[Athen] Ray Kurzweil vs. Apple: Round 1; plus Blio ETA?

Sean J Keegan skeegan at stanford.edu
Sun Jun 20 00:52:24 PDT 2010


> This is surprising: Blio founder Ray Kurzweil
> publicly jabs Apple's approach to e-books:

I think it is very humorous when someone is critical of existing
technology compared to what they are "developing". Last time I checked,
the Blio system had a real slick web site and demo version, they have
missed their software delivery date by a significant margin
(http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/blio-e-reader-software-hands-on/).

There was a significant amount of press back in January and the promise
was that the software was to be released in mid-February. Maybe this is
them trying to get back in the news?

> It's interesting but the Bilo's website says
> nothing about accessibility of the software to
> the disabled, rather odd given Ray Kurzweil background.

Good point. Perhaps they are leaving that to the device manufacturers?

> The formats supported do not include DAISY either
> which is again is a curious omission.

I read an article awhile back in which Mr. Kurzweil indicated a
preference to go after major publishers for support. I wonder if this
is a reflection as to what formats publishers are preferring for content
delivery. Still, to not include support for this format in the actual
reader seems a bit odd.

I am *really* hoping we will see this project come to fruition before
the Fall quarter. If the application meets at least some of the Web
page "hype" this could still be quite an interesting reader.

Take care,
sean
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