Comments on: Paperback-sized mini-netbooks by end of year? E-book possibilities? http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/02/paperback-sized-mini-netbooks-by-end-of-year-e-book-possibilities/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:01:59 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Carol A http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/02/paperback-sized-mini-netbooks-by-end-of-year-e-book-possibilities/comment-page-1/#comment-1031209 Carol A Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:37:58 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/02/paperback-sized-mini-netbooks-by-end-of-year-e-book-possibilities/#comment-1031209 My husband's new Blackberry has an app. for reading PDF files in very clear print and touch scrolling. It obviously cost more than $100 but it does a lot of other things as well! There is really no reason why a small netbook device can't be built now - the technology exists. Microsoft unfortunately have a track record of not quite "getting it" with devices - Zune vs Ipod - oh come now! And that is only one of a long list of excusions into the deadends of technology. Stick to software, guys! I just hope these new devices come out soon - before I start to look like Arnie from hefting around all my books! My husband’s new Blackberry has an app. for reading PDF files in very clear print and touch scrolling. It obviously cost more than $100 but it does a lot of other things as well! There is really no reason why a small netbook device can’t be built now – the technology exists. Microsoft unfortunately have a track record of not quite “getting it” with devices – Zune vs Ipod – oh come now! And that is only one of a long list of excusions into the deadends of technology. Stick to software, guys!
I just hope these new devices come out soon – before I start to look like Arnie from hefting around all my books!

]]> By: RC http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/02/paperback-sized-mini-netbooks-by-end-of-year-e-book-possibilities/comment-page-1/#comment-1031192 RC Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:04:23 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/02/paperback-sized-mini-netbooks-by-end-of-year-e-book-possibilities/#comment-1031192 Dirt-cheap netbooks arrive just in time for the broad reduction likely to be seen in the US standard of living. Not a bad thing, this trend. Particularly if you're green, practical and anti-waste. But $50 or $99 netbooks represent much more than the tech evolution as portrayed in the Times; they're at least as much about adapting to post-bubble economic realities. Analysts fretting that Intel and Microsoft (not to mention Apple) will be hurt by cheaper hardware are missing the forest for the trees. Even if it hasn't shown it yet, e-publishing is well-placed to respond to recessions and shifts in affluence. It's a lot easier to lower the price of a digital book than it is to tell a brick-and-mortar shop to slash prices on costly inventory. Dirt-cheap netbooks arrive just in time for the broad reduction likely to be seen in the US standard of living.

Not a bad thing, this trend. Particularly if you’re green, practical and anti-waste. But $50 or $99 netbooks represent much more than the tech evolution as portrayed in the Times; they’re at least as much about adapting to post-bubble economic realities. Analysts fretting that Intel and Microsoft (not to mention Apple) will be hurt by cheaper hardware are missing the forest for the trees.

Even if it hasn’t shown it yet, e-publishing is well-placed to respond to recessions and shifts in affluence. It’s a lot easier to lower the price of a digital book than it is to tell a brick-and-mortar shop to slash prices on costly inventory.

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