1. Amazon with its proprietary Kindle book format and eReaders still dominates the electronic reading market
2. the publishing industry as a whole expects (and is counting on) the non-proprietary ePub format used by almost all the rest of the book industry to lead to wide adoption and market dominance
3. Google Books' backing of the ePub format may ensure its success
4. e-Ink technology for eReaders is still the only viable method of putting text on screen that can complete with print on paper
5. I've yet to meet someone who has by choice read an entire book on a back lit screen
6. E-Ink's gray scale technology will probably never make a real dent in the illustrated book and graphic media market (i.e., most published material)
7. the publishing world is waiting for a non-back lit, vibrant colour, fast, 7 in. screen display that is moderately priced with full web capabilities and long battery life
8. when it gets here, say good bye to the book
9. Chinese manufacturer Hanvon has a prototype 10 in. E-Ink colour device to be released in China this May, but it has limitations
10. when the new eBook world arrives, books will cost about the same as their paper predecessors

 

Great comparative culture piece in eurozine. A Lithuanian and a Bulgarian talk "territory and identity" as seen from their parts of Europe.