Kurzweil to demo Blio eBook reader at CES

Futurist Ray Kurzweil is scheduled to demonstrate a software-based electronic reading program at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. The software, called Blio, will be licensed by vendors for use in their own hardware, which could be available in as little as 90 days.

While it is primarily intended for people with vision issues, it has the potential to be much more; people who have seen it have gone so far as to call it "the reinvention of the book." 

Unlike competing products such as the Kindle, Nook and Sony Reader, the software-based nature of the product means that people could buy it in whatever form factor suits them and their reading needs, ranging from tablets (iSlate, anyone?) and other PCs to the iPod Touch and iPhone. It could also run on an existing multipurpose platform, rather than being yet another electronic device.

It also offers full color, unlike the black-and-white Kindle; lays out the "pages" as they would be seen on paper, including typography and illustrations; supports video and animation; supports text-to-speech; and allows users to synchronize things such as bookmarks, highlights and the page you last read across multiple devices, according to Wired (which offers a nifty comparison chart between the different types of electronic book readers).

For more:
- see this article from Wired

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