Abstract

This radiography of the state of digital media in 2010 pays special attention to the situation in Spain, with references to the international one. The main points are: the crisis of the media, the return to pay-for-content, reading devices for news as the iPad, developments in social media and real time news.

Abstract

The editorial function has been characterized by a strong systems component, in the sense that all chain elements are closely interrelated in a necessary concatenation. The emergence of digital technologies has led to a breakdown of this logical structure, altering traditional mediation and intermediation systems and allowing the disappearance of some essential elements. Thus, roles such as the publisher or distributor, essential elements in an analog environment, may disappear in some of the models that are being generated. In line with this, new business models are also emerging and new actors in this field, with concurrent advantages which their previous experiences allow them. Amazon, Apple and Google are taking a strong position in the electronic book market.

Abstract

Ebooks have undergone a spectacular development in the past two years, extending their success beyond the forecasts of specialists. Attest to this digital reading statistics, the growth of the publishing offer, and the increased reading devices sales. One interesting thing has been the emergence of the iPad, a device introduced in early 2010 that, although it is not specifically devoted to reading, it has been discovered as one of the preferred e-readers. The importance of the phenomenon is in the fact that major publishers and authors, and large media groups are producing applications and products for exclusive use in this device. In contrast to static and mimetic reading of traditional books, there are new products and ways of digital reading with multimedia features.

Abstract

2010 could be the year in which the arrival and consolidation in the market of several models of mobile devices for reading books and online dailies becomes real. This year, new electronic tablets will be launched, together with e-reader and e-ink systems. Tablets already were announced in the nineties but they are prepared to conquer the market this year. Wired and Sports Illustrated are presenting new editions for such mobile devices. HP and Apple have presented their models (Slate and iPad), and in the meantime a patents war could put an end to the era of flash dominance for multimedia contents. Different firms are trying to keep their advantage and knowledge acquired over centuries of print production while making the transition to electronic dissemination.

Abstract

Modern cars are equipped with a variety of sensors, advanced driver assistance systems and user interfaces nowadays. To benefit from these systems and to optimally support the driver in his monitoring and decision making process, efficient human-machine interfaces play an important part. This paper describes the second release of iDriver, an iPad software solution which was developed to navigate and remote control autonomous cars, to give access to live sensor data and useful data about the car state, as there are, e.g., current speed, engine and gear state. The software was used and evaluated in our two fully autonomous research cars “Spirit of Berlin” and “Made in Germany”.