10 Questions with upillar.com CEO Trevor Milton

Recently, I was able to sit down and talk with the founder and CEO of upillar.com, Trevor Milton.

RS: First off, WHAT is upillar.com?

TM: upillar.com is a free nationwide online classified website. Items are listed both locally and nationally allowing buyers and sellers to reach the broadest possible audience absolutely free! upillar.com never takes a portion of the sale. We provide our services 100% to the public. Whether you are buying or selling; Motorized vehicles, Clothing, Electronics, Real Estate, or looking for your next job, upillar.com‘s free online classifieds are the place to go.

RS: What made you decide to develop upillar.com?

TM: I was going to college trying to make college payments by buying and selling stuff. Nothing was available at the time. The only free services were very cumbersome and difficult to use. I decided the public deserved a place to go where everything was free, and actually easy to use.

RS: Why the name upillar?
TM: The letter “u” signifies “you” or “yourself” , the word “pillar” gives reference to a sign of strength. So you are what makes our free marketplace strong.

 

RS: What is your background? Did you work at an internet company previously?

TM:No internet background whatsver. I ran with this as a dream, and was able to put together the entire site from scratch during 4 1/2 years of development with a whole team of programmers.

RS: What is your vision for the future of upillar.com?

TM:We hope that upillar.com becomes THE place to buy and sell goods for free. With major releases soon coming, upillar.com will offer sections that specifically cater to Real Estate & Jobs. Although you can find those categories in our current classified section, the new release will customize an entire section of our website dedicated to those categories giving some of the biggest names in the internet a run for their money.

RS: What were some of the major obstacles you encountered while starting this site?

TM: Some of our biggest problems were; Name, Trust, Organizing our website, flow(How users click through the website),and credibility. With our newest release coming the first week of December, we hope to improve many areas of our current system.

 

RS: What is on the immediate horizon for upillar?

TM: upillar.com has just signed a major national advertising campaign that will begin the first week of December. We would be happy to tell you more about it once the official releases go out! We anticipate millions of listings in our first quarter of next year.

RS: What sets upillar apart from ebay and Craig’s list?

TM: upillar.com is often referred to as a hybrid of craigslist and ebay at first glance.

upillar.com‘s services are completely free like Craigslist.org, but has some major functionality differences between the two. First; when you list an item for sale, the item is placed into a category instead of a city. This enables users to list an item once, and it immediately becomes searchable both on a local level and a national level. Second; You can place up to 20 photos for free on each listing. upillar.com also gives buyers easy access to the seller by providing a safe way to communicate with the seller without giving up personal information.

upillar.com also offers a very powerful keyword search technology that enables users to find what they are looking for in under 30 seconds. This is accomplished by “category narrowization” . Ebay has a great platform where this technology has proven to be valuable. Since upillar.com is a classified website, sellers dont have to worry about monitoring their listings to make sure minimum dollar amounts are met. Just list your item and let it be until someone emails you or calls you.

 

RS: What was the first item sold on upillar?

TM: First item sold on upillar.com was my own personal Sony camera. First public item sold was a purebred Labrador puppy.

RS: Technologically speaking, what was the biggest issue you’ve had thus far?

TM: Biggest problem so far has been our patent pending technology of displaying book values on all our motorized vehicles. Teaming up with NADA guides, upillar.com was able to create the first ever website that shows what each car,boat, motorcyle, or ATV is worth without ever leaving that listing. Need to know if what you are buying is a good deal? You’ll never have to worry about it again on www.upillar.com. We have since figured the technology out and by January first the values will be displayed in each motorized listing. (Values are currently available on upillar.com, but can be somewhat confusing to some users. The fix will come January 1, 2010 for that specific technology.

Check out the site at http://www.upillar.com

What the Gamers are doing for PAX 2009

Some of you may be familiar with Penny Arcade, and online comic based on the adventures of Gabe and Tycho, two gamer dudes who pretty much do nothing more than glorified gamer things. This is my third year in a row, and I found that PAX had a lot to offer this year.

Here are some of the highlights.

Blizzard Entertainment has their Starcraft and World of Warcraft booths up.  No surprise there.  Their new version of Diablo is drawing quite a crowd, which is also not a surprise.

Nexon has three really cool games displayed that are all free to download:  Dragon Nest, D ungeon Fighter, and an FPS game called Combat Arms.

Speaking of completely free, I also got a chance to try out Faunasphere, a browser based game where characters make pets called Faunas and put them in a Faunasphere.  It’s a lot like other browser-based pet games out there, but not as cutsey-wutsey as Facebook’s Pet Society.

The Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) has a booth that is all draped off with elegant translucent curtains and elaborate dƒÂ©cor.  It almost makes me want to join them, especially for $20.00 a month. It is good for almost $300 worth of savings on video games, as well as a chance to hang around and eat snack food.

CDV has their DS games which include I Love (with a heart) Geeks and My Little Baby.  It also has PC games Divinity II and Serious Sam HD.

Turbine games is proud to be displaying D&D Online.  I believe I covered much of this in a previous article.

2K Games has some sort of display that has this odd room that everyone is searching through.  BioShock II and a new game called Borderlands is the big draw, though.

PAX often has a lot of energy drinks that are free to try.  One of them is called Healing Potion from Mana.  It comes in a fancy bottle like the one from Shrek 2, but it takes awful, like cough syrup.  I feel less than healed.  Another is some new non-carbonated ones from the Jones soda company.  The Jones’ drinks are an improvement, but nothing that I would buy.  Omni Consumer has a product called Tru Blood, which is supposed to be a fruit drink that looks like blood.  I believe there is some vampire show in which characters drink this stuff, and this is actually what the actors drink.  Who would have thought that Tru Blood would taste so delicious?

Nintendo has all the bells and whistles in effect, with the highlight being the displays of the new version of Super Mario Brothers for the Wii.

Disney Interactive has Split Second, which looks like a run-of-the-mill racing game.  Not really what I would expect from the Mouse House.  Pretty soon they’ll have Marvel-related games, thanks to that acquisition thing.

Sony’s PS3 display prominently features God of War, Ratchet and Clank: Future, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and an Eyepet, which uses augmented reality to make a virtual pet come to life.

EA’s booth makes you wonder what they don’t have.  Some of the newest are The Saboteur, Army of Two, Dead Space Extraction, two Need for Speed games (Shift and Nitro), and a new Nerf game.   Not to mention the Dante’s Inferno game that allows you to enter hell.

NC Soft has not one, not two, but three booths based on their successful franchises like City of Heroes, Aion, and Guild Wars 2.  They also have some time to devote to Star Trek Online and Champions Online.

Bethesda is devoting much of their time sharing about Brink, a very Splinter Cell-ish looking game.  Other games include Wet and Rogue Warrior.

FunCom has their barbarian fantasy MMO Age of Conan display set up.  They also have another MMO game going on called The Secret World which takes place in modern times involving a global conspiracy.

As for iHarmonix, two words: Rock Band.  Beatles Rock Band was on display prominently, and it looks very good.  Fans could rock along with the Fab Four for one of the first times.  Also on deck was Lego Rock Band, which uses bricks for the little bars that scroll upward.

Capcom had some interesting offerings with Lost Planet 2 (or Lost Planet Squared, depending if you read the 2 as an exponent or an actual number 2), Spyborgs, and Dark Void.  The real draw was the new Resident Evil game.

Runic/Perfect World had an interesting downloadable game known as Torchlight which looked quite interesting.  It involves you going into a dungeon and kicking butt, sort of like Gauntlet back in the day.

Phantom EFX had one of the most creative games that I have seen in a while with Darkest of Days, a first-person shooter that involves time travel.

THQ had this odd promotion for their DarkRiders game that consisted of a horse known as Ruin that was a mechanical bull that attendees could ride.  Quite a draw for that, and you had to sign a waiver to ride it.

Stardock was up to their old tricks with Sins of a Solar Empire, and some new tricks with Elemental and Impulse.

CCP had their usual EVE Online fare displayed, not much new there.

WB games had Scribblenauts, which is easily one of the most original games that I have seen in a while.  In the game you play a character that has to gather up stars in this virtual world.  To succeed in your goal, you write you want.  For example, if you want a ladder, just write ladder and one will appear.  I am told it can do almost all nouns.

Flying Labs, makers of the Pirates of the Burning Sea MMO, were there in full pirate garb, using cannons to fire T-shirts into the crowd.  Nothing new there.

Alienware this odd set up for that made you feel like you were in a UFO.  They even had a bunch of booth people that were dressed like the Men in Black.

Ubisoft had their new Splinter Cell prominently on display, but I liked the Wii game known simply as Just Dance where you just dance.  All the player needs to do is dance like the guy on the screen.

Nvidia and Zalman showed off their 3D emulators.  There was a booth where attendees could see a preview of the new Avatar game (based off the upcoming James Cameron movie) that showed off its 3D as well.  Yeah, I think 3D is just getting bigger.

So, if you have never been to a video game conference, this is what you have missed.

Free to Play Games

There is a growing trend in gaming often called free to play which is fantastic news for credit crunch stricken gamers everywhere. Talk about microtransactions, optional subscriptions and advertising has been constant in the games industry over the last few years. The aim is to find a new model for profitability and attract large audiences for games, especially MMO games which need a huge player base. With the recent news that the games industry is not recession proof after all, game sales were down 29% in July compared with last year, a new model to draw gamers in might just be the way forward.

In the Asian market the free to play model has been going strong for many years. Gamers are used to installing the complete version of a game for absolutely nothing and are often willing to pay very small amounts for additional in game content. The majority of these microtransactions offer gamers outfits and customization options for their characters. They are often purely cosmetic and offer no advantage in game terms over players who are not spending any cash. Some games have gone a step further and they offer items for sale which enhance the player’s power. Booster items, which allow them to progress more quickly, are also fairly common. The idea is to let players build up experience at an accelerated rate so they can level up faster.

This model has proven to be very successful in markets such as South Korea and Japan but debate has raged on about whether it will catch on here in the west. The vast majority of gamers who play these free to play titles will never make a purchase but a very active minority will spend freely. There is also a belief that the low individual cost of items encourages people to spend when they wouldn’t be prepared to pay a substantial monthly subscription fee.

The argument and theory can now finally be laid to rest because several big developers and publishers have embraced the idea and released titles with this alternative business model. The early signs appear positive but the results are far from in and at this stage the big publishers are leaping in to make sure they don’t miss the boat. Let’s take a look at some of the big free to play releases.

Maple Story
This South Korean smash hit was one of the first free to play games to be released in North America and Europe. Brought to you by a company called Nexon the game has a microtransaction model and is available to play in multiple countries around the world. It was successfully released in the US in 2007 and they estimate from a user base of around 6 million people they have brought in revenue equivalent to 120,000 subscribers paying monthly on the old business model. This was enough to encourage many companies to adopt a similar model.

Free Realms
This MMORPG from Sony is aimed at the whole family and it offers good, clean fun with optional combat and a focus on social interaction. There are mini-games and plenty of quests to undertake and the game allows players to share images and videos. There is also a trading card game tie-in. In order to turn a profit Sony offer optional membership which allows extra characters and access to members only quests, jobs and items. There is also a microtransactions system in the game so players can buy optional in game items. It is currently available on PC and there are plans to release a PlayStation 3 version in the near future. The game has almost 5 million registered users.

Battlefield Heroes
This game borrows ideas such as a persistent character from MMO games but it proves that the free to play model can be extended beyond the MMOG genre. Battlefield Heroes is actually a multiplayer first and third-person shooter with a cartoon art style and typical FPS mechanics. The majority of games are on servers with 16 or 32 players and it is intended to be a casual and accessible game. It is installed and accessed via your web browser and it is completely free to play but does include some microtransaction options.

Battlefield Heroes was released by Electronic Arts and forms part of their Play 4 Free brand. They have also released BattleForge which is a card based RTS game based on microtransactions and they have announced Need for Speed: World Online which will be a free massively multiplayer online racing game.

Dungeons and Dragons Online
This MMORPG is based on the famous table top gaming series and it was originally released with a traditional monthly subscription model. It is now set to be offered as a completely free to play game with optional microtransactions. In the FAQ on their website developer, Turbine, has billed it as the only free to play premium MMO game but in actual fact this is a misconception that has prevented many gamers from trying free to play games. The idea that because a game is free it will be sub standard is dated and the majority of new releases in this category are every bit as detailed and impressive as traditional subscription based or retail games.

We can expect to see many more free to play games in the coming months and the trend looks set to spread from the MMOG genre. This can only be good news for hard up gamers but it is still early days. While this new model has generated a great deal of excitement it won’t be signalling an end to traditional retail and subscription models but if it does start to generate big cash you can expect everyone to jump aboard.

New Sony Offensive

Sony launched a major offensive in the console war this week with a number of big announcements. During a presentation at the GamesCom 2009 event in Cologne, Germany they unveiled the new slim PlayStation 3 and talked about their plans for the platform. There have been suggestions that Sony are lagging behind Nintendo and Microsoft in the battle for gamers and this package of products and updates is clearly an attempt to redress the balance.

The Wii and the Xbox 360 have been outselling the much more expensive PlayStation 3 and Sony has resisted any price drop. Back in June they claimed to be happy with their price point, which even then represented a loss on every console sold. With pressure to stimulate the market amid falling sales they have finally made a move. The new version of their popular console heralds the long awaited price drop and the 120 GB machine will cost $299 in the US, ¢â€šÂ¬299 in Europe and £249 in the UK. By comparison the 120 GB Xbox 360 Elite remains priced at $399.

The new PlayStation 3 slim is 33% smaller and 36% lighter than the old PS3. The interior has undergone a complete redesign and the console will use less energy and operate more quietly than the old model. In fact power consumption has been cut to two-thirds the previous level and as a result the machine does not heat up so much so there is less need for noisy fan operation.

The console looks sleeker and more attractive than ever and the visual redesign has also seen the logo change to lower case and a matte, textured finish instead of a shiny one. It supports Wi-Fi out of the box, it has two USB ports and you can access the hard drive from the front and upgrade more easily than with the previous iteration. In fact you can now upgrade the hard drive without voiding the warranty. The old 80 GB and 160 GB models will now be phased out.

If you are looking for a downside then perhaps you could point to the lack of backwards compatibility for PlayStation 2 games, although it can run PlayStation 1 games. You also can’t store the PlayStation 3 slim vertically unless you buy a stand and they have ditched the option to install another operating system.

Sony didn’t rest there and the announcements continued with a big firmware update for the PlayStation 3 platform. PS3 Firmware 3.0 adds some useful menu updates which make navigation on the console a bit smoother with easier access to the store and a redesigned friends list. There are a few new cosmetic updates as well which allow animated themes and the option of new avatars for your profile. Most exciting for UK gamers is the support for BBC iPlayer. There is also a new video on demand movie rental service offering HD and SD movies due to launch in November.

These new developments look set to take advantage of the superior capabilities of the PS3 and technically speaking it is by far the best console of the current generation. The PS3 supports Blu-ray playback, it offers 1080p HDMI output, integrated wireless, free online support and a 120 GB upgradeable hard drive. The firmware update will combine with a big redesign of their online Home space where companies are now looking to establish an online presence.

The new offensive was not limited to the console space and Sony had news for the handheld market as well. The PSP Go was unveiled back in June. It is a smaller, slide open version of the PSP handheld. At GamesCom Sony announced that they will be launching a mini-game store for the machine and gamers will be able to download casual games which are under 100 MB in size. They also plan to launch a reader for the PSP which will allow people to read full length novels on it and the video on demand service due to launch in November will be extended to the PSP as well. To round things off it will be available in some funky colors.

There are obvious moves here to beat Microsoft on price and also to challenge Nintendo on accessibility and the casual gamer market. Sony is uniquely placed to capture hardcore and casual gamers and their PS3 console is truly an entertainment center. If consumers were to shop for a Blu-ray player with internet surfing capabilities and access to streaming video on demand they would be hard pressed to find a device cheaper than the PlayStation 3 and it offers gaming as well. Perhaps with this new design and all important price drop we’ll see the console really take off at last.

Highlights of E3 2009

E3, the biggest gaming convention in the world, has recently had its annual meeting at the Convention Center in L.A.. The gaming companies love to make their big announcements at this time, and here is a list of what they have been holding out on the gaming crowd.

Xbox 360 News

• The open-world action game Crackdown will have a sequel, appropriately named Crackdown 2. Like its predecessor, it is only available for the Xbox 360.
• Mass Effect 2 will be out in early 2010 for the PC and Xbox 360.
• Accept no substitutions, the one and only Jack Black will star in Brutal Legend. Jack is a roadie in this game, who must battle demons for some reason. It is available for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and will also star Lemmy Kilmeister and Ozzy Osbourne.
• Put out an APB on APB, a game available for the PC and Xbox 360 where the gamer plays a gang member.
• One of the bigger announcements was Project Natal, Microsoft’s answer to the Wiimote. This is a camera and microphone that mounts on the television that can sense motion, three-dimensional movement, and sound. This controller that requires nothing but the user was introduced by none other than Steven Spielberg.

Nintendo Wii News

• Red Steel 2 is due out for the Wii, and will make full use of the MotionPlus.
• For the first time, Super Mario Brothers will be available to play on the Wii. A sequel to Super Mario Galaxy is also coming.
• WiiFit Plus and Wii Sports Resort are two sequels that encourage Wii gamers to be more active.
• Dead Space Extraction is a prequel to the popular science-fiction M-rated game. This one appears to be available only for the Wii and is due out September 29^th.

Nintendo DS News

• Nintendo DS users will have a unique gaming experience with Women’s Murder Club: Game of Passion. This is based on James Patterson’s novels, and I believe this had a series, didn’t it?
• Other new DS titles include Kingdom Hearts, Mario and Luigi: Bower’s Inside Story (Fall 2009), and Golden Sun DS (2010).

Sony PS3 News

• God of War 3 is slated to hit the PS3 very soon.
• PS3 titles to be released will be Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Assassin’s Creed 2. Believe it or not, Final Fantasy XIV is under development, exclusively for the PS3.
• PS3 is also developing a motion-sensitive controller similar to the Project Natal from Microsoft.

Sony PSP News

• PSP Go has finally been made official. The Go is smaller, has a slide-up screen, and no UMD drive.
• PSP games to be released include racing game Gran Turismo and a few others. For example, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker should be available for PSP in 2010.

Multiple Platform News

• Tony Hawk made a personal appearance for Tony Hawk Ride, which Zmogo has already reported on in a previous article.
• In case you haven’t heard, Beatles Rock Band will be released on 09.09.09.
• Lost Planet 2 will soon be available for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
• While we are on the subject of those three platforms and sequels, Dead Rising 2 will also be available soon.

Web 4.0,Trip Down the Rabbit Hole or Brave New World?

If Web 2.0 is about web applications and social networking, and Web 3.0 is said to incorporate the semantics of data interpreted by machines, what the heck is Web 4.0 going to look like? If we are in the midst of an evolution, what have the big thinkers been able to conjure up about our futures online? Let’s take a look at some of the insights and theories put forth by the futurists, as us mere mortals breathlessly await the next big shiny thing to capture our hearts, minds and soul.

“What the BLEEP Do We Know,” a movie first released in 2004 went on to become one of the most successful documentaries of all time. Now distributed in over 30 countries, it has stunned audiences with its revolutionary mind-jarring blend of quantum physics and evolutionary thought. While widely popular and panned at the same time, this film is not a journey for closed minded, limited thinkers, or faint-of-mind folks. This is a mystical journey that leaves you curiously rooted in an upside-down-world of invisible unknowns that challenge every belief you’ve ever held sacred. I post it here, because in searching for answers to web 4.0 in our future, sometimes you need to take a trip down the rabbit hole, before you settle down to some more concrete realities.

In 2006, Jeff Moriarty, a Community Manager for Intel was bold enough to suggest that Web 4.0 was an “impending state at which all information converges into a great ball of benevolent self-aware light, and solves every problem from world peace to why Lost stunk last season.” However Jeff also had a small part on the “X-Files” so you might not be so inclined to agree with his epiphany.

On the Brave New World front, Nova Spivack is a technology visionary and entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience in pioneering ventures. In 1994, he co-founded EarthWeb , one of the first Internet companies, where he helped key cultural institutions and businesses develop their first large-scale Web presences, including the New York Stock Exchange, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, BMG Music Club, Sony, AT&T and US West.

As a futurist and publisher of Twine, Spivack has been contemplating the past, present and future of the Web for quite some time. His timeline of technology from our prehistoric desktop era to our synchronistic future is depicted here.

As you can see, according to Spivak’s predictions we are currently at the tail end of Web 2.0, just starting to lay the groundwork for Web 3.0 or semantic technology which arrives in 2010 (start your stop watches). Web 4.0 or WebOS will be like middleware, where the Web will start functioning like an operating system,or what he calls, “the Intelligent Web.” Nova says he isn’t sure about exact dates or technologies on the top end of the map, but in his view each phase runs in approximate ten-year blocks.

E-Learning Queen is a company that focuses on real-world e-learning issues and emerging technologies. Susan Smith Nash, the founder who goes by the title “Queen’s Assistant” believes that Web 4.0 will include a array of sensors that will gather information from one’s environment to create a deep profile of our behaviors and activities.

Raymond Kurzweil is an inventor and futurist. He has been a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. predicts that by 2029, the WebOS will be parallel to the human brain. By that time, according to Kurzweil, “intelligent machines will combine the subtle and supple skills that humans now excel in (essentially our powers of pattern recognition) with ways in which machines are already superior, such as remembering trillions of facts accurately, searching quickly through vast databases, and downloading skills and knowledge.”

So are we approaching a moment in time when the Internet will actually transform into a “Learning Web,” where the Web is actually learning by itself, unprompted by humans? Seth Godin, popular speaker at Google and TED conferences and the man who popularized the topic of permission marketing believes Web 4.0 or Web4 (as he calls it) is all about “serendipity and the network taking initiative.”

Some of the future examples he conjures up sheds light on the potential innovation Web4 will be able to add to our lives…

• As a project manager, my computer knows my flow chart and dependencies for what we’re working on. And so      does the computer of every person on the project, inside my team and out. As soon as something goes wrong (or right) the entire chart updates.

• I’m late for a dinner. My GPS phone knows this (because it has my calendar, my location, and the traffic status). So, it tells me, and then it alerts the people who are waiting for me.

• I visit a blog for the first time. My browser knows what sort of stories I am interested in and shows me highlights of the new blog based on that history.

• I can invest in stocks as part of a team, a team that gains strength as it grows in size.

• My PDA knows I’m going to a convention. Based on my email logs, it recommends who I ought to see while I’m there–because my friends have opted in to our network and we’re in sync.

As Godin sees it, Web4 is “coming from the edges (we see all sorts of tribal activities popping up in blogs, communities, rankings) as opposed to from the center. Web 2.0 happened in largely the same way…and it’s
entirely possible that Web4 will get here before the semantic web even though Web 3 makes it work a lot better.”

Well, there you have it, sports fans… some of the greatest thinkers of our day all looking into their crystal balls for answers to our digital futures. However, before leaving you, one additional theory did surface that I thought worthy of note. “Gnardonkeys” who describe themselves as “two funny guys from San Diego who naively think Twitter can make them famous” offer some gnarly insights into Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 and why we can’t afford to let Web 4.0 happen…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pe79kPh3hw [/youtube]

So which ever fork in the road you decide to take…happy travels down the Rabbit Hole or the Brave New World!

What e-reader should you buy?

Perhaps you have been thinking about purchasing one of those e-book readers that so many people are purchasing these days. Instead of just following the crowd, you should probably study the competitors.

Amazon Kindle: Clearly Mr. Bezos intended the prior version to be a milestone in the e-book reader industry, and thanks to a multi-media marketing campaign, it is. (It doesn’t hurt to be the World’s Largest Bookstore.)

Features (Original):

• Connects to 3G network for content (no hotspot needed).

Display: 6

Memory: 256 MB

Price: Originally $359 – 399

Features: (Kindle 2)

• Slimer than Original.
• Battery life 25 percent larger than original model.
• Text-to-speech allows reader to read to you
• Whispersync allows synchronization with other Kindles

Display: 6

Memory: 2 GB

Price: $359

Features: (Kindle DX)

• Large 9.7 display
• Built-in PDF reader
• Bigger Selection with Kindle Store
• Better for Graphic Rich Content

Display: 9.7

Memory: 3.3 GB

Price: $489

Foxit eSlick: A very low priced e-reader that is also one of the lightest on the market.

Display: 6 inch

Memory: 128 MB with optional 2 GB SD card

Price: $260

Fujitsu Flepia: The Flepia goes down in history has the first e-book reader to have a color e-ink screen, but probably has the largest price.

Features:

• Bluetooth
• WiFi Support
• Stylus
• Includes Windows CE 5.0
• 600,000 colors

Display: 8

Memory: 4 GB with SD card

Price:    $1,025

Hanlin eReader: An e-book reader from a Chinese company Tianjin Jinke Electronics.

Features:

• Runs a Linux-based operating system.

Display:   6

Memory: 32-MB via SDRAM

Price:      $300

Interead’s COOL-ER: These are new to the e-reader scene, and are available in eight different colors. They are the first of its kind to be designed specifically for the non-technologically inclined reader in mind.

Features:

• SD card slot
• Text-to-speech
• WiFi

Display: 6

Memory: 1GB

Price: TBD

iRex Iliad: This is an e-reader from a Phillips company spinoff that has recently completed a second version.

Features:

• Supports PDF, Images, and HTML format.
• SD Card
• Wifi Compatible
• Page Turning flipbar

Display: 8.1″

Memory: 256MB

Price $600

Plastic Logic:  Not much is known about this one as yet, but it might shake the ebook market with its large size (8 1/2 x 11 inches).

Features:

• Thin and light
• Supports Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Adobe PDFs
• Supports newspapers, periodicals, and books

Display: 8.5 x 11

Memory: Not listed

Price: TBA

Samsung Papyrus: Not the most advanced e-reader, but not the least either. It is due out later in the summer.

Features:

• Stylus for the touchscreen

Display: 6

Memory: 512 MB

Price: $300, but possibly only in Korea

Sony Reader: This was one of the earliest e-book readers, it already has three versions. One of them with a touchscreen.

Features:

• Convert to PDF.
• Partnership with Google ensures a half-million titles.

Display: 6

Memory: 512 MB

Price: $350

This is not a comprehensive list.  These are those I could find on my Source.  There is one being made from iRiver, and Hearst is actually planning to release one as well.

Clearly, the e-reader market is growing at an alarming rate.  I wouldn’t be surpirsed if colleges will require an e-reader in order for students to download their texts.

The Next Wave of Computing: One Device to Rule them All?

With the help of ‘smartclients,’ gaming may be the leader into computing’s future.

The tech world is currently dislocated. The gaming market is fragmented and the PC concept seems to have no clear direction or leader. Developers and users want a return back to a simpler time where one device could be used for multiple functions instead of a collection of new, complicated devices that are incompatible with everything else.

One possible solution to gaming’s problems, Onlive, was announced last month. Onlive would utilize a private cloud to link up and deliver content, mostly video games. But as for everything else, it’s currently up for grabs between Microsoft and Google and computing’s next big move, called “3rd Rebirth.”

The idea of a small device that could very well handle a selection of single tasks was introduced by iPhone. Apple is rumored to be in the netbook game, and HP is supposedly in development with an Android powered netbook. The system composed of a small, inexpensive device connected with a back-end computing service could be coming to fruition with the second half of the system being handled by a private cloud.

VMware (NYSE: VMW), EMC (NYSE: EMC) and Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) are companies that are currently showcasing the private cloud concept. The private cloud concept has the cost advantages of cloud computing with the addition of being much more secure, reliable and contained.

The next generation of computing may likely be defined by the operating systems war that will touch off between Apple, Microsoft, and Google. Of course Microsoft and Apple are vastly more established, but have current OS that must avoid doing battle with the new OS they develop. This cannibalization process may end up evening the field for Google.

Introducing the SmartClient:

Google’s initial offering isn’t expected until 2010. It will be a cross between thin clients and PCs, defined here as “smartclients”.

It has been largely believed that back-end performance would be inadequate for today’s market, but with the consolidation of various platforms that is underway, starting with gaming, this may no longer be the case.

Solving Gaming’s Problems:

Gaming’s first cycle came to an end with Atari being the last one standing. It was soon overwhelmed with low-quality games. For a short period there was one platform that everyone could focus on.

With PC gaming consistently falling short, game consoles have flourished under Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Sony and Nintendo spawned smaller versions and there were 5 gaming platforms with a new one said to be on the way. In this system bridging 2 platforms with 1 game is near impossible.

The PC never seemed to get into the gaming world. There was hope that the PC would eventually displace the consoles, but it has never materialized. PCs and gaming systems have very different sets of strengths and weaknesses that remain in place today.

Enter the ‘SmartClient’:

Despite Apple’s avoidance of gaming, it has been the iPhone model that is currently drawing the majority of the gaming buzz. More so that both PCs and gaming systems.

The situation has not been beneficial for anyone. Developers and users all must gamble when producing and buying consoles and games on what will be the other’s choice. It has been inefficient, but it has continued to seem to be what both consumers and developers want.

Is the ‘smartclient’ the answer?

It has long been believed that evolution would go the way of PCs, and eventually TVs would be on their way out. Over time though, it seems to be going the opposite direction.

Google appears to be betting on TVs in the race in an attempt to displace Microsoft. It is depending on the development of devices that are similar to smartphones and TVs instead of the PC direction.

The computing Renaissance:

But Google will be dependant upon the new presence of the private cloud. Without it, smartclient-like devices will be relatively limited and unable to give the performance needed to compete with the PCs.

Onlive should be the first major test of whether or not the performance expected from a PC can be achieved through a smartclient type of device. If it is successful, it could possibly change gaming forever by making the gaming systems and PC gaming completely obsolete. We then would be able to have an appliance-like device complete with PC capabilities. With this we should be into the aforementioned 3rd rebirth of computers.

As of now the current crop of netbooks would be unable to make the impact necessary to start the push to the next level.

The ‘CloneCloud’ by Intel:

But the concept ‘CloneCloud’ has just been introduced. This would provide the ability to mirror the virtual polymorphic image of a low-powered desktop device, like a netbook, in the cloud, and sync the two constantly. This will provide a full on PC-type of experience, with the benefit of private cloud-type assistance. This would allow for a new world of tasks that wouldn’t even require the client PC to be turned on; only the virtual client running. You could then be able to switch between running a high level game, transcoding a movie while the third was running an intensive virus scan.

It’s hard to predict the future, especially in the tech world, but massive change is coming in the near to immediate future… Are you ready?

OnLive Gives You Games to your TV, PC, or Mac

The Game Developers Conference had a lot of surprises last week, and one of them was a prominent display of OnLive. If you don’t know what OnLive is, just think of it as an infinite playlist of video games.

Sounds like dream come true, doesn’t it? Allow me to sweeten the vision. These video games would be streamed directly to your PC or Mac. Just picture playing a video game, but it is on YouTube.

Oh, it gets better, as you can get a tiny device that will stream the video games to your television, as if you downloaded a flick from Roku. In fact, that is pretty much how it works, as it instantly sends your controller actions upstream, and the results go back downstream at blinding fast speeds.

OnLive gives a user a chance to demo the game before you buy, and you should be able to purchase it. Not a lot of memory is required for this PC application, just about 1 MB.

Another advantage to OnLive is the Community. One of the things that makes OnLive very interesting is that there is a bragging option. So if a gamer does something that he or she thinks is totally awesome, he or she can hit a button and it will record the last fifteen seconds of gameplay on a Brag Clip. The entire OnLive community can then get a piece of the action. Granted, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything in a video game worth bragging about, but I’m sure this is important for some gamers.

The community also gives gamers the chance to spectator other players as they play games. This comes in handy when you are interested in buying a game and you would like to see it in action. It also comes in handy if you already own the game, and you are stuck on a certain place and you need to know how to get past it. Just watch another player who knows what you have been through.

For those of who think this is too good to be true, you aren’t the only one. There have many criticisms saying that the service simply just won’t work. OnLive has gone on the record several times saying that the service will work perfectly, as it has been under development for seven years.

One of the doubts that I had about this service is how you can play this. I mean, if you want to play a game on the Wii, then you might need a Wiimote and Nunchuk. I noticed that the device for streaming OnLive to the television comes with a controller that looks like something Sony would put out.

But there are those who don’t doubt OnLive as much as its critics, and believe that OnLive could change video games as we know it. After all, Netflix and other various video streaming programs have made traditional video stores a thing of the past.

I don’t know, but that seems a little too optimistic. I mean, are we really at the point where I don’t have to go to the store, and look at all the games behind locked plastic doors?

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Marvel Universe Online Coming Soon

How would you like to play an Massively Multiplayer Online game where you are freely exploring the Marvel Universe? At one point in time, Microsoft Studios was developing a Marvel Universe MMO with Cryptic Studios for the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows.

Sadly, the project was scrapped, and Cryptic Studios decided to put all their programming work to good use and work on Champions Online, another MMO that takes place in an established universe full of superheroes. The only difference between Marvel Universe Online and Champions Online is that Marvel contains superheroes that the average public has probably heard of, while Champions Online is based on a superhero universe from an obscure role-playing game from the eighties.

Is it just me, or is Gazillion’s Marvel Universe MMO going to face some competition with DC Universe Online, the joint venture of Sony Online and DC comics. Surely this was one of the reasons why a Marvel Universe game was even inspired.

A start-up company named Gazillion Entertainment has won this MMO lottery. It has been reported that Gazillion has four development studios working on other MMO games.

The first is NetDevil, who is working on a LEGO Universe MMO. I cannot wait to see this particular one. I actually think that I would like to play in a world of interchangeable bricks, rather than one where I have super powers.

The second is Amazing Society, who is already working on another superhero related game known as Super Hero Squad, due out in 2010. I have never heard of that particular superhero universe, but it is based on some Cartoon Network show.

The third is Slipgate Ironworks, who are developing an unannounced original MMO. I’m guessing there are no superheroes or building blocks involved in this one. I mean, if it is going to be original.

And the fourth is Gargantuan, who has a gargantuan project of the Marvel Universe. You can’t help but wonder how they intend to go about this effort. After all, Gazillion is probably going to account for the fact that two people cannot play the same superhero. I’m sure that if fans had their choice, many of them would want to play Wolverine, arguably one of the most popular superheroes in the Marvel or any other superhero universe.

I am guessing that the player will create a character who will more than likely interact with major characters from the Marvel Universe as NPCs. In other words, you won’t be able to fight side-by-side with Spider-man, but he’ll probably give you a mission. That was Cryptic Studios model for City of Heroes and City of Villains. You couldn’t play one of the members of the main group, but they would talk to you.

So I’m going to guess that this new Marvel Universe MMO is not going to allow you to play Marvel characters. After all, the Marvel Universe is filled with characters who have their own books and groups that each of them are a part of. You do not want to disrupt that continuity!

Actually, if I had the chance, I probably would. Marvel has been using its popular characters for years, and they don’t really change much. Then again, such is the way of the comic-book hero, to stay alive so readers will be entertained. I suppose the Marvel Universe MMO gives you the chance to feel like you’re making a difference.

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