THE CONCEPT OF ELECTRONIC paper has been with us for ages. In fact, one of my first touches with the world of IT was a discussion of electronic paper that was being developed by Philips - if I remember correctly - promising us monitors the size of bedroom walls, consuming practically no current at all.

Fast forward 15 or so years, and electronic paper is still not an everyday thing, not as a small compact book, yet alone a wall-sized product.

However, that is finally changing, since E-Ink technology is coming to market with several very interesting products, predominantly e-book readers.

Micro-capsules need only to be charged once, after that picture stays displayed for days, if necessary

The image and font clarity is quite impressive, and E-Ink lads'n'lassies managed to squeeze in Anti-aliasing technology that produces clear letters, no smudginess known from typical LCD or CRT technologies.

The main advantage of E-Ink tech is the fact that the screen does not actively consume power. Once the microcapsules are charged and in place, the device does not consume power, and there are no issues with clarity on a bright Sunny day, unlike LCD technology. For reading during the night, backlight is required, since E-ink produces no light on its own. Thus, when checking out these products, make sure manufacturer installed a backlight, since we have seen one device that does not sport a lamp, thus is readable only during daylight.

Sony Reader is a guaranteed hit in manga crazed countries such as Japan or US

But for all cellphones and most of devices, there is a backlight installed. All in all, when this technology comes down in price, yours truly could might envision the future where my children or grandchildren will look at my book collection and ask: "You chopped down trees to read? Grandpa, that was really barbaric..." [There won't be any trees by then, Ed.]

Or perhaps not. µ