You might know I have taken one year of sabbatical leave. Already 2 months have passed.
I have used that time to deep-dive into the ePaper / eReaders market and trends. You can see the websites I have visited and tagged on Delicious (http://delicious.com/appepaper).
On appepaper.com I listed some ePaper readers and some applications of ePaper.
After this phase of investigation and preparation, I'm now ready to go out and chase "ePaper" projects. Next week I start a phase of prospection which aims at measuring the BeNeLux eReading market potential.
Of course I did also take some free time, especially I did quiet some sport (Biking alone and with friends, Foot with Thomas, Running and WII Active). Unfortunately for the biking the snow conditions, the rain and low temperature didn't help to do a lot of KM. I'm now looking forward to the spring season which will make sport much more enjoyable.
[For those who don't read french, don't worry I'll translate this ASAP.]
Sur eBouquin.fr se tient actuellement un débat sur les DRMs, j'ai posté aujourd'hui mon analyse et vision sur les DRMs. Voici ce que j'ai posté:
Bonjour, J?étais justement en train d?élaborer ma petite théorie/analyse sur les DRMs?
Si on considère les deux extrèmes de la chaine : l?écrivain et le lecteur, et si chacun peut dire oui ou non aux DRMs, on a quatre possibilités : 1. Donner le pouvoir aux plateformes de la distribution 2. Bidouillages 3. Amour Impossible 4. Confiance Aveugle Je pense que comme lecteurs nous devrons nous accomoder des DRMs au début mais je crois dans une évolution ou les DRMs sont progressivement supprimés.
Pour ne pas copier une tartine ici, j?ai fait un document à downloader: http://bit.ly/92zUlx Bien à vous
ePaper has more application than eBooks for the publishing industry. ePaper also offers solutions for the Retail Industry.
ePaper can be used to show product prices and promotions in the store and on the shelves.
Here are two suppliers who provide added value in the Retail Industry using "ePaper" : MariSense and ZBD.
Marisense
Marisense's solution is called the Ella Retail Solution. "We [Marisense] believe that Ella Retail Solution introduces a brand new way to make your store operations more efficient and productive, and simultaneously improve customer satisfaction."
Marisense makes Large and Shelf labels using eInk:
ZBD ZBD uses a technolgy called Zenithal Bistable Display (ZBD®). "ZBD is the first commercially available LCD that uses surface bistability ZBD's". It's a "Completely new solution enabled by true electronic paper display technology that is flexible and thin, non-reflective, has excellent reading angle of over 170° and also optical characteristics similar to paper." "ZBD?s electronic shelf labelling solution empowers retailers with the ability to manage pricing, promotions and product information at the point of purchase, dynamically. We offer a total store solution that is simple to deploy, and cost-effective store-wide.
Replacing paper labels with ZBD?s electronic shelf labelling solution makes commercial sense, because updating paper labels is time-consuming, labour-intensive, and often error-prone. But that is only part of the story. The real benefit from ZBD?s solution is the control that retailers gain from the system."
For me, 'workflow' is related to the flow of people's work.
A Business Process is larger : in general it will include a workflow (represented by Actors roles and human tasks) except if this business process is fully automatic (which is in practice never the case).
BPM has M for "Management" in it so : How do you manage (Model, Assemble, Monitor, Improve) your processes and in particular your workflows.
To summarize this article says it's "Urgent to Wait" for companies before deciding to invest in ePaper ereaders.The functionality and price has ti be considered carefully.
I believe there are at least 2 viable cases for ePaper readers in a professional context.
1. for those who spend a lot of time reading or proof reading (Research&Development, Business Managers who need to review offers before they are sent out, publishers who want to read before printing...)
2. for those who want to print less and would accept an eReader as a company bonus
In any way, I recommend a large model with a screen size allowing to read A4 or letter documents (for example, the IREX DR1000S or equivalent)
In French:
.... l'utilisation d'un eReader doit être bien ciblée en entreprise. Entre un PDA, un Tablet PC, un Netbook, le cas d'utilisation devrait être bien étudié avant d'investir dans du ePaper.
Cependant, je pense qu'il y a au moins deux modèles viables: - ceux qui passent beaucoup de temps a lire ou relire des documents (chercheurs, chefs d'entreprises qui doivent revoir les offres avant de les approuver, personnes travaillant dans l'édition...) - ceux qui désirent imprimer moins et considèrent un lecteur ePaper comme un cadeau ou un Bonus que leur entreprise leur fait.
A parliament is an organization that uses a lot of documents. Each time a Parliamentary Session is held, a report is sent to all members. This creates a lot of documents. For instance, the European Parliament has reports in 22 languages.
Using an eReader will allow the members of the parliament to download those reports as soon as they are available and save meters of paper at the same time.
This morning I developed part 1/4 of the eReader Reference Architecture, using UML and Archimate as meta-model : the eReader Tier. #epaper.
(from Twitter)
I just developed a small demo with my ePaper Reader. I collected more than 30 use cases to give an idea on all the things you can do with an ePaper device.
If you want to know more about the demo (see the slides, have a conversation with me or meet in person) use the following Information Request Form.
I don't publish directly the demo because my goal is to make new friends interested in ePaper and progressively build a network of ePaper enthusiasts. See http://www.appepaper.com/user-group
I will react accordingly and I hope you will enjoy it.
"From Tuesday, all pharmacies (in Belgium) must be computerized and have a folder "drug" for each customer, to know his drug use and power as well, identify potential incompatibilities. In this case, we find the data required, as the list of medicines prescribed by a doctor, but also optional data, such as drugs purchased without prescription, allergies, health status, and contact information, such as those of a contact person."
"Maarten Poot has won the Creative Challenge after his Inflight E-reader idea was voted the best for the future of air transport. This joint initiative by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and the Dutch social networking site Hyves is intended to give talented young people an opportunity to present refreshing ideas on the future of air transport."
"The Inflight E-Reader allows passengers to read newspapers, magazines and books in their own language. According to the panel of judges this innovative concept reflects the ambition to make air transport more sustainable. The Inflight E-Reader not only ensures that fewer paper media are required on board, but also gives passengers access to the latest news. The logistical and technical feasibility of the Inflight E-Reader will be assessed in the coming period."
eReading Reference Architecture : Reviewers Wanted
