Quadrant Lab, in collaboration with the ePaper Industry Alliance (EPIA) has launched the Quadrant.ePaper weekly bulletin, aiming to provide readers with insights on global industry innovations and the latest news on the ePaper industry and connecting the global IoT ecosystem.
01 Creating Art Snapshots of Schedule on ePaper Displays with Gen AI
Ilkka Turunen has come up with a genius idea to turn daily schedules into art snapshots using Gen AI and ePaper displays.
In this project, called Kuvastin by Turunen, GPT-4 is used to generate a text from a person’s schedule information, which is then used as a prompt for DALL-E 3 to generate an image. Midjourney is then used to generate a short image description, and the image and description are finally presented on an ePaper.
Setting up this hardware ensemble would cost approximately $250, including a Raspberry Pi single board computer, a 10.3-inch ePaper, and an A4-sized frame. The ePaper only requires power when changing images, so Turunen power outlet by default will turn on at a specific time. Once powered, the Raspberry Pi automatically updates the image and then shuts down. The power outlet is also timed to cut off power, ready to be turned on again at the same time the following day.
02 French Company Vivlio Wants to be a Neutral in the eBook Industry
French company Vivlio, with 35 employees, has been working on establishing an open alternative for the eBook ecosystem in Europe for over a decade. Initially incubated as a project by Lyon-based bookstore chain Decitre, Vivlio aimed to enter the eBook sales industry. However, Vivlio eventually became an independent eBook platform, integrating companies, bookstores, and cultural product retailers with common goals into an alliance to provide solutions for European users. The company currently has hundreds of thousands of active users.
The book industry in Europe is highly fragmented, consisting of large e-commerce retailers, major bookstore chains, and numerous independent bookstores. Therefore, Vivlio collaborated with both large bookstore chains and independent bookstores from the beginning, operating eBook stores on their behalf and only taking a commission from transactions, leaving the majority of profits to the bookstores.
On the hardware side, Vivlio partnered with PocketBook to launch their own eReader, embedding their software system into it. This allows users to directly access their bookstore accounts on the Vivlio eReader, ensuring that customers of the eBook store remain customers of the bookstore. Additionally, Vivlio is exploring the integration of resources from public libraries with the help of their partners, offering users digital borrowing services.
03 Freewrite Traveler Introduces Transparent Panel
The latest model of Freewrite Traveler, the Freewrite Traveler Ghost Edition, features a housing made entirely of transparent plastic, allowing people to have a clear view of the ePaper screen, keyboard, and Wi-Fi module. Compared to the regular model with a white housing, this edition has a more retro feel. Currently, this limited edition model is available for sale at a price of $599.
The Freewrite Traveler series is launched by Astrohaus, a hardware startup company that specializes in catering to writing scenarios. The series has a size similar to Nintendo Switch and is equipped with a 5.5-inch ePaper, which remains visible even under direct sunlight. It has a battery life of up to 4 weeks and supports uploading written texts to the cloud.
04 ePaper Exercise-book Monthly Sales Volume over 15,000 Units for the First Time in the Chinese Market in October
According to online monitoring data from RUNTO Technology, the online sales volume of ePaper exercise-books reached 16,000 units in October, representing a month-on-month growth of 123.3% and a year-on-year growth of over 30 times. This is also the first time that the monthly online sales volume of ePaper exercise-books has exceeded 15,000 units.
Overall, the penetration rate of E Ink display technology in the overall online learning notebook market reached 11.9%, compared to only 0.4% in the same period last year, an increase of 5.7 percentage points compared to September. At the same time, the market share of learning notebooks in the overall E Ink tablet market has increased from 0.9% in October last year to 19.9% this year, an increase of 7.8 percentage points even compared to September.
RUNTO Technology believes that ePaper exercise-books will also be a strong contender for market share in the eReader market by 2023. With leading educational brands having completed their AI strategic layouts, seizing resource opportunities and user inlets through smart terminal devices will be of great significance for educational enterprises. Currently, brands such as Ape Counseling, Hanvon, iFlytek, and OBOOK have successively released new ePaper exercise-books.
References：
https://display.ofweek.com/2023-11/ART-8321304-8420-30617928.html
https://www.hackster.io/news/kuvastin-kuvastin-on-the-wall-0ab57c04588a
