unheard of!
― s1ocki, Monday, 19 November 2007 22:26 (sixteen years ago) link
I know that link to the Newsweek cover already mentioned it, but wtf... this failed miserably a decade ago.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 19 November 2007 22:43 (sixteen years ago) link
This looks... less than usable. Sigh.
― Casuistry, Monday, 19 November 2007 23:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Shockingly ugly - and way too expensive to boot. The only way something like this could possibly take off is if it was free, maybe with some kind of reasonable subscription package - say, "twenty dollars a month for five books & we will throw in this ugly clunky device for FREE."
― Jeff LeVine, Monday, 19 November 2007 23:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I could definitely see this coming in handy--there are many occasions when I'll be working on something and I need a certain book; it would be awesome to be able to get it right away. But I'm not gonna pay four hundred dollars for it. I mean, it's a book! I'll just go out and buy it if I really need it.
― G00blar, Monday, 19 November 2007 23:51 (sixteen years ago) link
But I'm not gonna pay four hundred dollars for it. I mean, it's a book! I'll just go out and buy it if I really need it.
-- G00blar, Monday, November 19, 2007 11:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link
I don't think their initial target market is ILX. I'm sure if I'll ever take a business trip again I'll see some guys with these on the plane.
― calstars, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 01:05 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.smallsurfaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/segway.jpg
― omar little, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 01:09 (sixteen years ago) link
I saw somebody recently using one of those professionally recently, in an airport or a big store, I think.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 19:23 (sixteen years ago) link
nice to see the whole internet thinks this kindle thing sucks :D
― DG, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 20:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah - everyone who hasn't actually used one.
― schwantz, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 20:54 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^ he made it, kids
― DG, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 20:55 (sixteen years ago) link
(which I mentioned at the top of the thread)
― schwantz, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 20:56 (sixteen years ago) link
what, you want a medal?
― DG, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 20:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Sheesh. Jerk.
― schwantz, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 20:59 (sixteen years ago) link
sorry :( i guess you don't need any more hassle :(
― DG, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 21:10 (sixteen years ago) link
wow what a dick!
― jeff, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 21:12 (sixteen years ago) link
that's what all my ladies say
― DG, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 21:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd love to talk about cool lesser-known features and correct some assumptions and misconceptions about the device, but we've been specifically instructed not to do so. So for now, I'll just let it go... Sorry about the jerk comment...
― schwantz, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 21:23 (sixteen years ago) link
The quotes in The Guardian article are kind of funny...
Amazon's chief executive Jeff Bezos... "Books have stubbornly resisted digitisation. I think there's a very good reason for that, and that is the book is so highly evolved and so suited to its task that it's very hard to displace."
Philip Makinson, of Greenwich Consulting... "Do not get me wrong, it's a very nice bit of kit but what need is it fulfilling? Books are quite portable, cheap and universally available already."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/20/amazon.news?gusrc=rss&feed=10
― Jeff LeVine, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Why the fuck would anyone pay £195 for this? Reading it is never going to be as comfortable an experience as reading a book, so much isn't going to be easily or legally available and, y'know, it costs more than an iPod and not much less than an iPhone on contract. Not saying they do the same thing, but yeah, perspective.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:47 (sixteen years ago) link
i feel sorry for that schwantz guy now :(
― DG, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:48 (sixteen years ago) link
only possible appeal of this (or any equivalent) is not having to lift boxes and boxes of books when moving.
― Jordan, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:51 (sixteen years ago) link
but when i fall asleep reading and the book inevitably falls off/behind the bed, i would be pretty mad if that book cost $200
I'd love to get one but the $400 is pretty steep.
― calstars, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:54 (sixteen years ago) link
I thought last night about all the Library of America editions I could line a shelf with using the same $400.
― calstars, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:55 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd rather add another $100 and get every Dalkey Archive book ever.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:56 (sixteen years ago) link
only possible appeal of this (or any equivalent) is not having to lift boxes and boxes of books when moving I'm paying my movers way less than this costs.
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-reading
― stet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh, I guess you only get 100 books from them for that price nowadays.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 22:59 (sixteen years ago) link
i would miss different-sized books and cover art and the like
― omar little, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 23:01 (sixteen years ago) link
It's interesting - my co-worker and I both worked at ReplayTV together back at the beginning of the PVR, and he pointed out how similar the two products are in some ways:
Both products are/were not available in retail stores, so nobody could really try them out before buying.
Both products were greeted with similar "why would I need this?" reactions from many people. For ReplayTV, he remembered how people said stuff like "I already HAVE a VCR that I never use - why would I want this thing?"
And on the good side, most people who used ReplayTV (or TiVo, or other PVR) for a while couldn't imagine life without one after using it.
Time will tell if the Kindle has a similar effect on customers (and, to be fair, ReplayTV did not end up being very successful, although the PVR has become almost ubiquitous), but it faces some of the same challenges.
― schwantz, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 04:20 (sixteen years ago) link
schwantz, did you work at lab126 in the a9 office on hamilton? i was there for a while. congrats on the launch.
― Colin M. Saunders, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 05:50 (sixteen years ago) link
so every book ever is available for this thing ?
I'm still a bit underawed by the grey lcd looking screen, is it even back lit?
― Ste, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 09:58 (sixteen years ago) link
this is a pda with less functionality
― ken c, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 11:39 (sixteen years ago) link
it looks nasty, and it sounds like a disaster from the planning 'how do we DRM it' PoV
― Alan, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 11:43 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't think the reaction has been so much "why would I need this" but "I'd like this, but not a DRM-crippled $10-a-pop no-hyphenating 1980s-looking one". Sorry to rag on yr work though, congrats on shipping.
― stet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 11:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Kindle Availability Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Because we ship Kindles on a first-come, first-served basis, please ORDER NOW to reserve your place in line. See availability messaging above for estimated in-stock date.
― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 12:13 (sixteen years ago) link
ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW
(much as i like Caecila)
― Alan, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 12:23 (sixteen years ago) link
Caecilia
It's electronic paper! No backlight necessary.
― ledge, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 12:25 (sixteen years ago) link
(regardless of the look and functionality of the rest of the device I think that's a huge UI win)
― ledge, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 12:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Anyone who compares to the iPod is a retard.
When iPods came out, you could immediately fill them with content you'd already purchased or stolen. With Kindle, I have to...re-buy all my books if I want to read them on the kindle? That's a massive barrier to entry given the cost of a Kindle.
The Kindle is beyond ugly. I want something more cuddly to take to bed or the shitter when I read. And I want color. If having paper-like display screens is so great, then why don't we have them on our computers?
I'm waiting for tablet Mac.
― Dandy Don Weiner, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 12:32 (sixteen years ago) link
If having paper-like display screens is so great, then why don't we have them on our computers?
New technology, black and white only... so far. But it'll happen.
― ledge, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 12:34 (sixteen years ago) link
i'd quite like to see this screen to see how it's different.. is it just thinner?
― ken c, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 12:38 (sixteen years ago) link
I've seen a Motorola F3, and it did make me go "woah!". I thought it was a fake at first, the screen looked just like some paper or card that someone had drawn on. That only has a 7-segment type display, don't know what the resolution on the Kindle is like.
― ledge, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 12:45 (sixteen years ago) link
the e-paper on the kindle will be fine. i've seen other hardware with the same and it's nice. will be good for novels and a lot of straight text books. the stuff around it (hardware feel, 'product model') on the kindle seems like a giant fail though.
― Alan, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 13:02 (sixteen years ago) link
ledge, that was my phone up until about a week ago. It was pretty groovy, although text messaging got to be a pain.
― Ste, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 13:16 (sixteen years ago) link
One last shill post: Computerworld article
― schwantz, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 20:57 (sixteen years ago) link
Can I just say that the frickin' name is possibly the goofiest thing about this?
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 21:08 (sixteen years ago) link
otm. I keep thiking there is something related to this guy http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/fugitivethe/fugitiveIMAGE/fugitivethe.jpg
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 21:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Crosspost with backward steps I guess but it’s bananas that you can find the kindle edition of a book in the Amazon app & it says “This app does not support purchasing. Books purchased through Amazon are available in the kindle app.” & the kindle app itself has the same message. My gut response is always fuck you then, if I’m doing any extra steps it’ll be to get it on l1bg3n
― subpost master (wins), Saturday, 13 April 2024 14:13 (one month ago) link
I was happy to find that Zlibrary is still going, though I had to install Tor to access it. Probably the closest I've ever got to using "dark web"!
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Saturday, 13 April 2024 14:41 (one month ago) link
Wins I think it’s because Amazon doesn’t want Apple to take a cut of every book purchase, so you have to use the Amazon website to buy ebooks.
― Slorg is not on the Slerf Team, you idiot, you moron (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:22 (one month ago) link
Confirming my gut response tbh, if the two omnipresent dystopian tech giants can’t come to slight compromise in the name of usability fuck em
― subpost master (wins), Saturday, 13 April 2024 18:05 (one month ago) link
it's the payments thing, but also that apple has their own competing book store
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Monday, 15 April 2024 14:23 (one month ago) link
new Kobos
updated waterproof clara with bluetooth audio and dark mode (same price iirc)https://uk.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders/products/kobo-clara-bw
also with colour eink (20 quid more)https://uk.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders/products/kobo-clara-colour
both with recycled plastic covers
― koogs, Saturday, 27 April 2024 17:50 (three weeks ago) link
in other news, the biography of thomas hardy i am currently reading has a thing where none of the words ending in "x" have the following space. "Sixmen", "Foxand", "boxand"...
― koogs, Saturday, 27 April 2024 17:54 (three weeks ago) link
annas-archive.org is still going - tor unnecessary
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 29 April 2024 00:08 (three weeks ago) link
got fed up of the lack of covers on penguin classics - sometimes they don't include them, if they do they are the wrong shape for my 3:4 ereader. so wrote something that'll let me generate them using a 600x600 image and mocking the rest. and it lets me do crap like this
http://www.koogy.clara.co.uk/feersum.jpg
― koogs, Wednesday, 8 May 2024 19:54 (two weeks ago) link
(there are other generators out there if you search, that's where i got the font details from, but they maintain the aspect ratio and that's exactly what i needed to change)
― koogs, Wednesday, 8 May 2024 19:56 (two weeks ago) link
zlib doesn't need Tor anymore, apart from a few books that have had requests to be removed, which are now only on tor
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 9 May 2024 09:09 (two weeks ago) link
xp image opens in flagging, doesn't show for me on the web for some reason. anyway, nice :)
― ledge, Thursday, 9 May 2024 12:44 (two weeks ago) link
(it's linked from my personal webspace rather than, say, imgur. i do worry about that image being downloaded everytime someone views this page, but hey, it's what web servers are for)
― koogs, Thursday, 9 May 2024 13:38 (two weeks ago) link
that’s awesome, koogs
― brimstead, Thursday, 9 May 2024 13:41 (two weeks ago) link
Has anyone tried the Boox Palma some people are now raving about? The phone format is both tempting and worrying
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 9 May 2024 14:36 (two weeks ago) link
https://shop.boox.com/products/palma
um, in two minds about that. it looks ok of itself, but it's an even worse aspect ratio (imo) than the kobo (which is a touch shorter than a book). it's also twice what i'd want to pay (probably because of a pointless camera and microphone)
824 x 1648 (300ppi, 1:2) palmavs1072 x 1448 (300ppi, 6:8) clara
― koogs, Thursday, 9 May 2024 14:53 (two weeks ago) link
Why not just make an actual e-ink phone if you're going to do that?
― silverfish, Thursday, 9 May 2024 15:07 (two weeks ago) link
i'd love to see the super refresh (you can watch videos on it!) but yeah not sure what market / purpose they're going for, it's obviously way overspecced (and small) for an ereader.
― ledge, Thursday, 9 May 2024 15:09 (two weeks ago) link
they quote a bigger diagonal screen size than the clara but that aspect ratio skews things
― koogs, Thursday, 9 May 2024 15:17 (two weeks ago) link
I could see the appeal of an e-ink phone (especially if it means that the battery life is significantly longer, not sure about that though).
I feel like somebody who wants something more portable to do their reading is just going to use their actual phone rather than carry around two similarly sized devices even if the phone screen isn't quite as good for reading as e-ink is.
xxp to myself
― silverfish, Thursday, 9 May 2024 15:19 (two weeks ago) link
Might be worth watching this video on an e-ink monitor before committing to the phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZXrJRpA0Jw
― Overtoun House windows (aldo), Friday, 10 May 2024 07:53 (one week ago) link
As a fortysomething with increasingly iffy vision, I don't find e-ink noticeably better than reading on my phone - my Kindle still looks a bit sparkly and overly-contrasty, even though it's noticeably better than a phone on a sunny day. But my impression is that the resolution/DPI of the text itself is still pretty poor even on the most recent e-ink readers.
Chief benefits of the Kindle for me are:-- Reading big Victorian novels is a bit easier on my back than carrying a big Victorian novel-- Every non-reading experience on the Kindle is bad, which keeps me focused on reading-- Useful on holidays and stops me packing 8 books in a suitcase
But I don't find the letter-and-sentence-reading experience itself any better
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 10 May 2024 10:09 (one week ago) link
plus:-- you can fall asleep whilst reading without creasing pages / facial papercuts-- backlight means you don't need the main bedroom light on / can read between bands-- ebooks are cheaper / free
minus:-- ocr errors-- amazon drm / hegemony
― koogs, Friday, 10 May 2024 13:26 (one week ago) link
plus:-- choice of fonts (serif for victorian novels, sans for sci fi) / text size
-- Every non-reading experience on the Kindle is bad, which keeps me focused on reading
Btw, this would basically be the main positive of an e-ink phone. Much like the reason why I am sometimes tempted to just buy a flip phone it would prevent me from wasting time doing dumb shit.
― silverfish, Friday, 10 May 2024 13:41 (one week ago) link