[HN Gopher] Thoughts on "E-Readers" (2009)
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Thoughts on "E-Readers" (2009)
Author : ctoth
Score : 26 points
Date : 2021-11-21 20:51 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (news.ycombinator.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (news.ycombinator.com)
| Nition wrote:
| > But MOST importantly the way the user interacts with the
| interface would re-create the ease of use rendered by our
| interaction with print media. This last part, about the user
| interface, is why I believe Apple is best positioned to tackle
| this problem.
|
| > In one year's time we'll see. 2010 should be the year paper
| learns of it's destiny, the year we reach a tipping point on our
| way towards bits from the momentum of atoms.
|
| This is of course a prescient prediction of the iPad. But what it
| also reminded me of is a device that had already been shown
| publicly at the time: The Microsoft Courier.
|
| Microsoft was working on a dual-screen tablet that was
| essentially a notebook in computer form, complete with custom
| OS.[1] In the end it never happened.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmIgNfp-MdI
| donio wrote:
| The post is predicting something with a "hybrid e-ink capable
| of color multimedia" and "melding multi-touch+Pixel Qi Screen".
| We didn't get that in 2010. We got a large iPhone.
| Nition wrote:
| We're _still_ waiting for a good colour e-ink device.
| cyberpunk wrote:
| Are we?
|
| I mean, sure, it would be a cool bit of tech but where does
| it fit? I go through phases with my kindle, but somehow
| even after obtaining one, I've ended up with even more
| hardcover books in my house than I had before and it's
| getting ridiculous (Seriously, there are stacks of books
| everywhere I can see at the moment, I have maybe 800+
| hardbacks around the house...).
|
| I don't really use my Oasis.. A colour one wouldn't add to
| my reading experience really (I like old, heavy, 'foosty'
| books..) and no matter how I try, even reading
| entertainment fiction on a e-reader just isn't the same.. I
| am a fan of these devices though, don't get me wrong...
|
| Would it replace my iPad? No.
|
| Would it replace my kindle oasis? No.
|
| What's it for then?
| jhbadger wrote:
| But I think why this hasn't happened (although there are a few
| color e-ink devices available from Chinese companies) is that
| the B&W e-ink devices like the Kindle handle reading normal
| books just fine. The only cases where color would really be
| needed would be for comic books, art books, and to some extent
| scientific papers with color figures.
| bluescrn wrote:
| Small monochrome e-readers are great for reading pure text,
| e.g fiction.
|
| But they're quite hopeless for textbooks with lots of
| images/diagrams/tables and more complex layout. Zooming and
| scrolling is hopeless on an e-ink screen.
| ctoth wrote:
| I stumbled across this while searching for something unrelated
| and was extremely impressed with the analysis and conclusion.
| Pretty much all of this turned out to be accurate with hindsight.
|
| It's interesting to conceive of the iPad when working up from an
| e-reader model rather than down from a Tablet PC like the classic
| HP Pavilion tx1000.
| scarygliders wrote:
| I still have and still use to this day my trusty Nook Color.
|
| Except technically I turned it into an Android tablet. I rooted
| it and overwrote the firmware with CyanogenMod v
| 11-20140403-NIGHTLY-encore
|
| Of course that's very heavily out of date now. But it does what I
| want it to do - that is, read books. I just get lots of epubs and
| feed them to Moon Reader and read away.
|
| Boy it's slow though with an Armv7 CPU with 500MB of memory. But
| who needs fast when all I use it for is reading one static page
| of text at a time?
|
| Frankly, I'm astounded it has lasted this long - I'm especially
| surprised at the battery not having given up the ghost yet. I can
| get enough reading time to last say 4 or 5 hours in one go, but
| usually get drowsy enough to get to sleep well before that.
|
| I'm waiting for the battery to finally give in - then begins the
| search for a replacement battery. In fact, the battery has
| outlasted the Nook Color charging cable, which frayed at the
| interface between the cable and one end. So I use a normal USB
| cable to charge it - which means slow charging.
|
| A while back I looked into perhaps trying to update the version
| of Android on it - but by now most if not all of the Nook Color
| hacking sites have gone the way of the Dodo :)
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