The other day, we spotted this on YouTube, which is really rather lovely:
We spend our time thinking about how to put books into iPhones, but what about putting iPhones into Books?
Imagine if when you got a book, you also got a mobile app that contained the footnotes and index, supporting material and the searchable text. The app sits inside the book itself. Search the app for “Leonardo da Vinci” and it points you to the relevant pages in the book. Supplementary material is accessed by typing in the page you’re on in the book. It includes biographical information, galleries of high-resolution, zoomable images. Take notes, save and email them. Find other readers nearby. Annotate the text, and keep those annotations in the right place – connected to the book itself, but accessible anywhere. For series books the possibilities are even bigger: linking a collection via a digital index and archive. And its updatable: the author can add in material to the book indefinitely after publication – and tell you about their next one when it comes out.
It’s a fun idea – but it makes you think some more about what features you really want in the new enhanced books that are becoming more possible all the time.
What features would you most like to see?
Jamey Graham 31/05/10
I found this link in the Bunny Munro iPhone app. I love the way your books are put together for the iPhone. Great job.
You asked about similar systems or ideas to the post above on connecting digital information to real books. We have made such a system which uses a new technology called “visual search.” Unlike what you describe above, there is no need to type anything; instead you simply point your mobile device at the page of interest and, wha-la, related digital material appears on your device. No barcodes required, just the printed page. That’s visual search.
See what I mean in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwt59057-l4
We are releasing our first two companion apps in the next week or so, one of which is a supplement to the novel “The French Revolution” by Matt Stewart (Soft Skull Press) due out on Basille Day, July 14, 2010. (http://matt-stewart.com)
By the way, I met Peter Collingridge at O’Reilly TOC 2010 during the Ignite session. We were both sweating it out together for a bit backstage. Here’s my Ignite talk which was also about visual search: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKlLkcW3Nvc
I’d love to chat sometime about our technologies. We are plowing forward and starting to work with a variety of publishers. You can reach me at the email above.
Cheers and keep up the great work with the EE books!
Jamey