Papyrus, Electronic Reader That Will Replace Your Text Book

TheFuture — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:22:28 +0000

Soon, textbook will be just an old school tools, Papyrus will come and replace them all. The idea of Papyrus is based on growing popularity of communication tools such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc, students are more connected than ever these days. Papyrus is an inexpensive e-reader which is designed to allow on screen note taking with a stylus, as well as tagging the content. Students will be able to share these tags and discuss it among them.

One of the most important details about Papyrus is how it is so different from a traditional style tablet PC or PDA. First, the unit is far less expensive at around $100. With a combination of a removal of audio, high-end graphics card, Ethernet port, and a textbook publisher/manufacturer subsidy (due to the subscription based service now that they have no overhead costs of shipping/storage/most manufacturing costs since their books are now digital) the cost is quite reasonable. Second, the device has a much longer battery life (around 30 hours) from using an E-Ink screen. Third, Papyrus’ stripped-down, specialized interface makes it accessible to a broad range of users. It’s simple enough that faculty and other adults won’t be intimidated or annoyed, yet functional enough that students will feel like they’re using something current.

Papyrus can also help student to tackle their fear of drawing attention to themselves. This device will place the students in a familiar environment, giving them a safe and familiar venue to speak out without unwanted attention. And great thing is, Papyrus cost less that textbooks, and also eliminating manufacturing and shipping costs and passing the savings on the students.

Via : IGreenSpot

Siafu PC Design with Full Spread Braill Layouts

TheFuture — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:41:15 +0000

One of Next-Gen PC Design finalists is Siafu PC Design. The idea behind Siafu was to give people with vision loss an intuitive computer experience. It provides a digitally tactile interface that completely revolutionizes the way that blind people interact with a computer. Siafu lays flat like a tablet and allows the user to fully interact with it by way of touch. The surface of Siafu utilizes a conceptual material called magneclay. This material has the ability to morph upward into any shape. This means that Siafu can generate infinitely refreshable braille and then display it in a book format instead of just one line at a time like current braille displays. Siafu also has the ability to display images as a 3-dimensional relief, allowing blind computer users to experience digital images, and graphic layouts for the first time.

This product is to be used by people who have experienced a loss of sight. Siafu allows users to read text by generating full page braille displays.

The onscreen relief feature also allows users to explore the internet and navigate through websites by physically touching, clicking, and dragging the graphic elements, links, and arrows of the web page. Siafu is also capable of converting all onscreen text to braille relief, so that the user can read whatever is on the screen first hand.

Designer : Jonathan Lucas via NextGenDesign

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Papyrus, Electronic Reader That Will Replace Your Text Book

Siafu PC Design with Full Spread Braill Layouts