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According to BtoB Media Business (@btobmagazine), “the users of iPads and other tablet devices are increasing their content consumption at a greater rate than individuals who don't own the devices, according to a survey released by L.E.K. Consulting (@LEK_Consulting).

The “Hidden Opportunities in New Media Survey” finds that 29% of tablet owners increased their use of magazines in the last year compared with just 4% of nontablet owners. Similarly, 26% of device owners said they increased their consumption of newspapers compared with just 6% of nontablet owners.

Read the study in full in pdf format.

E-Commerce Times says analyst firms are recalculating their 2011 PC sales projections after noticing a trend in which more consumers are passing on PC purchases in favor of tablets.

The above chart displays the results of the Google AdMob Network Survey.

What are the implications of the above study and analysis for publishers and other content creators? Write your comments below.

Today is singled out internationally to promote reading, publishing, and the protection of intellectual property through copyright. According to Wikipedia,

World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) is a yearly event on 23 April, organized by UNESCO. The Day was first celebrated in 1995.

The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honor the author Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day.

The radio program On the Media (@onthemedia) has a segment that discusses the complexity of copyright protection and the Internt. And The Blog Herald (@blogherald) has a post on how bloggers should know the difference between copyright, patent, and trademark. 

UNESCO’s World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries this year has as its theme “The Book Tomorrow: The Future of the Written Word.” It’ll be held June 6-8 in Monza, Milan.

What books that you publish today will contribute to character building in tomorrow’s generation?

Happy Earth Day! In this New York Times (@nytimes) opinion article, Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris ask, “Which is more environmentally friendly: an e-reader or an ‘old-fashioned’ book?”

Bill Henderson, in his Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) column refers to The New York Times piece in saying,

Here's what an e-reader is: a battery-operated slab, about a pound, one-half inch thick, perhaps with an aluminum border, rubberized back, plastic, metal, silicon, a bit of gold, plus rare metals such as columbite-tantalite (Google it) ripped from the earth, often in war-torn Africa. To make one e-reader requires 33 pounds of minerals, plus 79 gallons of water to refine the minerals and produce the battery and printed writing. The production of other e-reading devices such as cellphones, iPads, and whatever new gizmo will pop up in the years ahead is similar. “The adverse health impacts [on the general public] from making one e-reader are estimated to be 70 times greater than those for making a single book,” says the Times.

Then you figure that the 100 million e-readers will be outmoded in short order, to be replaced by 100 million new and improved devices in the years ahead that will likewise be replaced by new models ad infinitum, and you realize an environmental disaster is at hand. We will have lost a chunk of our planet as we lose our minds to the digital juggernaut.

Here’s what it takes to make a book, which, if it is any good, will be shared by many readers and preserved and appreciated in personal, public, and university libraries that survive the gigantic digital book burning: recycled paper, a dash of minerals, and two gallons of water. Batteries not necessary. If trees are harvested, they can be replanted.

Goleman and Norris sum it up this way:

So, how many volumes do you need to read on your e-reader to break even? With respect to fossil fuels, water use and mineral consumption, the impact of one e-reader payback equals roughly 40 to 50 books. When it comes to global warming, though, it’s 100 books; with human health consequences, it’s somewhere in between.

You may also want to read MarketingDaily’s “Study: Green Gap Is Bigger Than Ever” and “Starbucks’ Green Goals: Cups Present Challenges.”

By the way, if you missed Earth Hour this year (Mar. 26), see the photos.

According to a study conducted in March by OnCampus Research (@CampusResearch), the research division of the National Association of College Stores, college students continue to increase their usage of e-readers, but most still prefer print textbooks. The survey of 655 students finds a 6% increase in ebook purchases in March compared to a study conducted in October, and more students are reading materials on dedicated reading devices while fewer are using laptops or netbooks. While only 15% of students say they own an e-reader, 39% report they use one, up from 19% in the October study. The number of students owning a dedicated reader in October was 8%.

Of those now owning a digital e-reader, the Amazon Kindle was the most popular, with 52% of college students owning one, compared to 32% five months ago. Other top e-reader devices included Barnes & Noble’s Nook (21%), Apple iPhone (17%), and Apple iPad (10%).

Students interested in purchasing a new e-reader are most interested in the iPad and Kindle (both 27%), followed by the Nook.

Print textbooks continue as the preferred media option among this demographic. Fully 75% of the college students in the March 2011 survey said that, if the choice was entirely theirs, they would select a print textbook. This is similar to the findings of the October 2010 e-reader survey, as well as one done in the fall of 2008.

Read the news release.

Sony is creating a flexible screen that’s thin and sturdy enough to be rolled while still showing video images. Samsung also has created a flexible OLED screen display:

Another application of a lithe monitor is the Rolltop notebook computer:

Acer has launched the Iconia-6120 Dual-Screen Touchbook, which USA TODAY says offers two touch-enabled 14-inch high-definition widescreen LED backlit LCDs:

And the two-screen Kno tablet is yet to come, as reported by Digital Trends:

Update (8/10/11): Kno is now software, not its own tablet. See "Kno Rolls Out New Features for Textbook App." 

What will flexible screens and dual monitors mean for publishing innovation? And how will you start preparing for it today? Write your comments below.

At MIT, Cynthia Breazeal and her team are building robots with social intelligence that communicate and learn the same way people do. Watch this 14-minute TED talk (@tedtalks & @TEDNews) to discover that when the infants of today become adults in 20 years, they’ll be interacting with robots as naturally as they do their peers.

What are the consumer and product implications of these technological advances on the future of the publishing industry? How far beyond ebooks will these innovations go?

On the Common English Bible blog, associate publisher Paul Franklyn announces that the new Common English Bible (@CommonEngBible) translation is now complete after 3 years of arduous work over hundreds of thousands of hours by more than 200 scholars, church leaders, and reading group participants. The first typesetting of the Bible is in production at the printers with copies scheduled to be shipped in August.

Read the blog post in full.

Start getting Common English Bible verses on your Facebook page.

Follow the Lenten Blog Tour to get rich daily reflections on passages from the Common English Bible.

Listen to audio samples from the Common English Bible audioBible (like you've never heard before).

As you know, our free online dashboard SomersaultNOW includes a tab for RSS feeds that focus on the future; articles trying to discern (and predict) what tomorrow will bring. We also "publish" the paper.li "newspaper" Somersault Futurist Daily News, to which you can subscribe. We include these because one of Somersault’s distinctives is to scan the horizon for coming trends and innovations to help publishers and marketers prepare for the possibilities ahead. The above video is just such an example. As you watch it, be thinking how the delivery of published content in the future will need to adapt and change, and what you should do today to get ready for it (and let Somersault help).