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Last week, Nokia (@nokia) demoed a mindblowing prototype handheld device that lets you bend and twist the screen to complete actions like scrolling and zooming.

Meanwhile, Samsung (@Samsungtweets) said on an earnings call last week that it expected to debut phones with flexible displays in 2012 and that flexible tablets would follow.

The advantages of flexible displays are obvious: They're more durable, and they pave the way for new input methods, such as bending the display to zoom.

I think this technology will lead to the biggest breakthrough in mobile devices since the touchscreen. In fact, the next innovation in screen technologies may be an even bigger leap forward than touch displays.

Think not of a bendable display but of a foldable one.

Read this in full.

See Somersault’s previous blogposts “Revolutionary New Paper Computer Shows Flexible Future for Smartphones and Tablets” and "Flexible and Dual Computer Screens to Prepare For."

How will you prepare your publishing agenda for the advent of flexible screens? Let Somersault (@smrsault) help. And stay informed about the news of the future with the Future tab of RSS feeds and resources on SomersaultNOW.

The above Infographic is by Visual Loop (@visualoop).

Humor columnist W. Bruce Cameron (@wbrucecameron) takes on the electronic ereader industry with this essay:

Move over, Kindle: Cameron Industries, a mono-national corporation headed by CEO W. Bruce Cameron (no relation), announced today it will soon be marketing the "next generation" of portable readers. Dubbed the "book," Cameron predicts it will take the world by storm.

As described by Cameron, the book will mark major advances in current reader technology. Among them:

Battery life: While some manufacturers boast that their reading machines can have as much as 150 hours of battery life, Cameron claims that the (pat. pend.) "always on" technology used by the book means the battery life is actually longer than human life.

Read it in full.

It makes us think of another humorous look at the printed format: the Bio-Optical Organized Knowledge Device (BOOK):

Introducing the new Bio-Optical Organized Knowledge device, trade named B.O.O.K.

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology; no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use, even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere -- even sitting in an armchair by the fire -- yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.

Here's how it works.

BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, BOOKs with more information simply use more pages. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain.

A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet.

BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by opening it.

Read this in full.

According to CBC News (@CBCNews), Canadian-based ebook seller and ereader Kobo (@kobo) is following in Amazon's footsteps and will create a publishing arm sometime next year that will deal directly with authors.

Like Amazon, which announced two weeks ago that it would be publishing 122 original titles this fall, Kobo will be offering complete publishing services for authors, including book editing and design.

Read this in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, "Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal."

Writer Edward Willett (@ewillett) asks, “Despite passion on the printed-book side, ebook sales continue to soar, and ebook readers are becoming better, cheaper, and more ubiquitous. How can a lover of text-on-dead-trees continue to defend his/her choice?”

Science may offer some ammunition in the ongoing debate. For instance, a study conducted last year by Jacob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, a California-based usability consulting firm, tested three different ways to read e-books – on the PC, the Kindle 2, and the iPad – against the reading of paper books. Nielsen found that those reading any of the ebook versions were as much as 10% slower than those reading the printed versions. (Reading on the PC was the slowest — and least popular — of all.)

[Also see Singularity Hub’s (@singularityhub) “New Study: You Read Slower on Kindle, iPad than with Print.”]

[For a contrasting article, see TeleRead’s (@paulkbiba) “Jakob Nielsen’s e-reading speed study isn’t the final word].”

But “another study emerged from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz that, according to the lead researcher, Professor Dr. Stephan Füssel, provides a scientific basis ‘for dispelling the widespread misconception that reading from a screen has negative effects.’”

Perhaps, in the end, it all comes down to personal preference.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you set your publishing agenda while taking into account the personal preference of your consumers.

Here’s a new facet to enhanced ebook publishing. Booktrack (@Booktrk) is a new technology that synchronizes a customized soundtrack of ambient audio, music, and sound effects to written text of ebooks in a way that’s automatically paced to the reading speed of the user to create an immersive entertainment experience.

Springwise (@springwise) reports that the advantage of the printed book’s ability to have the author handwrite at a book signing a personal message to the book’s owner on its pages is now gone. “Kindlegraph (@kindlegraph) aims to challenge that, by enabling authors to send personalized, digital inscriptions directly to the reading devices of their fans.”

Created by Evan Jacobs, a former programmer at Amazon, Kindlegraph is designed to facilitate a closer connection between authors and their fans. To personalize their ebook, users log in with their Twitter credentials and select from a list of popular ebooks. So far approximately 1,700 authors are involved, with around 7,500 books listed.

After selecting an ebook, a request is then sent to the author who, after logging in, will see a list of current requests. There is space to type a personalized message, and clicking “Kindlegraph it” will send the message to Docusign APIs which embed the signed message and sends a PDF back to the reader’s Kindle.

Jacobs hopes that authors will use it as a means to build relationships with fans; for example: sending preview chapters or short stories before they are published. A video on the Kindlegraph’s website explains how the platform works in more detail.

Read the full story.

Also see our previous blogposts, “Ebook Autographs” and “How Authors Can Autograph Their Ebooks.”

This article in The New York Times (@nytimes) says, “Amazon.com (@amazon), the online retailer, has long competed with bookstores; now it's starting to make deals with authors, bypassing the traditional publisher.”

Amazon will publish 122 books this fall in an array of genres, in both physical and ebook form. It is a striking acceleration of the retailer’s fledging publishing program that will place Amazon squarely in competition with the New York houses that are also its most prominent suppliers….

“Everyone’s afraid of Amazon,” said Richard Curtis, a longtime agent who is also an ebook publisher. “If you’re a bookstore, Amazon has been in competition with you for some time. If you’re a publisher, one day you wake up and Amazon is competing with you too. And if you’re an agent, Amazon may be stealing your lunch because it is offering authors the opportunity to publish directly and cut you out."

Read the full article.

Also see International Business Times (@ibtimesnews), “5 Reasons Kindle Fire Tablet May Kill Barnes & Noble.”

Mark Coker (@markcoker), founder of ebook distributor Smashwords, wanted to know how readers discover ebooks. So he posted a survey at the ebook forum Mobileread (@mobileread), “challenging readers to select the single most common criterion they follow to discover their next read.”

To capture a broad range of usable data, I suggested 12 answers, one of which was “Other.” Respondents were allowed to select one answer only since I wanted to identify the single most important discovery criteria.

The most-selected answer was “Recommendations from fellow readers on online message forums, blogs and message boards," with 29% of respondents choosing this. By contrast, only 4% selected, “Personal friend/family member recommends it to me.” I think this is fascinating, because it implies readers might trust the collective wisdom of strangers and online acquaintances more than they trust the recommendations of immediate friends and family. At the risk of placing too many eggs in this basket, remember 71% selected something else....

What to make of the results? How might authors and publishers focus their e-publishing efforts based on the data?

·         Target readers who are active in online communities because they influence their fellow readers

·         Maximize the availability of your book so readers can randomly stumble across it and sample it

·         Boring titles, unprofessional cover images and poorly written book descriptions are instant turn-offs

Read this article in full.

Also read our previous blogpost “Where & Why We Buy Books.”

More research on a variety of topics is available on the SomersaultNOW dashboard under the Research tab. Stay abreast of the latest information with this helpful online resource for publishing and marketing executives.