ReadWriteWeb looks at an element of the Hearst company's introduction of the Skiff e-reader and notes a slight difference in its ambitions.

For one, Hearst is betting on people printing out stories and has cemented a deal with a company over it.

It has been said that even Bill Gates prints out a document longer than two screens. Hearst suggests about one-half of one per cent of readers do so --- one in 200. But there's a business model in there; once the formatting is done, print ads are added to the mix.

Quietly in the background there has been activity in the electronic ink business to enter the news industry well beyond the Kindle.

The latest development involves five media companies joining forces on technical standards for the e-readers at the heart of news industry optimism about lowering publication and distribution costs.

The report in Editor & Publisher identifies the ambition of a common digital storefront, with similar screen sizes, applications and operating systems to prevent the HD/BlueRay or Beta/VHS problems of emerging and warring technologies.

Time Inc., News Corp, Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith are all aboard, but it remains unclear what the journey looks like. They've simply signed on to pursue the approach.

CNN carries a ballyhooed item on the speculation on the tablet Apple is seemingly creating to rival the Kindle and perhaps even usurp its own iPod.

While there is no new information in the piece, it rounds up every thread and whisper and places them in the laps of commentators who wonder about Apple's master plan and possible impact. The device is reportedly everything from an electronic reader to a music library.

It's a strong primer for anyone unaware of the rumoured creation of the gadget to end all gadgets.

The former CEO of Perseus Books Group posts a strong argument that the adoption of the electronic reading device --- the e-reader of the e-book --- is going to take longer than the enthusiasts think.

Jack McKeown, now a consultant and vice president of the Verso Digital ad network for publishers, believes three issues stand in the way of the disruptive technological breakthrough akin to the MP3 player:

1. The e-book doesn't deliver the same value as the printed edition. Principally he says the experience of screen reading still isn't up to the standard of ink on paper, but he also suggests that the e-reader's computing capabilities are inhibiting note-taking.

2. The e-reader manufacturers may not understand the book-buying demographic. They seem more interested in the 18-to-34 age group, not the book buyers.

3. Pricing and distribution issues abound. There is no common platform or approach to cost.

While there is little question the transformation of the publishing industry is upon us, "if anyone out there assumes that the outcome is a slam dunk, guess again," McKeown writes.

Most of us in journalism believe that the spread of electronic readers like the Kindle, the new Barnes & Nobel device, the Plastic Logic scroll and others will usher in a new opportunity for reporting.

Daniel Lyons of Newsweek sets his optimism on Apple as a target and suggests that its imminent tablet will be the piece-de-resistance of the movement.

He sees this as phase two of the Internet. Phase one was largely a matter of migration of content to the Web. This phase involves some kind of collectivity of media in one device, more legible and technically formidable.

A new language will emerge, he argues.