suitable for distributing news as long as the distribution is kept easy and intiutive. Journalist David Carr discussed in the International Herald Tribune the possibe succes for an 'iTunes' for news.

= References =