Digital newspaper technology

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Digital newspaper technology is the technology used to create or distribute a digital newspaper.

Contents

Hardware

PC's

A newspaper can be read on a PC, laptop, netbook or tablet PC in an offline version, such as PDF, or as an online edition, using a web browser. Many newspapers have websites while some even have online archives such as The New York Times . [1]

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. Netbook specifications are varied, but most have either Linux or Windows XP as their operating system. [2]

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 which use Linux or Windows XP 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. [3]

Tablet PCs

A tablet PC is a laptop without a keyboard. The orientation of the screen is both horizontal and vertical. For reading purposes, the use of a tablet PC 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 PC and would be very suitable as mobile reader. [4]

Criticism

Most modern computer screens are LCDs. To provide an image on a screen, LCD technology emits 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.[ citation needed ]

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 with the use of a specially designed application. [5]

The possibilities to run an applications on a mobile phone depend on the operating system of the phone. Most phones run on Symbian. [6] Other operating systems are Windows Mobile, iPhone, Android, RIM 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 iPhone. [7] The New York Times has also a special application fit for the iPhone and iPod Touch. [8]

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

An e-reader is a device with a screen that is optimised for reading text. [9] Most e-readers use epaper technology for display. [10] [11] It is argued that issuing a newspaper using epaper has many cost advantages. [12]

The market for these devices is heavily in development. [13] [14]

Although Apple Inc. has succeeded to be successfully market a product with only one function – the iPod for playing music – the question is whether consumers will be prepared to buy a device with which only text can be read.

iLiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. The iLiad is capable of displaying document files in a number of formats, including PDF, Mobipocket, XHTML and plain text. It can also display JPEG, BMP and PNG images, but not in color.

The distributor of the iLiad is iRex Technologies, a Philips spin-off company.

The most advanced e-reader range of iRex is the 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 WiFi. It is possible to (limited) to surf with this device.

Kindle

Amazon Kindle [15] is an e-book reader, an embedded system for reading electronic books (e-books), launched in the United States by 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. [16]

The Kindle 2 will be available in February 2009. [17] One of the new features of this product is the use of text-to-speech technology to read books out loud. Several authors have objected to this feature, claiming it violates their copyright. [18]

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 and four levels of grayscale. 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.

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 Hanlin eReader V3 is sold under various names, [19] such as lBook V3 (Ukraine), Walkbook (Turkey), BEBOOK (Netherlands), and Papyre 6.1 (Spain). It is also supported by the OpenInkpot firmware.

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.

Readius

Readius is working on an e-reader that can be rolled up. [20] It is noy clear when the product is expected to hit the market.

Plastic Logic

The company Plastic Logic is working on an e-reader. [21] It should be larger, thinner and more flexible compared to the products of Amazon and iRex. The product will be available in 2010. [22]

The name of the e-reader is "QUE proReader"!. [23]

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.

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.

OLED is not yet widely used to display digital newspapers because of the high cost of technology. Most likely 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. Many computer screens use LCD technology. The main disadvantage for using the technology for a reading device is the fact that a reader looks into the light to read from the screen. This makes reading for longer periods not comfortable for the eyes.

Plasma

A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays (37in. [940 mm]). 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 a digital newspaper to read.

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 [24] and Plastic Logic's Reader. The October 2008 issue of the North American edition of Esquire was the first magazine cover to integrate E Ink. [25]

Software

Many organisations that publish a printed newspaper also publish an online edition. [26] [27] 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. Digital newspapers can be published using a variety of software formats.

HTML

Many newspapers published their content online using HTML. An example is the website of The Wall Street Journal. An advantage of the use of HTML is that many web browser know how to handle HTML and the contents of the articles can be copied easily.

PDF

Some newspapers provide digitalized versions [28] [29] [30] of their printed editions. A commonly used format is PDF. For example, on this website it is possible to read all the international newspapers of Metro International online in a viewer and download them in a PDF format.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic paper</span> Paper like display technology

Electronic paper, also sometimes electronic ink, e-ink or electrophoretic display, are display devices that mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays that emit light, an electronic paper display reflects ambient light like paper. This may make them more comfortable to read, and provide a wider viewing angle than most light-emitting displays. The contrast ratio in electronic displays available as of 2008 approaches newspaper, and newly (2008) developed displays are slightly better. An ideal e-paper display can be read in direct sunlight without the image appearing to fade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liquid-crystal display</span> Display that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals

A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but instead use a backlight or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome. LCDs are available to display arbitrary images or fixed images with low information content, which can be displayed or hidden. For instance: preset words, digits, and seven-segment displays, as in a digital clock, are all good examples of devices with these displays. They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made from a matrix of small pixels, while other displays have larger elements. LCDs can either be normally on (positive) or off (negative), depending on the polarizer arrangement. For example, a character positive LCD with a backlight will have black lettering on a background that is the color of the backlight, and a character negative LCD will have a black background with the letters being of the same color as the backlight. Optical filters are added to white on blue LCDs to give them their characteristic appearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OLED</span> Diode that emits light from an organic compound

An organic light-emitting diode, also known as organic electroluminescentdiode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light in response to an electric current. This organic layer is situated between two electrodes; typically, at least one of these electrodes is transparent. OLEDs are used to create digital displays in devices such as television screens, computer monitors, and portable systems such as smartphones and handheld game consoles. A major area of research is the development of white OLED devices for use in solid-state lighting applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flat-panel display</span> Electronic display technology

A flat-panel display (FPD) is an electronic display used to display visual content such as text or images. It is present in consumer, medical, transportation, and industrial equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Display device</span> Output device for presentation of information in visual form

A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form. When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signal the display is called an electronic display.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television set</span> Device for viewing computers screen and shows broadcast through satellites or cables

A television set or television receiver, more commonly called the television, TV, TV set, telly, tele, or tube, is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers, for the purpose of viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or using it as a computer monitor. Introduced in the late 1920s in mechanical form, television sets became a popular consumer product after World War II in electronic form, using cathode ray tube (CRT) technology. The addition of color to broadcast television after 1953 further increased the popularity of television sets in the 1960s, and an outdoor antenna became a common feature of suburban homes. The ubiquitous television set became the display device for the first recorded media in the 1970s, such as, VHS and later DVD. It has been used as a display device since the first generation of and dedicated video game consoles in the 1980s. By the early 2010s, flat-panel television incorporating liquid-crystal display (LCD) technology, especially LED-backlit LCD technology, largely replaced CRT and other display technologies. Modern flat panel TVs are typically capable of high-definition display and can also play content from a USB device. Starting in the late 2010s, most flat panel TVs began to offer 4K and 8K resolutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile device</span> Small, hand-held computing device

A mobile device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical keyboard. Many such devices can connect to the Internet and connect with other devices such as car entertainment systems or headsets via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular networks or near field communication (NFC). Integrated cameras, the ability to place and receive voice and video telephone calls, video games, and Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities are common. Power is typically provided by a lithium-ion battery. Mobile devices may run mobile operating systems that allow third-party applications to be installed and run.

An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment which converts information into a human-perceptible form or, historically, into a physical machine-readable form for use with other non-computerized equipment. It can be text, graphics, tactile, audio, or video. Examples include monitors, printers, speakers, headphones, projectors, GPS devices, optical mark readers, and braille readers.

An e-reader, also known as an e-book reader, is a portable electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading e-books and periodicals. E-readers have a similar form factor to a tablet and usually refers to devices that use electronic paper resulting in better screen readability, especially in bright sunlight, and longer battery life when compared to a tablet. An e-reader's battery will typically last for multiple weeks. In contrast to an e-reader, a tablet has a screen capable of higher refresh rates which make them more suitable for interaction such as playing a video game or watching a video clip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bravia (brand)</span> Brand of Sony Visual Products Inc.

Bravia is a brand of Sony Visual Products Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, and used for its television products. Its backronym is "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All Sony high-definition flat-panel LCD televisions in North America have carried the logo for BRAVIA since 2005. BRAVIA replaces the "LCD WEGA" which Sony used for their LCD TVs until Summer 2005. In 2014, in part of Sony President & CEO Kasuo Hirai's plans to turn Sony around, BRAVIA was made into an subsidiary rather than just a brand of products.

iLiad

The iLiad was an electronic handheld device, or e-Reader, which could be used for document reading and editing. Like the Barnes and Noble nook, Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad made use of an electronic paper display. In 2010, sales of the iLiad ended when its parent company, iRex Technologies, filed for bankruptcy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flexible display</span> Type of computer monitor

A flexible display or rollable display is an electronic visual display which is flexible in nature, as opposed to the traditional flat screen displays used in most electronic devices. In recent years there has been a growing interest from numerous consumer electronics manufacturers to apply this display technology in e-readers, mobile phones and other consumer electronics. Such screens can be rolled up like a scroll without the image or text being distorted. Technologies involved in building a rollable display include electronic ink, Gyricon, Organic LCD, and OLED.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E-reader</span> Device for reading e-books

An e-reader, also called an e-book reader or e-book device, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMOLED</span> Display technology for use in mobile devices and televisions

AMOLED is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix refers to the technology behind the addressing of pixels.

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

Electrically operated display devices have developed from electromechanical systems for display of text, up to all-electronic devices capable of full-motion 3D color graphic displays. Electromagnetic devices, using a solenoid coil to control a visible flag or flap, were the earliest type, and were used for text displays such as stock market prices and arrival/departure display times. The cathode ray tube was the workhorse of text and video display technology for several decades until being displaced by plasma, liquid crystal (LCD), and solid-state devices such as thin-film transistors (TFTs), LEDs and OLEDs. With the advent of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), integrated circuit (IC) chips, microprocessors, and microelectronic devices, many more individual picture elements ("pixels") could be incorporated into one display device, allowing graphic displays and video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantum dot display</span> Type of display device

A quantum dot display is a display device that uses quantum dots (QD), semiconductor nanocrystals which can produce pure monochromatic red, green, and blue light.

Universal Display Corporation is a developer and manufacturer of organic light emitting diodes (OLED) technologies and materials as well as provider of services to the display and lighting industries. It is also an OLED research company. Founded in 1994, the company currently owns or has exclusive, co-exclusive or sole license rights with respect to more than 3,000 issued and pending patents worldwide for the commercialization of phosphorescent based OLEDs and also flexible, transparent and stacked OLEDs - for both display and lighting applications. Its phosphorescent OLED technologies and materials are licensed and supplied to companies such as Samsung, LG, AU Optronics CMEL, Pioneer, Panasonic Idemitsu OLED lighting and Konica Minolta.

A see-through display or transparent display is an electronic display that allows the user to see what is shown on the screen while still being able to see through it. The main applications of this type of display are in head-up displays, augmented reality systems, digital signage, and general large-scale spatial light modulation. They should be distinguished from image-combination systems which achieve visually similar effects by optically combining multiple images in the field of view. Transparent displays embed the active matrix of the display in the field of view, which generally allows them to be more compact than combination-based systems.

References

  1. ↑ Vourlias, Christopher. "NYT searchable archive". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
  2. ↑ "Tech's hope in 2009 - or curse?". Fortune Magazine, December 24, 2008, Jon Fortt. December 24, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  3. ↑ blogs.wsj.com
  4. ↑ www.engadget.com
  5. ↑ Sanburn, Josh (2011-02-01). "A Brief History of Digital News". Time. ISSN   0040-781X . Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  6. ↑ www.gartner.com
  7. ↑ www.crunchgear.com
  8. ↑ www.nytimes.com
  9. ↑ www.nytimes.com
  10. ↑ www.iht.com
  11. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk
  12. ↑ Richards, Bill (November 30, 2007). "How an electronic newspaper could become profitable". Crosscut . Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  13. ↑ www.economist.com
  14. ↑ www.newsweek.com
  15. ↑ www.amazon.com
  16. ↑ amazon.com
  17. ↑ www.amazon.com
  18. ↑ www.telegraph.co.uk
  19. ↑ "openinkpot.org". Archived from the original on 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  20. ↑ "www.readius.com". Archived from the original on 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  21. ↑ "www.plasticlogic.com". Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  22. ↑ "www.plasticlogic.com". Archived from the original on 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  23. ↑ "Plastic Logic". Quereader.com. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  24. ↑ "www.readius.com". Archived from the original on 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  25. ↑ www.engadget.com
  26. ↑ www.onlinenewspapers.com
  27. ↑ www.ipl.org
  28. ↑ news.google.com
  29. ↑ icon.crl.edu
  30. ↑ www.pressdisplay.com
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