BCL announce release of SimplEBook: conversion tool for ebook device users

BCL Computers has announced a new conversion tool designed to convert content into HTML 3.2-compliant files for use on ebooks like Rocket eBook, SoftBook and Palm devices. SimplEBook is able to convert formats such as PDF, Word, PowerPoint into reflowing content capable of being viewed on a wide range of devices.

According to BCL, it will be demonstrating SimplEBook to the attendees of Seybold Seminars Publishing Conference from August 28 to Sept. 1, 2000. Digital Worm will be there to take a look and will report back any interesting findings.

Press Release:
BCL's SimplEBook Opens eBooks To The Web

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. 7/25/00 -- Arguments about the ebook's feasibility sometimes focus too much on whether people will accept "literature" in the electronic form, while ignoring the fact that consumers aren't just waiting around for books from the New York Times Bestseller List to be published in OEB (Open eBook, the standardized language for the ebook). They want to use their ebooks and handhelds now, to access content that's already out there.

BCL Computers has a new conversion tool that gives handheld users high-quality access to web content even when they're using the smallest displays. SimplEBook® reflows content so that documents can be displayed on smaller screens with "flow" intact. It uses the tagging capabilities and reflow technology of HTML 3.2 to convert PDF, as well as Word Perfect, Word and Power Point (and in the near future, Excel, Quark, and PageMaker) for display on HTML 3.2-compliant ebooks such as the RocketBook® or SoftBook®, and hand-held devices such as the Palm®.

Until recently, a lot of web content has been designed with high-quality desktop displays in mind, and when viewed on the smaller screens of handhelds, it looks fragmented, at best. With the popularity of handhelds, web designers now have the challenge of reformatting documents for their smaller screens, where wide, high-quality graphics, tables, and multi-column text are hard to display. Not only do document objects have to be scaled; they need to be displayed in their logical reading sequence so they make sense on the smaller displays.

SimplEBook® takes complex documents - those with multiple columns, tables, graphics or even a change of format in the middle of a page (i.e., a shift from two columns to three) - and separates their structures into zones. Each zone consists of a single element --- a simple picture, piece of text, list or table.

SimplEBook® then automatically sequences these zones into a natural reading order, then passes them into BCL's output filters. The filters can output to full HTML 3.2 or RTF, depending on the user's requirements.

The software's capabilities mean that content providers can e-publish for several internet display devices in one quick (SimplEBook® is capable of converting documents at a rate of about one page per second), efficient step. The output is viewable not only with a standard desktop display, but also with ebooks and handhelds, or any other HTML 3.2-compliant display devices. In effect, consumers could access the information any time, anywhere using their HTML 3.2-compliant handheld devices. Individuals can use SimplEBook® to convert the content they find on the web to a format readable on their ebooks or handhelds, giving them access to the material they need, when they want it.

"The ebook holds great possibilities for non-fiction content such as technical manuals, reference books, and classroom texts - all materials that rely on timeliness, accuracy, and accessibility as a measure of worth. How many classroom teachers are using outdated textbooks because their schools can't afford new editions? How many college students have paid astronomical prices for paperback course texts that they'll never use again once the semester is done?" said BCL CEO Hassan Alam.

"Until now, complex illustrations, detailed graphics and tables have posed a problem for the ebook's smaller display. SimplEBook® solves that problem and opens a range of new opportunities."

Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., BCL Computers is a software company conducting research in, and developing products for, computer-based document management and computer command and control systems. Areas of expertise include neural networks, fuzzy logic, document analysis, information retrieval, database technologies, natural language processing and knowledge representation. BCL has been successfully working with companies to improve their workflow efficiency since 1994 with products such as JADE®, Magellan®, and GoHTM®. The company's policy has always been not only to give an immediate solution to meet its clients' needs, but also to help companies grow in their respective fields.

Contact: Sulojana Blows
Phone: 520-774-8059
Email: sulojana@bclcomputers.com
WWW: www.bcl-computers.com