TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘XO-1 and X0-2’ Category

By Chris Meadows

We’re all aware by now of how the OLPC never quite managed to reach its goal of a $100 laptop—though it claims it will do better next time around.

However, Slashdot reports that a Chinese company, HiVision, has managed to create a UMPC laptop that currently sells for $120, and that using what they have learned from creating this one, they will definitely be able to get the next one down to $98 (available at the end of October).

According to TechVideoBlog, HiVision’s laptop features "a new cheaper MIPS based processor, WiFi, 1GB flash storage, it runs Linux, has 3 USB ports, Ethernet, SDHC card reader, audio in and out, voice-chat, skype, multi-tabbed Firefox browser support and Abiword for word processing." TechVideoBlog also has an 18-minute 720P 393-megabyte video of the PC being shown off at a trade show. A lower-resolution version has been uploaded to YouTube.

The laptop is certainly a cute little thing, not that much larger than a Kindle, and it looks easy enough to use—and being Linux, it would presumably run FBReader easily enough. But unlike the XO, it does not appear to have a tablet mode, so might be a bit unwieldy for light e-reading.

Still, if a full-fledged laptop can be built at this price, surely a tablet can as well. It is only a matter of time.

By David Rothman

The scuttlebutt is that the Dell will launch the Dell E mini notebook on Tuesday. So says the Eee PC blog.

Supposedly the low-end Inspiron model will go for $299. As written up by Liliputing earlier this year, the new Dell minis will offer these specs:

• 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU
• Intel 945 Express/GMA950 graphics
• 1GB RAM
• 8.9 inch 1240 x 600 pixel display
• 8GB SSD [Elsewhere I've read 4GB]
• Windows XP or Linux [Might be just Linux]
• 3 USB ports
• 802.11b/g
• Ethernet
• 32 Wh battery
• Card reader
• Black, white and red colors

So what do you think of the 1240 x 600 pixel display? At first glance it would seem to be rather competitive with specs for the OLPC XO-1 machine with the backlight in use. But as you can see from Wikipedia’s XO-1 writeup, all kinds of variables enter the picture.

When I did own an XO-1, I tended to use the backlight. The contrast in the nonbacklight mode wasn’t sufficient for me, at least when the XO-1 was used inside. But with the backlight the viewing was indeed a treat. Can’t wait to see what the Dell looks like with FBReader.

Also of interest is that the linux version of the Dell E is "instant on." My XO-1 took a minute or so to boot up.

By David Rothman

An old elementary school classmate vanished from sight or at least mine. He was seriously rumored to be working for a local employer known as Central Intelligence Agency. X’s father was a diplomat, often the cover job for CIA spies.

So a few decades later, I eagerly downloaded My Father the Spy from the Washington, D.C., public library, along with eight other promising titles in digital format. Author John H. Richardson’s father had in fact spent part of his career passing himself off as a Foreign Service officer. Makes you wonder about my elementary school friend. If X’s father had spied, did my friend have to lie to keep up the cover story? And if X ended up himself at the CIA—I emphasize the ifs in both cases—was the family connection the main reason? I won’t make pro- or anti-CIA arguments here; I’m just telling why this book meant something to me.

The real story here: E-books, not the CIA

In fact, the real story here isn’t the CIA, but the glories of e-books for old and young alike, and what made my nine-title binge possible. Two of S.R. Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science are that "every reader" has his or her book and "every book" has its reader. Thanks to the Net and e-book technology, I could connect with a title that was just right for me as I was browsing through the D.C. system’s collection of biographies in electronic format.

"Right book" is at the core of the evolving TeleRead vision discussed in an earlier form in chapter 19 of Scholarly Publishing: The Electronic Frontier, an MIT Press/ASIS information science collection. I’m arguing for well-stocked national digital library systems in the States and elsewhere, tightly integrated with local schools and libraries. The issue of "right" is crucial in persuading young, e-distracted people to read books.

The youth literacy angle

In a somewhat related vein, the New York Times yesterday ran a picture of a family in Ohio. The parents were reading off paper; the kids, off laptops. Motoko Rich’s accompanying story told how many young people favor Web sites over books. The headline was apt: Literary debate: Online, R U really reading? Maybe the right books in e-format would help. Of course, as Wikipedia shows, books can be Web sites and vice versa. Still, that’s no substitute for professional editing and for linear narratives, which can help students learn to make sense of the world.

I love blogs and general Web surfing, and of course the real cosmos is chaotic, but to be able to puzzle out the chaos, it helps to read the past attempts of others. That is what well-wrought narratives can do, with benefits in both school and the workplace, whether the latter is an insurance company or, to use old Washington slang, The Company. Or maybe even the Oval Office?

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By David Rothman

I’ve been personally trying out Stanza, Zach’s Bedell’s BookShelf, eReader and BookZ on the iPod Touch—my cheapie iPhone substitute.

So far, in usability, Stanza seems the winner by far even though I may change my mind. Stanza apparently allows the greatest choice of fonts. Also, it changes pages nicely and is iPod-easy to use with Feedbooks’ offerings. And of course, Stanza can read ePub, the new IDPF standard.

Too bad Stanza won’t work with DRM-infested books. Here’s one more reason for the industry to ditch "protection," which makes it harder for newcomers like Lexcyle, Stanza’s developers, to enter the fray.

Even established players could benefit from the competition. The higher the bar for app developers—on e-book matters that really count, such as interface design—then the faster e-books will catch on.

No boldface apparent in iPhone e-book apps, groan

Later today or tomorrow I may share a few other impressions of e-reading software for the iPhone/Touch.

But here’s one more gripe, right off the bat. Why don’t any of the iPhone/Touch e-book apps have a readily apparently way to use boldface? Even on LCD screens, not just E Ink displays, I like bold. At least Stanza offers a nice heavy version of Helvetica.

Hello, Mobipocket. When you finally release your port over to the iPhone, please don’t discard your bolding capability. It’s no small detail for those of us who care about it, especially on a small screen. I hope Steve Pendergrast at Fictionwise will also listen. I know that the current eReader for the iPhone is just the start, and it’ll be great if you can assure us that boldface is on the way. Almost surely, right? You’ve promised to replicate the existing features for other platforms.

On the way, too: My reply to Pan Macmillan e-booker’s thoughtful comments

Also coming today in the TeleBlog will be my thoughts on Sara Lloyd’s helpful response to my complaints about the book industry not taking full advantage of the iPhone craze.

You’ll notice she also raised some issues about Fictionwise’s terms in dealing with publishers (Steve, any comments on that?).

Sara works for Pan Macmillan and is one of the most open-minded executives in book publishing, on either side of the Atlantic. In her note she even tells how she’s tried to educate publishers and agents on the advantages of a DRMless approach.

I hope TeleBloggers will pay close attention to her comments. (Detail for etiquette-minded Brits: I’m using first-name informality just as a blogging convention. No disrespect intended.)

My One Laptop per Child sacrilege

Meanwhile, as I threatened, I committed sacrilege and sold my One Laptop Per Child laptop, which will be finding a happy home with a book designer/grandma whom I’ll help get going with FBReader.

I’ve already loaded up nine classics for her so she won’t have to bother at first with downloading.

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By David Rothman

Whether the issue is e-reading software or general ease of use by kids who aren’t future hackers, One Laptop Per Child needs to shape up.

Here’s a snippet from a new BusinessWeekly article, mentioning a Peruvian student: "His teacher had told the class to search the Internet for information on the environment, but the boy was stumped. ‘I was trying, but I couldn’t find anything,’ he explained. He seemed to think the Net was something contained within the machine."

Needed: Less worry about turning kids into Papert IIs

I’m pro-OLPC but wish the group could connect better with nonhackers and nonacademics. A smart civilian I know has given up on the machine for e-reading—a problem that the right e-reading software would have solved.

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