bLink: Completing the Connection Between Analog and Digital

It’s happening now the O’Reilly Tools of Changes for Publishing Conference at San Jose, California, and today mornign they had a great presentation about an amazing project called the blueBook.

The description of his session:

“Books have inherent qualities that make them an irreplaceable medium, even today. They have survived unchanged for centuries and are one of the most familiar and bestselling products we know. For a particular type of user experience they simply have not been bettered. Digital media (portable devices, touch-screens, etc.), however, has been offering seductive new possibilities to readers, especially in terms of interactivity. Can these two worlds, the digital and the physical, co-exist in a product that would offer the benefits of both? Manolis Kelaidis demonstrates his elegant ideas for next-generation books.”

More, here: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/06/blink_completin.html

And what’s the blueBook?

“The blueBook created at the RCA and pictured here is a traditional book over-printed with conductive ink. This conductive ink creates hyperlinks on the page which, when touched by the reader, activates a processor concealed in the cover of the book. This processor then connects via bluetooth to a nearby computer, triggering different actions.”

More, here: http://www.booktwo.org/notebook/the-bluebook/ 

I simply loved the idea!

By the way, the site Booktwo.org (http://www.booktwo.org/) is a good source for news and debate about the future of literature.