Arthur C. Clarke's 'Newspad' Finally Arrives

Sony brings a new dimension to the electronic book with its new Sony Reader. Measuring just 6.9" x 4.9" x .5", it holds up to 80 average sized books at a time. Sony will be happy to sell you a memory stick or SD card to give you room for more.

Looks like Arthur C. Clarke's 1968 newspad is here and ready for you to use.

The e Ink technology provides relatively high contrast, no backlight, no screen flicker and good resolution.

Microcapsules provide the magic—e Ink writes the page just once. Positive

When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers; he knew the codes of the more important ones by heart, and had no need to consult the list on the back of his pad. Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him. (Read more about Arthur C. Clarke's newspad)

(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com

Bill Christensen catalogues the inventions, technology and ideas of science fiction writers at his website, Technovelgy. He is a contributor to Live Science.