08/24/2009
The Knight-Ridder Information Design Laboratory, started in Boulder Colorado in 1992, was developing a notebook-sized computer for receiving and displaying electronic newspapers when Knight-Ridder Inc. closed the lab in August, 1995. The newspaper chain itself was bought by the McClatchy Company in 2006. At that time, it was the second-largest U.S. newspaper chain with 32 daily newspapers.
■Class discussion: Today we have the Amazon's Kindell, Plastic Logic is coming out with their eReader next year and there have been rumors that Apple has a new device in the works that will make it easier to read eBooks. Are eBooks the future of books the way iTunes changed the way we consume music? Would you read more if you could do it on your iPod or a fancier smartphone? What obstacles does a manufacturer have to overcome before you'll start reading books on a screen?