Microsoft Research-backed e-reader prototype can’t keep its text to itself with two multi-touch displays and the left screen is meant for navigating the web, keeping track of your calendar and manipulating photos, also the right screen will be mostly used for managing what Microsoft refers to as the Infinite Journal the place where the user’s notes and important multimedia will be stored…………….
Few e-readers are as intimate as this prototype from Nicholas Chen and the only caveat it’s backed by Microsoft Research. That goes double for this reader device, which made an appearance at this week’s CHI conference in Vancouver, seeing as how Microsoft Research apparently played a role in its development. But this gadget, presented by the University of Maryland’s Nicholas Chen, is clearly its own beast and it’s an awesome looking one at that. The reader actually only has one screen, but it can connect wirelessly with other units, letting the users do things like send links between devices. It will also clip magnetically to another unit, so you can look at two pages of the same document at the same time, just like one of those oldfangled book-type things. The main focus of this device is to take notes, but not with an on-screen or external keyboard. The user is meant to utilize the stylus to physically write on the journal as if it was paper. According to leaked videos and documentation, users will be able to highlight, annotate, cut and paste information from websites and e-books seamlessly from screen to screen.
The Courier also features a built-in camera, Wi-Fi connectivity and an iPhone-like home button on the front of the hinge to navigate to the latest journal entry. Users can drag their contacts from the Courier’s address book into a journal, thus sharing that journal with those contacts over Wi-Fi. People with access to that journal can add or edit any of its contents, making collaboration on a project easy and efficient.If users would rather forgo the stylus in favor of their fingers, the Courier will support multi-touch gestures, like pinching to zoom and flicking side to side to navigate web and Journal pages. Microsoft doesn’t seem to just be resurrecting the tablet market with the Courier – it’s going after another market entirely: e-book readers. The Courier’s shape, size and vertical orientation make the device perfect for reading on the go. Microsoft’s Courier, however, does have a purpose. It has a market. Microsoft is targeting the Courier towards students, professionals, designers and anyone who carries a notebook, but wants it to do more.
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