You can learn more about Blio here (Blio.com) and here (MeetBlio.com).

Lyman sees SkyShelf and browser-based reading as a complementary option to other e-reading market segments. Amazon’s Kindle serves one segment well, he says. Blio is good for art books, cookbooks, and other books with many graphics and for consumers willing to download the software. While LibreDigital is currently targeting consumers with a “read now experience,” he says the company is also having discussions with education and scholarly publishers. […]

Just as previously announced, the Blio eReader app was launched today for Windows-based devices. The app brings with it access to a library filled with over a million paid and free titles. The program supports English, French and Spanish currently, but there is a plan to add support for Italian, German and Asian-language options later.

In case you’ve forgotten, what makes this digital reading application special are the graphics. Blio is a color and image-filled program that can also include hyperlinks and video clips within content. Maybe this will help e-textbooks (and e-cookbooks, like the one pictured above) more mainstream too.

The Blio application can be downloaded from the Blio eReader site now for free.

Originating as an app to help people with impaired vision read digital content more easily, the partners are marketing Blio to mainstream consumers. Blio aims to preserve the visual format of books and magazines — including layout, type, images and colors — while also enabling an array of digital media, like online video and interactive Web.

The app allows users to make “notes” by saving additional images, video and voice content alongside digital content. Advanced text-to-speech technology developed by Kurzweil allows readers to download two lifelike voices — “Samantha” and “Tom” — for audio reading.

Blio offers users access to 1.2 million titles through a partnership with book distributor Baker & Taylor, Kurzweil said, including rich-media, video, slide-show and audio-enhanced content from top publishers such as Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Penguin Group, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster. […]

Kurzweil gave a brief demo of Blio, the free e-reading software he developed with KNFB Reading Technology in partnership with Baker & Taylor that preserves “the rich, graphical nature of books” by enabling video and enhanced text-to-speech (TTS) capability.

Kurzweil, who has been in the reading field since 1975, was the principal developer of the first TTS reading machine for the blind. That machine was the size of a washing machine. Now, he pointed out, we have ebooks that fit into our pockets.

He reminded attendees that some of his current predictions might sound as “wild, way out” there as his Futurecast columns when they first appeared in LJ, in 1992-93. In those columns, he wrote that downloadable ebooks would be “a mainstream library service” in the first decade of this century and posited not only “virtual books” but the “virtual library.” […]

The Blio experience is closer to that of iBooks than Amazon’s Kindle or Barnes & Noble’s Nook programs, and that’s because it was designed to actually mimic the experience of reading a real book. The entire reading experience, down to opening the cover of a book, is animated to feel like you’re actually turning a paper page. We tested the application on a Windows 7 Nav 9 tablet (review of that actual tablet coming soon) and the Core i3-powered ThinkPad Edge 11. We found the application to be relatively snappy, although we noticed some lag in turning pages on the Nav 9 — that, of course, could be related to the Atom N280 CPU.

Toshiba Book Place is the type of entertainment option that our customers are looking for from their laptops,” said Terry Cronin, vice president of Business Development and Channel Marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. “What sets Toshiba Book Place apart is that it takes advantage of the PC experience and offers an immersive reading environment for the consumer.”

In partnership with some of the world’s largest publishers, Toshiba Book Place launches with capability to access more than a million free public domain titles and thousands more for sale, including many of today’s bestsellers, making it one of the largest online sources of electronic literature. It also promises a new and exciting interactive reading experience as Toshiba Book Place preserves a book’s printed format, including the original layout, fonts and images in full, vibrant colors, with pages that turn like the real thing. Other noticeable features supported by the Toshiba Book Place experience include:

• A read-aloud feature that makes instant audio books. Synchronized word highlighting allows children to follow sentences in their favorite books.
• An integrated Web search that allows readers to leap instantly from the imaginary world of the story to the Internet.
• Toshiba Book Place e-books also make it possible for publishers to embed author commentary, background music and more, while users can insert notes in the margins of pages, as well as hyperlinks into the text.

“With Toshiba Book Place, readers of all ages can enjoy an unparalleled digital reading experience that combines what they love about physical books – including the vibrant colors and crisp pictures – with interactive tools that make books come to life,” said Ray Kurzweil, inventor of the flat bed scanner and character and speech recognition technologies, and founder of K-NFB Reading Technology.

Toshiba Book Place works with Windows-based devices and can sync up to five devices.

As part of the launch, Toshiba will be offering registered users four (4) free pre-selected e-book titles with a retail value of approximately $80. The promotion will be available through October 12, 2010.

Connect with Toshiba on Twitter at twitter.com/ToshibaLaptops and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ToshibaLaptopsUS.

About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry-leading portable computers; televisions, TV/DVD Combination products, Blu-ray Disc and DVD products, and portable devices; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics applications; and IP business telephone systems with unified communications, collaboration and mobility applications. TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of products in the United States and Latin America.

TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation. Toshiba Corporation is a world leader and innovator in high technology, a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products. These products span from information & communications systems; digital consumer products; electronic devices and components; as well as power systems including nuclear energy; industrial and social infrastructure systems; and home appliances. Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 740 companies, with 204,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing $68 billion (6.3 Trillion Yen). For more information on Toshiba visit www.toshiba.com.

About K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc.

A joint venture between Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind, the principals of K-NFB Reading Technology Inc. (www.knfbreader.com) have propelled reading technology forward for the last 35 years through the invention of omnifont OCR, the flatbed scanner, text-to-speech synthesis, and the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind. K-NFB once again is redefining the boundaries of the printed word with Blio, which promises to set the standard for digital reading. This free application works across platforms and presents books as they were intended — in full color and as laid out by the publisher. K-NFB is headed by CEO Ray Kurzweil, a 30-year innovator and pioneer in assistive technologies. The National Federation of the Blind is the largest, most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States.

The free application can be downloaded immediately to all Windows-based devices at the newly designed Blio.com with applications for iOS, Android and Silverlight platforms available soon.

“Beginning today, readers of all ages will be able to enjoy a digital reading experience that truly harnesses the power of an e-reader,” said Ray Kurzweil, inventor of the flatbed scanner and character- and speech-recognition technologies, and founder of K-NFB Reading Technology. “By providing a full-color, flexible, and interactive experience, Blio redefines the boundaries of the e-book, opening up entirely new categories of multimedia content and, as a result, engaging new groups of readers of e-books.”

Through its partnership with Baker & Taylor, the world’s largest distributor of print and digital books, Blio will offer today’s bestsellers as well as interactive rich-media, video, slide-show, and audio enhanced content from more than 100 top publishers, including Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Penguin Group, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster.

“We are so excited to see Blio go live, bringing an immersive e-reading experience to consumers. Blio offers the most engaging way to enjoy e-books,” said Tom Morgan, Chairman and CEO of Baker & Taylor.

Blio offers a library of more than 1 million paid and free titles, and is currently adding new publishers and thousands of new titles weekly. Currently, Blio supports English, French and Spanish, with Italian, German and Asian-language options to follow.

With its ability to reproduce the color, layout and original fonts as in the print version of a book, Blio brings to life a large selection of books that are not available with E Ink devices. Categories such as children’s books and lifestyle books, encompassing travel guides, cookbooks, and textbooks, finally have an e-reader that can deliver the experience to the reader that was intended by the author.

Blio has a host of functions that make it smart, fun and easy to use. Highlights include:

• Blio mimics a book’s printed format like no other e-reader, with files presented in XPS format, which allows digital books to stay true to their original print version. Blio also supports the more limited ePub-formatted books.
• Blio is powered by the most advanced text-to-speech technology, using the Nuance Vocalizer, which allows readers to download two lifelike voices (“Samantha” and “Tom”) for hands-free use. To facilitate reading and learning, Blio provides unique synchronized highlighting of the words being spoken.
• Blio’s full-media functionality allows users to insert notes into digital pages, highlight sections and even look up references on websites, without leaving their e-book.
• Downloaded Blio titles are stored in a personal virtual library, enabling flexible access to content. This library can be accessed easily from numerous devices, allowing users to begin reading their book on a home PC, then pick up where they left off on a netbook or laptop. Future Blio versions will also support tablets and mobile devices and iOS, Android and Silverlight platforms.

Follow Blio and Baker & Taylor on Twitter at @Blioreader and @BakerandTaylor.

About K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc.

A joint venture between Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind, the principals of K-NFB Reading Technology Inc. (www.knfbreader.com) have propelled reading technology forward for the last 35 years through the invention of omnifont OCR, the flatbed scanner, text-to-speech synthesis, and the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind. K-NFB once again is redefining the boundaries of the printed word with Blio, which promises to set the standard for digital reading. This free application works across platforms and presents books as they were intended — in full color and as laid out by the publisher. K-NFB is headed by CEO Ray Kurzweil, a 30-year innovator and pioneer in assistive technologies. The National Federation of the Blind is the largest, most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States.

About Baker & Taylor

Baker & Taylor Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is a global media distribution company and leading provider of digital media services. Baker & Taylor ensures that its more than 30,000 publishing partners get their materials into readers’ hands in the format and on their device of choice. Baker & Taylor is especially proud to power Blio, the world’s most advanced, flexible and engaging e-reader software application. Based in Charlotte, NC, Baker & Taylor has been in existence for more than 180 years and has developed long-term relationships with major publishers.

Baker & Taylor maintains one of the largest in-stock book inventory in the United States, and services the broadest customer base in the industry. Baker & Taylor is majority-owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan Inc., a leading private equity investment firm. Baker & Taylor and the Baker & Taylor logo are trademarks of Baker & Taylor, Inc. Blio is a trademark of K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. Other company and product names mentioned for identification purposes may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Read the full review here.

But, as of today, September 28, the Blio app is available for Windows. The free e-book reader app features over a million paid and free titles from a plethora of publishers, including Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Penguin Group, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. The books are beautifully displayed in color with the original print-version fonts. Kindle owners who are stuck in a gray E Ink world may be wowed by the vibrant colors and graphics. Blio also includes hyperlinks, photos, and video clips within the content.

Blio allows users to directly insert notes, highlight text, and look up references on the Web without leaving the book. The content you download will go into a personal virtual library that you can access on a number of machines, which means you can start reading a book on your desktop computer at home, and pick up where you left off while you’re sitting at a coffee shop with your laptop.

You can even turn your text into an audio book and have Blio read aloud to you. It supports English, French, and Spanish languages, but there are plans to add Italian, German, and Asian languages later. The app should be available for Android, iOS, and Silverlight platforms shortly.

Quark hopes that making its print and Web-publishing software work simply with Blio — plus the 44,000-publisher network of Baker & Taylor, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based book-distribution giant — will make it a major part of the growing market of electronic books and periodicals.

Blio isn’t restricted to any one e-reader device. It will be free and offer at least 1.3 million titles to consumers for use on a wide range of devices. Quark doesn’t make money directly from the partnership. It hopes Blio becomes popular and creates a demand among publishers for its layout and digital publishing software. […]

Select books can be read aloud using the text-to-speech feature. At Book Place, you can also browse and purchase your favorite titles from our virtual bookshelves — filled with today’s best-sellers, as well as a wide range of cookbooks, travel guides, children’s books, textbooks and much more.

“Wal-Mart is very excited,” Mr. Kurzweil said. (Melissa O’Brien, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said, “We speak to manufacturers and suppliers all the time regarding new products, so as a general rule we simply do not comment on speculation about what may be coming to Wal-Mart or Wal-Mart products until plans are absolute.”) […]

The Blio e-reader official website

Toshiba | The new Toshiba Book Place lets you browse and purchase favorite titles from our virtual bookshelves — filled with today’s bestsellers,  a wide range of cookbooks, travel guides, children’s books, textbooks and more.  Toshiba Book Place will offer a full-color, 3D, interactive reading experience — powered by Blio, the world’s most engaging and innovative e-reading software.

Book Place brings books to life with a variety of unique features, including audio in multiple languages, hyperlinks, note-taking and exporting, and text-to-speech capabilities. 

Click the image to view the Toshiba Book Place Blio reading experience demo.

If Book Place is preloaded on your new Toshiba laptop, a sample of complimentary books is available for you to browse right now. So, stay tuned, you’ll be hooked on this engaging new way to read digital books.  — Toshiba

Be sure to visit the official Toshiba Book Place website here.

Under the hood, Blio uses a number of Microsoft technologies, including Windows Presentation Foundation and the XML Paper Specification (XPS). Kurzweil said his company is also working on a Silverlight version of its software that will provide for Mac support.

Users will be able to register up to five different devices on which they can read their content, although some textbooks will be limited to just three devices to limit piracy. “They are a little worried about some of your generation,” Kurzweil said. […]