1HDC 09.09 - The Future of Digital Reading - Submissions

ReadIT


Current digital readers are taking off (Kindle at the forefront) with the obvious comment that the digital reader leaves behind the physical form of the book and the age-old experience of “curling up” and reading a book. This isn’t necessary a hurdle for the digital reader - after all the iPod has little to no recollection of the needle on a record. Instead let’s continue to celebrate the classic form of the book side by side with the fresh form of the digital reader. My solution addresses two major aspects of the challenges of digital readers - the timelessness of the bound book and the ecosystem of books and reading.


BOOKS AND THEIR COVERS
Books should walk a fine line between utilitarian objects and artisanal pieces. Certainly in more ancient times the book was so prized that it was a work of art in and of its self. Today more often than the cover art is the only artful aspect of the book. The kindle almost entirely loses this and for no reason. Despite the adage of how we should not judge a book by its cover, we do just that. It is how we pick out a book at a bookstore. It is how we take note of what others are reading at the park, on the bus, in the coffee shop. A book’s cover is present in all stages of the book reading experience - We remember a book by it’s cover; the book cover has a sensory appeal when holding the book and a kinesthetic appeal when opening the book; and these aspects are still hugely important to us when we pass a book along to a friend to read. This reader incorporates a wrapping screen that can display the typical spine front and back cover of a book. There is minimal buttons, etc. in favor of a touchscreen interface so that there is a little as possible to compete with the cover art. The side opposite the spine would have the texture of pages edges so that it is easy to tell by feel which side is the front of the digital reader is.

BLEND THE MIXED MEDIA OF MODERN BOOK READING
Today books are generally available in some combination of bound, digital, and audio form. When buying a book the reader is left to foretell the future as to which medium should be purchased. Unless the reader is prepared to buy the same words in multiple forms, the reader must know at the onset which medium will work best for the reader’s entire life cycle with the book. Will I want to mark up the pages? Will I want to lend this to someone? Will I want to listen to this read to me as I fall asleep one night? Will I just want to read this once and never need to look at it again? Do I want to proudly display this on my bookshelf? All of these are questions that only get answered over time. So here is a reader that most simply can scan the barcode of a book and instantly download the text, cover art, and audio for that book. This way the reader would have with one purchase the physical book, the digital text, and the audio version. Some notable details of this new book ecosystem would include:

  • The barcode would have to be “activated” - In a bookstore, by a netflix-esque rental service, etc. Just like with gift cards in a store, they don’t work until you take them to the counter and purchase them. The DRM enthusiasts among us can sleep well with the potential that this activation could be linked to a user account so that I book could not be stolen or shared too much. That said, sharing shouldn’t be discouraged and if anything should be encouraged is supported by the interface.
  • The digital reader’s interface has a speaker and headphone port to listen to an audiobook alone or with a friend.
  • The interface would allow for note-taking as you read/listen, page marking, and passage highlighting and the sharing of all of these with fellow digital readers.
  • The interface would allow one to snyc where they left off reading when switching between mediums

Kicker Studio has three concepts. All of our concepts take into account the following six design principles that were drawn from the research:

    • Needs to be able to show book covers (and thus personal taste) via a quick visual reference
  • Has to display traces of history
  • Can have physical characteristics (weight, visible signs of age) that reflect the content
  • Has different physical instantiations for the same content, adjustable based on reader’s context
  • Supports reading multiple things at any given time (although not necessarily at once)
  • Not embarrassed to be seen using in public.

Here are the concepts:

Concept 1: BookLight

BookLight is a mini projector/camera the size of a book light. It can clip onto book-like objects, solid surfaces, or behind the ear. BookLight can project text onto any surface and starts by projecting a reading collection for a reader to choose from. BookLight is controlled via gestures visible through its camera. Readers can page through reading material, make bookmarks and notes, and underline text with a hand or stylus. The camera also detects usage and image changes over time to reflect fingerprints and page “aging.” Pages can permanently take on some of the texture of the surface they are projected onto. Projection can be re-sized for context: reading on a hand, on hand-held reading surface, on a table or wall, etc.

Concept 2: BookEnds

Two “paddles” held separately in each hand create BookEnds, which project a holographic image in between them that displays reading material in air. The size of the reading canvas is determined by how far apart the reader’s hands are while holding the paddles. The reader flips through pages by lifting the right paddle towards left one, as though turning a page in a newspaper or book. The weight of the paddles shifts to reflect the reader’s place in the book. The relative size of each book is reflected in the weight of the panels as well. The panels can be stored standing up on a shelf to charge, displaying the spines of the reader’s collection between them.

Concept 3: Book Blocks

Book Blocks are post-it sized, thin squares with a matte, touchscreen display. Book Blocks snap together to form a larger surface area for reading. For example, many blocks together can form a newspaper-sized reading surface — content adjusts for the new surface space. Publishers can sell special blocks with their content (e.g. individual books, a yearly subscription to the New York Times, etc). Readers can share content by snapping off a block and handing it to a friend. Cafes can have Blocks embedded into tables so that visitors can attach their own blocks to see what the last occupants of the tables were reading.

THE FUTURE MOBILE DEVICE (!)

I think that in the future (sooner than later…) we will carry a personal computer on which we will consume all our media. The device will be our phone, music player, media-reader, word processor etc. The FMDevice is essentially an expandable, flexible touch screen computer.

For E-Reading, the FMDevice can be expanded to increase the screen size, making reading easier. The screen size is controlled by manipulating the interface buttons in the corners of the device. The screen is capable of expanding because of recent advances in elastic LCD technology.

Because it is also a phone and computer, media can shared easily between users via text message or email.

READ N’ ROLL

Hi all, so my idea is of a portable electronic reader that can roll up to about the same radius as a 12oz soda can. It’s inspired by the now old fashioned newspaper. I’d imagine it’d be about a quarter inch thick and available in different heights comparable to those of paper backs, hardcovers, magazines, and newspapers. The outside would be comprised of durable plastic panels that allow the reader to be rolled when not in use much in the same manner as the wheels of a tank, and would protect like one too! When opened, the panels would snap together keeping the book rigid and straight.


The reader could be rolled out completely and pages could be displayed one at a time, divided via the center, quadrants, etc. according to the preferences set by the user. Also in environments where space is tight, (i.e: cars, subways, buses, etc.) the reader could be unrolled only slightly and the page would scale to fit only the open area. Pages could be turned by either sliding (much like the iPhone)or tapping a thumb print icon which can be stationed anywhere on the page as set in user preferences.

When rolled out completely, the farthest panel to the left would be exposed. This slightly thicker panel is the control panel and contains all the buttons regarding user preferences, and also a firewire and/or USB port to upload new books and other information. The control panel also stores the stylus, which can be removed and used for note taking, highlighting, etc. This design enables the control panel or “brain” of the reader to be at the center core, and thus is most protected when rolled up.


Since I’m sure we are all aware that in this day in age we are incapable of simply developing a reader that only facilitates reading (ex: phones can’t just make calls, they have to take pics, surf the web, store music, and wash your car too), I’ve added a few extra features. The Read N’ Roll has large memory capacity and wireless ability to allow for other types of non-conventional reading to be stored and or accessed with your reader, such as–personal documents, websites, blogs, etc.

The control panel’s furthest ends (top and bottom) can still be accessed even when fully rolled up. The very top has a head phone jack that can be set to play any stored audio information even when rolled up in your bag! And on the opposite end, at the very bottom of the control panel is the port that the charger locks into when loaded in the charging dock. AND! Because chicks dig sustainability, when unrolled somewhat and placed in the sun, the reader can be charged anywhere via small solar panels stored in the panels nearest the control panel so that they are also protected when rolled up.
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Enjoy and remember that book lovers never sleep alone!

Hot Studio & friends submission, “The SuperFlyer 5000 Visits the Library in the Cloud”
Our submission consists of 2 concepts (attached as pdf), “Library in the Clouds” and “The SuperFlyer 5000.”

A multi-disciplinary group of 9 participants of Hot designers and friends gathered on Friday, Sept 25th. At 2pm we reviewed the research material, and at 3:15pm we divided into 2 groups to brainstorm concepts. We reconvened at 4:00pm (ish), and quickly sketched, photographed, and typed up our concepts.

We had beer, we had fun, and if we’re being honest, we ran a little over the allotted time. Blame the beer.

Thanks for giving us an excuse to have fun!

[slideshare]

Not sure why SlideShare isn’t showing the deck, the perms on their site are all set to public. Here’s the direct link: http://www.slideshare.net/joshdamon/1hr-design-challenge

Also, C77’s upload limit is 2mb, so here’s a link. http://hottub.hotstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/90-minutes-v2.pdf

Here is our digital reader - the Flipit!
Check out all the cool features in our presentation.
Please know that we took more than 90 minutes.



Spira! aims to build upon the experience of reading a book by providing an immersive reading atmosphere. The key feature of Spira! is the uninterrupted stream of words, which the user continuously reads as they pass by. The words flow from one spiral to the other, allowing the size of each spiral to subtly indicate reading progress. The spiral interface is used throughout the Spira! feature-set, organizing libraries, friends, annotations, and bookstore. The user can navigate the spiral menus one of two ways: a touch-screen interface for intuitive interaction, or a ‘quick wheel’ for one-handed operation. Text flow speed can be adjusted by both interfaces.

To fully immerse the reader in the literary experience, an encircling OLED display gradually changes images and colors designed to match the action and mood of the story.

Readers can develop their own personal library, which they can then share with friends. Sharing is encouraged by allowing users to give friends their favorite excerpts of books they recommend. While browsing through friends’ libraries, users can also view comments, reviews, and favorite quotes from each book.

While at any bookstore browsing through ‘classic’ books tagged with RFID, users can quickly purchase books via the RFID receiver embedded in the Spria! Users can also purchase books via an online bookstore that offers text-only, animation-enhanced, and special edition books. Users can also purchase personalized backgrounds through the online bookstore.

To ease the digital transition, some features are nostalgic - the fabric grips are reminiscent of classic hard cover books, and the black and white screen is similar to text on paper.

A feasible digital reader of the future should be it’s own unique entity. This design takes the best parts about reading a book – getting lost in the story.

General Concept:

• Multiple book shells
• Physical LED paper-like pages
o Can be added or subtracted depending on book length
• Digital spine/cover changes with chip
• Chip fully inserts into spine
• Chip system supports current format/layout of library/bookstores
• Can take notes on pages (stylus - ecosystem)
o Save to the chip
o Customizable books
• Can plug chip into projector (part of ecosystem)
• Shells can be old, new, glossy, matte, worn pages, leather bound
o Authentic reading experience
• Can buy chips in different formats
o To adapt to size of book
• Add-ins available for font size
o Elderly
• Pages load instantly to allow flipping through
• Can have artisan style books designed to work with only one chip
• Can buy preloaded books with chips already in them
o For those who don’t want to change, don’t want to deal with technology
• “The Librarian” - chip organizer

• New technology would be cheaper than purchasing normal books


Ecosystem:
• Stylus
• Projector
• “The Librarian” - chip/shelf organizer
• Shells
• Chip options
• Expansion packs for shells (extra pages)
• Chip holder




Revolutionary (and Snazzy) Book Sharing Interface

Visually browse your electronic bookshelf or check out your buddy’s through an online social book network. With our interface, you can share your collection with friends and add books to group pools. Friends make a request to borrow a book but it is up to you to accept or reject the request. If you let them borrow a book, you may specify the duration of the loan (or not) and track their progress through the book (so you can bug them if they aren’t reading it).

One catch:

When your friend borrows a book that book becomes unavailable to you. You can forcibly snatch your book back only after two “polite” return requests via the interface or once the book is “past due.”

Scribbles

With included stylus you can scribble notes all over the margins of your book. The display of notes can be toggled on/off without loss of data. Friends that are borrowing your book are unable to toggle your scribbles/notes. They may add their own notes and toggle as usual, but they are stuck with yours (like a real book!). Upon return of your book, their notes can be toggled on/off. Just imagine the potential layers of literary discourse to be held within these shared books…

Conceived by Michael Hages + James Killinger

This is the Earjections earbud. It projects the readers infomation infront of them for easy viewing anywhere. Pages turn or flip just like the type media would if it where in front of you. Enjoy clutter free reading anywhere at anytime. It works off the bluetooth attached to your favorite cell phone, PDA, or moblie device. The small projector produces a powerful holographic image that automatically adjusts to light levels. Safe and smart for all ages.

This is our project

The Quarto.

“Quarto (abbreviated 4to or 4°) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multiple pages of text were printed to form the individual sections (or gatherings) of a book.” - Wikipedia

25 Pages = 50 Front and back
OLED Cover Flow front and back cover
OLED and touch panal screens on all pages
Accelerometer to flip book and continue reading. FLIP AND GO
sound headphones hdmi with video
3d glasses using new barcodes and camera
3 sizes: small, Quire, medium, Lexicon, large, Opus
Libray/Book Store
RF BLUETOOTH WIRELESS = social aspect
rent borrow buy using and iTunes like store
battery- usb charging and wireless place mat charging .






Nicole Zigmont
Brian James Simmons
Ryan Ramplin
Alex Pytlarz

Jeff Barberio and Juliet LaDieu
Carnegie Mellon University
BookPlus Digital Reader

Look and Feel
In developing our design, we analyzed many aspects of the book reading experience that make reading enjoyable. The first aspect that is an important part of the book reading process is to have some way to see how far into the book a reader may be. Therefore, our design incorporates a 4 LED indicator that allows the user to see how close they are to completion in 25% increments. Next, our design considered the look and feel of a book. Different cases or skins can be attached to the reader to allow for customization. Cases featuring popular characters, such as Harry Potter or Spiderman, would be available for purchase and would attach to the reader via Velcro. The reader will be sent with a default plain leather cover. Finally, the screen for our design would try to emulate a book by being a softer white-yellow color typical of a book page with an anti-glare coating for outdoor use.

Functionality
While developing our design, there were numerous features that we felt were essential to making the investment in a digital reader worthwhile. The functionality is broken up into three categories: social collaboration, internet tools, and display features.
For social collaboration, our reader will feature a Collaboration Dashboard where friends can save their favorite quotes and send them to a friend’s Dashboard. New messages will be sent to the device once it is turned on. Also, the Dashboard can save the reader’s comments about different paragraphs or characters and share them with others. The user can bring up a list of groups that are reading the same book and then ask for permission to join the group or to join the current discussion. The UI will show the number of members and how many are currently active. The collaboration is limited to people with BookPlus digital readers. The network is not accessible from the outside world. There is a soft keyboard similar to the iPhone for typing. Also, the author or publisher can sell a version of the book with embed links to a “hidden features” section containing thoughts from the author, the author’s bio, deleted chapters/text, revisions, or information about the characters and story locations in the book. The user can also buy a special edition of a book series and be able to link between the various books using characters or locations.
Our device would have internet access to enable multiple features. First, the user will have the ability to access the web for book reviews. In addition, our reader would allow for instant word lookup by providing access to an online dictionary and encyclopedia.
Finally, there are several display features that will enhance the reader experience. Here is the list of features:

• Stylus to write notes and highlight text
• One-button page flip
• Toolbar options – Clock, Chapter title, Page number, Estimated time to finish book
• Font options – user control for size, author/publisher to select style
• Bookmarks – allow user to place multiple bookmarks and flip back to them
• Beach-proof case sold separately
• Reader will save last page viewed by user and will restart at that page
• Day and Night settings for the screen to adjust for various light levels
• The text is searchable

The Lexi is a personal assistant that makes the reading process as easy as possible. Some of the features include:
-eye scanning technology to monitor your location in the text
-reads the words as your eye moves upon them
-text enlargement on the area of the text you are reading
-automatic text adjustment to aid your reading (larger font size or more leading when necessary)
-optical correction for sight impaired readers
-slide out page for a full spread view or one side for note taking
-touchscreen for highlighting text and turning pages
-stylus for drawing or note taking
-left-handed usability by flipping device upside down
-solar panel on the back to charge while you are not reading

Various sizes are available for the reader’s preference. Skins for different exteriors. Integrated with various online stores/publishers/magazines. Access to online blogs/e-zines/book reviews. Data base system for accessing libraries. Notifications when within close proximity of other users reading a book that you are also reading/have read/or is on your wish list. Sharing of materials with blue tooth.

Marketed towards:
children learning to read
readers with impaired sight
students (integrated with professors, note taking, and homework)
readers in book stores and libraries



Papyrus by Mike Chien and Will Constable
Our e-reader design is similar in size to the original Amazon Kindle but instead of an E-ink screen, it has a color touch-screen that will enable a more intuitive user interface. In addition, the cover is a flexible display that shows what the reader is currently reading. We focus on a streamlined and rich user experience, combining the advantages of wireless computing technology with the sensual and social aspects of reading physical books.

Home Page
As this device is made for reading books first, the home page for the device when turned on will be the users bookshelf. Images of the users books will be stacked, showing the bindings of their books, which conveys the sense of size, weight and perhaps density of the reading. A user would have the ability to scroll, sort and manage their bookshelf from this view.

Reading
One of the drawbacks to the Kindle reader we examined were the numerous buttons and the somewhat mechanical feeling to reading. We sought to mimic the sensation of turning paper and bookmarking pages through the use of a touchscreen interface.
• Turning pages: A swipe on the lower right or left corners would turn to the next or previous page.
• Bookmarking: A touch-and-drag motion in the upper right corner would create a bookmark for that location, mimicking folding a corner of a page.
Since this will also be a multimedia device, four dedicated buttons are located on the lower half of the screen and can be brought up with a simple tap on the screen. The four buttons are News, Online, Friends and Store.

News
This wifi enabled device will be able to pull current newspapers through a subscription service to any of the big multimedia enabled news outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Online
A touch sensitive browser will enable users to access the Internet from wherever they are, allowing an infinite amount of content to be accessible from this device.

Friends
Social networking and the social aspects of reading are accessible through this button on the device. The initial page is a map of the users location along with where their friends are located. Their status, books they are currently reading and some of their favorite books are all listed when their icon is clicked on. In addition, any of the books that a user clicks on will bring the user to the Store where they can purchase it for themselves. Users can lend a book electronically to a friend, giving up access to it while their friend reads, and then later electronically returns it.

Store
The store for the Papyrus enables the user to purchase books through the online system, which will deliver it directly to the device. A short summary, professional reviews and user ratings are all included on the individual book page. One of the aspects of bookstore browsing we also wanted to keep was the ability to scroll through a bookshelf of similar books either by author, topic, genre, bestseller, etc. This will enable the customers to essentially “walk through” the online bookstore in case any titles, covers or authors stand out.

BY Steve Pecoraro, Jack Gold, Michael Pecoraro, Bryan Ricci, and Charlie Borrello
@
Rochester Institute of Technology

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Take a book. Now take away the paper. Add dynamic-ink OLED displays, easy on the eyes and infinitely reusable. Add interactivity. Add social networking apps. Add the freedom to carry a library wherever you go, to turn reading into a group activity or keep it to yourself for a little escapism.

The end result is glyph.

Details are in the following images. Co-designers, if I’ve left anything out (or spelled any of your names wrong), shoot me an email and I’ll amend as necessary.
scan1.jpg


The OmniBook

Product:

The OmniBook itself has a fairly simple appearance, with only a capacitive multi-touch screen on the front for navigation, a headset jack, a power/hold button, a set of speakers, and USB and microUSB ports on the top and bottom. Framing the screen and the speakers on the bottom of the unit is a white plastic that has a slightly resistive texture, mimicking the look and feel of paper. The back of the unit has a battery cover plate that can be swapped out either patterns, pictures, textures or book covers in its place. The screen would be readable in even very bright sunlight, but would be able to display color (a famous example of this technology is the One Laptop Per Child XO-1 screen, developed by Pixel Qi).

Navigation through the OmniBook is entirely touch-based. On the book “level,” a one-finger swipe across the screen will turn a page. A single tap can also be used to select words or paragraphs, allowing the user to explore reference sources relating to that passage with the included dictionary, encyclopedia, and thesaurus. If the user is using a WiFi or WWAN capable model, they may also choose to browse the internet for that term, exploring various online resources for insight.

With two fingers, a swipe from right to left would reveal the “side” of the book the user is reading, with a marker showing where the user is currently. This is called the “ThumbThru Navigator.” By moving your finger up and down the “side” of the book, the user can rapidly traverse large sections of the text in a short amount of time. Like in regular textbooks, the author and user may choose to add their own section markings, and the ThumbThru Navigator would show bookmarks, flags and other annotations.

With a two-finger swipe from left to right would reveal the Annotations Toolbar. This is where the user can manage annotations they make, as well as view the annotations friends or peers make about the book, seeing what they “wrote in the margins.” This is also where the user would manage either personal or professional recordings of the book. The microphones built into the unit can pick up the user’s voice, allowing the user to record a reading, and then allow someone like their child to pick up and read along even when the user isn’t there.

Swiping with two fingers up and down navigates between the three levels: book, bookshelf, and bookstore. Bookshelf is where the user would navigate their book collection – what books they’ve read, what books they have, etc. The bookshelf is also where the user would manage their personal profile and preferences. The bookstore is where the user would purchase and receive new content and where they can connect with other readers and friends.

System:

The online bookstore is where most of the action takes place. In addition to allowing the user to explore, rate and purchase/receive content (books, audio books, newspapers, blogs, etc.), it’s a platform through which the user can interact with other users over the internet. The user can discuss books and topics through the provided forums, chat rooms, comment threads and so on. The user can also see friends’ profiles and bookshelves, see what they’re reading and talking about, and recommend/share books with them. The user can send books to other people, essentially transferring ownership to the other person, with as little as a tap or a mouse click. Another option is to read collaboratively with a group of users, if only one user owns the book itself. Together, the user group can highlight, chat, comment, and annotate the book all in real time; this could be especially useful for class projects or online book discussion groups (maybe even special book preview sessions with the actual author).

Kind of a mix between a library and Netflix, another option that an online platform could allow is an “all-access” pass to the online store’s collection. For a monthly or yearly fee, the user could download and read a certain number of books from the entire library every month. The user wouldn’t be able to transfer those books to other people, but they can certainly still recommend it to others, and the user could show others through connections with other mediums. For instance, the user could connect the OmniBook to a TV, creating a giant virtual bookshelf and e-reader, or the user could put it up on the computer screen to give their partner a clearer view.

This system could also work well in real bookstores, where people often use as up-to-date libraries (to the dismay of many bookstore managers). But imagine being able to walk into a Borders, “renting out” an OmniBook, and enjoying the ability to access the entirety of the Borders collection while sipping coffee in a giant bean-bag chair. This not only prevents the actual books from being damaged before being bought, it allows the user to try out the OmniBook before committing to own one.

Other ideas:

One of the main benefits of the OmniBook is that it is customizable and scalable. If the user doesn’t want an expensive, hyper-connected e-book reader, they could simply get the basic model of the OmniBook, nothing more than a portable reading device. If they want something that’s smaller or larger, models can be made to accommodate that as well. If they desire something that’s more technologically capable and interactive, however, they could go as far as getting a special folio/cover, that allows for two OmniBooks to be connected together at once. The folio could be made out of a variety of material, anywhere from leather to something more akin to an actual book (possibly even bringing the smell of books along with it). Not only does this mimic a book more accurately, it increases the reading area (they can sense when they are attached to the device), and allows for a higher level of interactivity and capability. For instance, the two units could interact to increase wireless signal strength or improve computing power. In a more physical way, the two units could provide a screen/keyboard setup for annotations and bookstore navigation, or the two units could fold over back-to-back to form a reading surface and cover, allowing other people to see what the person is reading (the cover could also change depending on the user’s progress through the book, e.g. different covers images at different events in the book; cover getting more worn over time). Even with this, there are still plenty of possibilities for accessories for the OmniBook units (a capacitive-touch-screen-capable stylus would be nice for highlighting and annotations for instance).

I think the right size book is sized like a mobile phone/iphone - possibly somewhat larger. It would slide out from underneath the phone and can be it’s own individual mobile book piece. I think a single column width of the newspaper on the iphone is a fairly comfortable viewing size for a book as well. It will have the touch screen where instead of flipping, it pages down and pages across depending on settings that an individual set to the piece. The detachable mobile book can go where the phone goes or be detached when at home for reading in bed.

Lillian


I just saw this competition thing 10min ago - sorry about the poor quality but I thought I’d add this real quick:

The ebook (on the side table) has a built in projector. The projector can be focused on any surface (e.g. the ceiling), and the projection area can be fixed in space by pressing a touch screen button. After that, the projection area stays fixed if the book itself moves as long as it is within viewing area of the book.

That way books and other reading materials can be read lying on the bed without having to adjust the body every 10minutes because limbs keep falling asleep. Book can be read together and discussed, annotations can be made by writing with gestures.
(the (non) ability to write notations seems to be the #1 lacking feature of the kindle for students).

The ebook also has solar cells to charge it.