SELECTING AND PRESENTING ITEMS OF CONTENT BASED ON ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETE

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computing system to perform a method comprising:

displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) element on a display screen of the computing system; and

in response to the GUI element being selected by a user:

accessing a plurality of different items of content, the items having associated therewith duration values that indicate a length of time for each item of the items of content; and

displaying, on the display screen, information identifying at least a subset of the items of content, the subset selected according to the duration values.

2 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the computing system comprises an electronic book (e-book) reader and each of the items of content comprises at least a portion of e-book content that is displayable on the display screen.

3 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises:

determining an amount of time that is available for reading from the user; and

selecting the subset based on a comparison between the duration values and the amount of time that is available.

4 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 3 wherein said determining comprises receiving an input from the user indicating the amount of time that is available.

5 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 3 wherein said determining comprises accessing schedule information associated with the user to automatically determine the amount of time that is available.

6 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises:

accessing information that indicates a rate at which content is read; and

using the rate to determine the duration values.

7 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein the rate is a function of type of content.

8 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises organizing the information displayed on the display screen according to the duration values.

9 . A system comprising:

a processor;

a display coupled to the processor; and

memory coupled to the processor, the memory have stored therein instructions that, if executed by the system, cause the system to execute operations comprising:

displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) element on the display screen; and

in response to the GUI element being selected by a user:

accessing information about a plurality of different items of content stored in the memory, the information comprising duration values that indicate a length of time for each item of the items of content; and

displaying, on the display screen, information about at least a subset of the items of content, the subset selected according to the duration values.

10 . The system of claim 9 , comprising an electronic book (e-book) reader, wherein each of the items of content comprises at least a portion of e-book content that is displayable on the display screen.

11 . The system of claim 9 wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an amount of time that is available for reading from the user; and

selecting the subset based on a comparison between the duration values and the amount of time that is available.

12 . The system of claim 11 wherein said determining comprises receiving an input from the user indicating the amount of time that is available.

13 . The system of claim 11 wherein said determining comprises accessing schedule information stored in the memory to automatically determine the amount of time that is available.

14 . The system of claim 9 wherein the operations further comprise:

accessing information that indicates rates at which content is read; and

determining the duration values using the rates.

15 . The system of claim 14 wherein the rates are a function of type of content.

16 . The system of claim 9 wherein the operations further comprise organizing the information about the subset that is displayed on the display screen according to the duration values.

17 . A method comprising:

sensing that a user has selected a graphical user interface (GUI) element that is displayed on a touchscreen of a electronic book (e-book) reader;

in response to said sensing, accessing a plurality of different items of content stored on the e-book reader, the items having associated therewith duration values that associate a length of time for each item of the items of content, the duration values corresponding to an estimate of a measure of time needed to read remaining portions of the items of content;

displaying, on the touchscreen, information identifying at least a subset of the items of content, the subset selected according to the duration values; and

organizing the information displayed on the display screen according to the duration values.

18 . The method of claim 17 further comprising:

determining an amount of time that is available for reading from the user; and

selecting the subset based on a comparison between the duration values and the amount of time that is available.

19 . The method of claim 18 wherein said determining comprises receiving an input from the user indicating the amount of time that is available.

20 . The method of claim 18 wherein said determining comprises accessing schedule information associated with the user to automatically determine the amount of time that is available.