Live data from Hacker News

The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

sixcolors.com

91–100 of 170 posts

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#91
post #87
post #77

That's the problem with many proprietary consumer devices (take the iPad into this category as well). 1. Vendor lock: You can't install or change most of the things including OS and Apps. 2. Locked down OS: You can't do anything with your device. If you try to change the OS you'll maybe brick it. 3. Planned obsolescence built in: If the vendor decides it's "time to say goodbye" you won't get updates anymore and proba…

I'm with you on the disappointment. Devices like remarkable and onyx book do give me hope that we might be going somewhere (finally). I remember there was a company that sold laptops with hybrid screens - that could do e-ink when used outside - but I think the screen manufacturer folded. Good color would be nice - but it doesn't look like anything will beat oled in that department for the forseeable future. If the re…

I'd just like to be able to write apps for the remarkable. Even a free one.

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#93

Does anyone have experience with eink "tablets" running android? Onyx, Boyue/Lifebook or similar? Wondering how usable they are for browsing the web or reading Pocket or larger Pdfs?

Technology Connections has great videos on this subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NfX0vlCa4k

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#94
post #88
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rename it png and email it.

Seriously? I can't tell if this is a joke or not. But you do bring up an interesting point - I'd forgotten about ingestion via email. Worst case I suppose one might construct a pipeline that does conversion from epub to mobi and emails the result. Is there a limit to the size of the library I wonder?

You can send epub to your send to kindle email address with the word “convert” in the subject line and it’ll transform it into a mobi... as far as I know..

Edit: apparently you need to change the extension to .zip for it to work shrug

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A kindle oasis is already 300ppi, how much higher res do you want? And if you want larger for example a boox max 3 is 13.3 inch, "only" 2260 x 1650 for 200ppi though.

400 ppi :-)

Hm, supposedly even 600 ppi is coming:

https://goodereader.com/blog/e-paper/will-we-see-500-or-600-...

I guess this makes more of a difference for japanese characters or I just don't know yet what I am missing :-)

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#96
post #88
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rename it png and email it.

Seriously? I can't tell if this is a joke or not. But you do bring up an interesting point - I'd forgotten about ingestion via email. Worst case I suppose one might construct a pipeline that does conversion from epub to mobi and emails the result. Is there a limit to the size of the library I wonder?

It works, you can also use the Send to Kindle app (which is barebones but gets the job done).

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#98
post #77

That's the problem with many proprietary consumer devices (take the iPad into this category as well). 1. Vendor lock: You can't install or change most of the things including OS and Apps. 2. Locked down OS: You can't do anything with your device. If you try to change the OS you'll maybe brick it. 3. Planned obsolescence built in: If the vendor decides it's "time to say goodbye" you won't get updates anymore and proba…

To me Amazon has managed to innovate and outcompete. When reaching a quasi monopoly it all stopped and now it feels like being stuck with the worst parts of capitalism and socialism. Innovation can only take place from within the mega structure, according to its centrally planned corporate logic. If I could, I would take my books and leave. For that to happen they need to embrace open formats.

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big displays are spendy, but small ones aren't so bad[1]. They would be good for a sensor readout or something, at least? 1: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1028

Thanks for this. Looks like a good excuse for playing with hardware finally for me. Had a chuckle at the garish nails on the model of this one: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4243

"Weaponizing and Gamifying AI for WiFi Hacking: Presenting Pwnagotchi 1.0.0" [1] is the one I am currently building. Waiting for my Waveshare 2.13" monochrome v2 and UPS lite 1.1. Make sure you get v2, as it has a far better refresh capability (less artifacts) than v1.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21301467

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#100
post #5

I'm more of a fan of the Nook and Kobo series (ability to sideload DRM-less ePubs is non-negotiable). But I like the less-is-more approach for e-readers; if anything, I'd prefer they had even more spartan/minimalist UIs, mimicking the "zero UI" affordances of a physical book as much as possible. I'm just being finicky, but I still find the e-ink screen flash a little distracting from the flow of reading (even in newe…

So instead of a 5ms flash, you have to take 0.5s turn the device around? And have one more sensitive surface to care about?

Personally I used to find the flash bothering at first, but now I actually set mine to full-refresh on every page change to totally avoid burn-in. It's not a worse distraction than physically turning a book page.

Post reply on HN