E-ink writer, please?
September 29th, 2008 | Published in Books & Reading, Technology, Writing | 15 Comments
I want an e-ink writer. I want it to have a large screen, like Plastic Logic’s E-Ink Reader (shown to the right). But it needs to have a on-screen keyboard with some kind of tactile feedback — I’d be happy with a laminate overlay until they get that technology worked out. And of course it must have a full-featured word processor, as well as the ability to create and edit blog posts.
Most of all, I want to write on something that doesn’t give me a headache. Who wants to stare at a backlit display for reading or writing?
The technology exists for this, but it hasn’t been created yet.
I’m waiting.
October 11th, 2008 at 5:29 pm (#)
Me too.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:14 pm (#)
Me too!
A simple machine like the AlphaSmart Neo but with a bigger E-Ink display. And a keyboard like the new Apple aluminium ones which are amazingly thin and with great tactile feedback.
I’ve been dreaming of this for so long …
One problem could be the power: When it comes to E-Ink devices they do not count battery life in hours like normally but in pages. Because only when a page gets generated energy is needed.
That’s very simple and works great for reading because you read page by page. But what happens when you write – will every single character force a re-generation of the whole page? Or just the page from the point you’re writing? (This could mean you get tips like ‘When the battery is low do not edit in the upper part of a page because that would drain to much energy’?)
Whatever – E-Ink is the technology of the future. This is what we have been told for years now. Time that it comes true. Staring right into a light source – like a display backlight – is not healthy.
Like the head of a bigger publisher recently said, looking disgusted at Amazon’s Kindle: ‘This will not become really popular until Apple produces one of these things.’
So, Jony Ivey please. PLEASE!
November 7th, 2008 at 12:34 am (#)
You can write your annotations on the kindle and type in terms for searching. So it seems like the technology is available. I mean if the only thing this device was used for is word processing without the pain in the eyes, then I would consider it a technological leap forward.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:37 am (#)
I actually owned a cell phoned that used this technology when I was travelling abroad so I’m pretty sure the screen refreshing issue isn’t that much of a problem since it was just as interactive as a normal cellular phone screen–though slightly limited.
November 29th, 2008 at 11:31 pm (#)
You said it, man. I would truly love to be able to read and write on one device that does not flicker or glow. And not just write–as I can with pen and paper or a typewriter–but edit as well.
This summer I began to feel just how bad the flickering (refreshing) lcd screen of my laptop was hurting my eyes, scattering my attention, and actually disturbing my emotions. This has got to be affecting the quality of writing that now nearly universally occurs on the jittery screens of word processors.
The trick, of course, is to have a quick response from the screen. While the IRex Iliad is keyboard compatible and has a word processor (and browser and email program, amazingly), its display is still quite slow. The new Sony PRS-700 already has the software capabilities to be written with since it has a touchscreen (which would aid editing). Also, it has a quickly refreshing screen. It just needs a driver for a folding usb keyboard (my favorite so far is
http://tabletkiosk.com/tkstore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=24&idproduct=165)
As a designer, I’ve always been like a canary in a coalmine, feeling things harshly that others seem not to notice. This is why I believe e-ink is the most important technological breakthrough since the PC. Writers without an unconscious, device-induced attention deficit disorder could more easily produce healthy ideas for the world.
E-ink at least offers the ability to read without being disturbed by the screen. As more readers become writers, this same serene quality of e-ink will be required of devices used for writing. Which company (or shareware author…) will get all the important pieces together first?
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:17 pm (#)
OMG Yes! Please, please, please, an e-ink writing device. Pair it with a folding keyboard or a simple plastic, folding overlay for a touch-sensitive screen for tactile feedback. Until the documents read on e-ink readers can be written, edited, and published on screens that HOLD STILL, the e-ink revolution will not even really have begun.
Regular screens irritate the eyes, derail trains of thought, and alter emotional states. How do I know? By direct introspection. Not since the typewriter have we writers have had anything decent to look at while we wrote. No wonder the world’s going to hell so fast.
How can makers of e-ink devices not get this? They think only in terms of consumption of text and data. What about the production of that data? What about the millions and millions of content consumers who are also content producers? Why are these screens terrible to read on but okay to write on?
Plastic Logic, Sony, Kindle: please wake up.
December 8th, 2009 at 7:12 pm (#)
I would also love to be able to buy an e-ink word processor writer/reader with a decent plug-in keyboard. This would cost more and might require a larger and more expensive rechargable battery, but that doesn’t bother me.
I would use it to read books and papers, do my daily writing with it, and so on, thus saving my eyes from strain.
Nearly every professional writer in the world–and millions of others, as well– would buy such a device, if it existed. Come on Japan or China, what are you waiting for? Build it and they will come to your store.
As for Internet applications, of course I’d keep on using my regular computer. But I still long for a real, genuine
e-writer/reader with external keybard
December 26th, 2009 at 6:39 pm (#)
—
10.1 E Ink screen, (E Ink like Kindle 2 or Sony Reader, not E Paper or PixelsQI hybrid one.) The display it would be absolutely not backlighted. A very small SSD 16GB drive is also enough. The GB amount depend on you. You decide the OS.
A totally full size keyboard, (something like the one you find on a MacBook Air for example), and what you decide as a pointing device.
The display it would be a 360 degrees turnable display based upon a cylindrical container. The container is for the battery. The battery it self it would be a cylindrical battery suited for the above cylinder. And it would be removable. Because the point is that the user can use normal A batteries in the place of the rechargeable one.
The display when totally turned with the back touching the bottom of the computer the notebook it would be turn in ebook reader. And when turned again as a normal notebook screen it would be a screen for the computer. At the upper space the display it would have the keys for ebook reading. Page up, page down, ecc.
The cylinder (container of the battery) it would have at the left side a coin opening door for the battery. And at the right side a usb port. The notebook it would not have any other communication port except the above usb port. This port it would also used for the battery cable charger.
It would have a headphone/speaker out port but no built in speakers.
Also, and this is very important: Avoid at any cost the fan! No fan! I would prefer an ARM processor than the Atom or any other if this is avoiding the fan!
There were would be no power button. Once the lid is open the device it would powered on. Once is closed it would be powered down in shutdown or in sleep. This would be user selectable.
—
The above “dream machine” it is on ideas deposit on the wepc.com site. An ASUS site. This is my idea about a notebook I dreamed for years. I am a writer and I know what it means sitting for hours in front of a tft display. (I do not want to remember the cold cathode one…)
Hope someone can make something like that one day.
G.
P.S. I am using a Macbook Air with an SSD.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:21 pm (#)
I would love to use something with an e-ink display and a decent word processor. I have epilepsy with light sensitivity. Using a computer has become difficult, and I must fit short periods of use into times when I am apparently well controlled. One small seizure and the computer must be turned off. It’s no way to work.
I have written Amazon about marketing a writer’s version of its Kindle and Apple about marketing an e-ink version of the iPad. I haven’t got to any display makers yet. Sony says on its website that it doesn’t read unsolicited ideas from consumers. Sounds like other Japanese companies – top-down consumerism.
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:38 pm (#)
So buy an Entourage Edge. It’s everything u want and more but it’s f@# expensive…
October 13th, 2010 at 4:19 am (#)
I, too, want some sort of e-ink or e-paper editor for emails and blog posting, or even novel writing!
Regular displays hurt my eyes!
January 12th, 2011 at 9:29 pm (#)
That would be a great idea! Apart from journalists and writers, I can assume that grad students would also want one. Writing a master’s or PhD thesis/dissertation requires many hours of reading AND writing at the same time. LCD isn’t the answer!
@Pablo: The dualbook propoerty of Entourage Edge might work for some, but I want a device that does one thing (typewriting in e-ink) and do it good and long enough before a battery charge is required. e-ink reader capability added to such an e-ink typewriter.
January 22nd, 2011 at 10:17 pm (#)
I would do anything for an e-ink typewriter. I don’t want internet, I don’t want to browse, I don’t want a hard disk, I just want an e-ink typewriter that is light, had a good screen, and has a usb port. I suppose having no internet would block several important uses, but the point is we need an item designed for real work!
January 26th, 2011 at 1:02 pm (#)
hey folks,
please email the folks at noteslate to include an ability to type on their product. They’ve created a product that enables users to write on eink
http://www.noteslate.com/
March 9th, 2011 at 5:39 pm (#)
Ditto what everyone else has said so far! It’s pretty much on the level of a disability for me…I’m unable to do a lot of jobs/have put off further schooling because I can’t work with computer screens for any length of time. This invention would be life-changing for me.