Comments on: OLPC innovator wants to market a screen “just for reading” within two years

By: Bill Janssen

Bill Janssen — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:29:31 +0000

Mr. Frost, pond: Check out this review by Malcolm Gladwell of Sellen and Harper’s The Myth of the Paperless Office. Then go read the book .

By: pond

pond — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:28:51 +0000

Another reason to print out a document: vast multiplication of screens at ridiculously cheap price.

That is, I can print a book, and then lay pages 456, 120, 23, 78, and 384 alongside one another for comparison. That’s 5 full-resolution ’screens’ all ‘online’ before me at once.

I can easily double or triple that and still retain all 15 ’screens’ in my field of vision, either lying on the floor or tacked on the wall.

I do applaud Pixel Qi, and have only one word for them: Hurry up! With the global economy shrinking, very few people will be able to scrape up $400 for an ebook device. Get it under $100, with a bigger, higher-resolution screen than either the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle now offer, and the whole ebook revolution becomes more feasible.

By: Gary Frost

Gary Frost — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:52:58 +0000

“The number-one reason why people print a page is resolution, and the number-two reason is that they don’t want to stare into a flashlight.”

The number one reason that people print is to grasp the content, the number two is to manipulate the navigation. These are subtle haptic prerequisites of primate neurology. So, in terms of bionic readers, the print document is actually a fulfillment of digital technologies. If you augment print access with screen based indexing and searching you could argue that the print document is the fulfillment.

By: Digital Documents

Digital Documents — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:22:58 +0000

I think the proof will be in the pudding. In my opinion someone is going to have to come up with some pretty compelling e-paper, before the mainstream will make the switch. That will include reducing light-emitting displays, being able to view/read outside, being able to drop it, etc.

I think the evidence is in the low adoption of electronic readers among the general public.

By: Bill Janssen

Bill Janssen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:53:51 +0000

“You don’t want to stare into a flashlight.” Well, of course, it’s boring. But what she means is, light-emitting displays are something people don’t want to look at. I’ve heard this from other folks working on reflective displays like E-Ink, but I’ve never seen any medical or psychological evidence to support it. People love to look at TV, at fires. Until I see evidence, this is a myth.

By: Digital Documents

Digital Documents — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:40:51 +0000

That’s encouraging to hear. It won’t be until issues like genuine readability of screens have been resolved that electronic readers will gain prominence. Things like being able to see the screen in daylight, as well as you could see a piece of paper, are crucial.